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Category: neuroscience – Page 702

True Behavior of Dopamine Will Reshape How We Treat Psychiatric Diseases and Addiction

“We then go on to show that dopamine is not a reward molecule at all. It instead helps encode information about all types of important and relevant events and drive adaptive behavior—regardless of whether it is positive or negative.”

Summary: A new study finds dopamine increases responses to stressful stimuli, not just pleasurable ones. The findings could have implications for the treatment of mental health disorders and addiction.

Source: Vanderbilt University

Pioneering research shows that dopamine levels increase in response to stressful stimuli, and not just pleasurable ones, potentially rewriting facts about the “feel-good” hormone—a critical mediator of many psychiatric diseases. This discovery is cause to rethink treatment for psychiatric disease and addiction.

This research was led by Erin Calipari, assistant professor of pharmacology, and Munir Gunes Kutlu, a postdoctoral fellow in Calipari’s laboratory.

Fossils and ancient DNA paint a vibrant picture of human origins

That fossil wasn’t enough to confirm Africa as our homeland. Since that discovery, paleoanthropologists have amassed many thousands of fossils, and the evidence over and over again has pointed to Africa as our place of origin. Genetic studies reinforce that story. African apes are indeed our closest living relatives, with chimpanzees more closely related to us than to gorillas. In fact, many scientists now include great apes in the hominid family, using the narrower term “hominin” to refer to humans and our extinct cousins.

In a field with a reputation for bitter feuds and rivalries, the notion of humankind’s African origins unifies human evolution researchers. “I think everybody agrees and understands that Africa was very pivotal in the evolution of our species,” says Charles Musiba, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Colorado Denver.

Paleoanthropologists have sketched a rough timeline of how that evolution played out. Sometime between 9 million and 6 million years ago, the first hominins evolved. Walking upright on two legs distinguished our ancestors from other apes; our ancestors also had smaller canine teeth, perhaps a sign of less aggression and a change in social interactions. Between about 3.5 million and 3 million years ago, humankind’s forerunners ventured beyond wooded areas. Africa was growing drier, and grasslands spread across the continent. Hominins were also crafting stone tools by this time. The human genus, Homo, arrived between 2.5 million and 2 million years ago, maybe earlier, with larger brains than their predecessors. By at least 2 million years ago, Homo members started traveling from Africa to Eurasia. By about 300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens, our species, emerged.

One protein to rule them all: A central target for treating dementia

Dementia has many faces, and because of the wide range of ways in which it can develop and affect patients, it can be very challenging to treat. Now, however, using supercomputer analysis of big data, researchers from Japan were able to predict that a single protein is a key factor in the damage caused by two very common forms of dementia.

In a study published this month in Communications Biology, researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) have revealed that the HMGB1 is a key player in both frontotemporal lobar and Alzheimer , two of the most common causes of dementia.

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration can be caused by mutation of a variety of genes, which means that no one treatment will be right for all patients. However, there are some similarities between frontotemporal lobar degeneration and Alzheimer disease, which led the researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) to explore whether these two conditions cause damage to the brain in the same way.

Jaron Lanier — Is Consciousness an Ultimate Fact?

Is there something special about consciousness? Can our inner subjective experience—the sight of purple, smell of cheese, sound of Bach—ever be explained in purely physical terms? Even in principle? Most scientists see consciousness as a science problem to solve. Some philosophers claim that consciousness can never be explained in terms of current science.

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Jaron Zepel Lanier is an American computer scientist, best known for popularizing the term virtual reality (VR).

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New Microscopy Technique Reveals Activity of One Million Neurons Across the Mouse Brain

Summary: A new technique dubbed light beads microscopy allowed researchers to generate a vivid functional movie of the near-simultaneous activity of almost a million neurons in the mouse brain.

Source: Rockefeller University.

Capturing the intricacies of the brain’s activity demands resolution, scale, and speed—the ability to visualize millions of neurons with crystal clear resolution as they actively call out from distant corners of the cortex, within a fraction of a second of one another.

Visualising every single cognitive bias

Cognitive biases have been studied for decades by academics in the fields of cognitive science, social psychology, and behavioural economics.

View the high resolution version of today’s graphic by clicking here.

The human brain is capable of incredible things, but it’s also extremely flawed at times.

Science has shown that we tend to make all sorts of mental mistakes, called “cognitive biases”, that can affect both our thinking and actions. These biases can lead to us extrapolating information from the wrong sources, seeking to confirm existing beliefs, or failing to remember events the way they actually happened!

This Common Drug for Memory Loss May Also Help Restore Eye Sight

Citicoline, a drug that is naturally found in the body, is commonly used to treat a number of brain injuries and illnesses. For quite some time, doctors have prescribed it for strokes, vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and general aging of the brain. Patients usually see improvement when taking the drug because the body uses it to create and repair cell membranes and lower the presence of free radicals, as noted in the Clinical Interventions in Aging Journal. (Free radicals, which are unstable molecules, can damage cells in the body and are associated with aging and illness.)

Now, researchers from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine have found evidence that citicoline can also be used to treat glaucoma. Normally, glaucoma is treated by removing fluid buildup in the eye, which creates pressure and wears down the cells in the eye and the nerves connecting to the brain. Though monitoring fluid buildup is important, glaucoma can still worsen after the pressure on the eye has been relieved.

Study Finds Evidence of Possible Link Between Herpes Simplex and Neurogenerative Diseases

Because the herpesvirus sits in neurons forever, there is speculation it is connected to neurodegenerative diseases. The immune system requires inflammation to constantly fight off the virus, and neurons have some degree of damage because of this continuous immune response, according to Dr. Tibor Valyi-Nagy, professor of pathology, director of neuropathology at UIC and research collaborator on the study.

Summary: Researchers discovered mutations of the OPTN gene resulted in increased herpesvirus 1 growth in the brains of mice, leading to the death of local neurons. This resulted in accelerated neurodegeneration. OPTN deficiency was also associated with impairments in immune response. While these findings are specific to the HSV-1 virus, researchers believe the findings may apply to up to eight herpesvirus infections.

Source: University of Illinois at Chicago

A new study by researchers at University of Illinois Chicago suggests that when the protein optineurin, or OPTN, is present in cells it restricts the spread of HSV-1, the herpes simplex virus type 1.

In a “first of its kind” study, researchers also found a potential direct connection between neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), glaucoma, and the herpesvirus, said Dr. Deepak Shukla, the Marion H. Schenk Esq. Professor in Ophthalmology for Research of the Aging Eye, and vice chair for research at UIC.

Britain’s young teens will be vaccinated

Britain’s young teens will be vaccinated — but with a single dose.

London: Britain’s chief medical officers have said that vaccinating young teenagers against COVID-19 is justified when their mental health and education are taken into account.

Minors aged between 12 and 15 in England will be offered just a single dose of Pfizer or Moderna beginning next week, with more research ordered into whether a second dose should be given, as is currently administered to those aged 16 and above.

The decision by the CMOs brings the UK partly into line with countries like Australia, the United States, Israel and many European nations including France, which are already offering the jab to minors.

Anna Kennedy Online

Anna’s guest at Women’s Radio was Dr Ian C E Hale I’m an Autistic person. It’s an indivisible part of who I am as an individual.

Annas guest at Women’s Radio was Dr Ian C E Hale ‘All things Autism will be aired at 1pm and 1am every day this week. Please see www.womensradiostation.com

Dr Ian C E Hale shared:

To be clear … it’s important to put my book and other work into context by knowing a little of their origins. I’m an Autistic person. It’s an indivisible part of who I am as an individual; it informs, goads and limits every thought and act of my life-but I refuse to let it define me. I’m a sportsman, poet, photographer, medical scientist and more-but first and foremost, a human being, with the same fears, hopes, weaknesses and feelings as everyone else.