Fluoxetine and ECT significantly increased mGlu(7) receptor expression in NS animals. This work demonstrates changes to mGlu(4) receptor expression may be a lasting molecular change which occurs due to early-life stress. Taken together our data shows there are selective changes to group III mGlu receptors under basal and early-life stress conditions.

This article is part of a Special Issue entitled ‘Metabotropic

Glutamate Receptors’. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Aim: To determine the prevalence and sequelae of falls in PBC and to identify modifiable risk factors.

Design: Cross-sectional, geographical, population census of PBC and two control groups: SP600125 primary sclerosing cholangitis and a community dwelling population. Multidisciplinary falls assessment of a representative group of PBC.

Methods: Symptom assessment tools, completed by the

three cohorts, determined the prevalence of falls, injuries and associated symptoms. Multidisciplinary assessments, adhering to NICE PX-478 datasheet guidelines, identified modifiable fall associations.

Results: Significantly more of the PBC population had fallen (72% P < 0.001) than both control groups. Fifty-five percent had fallen in the last year (P < 0.001), and 22% more than once in the last year (P < 0.01). Seventy percent of PBC fallers were injured, 27% fractured a bone and 19% were admitted to hospital, all significantly more common than controls. Postural dizziness was significantly worse in fallers (P < 0.001), as were balance (P < 0.001) and lower limb strength (P = 0.002). Lower limb strength was independently associated with number of falls in previous year (beta = 0.184, P < 0.001).

Conclusion: Falls and resultant injury are prevalent in PBC and more common than previously recognized. Addressing postural dizziness, poor balance

and lower limb weakness using a multidisciplinary approach has the potential to reduce falls, morbidity and mortality and as a result improve quality of life.”
“A fundamental question relating to animal behaviour is how animals learn; in particular, how they come to associate stimuli with rewards. Numerous empirical findings can be explained by assuming that animals use some mechanism similar to the Rescorla-Wagner learning rule, which is a relatively simple and highly general method of updating the associative cAMP strength between different stimuli. However, the Rescorla-Wagner rule is often not optimal, which raises the question of why a rule with such properties should have evolved. We consider the evolution of learning rules in a simple environment where there exists an optimal rule of similar complexity to the Rescorla-Wagner rule. We show that because the Rescorla-Wagner rule is less sensitive to changes in its parameters than the optimal rule, there is a wider range of parameter values over which the rule structure is initially viable.