rudyvdbrink/CitationDatabase huggingface dataset:
Cannabis use behaviors and prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in a cohort of Canadian medicinal cannabis users.
Journal of psychiatric research, 2019

Cannabis is commonly used recreationally for its euphoric and relaxing effects, while its medical use is permitted in several jurisdictions. With only low-quality evidence suggesting anxiolytic effects of cannabis and strong public sentiment surrounding such purported effects, the purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of cannabis for medicinal purposes (CMP) use for anxiety symptoms. An online survey was disseminated to CMP users registered with a Canadian licensed producer. Respondents completed demographic and validated self-report questionnaires (GAD-7, PHQ-9, MINI-SPIN, and panic disorder/agoraphobia DSM-5 criteria). Cannabis use behaviors were also discussed. Overall, 2032 completed responses with a verified user number were collected. Of the total sample, 888 (43.7%) reported CMP authorization to treat anxiety symptoms and completed all psychometric screening instruments. Rates of probable disorders were high (Generalized Anxiety Disorder: 45.6%, Social Anxiety Disorder: 42.4%, Major Depressive Disorder: 25.7%, Panic Disorder/Agoraphobia: 25.7%); 63.4% met screening criteria for ≥1 disorder. Most (92%) reported that cannabis improved their symptoms, despite continuing to endorse moderate-level severity. Nearly half (49%) reported replacing a non-psychiatric (53.7%) or psychiatric medication (46.3%) prescribed to them by their physician with CMP. Respondents endorsed daily CMP use and severity of anxiety (GAD-7, p < 0.001) and depressive (PHQ-9, p < 0.001) symptoms were positively associated with the amount of cannabis used/day. The vast majority perceived symptom improvement with CMP use and did not believe CMP use was associated with impairment or an inability to control use. Nevertheless, the possibility of cannabis use disorder cannot be ruled out as well as the possibility that improvements in non-psychiatric conditions were attributed to improvements in anxiety. These results highlight the need to systematically evaluate CMP use for mental illness.
Effectiveness of an educational program on decreasing burns and injuries in Persian festival of fire: A burden of diseases approach.
Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries, 2019

Chaharshanbeh souri is a historical Persian firework festival which has several health and financial damages for Iranians near celebration of New Year. In this study we tried to find effectiveness of Chaharshanbeh souri educational campaign on decreasing burden of injuries due to fireworks of this day. In this before-after study, an educational campaign was done for 2017 focusing on children and students. Data of a registry which was designed for gathering information of injuries and mortalities of this festival was used to show effectiveness of the program. Disability adjusted life years was calculated and compared before and after intervention. The results of this study showed that mean age of injuries was increased from 27.75 to 32.65 years and DALY decreased significantly after the intervention (P=0.0460) showing that the intervention was effective. Educational programs might be effective to decrease burden of injuries related to Chaharshanbeh souri festival.
Review of the major findings about Duane retraction syndrome (DRS) leading to an updated form of classification.
Vision research, 2010

In view of all the reported evidence by electromyography in the 1970s, by histology in the 1980s, and by cerebral imagery since the 2000s, Duane retraction syndrome (DRS) has been described as the consequence of a congenital anomaly of the 6th cranial nerve nuclei with aberrant innervations by supply from the 3rd cranial nerve. Both genetic and environmental factors are likely to play a role when the cranial nerves and ocular muscles are developing between the 4th and the 8th week of gestation. New data from eye movement recordings contributed to better understanding the binocular control of saccades. Modeling of saccades in DRS seems promising for the quantification of the innervational deficit and the mechanical properties of the eye plant. The usual clinical classification of DRS needs to be updated in order to match more accurately the underlying dysinnervation of the extra ocular muscles and to illustrate the continuum that exists between the various forms. This review aims to summarize the major findings about DRS and to guide the clinician in the surgical management of this particular form of strabismus.
Intrinsic plasticity complements long-term potentiation in parallel fiber input gain control in cerebellar Purkinje cells.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2010

Synaptic gain control and information storage in neural networks are mediated by alterations in synaptic transmission, such as in long-term potentiation (LTP). Here, we show using both in vitro and in vivo recordings from the rat cerebellum that tetanization protocols for the induction of LTP at parallel fiber (PF)-to-Purkinje cell synapses can also evoke increases in intrinsic excitability. This form of intrinsic plasticity shares with LTP a requirement for the activation of protein phosphatases 1, 2A, and 2B for induction. Purkinje cell intrinsic plasticity resembles CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cell intrinsic plasticity in that it requires activity of protein kinase A (PKA) and casein kinase 2 (CK2) and is mediated by a downregulation of SK-type calcium-sensitive K conductances. In addition, Purkinje cell intrinsic plasticity similarly results in enhanced spine calcium signaling. However, there are fundamental differences: first, while in the hippocampus increases in excitability result in a higher probability for LTP induction, intrinsic plasticity in Purkinje cells lowers the probability for subsequent LTP induction. Second, intrinsic plasticity raises the spontaneous spike frequency of Purkinje cells. The latter effect does not impair tonic spike firing in the target neurons of inhibitory Purkinje cell projections in the deep cerebellar nuclei, but lowers the Purkinje cell signal-to-noise ratio, thus reducing the PF readout. These observations suggest that intrinsic plasticity accompanies LTP of active PF synapses, while it reduces at weaker, nonpotentiated synapses the probability for subsequent potentiation and lowers the impact on the Purkinje cell output.
Molecular and Neuroendocrine Approaches to Understanding Trade-offs: Food, Sex, Aggression, Stress, and Longevity-An Introduction to the Symposium.
Integrative and comparative biology, 2017

Life history strategies are composed of multiple fitness components, each of which incurs costs and benefits. Consequently, organisms cannot maximize all fitness components simultaneously. This situation results in a dynamic array of trade-offs in which some fitness traits prevail at the expense of others, often depending on context. The identification of specific constraints and trade-offs has helped elucidate physiological mechanisms that underlie variation in behavioral and physiological life history strategies. There is general recognition that trade-offs are made at the individual and population level, but much remains to be learned concerning the molecular neuroendocrine mechanisms that underlie trade-offs. For example, we still do not know whether the mechanisms that underlie trade-offs at the individual level relate to trade-offs at the population level. To advance our understanding of trade-offs, we organized a group of speakers who study neuroendocrine mechanisms at the interface of traits that are not maximized simultaneously. Speakers were invited to represent research from a wide range of taxa including invertebrates (e.g., worms and insects), fish, nonavian reptiles, birds, and mammals. Three general themes emerged. First, the study of trade-offs requires that we investigate traditional endocrine mechanisms that include hormones, neuropeptides, and their receptors, and in addition, other chemical messengers not traditionally included in endocrinology. The latter group includes growth factors, metabolic intermediates, and molecules of the immune system. Second, the nomenclature and theory of neuroscience that has dominated the study of behavior is being re-evaluated in the face of evidence for the peripheral actions of so-called neuropeptides and neurotransmitters and the behavioral repercussions of these actions. Finally, environmental and ecological contexts continue to be critical in unmasking molecular mechanisms that are hidden when study animals are housed in enclosed spaces, with unlimited food, without competitors or conspecifics, and in constant ambient conditions.
Effects of Sustained Treatment With Lixisenatide on Gastric Emptying and Postprandial Glucose Metabolism in Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Diabetes care, 2020

Tachyphylaxis for slowing of gastric emptying is seen with continuous exposure to glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1). We therefore aimed to establish whether prolonged use of a "short-acting" GLP-1 receptor agonist, lixisenatide, achieves sustained slowing of gastric emptying and reduction in postprandial glycemia.
Risk-taking and alcohol use disorders symptomatology in a sample of problem drinkers.
Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology, 2011

The relationship between risk-taking behavior and alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms is poorly understood. This study employed a modified version of a behavioral measure of risk-taking, the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), to examine its relationship to alcohol use and related symptoms in a community sample of individuals with or at risk for AUD. A total of 158 (71.9% male) participants completed a testing battery that included the BART, a structured diagnostic interview for AUD, and measures of alcohol use and related problems. Estimates of IQ and working memory were assessed as covariates. Results indicated that the relationship between risk-taking propensity, as assessed by the BART, and alcohol problems was significant and negative. Individuals with higher symptom count made fewer pumps per trial on the BART, indicating less risk-taking. It is important to note that this relationship was attenuated when controlling for estimated IQ and working memory span. Further examination demonstrated that IQ and age mediated the relationship between risk-taking propensity and symptom count. The main negative relationship observed between risk-taking on the BART and alcohol use and AUD symptomatology in this sample stands in contrast to the positive relationships observed in adolescent and nonclinical samples. Together, these findings highlight the need to consider development and the course of addiction to fully elucidate the effects of risky-decision making on AUD liability. Furthermore, our results demonstrate the importance of inclusion of neurocognitive covariates (IQ), as well as demographic variables (age) when using this task.
Encoding the Odor of Cigarette Smoke.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2020

The encoding of odors is believed to begin as a combinatorial code consisting of distinct patterns of responses from odorant receptors (ORs), trace-amine associated receptors (TAARs), or both. To determine how specific response patterns arise requires detecting patterns
Disease specific signature of circulating miR-150-5p and miR-21-5p in myasthenia gravis patients.
Journal of the neurological sciences, 2015

Reliable biological markers for patients with the autoimmune neuromuscular disorder myasthenia gravis (MG) are lacking. We determined whether levels of the circulating immuno-microRNAs miR-150-5p and miR-21-5p were elevated in sera from clinically heterogeneous MG patients, with and without immunosuppression, as compared to healthy controls and patients with other autoimmune disorders.
Single-session Comprehend, Cope, and Connect intervention in acute and crisis psychology: A feasibility and acceptability study.
Clinical psychology & psychotherapy, 2021

Comprehend, Cope, and Connect (CCC) is a third-wave cognitive behavioural approach developed for acute mental health services. The aim of this study was to assess feasibility and acceptability of a newly developed, manualized single-session CCC intervention delivered face-to-face with service users in acute and crisis psychology services in South London. The study adopted a within-subjects pre-post-test design. Participants (N = 23) were recruited from five acute psychiatric wards and a crisis resolution home treatment team. Service users had a range of diagnoses of complex and severe mental health conditions, in particular mood, personality, and psychotic disorders. Feasibility data were gathered for number of times the CCC formulation was accepted, duration of CCC intervention, clinician adherence to manualised protocol, and frequency of goal-based activity completion. Acceptability data on pre- and post-CCC mood and post-CCC helpfulness were self-reported by participants. Findings indicated a significant increase in positive mood (large effect) and moderate-high helpfulness rating postintervention. Most participants reported goal-based activity completion. There was high fidelity to the protocol, high percentage of acceptance of the formulation and formulation components completed, and frequent single-session completion. Single-session CCC appears feasible and acceptable in acute and crisis psychology services and yields formulation-driven goal-based activities intended to stabilize mental health crisis. High fidelity to formulation protocol suggests broader applications for single-session CCC, for example, to support clinical staff to manage crisis situations in their work environment or to train nonpsychologist clinicians to deliver the intervention for service users. A randomized controlled trial of single-session CCC would increase validity and generalisability of findings.
Human opiorphin: the lack of physiological dependence, tolerance to antinociceptive effects and abuse liability in laboratory mice.
Behavioural brain research, 2010

Like other endogenous enkephalinase inhibitors, human opiorphin peptide (QRFSR) attenuates catabolism of enkephalins and appears to be a promising therapeutic, displaying antinociceptive action in several pain models. However, its opioid-like side-effect profile is insufficiently characterized. In the present set of experiments, acute intraperitoneal administration of opiorphin produced an antinociceptive effect in the tail-flick test in mice (0.3mg/kg) and this action was inhibited by opioid receptor antagonist naloxone (3mg/kg). Repeated treatment with opiorphin changed the antinociceptive response neither to itself nor to morphine, suggesting the lack of tolerance and morphine cross-tolerance, respectively. Repeated treatment with opiorphin (3mg/kg) also failed to produce opioid dependence. Opiorphin (0.3 or 1mg/kg) produced no rewarding effects in the conditioned place preference test. However, at the dose of 3mg/kg, the peptide produced antidepressant-like effect in the forced swim test, and it did not affect locomotor activity. The present set of results confirms the beneficial effects of opiorphin in pain management, and suggests a lack of opioid-like side effects as well as the presence of antidepressant-like actions of this peptide.
Analysis of hoxa11 and hoxa13 expression during patternless limb regeneration in Xenopus.
Developmental biology, 2010

During limb regeneration, anuran tadpoles and urodele amphibians generate pattern-organizing, multipotent, mesenchymal blastema cells, which give rise to a replica of the lost limb including patterning in three dimensions. To facilitate the regeneration of nonregenerative limbs in other vertebrates, it is important to elucidate the molecular differences between blastema cells that can regenerate the pattern of limbs and those that cannot. In Xenopus froglet (soon after metamorphosis), an amputated limb generates blastema cells that do not produce proper patterning, resulting in a patternless regenerate, a spike, regardless of the amputation level. We found that re-expression of hoxa11 and hoxa13 in the froglet blastema is initiated although the subsequent proximal-distal patterning, including separation of the hoxa11 and hoxa13 expression domains, is disrupted. We also observed an absence of EphA4 gene expression in the froglet blastema and a failure of position-dependent cell sorting, which correlated with the altered hoxa11 and hoxa13 expression. Quantitative analysis of hoxa11 and hoxa13 expression revealed that hoxa13 transcript levels were reduced in the froglet blastema compared with the tadpole blastema. Moreover, the expression of sox9, an important regulator of chondrogenic differentiation, was detected earlier in patternless blastemas than in tadpole blastemas. These results suggest that appropriate spatial, temporal, and quantitative gene expression is necessary for pattern regeneration by blastema cells.
An empirical, 21st century evaluation of phrenology.
Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, 2018

Phrenology was a nineteenth century endeavour to link personality traits with scalp morphology, which has been both influential and fiercely criticised, not least because of the assumption that scalp morphology can be informative of underlying brain function. Here we test the idea empirically rather than dismissing it out of hand. Whereas nineteenth century phrenologists had access to coarse measurement tools (digital technology referring then to fingers), we were able to re-examine phrenology using 21st century methods and thousands of subjects drawn from the largest neuroimaging study to date. High-quality structural MRI was used to quantify local scalp curvature. The resulting curvature statistics were compared against lifestyle measures acquired from the same cohort of subjects, being careful to match a subset of lifestyle measures to phrenological ideas of brain organisation, in an effort to evoke the character of Victorian times. The results represent the most rigorous evaluation of phrenological claims to date.
Neurobiology: Swimming at the Intersection of Light and Gravity.
Current biology : CB, 2020

Many animals use gravity as a spatial reference to help navigate their surroundings, but how they do so is not well understood. A new study reveals that a representative of our closest invertebrate relatives, the tunicate Ciona, processes light and gravity cues through a simple neural circuit to decide when and how to swim.
MRI protocol for in vivo visualization of the Göttingen minipig brain improves targeting in experimental functional neurosurgery.
Brain research bulletin, 2009

The Göttingen minipig is increasingly used as an animal model in experimental neuroscience as a much needed alternative to non-human primates. Accurate spatial targeting in this species in vivo is challenging, and most clinically available magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocols do not provide sufficient spatial resolution for this purpose. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop an in vivo pre-operative MRI protocol allowing direct visualization of individual nuclei of major interest in the minipig brain.
Complement pathway changes at age 12 are associated with psychotic experiences at age 18 in a longitudinal population-based study: evidence for a role of stress.
Molecular psychiatry, 2021

The complement cascade is a major component of the immune defence against infection, and there is increasing evidence for a role of dysregulated complement in major psychiatric disorders. We undertook a directed proteomic analysis of the complement signalling pathway (n = 29 proteins) using data-independent acquisition. Participants were recruited from the UK avon longitudinal study of parents and children (ALSPAC) cohort who participated in psychiatric assessment interviews at ages 12 and 18. Protein expression levels at age 12 among individuals who reported psychotic experiences (PEs) at age 18 (n = 64) were compared with age-matched controls (n = 67). Six out of the 29 targeted complement proteins or protein subcomponents were significantly upregulated following correction for multiple comparisons (VTN↑, C1RL↑, C8B↑, C8A↑, CFH↑, and C5↑). We then undertook an unbiased plasma proteomic analysis of mice exposed to chronic social stress and observed dysregulation of 11 complement proteins, including three that were altered in the same direction in individuals with PE (C1R↑, CFH↑, and C5↑). Our findings indicate that dysregulation of the complement protein pathway in blood is associated with incidence of psychotic experiences and that these changes may reflect exposure to stress.
The combination of appetitive and aversive reinforcers and the nature of their interaction during auditory learning.
Neuroscience, 2010

Learned changes in behavior can be elicited by either appetitive or aversive reinforcers. It is, however, not clear whether the two types of motivation, (approaching appetitive stimuli and avoiding aversive stimuli) drive learning in the same or different ways, nor is their interaction understood in situations where the two types are combined in a single experiment. To investigate this question we have developed a novel learning paradigm for Mongolian gerbils, which not only allows rewards and punishments to be presented in isolation or in combination with each other, but also can use these opposite reinforcers to drive the same learned behavior. Specifically, we studied learning of tone-conditioned hurdle crossing in a shuttle box driven by either an appetitive reinforcer (brain stimulation reward) or an aversive reinforcer (electrical footshock), or by a combination of both. Combination of the two reinforcers potentiated speed of acquisition, led to maximum possible performance, and delayed extinction as compared to either reinforcer alone. Additional experiments, using partial reinforcement protocols and experiments in which one of the reinforcers was omitted after the animals had been previously trained with the combination of both reinforcers, indicated that appetitive and aversive reinforcers operated together but acted in different ways: in this particular experimental context, punishment appeared to be more effective for initial acquisition and reward more effective to maintain a high level of conditioned responses (CRs). The results imply that learning mechanisms in problem solving were maximally effective when the initial punishment of mistakes was combined with the subsequent rewarding of correct performance.
Hippocampal volumes differ across the mouse estrous cycle, can change within 24 hours, and associate with cognitive strategies.
NeuroImage, 2013

Recent human and rodent brain imaging studies have shown that the shape of the brain can be changed by experience. These mesoscopic alterations in neuroanatomy are hypothesized to be driven by changes at the level of neuronal processes. To examine whether the shape of the brain changes rapidly, we used MRI to examine changes in the volume of the hippocampus across the 4-6 day estrous cycle in the female mouse. It is well known that changing steroid levels across the cycle influence dendritic spine maturation and alter synapse density in the hippocampus; our results show that the estrous cycle is associated with approximately 2-3% changes in hippocampal volume as seen by high-resolution ex-vivo MRI. Changes in hippocampal volume are, moreover, associated with a switch between hippocampal and striatal based navigation strategies in solving the dual choice T-maze in the same mice. A second experiment, using in-vivo MRI, suggests that these changes in hippocampal volume can occur over a 24 hour period. In summary, we show that the brain is highly plastic at a mesoscopic level of resolution detectable by MRI, that volumetric increases and decreases in hippocampal volume follow previously established patterns of changes in neuropil, and that these changes in volume predict changes in cognition.