Old Stories and New Developments

Acetylcholinesterase: old questions and new developments

The family of cholinesterases, including acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), has been of significant interest to neuroscientists for several decades. Cholinesterases play an essential role in mediating neurotransmission in cholinergic synapses, which control the higher brain functions such as learning and memory; they also are causally involved in controlling nerve-mus...

Bile acids: developments new and very old.

Commentary: delusions and homicide in women--stories, old and new.

It is not possible to predict homicide in an actuarial or statistical sense with any appreciable degree of accuracy. In an important and interesting study, Ferranti and colleagues highlight the centrality of religious delusions in women who kill children, consistent with the long-standing recognition that delusions are especially important in the context of violence by the mentally ill. They al...

Fat for life: new stories on old grease.

DUE TO THE ALARMING EPIDEMIC in the modern world of obesity, dyslipidemia, and the parallel increasing prevalence of the related metabolic and cardiovascular diseases such as type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis, the neutral lipids triglycerides and cholesteryl esters have a notorious reputation. The excessive accumulation of triglycerides reflects energy surplus, which ultimately causes the exc...

Glycogen and its metabolism: some new developments and old themes.

Glycogen is a branched polymer of glucose that acts as a store of energy in times of nutritional sufficiency for utilization in times of need. Its metabolism has been the subject of extensive investigation and much is known about its regulation by hormones such as insulin, glucagon and adrenaline (epinephrine). There has been debate over the relative importance of allosteric compared with coval...