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Category: neuroscience – Page 281

Exploring the Brain: from Synapses to Cognition

The human brain is a remarkably complex organ, consisting of billions of interconnected neurons. It can be divided into distinct regions, each with specific functions, such as memory and decision-making. Cognition, which includes processes like perception, memory, language, and problem-solving, is all orchestrated by the brain. It’s through these cognitive processes that we perceive and interact with the world around us.

What is special about the structure of the brain compared to other organs? What is the principled way of understanding how the brain works? How does the brain contribute to our sense of Self? Is it possible to compare the brain with the computer? Is it possible to enhance the way that the brain works? What is the brain-basis of language?

These and other questioned are answered by Serious Science experts from leading universities from all around the world. The coursed is comprised of 15 lectures filmed in the period from 2014 to 2020. If you have any questions or comments on the content of this course — please write us at [email protected].

00:00 Connectomics / Jeff Lichtman.
14:30 Synapse Elimination at the Developing Neuromuscular Junction / Jeff Lichtman.
25:17 Genomic Imprinting and the Brain / Catherine Dulac.
36:50 Brain Function and Chromatin Plasticity / Catherine Dulac.
47:45 Free Energy Principle / Karl Friston.
1:02:45 Self-construction / Onur Güntürkün.
1:16:38 Brain Networks / Sylvain Baillet.
1:32:33 Computational Modeling of the Brain / Sylvain Baillet.
1:47:22 Cognition Without a Cortex / Onur Güntürkün.
2:02:17 Brain Training / Barbara Sahakian.
2:14:50 Brain Language Research / Friedemann Pulvermüller.
2:26:49 Brain Imaging / Karl Friston.
2:39:30 Functional Brain Imaging / Srinivas Sridhar.
2:52:21 Clinical Brain Imaging / Sylvain Baillet.
3:08:38 Effect of Music on the Brain / Lauren Stewart.

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What is Consciousness Hodgkin and Huxley Neuron model as a universal process of energy exchange

Diagram of Neuron and Microtubules Reference video:

I would like to dedicate this video on Hodgkin and Huxley model of Neurons. That basically explains Neurons as electric circuits with the organization and movement of positive and negative charge. The positive and negative is in the form of ion atoms. The neuron membrane acts as a boundary separating charge with ionic gates embedded in the cell membrane forming the potential for the build-up and movement of ion charge. This process can form signals along the neurons with the potential difference across the cell membrane forming what is called an action potential.
The big question is how can this process of electrical activity form consciousness?
To answer this question we have to look deeper into the process.
When we do this, we find that the movement or action of charged particles like ions emit photon ∆E=hf energy.

Therefore, this whole process can be based on an interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.

In the theory explained in these videos, Quantum Mechanics represents the physics of time ∆E ∆t ≥ h/2π as a physical process.

The uncertainty ∆×∆pᵪ≥h/4π of Quantum Mechanics is the same uncertainty we have with any future event.

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Powering Brain Repair: Mitochondria Key to Neurogenesis

Summary: Researchers made a groundbreaking discovery about the maturation process of adult-born neurons in the brain, highlighting the critical role of mitochondrial fusion in these cells. Their study shows that as neurons develop, their mitochondria undergo dynamic changes that are crucial for the neurons’ ability to form and refine connections, supporting synaptic plasticity in the adult hippocampus.

This insight, which correlates altered neurogenesis with neurological disorders, opens new avenues for understanding and potentially treating conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s by targeting mitochondrial dynamics to enhance brain repair and cognitive functions.

Human neuron model paves the way for new Alzheimer’s therapies

Weill Cornell Medicine scientists have developed an innovative human neuron model that robustly simulates the spread of tau protein aggregates in the brain—a process that drives cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. This new model has led to the identification of novel therapeutic targets that could potentially block tau spread.

Craving Snacks After a Meal? It might be Food-Seeking Neurons, Not an Overactive Appetite

A new study has shown that food-seeking cells exist in a part of a mouse’s brain usually associated with panic — but not with feeding. Activating a selective cluster of these cells kicked mice into ‘hot pursuit’ of live and non-prey food, and showed a craving for fatty foods intense enough that the mice endured foot shocks to get them, something full mice normally would not do. If true in humans, who also carry these cells, the findings could help address the circuit that can circumvent the normal hunger pressures of ‘how, what and when to eat.’

People who find themselves rummaging around in the refrigerator for a snack not long after they’ve eaten a filling meal might have overactive food-seeking neurons, not an overactive appetite.

UCLA psychologists have discovered a circuit in the brain of mice that makes them crave food and seek it out, even when they are not hungry. When stimulated, this cluster of cells propels mice to forage vigorously and to prefer fatty and pleasurable foods like chocolate over healthier foods like carrots.

RNA Molecules in Brain Nerve Cells Display Lifelong Stability

Certain RNA molecules in the nerve cells in the brain last a life time without being renewed. Neuroscientists from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have now demonstrated that this is the case together with researchers from Germany, Austria and the USA. RNAs are generally short-lived molecules that are constantly reconstructed to adjust to environmental conditions. With their findings that have now been published in the journal Science, the research group hopes to decipher the complex aging process of the brain and gain a better understanding of related degenerative diseases.

Most cells in the human body are regularly renewed, thereby retaining their vitality. However, there are exceptions: the heart, the pancreas and the brain consist of cells that do not renew throughout the whole lifespan, and yet still have to remain in full working order. “Aging neurons are an important risk factor for neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s,” says Prof. Dr. Tomohisa Toda, Professor of Neural Epigenomics at FAU and at the Max Planck Center for Physics and Medicine in Erlangen. “A basic understanding of the aging process and which key components are involved in maintaining cell function is crucial for effective treatment concepts:”

In a joint study conducted together with neuroscientists from Dresden, La Jolla (USA) and Klosterneuburg (Austria), the working group led by Toda has now identified a key component of brain aging: the researchers were able to demonstrate for the first time that certain types of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that protect genetic material exist just as long as the neurons themselves. “This is surprising, as unlike DNA, which as a rule never changes, most RNA molecules are extremely short-lived and are constantly being exchanged,” Toda explains.

Newly Approved Rapid Blood Test for Traumatic Brain Injury Could Speed Up Treatment for Troops

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a blood test to detect concussion that produces results in minutes rather than hours — a breakthrough that could help expedite treatment for service members with traumatic brain injuries, according to the U.S. Army and Abbott Laboratories, the…

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“This can help get the most severely injured service members to neurosurgeons faster and ultimately save lives,” Lt. Col. Bradley Dengler, neurosurgical consultant to the U.S. Army Office of the Surgeon General, said in a release.

The test was developed by Abbott with the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity, part of U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command. It measures the levels of two head injury biomarkers — glial fibrillary acidic protein and ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase — in a blood sample, with results produced bedside within 15 minutes.

Study reveals that the brain’s cerebellum can shape cognition

If you reward a monkey with some juice, it will learn which hand to move in response to a specific visual cue—but only if the cerebellum is functioning properly. So say neuroscientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Columbia University, who recently published findings in Nature Communications that show the brain region plays a crucial role in reward-based learning.