For example, in mammals, neurons

For example, in mammals, neurons INCB018424 are generated in the hippocampus into adulthood (Hodge et al., 2008). In many vertebrates, new receptor cells are also added to the sensory organs. The cellular

and molecular mechanisms that enable ongoing genesis of receptor cells in different specialized sensory epithelia in various species have some features in common that provide insights into what factors might be critical for regeneration (Figure 2). The ongoing genesis of olfactory receptor cells is common to all vertebrates (see Graziadei and Monti Graziadei, 1978 for review) and the rate of production is quite high. The production of new olfactory receptor cells is critical to the maintenance of this system, as the olfactory receptor cells only last a few months. The rate

of production of new olfactory receptor cells is balanced by their loss so that a relatively stable population of these receptors is maintained. In the vestibular epithelium of fish (Corwin, 1981), amphibians (Corwin, 1985), and birds (Jørgensen and Mathiesen, 1988 and Roberson et al., 1992), there is also ongoing production of the hair cells. However, in fish and amphibia, rather than the sensory receptor cell turnover that occurs in the olfactory epithelium, the ongoing production of new hair cells in vestibular epithelia results in an increase in the overall number of these cells as the animal grows (Corwin, 1985). The macula neglecta of skates, for example, adds hair cells continuously through at least six years increasing more than 10-fold the number Paclitaxel solubility dmso of hair cells with a 500-fold increase in sensitivity. The number of hair cells appears to scale with overall body size. In the toad sacculus, new hair cell addition occurs primarily at the peripheral edges; as a result, the epithelium is composed of concentric rings of progressively younger cells. The situation

is somewhat different in the vestibular epithelia of birds. Although there is also good evidence for new hair cell production throughout life, the newly generated hair cells are frequently near PDK4 apoptotic cells, and the number of hair cells does not increase over the life of the animal as it does in fish. Therefore, it is likely that the ongoing genesis of hair cells in birds may serve a maintenance role to replace dying hair cells, much like that in the olfactory epithelia (Jørgensen and Mathiesen, 1988 and Roberson et al., 1992). In the retina of fish, there is also ongoing production of one type of sensory receptor, the rod photoreceptors (Johns and Easter, 1977 and Raymond and Rivlin, 1987). Rod photoreceptor cells are not generated to replace dying cells, but rather they are generated as the retina grows, to keep the density of rod photoreceptors relatively constant with the growth of the animal, thereby maintaining light sensitivity (Fernald, 1990).

Axonal caliber was assessed by measuring the width of each axonal

Axonal caliber was assessed by measuring the width of each axonal trunk at four random locations.

Branch Cabozantinib mouse order was determined by constructing a complete branching diagram for the arbor. Statistical comparisons used the unpaired Student’s t test. This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Gatsby Charitable Trust, and the Center for Brain Science, Harvard University. J.D.W. was supported by Medical Scientist Traineeship, Washington University, St. Louis. C.G. was supported by IBRO and Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa. “
“Schizophrenia is a common, chronic, and severe mental disorder in which the brain loses its ability to discern the relevancy and origin of information, leading to misinterpretations, hallucinations, and delusions (Freedman, 2003; Kapur, 2003). It is believed that schizophrenia is caused by defects in various neurotransmitter systems (Lisman et al., 2008) and the combined action of multiple genetic defects and environmental factors (Harrison and Weinberger, 2005). Typical antipsychotic drugs (APDs) such as haloperidol (HAL) and atypical APDs such as risperidone (RSP) and clozapine selleck compound (CLO) are effective for treating the symptoms of schizophrenia. These drugs share a common action at dopamine (DA) receptors and also affect other neurotransmitter

receptors (Lisman et al., 2008; Strange, 2001). During treatment, APDs accumulate in all brain regions (Gemperle

et al., 2003; Kornhuber et al., 1999 and Kornhuber et al., 2006; Korpi et al., 1984; Tsuneizumi et al., 1992), and it has been hypothesized that the slow development of their full effect coincides with their tissue accumulation. The accumulation of weak-base psychotropic drugs in acidic organelles results from acidic trapping after intraluminal protonation of these weak bases with pKa values near to neutrality Oxalosuccinic acid (de Duve et al., 1974; Schmalzing, 1988; Trapp et al., 2008). In addition, membrane potential differences could also drive the accumulation of cationic molecules in electronegative compartments (Duvvuri et al., 2004). Our current knowledge regarding the role of psychotropic drugs in synaptic vesicle recycling is limited, and the functional consequences of a hypothesized APD accumulation in synaptic vesicles (Rayport and Sulzer, 1995) have remained elusive. In the present study, we clarified the intravesicular accumulation of APDs and its effects on synaptic transmission. We show that the exocytic release of APDs from synaptic vesicles increased extracellular concentrations in freely moving rats and allowed them to inhibit synaptic transmission in a use-dependent manner. This paper describes the release and autoinhibitory action of APDs that accumulated in synaptic vesicles.

1 On the basis of these assumptions, a manual reduction was not p

1 On the basis of these assumptions, a manual reduction was not performed in our case. Surgical exploration is advised4 as the proposed treatment, as it selleck is relatively

minor, carries low morbidity, and may reveal an underlying testicular torsion or a coexistence of testicular trauma.3 Nevertheless the treatment of choice, an early intervention is recommended as biopsies in the case of a delayed reposition of dislocated testes beyond 4 months have shown histologic changes, including absence of spermatids, decreased spermatogonia, the presence of germ cells, and an increase in alternative germ cells.2 However, an improvement of spermatogenesis after treatment as long as 15 years after a TDT has also been reported.2 Testicular dislocation is a rare complication of blunt scrotal trauma, usually occurring after motorcycle accident. A meticulous examination of the scrotum is recommended especially in the presence of multiple injuries.

U/S and color Doppler U/S are the most useful Panobinostat mw tools in evaluation of a TDT, whereas a CT scan may be useful in the case of a complex trauma. As TDT is not a lethal condition, a careful plan of restoration of the testis is advised. The authors have no conflicts of interest. “
“Anterior urethral stricture is a rare condition in the pediatric population, and its treatment is one of the most difficult problems.1 End-to-end anastomosis has a good success rate, as long as approximation without tension is possible with sufficient blood supply. We experienced a case of intractable recurrent anterior urethral stricture that was adequately managed using single-stage anterior urethroplasty with bulbar urethral mobilization. A boy was delivered at a gestational age of 38 weeks with a birth weight of 2758

g. He was diagnosed with febrile urinary tract infection at the age of 2 months. Voiding cystourethrography (VCUG) showed bulbar and anterior urethral strictures. Rolziracetam Endoscopic internal urethrotomy (EIU) and urethral dilatation with metal sounds were simultaneously performed for bulbar and anterior urethral strictures at age 5 months. Febrile urinary tract infection recurred at the age 8 months. VCUG revealed a recurrence of the anterior urethral stricture. Consequently, EIU was performed 4 times for the treatment of anterior urethral stricture. Because the anterior urethral stricture had not improved, the patient was referred to our hospital at age 4 years and 5 months. VCUG did not reveal bladder deformity and vesicoureteral reflux. Uroflowmetry showed a plateau pattern, the maximum urine flow was 6.7 mL/s, the average flow rate was 5.1 mL/s, and voided volume was 109 mL, with little postvoid residual urine. Urethroplasty was performed to treat the intractable recurrent anterior urethral stricture when he was aged 5 years.

e , comparable to participants from the Down-group in

the

e., comparable to participants from the Down-group in

the asynchronous body condition). The present lesion data from a group of OBE-patients put previous anecdotal data about abnormal self-location EPZ-6438 mouse and first-person perspective on solid grounds. They also show that the detailed analysis of such clinical neuroanatomical data on self-consciousness translate to functional neuroimaging data on self-consciousness in healthy participants, highlighting collectively the significance of the TPJ as an important brain structure for self-consciousness related to self-location and the first-person perspective (Figure 5C). There are only a few carefully analyzed case studies in neurological patients with OBEs due selleck screening library to focal brain damage or electrical brain stimulation. In addition, previous work has associated OBEs with many different brain structures, such as the right and left TPJ (Blanke et al., 2002, Blanke et al., 2004, Brandt et al., 2005 and Maillard et al., 2004), and several structures within the TPJ: posterior superior temporal gyrus (Blanke et al., 2004), angular gyrus (Blanke et al., 2002 and Brandt et al., 2005; Heydrich et al., 2011), and supramarginal gyrus (De Ridder et al., 2007 and Maillard et al., 2004), but also the precuneus (De Ridder

et al., 2007) and fronto-temporal cortex (Devinsky et al., 1989). Here we lateralized and localized brain damage in OBE-patients to the right TPJ. The right TPJ is the classical lesion site and side associated with visuo-spatial neglect (Halligan et al., 2003 and Karnath et al., 2001), a clinical condition shown to disturb the patient’s egocentric spatial relationship with extrapersonal space, visuo-spatial perspective taking (Farrell and Robertson, 2000), and own body perception such Tryptophan synthase as somatoparaphrenia (Vallar and Ronchi, 2009). A bilateral, but right lateralized, implication of the TPJ has also been observed during egocentric visuo-spatial

perspective taking (Maguire et al., 1998 and Ruby and Decety, 2001), multisensory integration, as well as imagined changes in self-location (Arzy et al., 2006, Blanke et al., 2005 and Schwabe et al., 2009) in healthy subjects. Despite the present strongly right-lateralized lesion data, our fMRI data reveal that self-location and first-person perspective likely depends on cortical processing in both TPJs. One of our patients suffered from OBEs due to left TPJ involvement. It may thus be that OBEs following interference with the left TPJ may be less reported by patients, potentially due to interference with the language cortex at the left TPJ. More data in larger patient samples in patients with OBEs will be necessary to clarify this. The TPJ is an excellent candidate for self-consciousness.

Subsequently, Huang et al (2005) showed that olfactory stimulati

Subsequently, Huang et al. (2005) showed that olfactory stimulation by methionine modulates retinal ganglion cell activity in zebrafish, and this modulation is blocked by a dopamine receptor antagonist. Further, they showed that dopamine inhibits activity in most ganglion cells, although in some cells it increased activity. They further showed that olfactory stimulation

with methionine decreases vitreal dopamine concentrations as well as voltage- and ligand-sensitive Ca2 currents in ganglion cells. These results suggest that olfactory stimulation decreases TN activity, although it is possible that these effects on ganglion cells could be mediated by TN fibers synapsing on inhibitory GABAergic amacrine cells, for which there is some S3I-201 nmr evidence. Clearly the circuitry and mechanisms underlying the effects of olfactory stimulation on retinal responses are complex and not well understood. The paper by Esposti Galunisertib chemical structure et al. (2013) in this issue of Neuron is thus very welcome and substantially advances the story. It certainly does not answer all the puzzles but brings our understanding to a new level. Using zebrafish, they monitored the activity of bipolar cells in intact zebrafish by imaging Ca2+

signals. Esposti et al. (2013) found that methionine reduced the gain but increased the sensitivity of mainly OFF bipolar cells. A few ON bipolar cells were potentiated by olfactory stimulation, but these were the exception (∼10%). Esposti et al. (2013) demonstrate that these effects are mediated by dopamine by showing that the effects they observe, like other effects of olfactory stimulation on visual

phenomena in zebrafish ( Maaswinkel these and Li, 2003 and Huang et al., 2005), are mediated by the TN modulating the release of dopamine from the IPCs. Many questions remain. Why do the ON and OFF bipolar cells respond so differently to olfactory stimulation? Both have dopamine receptors, as was demonstrated by experiments that Esposti et al. (2013) carried out using a dopamine agonist. Do the ON and OFF pathways have different sensitivities to DA receptors as Esposti et al. (2013) suggest? Another question is the effect of circadian rhythms on the bipolar cell responses. All of the present experiments were carried out in the morning, following after the results of Maaswinkel and Li (2003), who showed a strong effect of olfactory stimulation in early morning hours when the circadian clock depresses visual sensitivity but not later in the day when visual sensitivity is maximal (Li and Dowling, 1998). Does the same phenomenon happen with the bipolar cell responses? And finally, whereas the present and past experiments provide convincing evidence for functional olfactory-visual system interaction, what is its behavioral significance? The terminal nerve has long been implicated in reproductive behavior as well arousal and motivational states.

, 2009) Tests for sniff-related modulation are less straightforw

, 2009). Tests for sniff-related modulation are less straightforward than for vision or touch because—at least in the awake mammal—inhalation is required to elicit odorant-evoked responses, precluding odorant presentation at different times relative to a sniff. Optogenetic approaches in which light is used to reliably buy Vemurafenib activate sensory inputs independent of sniff timing (Smear et al., 2011)

provide a promising solution to this problem. What are the neural pathways underlying attentional modulation during active sensing? In the heavily studied visual system, multiple cortical as well as thalamic areas have been implicated in directed attention (Noudoost et al., 2010). One major source of attentional control is the frontal eye field—the premotor area controlling eye movements. In nonhuman primates, microstimulation of frontal eye field neurons enhances the responsiveness Dorsomorphin nmr of visual cortex neurons with spatially overlapping receptive fields (Moore et al., 2003 and Noudoost et al., 2010). In the somatosensory system, there are

reciprocal connections between somatosensory neurons and the motor areas controlling active touch (Veinante and Deschênes, 2003). In addition, recent evidence has not only demonstrated monosynaptic connections between primary somatosensory and motor cortices corresponding to the same whisker (Ferezou et al.,

2007) but direct control of whisker protraction by somatosensory cortex (Matyas et al., 2010). Thus, a tight coordination between the motor systems controlling stimulus sampling and the processing of incoming sensory signals mediated by this sampling is likely a fundamental component of top-down control in active sensing. There is considerable evidence for coordination between olfactory sensory pathways and the motor systems controlling sniffing. First, in both humans and in rodents, olfactory stimuli can modulate sniffing behavior extremely quickly: humans show differences in the flow rate of inhalation that vary with odorant intensity within 200 ms after beginning an tuclazepam inhalation (Figure 6A; Johnson et al., 2003); rats show an increase in sniff frequency in response to novel odorants in a similar time after inhalation and in as little as 50–100 ms after sensory input arrives at the OB (Figure 6B; Wesson et al., 2008a). Motor signals related to sniffing also affect odor perception. For example, in human subjects in which odorant is injected into the bloodstream, sniffing can “gate” odor perception (Mainland and Sobel, 2006). In addition, the degree of motor effort expended during a sniff affects perceived odor intensity (Hornung et al., 1997 and Teghtsoonian and Teghtsoonian, 1984).

6% to 98 1% On the other hand, the resistance to anthelmintic dr

6% to 98.1%. On the other hand, the resistance to anthelmintic drugs becomes a serious problem in countries with small ruminants industry (Thomaz-Soccol

et al., 2004 and Vieira et al., 1992). In present study, there was not an EPG decrease in the Moxidectin 0.2% group, even being given every 30 days. In sheep raised in Brazil, H. contortus is the main parasite involved in cases of Moxidectin resistance ( Thomaz-Soccol et al., 2004 and Silva et al., 2008). These results are consistent to the previously reported, with a possible resistance to moxidectin. However, the authors suggest the association of biological control with chemical control, which could help in reducing of helminth infections. In the coprocultures, there was a predominance of Strongyloides sp. in the first quarter, probably due to the goats being young, with a mean age of 8 months, being more susceptible to infection by this gender. In the second quarter, there was http://www.selleckchem.com/products/abt-199.html the predominance of Haemonchus sp., corroborating with Araújo et al. (2007), who observed a greater percentage of this gender in goat feces in a semi-arid region of Ceará, Brazil. Due to the high rainfall in April and May, there was a rise in

the EPG caused by the humidity’s increase, which contributed to a higher re-infection in animals. In the same period, there was a decrease in the PCV. Therefore, all animals in the Control group and five animals in the Moxidectin 0.2% group required salvage de-worming during this period. D. flagrans was able to prevent Selleckchem GDC0449 re-infection, where only one animal required salvage de-worming.

It was observed that the D. flagrans group increased 65% in weight, the Moxidectin 0.2% group increased 38% and the Control group had a 9% of reduction in weight. Chandrawathani et al. (2004) observed that the sheep greater weight Chlormezanone gain in Malaysia occurred in the group receiving. D. flagrans. On the other hand, Silva et al. (2009) found no statistical difference (p > 0.05) in the weight of D. flagrans group and the Control group. The PCV of D. flagrans group were higher than the other groups throughout the experiment, demonstrating that this group had a better physiological response against gastrointestinal parasitism. These results disagree with Silva et al. (2010), who observed that the PCV of sheep receiving D. flagrans was slightly lower than the other groups. In the leukocyte counts, changes were observed due to the occurrence of bacterial diseases of respiratory origin which affected all the animals in the experiment, explaining chronic leukocytosis with neutrophilia. The animals were affected mainly in April and May, the rainy season, where the relative humidity was high. To avoid possible interference in the anthelmintic treatment, no antibiotic treatments were performed, explaining the persistence of changes in the exams until the month of July, when the rainfall and relative humidity had already decreased, allowing the animals to overcome the infection. D.

The rodent whisker sensorimotor

system is an attractive a

The rodent whisker sensorimotor

system is an attractive and relatively simple model system for studying mammalian active sensory processing (reviewed in Brecht, 2007, Petersen, 2007 and Diamond et al., 2008). During exploratory behavior, rodents move their whiskers back and forth at high frequencies (typically 5–20 Hz) scanning their surroundings to obtain check details tactile information about nearby objects. Rodents can use their whiskers to actively gather spatial (Hutson and Masterton, 1986, Harris et al., 1999, Krupa et al., 2004, Knutsen et al., 2006, Curtis and Kleinfeld, 2009 and O’Connor et al., 2010) and textural tactile sensory information (Guić-Robles et al., 1989, learn more Carvell and Simons, 1990, von Heimendahl et al., 2007 and Jadhav et al., 2009). Extracellular recordings in the barrel cortex

of awake behaving rodents have begun to shed light on the action potential coding of tactile sensory information (Krupa et al., 2004, von Heimendahl et al., 2007, Stüttgen and Schwarz, 2008, Jadhav et al., 2009, Curtis and Kleinfeld, 2009, Gerdjikov et al., 2010 and O’Connor et al., 2010). However, little is known about the mechanisms driving the spike coding of whisker sensory perception. Action potentials are driven by synaptic interactions, with the majority of cortical unitary postsynaptic potentials being small in amplitude evoking only subthreshold changes in membrane potential (Vm) (Crochet et al., 2005, Bruno and Sakmann, 2006 and Lefort et al., 2009). Previous studies have investigated subthreshold Vm dynamics evoked by passive whisker stimuli in anesthetised animals

(Moore and Nelson, 1998, Zhu and Connors, 1999, Petersen et al., 2003, Brecht et al., 2003, Wilent and Contreras, 2005, Katz et al., 2006, Higley and Contreras, 2006 and Heiss et al., 2008). However, there are important changes in cortical dynamics during active sensory exploration compared to quiet wakefulness or anesthesia. Quiet wakefulness is characterized in layer 2/3 neurons of mouse barrel cortex by large-amplitude, slow (1–5 Hz), whatever and highly synchronized Vm fluctuations; a low firing rate of pyramidal cells and non-fast-spiking GABAergic neurons; but a high firing rate of fast-spiking GABAergic neurons (Crochet and Petersen, 2006, Poulet and Petersen, 2008 and Gentet et al., 2010). During active whisking in air, the slow activity is suppressed and barrel cortex neurons exhibit fast low-amplitude Vm fluctuations that are less correlated in nearby neurons and the input resistance of pyramidal cells is slightly reduced (Crochet and Petersen, 2006, Poulet and Petersen, 2008 and Gentet et al., 2010).

In addition, dyslexics exhibited enhanced response entrainment in

In addition, dyslexics exhibited enhanced response entrainment in the right PT at 30 Hz, contralateral to the left location where there was an entrainment deficit (Figure 3F). Our next aim was to relate the ASSR asymmetry (left minus right) in the PT within the 25–35 Hz window to behavioral measures. We first checked whether reading fluency (as assessed by reading speed) correlated with ASSRs in the low-gamma band. We found a significant correlation in controls on both sides Cell Cycle inhibitor (Figure 4A, black frames) but no correlation in dyslexics on either side. To explore this global effect in greater depth, we conducted correlation analyses with scores from tests of phonological skills that are presumed to underlie the

reading deficit (Table 1; Table S1). A principal component analysis performed on behavioral data revealed two well-known factors, one loading on rapid naming tasks, and the other on phonological awareness (nonword repetition, spoonerisms, and digit span). By hypothesis, each task contributing to the PHONO factor relies on early auditory cortical sampling processes but investigating RAN was also of interest to us because it requires coordination of left temporal and prefrontal cortices (Holland et al., 2011). Subsequent analyses

were therefore conducted on the average Z-score of rapid naming tasks (RAN, Table 1), and the average Z-score of spoonerisms, nonword repetition PF-02341066 concentration and digit span tasks (PHONO, Table 1). We tested for correlations between the ASSR power in the 25–35 Hz window and each of these two composite phonological variables. In controls, we found no significant correlation with RAN on either side (a positive trend in Figure 4B), and a positive correlation with PHONO in the left PT only (Figure 4C). In dyslexics, there was no correlation with RAN and PHONO in the left PT (Figures 4B and 4C, upper panels). Conversely, in the right PT there was a negative correlation with RAN and a positive correlation with PHONO (note that there was also a positive correlation with nonword repetition when tested on its own). With respect Olopatadine to asymmetry (left-right, Figures 4B and 4C, lower panels), the correlation appeared positive

for RAN in dyslexics due to the strong negative correlation in the right PT. The correlation was positive for PHONO in controls and negative in dyslexics. To understand how individual subjects contributed to these effects, we first plotted the two behavioral variables against one another (Figure 5A). Usually, there is a positive correlation between the phonological scores, i.e., RAN and PHONO (Wolf et al., 2002). Our data overall confirmed this relationship in controls (C, r = 0.532, p = 0.013), but not in dyslexics (r = −0.413, p = 0.070). Instead, and consistent with Wolf et al. (2002), most dyslexic individuals show both deficits (Figure 5A) but frequently either a PHONO or a RAN deficit subtype (circles). We then computed the correlations between ASSR magnitude asymmetry in the PT at 30 Hz, i.e.

, 2013) The two-photon microscope system was equipped with a Mai

, 2013). The two-photon microscope system was equipped with a Mai Tai HP two-photon laser tuned to 920 nm and a 60× objective. Image data were acquired using custom software developed by Z. Raics. A TTL signal generated at the end of each line scan of the horizontal

scanning mirror was used to trigger a UV LED projector (Reiff et al., 2010). Stimuli were presented during the fly-back period of the horizontal scanning mirror. The temporal switching between fluorescence recording and stimulus presentation was performed at a minimum frequency of 500 Hz, which is well above the flicker-fusion frequency of the mouse retina. See Supplemental Experimental Procedures for detailed CX-5461 research buy description of experimental procedures. We thank B.G. Scherf, S. Djaffer, and N. Zapf for technical assistance and S. Oakeley, A. Drinnenberg, F. Esposti, and S. Trenholm for their comments on the manuscript. We thank Z. Raics for developing software for two-photon imaging and electrophysiology. We thank A. Borst and D. Reiff for sharing their ideas and providing hardware for asynchronous visual stimulation during two-photon selleck screening library recordings. The study was supported by the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, the Gebert-Ruf Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the European Research Council, and SEEBETTER, TREATRUSH,

OPTONEURO, and 3X3D Imaging grants from the European Union to B.R., an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship and a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research Abroad to K.Y., EMBO Long-Term Farnesyltransferase Fellowships and Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships to K.F. and D.H., and a DFG SBF 870 grant to K.-K.C. K.Y. performed and designed all retinal experiments, performed in vivo injections, developed all plasmids, analyzed anatomical data, and wrote the paper. K.F. designed and performed two-photon experiments, analyzed two-photon and

confocal data, and helped write the paper. A.G. and K.-K.C. made the GCaMP3- and iGluSnFR-expressing rabies viruses. D.H. developed software for two-photon data analysis and helped write the paper. K.B. grew and titred rabies viruses. M.T. helped with in vivo injections. J.J. made AAV viruses. M.N. developed Spig1-GFP mice. R.L.N. made herpes viruses. B.R. designed experiments, analyzed data, and wrote the paper. “
“In recent years, epigenetic modifications of DNA and chromatin have been identified as essential mediators of memory formation through their regulation of gene expression (Sultan and Day, 2011), with methylation of cytosine bases in DNA (5mC) playing a critical role in both memory consolidation and storage (Feng et al., 2010a, Lubin et al., 2008, Miller et al., 2010, Miller and Sweatt, 2007 and Monsey et al., 2011). Although originally thought to act as a stable transcriptional silencer (Bonasio et al., 2010 and Feng et al.