rudyvdbrink/CitationDatabase huggingface dataset:
Differentiating Real-World Autobiographical Experiences without Recourse to Behaviour.
Brain sciences, 2021

Investigating human consciousness based on brain activity alone is a key challenge in cognitive neuroscience. One of its central facets, the ability to form autobiographical memories, has been investigated through several fMRI studies that have revealed a pattern of activity across a network of frontal, parietal, and medial temporal lobe regions when participants view personal photographs, as opposed to when they view photographs from someone else's life. Here, our goal was to attempt to decode when participants were re-experiencing an entire event, captured on video from a first-person perspective, relative to a very similar event experienced by someone else. Participants were asked to sit passively in a wheelchair while a researcher pushed them around a local mall. A small wearable camera was mounted on each participant, in order to capture autobiographical videos of the visit from a first-person perspective. One week later, participants were scanned while they passively viewed different categories of videos; some were autobiographical, while others were not. A machine-learning model was able to successfully classify the video categories above chance, both within and across participants, suggesting that there is a shared mechanism differentiating autobiographical experiences from non-autobiographical ones. Moreover, the classifier brain maps revealed that the fronto-parietal network, mid-temporal regions and extrastriate cortex were critical for differentiating between autobiographical and non-autobiographical memories. We argue that this novel paradigm captures the true nature of autobiographical memories, and is well suited to patients (e.g., with brain injuries) who may be unable to respond reliably to traditional experimental stimuli.
Cat Hobaiter.
Current biology : CB, 2020

Interview with Cat Hobaiter, who studies the evolution of communication, cognition and social behaviour in apes at the University of St Andrews and through field studies in the Budongo Forest in Uganda.
Polygenic overlap and shared genetic loci between loneliness, severe mental disorders, and cardiovascular disease risk factors suggest shared molecular mechanisms.
Translational psychiatry, 2021

Clinical and epidemiological evidence suggest that loneliness is associated with severe mental disorders (SMDs) and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the mechanisms underlying the relationship between loneliness, SMDs, and CVD risk factors remain unknown. Here we explored overlapping genetic architecture and genetic loci shared between SMDs, loneliness, and CVD risk factors. We analyzed large independent genome-wide association study data on schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BD), major depression (MD), loneliness and CVD risk factors using bivariate causal mixture mode (MiXeR), which estimates the total amount of shared variants, and conditional false discovery rate to evaluate overlap in specific loci. We observed substantial genetic overlap between SMDs, loneliness and CVD risk factors, beyond genetic correlation. We identified 149 loci jointly associated with loneliness and SMDs (MD n = 67, SCZ n = 54, and BD n = 28), and 55 distinct loci jointly associated with loneliness and CVD risk factors. A total of 153 novel loneliness loci were found. Most of the shared loci possessed concordant effect directions, suggesting that genetic risk for loneliness may increase the risk of both SMDs and CVD. Functional analyses of the shared loci implicated biological processes related to the brain, metabolic processes, chromatin and immune system. Altogether, the study revealed polygenic overlap between loneliness, SMDs and CVD risk factors, providing new insights into their shared genetic architecture and common genetic mechanisms.
Age at illness onset and physical activity are associated with cognitive impairment in patients with current diagnosis of major depressive disorder.
Journal of affective disorders, 2021

Cognitive impairment has been reported in patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). This study aims to explore the association between lifestyle habits and health-related factors and the presence of cognitive symptoms in MDD patients.
NMDA-induced nitric oxide generation and CREB activation in central nervous system is dependent on eukaryotic elongation factor 2 kinase.
Biochimica et biophysica acta. Molecular cell research, 2020

The NMDA receptor is crucial to several functions in CNS physiology and some of its effects are mediated by promoting nitric oxide production from L-arginine and activation of signaling pathways and the transcription factor CREB. Our previous work demonstrated in retinal cells that increasing intracellular free L-arginine levels directly correlates to nitric oxide (NO) generation and can be promoted by protein synthesis inhibition and increase of free L-arginine concentration. Eukaryotic elongation factor 2 kinase (eEF2K), a calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase, is also known to be activated by NMDA receptors leading to protein synthesis inhibition. Here we explored how does eEF2K participate in NMDA-induced NO signaling. We found that when this enzyme is inhibited, NMDA loses its ability to promote NO synthesis. On the other hand, when NO synthesis is increased by protein synthesis inhibition with cycloheximide or addition of exogenous L-arginine, eEF2K has no participation, showcasing a specific link between this enzyme and NMDA-induced NO signaling. We have previously shown that inhibition of the canonical NO signaling pathway (guanylyl cyclase/cGMP/cGK) blocks CREB activation by glutamate in retinal cells. Interestingly, pharmacological inhibition of eEF2K fully prevents CREB activation by NMDA, once again demonstrating the importance of eEF2K in NMDA receptor signaling. In summary, we demonstrated here a new role for eEF2K, directly controlling NMDA-dependent nitrergic signaling and modulating L-arginine availability in neurons, which can potentially be a new target for the study of physiological and pathological processes involving NMDA receptors in the central nervous system.
Reactive Astrocytes Display Pro-inflammatory Adaptability with Modulation of Notch-PI3K-AKT Signaling Pathway Under Inflammatory Stimulation.
Neuroscience, 2020

Astrocytes are major glial cells critical in assisting the function of the central nervous system (CNS), but the functional changes and regulation mechanism of reactive astrocytes are still poorly understood in CNS diseases. In this study, mouse primary astrocytes were cultured, and inflammatory insult was performed to observe functional changes in astrocytes and the involvement of Notch-PI3K-AKT signaling activation through immunofluorescence, PCR, Western blot, CCK-8, and inhibition experiments. Notch downstream signal Hes-1 was clearly observed in the astrocytes, and Notch signal inhibitor GSI dose-dependently decreased the cleaved Notch-l level without an influence on cell viability. Inflammatory insult of lipopolysaccharide plus interferon-γ (LPS+IFNγ) induced an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines, that is, iNOS, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF, at the protein and mRNA levels in activated astrocytes, which was reduced or blocked by GSI treatment. The cell viability of the astrocytes did not show significant differences among different groups. While an increase in MyD88, NF-кB, and phosphor-NF-кB was confirmed, upregulation of PI3K, AKT, and phosphor-AKT was observed in the activated astrocytes with LPS+IFNγ insult and was reduced by GSI treatment. Inhibitor experiments showed that inhibition of Notch-PI3K-AKT signaling activation reduced the pro-inflammatory cytokine production triggered by LPS+IFNγ inflammatory insult. This study showed that the reactive astrocytes displayed pro-inflammatory adaptability through Notch-PI3K-AKT signaling activation in response to inflammatory stimulation, suggesting that the Notch-PI3K-AKT pathway in reactive astrocytes may serve as a promising target against CNS inflammatory disorders.
Intranasal vasopressin expedites dishonesty in women.
Hormones and behavior, 2020

As an integral ingredient of human sociality, dishonesty can be both egocentric and altruistic, as well as gradually escalate. Here, we examined the influence of arginine vasopressin (AVP), a neuropeptide associated with human prosocial behaviors, on dishonest behaviors in men and women. In this double-blind and placebo-controlled study, 101 participants were randomized to administration of either 20 IU intranasal AVP or placebo. We used a two-party task to manipulate the incentive structure of dishonesty in the way of self-/other-serving repeatedly. For lies that benefit both themselves and others, women receiving intranasal AVP lied more than women receiving intranasal placebo and men receiving intranasal AVP. The dishonest behavior of women treated with AVP gradually escalated with repetition over time. These results suggest that AVP selectively regulates the escalation of dishonesty in women, contingent on the motivation of dishonesty. Our findings provide insight into gender-specific modulations of AVP on human dishonest behavior.
Stressing diets? Amygdala networks, cumulative cortisol, and weight loss in adolescents with excess weight.
International journal of obesity (2005), 2020

The amygdala is importantly involved in stress and obesity, but its role on weight change and diet-related stress remains unexplored among adolescents with excess weight. We aimed to examine the functional connectivity of the Central and Basolateral amygdala nuclei (CeA and BLA) among adolescents, and to explore the longitudinal association between brain connectivity measures and diet-related cortisol and weight loss in adolescents with excess weight.
Localization of deep brain activity with scalp and subdural EEG.
NeuroImage, 2020

To what extent electrocorticography (ECoG) and electroencephalography (scalp EEG) differ in their capability to locate sources of deep brain activity is far from evident. Compared to EEG, the spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio of ECoG is superior but its spatial coverage is more restricted, as is arguably the volume of tissue activity effectively measured from. Moreover, scalp EEG studies are providing evidence of locating activity from deep sources such as the hippocampus using high-density setups during quiet wakefulness. To address this question, we recorded a multimodal dataset from 4 patients with refractory epilepsy during quiet wakefulness. This data comprises simultaneous scalp, subdural and depth EEG electrode recordings. The latter was located in the hippocampus or insula and provided us with our "ground truth" for source localization of deep activity. We applied independent component analysis (ICA) for the purpose of separating the independent sources in theta, alpha and beta frequency band activity. In all patients subdural- and scalp EEG components were observed which had a significant zero-lag correlation with one or more contacts of the depth electrodes. Subsequent dipole modeling of the correlating components revealed dipole locations that were significantly closer to the depth electrodes compared to the dipole location of non-correlating components. These findings support the idea that components found in both recording modalities originate from neural activity in close proximity to the depth electrodes. Sources localized with subdural electrodes were ~70% closer to the depth electrode than sources localized with EEG with an absolute improvement of around ~2cm. In our opinion, this is not a considerable improvement in source localization accuracy given that, for clinical purposes, ECoG electrodes were implanted in close proximity to the depth electrodes. Furthermore, the ECoG grid attenuates the scalp EEG, due to the electrically isolating silastic sheets in which the ECoG electrodes are embedded. Our results on dipole modeling show that the deep source localization accuracy of scalp EEG is comparable to that of ECoG. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Deep and subcortical regions play an important role in brain function. However, as joint recordings at multiple spatial scales to study brain function in humans are still scarce, it is still unresolved to what extent ECoG and EEG differ in their capability to locate sources of deep brain activity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study presenting a dataset of simultaneously recorded EEG, ECoG and depth electrodes in the hippocampus or insula, with a focus on non-epileptiform activity (quiet wakefulness). Furthermore, we are the first study to provide experimental findings on the comparison of source localization of deep cortical structures between invasive and non-invasive brain activity measured from the cortical surface.
Selective delayed gains following motor imagery of complex movements.
Archives italiennes de biologie, 2012

Recent studies suggest that a night of sleep may play a similar functional role following motor imagery (MI) practice. Here we examined whether offline gains following MI of a finger tapping sequence depends on the degree of complexity of the motor sequence, and whether this improvement differentially affects the individual transitions of the motor-sequence pattern being learned. The data revealed greater delayed performance gains in motor skill procedures that were most difficult, with larger sleep-dependent overnight improvement for movements involving bimanual coordination. The analyses of single transitions between sequence elements further revealed greatest overnight improvement in speed for the slowest (i.e., most difficult) transitions at the re-test. These findings suggest that sleep-related performance gains for imagined movements depend on motor skill complexity, and that difficult transition movements are most effectively enhanced after a night of sleep.
Adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase (AMPK) is essential for the memory improving effect of adiponectin.
Neuroscience letters, 2021

Adiponectin (APN) plays a major role in the regulation of insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis. Insulin and APN have a positive effect on memory. In this study, we examined whether the inhibition of AMPK could block the memory improving effect of APN or affect the IRS1 expression. Animal model of AD was developed by intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of 3 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ), in 12 weeks old Wistar rats, on days 1 and 3 after cannulation. Dorsomorphin (DM) and APN (600 nM) were injected 30 and 20 min before the acquisition phase, respectively. DM was applied in 3 different doses (0.2, 2 and 20 μM). All behavioral tests were performed on days 15 and 16; the Preference Index (PI) was calculated for novel object recognition (NOR) test, while the step through latency (STL) and total time in dark compartment (TDC) were recorded and analyzed for the passive avoidance task. Relative expression of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) protein in the hippocampus was measured by western blotting. In early retrieval test, STZ + APN treatment increased STL (P < 0.0001) and decreased TDC (P < 0.05) in comparison to STZ group, while STZ + APN + DM (2μM) caused a decrease in STL (P < 0.05) and increase in TDC (0.2μM and 2μM DM; P < 0.05). Icv injection of DM (0.2μM and 2μM) before APN decreased the PI significantly (P < 0.05) in comparison to STZ + APN group. APN treatment raised the IRS-1 expression and DM reversed this increment, significantly (P < 0.0001). It is concluded that the memory improving effect of APN is mediated, at least in part, by the AMPK pathway. APN is also able to boost insulin signaling by overexpression of IRS-1 in the hippocampus.
Self-evaluation of negative symptoms in adolescent and young adult first psychiatric episodes.
Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry, 2020

Negative Symptoms (blunted affect, alogia, anhedonia, avolition, and asociality) are usually described in schizophrenia but they are also present in other psychiatric disorders. The diagnosis and prognosis relevance of negative symptoms (NS) self-assessment during a first psychiatric episode is still unknown.
Dielectric properties of healthy and diabetic alloxan-induced lenses in rabbits.
Bioelectrochemistry (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2020

The dielectric properties of the eye lens were studied for healthy and alloxane-induced diabetic rabbits in the frequency range from 500 Hz to 100 kHz electric field and temperatures from 25 to 50 °C. In the full temperature range, the average relative permittivity and dielectric loss values for a healthy lens are lower than those recorded for diabetic tissue. Dielectric relaxation of polar amino acids on the alpha-crystallin surface with a characteristic frequency of 7 kHz in the range of 25-50 °C for healthy and diabetic samples is accompanied by the activation energy of proton conductivity with an average values of 33 and 39 kJ mol
Genome-wide Meta-analysis Finds the ACSL5-ZDHHC6 Locus Is Associated with ALS and Links Weight Loss to the Disease Genetics.
Cell reports, 2020

We meta-analyze amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) genome-wide association study (GWAS) data of European and Chinese populations (84,694 individuals). We find an additional significant association between rs58854276 spanning ACSL5-ZDHHC6 with ALS (p = 8.3 × 10
A multivariate model of time to conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease.
GeroScience, 2020

The present study was aimed at determining which combination of demographic, genetic, cognitive, neurophysiological, and neuroanatomical factors may predict differences in time to progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer's disease (AD). To this end, a sample of 121 MCIs was followed up during a 5-year period. According to their clinical outcome, MCIs were divided into two subgroups: (i) the "progressive" MCI group (n = 46; mean time to progression 17 ± 9.73 months) and (ii) the "stable" MCI group (n = 75; mean time of follow-up 31.37 ± 14.58 months). Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were applied to explore each variable's relationship with the progression to AD. Once potential predictors were detected, Cox regression analyses were utilized to calculate a parsimonious model to estimate differences in time to progression. The final model included three variables (in order of relevance): left parahippocampal volume (corrected by intracranial volume, LP_ ICV), delayed recall (DR), and left inferior occipital lobe individual alpha peak frequency (LIOL_IAPF). Those MCIs with LP_ICV volume, DR score, and LIOL_IAPF value lower than the defined cutoff had 6 times, 5.5 times, and 3 times higher risk of progression to AD, respectively. Besides, when the categories of the three variables were "unfavorable" (i.e., values below the cutoff), 100% of cases progressed to AD at the end of follow-up. Our results highlighted the relevance of neurophysiological markers as predictors of conversion (LIOL_IAPF) and the importance of multivariate models that combine markers of different nature to predict time to progression from MCI to dementia.
A rare case of trifid mandibular canal with bilateral retromolar foramina.
Anatomy & cell biology, 2020

There are many reported anatomical variations of the mandibular canal. Consequently, there is great variation in the retromolar area, such as the quantity, size, and location of the retromolar foramen (RMF), the bony entrance of the retromolar canal (RMC). These variations allow for different accessory innervations to the mandibular molars and their adjacent buccal tissue because the RMC contains neurovascular bundles. Consideration of these anatomical variations is crucial for avoiding complications in anesthesia, implant placement, and surgery. However, the rarer canal types are often only imaged by computed tomography (CT) or cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). We present a rare case with bilateral RMF and a unilateral trifid mandibular canal in a cadaver.
Visual Neuroscience: the brain's interest in natural flow.
Current biology : CB, 2008

Optic flow is a key signal for heading perception. A new study has shown that the human brain can dissociate between consistent (natural) and inconsistent flow, revealing what is likely a new hierarchy in visual motion processing.
Pesticide exposure and related health problems among family members of farmworkers in southeast Iran. A case-control study.
Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987), 2020

Pesticides used in agriculture are some of the most common pollutants in the world. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Organophosphorus Pesticides (OPPs) and Organochlorine Pesticides (OCPs) on the families of farmworkers in the southeast of Iran.
Satellite glial cells promote regenerative growth in sensory neurons.
Nature communications, 2020

Peripheral sensory neurons regenerate their axon after nerve injury to enable functional recovery. Intrinsic mechanisms operating in sensory neurons are known to regulate nerve repair, but whether satellite glial cells (SGC), which completely envelop the neuronal soma, contribute to nerve regeneration remains unexplored. Using a single cell RNAseq approach, we reveal that SGC are distinct from Schwann cells and share similarities with astrocytes. Nerve injury elicits changes in the expression of genes related to fatty acid synthesis and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPARα) signaling. Conditional deletion of fatty acid synthase (Fasn) in SGC impairs axon regeneration. The PPARα agonist fenofibrate rescues the impaired axon regeneration in mice lacking Fasn in SGC. These results indicate that PPARα activity downstream of FASN in SGC contributes to promote axon regeneration in adult peripheral nerves and highlight that the sensory neuron and its surrounding glial coat form a functional unit that orchestrates nerve repair.
Large-scale resculpting of cortical circuits in children after surgical resection.
Scientific reports, 2020

Despite the relative successes in the surgical treatment of pharmacoresistant epilepsy, there is rather little research on the neural (re)organization that potentially subserves behavioral compensation. Here, we examined the post-surgical functional connectivity (FC) in children and adolescents who have undergone unilateral cortical resection and, yet, display remarkably normal behavior. Conventionally, FC has been investigated in terms of the mean correlation of the BOLD time courses extracted from different brain regions. Here, we demonstrated the value of segregating the voxel-wise relationships into mutually exclusive populations that were either positively or negatively correlated. While, relative to controls, the positive correlations were largely normal, negative correlations among networks were increased. Together, our results point to reorganization in the contralesional hemisphere, possibly suggesting competition for cortical territory due to the demand for representation of function. Conceivably, the ubiquitous negative correlations enable the differentiation of function in the reduced cortical volume following a unilateral resection.
NOTCH2NLC Intermediate-Length Repeat Expansions Are Associated with Parkinson Disease.
Annals of neurology, 2021

NOTCH2NLC GGC repeat expansions were recently identified in neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease (NIID); however, it remains unclear whether they occur in other neurodegenerative disorders. This study aimed to investigate the role of intermediate-length NOTCH2NLC GGC repeat expansions in Parkinson disease (PD). We screened for GGC repeat expansions in a cohort of 1,011 PD patients and identified 11 patients with intermediate-length repeat expansions ranging from 41 to 52 repeats, with no repeat expansions in 1,134 controls. Skin biopsy revealed phospho-alpha-synuclein deposition, confirming the PD diagnosis in 2 patients harboring intermediate-length repeat expansions instead of NIID or essential tremor. Fibroblasts from PD patients harboring intermediate-length repeat expansions revealed NOTCH2NLC upregulation and autophagic dysfunction. Our results suggest that intermediate-length repeat expansions in NOTCH2NLC are potentially associated with PD. ANN NEUROL 2021;89:182-187.