MedWorm: Neuroscience

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy of regional brain metabolite markers in FALS mice and the effects of dietary creatine supplementation

European Journal of Neuroscience — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

We investigated the effects of disease progression on brain regional neurochemistry in a mutant mouse model of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS; the G93A model) using in vivo and in vitro magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). There were numerous changes in the brain spectra that were brain region dependent. At early time points starting around 80 days of age there were increases in brain glutamate. At later time points there were more extensive changes including decreased N-acetyl aspartate and glutamate and increased glutamine, taurine and myo-inositol. The effects of the disease were most severe in spinal cord followed by medulla and then sensorimotor cortex. There were no changes noted in cerebellum as a control region. The effects of creatine supplementation in the diet (2...

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From the editors

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:26:26 +0100

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 831 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrn2772 The fortieth annual Society for Neuroscience meeting this year welcomed over 30,000 delegates and was again a resounding success, with talks and posters pointing to important developments and approaches in neuroscience, several of which will feature in forthcoming issues of Nature Reviews Neuroscience.MicroRNAs (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

In Brief

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:26:26 +0100

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 835 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrn2771 Place cells (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

In Brief

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:26:26 +0100

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 834 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrn2770 Pain (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

Development: Initiation of a new connection

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:26:26 +0100

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 833 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrn2769 Author: Claudia Wiedemann The molecular mechanisms that regulate synapse formation are not well understood. Eroglu et al. show that thrombospondin (TSP) binding to the neuronal α2δ-1 receptor initiates the formation of new synapses in vitro and in vivo and that the anti-epileptic and analgesic drug (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

Epigenetics: Stressed for life

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:26:26 +0100

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 836 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrn2768 Author: Leonie Welberg Early-life stress (ELS) has long-lasting effects on the brain, and the epigenetic mechanisms underlying them are beginning to be unravelled. Murgatroyd et al. now show that methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2)-mediated regulation of arginine vasopressin (Avp) gene expression in parvocellular hypothalamus (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

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Neurogenesis: A mother–daughter relationship

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:26:26 +0100

Neurogenesis: A mother–daughter relationship Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 833 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrn2767 Author: Katherine Whalley Radial glia in the ventricular zone (VZ) of the developing cortex divide asymmetrically, producing a self-renewing radial glial cell that remains in the VZ and a cell that differentiates into a neuron or an intermediate progenitor. How these differing fates are determined was unknown; however, (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

Neural coding: Oscillations help to decode spike patterns

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:26:26 +0100

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 834 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrn2766 Author: Monica Hoyos Flight In sensory processing, a neuron's firing rate and the timing of the spikes relative to the stimulus onset together encode information. In reality, however, stimuli are often ongoing, raising the question of what else could provide a reference point for spike timing. Previous studies suggested (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

TrkB signalling pathways in LTP and learning

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:26:26 +0100

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 850 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrn2738 Author: Liliana Minichiello Understanding the mechanisms that underlie learning is one of the most fascinating and central aims of neurobiological research. Hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) is widely regarded as a prime candidate for the cellular mechanism of learning. The receptor tyrosine kinase TrkB (also known as NTRK2), known (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

Economics, Neuroscience And Hormones Workshop

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0100

A workshop on "Neuroeconomics and Endocrinological Economics," being held Nov. 20 and 21 at UC Davis, will be the first to bring together experts in neuroscience, economics and hormone physiology in one event, according to organizers. Neuroeconomics has emerged as a new field in recent years, as both economists and neuroscientists have used brain scanning technology such as functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how people make decisions. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Drug Studied As Possible Treatment For Spinal Injuries

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:00:00 +0100

Researchers have shown how an experimental drug might restore the function of nerves damaged in spinal cord injuries by preventing short circuits caused when tiny "potassium channels" in the fibers are exposed. The chemical compound also might be developed as a treatment for multiple sclerosis. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

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Spineology Receives FDA Clearance For Capture™ Facet Screw System

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Spineology Inc., developer and manufacturer of minimally invasive spinal surgery devices, announced today that it has received FDA clearance for its minimally invasive surgery (MIS) Capture™ Facet Screw System. The Capture System was developed by Spineology in mid-2009 under the direction of Dr. Chet Sutterlin, product development consultant. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Prolonged rote learning produces delayed memory facilitation and metabolic changes in the hippocampus of the ageing human brain

BMC Neuroscience - Latest articles — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Results suggest that repeated activation of memory structures facilitates anamnesis and may promote neuronal plasticity in the ageing brain, and that compliance is a key factor in such facilitation as the effect was confined to those who engaged fully with the training. (Source: BMC Neuroscience - Latest articles)

The strength of anticipatory spatial biasing predicts target discrimination at attended locations: a high-density EEG study

European Journal of Neuroscience — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Cueing relevant spatial locations in advance of a visual target results in modulated processing of that target as a consequence of anticipatory attentional deployment, the neural signatures of which remain to be fully elucidated. A set of electrophysiological processes has been established as candidate markers of the invocation and maintenance of attentional bias in humans. These include spatially-selective event-related potential (ERP) components over the lateral parietal (around 200[ndash]300 ms post-cue), frontal (300[ndash]500 ms) and ventral visual (> 500 ms) cortex, as well as oscillatory amplitude changes in the alpha band (8[ndash]14 Hz). Here, we interrogated the roles played by these anticipatory processes in attentional orienting by testing for links with subsequent behavioral p...

Progesterone and allopregnanolone enhance the miniature synaptic release of glycine in the rat hypoglossal nucleus

European Journal of Neuroscience — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

It is well known that progesterone is synthesised and metabolised within the nervous system, and that one of its metabolites, allopregnanolone, potentiates the activity of GABA receptor anionic channels and modulates GABAergic neurotransmission. Progesterone is now under clinical trial for its neuroprotective properties, but its possible effects on neurotransmission have not yet been fully explored. The present study investigated acute effects of progesterone on the other major type of synaptic inhibition, glycinergic neurotransmission. Spontaneous glycinergic miniature currents were recorded in hypoglossal motoneurons, using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique in rat brainstem slices. A 20-min superfusion with progesterone (1 [mu]m) triggered an increase in the frequency of glycinergic m...

Metabolic Effects Significantly Lower With INVEGA(R) Compared To Olanzapine

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:00:00 +0100

New data from a 6-month open label randomised controlled trial show INVEGA® (paliperidone ER) is associated with significantly less metabolic effects compared to oral olanzapine in people with schizophrenia, while demonstrating comparable efficacy.1 The results were presented at the 15th Biennial Winter Workshop in Psychoses in Barcelona, Spain. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

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Stanford/Packard Study In Mice Suggests New Down Syndrome Treatment

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0100

At birth, children with Down syndrome aren't developmentally delayed. But as they age, these kids fall behind. Memory deficits inherent in Down syndrome hinder learning, making it hard for the brain to collect experiences needed for normal cognitive development. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Findings That Should Speed The Development Of Drugs For Parkinson's Disease

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0100

Australian scientists have significantly advanced our understanding of dopamine release from nerve cells, findings that should speed the development of more effective drugs for treating Parkinson's Disease. People with Parkinson's Disease suffer from muscle rigidity, tremor, a slowing of physical movement and, in extreme cases, a loss of physical movement. These primary symptoms are caused by the loss of dopamine producing nerve cells in the brain. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

The Protein Srebp2 Drives Cholesterol Formation In Prion-Infected Neuronal Cells Which May Promote Prion-Dependent Diseases

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0100

Prions are causing fatal and infectious diseases of the nervous system, such as the mad cow disease (BSE), scrapie in sheep or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum MÃ¼nchen and Technische UniversitÃ¤t MÃ¼nchen have now succeeded in elucidating another disease mechanism of prion diseases: The prion-infected cell changes its gene expression and produces increased quantities of cholesterol. Prions need this for their propagation. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Abnormalities in brain structure and behavior in GSK-3 mutant mice

Molecular Brain — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Taken together, our data support a role for the GSK-3alpha gene in CNS functioning and possible involvement in the development of psychiatric disorders. (Source: Molecular Brain)

Identifying the control of physically and perceptually evoked sway responses with coincident visual scene velocities and tilt of the base of support.

Experimental Brain Research — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In this study, we have explored whether the impact of visual information on postural reactions is due to the same perceptual mechanisms that produce vection. Pitch motion of the visual field was presented at varying velocities to eight healthy subjects (29.9 +/- 2.8 years) standing quietly on a stationary base of support or receiving a 3 degrees toes-up tilt of the base of support. An infrared motion system recorded markers placed on body segments to record angular displacement of head and ankle and calculate whole body center of mass. Onset of the visual field motion and base of support movement were synchronized in all trials. We found that in the first 2 s following onset of visual field motion, both direction and amplitude of the linear displacement of whole body center of mass and ang...

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Orexins Excite Neurons of the Rat Cerebellar Nucleus Interpositus Via Orexin 2 Receptors In Vitro.

Cerebellum — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In this study, perfusing slices with orexin A (100 nM-1 muM) or orexin B (100 nM-1 muM) both produced neurons in the rat cerebellar interpositus nucleus (IN) a concentration-dependent excitatory response (96/143, 67.1%). Furthermore, both of the excitations induced by orexin A and B were not blocked by the low-Ca(2+)/high-Mg(2+) medium (n = 8), supporting a direct postsynaptic action of the peptides. Highly selective orexin 1 receptor antagonist SB-334867 did not block the excitatory response of cerebellar IN neurons to orexins (n = 22), but [Ala(11), D-Leu(15)] orexin B, a highly selective orexin 2 receptor (OX(2)R) agonist, mimicked the excitatory effect of orexins on the cerebellar neurons (n = 18). These results demonstrate that orexins excite the cerebellar IN neurons through OX(2)R a...

Altered Regulation of CD200 Receptor in Monocyte-Derived Macrophages from Individuals with Parkinson's Disease.

Neurochemical Research — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Luo XG, Zhang JJ, Zhang CD, Liu R, Zheng L, Wang XJ, Chen SD, Ding JQ Microglia are the representative myeloid cells in the brain, and their over-activation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Microglia activation is believed to be regulated by the CD200-CD200R signaling. As the peripheral counterpart of microglia, monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) share the same progenitor and antigen markers, and they have similar biological behaviors and mirror microglial function in the brain. Here, we studied CD200R expression and its regulation in MDMs from 32 PD cases, 27 age-matched old controls, and 28 young controls. We found that the basal CD200R expression is similar in MDMs from young control, old control and PD patients. However, the inducti...

Sex Steroids Inhibit Osmotic Swelling of Retinal Glial Cells.

Neurochemical Research — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Neumann F, Wurm A, Linnertz R, Pannicke T, Iandiev I, Wiedemann P, Reichenbach A, Bringmann A Osmotic swelling of glial cells may contribute to the development of retinal edema. We investigated whether sex steroids inhibit the swelling of glial somata in acutely isolated retinal slices and glial cells of the rat. Superfusion of retinal slices or cells from control animals with a hypoosmolar solution did not induce glial swelling, whereas glial swelling was observed in slices of postischemic and diabetic retinas. Progesterone, testosterone, estriol, and 17ss-estradiol prevented glial swelling with half-maximal effects at approximately 0.3, 0.6, 6, and 20 muM, respectively. The effect of progesterone was apparently mediated by transactivation of metabotropic glutamate receptors,...

CBP/p300 is a cell type-specific modulator of CLOCK/BMAL1-mediated transcription

Molecular Brain — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Our findings indicate possible mechanisms by which CBP/p300 tissue-specifically acts cooperatively with pCAF and HDAC3 either as a co-activator or co-repressor, respectively, for CLOCK/BMAL1. (Source: Molecular Brain)

Ellipse Technologies, Inc. Receives CE Mark Clearance For The MAGECTM System For The Treatment Of Spinal Scoliosis

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0100

Ellipse Technologies, Inc. ("Ellipse") announced today it has received CE Mark (ConformitÃ© EuropÃ©enne) for its MAGECTM Technology for the treatment of spinal deformity. The first application for this technology is for the treatment of spinal scoliosis in young children and teenagers. The CE Mark allows the Company to market the MAGEC System in the European Union and other countries that recognize the CE Mark for commercial distribution purposes. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

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Explanation For Rapid Maturation Of Neurons At Birth Found By Duke Researchers

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0100

At the moment a newborn switches from amniotic fluid to breathing air, another profound shift occurs: nerve cells in the brain convert from hyperexcitability to a calm frame against which outside signals can be detected. "Fetal neurons need hyperexcitability for proper development, because they are moving to the right places (in the brain) and forming the right connections," said Wolfgang Liedtke, M.D., Ph.D. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Monetary Gain And High-risk Tactics Stimulate Activity In The Brain

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0100

Monetary gain stimulates activity in the brain. Even the mere possibility of receiving a reward is known to activate an area of the brain called the striatum. A team of Japanese researchers report in the January 2010 issue of Cortex, published by Elsevier, the results of a study in which they measured striatum activation in volunteers performing a monetary task and found high-risk/high-gain options to cause higher levels of activation than more conservative options. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Cancer-Fighting Drugs Delivered Right To The Tumor

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0100

An encapsulation breakthrough by researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology may enable doctors to deliver anti-cancer drugs directly to tumors over extended periods of time, while preventing the systemic side effects of chemotherapy and other current cancer treatments. The system consists of polymeric microcapsules containing human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) engineered to produce proteins that prevent cancer growth. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Proprioceptive localization of the left and right hands.

Experimental Brain Research — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Jones SA, Cressman EK, Henriques DY The present study examined the accuracy of proprioceptive localization of the hand using two paradigms. In our proprioceptive estimation paradigm, participants judged the position of a target hand relative to visual references, or their body's midline. Placement of the target hand was active (participants pushed a robot manipulandum along a constrained path) or passive (the robot manipulandum positioned participants' target hand). In our proprioceptive-guided reaching paradigm, participants reached to the unseen location of a hand; both the left and right hands served as the target hand and the reaching hand. In both paradigms, subjects were relatively good at estimating the location of each hand (i.e. relative to a reference marker or using...

Evidence for limb-independent control of locomotor trajectory.

Experimental Brain Research — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: McNeely ME, Earhart GM After stepping in place on a rotating treadmill, individuals exhibit involuntary turning in the direction opposite treadmill rotation when stepping in place on a stationary surface without vision. This response is called podokinetic after-rotation (PKAR). It remains unclear where the control center for PKAR is located and whether separate, independent podokinetic control centers exist for each lower limb. To better understand neural mechanisms underlying locomotor trajectory adaptation, this study asked whether PKAR transfers between lower limbs. Thirteen healthy adults underwent separate 15-min sessions where one (trained) leg or both legs stepped on the rotating surface. Afterward, all subjects exhibited PKAR during one-legged hopping on a stationary s...

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Presenilin transgenic mice as models of Alzheimer's disease.

Brain Structure and Function — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Elder GA, Gama Sosa MA, De Gasperi R, Dickstein DL, Hof PR Mutations in presenilin-1 (PS1) and presenilin-2 (PS2) cause familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD). Presenilins influence multiple molecular pathways and are best known for their role in the gamma-secretase cleavage of type I transmembrane proteins including the amyloid precursor protein (APP). PS1 and PS2 FAD mutant transgenic mice have been generated using a variety of promoters. PS1-associated FAD mutations have also been knocked into the endogenous mouse gene. PS FAD mutant mice consistently show elevations of Abeta42 with little if any effect on Abeta40. When crossed with plaque forming APP FAD mutant lines, the PS1 FAD mutants cause earlier and more extensive plaque deposition. Although single transgenic PS1 or PS2 ...

Strain Difference in the Up-Regulation of FGF-2 Protein Following a Neurotoxic Lesion of the Nigrostriatal Pathway.

Neurochemical Research — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In this study we examined protein content of basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) in tissue samples taken from the ventral midbrain and striatum at two different time points following a neurotoxic lesion of the nigrostriatal pathway in two different rat strains, the outbred Sprague-Dawley (SD) and inbred F344 x Brown Norway F1 hybrid (F344BNF(1)). Despite both rat strains having comparable lesions of the nigrostriatal pathway, we observed a difference in the temporal up-regulation of FGF-2 in ventral midbrain samples taken from the side ipsilateral to the lesion. Basic FGF was significantly up-regulated in ventral midbrain in SD rats 1 week post-lesion while we did not observe an up-regulation of FGF-2 in the lesioned ventral midbrain of F344BNF(1) at this same time point. However, both ...

Cardioactive Protein-Hormonal Complexes of Brain and Heart.

Neurochemical Research — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Srapionyan RM, Galoyan AA New cardioactive protein-hormone complexes (PHC) are identified in magnocellular nuclei of hypothalamus. It was proved that they are specific for nervous tissues and are involved in the regulation of metabolic processes of brain and visceral organs, including the heart. PHC dissociate into high-molecular forms which are new specific glycoproteins and the low-molecular cardioactive neurohormones. Results of our own studies on the functional activities of PHC as well as cardioactive peptides in the precardiac and auricular regions of the heart with respect to the parameters of haemostasis system are reviewed. PMID: 19921431 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Neurochemical Research)

Wavelet Analysis as a Tool for Investigating Movement-Related Cortical Oscillations in EEG-fMRI Coregistration.

Brain Topography — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In this study we used EEG-fMRI to determine the possible correlation between topographical movement-related EEG changes in brain oscillatory activity recorded from EEG electrodes over the scalp and fMRI cortical responses in motor areas during finger movement. Thirty-two channels of EEG were recorded in 12 subjects during eyes-closed condition inside a three T magnetic resonance (MR) scanner using an MR-compatible EEG recording system. Off-line MRI artifact subtraction software was applied to obtain continuous EEG data during fMRI acquisition. For EEG data analysis we used a time-frequency approach to measure time by varying the energy in a signal at a given frequency band by the convolution of the EEG signal with a wavelet family in the alpha and beta bands. The correlation between the BO...

The choroid plexus response to a repeated peripheral inflammatory stimulus

BMC Neuroscience - Latest articles — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: These observations contribute to a better understanding of the brain response to peripheral inflammation and pave the way to study their impact on the progression of several disorders of the central nervous system in which inflammation is known to be implicated. (Source: BMC Neuroscience - Latest articles)

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Sustainable effects on suicidality were found for the Nuremberg alliance against depression

European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:45:35 +0100

Abstract During an intense four-level community-based intervention program conducted in Nuremberg (490,000 inhabitants) in 2001 and 2002 [Nuremberg Alliance Against Depression (NAD)], the number of suicidal acts (main outcome completed + attempted suicides) had dropped significantly (−21.7%), a significant effect compared with the baseline year and the control region (Wuerzburg, about 290,000 inhabitants). To assess the sustainability of the intervention effects the number of suicidal acts was assessed in the follow-up year (2003), after the termination of the 2-year intervention. Also, in the follow-up year (2003), the reduction in suicidal acts compared with the baseline year in Nuremberg (2000 vs. 2003: −32.4%) was significantly larger than that in the con...

Announced reward counteracts the effects of chronic social stress on anticipatory behavior and hippocampal synaptic plasticity in rats.

Experimental Brain Research — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In conclusion, announced short-term enriched housing has a high and long-lasting counteracting efficacy on stress-induced alterations of hippocampal synaptic plasticity. This information is important for counteracting the consequences of chronic stress in both human and captive rats. PMID: 19921157 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Experimental Brain Research)

Prospects for Clinical Applications of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Real-Time EEG in Epilepsy.

Brain Topography — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Rotenberg A Recent advances in methods for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) enable its coupling to real-time EEG (TMS-EEG). Although TMS-EEG is applied largely in neurophysiology research, there are prospects for its use in clinical TMS practice, particularly in epilepsy where EEG is already in wide use, and where TMS is emerging as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool. In diagnostic applications, TMS-EEG may provide a useful measure of cortical excitability at baseline or after antiepileptic treatment. For therapeutic purposes, TMS-EEG may be of use in selection of appropriate TMS strength outside of the motor cortex where the threshold for cortical activation is more apparent with the aid of EEG. In other realistic clinical applications, TMS-EEG may be of use in real-tim...

Neurobiology of Aging — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:40:38 +0100

(Source: Neurobiology of Aging)

Neurobiology of Aging — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:40:38 +0100

(Source: Neurobiology of Aging)

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Erratum to “TNFR-associated factor-2 (TRAF-2) in Alzheimer’s disease” [Culpan et al. (Neurobiol Aging 2009 July;30(7):1052-60)]

Neurobiology of Aging — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:40:38 +0100

In the article “TNFR-associated factor-2 (TRAF-2) in Alzheimer’s disease” by Culpan et al. (Neurobiol Aging 2009 July;30(7):1052-60), the 9th author’s name should be David Craig. (Source: Neurobiology of Aging)

Editorial Advisory Board

Neurobiology of Aging — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:40:35 +0100

(Source: Neurobiology of Aging)

Exploring Cortical Attentional System by Using fMRI during a Continuous Perfomance Test

Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:40:28 +0100

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed in eight healthy subjects to identify the localization, magnitude, and volume extent of activation in brain regions that are involved in blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response during the performance of Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CPT). An extensive brain network was activated during the task including frontal, temporal, and occipital cortical areas and left cerebellum. The more activated cluster in terms of volume extent and magnitude was located in the right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Analyzing the dynamic trend of the activation in the identified areas during the entire duration of the sustained attention test, we found a progressive decreasing of BOLD response probably due to a habituation effect withou...

Apogenix Receives Orphan Drug Designation For APG101 In The US And Positive Opinion On Orphan Product Designation In Europe

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0100

Apogenix GmbH, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel drugs for malignant and inflammatory diseases, announced that the European Medicines Agency adopted a positive opinion on orphan medicinal product designation for the company's lead candidate APG101 for the treatment of Glioblastoma multifome (GBM), and that it has already been granted orphan drug status in the US by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Deletion of PEA-15 in mice is associated with specific impairments of spatial learning abilities

BMC Neuroscience - Latest articles — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: We found that PEA-15 null mice have spatial learning disabilities that are similar to those of mice where ERK or RSK2 function is impaired. We suggest PEA-15 may be an essential regulator of ERK-dependent spatial learning. (Source: BMC Neuroscience - Latest articles)

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Physicians Heal Bridge To Nowhere; Iraqi Girl With Rare Neuromuscular Disorder Has New Hope

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Plagued by a growing weakness that left her unable to walk, talk and even take a normal breath, 11-year-old Iraqi Aram Ali was a shell of the bright little girl she used to be. No one could figure out what was wrong. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Hospital For Special Surgery Establishes A Comprehensive Spine Care Institute

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Hospital for Special Surgery announced the establishment of one of the most comprehensive centers of excellence in the country for the treatment of all nonoperative and operative spine disorders. The newly formed Spine Care Institute brings together a multidisciplinary team of experts in an academic setting to ensure that every need is met for a patient with a spine condition. Back pain is a widespread problem affecting 8 out of 10 people in the U.S. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Fixation disengagement enhances peripheral perceptual processing: evidence for a perceptual gap effect.

Experimental Brain Research — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Huestegge L, Koch I Temporal gaps between the offset of a central fixation stimulus and the onset of an eccentric target typically reduce saccade latencies (saccadic gap effect). Here, we test whether temporal gaps also affect perceptual performance in peripheral vision. In Experiment 1, subjects executed saccades to briefly presented peripheral target letters and reported letter identity afterwards. A central fixation stimulus either remained visible throughout the trial (overlap) or disappeared 200 ms before letter onset (gap). Experiment 2 tested perceptual performance without saccade execution, whereas Experiment 3 tested saccade execution without perceptual demands. Peripheral letter perception performance was enhanced in gap as compared to overlap conditions (perceptual ...

Kinematic analysis of the human wrist during pointing tasks.

Experimental Brain Research — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Campolo D, Formica D, Guglielmelli E, Keller F In this work, we tested the hypothesis that intrinsic kinematic constraints such as Donders' law are adopted by the brain to solve the redundancy in pointing at targets with the wrist. Ten healthy subjects were asked to point at visual targets displayed on a monitor with the three dof of the wrist. Three-dimensional rotation vectors were derived from the orientation of the wrist acquired during the execution of the motor task and numerically fitted to a quadratic surface to test Donders' law. The thickness of the Donders' surfaces, i.e., the deviation from the best fitting surface, ranged between 1 degrees and 2 degrees , for angular excursions from +/-15 degrees to +/-30 degrees . The results support the hypothesis under test, in...

Lectin-binding glycoproteins in the developing and adult snail CNS.

Brain Structure and Function — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Serfőző Z, Elekes K Glycoproteins are complex molecules of the cell surface and the extracellular matrix (ECM) playing a fundamental role in the migration, guidance and synapse formation of neurons. In the present study, the glycosylated protein composition and localization were investigated in the adult and developing CNS of an aquatic (Lymnaea stagnalis) and a terrestrial (Helix pomatia) snail species, applying lectin histochemistry and blotting. Lectin probes that are specific for N-acetyl-glucosamine (GlcNAc) oligomers frequently appeared in anatomically different regions of the adult ganglia of both species, such as, the periganglionic sheath, the interperikaryonal space and the neuropil. Different GlcNAc residues were found to intensively glycosylate five, hi...

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Hesitation phenomena: a dynamical perspective.

Cognitive Processing — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Merlo S, Barbosa PA The aim of this paper is to test if hesitation phenomena are periodically distributed in spoken language production. Twenty semi-spontaneous descriptions and narratives produced by five healthy male adults were examined in a multiple case study design. Speech was sampled at a 200 ms rate for time series generation. Fourier analysis indicated that all time series were statistically stationary, which means that speech did not become more or less fluent along each sample. Fourier analysis identified periodic cycles of hesitations in all speech samples. Therefore, hesitations were not randomly distributed in speech production; intervals with more occurrences of hesitations regularly alternated with intervals with fewer occurrences. Thus, hesitations behaved as ...

Web usability evaluation with screen reader users: implementation of the partial concurrent thinking aloud technique.

Cognitive Processing — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Stefano F, Borsci S, Stamerra G A verbal protocol technique, adopted for a web usability evaluation, requires that the users are able to perform a double task: surfing and talking. Nevertheless, when blind users surf by using a screen reader and talk about the way they interact with the computer, the evaluation is influenced by a structural interference: users are forced to think aloud and listen to the screen reader at the same time. The aim of this study is to build up a verbal protocol technique for samples of visual impaired users in order to overcome the limits of concurrent and retrospective protocols. The technique we improved, called partial concurrent thinking aloud (PCTA), integrates a modified set of concurrent verbalization and retrospective analysis. One group of ...

Dynamic sensory-motor oscillation and cerebral development.

Cognitive Processing — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Sasso G Drawing from Freud's Project, the author proposes a model of cerebral development whose sensory-motor structure is defined by a frontal-occipital oscillatory dynamic with a twofold function: the oscillation explains the formation and maintenance of mother-infant attunement in cerebral growth, while, at the same time, also explaining the functioning of the projective-introjective dynamic at the basis of psychoanalytic theory. The oscillatory dynamic, according to this perspective, operates as a "bridge" between two seminal theoretical models of developments-the psychoanalytic and the infant research model-which, in turn, leads to the formulation of some neurological hypotheses on how oscillation regulates the elaboration of maternal interaction in the infant's brain, an...

Seasonality of suicide attempts: association with gender

European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:43:50 +0100

Abstract Some studies suggest seasonality of suicide attempts in females, but not in males. The reasons for this gender difference remain unclear. Only few studies addressed the question whether gender differences in seasonality of suicide attempts reflect gender differences in the choice of method for suicide attempts, with inconsistent results. So, this study aimed to analyze the association of gender with seasonality in suicide attempts by persons living in two Northern Bavarian regions [city of Nuremberg (480,000 inhabitants) and region of Wuerzburg (270,000 inhabitants)] between 2000 and 2004. We addressed this question by focussing on the frequency of suicide attempts in relation to the seasons. The sample consisted of 2,269 suicide attempters (882 males and 1,387 fe...

Disrupted white matter integrity of corticopontine-cerebellar circuitry in schizophrenia

European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:43:49 +0100

Abstract Evidence for white matter abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia is increasing. Decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) in interhemispheric commissural fibers as well as long-ranging fronto-parietal association fibers belongs to the most frequent findings. The present study used tract-based spatial statistics to investigate white matter integrity in 35 patients with schizophrenia and 35 healthy volunteers. We found that patients exhibited significantly decreased FA relative to healthy subjects in the corpus callosum, the cerebral peduncle, the left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, the anterior thalamic radiation, the right posterior corona radiata, the middle cerebellar peduncle, and the right superior longitudinal fasciculus. Increased FA was detectable i...

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Making Memories Means New Neurons Must Erase Older Ones

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:00:00 +0100

Short-term memory may depend in a surprising way on the ability of newly formed neurons to erase older connections. That's the conclusion of a report in the November 13th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, that provides some of the first evidence in mice and rats that new neurons sprouted in the hippocampus cause the decay of short-term fear memories in that brain region, without an overall memory loss. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Human Expectation Of Pleasure Enhanced By Dopamine

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:00:00 +0100

Enhancing the effects of the brain chemical dopamine influences how people make life choices by affecting expectations of pleasure, according to new research from the UCL Institute of Neurology. The study, published in Current Biology, confirms an important role for dopamine in how human expectations are formed and how people make complex decisions. It also contributes to an understanding of how pleasure expectation can go awry, for example in drug addiction. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Response selection in dual task paradigms: observations from random generation tasks.

Experimental Brain Research — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In conclusion, the fact that during dual task performance transient bias in one task was not associated with concurrent improvement of performance in the other task indicates that alternation of supervisory control or attentional resources from one to the other task does not mediate the observed dual task costs. Resources of the central executive are not re-allocated or 'switched' from one to the other task. Dual task costs may result from mechanisms effective within each trial such as the demands of response selection. PMID: 19915828 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Experimental Brain Research)

Apoptosis and proliferation in the trigeminal placode.

Brain Structure and Function — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Knabe W, Obermayer B, Kuhn HJ, Brunnett G, Washausen S The neurogenic trigeminal placode develops from the crescent-shaped panplacodal primordium which delineates the neural plate anteriorly. We show that, in Tupaia belangeri, the trigeminal placode is represented by a field of focal ectodermal thickenings which over time changes positions from as far rostral as the level of the forebrain to as far caudal as opposite rhombomere 3. Delamination proceeds rostrocaudally from the ectoderm adjacent to the rostral midbrain, and contributes neurons to the trigeminal ganglion as well as to the ciliary ganglion/oculomotor complex. Proliferative events are centered on the field prior to the peak of delamination. They are preceded, paralleled and, finally, outnumbered by apoptotic events...

Synergy of IL-23 and Th17 Cytokines: New Light on Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Neurochemical Research — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Shen W, Durum SK Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, involve an interplay between host genetics and environmental factors including intestinal microbiota. Animal models of IBD have indicated that chronic inflammation can result from over-production of inflammatory responses or deficiencies in key negative regulatory pathways. Recent research advances in both T-helper 1 (Th1) and T-helper 17 (Th17) effect responses have offered new insights on the induction and regulation of mucosal immunity which is linked to the development of IBD. Th17 cytokines, such as IL-17 and IL-22, in combination with IL-23, play crucial roles in intestinal protection and homeostasis. IL-23 is expressed in gut mucosa and tends to orchestrate T-cell-inde...

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Using EEG to Explore How rTMS Produces Its Effects on Behavior.

Brain Topography — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Johnson JS, Hamidi M, Postle BR A commonly held view is that, when delivered during the performance of a task, repetitive TMS (rTMS) influences behavior by producing transient "virtual lesions" in targeted tissue. However, findings of rTMS-related improvements in performance are difficult to reconcile with this assumption. With regard to the mechanism whereby rTMS influences concurrent task performance, a combined rTMS/EEG study conducted in our lab has revealed a complex set of relations between rTMS, EEG activity, and behavioral performance, with the effects of rTMS on power in the alpha band and on alpha:gamma phase synchrony each predicting its effect on behavior. These findings suggest that rTMS influences performance by biasing endogenous task-related oscillatory dynamic...

The Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management.

Cognitive Processing — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Travis F The work at the Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition is summarized. PMID: 19915880 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Cognitive Processing)

NPY Y2R and IHC-Mouse Distal Colon

Neuromics — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:25:00 +0100

Lixin Wang, Guillaume Gourcerol, Pu-Qing Yuan, S. Vincent Wu, Mulugeta Million, Muriel Larauche, and Yvette Taché. Peripheral peptide YY inhibits propulsive colonic motor function through Y2 receptor in conscious mice. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol (November 5, 2009). doi:10.1152/ajpgi.00349.2009. ...Note: Excellent IHC staining of myenteric plexus and submucosal (mouse distal colon) tissue-Free floating submucosal and LMMP whole mounts of both proximal and distal colon from 3 naïve mice were treated in 10% normal goat serum each for 30 min, and followed by incubation with polyclonal rabbit anti- NPY Y2 Receptor diluted at 1:1,000 (Neuromics, Inc., Edina, MN)...Related Antibodies to Consider:NPY Y2 Receptor-C/N TerminusNPY Y1 ReceptorppNPYAll Neuropeptide and Neuropeptide Recep...

More Pubs Referencing Neuromics' mGluRs

Neuromics — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:58:00 +0100

Jakob S. Satz, Alisdair R. Philp, Huy Nguyen, Hajime Kusano, Jane Lee, Rolf Turk, Megan J. Riker, Jasmine Hernández, Robert M. Weiss, Michael G. Anderson, Robert F. Mullins, Steven A. Moore, Edwin M. Stone, and Kevin P. Campbell. Visual Impairment in the Absence of Dystroglycan. J. Neurosci., Oct 2009; 29: 13136 - 13146 ; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0474-09.2009. ....anti-mGluR6 (Neuromics)...Lasani S. Wijetunge, Sally M. Till, Thomas H. Gillingwater, Cali A. Ingham, and Peter C. Kind. mGluR5 Regulates Glutamate-Dependent Development of the Mouse Somatosensory Cortex. The Journal of Neuroscience, December 3, 2008, 28(49):13028-13037; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2600-08.2008....Western blotting was performed as mentioned above and membranes were probed with antibodies against mGluR5 (1:4000, Neuromics...

Discoveries At NJIT Including Drug To Stop Brain Injury Receives $1.4M Funding

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0100

A drug to stop bleeding during a brain injury and a mattress that will prevent bedsores are among the scientific discoveries at NJIT that received earlier this week more than a million dollars in funding from the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology. The discoveries are the work of five early stage companies based at NJIT's Enterprise Development Center (EDC), the state's oldest business incubator program. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

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In Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Treatment, More Pain Means Real Gain

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0100

The saying "more pain, more gain" may be true for those already in terrible pain due to a chronic and debilitating condition, contrary to received wisdom. For those with Type I Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), working through the pain of an aggressive physiotherapy program often leads to far better results than a more cautious pain-free approach. That was the result of a new study in Clinical Rehabilitation, published this week by SAGE. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Geron Collaborators Publish Data On HESC-Derived Glial Progenitor Cell Therapy In Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:00:00 +0100

Geron Corporation (Nasdaq:GERN) announced the publication of data showing that oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), when transplanted into a rodent model of cervical spinal cord injury, reduced tissue damage within the lesion and improved recovery of locomotor function. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Duration of untreated illness and suicide in bipolar disorder: a naturalistic study

European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:48:39 +0100

Abstract The aim of this naturalistic study was to evaluate the potential influence of the duration of untreated illness (DUI)—defined as the time elapsed between the occurrence of the first mood episode and the first adequate pharmacological treatment with mood stabilizers—on the clinical course of bipolar disorder (BD). Three hundred and twenty outpatients (n = 320) with a DSM-IV diagnosis of BD—either Type I or Type II—were interviewed; their clinical features were collected and they were naturalistically followed-up for 5 years. At the end of the follow-up observation, the sample was subdivided into two groups: one group with a DUI ≤2 years (n = 65) and another group with a DUI >2 years (n = 255). The main demogra...

The neural-glial purinergic receptor ensemble in chronic pain states.

Trends in Neurosciences — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Jarvis MF Chronic pain is characterized by enhanced sensory neurotransmission that underlies increased sensitivity to noxious stimuli and the perception of non-noxious stimuli as painful. Evidence from neurophysiological and pharmacological studies demonstrates that ATP produces pain by directly enhancing neuronal excitability via the activation of specific ligand-gated ion channels, the P2X3 and P2X2/3 receptors. In addition, ATP activates CNS glial cells (e.g. microglia) in response to persistent nociceptive stimulation. This latter effect involves several distinct receptor-mediated signaling pathways linked to the P2X4, P2X7 and P2Y(12) receptors. This review summarizes new data that places these purinergic signaling events in a mechanistic context that illustrates the abil...

Dopamine, Morphine, and Nitric Oxide: An Evolutionary Signaling Triad.

CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Stefano GB, Kream RM Morphine biosynthesis in relatively simple and complex integrated animal systems has been demonstrated. Key enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway have also been identified, that is, CYP2D6 and COMT. Endogenous morphine appears to exert highly selective actions via novel mu opiate receptor subtypes, that is, mu3,-4, which are coupled to constitutive nitric oxide release, exerting general yet specific down regulatory actions in various animal tissues. The pivotal role of dopamine as a chemical intermediate in the morphine biosynthetic pathway in plants establishes a functional basis for its expansion into an essential role as the progenitor catecholamine signaling molecule underlying neural and neuroendocrine transmission across diverse animal phyla. In invert...

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Effects of N-Acetylcysteine/Deferoxamine, Taurine and RC-3095 on Respiratory Chain Complexes and Creatine Kinase Activities in Rat Brain After Sepsis.

Neurochemical Research — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Cassol OJ, Rezin GT, Petronilho FC, Scaini G, Gonçalves CL, Ferreira GK, Roesler R, Schwartsmann G, Dal-Pizzol F, Streck EL The pathogenesis of sepsis is characterized by an overwhelming systemic inflammatory response that can lead to multiple organ failure. Considering that we have recently demonstrated that mitochondrial respiratory chain and creatine kinase (CK) are altered in the brain of rats after cecal ligation and perforation (CLP) and that a combination of N-acetylcysteine/deferoxamine (NAC/DFX), taurine and RC-3095 were shown to be an effective treatment of sepsis, we investigated whether the alterations of these enzymes may be reversed by these drugs. The results demonstrated that CLP inhibited complexes I and II, and that all the treatments were able to revers...

Lead Affects Apoptosis and Related Gene XIAP and Smac Expression in the Hippocampus of Developing Rats.

Neurochemical Research — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Liu J, Han D, Li Y, Zheng L, Gu C, Piao Z, Au WW, Xu X, Huo X Lead (Pb) exposure poses devastating effects on central nervous system development of children. To replicate aspects of this neurotoxicity, we examined the effect of lead on the expression of apoptosis and of apoptosis-related genes, XIAP (X chromosome-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein) and Smac (second mitochondrial activator of caspase), in the hippocampus of developing rats. A total of 48 rats (30-day old) were randomly divided into four groups for intragastrical perfusion of lead acetate [Pb(Ac)(2)]: untreated, low (2 mg/kg/d), medium (20 mg/kg/d), and high (200 mg/kg/d) dose groups. Pb content was determined in blood, and the apoptosis indexes and XIAP and Smac gene expression were analyzed in the hippocamp...

Status epilepticus affects the gigantocellular network of the pontine reticular formation

BMC Neuroscience - Latest articles — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: We argue that the observed slow oscillation corresponds to the late periodic epileptiform discharge phase of status epilepticus, and that the PRF may be involved in the progression of status epilepticus. (Source: BMC Neuroscience - Latest articles)

Anti-depressant and anxiolytic like behaviors in PKCI/HINT1 knockout mice associated with elevated plasma corticosterone level

BMC Neuroscience - Latest articles — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: PKCI/HINT1 KO mice displayed a phenotype of behavioral and endocrine features which indicate changes of mood function, including anxiolytic-like and anti-depressant like behaviors, in conjunction with an elevated corticosterone level in plasma. These results suggest that the PKCI/HINT 1 gene could be important for the mood regulation function in the CNS. (Source: BMC Neuroscience - Latest articles)

The development of automated access to symbolic and non-symbolic number knowledge in children: an ERP study

European Journal of Neuroscience — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Infants can visually detect changes in numerosity, which suggests that a (non-symbolic) numerosity system is already present early in life. This non-symbolic system is hypothesized to serve as the basis for the later acquired symbolic system. Little is known about the processes underlying the transition from the non-symbolic to symbolic code. In the current study we investigated the development of automatization of symbolic number processing in children from second (6.0 years) and fourth grade (8.0 years) and adults using a symbolic and non-symbolic size congruency task and event-related potentials (ERPs) as a measure. The comparison between symbolic and non-symbolic size congruency effects (SCEs) allowed us to disentangle processes necessary to perform the task from processes specific to ...

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New Way To Biopsy Brain Tumors In Real Time Identified By Barrow Study

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0100

A new miniature, hand-held microscope may allow more precise removal of brain tumors and an easier recognition of tumor locations during surgery. Neurosurgeons at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center are using the new miniature laser confocal microscope to view brain tumor regions during surgery and obtain digital images of the tumor and brain tissue. This was not previously possible without taking biopsies of the tissue. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Mouse Gene Suppresses Alzheimer's Plaques And Tangles

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0100

Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and colleagues have identified a novel mouse gene (Rps23r1) that reduces the accumulation of two toxic proteins that are major players in Alzheimer's disease: amyloid beta and tau. The amyloid and tau lowering functions of this gene were demonstrated in both human and mouse cells. Amyloid beta is responsible for the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Tau causes the tangles found within patients' brain cells. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Neural correlates (ERP/fMRI) of voluntary selection in adult ADHD patients

European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:51:24 +0100

Abstract Deficits in executive functions, e.g. voluntary selection, are considered central to the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The aim of this simultaneous EEG/fMRI study was to examine associated neural correlates in ADHD patients. Patients with ADHD and healthy subjects performed an adapted go/nogo task including a voluntary selection condition allowing participants to freely decide, whether to press the response button. Electrophysiologically, response inhibition and voluntary selection led to fronto-central responses. The fMRI data revealed increased medial/lateral frontal and parietal activity during the voluntary selection task. Frontal brain responses were reduced in ADHD patients compared to controls during free responses, whereas parietal brain...

Medtronic Introduces MASTERGRAFT(R) Strip For Spinal Surgeries

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) announced the full U.S. market release of MASTERGRAFT® Strip - a new, highly flexible ceramic scaffold intended for use in combination with a patient's own bone for fusing multiple levels of the posterolateral spine. The full market release was announced today at the 24th Annual meeting of the North American Spine Society (NASS) in San Francisco. MASTERGRAFT Strip was cleared by the U.S. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Electrodermal complexity during the Stroop Colour Word Test.

Autonomic Neuroscience — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Svetlak M, Bob P, Cernik M, Kukleta M Several recent studies suggest that quantitative description of signal complexity using algorithms of nonlinear analysis could uncover new information about the autonomic system that is not reflected using common methods applied to measures of autonomic activity. With this aim we have performed complexity analysis of electrodermal activity (EDA) assessed in 106 healthy university students during rest conditions and non-conflicting and conflicting Stroop task. Complexity analysis applied to EDA was performed using Skinner's algorithm for pointwise correlation dimension (PD2). Results have shown that EDA responses during the Stroop Colour Word test are related to significantly increased or decreased complexity. Particularly significant resul...

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Alterations in sympathetic neuroeffector transmission to mesenteric arteries but not veins in DOCA-salt hypertension.

Autonomic Neuroscience — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Park J, Galligan JJ, Fink GD, Swain GM We studied hypertension-associated changes in prejunctional alpha(2) adrenergic receptor (alpha(2)-AR) function using amperometry to monitor in vitro norepinephrine (NE) measured as oxidation currents. Vasoconstriction was measured using video imaging. NE release was induced by electrical stimulation of sympathetic nerves associated with mesenteric arteries (MA) and veins (MV) of sham and DOCA-salt hypertensive rats. NE oxidation currents were larger in DOCA-salt compared to sham MA; there were no differences between currents in sham and DOCA-salt MV. Increases in NE oxidation currents followed a multi-exponential time course in sham MA. In DOCA-salt MA and sham and DOCA-salt MV, the time course was mono-exponential. Yohimbine (alpha(2)-A...

Editorial: Special Issue Neurovision.

Experimental Brain Research — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Eysel UT, Hoffmann KP PMID: 19908034 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Experimental Brain Research)

Balance dysfunction resulting from acute inner ear energy failure is caused primarily by vestibular hair cell damage

Journal of Neuroscience Research — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Inner ear energy failure is associated with disorders such as inner ear ischemia. Recently, we used the mitochondrial toxin 3-nitropropionic acid (3-NP) to establish an animal model of inner ear energy failure that presents with auditory dysfunction. Here we investigated the mechanisms underlying balance disorders in the 3-NP animal model. Spontaneous nystagmus peaked 6 hr after treatment with either 300 mM or 500 mM 3-NP. The nystagmus attenuated gradually and disappeared 3 days after 3-NP treatment. A caloric test using ice water was performed to evaluate residual vestibular function 7 days after 3-NP treatment. The response to caloric stimulation was reduced to [sim]40% of the response of the untreated ear following 300 mM 3-NP and was undetectable following 500 mM 3-NP. Structural chan...

TAU Develops Innovative Algorithms To Combat Growth Restrictions Before Birth - For Healthy Hearts

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0100

When a fetus is smaller than expected for the number of weeks of pregnancy, due to associated problems like a poorly developed heart, health concerns as severe as brain damage can result. The condition, known as Intra-uterine growth restriction (IUGR), prompts doctors to use ultrasound to track a baby's health and determine the best time for delivery. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

The Formation Of Lasting Memories Deciphered By Scientists

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0100

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered a mechanism that controls the brain's ability to create lasting memories. In experiments on genetically manipulated mice, they were able to switch on and off the animals' ability to form lasting memories by adding a substance to their drinking water. The findings, which are published in the scientific journal PNAS, are of potential significance to the future treatment of Alzheimer's and stroke. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

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Perception Of Pain Affected By Emotions

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0100

Getting a flu shot this fall? Canadians scientists have found that focusing on a pretty image could alleviate the sting of that vaccine. According to a new UniversitÃ© de MontrÃ©al study, published in the latest edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), negative and positive emotions have a direct impact on pain. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Reinforcement learning, conditioning, and the brain: Successes and challenges.

Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:32:27 +0100

This article provides an introduction to reinforcement learning followed by an examination of the successes and challenges using reinforcement learning to understand the neural bases of conditioning. Successes reviewed include (1) the mapping of positive and negative prediction errors to the firing of dopamine neurons and neurons in the lateral habenula, respectively; (2) the mapping of model-based and model-free reinforcement learning to associative and sensorimotor cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuits, respectively; and (3) the mapping of actor and critic to the dorsal and ventral striatum, respectively. Challenges reviewed consist of several behavioral and neural findings that are at odds with standard reinforcement-learning models, including, among others, evidence for hyper...

Aging and the neuroeconomics of decision making: A review.

Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:32:24 +0100

Authors: Brown SB, Ridderinkhof KR Neuroeconomics refers to a combination of paradigms derived from neuroscience, psychology, and economics for the study of decision making and is an area that has received considerable scientific attention in the recent literature. Using realistic laboratory tasks, researchers seek to study the neurocognitive processes underlying economic decision making and outcome-based decision learning, as well as individual differences in these processes and the social and affective factors that modulate them. To this point, one question has remained largely unanswered: What happens to decision-making processes and their neural substrates during aging? After all, aging is associated with neurocognitive change, which may affect outcome-based decision making. In our...

Emotion and motor preparation: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study of corticospinal motor tract excitability.

Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:32:22 +0100

Authors: Coombes SA, Tandonnet C, Fujiyama H, Janelle CM, Cauraugh JH, Summers JJ In the present study, we examined whether preparing motor responses under different emotional conditions alters motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation delivered to the motor cortex. Analyses revealed three findings: (1) Reaction times were expedited during exposure to unpleasant images, as compared with pleasant and neutral images; (2) force amplitude was greater during exposure to unpleasant images, as compared with pleasant and neutral images; and (3) MEPs were larger while participants viewed unpleasant images, as compared with neutral images. Hence, coupling the preparation of motor responses with the viewing of emotional images led to arousal-driven changes in co...

Affective processing within 1/10th of a second: High arousal is necessary for early facilitative processing of negative but not positive words.

Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:32:19 +0100

Authors: Hofmann MJ, Kuchinke L, Tamm S, Võ ML, Jacobs AM Lexical decisions to high- and low-arousal negative words and to low-arousal neutral and positive words were examined in an event-related potentials (ERP) study. Reaction times to positive and high-arousal negative words were shorter than those to neutral (low-arousal) words, whereas those to low-arousal negative words were longer. A similar pattern was observed in an early time window of the ERP response: Both positive and high-arousal negative words elicited greater negative potentials in a time frame of 80 to 120 msec after stimulus onset. This result suggests that arousal has a differential impact on early lexical processing of positive and negative words. Source localization in the relevant time frame revealed that the...

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Eye-movement assessment of the time course in facial expression recognition: Neurophysiological implications.

Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:32:16 +0100

Authors: Calvo MG, Nummenmaa L Happy, surprised, disgusted, angry, sad, fearful, and neutral faces were presented extrafoveally, with fixations on faces allowed or not. The faces were preceded by a cue word that designated the face to be saccaded in a two-alternative forced-choice discrimination task (2AFC; Experiments 1 and 2), or were followed by a probe word for recognition (Experiment 3). Eye tracking was used to decompose the recognition process into stages. Relative to the other expressions, happy faces (1) were identified faster (as early as 160 msec from stimulus onset) in extrafoveal vision, as revealed by shorter saccade latencies in the 2AFC task; (2) required less encoding effort, as indexed by shorter first fixations and dwell times; and (3) required less decision-making e...

Identity modulates short-term memory for facial emotion.

Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:32:13 +0100

Authors: Galster M, Kahana MJ, Wilson HR, Sekuler R For some time, the relationship between processing of facial expression and facial identity has been in dispute. Using realistic synthetic faces, we reexamined this relationship for both perception and short-term memory. In Experiment 1, subjects tried to identify whether the emotional expression on a probe stimulus face matched the emotional expression on either of two remembered faces that they had just seen. The results showed that identity strongly influenced recognition short-term memory for emotional expression. In Experiment 2, subjects' similarity/dissimilarity judgments were transformed by multidimensional scaling (MDS) into a 2-D description of the faces' perceptual representations. Distances among stimuli in the MDS represe...

The effect of trial-to-trial feedback on the error-related negativity and its relationship with anxiety.

Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:32:11 +0100

Authors: Olvet DM, Hajcak G Individuals with anxiety disorders and related personality traits are characterized by increased error-related brain activity, as measured by the error-related negativity (ERN) in simple speeded response tasks. An absent, or opposite, relation between anxiety and the ERN has been reported in studies that employed reinforcement learning paradigms with trial-to-trial feedback. Understanding the effect of trial-to-trial feedback on the ERN may help clarify these results and can further elucidate the impact of feedback on performance monitoring. In the present study, 30 undergraduate participants performed two versions of the arrowhead version of the flanker task in counterbalanced order: one with trial-to-trial feedback and one without. The participants were sl...

Stimulus and response conflict processing during perceptual decision making.

Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:32:08 +0100

Authors: Wendelken C, Ditterich J, Bunge SA, Carter CS Encoding and dealing with conflicting information is essential for successful decision making in a complex environment. In the present fMRI study, stimulus conflict and response conflict are contrasted in the context of a perceptual decision-making dot-motion discrimination task. Stimulus conflict was manipulated by varying dot-motion coherence along task-relevant and task-irrelevant dimensions. Response conflict was manipulated by varying whether or not competing stimulus dimensions provided evidence for the same or different responses. The right inferior frontal gyrus was involved specifically in the resolution of stimulus conflict, whereas the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex was shown to be sensitive to response conflict. Addit...

P50 sensory gating is related to performance on select tasks of cognitive inhibition.

Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:32:05 +0100

Authors: Yadon CA, Bugg JM, Kisley MA, Davalos DB P50 suppression deficits have been documented in clinical and nonclinical populations, but the behavioral correlates of impaired auditory sensory gating remain poorly understood. In the present study, we examined the relationship between P50 gating and healthy adults' performance on cognitive inhibition tasks. On the basis of load theory (Lavie, Hirst, de Fockert, & Viding, 2004), we predicted that a high perceptual load, a possible consequence of poor auditory P50 sensory gating, would have differential (i.e., positive vs. negative) effects on performance of cognitive inhibition tasks. A dissociation was observed such that P50 gating was negatively related to interference resolution on a Stroop task and positively related to respon...

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Neuroimmunology: Crawling into the brain

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 834 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrn2765 Author: Lucy Bird A study involving real-time imaging of effector T cells provides new insight into how autoreactive T cells interact with cerebral structures and access the central nervous system (CNS) to cause autoimmune disease.Flügel and colleagues induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in rats with intravenous injection of (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

Learning and memory: Dopamine drives the circuit

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 832 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrn2764 Author: Leonie Welberg Flies rely on their sense of smell to navigate their environment. Mushroom body neurons have a key role in olfactory memory, but little is known about the circuits that provide these cells with relevant information. Two studies now identify distinct dopaminergic projections to specific mushroom (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

Neurodegenerative disease: APP: what's on the inside matters

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 836 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrn2760 Author: Katherine Whalley Cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) at the cell surface produces extracellular amyloid-β peptides (Aβ) and the APP intracellular domain, AICD. The predominant hypotheses in the Alzheimer's disease (AD) field have traditionally focused on a causative role for Aβ; however, a new (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

Plasticity and stability of visual field maps in adult primary visual cortex

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Brian A. Wandell & Stelios M. Smirnakis It is important to understand the balance between cortical plasticity and stability in various systems and across spatial scales in the adult brain. Here we review studies of adult plasticity in primary visual cortex (V1), which has a key role in distributing visual information. There (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

Understanding microRNAs in neurodegeneration

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Stephen M. Eacker, Ted M. Dawson & Valina L. Dawson Interest in the functions of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the nervous system has recently expanded to include their roles in neurodegeneration. Investigations have begun to reveal the influence of miRNAs on both neuronal survival and the accumulation of toxic proteins that are associated with neurodegeneration, and (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

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A new perspective on the role of the orbitofrontal cortex in adaptive behaviour

Nature Reviews Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Geoffrey Schoenbaum, Matthew R. Roesch, Thomas A. Stalnaker & Yuji K. Takahashi The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is crucial for changing established behaviour in the face of unexpected outcomes. This function has been attributed to the role of the OFC in response inhibition or to the idea that the OFC is a rapidly flexible associative-learning area. However, recent (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

Regional specificity in dopamine signaling during reward-related learning(Commentary on Aragona et al.)

European Journal of Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

(Source: European Journal of Neuroscience)

Context-specific modulation of cocaine-induced locomotor sensitization and ERK and CREB phosphorylation in the rat nucleus accumbens

European Journal of Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Learned associations are hypothesized to develop between drug effects and contextual stimuli during repeated drug administration to produce context-specific sensitization that is expressed only in the drug-associated environment and not in a non-drug-paired environment. The neuroadaptations that mediate such context-specific behavior are largely unknown. We investigated context-specific modulation of cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB) phosphorylation and that of four upstream kinases in the nucleus accumbens that phosphorylate CREB, including extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), cAMP-dependent protein kinase, calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase (CaMK) II and CaMKIV. Rats received seven once-daily injections of cocaine or saline in one of two distinct environments outside ...

Cerebellar involvement in timing accuracy of rhythmic finger movements in essential tremor

European Journal of Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The cerebellum is involved in the generation of essential tremor (ET) and cerebellar timing function is altered in patients with ET showing an increased variability of rhythmic hand movements. Using a sensor-engineered glove, we evaluated motor behaviour during repetitive finger tapping movements in 15 patients with ET and in 11 age- and gender-matched normal subjects. In addition, we investigated whether, in patients with ET, an inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (1 Hz-rTMS) over lateral cerebellum was able to change timing properties and motor behaviour. Patients with ET showed a longer touch duration (TD) and a lower inter tapping interval (ITI) than normal subjects. The temporal variability of the movement (coefficient of variation of ITI) was increased in patients...

Molecular neuroimaging in rodents: assessing receptor expression and function

European Journal of Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Multimodal non-invasive neuroimaging in rodents constitutes an attractive tool for studying neurobiological processes in vivo. At present, imaging studies of brain anatomy and function as well as the investigation of structure[ndash]function relationships belong to the standard repertoire of neuroscientists. Molecular imaging adds a new perspective. The mapping of the receptor distribution and receptor occupancy can nowadays be complemented by specific readouts of receptor function either by visualizing the activity of signaling pathways or mapping the physiological consequences of receptor stimulation. Molecular information is obtained through the use of imaging probes that combine a target-specific ligand with a reporter moiety that generates a signal that can be detected from outside th...

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Orbitofrontal inactivation impairs reversal of Pavlovian learning by interfering with 'disinhibition' of responding for previously unrewarded cues

European Journal of Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is critical for reversal learning. Reversal deficits are typically demonstrated in complex settings that combine Pavlovian and instrumental learning. Yet recent work has implicated the OFC specifically in behaviors guided by cues and the features of the specific outcomes they predict. To test whether the OFC is important for reversing such Pavlovian associations in the absence of confounding instrumental requirements, we trained rats on a simple Pavlovian task in which two auditory cues were presented, one paired with a food pellet reward and the other presented without reward. After learning, we reversed the cue[ndash]outcome associations. For half the rats, OFC was inactivated prior to each reversal session. Inactivation of OFC impaired the ability of the rats ...

Memory-guided saccade processing in visual form agnosia (patient DF).

Experimental Brain Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Rossit S, Szymanek L, Butler SH, Harvey M According to Milner and Goodale's model (The visual brain in action, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006) areas in the ventral visual stream mediate visual perception and off-line actions, whilst regions in the dorsal visual stream mediate the on-line visual control of action. Strong evidence for this model comes from a patient (DF), who suffers from visual form agnosia after bilateral damage to the ventro-lateral occipital region, sparing V1. It has been reported that she is normal in immediate reaching and grasping, yet severely impaired when asked to perform delayed actions. Here we investigated whether this dissociation would extend to saccade execution. Neurophysiological studies and TMS work in humans have shown that the poster...

Fitts's Law violation and motor imagery: are imagined movements truthful or lawful?

Experimental Brain Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Radulescu PV, Adam JJ, Fischer MH, Pratt J Fitts's Law for the timing of targeted movements states that, when target width is held constant, movement time (MT) will increase as the travelled distance increases. Even imagined movements, mentally simulated actions without actual actions, obey Fitts's Law. Recently, a violation of Fitts's Law has been reported; when targets occur in a structured array, MT to the farthest target is shorter than that predicted by Fitts's Law. We conducted two experiments to determine if the violation also occurs for imagined movements. Results showed a close correspondence between real and imaginary MTs across target locations, including the Fitts's violation for the farthest target. We conclude that the violation of Fitts's Law occurs in motor ima...

Recent Developments in the Understanding of Astrocyte Function in the Cerebellum In Vivo.

Cerebellum — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Hoogland TM, Kuhn B Several studies have contributed to our understanding of astrocytes, especially Bergmann glia, in the cerebellum; but, until recently, none has looked at their function in vivo. Multicell bolus loading of fluorescent calcium indicators in combination with the astrocytic marker SR101 has allowed imaging of up to hundreds of astrocytes at once in the intact cerebellum. In addition, the selective targeting of astrocytes with fluorescent calcium indicator proteins has enabled the study of their function in vivo without the confounding effects of other neuropil signals and with a resolution that surpasses multicell bolus loading and SR101 staining. The two astrocyte types of the cerebellar cortex, Bergmann glia, and velate protoplasmic astrocytes display a diver...

Striatal action-learning based on dopamine concentration.

Experimental Brain Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Morris G, Schmidt R, Bergman H The reinforcement learning hypothesis of dopamine function predicts that dopamine acts as a teaching signal by governing synaptic plasticity in the striatum. Induced changes in synaptic strength enable the cortico-striatal network to learn a mapping between situations and actions that lead to a reward. A review of the relevant neurophysiology of dopamine function in the cortico-striatal network and the machine reinforcement learning hypothesis reveals an apparent mismatch with recent electrophysiological studies. It was found that in addition to the well-described reward-related responses, a subpopulation of dopamine neurons also exhibits phasic responses to aversive stimuli or to cues predicting aversive stimuli. Obviously, actions that lead to ...

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Editors List From 1976 To 2009.

Neurochemical Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: PMID: 19904604 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Neurochemical Research)

Fatty Acid Composition of Frontal, Temporal and Parietal Neocortex in the Normal Human Brain and in Alzheimer's Disease.

Neurochemical Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Fraser T, Tayler H, Love S Dietary omega3-polyunsaturated fatty acids are thought to influence the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and supplemental docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3) has been reported to reduce neurodegeneration in mouse models of AD. We have analysed the fatty acid composition of frontal, temporal and parietal neocortex in 58 normal and 114 AD brains. Significant reductions were found for stearic acid (18:0) in frontal and temporal cortex and arachidonic acid (20:4n-6) in temporal cortex in AD, and increases in oleic acid in frontal and temporal cortex (18:1n-9) and palmitic acid (16:0) in parietal cortex. DHA level varied more in AD than controls but the mean values were not significantly different. Fatty acid composition was not related to APOE genotype,...

Differing in vitro survival dependency of mouse and rat NG2+ oligodendroglial progenitor cells

Journal of Neuroscience Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This study demonstrates a difference in trophic requirements between mouse and rat OPCs, with an essential role for cAMP signaling to preserve viability of mouse OPCs. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. (Source: Journal of Neuroscience Research)

Description of distributed features of the nestin-containing cells in brains of adult mice: A potential source of neural precursor cells

Journal of Neuroscience Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The distribution of neural precursor cells (NPCs) in adult mice brain has so far not been described. Therefore, we investigated the distribution of NPCs by analyzing the nestin-containing cells (NCCs) in distinct brain regions of adult nestin second-intron enhancer-controlled LacZ reporter transgenic mice through LacZ staining. Results showed that NCCs existed in various regions of adult mouse brain. In cerebellum, the greatest number of NCCs existed in cortex of the simple lobule, followed by cortex of the cerebellar lobule. In olfactory bulb, NCCs were most numerous in the granular cell layer, followed by the mitral cell layer and the internal plexiform, glomerular, and external plexiform layers. In brain nuclei (nu), NCCs were most numerous in the marginal nu, followed by the brainstem ...

CCAAT/enhancer binding protein delta in microglial activation

Journal of Neuroscience Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In this report, using murine primary cultures and BV2 cells we clearly demonstrate that C/EBP[delta] is expressed by microglia and it is upregulated in microglial activation. Lipopolysaccharide upregulates C/EBP[delta] both in microglia and in astrocytes. This effect is time-dependent, with a maximum effect at 3 hr at mRNA level and at 4-8 hr at protein level, and concentration-dependent, with a maximum effect at 100 ng/mL. The lipopolysaccharide-induced C/EBP[delta] upregulation in BV2 microglia is mimicked by agonists of the toll-like receptors 2, 3 and 9 and can be prevented by an inhibitor of extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation. C/EBP[delta] from activated BV2 microglia binds to the cyclooxygenase-2 promoter and forms complexes with C/EBP[beta] isoforms. These results poin...

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Alterations in GluR2 AMPA receptor phosphorylation at serine 880 following group I metabotropic glutamate receptor stimulation in the rat dorsal striatum

Journal of Neuroscience Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In this study, we investigated the regulation of [alpha]-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA) receptor phosphorylation by thestimulation of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) in the dorsal striatum in vivo. The results showed that intrastriatal infusion of the group I mGluR agonist, (RS)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG, 250 nmol), enhanced the sensitivity of GluR2 subunit in its phosphorylation at serine 880 (S880) in the dorsal striatum. This enhancement of the sensitivity of GluR2-S880 phosphorylation was reduced by blocking group I mGluRs and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. Similar reduction of the enhancement was also induced by inhibiting phospholipase C (PLC), calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)...

Low levels of citrin (SLC25A13) expression in adult mouse brain restricted to neuronal clusters

Journal of Neuroscience Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The mitochondrial aspartate-glutamate carriers (AGC) aralar (SLC25A12) and citrin (SLC25A13) are components of the malate aspartate shuttle (MAS), a major intracellular pathway to transfer reducing equivalents from NADH to the mitochondrial matrix. Aralar is the main AGC isoform present in the adult brain, and it is expressed mainly in neurons. To search for the other AGC isoform, citrin, in brain glial cells, we used a citrin knockout mouse in which the lacZ gene was inserted into the citrin locus as reporter gene. In agreement with the low citrin levels known to be present in the adult mouse brain, [beta]-galactosidase expression was very low. Surprisingly, unlike the case with astroglial cultures that express citrin, no [beta]-galactosidase was found in brain glial cells. It was confine...

Tau hyperphosphorylation and axonal damage induced by N,N-diethyldithiocarbamate (DEDTC) treatment along late postnatal development is followed by a rescue during adulthood

Journal of Neuroscience Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Axonal degeneration has been described as the pathological hallmark of peripheral neuropathies induced by DEDTC. In addition, axonal damage has also been observed in the brain of mice treated daily with DEDTC along postnatal development, though with this experimental model there was observed to be axonal recovery after treatment, during the adulthood. To focus on this axonal dynamic activity, damage-recovery, a key axonal protein, the microtubule associated protein tau, was analyzed in this DEDTC model. Tau is a phosphoprotein and its dynamic site-specific phosphorylation is essential for its proper function; in fact, high levels are correlated with cell dysfunction. Furthermore, the levels of tau phosphorylation are associated with dynamic microtubules during periods of high plasticity. T...

Peptides derived from the solvent-exposed loops 3 and 4 of BDNF bind TrkB and p75NTR receptors and stimulate neurite outgrowth and survival

Journal of Neuroscience Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is critically involved in modeling the developing nervous system and is an important regulator of a variety of crucial functions in the mature CNS. BDNF exerts its action through interactions with two transmembrane receptors, either separately or in concert. BDNF has been implicated in several neurological disorders, and irregularities in BDNF function may have severe consequences. Administration of BDNF as a drug has thus far yielded few practicable results, and the potential side effects when using a multifunctional protein are substantial. In an effort to produce more specific compounds without side effects, small peptides mimicking protein function have been developed. The present study characterized two mimetic peptides, Betrofin 3 and Betrofin...

Sonic hedgehog (SHH) promotes the differentiation of mouse cochlear neural progenitors via the Math1-Brn3.1 signaling pathway in vitro

Journal of Neuroscience Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In this study, we demonstrated that SHH contributes to the differentiation of cochlear neural progenitors (CNPs), which are derived from the postnatal day 1 organ of Corti in mice. Addition of SHH to CNPs increased the formation of epithelial cell islands, simultaneously activated the expression of Math1 that is a transcription factor for the initial differentiation of auditory hair cells. The increased expression of Math1 then regulated the promoter activity of Brn3.1, another transcription factor that controls the further differentiation and survival of auditory hair cells. Taken together, our data suggest that SHH plays an important role in the promotion of auditory hair cell differentiation via the Math1-Brn3.1 signaling pathway. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. (Source: Journal of Neuroscienc...

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Maternal caffeine intake during gestation and lactation down-regulates adenosine A1 receptor in rat brain from mothers and neonates

Journal of Neuroscience Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Even though caffeine can be excreted in breast milk, few studies have analyzed the effect of maternal caffeine consumption during lactation on neonatal brain. In the present work pregnant rats were treated daily with 1 g/L of caffeine in their drinking water during pregnancy and/or lactation and the effect on adenosine A1 receptor in brains from both lactating mothers and 15 days-old neonates was assayed using radioligand binding and real time PCR assays. Mothers receiving caffeine during gestational period developed motor activation in gestational days 8-10 which was associated with a significant decrease of total adenosine A1 receptor number (84%). A similar decrease was detected in mothers treated with caffeine during lactation (76%) and throughout gestation and lactation (73%); this wa...

Promoting directional axon growth from neural progenitors grafted into the injured spinal cord

Journal of Neuroscience Research — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This study investigated the neurotransmitter identity and axonal growth potential of neural progenitors following grafting into adult rats with a dorsal column lesion. We found that using a combination of neuronal and glial restricted progenitors (NRP and GRP) produced graft-derived glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons within the injury site, with minimal axonal extension. Administration of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) with the graft promoted modest axonal growth from grafted cells. In contrast, injecting a lentiviral vector expressing BDNF rostral into the injured area generated a neurotrophin gradient and promoted directional growth of axons for up to 9 mm. Animals injected with BDNF lentivirus (at 2.5 and 5.0 mm) showed significantly more axons and significantly longer axons ...

Subjective mental time: the functional architecture of projecting the self to past and future

European Journal of Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Human experience takes place in the line of mental time (MT) created through 'self-projection' of oneself to different time-points in the past or future. Here we manipulated self-projection in MT not only with respect to one's life events but also with respect to one's faces from different past and future time-points. Behavioural and event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging activity showed three independent effects characterized by (i) similarity between past recollection and future imagination, (ii) facilitation of judgements related to the future as compared with the past, and (iii) facilitation of judgements related to time-points distant from the present. These effects were found with respect to faces and events, and also suggest that brain mechanisms of MT are independent o...

Experience-dependent increase in spine calcium evoked by backpropagating action potentials in layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons in rat somatosensory cortex

European Journal of Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In conclusion, (i) the bAP-evoked calcium transient gradient along the dendrite length is established at P8, (ii) the calcium transient increases in amplitude with age and (iii) this increase is enhanced in layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons located in a sensory-deprived barrel column that is bordered by non-deprived barrel columns. (Source: European Journal of Neuroscience)

Acute action of rotenone on nigral dopaminergic neurons – involvement of reactive oxygen species and disruption of Ca2+ homeostasis

European Journal of Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Rotenone is a toxin used to generate animal models of Parkinson's disease; however, the mechanisms of toxicity in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) neurons have not been well characterized. We have investigated rotenone (0.05[ndash]1 [mu]m) effects on SNc neurons in acute rat midbrain slices, using whole-cell patch-clamp recording combined with microfluorometry. Rotenone evoked a tolbutamide-sensitive outward current (94 ± 15 pA) associated with increases in intracellular [Ca2+] ([Ca2+]i) (73.8 ± 7.7 nm) and intracellular [Na+] (3.1 ± 0.6 mm) (all with 1 [mu]m). The outward current was not affected by a high ATP level (10 mm) in the patch pipette but was decreased by Trolox. The [Ca2+]i rise was abolished by removing extracellular Ca2+, and attenuated by Trolox and a transient recept...

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Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex decreases valuations during food choices

European Journal of Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Several studies have found decision-making-related value signals in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). However, it is unknown whether the DLPFC plays a causal role in decision-making, or whether it implements computations that are correlated with valuations, but that do not participate in the valuation process itself. We addressed this question by using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) while subjects were involved in an economic valuation task involving the consumption of real foods. We found that, as compared with a control condition, application of rTMS to the right DLPFC caused a decrease in the values assigned to the stimuli. The results are consistent with the possibility that the DLPFC plays a causal role in the computation of values at the time of choice....

Disruptions to human speed perception induced by motion adaptation and transcranial magnetic stimulation

European Journal of Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

To investigate the underlying nature of the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on speed perception, we applied repetitive TMS (rTMS) to human V5/MT+ following adaptation to either fast- (20 deg/s) or slow (4 deg/s)-moving grating stimuli. The adapting stimuli induced changes in the perceived speed of a standard reference stimulus moving at 10 deg/s. In the absence of rTMS, adaptation to the slower stimulus led to an increase in perceived speed of the reference, whilst adaptation to the faster stimulus produced a reduction in perceived speed. These induced changes in speed perception can be modelled by a ratio-taking operation of the outputs of two temporally tuned mechanisms that decay exponentially over time. When rTMS was applied to V5/MT+ following adaptation, the percei...

Distribution of colour-selective activity in the monkey inferior temporal cortex revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging

European Journal of Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Previous electrophysiological, neuroimaging and lesion studies have suggested that the anterior part of the monkey inferior temporal (IT) cortex, or area TE, plays an important role in colour processing. However, little is known about how colour information is distributed in these cortical regions. Here, we explored the distribution of colour-selective activity in alert macaque monkeys using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with two types of stimuli: a multicoloured ('Mondrian') pattern and an isoluminant colour grating. These two types of stimuli are both commonly used in human fMRI studies, but Mondrian stimuli, which contain a richer variety of hues and hence might be more suitable for activating higher-order areas than grating stimuli, have not been used to examine colour-s...

Regional specificity in the real-time development of phasic dopamine transmission patterns during acquisition of a cue–cocaine association in rats

European Journal of Neuroscience — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Drug seeking is significantly regulated by drug-associated cues and associative learning between environmental cues and cocaine reward is mediated by dopamine transmission within the nucleus accumbens (NAc). However, dopamine transmission during early acquisition of a cue[ndash]cocaine association has never been assessed because of the technical difficulties associated with resolving cue-evoked and cocaine-evoked dopamine release within the same conditioning trial. Here, we used fast-scan cyclic voltammetry to measure sub-second fluctuations in dopamine concentration within the NAc core and shell during the initial acquisition of a cue[ndash]cocaine Pavlovian association. Within the NAc core, cue-evoked dopamine release developed during conditioning. However, within the NAc shell, the pred...

Using Embryonic Stem Cell Therapy, Walking Ability Restored In Rats With Neck Injuries

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:00:00 +0100

The first human embryonic stem cell treatment approved by the FDA for human testing has been shown to restore limb function in rats with neck spinal cord injuries - a finding that could expand the clinical trial to include people with cervical damage. In January, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration gave Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, Calif., permission to test the UC Irvine treatment in individuals with thoracic spinal cord injuries, which occur below the neck. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

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New Research Finds Words, Gestures Are Translated By Same Brain Regions

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0100

Your ability to make sense of Groucho's words and Harpo's pantomimes in an old Marx Brothers movie takes place in the same regions of your brain, says new research funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), one of the National Institutes of Health. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

New Study Reveals Handwriting Is Real Problem For Children With Autism

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Handwriting skills are crucial for success in school, communication, and building children's self-esteem. The first study to examine handwriting quality in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has uncovered a relationship between fine motor control and poor quality of handwriting in children with ASD, according to research published in the November 10, 2009, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Impairment of baroreflex control of heart rate in conscious transgenic mice of type 1 diabetes (OVE26).

Autonomic Neuroscience — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Lin M, Harden SW, Li L, Wurster RD, Cheng ZJ Baroreflex control of heart rate (HR) is impaired in human type 1 diabetes mellitus. The goal of this study is to use a transgenic mouse model of type 1 diabetes (OVE26) to assess the diabetes-induced baroreflex impairment in the conscious state. OVE26 transgenic mice (which develop hyperglycemia within the first three weeks after birth due to the specific damage of beta cells) and normal control mice (FVB) 5-6months of age were anesthetized, and the left femoral artery and both veins were catheterized. On the second day after surgery, baroreflex-mediated HR responses to arterial blood pressure (ABP) changes that were induced by separate microinfusion of phenylephrine (PE) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) at different doses (0.03-0.4m...

The effect of ketamine and nitrous oxide on the human pupillary light reflex during general anesthesia.

Autonomic Neuroscience — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Eilers H, Larson MD The neurotransmitters and receptor types involved in the afferent arm of the human pupillary light reflex are unknown. We hypothesized that the pupillary light reflex is mediated in part by NMDA receptors and that it would be depressed by the NMDA antagonists, nitrous oxide and ketamine. To study this question, sixteen patients received general anesthesia with desflurane, fentanyl, and muscular relaxation with rocuronium. After a stable level of general anesthesia had been obtained and at least 1h after the start of the surgical procedure, ketamine 1mg/kg (N=8) or saline (N=8) was injected intravenously by random selection. Heart rate, pupil size, pupillary light reflex, BIS scores, and blood pressure were measured every 2min before and for 30min after drug...

Hyperhomocysteinemia reduces glutamate uptake in parietal cortex of rats.

International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

HYPERHOMOCYSTEINEMIA REDUCES GLUTAMATE UPTAKE IN PARIETAL CORTEX OF RATS. Int J Dev Neurosci. 2009 Nov 10; Authors: Matté C, Mussulini BH, Dos Santos TM, Soares FM, Simão F, Matté A, de Oliveira DL, Salbego CG, Wofchuk ST, Wyse AT In the present study we evaluated the effect of acute and chronic homocysteine administrations on glutamate uptake in parietal cortex of rats. The immunocontent of glial glutamate transporter (GLAST) and sodium-dependent glutamate/aspartate transporter (GLT-1) in the same cerebral structure was also investigated. For acute treatment, neonate or young rats received a single injection of homocysteine or saline (control) and were sacrificed 1, 8, 12hours, 7 or 30 days later. For chronic treatment, homocysteine was administered to rats twic...

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Early exposure of cultured hippocampal neurons to excitatory amino acids protects from later excitotoxicity.

International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

EARLY EXPOSURE OF CULTURED HIPPOCAMPAL NEURONS TO EXCITATORY AMINO ACIDS PROTECTS FROM LATER EXCITOTOXICITY. Int J Dev Neurosci. 2009 Nov 10; Authors: Friedman LK, Segal M Status epilepticus occurring in early postnatal development protects CA1 hippocampal neurons, the region most sensitive to seizure-induced injury in the developing brain. Here, we developed a "two hit" model in dissociated cultures of the rat hippocampus to test whether pre-exposure of immature neurons to high concentrations of glutamate, N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) or alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionic acid (AMPA) during a relatively resistant period prevents neurons from dying following a second exposure to the same chemicals after neurons mature and become highly vulnerable to excitat...

The trajectory of adaptation to the visuo-motor transformation of virtual and real sliding levers.

Experimental Brain Research — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Sülzenbrück S, Heuer H We studied adaptation to the visuo-motor transformation of a virtual and a real two-sided sliding lever. In a previous study (Sülzenbrück and Heuer in Exp Brain Res 195:153-165, 2009) we had found essentially no differences. However, adaptation had been restricted to a simplified symmetry approximation of the transformation. In the present study practice conditions were designed to facilitate adaptation (e.g., terminal rather than continuous visual feedback). In visual open-loop tests, differences between the effects of practice with a virtual and a real lever were found for curvature of hand movements, whereas movement end positions were not different. Curved hand movements induced by the use of the real lever persisted in subsequent...

Effects of lower limb amputation on the mental rotation of feet.

Experimental Brain Research — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Curtze C, Otten B, Postema K What happens to the mental representation of our body when the actual anatomy of our body changes? We asked 18 able-bodied controls, 18 patients with a lower limb amputation and a patient with rotationplasty to perform a laterality judgment task. They were shown illustrations of feet in different orientations which they had to classify as left or right limb. This laterality recognition task, originally introduced by Parsons in Cognit Psychol 19:178-241, (1987), is known to elicit implicit mental rotation of the subject's own body part. However, it can also be solved by mental transformation of the visual stimuli. Despite the anatomical changes in the body periphery of the amputees and of the rotationplasty patient, no differences in their ability t...

Contribution of GABA(C) receptors to inhibition in the rodent accessory optic system.

Experimental Brain Research — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Schlicker K, Schmidt M The medial terminal nucleus (MTN) of the mammalian accessory optic system controls vertical compensatory eye movements. It consists of two neuronal populations which respond best either to upward or to downward visual image shifts. The two cell classes are located spatially separate in the dorsal or in the ventral subdivision of the MTN, respectively. Pronounced GABAergic pathways have been described to exist between neurons in the two MTN subdivisions indicating that inhibitory interactions play a significant role for the generation of MTN cell response properties. Yet, the types of GABA receptors which mediate these inhibitory interactions are unknown. Functionally, it is of particular interest to know whether GABA(C) receptors, as in other subcortical...

Control of aperture closure initiation during reach-to-grasp movements under manipulations of visual feedback and trunk involvement in Parkinson's disease.

Experimental Brain Research — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Rand MK, Lemay M, Squire LM, Shimansky YP, Stelmach GE The present project was aimed at investigating how two distinct and important difficulties (coordination difficulty and pronounced dependency on visual feedback) in Parkinson's disease (PD) affect each other for the coordination between hand transport toward an object and the initiation of finger closure during reach-to-grasp movement. Subjects with PD and age-matched healthy subjects made reach-to-grasp movements to a dowel under conditions in which the target object and/or the hand were either visible or not visible. The involvement of the trunk in task performance was manipulated by positioning the target object within or beyond the participant's outstretched arm to evaluate the effects of increasing the complexity of i...

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Differential rates of consolidation of conceptual and stimulus learning following training on an auditory skill.

Experimental Brain Research — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Ortiz JA, Wright BA Training-induced improvements on perceptual skills can be attributed to at least two learning types: learning of general aspects of the trained condition (conceptual learning) and learning of specific feature values of the stimulus used in training (stimulus learning). Here we asked whether conceptual and stimulus learning on interaural time difference (ITD) discrimination emerge along different time courses. Conceptual learning was clearly evident 10 h after training, when performance on a target ITD condition was equivalent following training on that condition or on a non-target condition differing only in the stimulus, and was better in both cases than immediately after training. In contrast, stimulus learning emerged 24 h after training. At that time, p...

The Fate of Spontaneous Synchronous Rhythms on the Cerebrocerebellar Loop.

Cerebellum — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Schwarz C How does the cerebellum participate in neocortical rhythms? Neocortical signals destined for the cerebellum are integrated in the pontine nuclei (PN) with cerebellar output signals via a direct, reciprocal feedback loop with the cerebellar nuclei (CN). The present study investigated the fate of two spontaneously occurring rhythms in rat neocortex under ketamine anesthesia-slow wave activity at around 1 Hz and gamma oscillations-within this pontonuclear feedback loop. Coordinated oscillatory neuronal activity was studied using simultaneous multineuron recordings in primary motor cortex (M1), PN, and lateral CN. It was revealed that slow burst firing-known in neocortex as "up and down states"-is readily conveyed within the pontonuclear feedback loop and thus engages th...

Complex problem solving: a case for complex cognition?

Cognitive Processing — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Funke J Complex problem solving (CPS) emerged in the last 30 years in Europe as a new part of the psychology of thinking and problem solving. This paper introduces into the field and provides a personal view. Also, related concepts like macrocognition or operative intelligence will be explained in this context. Two examples for the assessment of CPS, Tailorshop and MicroDYN, are presented to illustrate the concept by means of their measurement devices. Also, the relation of complex cognition and emotion in the CPS context is discussed. The question if CPS requires complex cognition is answered with a tentative "yes." PMID: 19902283 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Cognitive Processing)

Complex problem solving: another test case?

Cognitive Processing — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Ragni M, Löffler CM Attacks on classic complex problem solving focus on both their ecological validity and the difficulty to analyze such a complex interplay of system variables. But we argue that the domain of travel planning is in some sense a much more "natural" domain and at least partially able to deal with this kind of criticism. We first review the main existing scenarios and paradigms like Lohhausen, Tailorshop, and Moro and compare them to what we call the TRAVELPLAN problem. This problem contains a number of computationally well-investigated problems, which are worked out and can be described by so-called constrained satisfaction problems. The formal investigations have led to the development of a computational architecture which is able to deal with these kinds...

Meetings Calendar

Neuropeptides — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:47:58 +0100

(Source: Neuropeptides)

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Editorial Board

Neuropeptides — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:47:57 +0100

(Source: Neuropeptides)

What Is Devic's Disease? What Is Neuromyelitis Optica? What Causes Devic's Disease?

Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0100

Devic's disease, or neuromyelitis optica, (NMO) is a type of inflammatory demyelinating disease. A demyelinating disease occurs when the myelin sheath, a protective covering that surrounds brain and spinal cord nerves is damaged. In the case of Devic's disease, the patient develops myelitis (inflammation of the spinal cord) and optic neuritis (inflammation of the optic nerve). (Source: Neurology / Neuroscience News From Medical News Today)

Post-transcriptional control of neurofilaments: New roles in development, regeneration and neurodegenerative disease.

Trends in Neurosciences — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Szaro BG, Strong MJ Neurofilament (NF) protein expression is coupled to axon development and the maintenance of neuronal homeostasis. Here, we present evidence that this tight regulation depends critically on post-transcriptionally regulated changes in NF mRNA transport, translation and stability. Recent studies have shown that post-transcriptional mechanisms modulate increases in NF gene transcription during axon regeneration to yield the final pattern of NF protein expression. Other recent work has found that post-transcriptional control of NFs shares elements with that of other axonal proteins and that its dysregulation contributes to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Such studies herald a novel approach to understanding how neurons coordinate the expressions of functionally r...

Author Index Vol. 31, 2009

Developmental Neuroscience — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Dev Neurosci 2009;31:536 (DOI:10.1159/000258651) (Source: Developmental Neuroscience)

MedWorm: Neuroscience

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy of regional brain metabolite markers in FALS mice and the effects of dietary creatine supplementation

From the editors

In Brief

In Brief

Development: Initiation of a new connection

Epigenetics: Stressed for life

Neurogenesis: A mother–daughter relationship

Neural coding: Oscillations help to decode spike patterns

TrkB signalling pathways in LTP and learning

Economics, Neuroscience And Hormones Workshop

Drug Studied As Possible Treatment For Spinal Injuries

Spineology Receives FDA Clearance For Capture™ Facet Screw System

Prolonged rote learning produces delayed memory facilitation and metabolic changes in the hippocampus of the ageing human brain

The strength of anticipatory spatial biasing predicts target discrimination at attended locations: a high-density EEG study

Progesterone and allopregnanolone enhance the miniature synaptic release of glycine in the rat hypoglossal nucleus

Metabolic Effects Significantly Lower With INVEGA(R) Compared To Olanzapine

Stanford/Packard Study In Mice Suggests New Down Syndrome Treatment

Findings That Should Speed The Development Of Drugs For Parkinson's Disease

The Protein Srebp2 Drives Cholesterol Formation In Prion-Infected Neuronal Cells Which May Promote Prion-Dependent Diseases

Abnormalities in brain structure and behavior in GSK-3 mutant mice

Identifying the control of physically and perceptually evoked sway responses with coincident visual scene velocities and tilt of the base of support.

Orexins Excite Neurons of the Rat Cerebellar Nucleus Interpositus Via Orexin 2 Receptors In Vitro.

Altered Regulation of CD200 Receptor in Monocyte-Derived Macrophages from Individuals with Parkinson's Disease.

Sex Steroids Inhibit Osmotic Swelling of Retinal Glial Cells.

CBP/p300 is a cell type-specific modulator of CLOCK/BMAL1-mediated transcription

Ellipse Technologies, Inc. Receives CE Mark Clearance For The MAGECTM System For The Treatment Of Spinal Scoliosis

Explanation For Rapid Maturation Of Neurons At Birth Found By Duke Researchers

Monetary Gain And High-risk Tactics Stimulate Activity In The Brain

Cancer-Fighting Drugs Delivered Right To The Tumor

Proprioceptive localization of the left and right hands.

Evidence for limb-independent control of locomotor trajectory.

Presenilin transgenic mice as models of Alzheimer's disease.

Strain Difference in the Up-Regulation of FGF-2 Protein Following a Neurotoxic Lesion of the Nigrostriatal Pathway.

Cardioactive Protein-Hormonal Complexes of Brain and Heart.

Wavelet Analysis as a Tool for Investigating Movement-Related Cortical Oscillations in EEG-fMRI Coregistration.

The choroid plexus response to a repeated peripheral inflammatory stimulus

Sustainable effects on suicidality were found for the Nuremberg alliance against depression

Announced reward counteracts the effects of chronic social stress on anticipatory behavior and hippocampal synaptic plasticity in rats.

Prospects for Clinical Applications of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Real-Time EEG in Epilepsy.

Contents

Contents

Erratum to “TNFR-associated factor-2 (TRAF-2) in Alzheimer’s disease” [Culpan et al. (Neurobiol Aging 2009 July;30(7):1052-60)]

Editorial Advisory Board

Exploring Cortical Attentional System by Using fMRI during a Continuous Perfomance Test

Apogenix Receives Orphan Drug Designation For APG101 In The US And Positive Opinion On Orphan Product Designation In Europe

Deletion of PEA-15 in mice is associated with specific impairments of spatial learning abilities

Physicians Heal Bridge To Nowhere; Iraqi Girl With Rare Neuromuscular Disorder Has New Hope

Hospital For Special Surgery Establishes A Comprehensive Spine Care Institute

Fixation disengagement enhances peripheral perceptual processing: evidence for a perceptual gap effect.

Kinematic analysis of the human wrist during pointing tasks.

Lectin-binding glycoproteins in the developing and adult snail CNS.

Hesitation phenomena: a dynamical perspective.

Web usability evaluation with screen reader users: implementation of the partial concurrent thinking aloud technique.

Dynamic sensory-motor oscillation and cerebral development.

Seasonality of suicide attempts: association with gender

Disrupted white matter integrity of corticopontine-cerebellar circuitry in schizophrenia

Making Memories Means New Neurons Must Erase Older Ones

Human Expectation Of Pleasure Enhanced By Dopamine

Response selection in dual task paradigms: observations from random generation tasks.

Apoptosis and proliferation in the trigeminal placode.

Synergy of IL-23 and Th17 Cytokines: New Light on Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Using EEG to Explore How rTMS Produces Its Effects on Behavior.

The Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management.

NPY Y2R and IHC-Mouse Distal Colon

More Pubs Referencing Neuromics' mGluRs

Discoveries At NJIT Including Drug To Stop Brain Injury Receives $1.4M Funding

In Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Treatment, More Pain Means Real Gain

Geron Collaborators Publish Data On HESC-Derived Glial Progenitor Cell Therapy In Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

Duration of untreated illness and suicide in bipolar disorder: a naturalistic study

The neural-glial purinergic receptor ensemble in chronic pain states.

Dopamine, Morphine, and Nitric Oxide: An Evolutionary Signaling Triad.

Effects of N-Acetylcysteine/Deferoxamine, Taurine and RC-3095 on Respiratory Chain Complexes and Creatine Kinase Activities in Rat Brain After Sepsis.

Lead Affects Apoptosis and Related Gene XIAP and Smac Expression in the Hippocampus of Developing Rats.

Status epilepticus affects the gigantocellular network of the pontine reticular formation

Anti-depressant and anxiolytic like behaviors in PKCI/HINT1 knockout mice associated with elevated plasma corticosterone level

The development of automated access to symbolic and non-symbolic number knowledge in children: an ERP study

New Way To Biopsy Brain Tumors In Real Time Identified By Barrow Study

Mouse Gene Suppresses Alzheimer's Plaques And Tangles

Neural correlates (ERP/fMRI) of voluntary selection in adult ADHD patients