Mutant molecules make Cyclops

How might a baby be born with one eye? It’s not only a myth, but the “Cyclops” disorder, called holoprosencephaly, does sometimes afflict human babies, and researchers from Ohio and Paris have identified one of its molecular causes. A mutation in a gene called TG interacting factor causes defects in brain and skull development in embryos, leading to holoprosencephaly. The mutated gene is incapable of producing a protein necessary for normal growth, and instead codes for a protein that may destroy the small amounts of normal protein in the fetus. As a result, the embryonic forebrain cannot divide into two lobes and develop into the two cerebral hemispheres of a normal brain, but remains as a single lobe. If, as in relatively milder cases, the fetus survives, the baby is usually born with serious skull and facial deformations, like a single eye. However, most cases of holoprosencephaly are too severe to survive until birth.

Source: FASEB

-Sandy Huen

Good gab, Granny!

Examining the diagnostic records of 184 patients, researchers with the Rotman Research Institute at the Baycrest Research Centre for Aging and the Brain have found evidence that bilingualism may help to delay the development of dementia. Previous research by lead investigator Dr. Ellen Bialystock had shown that bilingualism enhances attention and cognitive control in both young children and older adults. Scientists examined the records of patients admitted to Baycrest’s clinic between 2002 and 2005 who complained of cognitive symptoms. The majority met criteria for probable Alzheimer’s disease, while the remaining patients were diagnosed with other dementias. Overall, 93 of the patients were bilingual, including speakers of 25 different languages (e.g., Polish, Yiddish, German, Romanian, Hungarian). They also found the age of onset of impairment, determined by the interviewing the patients’ neurologists during first clinic visit, was on average four years earlier in monolingual patients than in the bilingual group. Results were consistent even after other influencers, including formal education, cultural differences and gender, were excluded.

Source: Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care news service

-Abigail Slinger