A Role for Timely Nuclear Translocation of Clock Repressor Proteins in Setting Circadian Clock Speed

By means of a circadian clock system, all the living organisms on earth including human beings can anticipate the environmental rhythmic changes such as light/dark and warm/cold periods in a daily as well as in a yearly manner. Anticipating such environmental changes provide organisms with survival benefits via manifesting behavior and physiology at an advantageous time of the day and year. Cell-autonomous circadian oscillators, governed by transcriptional feedback loop composed of positive and negative elements, are organized into a hierarchical system throughout the organisms and generate an oscillatory expression of a clock gene by itself as well as clock controlled genes (ccgs) with a 24 hr periodicity. In the feedback loop, hetero-dimeric transcription factor complex induces the expression of negative regulatory proteins, which in turn represses the activity of transcription factors to inhibit their own transcription. Thus, for robust oscillatory rhythms of the expression of clock genes as well as ccgs, the precise control of subcellular localization and/or timely translocation of core clock protein are crucial. Here, we discuss how sub-cellular localization and nuclear translocation are controlled in a time-specific manner focusing on the negative regulatory clock proteins.

The Effects of Sociodrama on Inpatients with Schizophrenia / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effects of sociodrama on inpatients with schizophrenia. METHODS: The sociodrama group was composed of 20 inpatients with schizophrenia and control group was matched with the sociodrama group. The sociodrama group received 10 sessions of sociodrama therapy over 10 weeks. Assessment was done at the beginning and end of this period. RESULTS: After 10 sessions of sociodrama, the patients showed a significant improvement in the BPRS total score, in the withdrawal-retardation and hostile-suspiciousness subscale scores and on the ToM Scale. There was also a significant improvement on the QoL Scale. There were no significant changes on the RCS or the Empowerment Scale. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that, for inpatients with schizophrenia, sociodrama can make a useful contribution in the improvement of withdrawal-retardation, hostile-suspiciousness, theory of mind, and subjective satisfaction with quality of life. We therefore expect that sociodrama can play a useful role in enhancing the psychosocial functioning of patients with schizophrenia. Future research to generalize of the results of this study is necessary.