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Category: neuroscience – Page 379

Music supports babies in neonatal intensive care units, neuroimaging study finds

Certain melodies promote brain development in premature infants. For several years, a team of scientists have observed this phenomenon. They now know more precisely which areas of the brain react over time.

Premature infants are more likely to suffer from attention and emotional regulation disorders. For more than a decade, a team has been investigating an unexpected solution to prevent these problems: music. Scientists at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) exposed several cohorts of infants born at an average of 29 weeks to music.

Several of their publications, which have been widely covered in the media, underline the potential of this approach. The team’s latest study demonstrates that music boosts cerebral connectivity in the areas of the brain usually affected in preterm infants.

New work creates roadmap for the next generation of bioelectronic medicine

From the ancient Egyptians’ use of electric fish to treat headaches to the invention of pacemakers to regulate heart rhythms in the 1950s, the field of bioelectronic medicine—which makes use of electrical signals instead of drugs to diagnose and treat disease—has advanced and has started to come into its own. Where is the field now? And what are the most promising opportunities for life-changing new therapies and diagnostics?

New research led by Imanuel Lerman, head of the Lerman Lab of the UC San Diego Qualcomm Institute and UC San Diego School of Medicine Department of Anesthesiology, as well as the VA Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health, provides some answers.

“This paper is intended to be a roadmap to the future of the biomedicine field,” Lerman said. “We’re putting a flagpole in the ground and saying, ‘This is what we’re planning to do, and this is the story behind it.’ That’s why there are 180 references. We want to make sure that everybody has the resources they may need to be able to understand and read deeper if they want to.”

Mind wandering enhances statistical learning

The human brain spends 30–50% of its waking hours engaged in mind-wandering (MW), a common phenomenon in which individuals either spontaneously or deliberately shift their attention away from external tasks to task-unrelated internal thoughts. Despite the significant amount of time dedicated to MW, its underlying reasons remain unexplained. Our pre-registered study investigates the potential adaptive aspects of MW, particularly its role in predictive processes measured by statistical learning. We simultaneously assessed visuomotor task performance as well as the capability to extract probabilistic information from the environment while assessing task focus (on-task vs. MW). We found that MW was associated with enhanced extraction of hidden, but predictable patterns.

Getting over the hump: Researchers boost high-speed laser welding for fuel cell production

The ability to regulate one’s own food intake is essential to the survival of both humans and other animals. This innate ability ensures that the body receives the nutrients it needs to perform daily activities, without significantly exceeding calorie intake, which could lead to health problems and metabolic disorders.

Past neuroscience studies suggest that the regulation of food intake is supported by specific regions in the brain, including the hypothalamus and caudal nucleus of the solitary tract (cNTS), which is part of the brainstem. This key region in the brainstem is known to integrate originating from the gut and then transform them into adaptive feeding behaviors.

While previous research has highlighted the key role of the cNTS in food intake regulation, the unique contribution of the different neuron subtypes within this brainstem region and the mechanisms by which they regulate feeding remain poorly understood. Better understanding these neuron-specific mechanisms could help to devise more effective therapeutic interventions for obesity and eating disorders.

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