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Health restoration and disease prevention are important strategies to achieve health and well-being. This Perspective provides a conceptual overview of the key concepts of salutogenesis (health restoration), chronic stress, resilience, and emotional well-being, and describes how they are distinct and interrelated. We posit, and demonstrate through scientific evidence, that complementary and integrative health approaches, including mind and body interventions, can be used to mitigate the effects of chronic stress and promote salutogenic pathways. Our goal is to identify research gaps and opportunities and suggest ways to advance the knowledge base for mechanistic and clinical research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuroplasticity can be defined as the ability of the nervous system to respond to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, function and connections. Major advances in the understanding of neuroplasticity have to date yielded few established interventions. To advance the translation of neuroplasticity research towards clinical applications, the National Institutes of Health Blueprint for Neuroscience Research sponsored a workshop in 2009. Basic and clinical researchers in disciplines from central nervous system injury/stroke, mental/addictive disorders, paediatric/developmental disorders and neurodegeneration/ageing identified cardinal examples of neuroplasticity, underlying mechanisms, therapeutic implications and common denominators. Promising therapies that may enhance training-induced cognitive and motor learning, such as brain stimulation and neuropharmacological interventions, were identified, along with questions of how best to use this body of information to reduce human disability. Improved understanding of adaptive mechanisms at every level, from molecules to synapses, to networks, to behaviour, can be gained from iterative collaborations between basic and clinical researchers. Lessons can be gleaned from studying fields related to plasticity, such as development, critical periods, learning and response to disease. Improved means of assessing neuroplasticity in humans, including biomarkers for predicting and monitoring treatment response, are needed. Neuroplasticity occurs with many variations, in many forms, and in many contexts. However, common themes in plasticity that emerge across diverse central nervous system conditions include experience dependence, time sensitivity and the importance of motivation and attention. Integration of information across disciplines should enhance opportunities for the translation of neuroplasticity and circuit retraining research into effective clinical therapies.

Neuroplasticity can be defined as the ability of the nervous system to respond to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, function and connections. Major advances in the understanding of neuroplasticity have to date yielded few established interventions. To advance the translation of neuroplasticity research towards clinical applications, the National Institutes of Health Blueprint for Neuroscience Research sponsored a workshop in 2009. Basic and clinical researchers in disciplines from central nervous system injury/stroke, mental/addictive disorders, paediatric/developmental disorders and neurodegeneration/ageing identified cardinal examples of neuroplasticity, underlying mechanisms, therapeutic implications and common denominators. Promising therapies that may enhance training-induced cognitive and motor learning, such as brain stimulation and neuropharmacological interventions, were identified, along with questions of how best to use this body of information to reduce human disability. Improved understanding of adaptive mechanisms at every level, from molecules to synapses, to networks, to behaviour, can be gained from iterative collaborations between basic and clinical researchers. Lessons can be gleaned from studying fields related to plasticity, such as development, critical periods, learning and response to disease. Improved means of assessing neuroplasticity in humans, including biomarkers for predicting and monitoring treatment response, are needed. Neuroplasticity occurs with many variations, in many forms, and in many contexts. However, common themes in plasticity that emerge across diverse central nervous system conditions include experience dependence, time sensitivity and the importance of motivation and attention. Integration of information across disciplines should enhance opportunities for the translation of neuroplasticity and circuit retraining research into effective clinical therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local regulation of mRNA translation plays an important role in axon guidance, synaptic development, and neuronal plasticity. Little is known, however, regarding the mechanisms that control translation in neurons, and only a few mRNAs have been identified that are locally translated within axon and dendrites. Using Affymetrix gene arrays to identify mRNAs that are newly associated with polysomes after exposure to BDNF, we identified subsets of mRNAs for which translation is enhanced in neurons at different developmental stages. In mature neurons, many of these mRNAs encode proteins that are known to function at synapses, including CamKIIα, NMDA receptor subunits, and the postsynaptic density (PSD) scaffolding protein Homer2. BDNF regulates the translation of Homer2 locally in the synaptodendritic compartment by activating translational initiation via a mammalian target of rapamycin--phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-dependent pathway. These findings suggest that BDNF likely regulates synaptic function by inducing the local synthesis of numerous synaptic proteins. The local translation of the cytoskeleton-associated protein Homer2 in particular might have important implications for growth cone dynamics and dendritic spine development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutations in MeCP2, which encodes a protein that has been proposed to function as a global transcriptional repressor, are the cause of Rett syndrome (RTT), an X-linked progressive neurological disorder. Although the selective inactivation of MeCP2 in neurons is sufficient to confer a Rett-like phenotype in mice, the specific functions of MeCP2 in postmitotic neurons are not known. We find that MeCP2 binds selectively to BDNF promoter III and functions to repress expression of the BDNF gene. Membrane depolarization triggers the calcium-dependent phosphorylation and release of MeCP2 from BDNF promoter III, thereby facilitating transcription. These studies indicate that MeCP2 plays a key role in the control of neuronal activity-dependent gene regulation and suggest that the deregulation of this process may underlie the pathology of RTT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcription of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene is regulated in a calcium- and neuron-selective manner; however, the mechanisms that underlie this selectivity are not known. We have characterized a new calcium-response element, CaRE1, that is required for activity-dependent transcription of BDNF exon III and have cloned a transcription factor, CaRF, that activates transcription from BDNF promoter III in a CaRE1-dependent manner. The transcriptional activity of CaRF is regulated in a calcium- and neuron-selective manner, suggesting that CaRF may confer selectivity upon the activity-dependent induction of BDNF exon III expression. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]