rudyvdbrink/CitationDatabase huggingface dataset:
Centroparietal activity mirrors the decision variable when tracking biased and time-varying sensory evidence.
Cognitive psychology, 2020

Decision-making is a fundamental human activity requiring explanation at the neurocognitive level. Current theoretical frameworks assume that, during sensory-based decision-making, the stimulus is sampled sequentially. The resulting evidence is accumulated over time as a decision variable until a threshold is reached and a response is initiated. Several neural signals, including the centroparietal positivity (CPP) measured from the human electroencephalogram (EEG), appear to display the accumulation-to-bound profile associated with the decision variable. Here, we evaluate the putative computational role of the CPP as a model-derived accumulation-to-bound signal, focussing on point-by-point correspondence between model predictions and data in order to go beyond simple summary measures like average slope. In two experiments, we explored the CPP under two manipulations (namely non-stationary evidence and probabilistic decision biases) that complement one another by targeting the shape and amplitude of accumulation respectively. We fit sequential sampling models to the behavioural data, and used the resulting parameters to simulate the decision variable, before directly comparing the simulated profile to the CPP waveform. In both experiments, model predictions deviated from our naïve expectations, yet showed similarities with the neurodynamic data, illustrating the importance of a formal modelling approach. The CPP appears to arise from brain processes that implement a decision variable (as formalised in sequential-sampling models) and may therefore inform our understanding of decision-making at both the representational and implementational levels of analysis, but at this point it is uncertain whether a single model can explain how the CPP varies across different kinds of task manipulation.
Pre-assembled Ca2+ entry units and constitutively active Ca2+ entry in skeletal muscle of calsequestrin-1 knockout mice.
The Journal of general physiology, 2020

Store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) is a ubiquitous Ca2+ influx mechanism triggered by depletion of Ca2+ stores from the endoplasmic/sarcoplasmic reticulum (ER/SR). We recently reported that acute exercise in WT mice drives the formation of Ca2+ entry units (CEUs), intracellular junctions that contain STIM1 and Orai1, the two key proteins mediating SOCE. The presence of CEUs correlates with increased constitutive- and store-operated Ca2+ entry, as well as sustained Ca2+ release and force generation during repetitive stimulation. Skeletal muscle from mice lacking calsequestrin-1 (CASQ1-null), the primary Ca2+-binding protein in the lumen of SR terminal cisternae, exhibits significantly reduced total Ca2+ store content and marked SR Ca2+ depletion during high-frequency stimulation. Here, we report that CEUs are constitutively assembled in extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and flexor digitorum brevis (FDB) muscles of sedentary CASQ1-null mice. The higher density of CEUs in EDL (39.6 ± 2.1/100 µm2 versus 2.0 ± 0.3/100 µm2) and FDB (16.7 ± 1.0/100 µm2 versus 2.7 ± 0.5/100 µm2) muscles of CASQ1-null compared with WT mice correlated with enhanced constitutive- and store-operated Ca2+ entry and increased expression of STIM1, Orai1, and SERCA. The higher ability to recover Ca2+ ions via SOCE in CASQ1-null muscle served to promote enhanced maintenance of peak Ca2+ transient amplitude, increased dependence of luminal SR Ca2+ replenishment on BTP-2-sensitive SOCE, and increased maintenance of contractile force during repetitive, high-frequency stimulation. Together, these data suggest that muscles from CASQ1-null mice compensate for the lack of CASQ1 and reduction in total releasable SR Ca2+ content by assembling CEUs to promote constitutive and store-operated Ca2+ entry.
The dopamine depleting agent tetrabenazine alters effort-related decision making as assessed by mouse touchscreen procedures.
Psychopharmacology, 2020

Effort-based decision-making tasks allow animals to choose between preferred reinforcers that require high effort to obtain vs. low-effort/low reward options. Mesolimbic dopamine (DA) and related neural systems regulate effort-based choice. Tetrabenazine (TBZ) is a vesicular monoamine transport type-2 inhibitor that blocks DA storage and depletes DA. In humans, TBZ induces motivational dysfunction and depression. TBZ has been shown reliably to induce a low-effort bias in rats, but there are fewer mouse studies.
[Tourette syndrome: Research challenges to improve clinical practice].
L'Encephale, 2020

Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder which is characterized by the presence of motor and phonic tics. These tics are generally more prevalent in childhood. Tics typically reach their maximum severity before puberty, around age 10 to 12. In most patients, tic severity usually decreases during late adolescence and adulthood. However, this is not true for all individuals. To date, the developmental trajectory leading to the persistence of tics into adulthood is still poorly understood. There are very few markers that can predict the evolution of tic symptoms from childhood to adulthood. Yet, while we cannot cure Tourette syndrome, it is possible to reduce tic severity with various treatments. The most common treatments are pharmacotherapy and behavioral and cognitive-behavioral therapy. However, there appears to be a limit to the proportion of tics that can be treated, since most treatments offer an average reduction in tics of no more than 50%. Thus, at first, this article reviews recent advances in treatment and symptom progression. Next, we propose some lines of research to improve the management and treatment of people with Tourette syndrome.
Downregulation of synapse-associated protein expression and loss of homeostatic microglial control in cerebrospinal fluid of infectious patients with delirium and patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Brain, behavior, and immunity, 2020

Delirium is a complex and multifactorial condition associated with long-term cognitive decline. Due to the strong links between systemic inflammation, delirium and dementia we hypothesized that responses within the brain in patients who develop delirium could show biochemical overlap with patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this observational study we analyzed protein expression signatures in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 15 patients with infectious delirium and compared these to 29 patients with AD, 30 infectious patients without delirium and 15 non-infectious controls free of neurological disease. A proximity extension assay was performed measuring a total of 184 inflammatory and neurology-related proteins. Eight inflammatory proteins (4%), including the key neuron-microglia communication marker CX3CL1 (fractalkine), were significantly upregulated in both delirium and AD, compared to infectious patients without delirium. Likewise, 23 proteins (13%) showed downregulation in both delirium and AD, relative to infectious patients without delirium, which interestingly included CD200R1, another neuron-microglia communication marker, as well as a cluster of proteins related to synapse formation and function. Synaptopathy is an early event in AD and correlates strongly with cognitive dysfunction. These results were partially mediated by aging, which is an important predisposing risk factor among many others for both conditions. Within this study we report the first in vivo human evidence suggesting that synapse pathology and loss of homeostatic microglial control is involved in the pathophysiology of both infectious delirium and AD and thus may provide a link for the association between infections, delirium and long-term cognitive decline.
Impact of parenting on the development of chronic diseases in adulthood.
Medical hypotheses, 2019

The life course theory refers to a method developed in the 1960s that utilizes a multifaceted approach to evaluate people's lives, structural contexts, and social change. Adversities in childhood are associated with a heightened risk of chronic illnesses in adulthood. Parents play an important role in developing self-esteem, self-confidence, and effective coping mechanisms in their children. We discuss the myriad adverse childhood experiences that may contribute to the development of chronic diseases in adulthood and offer several strategies aimed at mitigating the effects of adverse childhood experiences and educating parents about their responsibilities of nurturing and preparing a child for life.
Exploring the relationship between social power and the ERP components of empathy for pain.
Social neuroscience, 2021

Social power (the ability to control or influence another's thoughts, feelings, or behaviors) and empathy (the ability to both share and understand the thoughts and feelings of others) are fundamental to social life. Here, we explore the relationship between social power and the ERP components associated with empathy for pain. Participants were induced into states of high and low social power via a double blind version of the episodic recall task (e.g., "recall a time you felt powerful"). Afterward, they completed a pain categorization task, viewing pictures of hands that were in pain or not in pain, from a first-person or third-person visual perspective. Whereas both high and low social power states were associated with enhanced N2 amplitudes when observing another in pain, only the high social power state was associated with an enhancement of the P3. Based on this pattern of data, we tentatively suggest that, whereas social power does not seem to impact the initial emotional response to observing another's pain (as indexed by the N2), low social power might induce changes in the cognitive evaluation of another's pain relative to high social power (as indexed by the P3). We discuss our findings in relation to the broader literature on power and empathy.
Lymphocyte reconstitution after DMF discontinuation in clinical trial and real-world patients with MS.
Neurology. Clinical practice, 2020

Delayed-release dimethyl fumarate (DMF) has demonstrated robust efficacy in treating patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Decreases in absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) are a well-known pharmacodynamic effect of DMF treatment, but lymphocyte recovery dynamics are not well characterized after discontinuation of DMF.
Neonatal brain connectivity outliers identify over forty percent of IQ outliers at 4 years of age.
Brain and behavior, 2020

Defining reliable brain markers for the prediction of abnormal behavioral outcomes remains an urgent but extremely challenging task in neuroscience research. This is particularly important for infant studies given the most dramatic brain and behavioral growth during infancy.
Why and how the brain weights contributions from a mixture of experts.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 2021

It has long been suggested that human behavior reflects the contributions of multiple systems that cooperate or compete for behavioral control. Here we propose that the brain acts as a "Mixture of Experts" in which different expert systems propose strategies for action. It will be argued that the brain determines which experts should control behavior at any one moment in time by keeping track of the reliability of the predictions within each system, and by allocating control over behavior in a manner that depends on the relative reliabilities across experts. fMRI and neurostimulation studies suggest a specific contribution of the anterior prefrontal cortex in this process. Further, such a mechanism also takes into consideration the complexity of the expert, favoring simpler over more cognitively complex experts. Results from the study of different expert systems in both experiential and social learning domains hint at the possibility that this reliability-based control mechanism is domain general, exerting control over many different expert systems simultaneously in order to produce sophisticated behavior.
Identification of adequate vehicles to carry nerve regeneration inducers using tubulisation.
BMC neuroscience, 2012

Axonal regeneration depends on many factors, such as the type of injury and repair, age, distance from the cell body and distance of the denervated muscle, loss of surrounding tissue and the type of injured nerve. Experimental models use tubulisation with a silicone tube to research regenerative factors and substances to induce regeneration. Agarose, collagen and DMEM (Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium) can be used as vehicles. In this study, we compared the ability of these vehicles to induce rat sciatic nerve regeneration with the intent of finding the least active or inert substance. The experiment used 47 female Wistar rats, which were divided into four experimental groups (agarose 4%, agarose 0.4%, collagen, DMEM) and one normal control group. The right sciatic nerve was exposed, and an incision was made that created a 10 mm gap between the distal and proximal stumps. A silicone tube was grafted onto each stump, and the tubes were filled with the respective media. After 70 days, the sciatic nerve was removed. We evaluated the formation of a regeneration cable, nerve fibre growth, and the functional viability of the regenerated fibres.
Research of the Holiday kind: Tabulating Ingestion of Mocha Solution (TIMS): a longitudinal prospective cohort study.
CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 2011

The annual "Roll Up the Rim to Win" contest at Tim Hortons restaurants provides customers the opportunity to win prizes. This study investigated win ratios, prize types and patterns of coffee consumption.
Variability of seizure-like activity in an 
Heliyon, 2020

Hippocampal and cortical slice-based models are widely used to study seizures and epilepsy. Seizure detection and quantification are essential components for studying mechanisms of epilepsy and assessing therapeutic interventions. To obtain meaningful signals and maximize experimental throughput, variability should be minimized. Some electrical recording methods require insertion of an electrode into neuronal tissue, change in slice chemical microenvironment, and transients in temperature and pH. These perturbations can cause acute and long-term alterations of the neuronal network which may be reflected in the variability of the recorded signal.
Intracerebellar infusion of an mGluR1/5 agonist enhances eyeblink conditioning.
Behavioral neuroscience, 2021

Cerebellar metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (mGluR1) expressed by Purkinje cells may play an important role in learning-related cerebellar plasticity. Eyeblink conditioning (EBC) is a well-studied form of Pavlovian learning that engages discrete areas of cerebellar cortex and deep cerebellar nuclei. EBC is impaired in mGluR1 knockout mice. Here, we show that infusion of the mGluR1/5 agonist DHPG into the lobulus simplex region of cerebellar cortex facilitates EBC in rats. Infusion was made prior to Sessions 1 and 2 of EBC but the facilitatory effects persisted throughout subsequent, noninfusion sessions. The facilitatory effects were confined to frequency of eyeblink conditioned responses (CRs); there were no effects on amplitude or latency of CRs. There were also no effects on reflexive responding to the tone conditioned stimulus or eyelid stimulation unconditioned stimulus. The current results provide further evidence that cerebellar mGluR1 plays a role in cerebellar-dependent associative learning and complement previous studies using mGluR1 knockout mice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Independent contributions of the face, body, and gait to the representation of the whole person.
Attention, perception & psychophysics, 2021

Most studies on person perception have primarily investigated static images of faces. However, real-life person perception also involves the body and often the gait of the whole person. Whereas some studies indicated that the face dominates the representation of the whole person, others have emphasized the additional contribution of the body and gait. Here, we compared models of whole-person perception by asking whether a model that includes the body for static whole-person stimuli and also the gait for dynamic whole-person stimuli accounts better for the representation of the whole person than a model that takes into account the face alone. Participants rated the distinctiveness of static or dynamic displays of different people based on either the whole person, face, body, or gait. By fitting a linear regression model to the representation of the whole person based on the face, body, and gait, we revealed that the face and body contribute uniquely and independently to the representation of the static whole person, and that gait further contributes to the representation of the dynamic person. A complementary analysis examined whether these components are also valid dimensions of a whole-person representational space. This analysis further confirmed that the body in addition to the face as well as the gait are valid dimensions of the static and dynamic whole-person representations, respectively. These data clearly show that whole-person perception goes beyond the face and is significantly influenced by the body and gait.
The dromedary camel displays annual variation in hypothalamic kisspeptin and Arg-Phe-amide-related peptide-3 according to sex, season, and breeding activity.
The Journal of comparative neurology, 2020

The dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) is a desert mammal whose cycles in reproductive activity ensure that the offspring's birth and weaning coincide with periods of abundant food resources and favorable climate conditions. In this study, we assessed whether kisspeptin (Kp) and arginine-phenylalanine (RF)-amide related peptide-3 (RFRP-3), two hypothalamic peptides known to regulate the mammalian hypothalamo-pituitary gonadal axis, may be involved in the seasonal control of camel's reproduction. Using specific antibodies and riboprobes, we found that Kp neurons are present in the preoptic area (POA), suprachiasmatic (SCN), and arcuate (ARC) nuclei, and that RFRP-3 neurons are present in the paraventricular (PVN), dorsomedial (DMH), and ventromedial (VMH) hypothalamic nuclei. Kp fibers are found in various hypothalamic areas, notably the POA, SCN, PVN, DMH, VMH, supraoptic nucleus, and the ventral and dorsal premammillary nucleus. RFRP-3 fibers are found in the POA, SCN, PVN, DMH, VMH, and ARC. POA and ARC Kp neurons and DMH RFRP-3 neurons display sexual dimorphism with more neurons in female than in male. Both neuronal populations display opposed seasonal variations with more Kp neurons and less RFRP-3 neurons during the breeding (December-January) than the nonbreeding (July-August) season. This study is the first describing Kp and RFRP-3 in the camel's brain with, during the winter period lower RFRP-3 expression and higher Kp expression possibly responsible for the HPG axis activation. Altogether, our data indicate the involvement of both Kp and RFRP-3 in the seasonal control of the dromedary camel's breeding activity.
In vitro validation of in silico identified inhibitory interactions.
Journal of neuroscience methods, 2019

Understanding how neuronal signals propagate in local network is an important step in understanding information processing. As a result, spike trains recorded with multi-electrode arrays (MEAs) have been widely used to study the function of neural networks. Studying the dynamics of neuronal networks requires the identification of both excitatory and inhibitory connections. The detection of excitatory relationships can robustly be inferred by characterizing the statistical relationships of neural spike trains. However, the identification of inhibitory relationships is more difficult: distinguishing endogenous low firing rates from active inhibition is not obvious.
Altered gut microbiome and autism like behavior are associated with parental high salt diet in male mice.
Scientific reports, 2021

Neurodevelopmental disorders are conditions caused by the abnormal development of the central nervous system. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is currently the most common form of such disorders, affecting 1% of the population worldwide. Despite its prevalence, the mechanisms underlying ASD are not fully known. Recent studies have suggested that the maternal gut microbiome can have profound effects on neurodevelopment. Considering that the gut microbial composition is modulated by diet, we tested the hypothesis that ASD-like behavior could be linked to maternal diet and its associated gut dysbiosis. Therefore, we used a mouse model of parental high salt diet (HSD), and specifically evaluated social and exploratory behaviors in their control-fed offspring. Using 16S genome sequencing of fecal samples, we first show that (1) as expected, HSD changed the maternal gut microbiome, and (2) this altered gut microbiome was shared with the offspring. More importantly, behavioral analysis of the offspring showed hyperactivity, increased repetitive behaviors, and impaired sociability in adult male mice from HSD-fed parents. Taken together, our data suggests that parental HSD consumption is strongly associated with offspring ASD-like behavioral abnormalities via changes in gut microbiome.
The affective benefits of nature exposure: What's nature got to do with it?
Journal of environmental psychology, 2020

Nature interactions have been demonstrated to produce reliable affective benefits. While adults demonstrate strong preferences for natural environments over urban ones, it is not clear whether these affective benefits result from exposure to nature stimuli per se, or result from viewing a highly preferred stimulus. In one set of studies (Study 1 and 2), state affect before and after image viewing was examined as a function of both preference level (high, low, very high, or very low aesthetic value) and environment type (nature or urban). When aesthetic value was matched, no differences in affect change were found between environments. However, affect change was predicted by individual participants' ratings for the images. The largest affective benefits occurred after viewing very high aesthetic nature images, but Study 2 lacked an equivalently preferred urban image set. In a second set of studies (Study 3 and 4), new sets of very highly preferred images in categories other than nature scenes (urban scenes and animals) were employed. As before, individual differences in preference for the images (but not image category) was predictive of changes in affect. In Study 5, the nature and urban images from Study 1 were rated on beauty to assess whether the stimuli's preference ratings were capturing anything other than simple aesthetics. Results showed that beauty/aesthetics and preference ('liking') were nearly identical. Lastly, a replication of Study 2 (Study 6) was conducted to test whether priming preference accounted for these benefits, but this was not the case. Together, these results suggest that nature improves affective state because it is such a highly preferred environment.
Handling and restraint.
Current protocols in neuroscience, 2004

For the safety of the handler and the animal, proper methods for handling and restraining laboratory animals should be followed. Improper handling can result in increased stress and injury to the animal. In addition, the handler risks injury from bite wounds or scratches inflicted when the animal becomes fearful or anxious. By using sure, direct movements with a determined attitude, the animal can be easily handled and restrained. Animals can be restrained either manually or in a plastic restrainer. The protocols in this unit describe handling and manual restraint of mice, rats, hamsters, and rabbits. Alternate protocols describe restraint using the plastic restrainer.