Characterization Of Foxp Expression In The Embryonic And Neonatal Mouse Brain, 2013 University of Puget Sound
Characterization Of Foxp Expression In The Embryonic And Neonatal Mouse Brain, Hillary Handler
Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal
Forkhead domain family of transcription factors (Foxp) are important in the control of neural stem cell maintenance and differentiation within the developing spinal cord. The aim of the current study is to identify regions of the mouse brain that express FOXP2, FOXP4, and FOXP1 genes at embryonic and post-natal stages. It is hypothesized that the expression pattern in the brain will be similar to that in the spinal cord. Confocal microscopy was used to visualize fluorescent antibody tags on the target proteins. It was found that the FOXP genes are not progressively expressed in the developing brain as they are …
Synaptic And Systems Memory Consolidation In The Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile Atricapillus), 2013 The University of Western Ontario
Synaptic And Systems Memory Consolidation In The Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile Atricapillus), Matthew Barrett
Matthew J. Barrett
ABSTRACT Memory consolidation - the time-dependent stabilization of information- involves two processes: 1) synaptic consolidation and 2) systems consolidation. Synaptic consolidation uses a series of protein synthesis cascades that make lasting changes in the underlying neural architecture of a memory. Systems consolidation involves the reorganization of memory such that, with the passage of time, memory that is initially hippocampus-dependent can be retrieved and activated independent of the hippocampus. Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) store and relocate food using hippocampus-dependent spatial memory. In Chapter 2 inhibition of protein synthesis by anisomycin, either 0 and 2 h or 4 and 6 h after …
Analysis Of Neuronal And Microglial Responses To Implanted Silicon Devices Through Immunohistochemistry And Clarity, 2013 Purdue University
Analysis Of Neuronal And Microglial Responses To Implanted Silicon Devices Through Immunohistochemistry And Clarity, Michael A. Leathers, Kevin J. Otto
The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium
Brain computer interfaces (BCI’s) and implantable cortical devices have recently emerged in research as promising treatment methods for a variety of neurological problems such as motor dysfunction, memory loss, and sudden onset seizures. The number of people currently suffering from a loss of nervous system function as a result of neurodegenerative diseases or injury creates a need for reliable neural prostheses. The autoimmune response of the Central Nervous System (CNS) when introduced with a foreign object such as an electrode shank quickly impedes signal strength and degrades the functional life of the device. Two different experimental methods were used to …
Is Pressure Stressful? The Impact Of Pressure On The Stress Response And Category Learning, 2013 University of Maine
Is Pressure Stressful? The Impact Of Pressure On The Stress Response And Category Learning, Shannon L. Mccoy, Steven B. Hutchinson, Lauren Hawthorne, Brandon J. Cosley, Shawn W. Ell
Psychology Faculty Scholarship
We examine the basic question of whether pressure is stressful. We propose that when examining the role of stress or pressure in cognitive performance it is important to consider the type of pressure, the stress response, and the aspect of cognition assessed. In Experiment 1, outcome pressure was not experienced as stressful but did lead to impaired performance on a rule-based (RB) category learning task and not a more procedural information-integration (II) task. In Experiment 2, the addition of monitoring pressure resulted in a modest stress response to combined pressure and impairment on both tasks. Across experiments, higher stress appraisals …
Social Compass Curriculum: Three Descriptive Case Studies Of Social Skills Outcomes For Students With Autism, 2013 Chapman University
Social Compass Curriculum: Three Descriptive Case Studies Of Social Skills Outcomes For Students With Autism, Louanne E. Boyd, Deborah M. Ward
Engineering Faculty Articles and Research
The Social Compass Curriculum (SCC) was investigated for its effectiveness in improving core social skills in three descriptive case studies of students with autism. Treatment fidelity of the SCC was also measured in the school setting. The Social Responsiveness Scale and the Autism Social Skills Profile were completed by parents to measure pre- and postintervention social skills for three students aged 8 to 11 years who participated in the present multisite pilot study. Fidelity of implementation data were collected via a checklist during observations for three educators who implemented the intervention. Results indicate that the SCC improved core social deficits …
An Investigation Into The Presynaptic Actions By Which Amphetamine Activates Dopamine Signaling Within Striatal Subregions Of The Rat., 2013 Illinois State University
An Investigation Into The Presynaptic Actions By Which Amphetamine Activates Dopamine Signaling Within Striatal Subregions Of The Rat., Dan P. Covey
Theses and Dissertations
Despite decades of intense research and a consensus view in the field, the work presented herein provides strong evidence that the primary mechanism of amphetamine action should be re-evaluated. Rather than depleting vesicular dopamine stores and promoting non-exocytotic efflux through the dopamine transporter in vivo, recent evidence demonstrates that amphetamine augments phasic dopamine signaling instead. This signaling modality is critical for reinforcement learning and is dependent on intact vesicular stores. The new findings support over-activation of phasic dopamine signaling as a common mechanism in the addiction process.
Day-Night Differences In Neural Activation In Histaminergic And Serotonergic Areas With Putative Projections To The Cerebrospinal Fluid In A Diurnal Brain, 2013 Michigan State University
Day-Night Differences In Neural Activation In Histaminergic And Serotonergic Areas With Putative Projections To The Cerebrospinal Fluid In A Diurnal Brain, Alexandra Castillo-Ruiz, Andrew J. Gall, Laura Smale, Antonio A. Nunez
Faculty Publications
In nocturnal rodents, brain areas that promote wakefulness have a circadian pattern of neural activation that mirrors the sleep/wake cycle, with more neural activation during the active phase than during the rest phase. To investigate whether differences in temporal patterns of neural activity in wake-promoting regions contribute to differences in daily patterns of wakefulness between nocturnal and diurnal species, we assessed Fos expression patterns in the tuberomammillary (TMM), supramammillary (SUM), and raphe nuclei of male grass rats maintained in a 12:12 h light-dark cycle. Day-night profiles of Fos expression were observed in the ventral and dorsal TMM, in the SUM, …
Taking Tone Into Account: Cognitive Neuroscientific Investigations Of Mandarin Chinese Spoken Word Processing, 2013 The University of Western Ontario
Taking Tone Into Account: Cognitive Neuroscientific Investigations Of Mandarin Chinese Spoken Word Processing, Jeffrey G. Malins
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
To date, theories of how humans recognize spoken words have yet to account for tonal languages such as Mandarin Chinese. One reason for this is that we know relatively little about how native speakers of tonal languages process spoken words in the brain. This dissertation addresses this problem by examining Mandarin spoken word processing in both adult native speakers and typically developing children. In adults, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess the extent to which the brain regions involved in processing tonal information are distinct from those involved in vowel processing (Chapter 2), while event related potentials …
Sex Differences In White Matter Development During Adolescence: A Dti Study, 2013 Cincinnati Children’s Hospital & University of Cincinnati
Sex Differences In White Matter Development During Adolescence: A Dti Study, Yingying Wang, Chris Adamson, Weihong Yuan, Mekibib Altaye, Anna W. Byars, Scott K. Holland
Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications
Adolescence is a complex transitional period in human development, composing physical maturation, cognitive and social behavioral changes. The objective of this study is to investigate sex differences in white matter development and the associations between intelligence and white matter microstructure in the adolescent brain using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). In a cohort of 16 typically-developing adolescents aged 13 to 17 years, longitudinal DTI data were recorded from each subject at two time points that were one year apart. We used TBSS to analyze the diffusion indices including fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity …
Cervicothoracic Multisegmental Transpinal Evoked Potentials In Humans, 2013 CUNY Graduate Center
Cervicothoracic Multisegmental Transpinal Evoked Potentials In Humans, Jonathan Einhorn, Alan Li, Royi Hazan, Maria Knikou
Publications and Research
The objectives of this study were to establish the neurophysiological properties of the transpinal evoked potentials (TEPs) following transcutaneous electric stimulation of the spine (tsESS) over the cervicothoracic region, changes in the amplitude of the TEPs preceded by median nerve stimulation at group I threshold, and the effects of tsESS on the flexor carpi radialis (FCR) H-reflex in thirteen healthy human subjects while seated. Two re-usable self-adhering electrodes, connected to function as one electrode (cathode), were placed bilaterally on the clavicles. A re-usable electrode (anode) was placed on the cervicothoracic region covering from Cervical 4 – Thoracic 2 and held …
Prolactin And Fmri Response To Skf38393 In The Baboon, 2013 Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Prolactin And Fmri Response To Skf38393 In The Baboon, Brad D. Miller, Lauren A. Marks, Jonathan M. Koller, Blake J. Newman, G Larry Bretthorst, Kevin J. Black
Kevin J. Black, MD
Background: This study’s goal was to provide dose-response data for a dopamine agonist in the baboon using standard methods (replicate measurements at each dose, across a range of doses), as a standard against which to subsequently validate a novel pharmacological MRI (phMRI) method. Dependent variables were functional MRI (fMRI) data from brain regions selected a priori, and systemic prolactin release. Necessary first steps included estimating the magnitude and time course of prolactin response to anesthesia alone and to various doses of agonist. These first steps (“time course studies”) were performed with three agonists, and the results were used to select …
Welcome To The Journal Of Evolution And Health, 2013 University of California, Los Angeles
Welcome To The Journal Of Evolution And Health, Aaron Blaisdell, Paul Jaminet, David C. Pendergrass
Aaron P Blaisdell
Welcome to the first issue of the Journal of Evolution and Health! The Journal of Evolution and Health is the peer-reviewed, open-access journal of the Ancestral Health Society, a community of scientists, healthcare professionals, and laypersons who collaborate to understand health challenges from an evolutionary perspective.
Network Structure And Dynamics Of The Mental Workspace, 2013 Dartmouth College
Network Structure And Dynamics Of The Mental Workspace, Alexander Schlegel, Peter J. Kohler, Sergei V. Fogelson, Prescott Alexander
Dartmouth Scholarship
The conscious manipulation of mental representations is central to many creative and uniquely human abilities. How does the human brain mediate such flexible mental operations? Here, multivariate pattern analysis of functional MRI data reveals a widespread neural network that performs specific mental manipulations on the contents of visual imagery. Evolving patterns of neural activity within this mental workspace track the sequence of informational transformations carried out by these manipulations. The network switches between distinct connectivity profiles as representations are maintained or manipulated.
Smooth Muscle-Specific Removal Of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Results In Increased Vagal Afferent Innervation To The Intestine And Increased Satiation In Mice, 2013 Purdue University
Smooth Muscle-Specific Removal Of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Results In Increased Vagal Afferent Innervation To The Intestine And Increased Satiation In Mice, Jessica Erin Biddinger
Open Access Dissertations
Vagal afferents transmit signals regarding food-derived stimuli in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract to the brain. Vagal mechanoreceptors called intraganglionic laminar endings (IGLEs) innervate the smooth muscle wall of GI organs and detect stretch and tension to regulate GI reflexes and satiation. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is expressed in the smooth muscle of developing GI organs when vagal afferents from the nodose ganglion begin to innervate the GI tract. Therefore, it was hypothesized BDNF is necessary for development of vagal afferents that innervate this tissue. Targeted smooth muscle-specific BDNF homozygous knockout (BDNF SM -/-) mice were generated and .vagal afferent innervation …
Effects Of Hearing Aid Amplification On Robust Neural Coding Of Speech, 2013 Purdue University
Effects Of Hearing Aid Amplification On Robust Neural Coding Of Speech, Jonathan Daniel Boley
Open Access Dissertations
Hearing aids are able to restore some hearing abilities for people with auditory impairments, but background noise remains a significant problem. Unfortunately, we know very little about how speech is encoded in the auditory system, particularly in impaired systems with prosthetic amplifiers. There is growing evidence that relative timing in the neural signals (known as spatiotemporal coding) is important for speech perception, but there is little research that relates spatiotemporal coding and hearing aid amplification.
This research uses a combination of computational modeling and physiological experiments to characterize how hearing aids affect vowel coding in noise at the level of …
Reasoning Across Language And Vision In Machines And Humans, 2013 Purdue University
Reasoning Across Language And Vision In Machines And Humans, Andrei Barbu
Open Access Dissertations
Humans not only outperform AI and computer-vision systems, but use an unknown computational mechanism to perform tasks for which no suitable approaches exist. I present work investigating both novel tasks and how humans approach them in the context of computer vision and linguistics. I demonstrate a system which, like children, acquires high-level linguistic knowledge about the world. Robots learn to play physically-instantiated board games and use that knowledge to engage in physical play. To further integrate language and vision I develop an approach which produces rich sentential descriptions of events depicted in videos. I then show how to simultaneously detect …
Effects Of Dip-Coated Films On The Properties Of Implantable Intracortical Microelectrodes, 2013 Purdue University
Effects Of Dip-Coated Films On The Properties Of Implantable Intracortical Microelectrodes, Salah Sommakia
Open Access Dissertations
The successful clinical use of implantable intracortical microelectrodes (ICMs) to treat certain types of deafness, blindness, and paralysis is limited by a reactive tissue response (RTR) of the brain. This RTR culminates in the formation of a tight glial scar and a loss of neuronal density around implanted ICMs, and is accompanied by a decrease in signal to noise ratio and an increase in impedance. While no comprehensive mechanistic understanding of the underlying biology is currently agreed upon in the field, a general consensus exists around a highly volatile acute RTR phase. During this acute phase, the electrical properties of …
Combined Erp/Fmri Evidence For Early Word Recognition Effects In The Posterior Inferior Temporal Gyrus, 2013 University of Maryland at College Park
Combined Erp/Fmri Evidence For Early Word Recognition Effects In The Posterior Inferior Temporal Gyrus, Joseph Dien, Eric S. Brian, Dennis L. Molfese, Brian T. Gold
Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications
Two brain regions with established roles in reading are the posterior middle temporal gyrus and the posterior fusiform gyrus. Lesion studies have also suggested that the region located between them, the posterior inferior temporal gyrus (pITG), plays a central role in word recognition. However, these lesion results could reflect disconnection effects since neuroimaging studies have not reported consistent lexicality effects in pITG. Here we tested whether these reported pITG lesion effects are due to disconnection effects or not using parallel ERP/fMRI studies. We predicted that the Recognition Potential (RP), a left-lateralized ERP negativity that peaks at about 200–250 ms, might …
Investigation Of Sox9 Ablation On Neural Stem Cell Behaviour After Spinal Cord Injury, 2013 The University of Western Ontario
Investigation Of Sox9 Ablation On Neural Stem Cell Behaviour After Spinal Cord Injury, Stephen Mcdonald
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
After spinal cord injury neural stem cells are activated to proliferate and differentiate primarily into astrocytes, but are unable to replace lost neurons or aid in neurological recovery. Recent research shows that the transcription factor Sox9 promotes gliogenesis while inhibiting neurogenesis, and that Sox9 ablation causes improved recovery after spinal cord injury. The purpose of this study was to determine how Sox9 ablation alters neural stem cell behaviour after spinal cord injury and whether it leads to neurological improvements. We used BrdU and YFP to label and track neural stem cells and a neural stem cell-specific Sox9 knockout mouse model …
Identifying Links In The Chain: The Dynamic Coupling Of Catecholamines, Peptide Synthesis, And Peptide Release In Hypothalamic Neuroendocrine Neurons, 2013 University of Southern California
Identifying Links In The Chain: The Dynamic Coupling Of Catecholamines, Peptide Synthesis, And Peptide Release In Hypothalamic Neuroendocrine Neurons, Alan Watts, Arshad Khan
Arshad M. Khan, Ph.D.
Compared to conventional neurons that use synaptic mechanisms to communicate with closely apposed targets, peptidergic neuroendocrine neurons release relatively large quantities of peptide into the vasculature to control neuroendocrine function at more distal sites. This means that maintaining adequate amounts of peptide for release through controlled biosynthesis is critical for their function. But the flexible and adaptive responses these neurons generate to many different challenges require synthesis and release must be coordinated in some way. How neuroendocrine—or in fact, any neuropeptide—neurons link appropriate levels of peptide biosynthesis with the patterns of action potentials that drive peptide release is unknown. Here …