J A Greenhall | PubMed Health

PubMed2001

Chipping away at complex behavior: transcriptome/phenotype correlations in the mouse brain.

Highly parallel gene expression profiling has the potential to provide new insight into the molecular mechanisms of complex brain diseases and behavioral traits. We review how gene expression profiling in various brain regions of inbred mouse strains has been used to identify genes that may contribute to strain-specific phenotypes. New data, which demonstrate the use of gene expression profiling in combination with behavioral testing to identify candidate genes involved in mediating variation in running wheel activity, are also presented. These and other studies suggest that a combination of gene expression profiling and more traditional genetic approaches, such as quantitative trait locus analysis, can be used to identify genes responsible for specific neurobehavioral phenotypes.

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PubMed2001

Serial order effects in spelling errors: evidence from two dysgraphic patients.

This study reports data from two dysgraphic patients, TH and PB, whose errors in spelling most often occurred in the final part of words. The probability of making an error increased monotonically towards the end of words. Long words were affected more than short words, and performance was similar across different output modalities (writing, typing and oral spelling). This error performance was found despite the fact that both patients showed normal ability to repeat the same words orally and to access their full spelling in tasks that minimized the involvement of working memory. This pattern of performance locates their deficit to the mechanism that keeps graphemic representations active for further processing, and shows that the functioning of this mechanism is not controlled or "refreshed" by phonological (or articulatory) processes. Although the overall performance pattern is most consistent with a deficit to the graphemic buffer, the strong tendency for errors to occur at the ends of words is unlike many classic "graphemic buffer patients" whose errors predominantly occur at word-medial positions. The contrasting patterns are discussed in terms of different types of impairment to the graphemic buffer.

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