The dorsal-ventral patterning of the Drosophila embryo is controlled by Dorsal, a sequence-specific transcription factor that is related to mammalian NF-κB. Previous ChIP-chip assays predicted that as many as a third or even half of all Dorsal target genes contain multiple enhancers for the same or similar expression pattern. Here we show that some of these secondary enhancers, or “shadow enhan...

MyoD1 is a key regulator that orchestrates skeletal muscle differentiation through the regulation of gene expression. Although many studies have focused on its role in transcriptional control at gene promoters, less is known regarding the role of MyoD1 in the assembly of active enhancers. Here, we discuss novel data that point to the ability of MyoD1 to mediate the assembly of active enhancers ...

Enhancers are short regulatory regions (50-1500 bp) of DNA that control the tissue-specific activation of gene expression by long distance interaction with targeting gene regions. Recently, genome-wide identification of enhancers in diverse tissues and cell lines was achieved using high-throughput sequencing. Enhancers have been associated with malfunctions in cancer development resulting from ...

Psychostimulants such as cocaine have been used as performance enhancers throughout recorded history. Although psychostimulants are commonly prescribed to improve attention and cognition, a great deal of literature has described their ability to induce cognitive deficits, as well as addiction. How can a single drug class be known to produce both cognitive enhancement and impairment? Properties ...

Drugs can influence cognitive function in several different ways. The cognitive enhancers or nootropics have become a major issue in drug development during the last decade. Nootropics are defined as drugs that generally increase neuron metabolic activity, improve cognitive and vigilance level and are said to have antidementia effect (1). These drugs are essential for the treatment of geriatric...

Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are critically important predictors of long-term psychosocial outcome and are not significantly ameliorated by currently available medications. Cognitive remediation training has shown promise for alleviating cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia, but the clinical significance has often been limited by small effect sizes. Approaches that achieve larger improvem...