The polysialic acid (PSA) is a large glycan that is added to cell-surface proteins during their post-translational maturation. In the brain, PSA modulates distances between cells and controls the plasticity of the nervous system. In the hypothalamus, PSA is involved in many aspects of energy balance including food intake, osmoregulation, circadian rhythm, and sleep. In this work, we investigate...

In polyglutamine diseases including Huntington's disease (HD), mutant proteins containing expanded polyglutamine stretches form nuclear aggregates in neurons. Although analysis of their disease models suggested a significance of transcriptional dysregulation in these diseases, how it mediates the specific neuronal cell dysfunction remains obscure. Here we performed a comprehensive analysis of a...

Precocious puberty is defined as the appearance of clinical signs before age 8 years in girls and 9 boys. The central origin due to a premature activation hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis from which tumor pathology must be eliminated each case. It distinguished early peripheral independent hypothalamic-pituitary stimulation adrenal or gonadal origin. In boys, precocious most often there high...

Humans have lived in a dynamic environment fraught with potential dangers for thousands of years. While fear and stress were crucial the survival our ancestors, today, they are mostly considered harmful factors, threatening both physical mental health. Trauma is highly stressful, often life-threatening event or series events, such as sexual assault, war, natural disasters, burns, car accidents....

The general adaptation syndrome is discussed on the light of recent discoveries on hypothalamic peptides and of their possible influence in survival and in induction of diseases. The problem of stress in alcoholism is reviewed. The author ends with a short souvenir of Hans Selye.

BACKGROUND Decline in insulin action is a metabolic feature of aging and is involved in the development of age-related diseases including Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). A novel mitochondria-associated peptide, Humanin (HN), has a neuroprotective role against AD-related neurotoxicity. Considering the association between insulin resistance and AD, we investigated if...

There is increasing evidence regarding the importance of the hypothalamus for understanding sex differences in relation to neurological, psychiatric, endocrine and sleep disorders. Although different in histology, physiology, connections and function, multiple hypothalamic nuclei subserve non-voluntary functions and are nodal points for the purpose of maintaining homeostasis of the organism. Th...

acute fatty liver of pregnancy (aflp) is a rare entity and a potentially fatal disorder. it is reported to be more common in multiple than singleton pregnancies. sometimes it coincides with preeclampsia but the exact etiology is not yet understood. a 31-year-old g2 p1 patient admitted at 33 weeks of pregnancy with signs and symptoms of jaundice, gastroenteritis, hypertension, malaise, urinary i...

The cumulative science linking stress to negative health outcomes is vast. Stress can affect directly, through autonomic and neuroendocrine responses, but also indirectly, changes in behaviors. In this review, we present a brief overview of ( a) why should be interested the context health; b) response allostatic load; c) some key biological mechanisms which impacts health, such as by influencin...

Circadian rhythms are 24-h oscillations driven by a hypothalamic master oscillator that entrains peripheral clocks in almost all cells, tissues and organs. misalignment, triggered industrialization modern lifestyles, has been linked to several pathological conditions, with possible impairment of the quality or even very existence life. Living organisms continuously exposed air pollutants, among...