“
“Cancer cachexia is reported to be a major Rabusertib mouse cause of cancer-related death. Since the pathogenesis is not entirely understood, only few effective therapies have been established. Since myriad tumors produce parathyroid

hormone-related protein (PTHrP), plasma concentrations of PTHrP are increased in cancer cachexia. We measured the food intake, gastric emptying, conditioned taste aversion (CTA), and gene expression of hypothalamic neuropeptides in mice after administering PTHrP intraperitoneally. We administered PTHrP intravenously in rats and examined the gastroduodenal motility and vagal nerve activities. We also examined whether chronic administration of PTHrP influenced the food intake and body weight. Peripherally administered PTHrP induced negative energy balance by decreasing the food intake and gastric emptying; however, it did not induce CTA. The mechanism involved the activation of hypothalamic urocortins 2 and 3 through vagal afferent pathways and the suppression of gastroduodenal motor activity. The continuous infusion of PTHrP reduced the food intake and body weight gain with a concomitant decrease in the fat and skeletal muscle. Our findings suggest that PTHrP influences the food intake

and body weight; therefore, PTHrP can be considered as a therapeutic target for cancer cachexia. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Starting from the observation of a reduced gray matter in the inferior until temporal regions of Alzheimer’s disease (AD)

patients, the present study hypothesized an altered language-related functional activity in left occipito-temporal areas check details in AD, and the possibility of a plastic change of these regions induced by an intensive cognitive training. To this aim, eleven mild/moderate AD underwent to a 5-week cognitive training (40 h). Before and after the training, evoked potentials were recorded from 26 scalp electrodes during a lexical decision task which required word/no-word discrimination. Stimuli included high- and low-frequency words and non-words, and the recognition potential (RP) together with the N400 have been analyzed and compared with those collected from a matched healthy control group. Results comparing controls and patients before training showed a normal RP in AD patients with a clear peak over left occipito-temporal sites. In addition, controls exhibited a left anterior lateralization of N400 component to words and an inverted pattern for non-words, whereas an altered N400 with bilateral distribution at both word and non-word conditions was found in AD patients. After the cognitive training, AD patients did not show changes in the N400, but revealed a significant enhanced amplitude of RP to high-frequency words. Behavioral responses to the lexical decision task and scores from neuropsychological tests did not evidence improvements nor worsening after training.