The effect of choline alphoscerate on non spatial memory and neuronal differentiation in a rat model of dual stress.

Choline alphoscerate (α-GPC) is a choline-based compound and acetylcholine precursor commonly found in the brain; it has been known to be effective in treating neuronal injury and increasing the levels of acetylcholine (Ach) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which in turn enhances memory and cognitive function. This study was designed to establish rat models of dual stress using noise and restraint in order to investigate the effect of α-GPC on cognitive function and neuronal differentiation after dual stress. The rats were randomly divided into four groups as follows: a control group (CG), a control with α-GPC group (CDG), a noise-restraint stress group (NRSG), and a noise-restraint stress with α-GPC group (NRSDG). Experimental groups were exposed to a 110 dB sound pressure level (SPL) white band noise and restraint at the same time for 3 h/day for 7 days. Alpha-GPC (400 mg/kg) was administered orally after stress exposure for 7 days. NRSG showed decreased memory function, increased stress hormone, hearing loss, and neuronal damage of the brain. In the hippocampus of NRSG, significantly increased expression of IL-1ß and decreased expression of both choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and BDNF were observed. On the contrary, NRSDG showed better memory function compared to NRSG, which indicates the neuroprotective effect of α-GPC. In addition, NRSDG showed decreased immune response and increased ChAT and BDNF expression as well as neuroblast expression in the hippocampus, which suggests that α-GPC enhances BDNF expression and protects the activity of immature cells in the hippocampus. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show the protective effect of α-GPC on cognitive dysfunction by promotion of neuronal differentiation in an animal model of stress.

Association between morningness and resilience in Korean college students.

Circadian typology and sleep quality may be essential factors associated with the promotion of resilience. However, previous studies investigating the association between circadian typology and resilience did not analyze the effects of sleep quality on resilience. Thus, the present study evaluated the association between circadian typology and resilience in Korean college students after controlling for sleep quality. Additionally, this study investigated several sleep-related variables, including sleep duration, social jetlag and sunlight exposure during the daytime, to examine the modifiable behavioral features of morningness and also investigated whether the findings regarding morningness-related modifiable habits were associated with resilience. This study included 1094 participants (947 males and 147 females) between 19 and 29 years of age (22.8 ± 1.9 years) who completed the 10-item Korean version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10), the Korean version of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Korean version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and a survey about social jetlag that determined misalignments between weekday and weekend times of awakening and activity duration under conditions of sunlight between 10:00 and 15:00. A multiple linear regression analysis revealed that sleep duration, mean daily sunlight exposure between 10:00 and 15:00 and age were positive predictors of morningness, whereas social jetlag was a negative predictor of morningness. Of these morningness-related modifiable behavioral features, mean daily sunlight exposure between 10:00 and 15:00 significantly predicted greater resilience. An additional multiple linear regression analysis revealed that morningness was a positive predictor of resilience after controlling for age, sex, depression, anxiety and sleep quality. These results support the idea that morningness and better sleep quality are associated with greater resilience. Morningness was also associated with longer sleep duration, longer sunlight exposure during the daytime and less social jetlag, whereas longer daily sunlight exposure between 10:00 and 15:00 was associated with greater resilience. Future longitudinal studies are needed to examine whether manipulations of morningness-related modifiable behavioral features can rearrange chronotype and promote resilience.

Primary Thyroid Angiosarcoma with Tracheal Invasion.

A 48-year-old woman was referred to our clinic because she had been experiencing hemoptysis for 1 month. Chest computed tomography revealed a small portion of a thyroid mass was penetrating the trachea. Bronchoscopy revealed a blood vessel covered mass located in her trachea. The presence of a malignant tumor was confirmed by a biopsy. The patient was referred to the otolaryngology department for tumor resection and a pathological evaluation identified the thyroid angiosarcoma with tracheal invasion. Angiosarcomas have a poor prognosis, but the patient has not experienced any recurrence two years after surgery. A very rare case of primary thyroid angiosarcoma with tracheal invasion was cured successfully.