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Factors that Contribute to Huntington's Disease Pathogenesis

Gu et al. developed and described a new transgenic mouse model of HD that expresses full-length human mutant huntingtin protein (9). They generated the new model using bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC), encoding about 120 uninterrupted CAG repeats, hence the name BAC-CAG. Mice developed many pathophysiological changes replicating human HD, including progressive motor deficits, sleep disturbance, striatal-selective nuclear inclusion, synaptic loss, astrogliosis, and microgliosis. Other key attributes of the new preclinical model of HD included minimal weight gain, somatic CAG repeat instability, and striatum-selective transcriptional dysregulation. In addition, data from the Gu et al. study revealed that striatal-selective neuropathogenesis associates with the length of CAG repeat.
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The Role of Glycans in Colorectal Cancer Progression

The development of immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer care. These drugs block tumor-induced immunosuppression and help immune cells detect and attack cancer cells. Immunotherapy effectively prevents the progression of many types of cancer but has limited effect on colorectal cancer (CRC), suggesting that this type of cancer uses different strategies to evade immune recognition. CRC ranks third among the most common types of cancer and second among cancers leading to death worldwide. Identifying the mechanisms involved in CRC immune evasion can help the development of new therapies to improve clinical outcomes.
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Especially for night owls: 5 tips to perform in an early-bird world

Our genes determine our natural preference for waking up early in the morning (early bird) or staying up late at night (night owl).
Luckily, night owls (like me) aren't doomed for failure in an early-bird world. Instead, we can build habits that help shift our internal clock and support our performance during the early morning hours. Keep reading to learn more about my tips to wake up early and perform well despite being a night owl.
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Why I ditch multitasking to optimize my performance: A neuroscientist perspective

I’m not very good at multitasking, but this fact doesn't bother me. As a neuroscientist, I know that the human brain can’t focus on 2 different things at the same time, so I don’t put a lot of effort into getting better at it. Multitasking increases my chance of error, negatively impacts my mental fitness, and can affect my performance in other Total Force Fitness (TFF) areas. Read on to learn how the attention system works, the impact of multitasking on brain function, and why mindfulness is a better approach to military performance and wellness.
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Surprising ways to keep your brain healthy

In the 1980s, scientists noticed that during autopsies some individuals’ brains showed characteristics of Alzheimer's disease, but the individuals didn't have a history of dementia. Further investigation showed that those people had built a lifetime of brain-power “reserve” that allowed their brains to function properly, despite the damage. The question then became: “What factors can help someone build cognitive reserve?” Many of the evidence-based recommendations overlap with strategies associated with Total Force Fitness (TFF)—a framework that helps Service Members optimize and sustain their performance and wellness.
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The gremlin in me: How ghrelin tricks me into eating and how I deal with it

The pandemic gave me a new habit: Snacking in-between meals. In the pre-pandemic days, I would eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I never felt hungry. With the home office came easy access to my pantry and fridge, and I started adding mid-morning and afternoon snacks to my day. Initially, I didn't eat because I was hungry, I ate because I could and the snacks were there. And they looked tasty. But over time hunger started to hit me around my new snack times. I then realized that biology was playing a trick on me.
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Don’t let procrastination get in the way of your Total Force Fitness goals

I’m not a chronic procrastinator, but some days slip by and I don’t get anything done. Over time, I combined my personal traits with my background in neuroscience to identify the reasons why I procrastinate. I came up with simple and effective ways to overcome them. The following is not a comprehensive list of the behavioral and emotional reasons that drive procrastination, just my own experience. And it’s my hope that you can learn from it.
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New Clinical Global Impression Scale Enables Precise Detection of Severity and Improvement in Angelman Syndrome | Read More

Rating scales such as the Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) and the CGI-Improvement (CGI-I) allow physicians to assess overall symptom severity and improvement in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders. These assessment tools quantitatively summarize the clinician’s impression of the patient’s global state and frequently serve as outcome measures in clinical trials. Disease-specific rating scales often accompany the CGI-S and CGI-I but have been unavailable for some rare diseases, su
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CDR-SB: A Promising Outcome Measure for Improved Sensitivity to Treatment Efficacy in Future AD Clinical Trials

Many assessments are available to evaluate cognition and function in neurodegenerative disease. These assessment tools, however, often lack the sensitivity necessary to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and disease progression in prodromal Alzheimer’s disease (pAD)/MCI due to AD. As a result, assessing the efficacy of therapeutic interventions targeted at slowing disease progression in patients with pAD is challenging. Existing assessment tools may be most sensitive in the dementia stages o
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Especially for non-scientists: 4 tips to help understand scientific research papers

Public interest in evidence-based information has been increasing over the years, and the COVID-19 global pandemic has certainly fueled this growth. Scientific papers aren’t the easiest pieces of information to read. They’re often full of jargon and acronyms, and science writers don’t have a lay audience in mind when writing them. Yet, I want to encourage you to look for science papers of your interest and gather information directly from them. Meanwhile, read on to learn about the structure of
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Expression of recombinant proteins

Expression of recombinant proteins revolutionized basic research and clinical practice. Initially employed to resolve three-dimensional structures of proteins, this technique evolved to allow the development of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic applications. The combination of flexibility offered by the technique with high-quality reagents leads to the expression of functional proteins for diverse applications. The creativity of research teams is now the limiting factor.

A series of scienti
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Improving Functional Outcomes After Myocardial Infarction

Heart diseases comprise many different conditions, and together, they are responsible for about 20% of all deaths in the United States. Coronary heart diseases—blockage or narrowing of the heart’s main blood vessels—are the most common type of heart disease and can lead to myocardial infarction (MI), a serious and life-threatening condition. MI happens when blood flow to the heart completely stops. As a result, lack of oxygen and nutrients results causes damage to the heart muscle and contribute to heart failure.
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Total Force Fitness strategies to cope with winter blues

Light is essential to life in its many forms, from helping plants create nutrients to promoting chemical balance in the human brain. And with less natural light in winter, the brain’s chemical balance can be upset, bringing the risk of developing mood disorders. Thus, many people experience what’s called “winter blues”—changes in their mood, energy levels, and behavior during winter—with symptoms that vary from mild to severe. Some even show symptoms similar to major depression in what’s known as “seasonal affective disorder” (SAD).

These winter-related changes can impact your military performance and wellness, especially when stationed in far-north places such as Alaska. But you can learn Total Force Fitness (TFF) strategies to cope with winter blues and support your mental fitness all year.
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5 reasons to use the ImmEdge PAP Pen in your immunostaining workflow

Back in my days as an undergraduate student, I learned to use nail polish to create a hydrophobic barrier on my immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence (IF) slides. The idea was to apply a thin layer of polish around the tissue to reduce the volume of reagents required to complete the experiments. But it just didn’t work that well, at least not for me. I didn’t have the fine motor skills necessary to draw a thin line using a thick brush. I’d smudge polish all over the slide and sometimes on top of the tissue section. Even if I managed to spare the tissue, the polish layer would often get too wide or thick, and I would have to peel it off before applying the coverslip. The entire process was time-consuming and frustrating. In my opinion, trying to use nail polish to create a hydrophobic barrier added more trouble than value.
Scientific Publication •

The ketone ester, 3-hydroxybutyl-3-hydroxybutyrate, attenuates neurobehavioral deficits and improves neuropathology following controlled cortical impact in male rats

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of human death and disability with no effective therapy to fully prevent long-term neurological deficits in surviving patients. Ketone ester supplementation is protective in animal models of neurodegeneration, but its efficacy against TBI pathophysiology is unknown. Here, we assessed the neuroprotective effect of the ketone monoester, 3-hydroxybutyl-3-hydroxybutyrate, (KE) in male Sprague Dawley rats (n=32). TBI was induced using the controlled cor
Scientific Publication •

Control diet in a high-fat diet study in mice: Regular chow and purified low-fat diet have similar effects on phenotypic, metabolic, and behavioral outcomes

Background: Differences in the composition of control diets may confound outcomes in studies investigating dietary effects.

Objective: We compared the effects of two control diets commonly used in mice studies, chow (SD) and a purified low-fat diet (LFD), in relation to a chronic high-fat diet (HFD). We hypothesized that SD and LFD will have similar effects on phenotypic, metabolic, and behavioral outcomes.

Methods: Fifty-four 5-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were randomly assigned to one of the
Scientific Publication •

Behavioral changes in male mice fed a high-fat diet are associated with IL-1β expression in specific brain regions

High-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity is associated with not only increased risk of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, but cognitive deficit, depression and anxiety disorders. Obesity also leads to low-grade peripheral inflammation, which plays a major role in the development of metabolic alterations. Previous studies suggest that obesity-associated central inflammation may underlie the development of neuropsychiatric deficits, but further research is needed to clarify this relationship. We us
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