Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: neuroscience – Page 445

“No other study has been able to record optically and electrically at the same time.”

Engineers and neuroscientists at the University of California, San Diego have shown for the first time that mice implanted with human brain organoids have functional connectivity to their cortex and respond to external sensory stimuli.

A novel experimental setup that combines transparent graphene microelectrode arrays and two-photon imaging allowed researchers to make this observation over a period of months in real time. The implanted organoids responded to visual stimuli in the same manner as surrounding tissues, according to the press release.

Read more | >

Minor tweaks could expand its scope of applications to other conditions, such as autism.

Researchers used virtual reality (VR) games to diagnose attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) through differences in eye movements, according to a press release published by Aalto University. This method could potentially be utilized as a basis for ADHD treatment and, with minor tweaks, to assess other conditions like autism.

ADHD is a common attention disorder that affects six million U.S. children between the ages of 3 and 17 years, according to a national survey of parents.

Read more | >

Adenosine, a neurotransmitter, has been found to act as a brake on dopamine, another neurotransmitter involved in motor control, by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University. The findings, which were published in the journal Nature, reveal that adenosine and dopamine operate in a push-pull dynamic in the brain.

“There are two neuronal circuits: one that helps promote action and the other that inhibits action,” said senior author Haining Zhong, Ph.D., a scientist with the OHSU Vollum Institute. “Dopamine promotes the first circuit to enable movement, and adenosine is the ‘brake’ that promotes the second circuit and brings balance to the system.”

The discovery has the potential to immediately suggest new avenues for drug development to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder that is believed to be caused by the loss of dopamine-producing cells in the brain.

Read more | >

ATLANTA — Three years after being named the first-ever co-valedictorians at West Forsyth High School, the Kashlan triplets graduated from Georgia Tech at 18-years-old.

Adam, Zane, and Rommi Kashlan earned neuroscience degrees with minors in health and medical sciences. They completed their degrees a year early and with honors. The trio will head to Boston to work and conduct research at Harvard Medical School.

“Inseparable, right, guys?” Rommi laughed. “You can’t get away from me!”

Read more | >

The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland Evolution and Psychiatry Special Interest Group welcomed Dr Randolph M Nesse to present a talk titled “Why hasn’t natural selection eliminated mental disorders: Knowing the five reasons improves clinical care as well as research” during their meeting on Friday, 4 February 2022.

The Special Interest Group is open to all College members and Psychiatry trainees.

Keep up to date on all College events on the CPsychI website: https://www.irishpsychiatry.ie/all-events/

Read more | >

Unprecedented views of the interior of cells and other nanoscale structures are now possible thanks to innovations in expansion microscopy. The advancements could help provide future insight into neuroscience, pathology, and many other biological and medical fields.

In the paper “Magnify is a universal molecular anchoring strategy for ,” published Jan. 2 in the journal Nature Biotechnology, collaborators from Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and Brown University describe new protocols for dubbed Magnify.

“Magnify can be a potent and accessible tool for the biotechnology community,” said Yongxin (Leon) Zhao, the Eberly Family Career Development Associate Professor of Biological Sciences.

Read more | >

Findings underline the importance of a strength-based rather than a deficit-based focus on aging and older adults.

What are the keys to “successful” or optimal aging? A new study followed more than 7,000 middle-aged and older Canadians for approximately three years to identify the factors linked to well-being as we age.

They found that those who were female, married, physically active, and not obese and those who had never smoked, had higher incomes, and who did not have insomnia, heart disease or arthritis, were more likely to maintain excellent health across the study period and less likely to develop disabling cognitive, physical, or emotional problems.

Read more | >

The heterogeneity of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) makes it a versatile platform for a broad range of homeostatic processes, ranging from calcium regulation to synthesis and trafficking of proteins and lipids. It is not surprising that neurons use this organelle to fine-tune synaptic properties and thereby provide specificity to synaptic inputs. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms that enable activity-dependent ER recruitment into dendritic spines, with a focus on molecular mechanisms that mediate transport and retention of the ER in spines.

Read more | >