Modulation of short term and long term memory by steroid sexual hormones

Many studies have evidenced a functional interrelation between the nervous and endocrine systems in the modulation of mnemonic processes, and others have established the role played by certain hormones in these processes; however, few studies have dealt with the effects of sexual steroids on learning and memory. The aim of this work was to determine whether shortterm and long-term memory is subject to hormonal modulation. Male Wistar rats, randomly assigned to 13 groups, 1 control and 12 experimental groups, were trained on a one-trial passive avoidance conditioning. The control group received saline solution, and each of the 12 experimental groups received a treatment consisted in one of following pharmacological doses of: 5, 10, 20, 30 mg of testosterone enanthate, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1.2 mg estradiol valeriate, or 1, 2, 4, 6 mg norandrostenolone decanoate, respectively. All substances were applied 45 min before the training session. Retention of the learned response was tested 10 min (short-term memory) and 24 h (longterm memory) after the training session. Results indicate that under these experimental conditions the short-term memory is facilitated with testosterone enanthate at doses of 20 and 30 mg, the estradiol valeriate at doses of 0.4 mg and the nor-androstenolone decanoate at doses of 4 mg, whereas the long-term memory is facilitated with testosterone enanthate at doses of 30 mg, estradiol valeriate at doses of 1.2 mg and the nor-androstenolone decanoate at doses of 4 mg. The other studied doses were no effective.     

Short term,long term: An unexpected confound in human-mating research

Here I report that, when partnered people judge the facial attractiveness of potential mates for a short- and a long-term relationship, the order in which the two conditions are presented biases responses in a systematic manner. Women and men display symmetrical biases. Women find men less attractive as new long-term partners if they have first imagined them as one-night stands. Men find women less attractive as one-night stands if they have first imagined them as new long-term partners. On a total sample of over 3000 individuals from different studies, I show that both biases are robust and replicable in partnered people and neither is found in singles. Alas, so far no study has statistically controlled the effect of the order in which participants consider the two types of relationships. Whatever their interpretation, these biases are capable of producing spurious or inconsistent associations and mislead us when we compare studies that on the surface appear similar—most notably, direct and conceptual replications.     

Peptidomics analysis of myometrium tissues in term labor compared with term nonlabor

Preterm birth (PTB) is a major cause of neonatal mortality, with a poorly understood etiology. The regular contraction of the myometrium was considered as contributing to the etiology of the onset of labor, especially PTB. Thus, studying the mechanism of myometrium contraction is very important for understanding the initiation of labor and also for preventing PTB. Using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, we found 322 significantly differential peptides in myometrium tissues between term nonlabor and term labor groups (absolute fold change ≥ 2 and P < .05). We next analyzed length, molecular weights, isoelectric point, and cleavage site of all the different peptides. We, next, analyzed the functions of different peptides through their precursor proteins by Gene Ontology, enrichment and canonical pathway analysis. The results indicated that the extracellular matrix (ECM) played a major role in biological process, the cellular component, and molecular function categories, and revealed that ECM remodeling played a vital role in myometrial contraction. In addition, some known signaling, such as corticotropin-releasing hormone signaling and calcium signaling were proven to be involved in this process. Ingenuity Pathways Analysis upstream regulator analysis suggested that some of the known molecules, which reportedly were very important in labor onset, were included, for example, nuclear factor κB, tubulin, and phosphoinositide 3-kinase. We also identified 23 peptides derived from the precursor protein TITIN, of which 21 peptides sequences from TITIN were located in functional domains. These results suggested that peptides play an important role in labor onset and provide further insight into PTB therapy.     

Short term increase in risk of breast cancer after full term pregnancy.

To determine whether there is a short term increase in the risk of breast cancer after a full term birth data from two hospital based, case-control studies in Italy were pooled. Analysis was restricted to women aged under 50 with two or more children (573 women with cancer and 570 controls). A relative risk for breast cancer of 2.66 was seen in women who had given birth during the three years preceding the interview compared with women whose last birth had occurred 10 or more years before, after adjustment for age, age at first birth, and parity. The relative risk slowly decreased for women who had last given birth three to 10 years before. Multivariate analyses confirmed the protective effect of an early age at first birth and the age dependent effect of parity on the risk of breast cancer--that is, a direct relation below age 40 and an inverse one in older women. These data provide epidemiological evidence that a full term birth is followed by a transient increase in the risk of breast cancer, which for some time contrasts with and overcomes the long term protection of pregnancy at an early age. They therefore confirm predictions from animal studies and theoretical models that pregnancy prevents the early stages of breast carcinogenesis but promotes the late stages of the process.     

Short term culture of human midterm and term placenta: parameters of hormonogenesis

Monolayer cultures of human midterm and term placentae have been established following trypsin dispersion of placental minces. Maintenance of endocrine function was monitored by the concentrations of specific hormones in the culture media. At either gestational age the cultures 1) secret estradiol-17beta(1) and estrone (in a ratio of about 1:20) and aromatize 3H- or 14C-dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and 14C-androstenedione, estrogen production being markedly enhanced by addition of dehydroepiandrosterone (10(-6)7) to the culture medium; 2) metabolize 3H-pregnenolone to progesterone and 14C-cortisol to cortisone; and 3) produce increasing amounts of chorionic gonadotropin and decreasing amounts of placental lactogen during the first week in culture. It is proposed that the model is highly suited to the study of factors affecting hormonogenesis by the human placenta whether they be of maternal or of fetal origin.     

Long term oscillation in glycolysis

To increase the period of glycolytic oscillations in yeast extracts (Saccharomyces uvarum), the dependence of the period on pH, on concentrations of phosphate and enzymes, and on temperature has been studied. Stable oscillatory trans were obtained at a pH value of about 6.5. Increasing the phosphate and decreasing the enzyme concentrations as well as decreasing temperature lengthened the period. By dilution of the extract with buffer while maintaining the metabolite concentrations at their initial level the period could be successively prolonged from 20 min to about 6 h.     

AMP-deaminase from human term placenta

AMP-deaminase from human term placenta was chromatographed on a phosphocellulose column and physico-chemical and immunological properties of the purified enzyme were investigated. At physiological pH7.0, in the absence of regulatory ligands (control conditions) studied AMP-deaminase manifested sigmoid-shaped substrate saturation kinetics, with half-saturation parameter (S_0.5) value of about 7 mM. Addition of important allosteric effectors (ATP, ADP or orthophosphate) modified kinetic properties of studied AMP-deaminase, influencing mainly the value of S_0.5 parameter. Micromolar concentrations of stearylo-CoA inhibited potently the enzyme making it no longer sensitive towards 1 mM ATP-induced activation. SDS-PAGE electrophoresis of the purified enzyme revealed presence of 68 kDa protein fragment, reacting with anti-(human) liver AMP-deaminase antibodies. Experimental results presented indicate that liver type of AMP-deaminase is an enzyme form present in human term placenta.     

Neural integration by short term potentiation

Neurophysiological studies in the oculomotor system suggest that an integrative operation is required in order to derive an eye position signal from a command signal which usually correlates with eye velocity. Several proposed models for a neural integrator are examined. All these models incorporate some form of positive feedback as a basic mechanism. Based on the performance of the models, we argue that such a scheme require extreme high precision in order to work properly. A new model based on potentiation phenomena in synaptic transmission is proposed and is shown to be free from the deficits of most previous models. The proposed model also accounts for various neural behaviors in a very natural way. A possible implementation of the model is also discussed in the context of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR).     

Short term experiments on calanoid-cyclopoid-phytoplankton interactions

To investigate their potential effects on each other in nature, calanoid (Diaptomus clavipes and D. siciloides) and cyclopoid (Acanthocyclops vernalis and Mesocyclops edax) copepod populations were manipulated in 5 liter aquaria in laboratory experiments of 20–60 days duration. Diaptomus generally had a strongly negative effect on both cyclopoid species. The cyclopoids established populations more successfully when introduced to aquaria before calanoids than they did when calanoids were already present. On the other hand, whether introduced earlier or later than the cyclopoids, Diaptomus populations were unaffected by Acanthocyclops and were strongly depressed by Mesocyclops. Diaptomus effects on the phytoplankton were often strong but varied markedly among experiments. They included reduction of populations of edible algae, such as Chlamydomonas, which are essential for both calanoid and cyclopoid nauplii, and large increases in inedible algae, such as Kirchneriella. Feeding experiments revealed that under conditions of food scarcity Acanthocyclops nauplii survived less well than did Diaptomus nauplii. Competition for edible phytoplankton seemed to be a key factor in the calanoid-cyclopoid interactions, since the survival of herbivorous cyclopoid larvae determined the abundance of the predaceous adults. This indicates that the competitive effects of calanoids on cyclopoids often may exceed the predative effects of cyclopoids on calanoids.