Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

Psychopathy To Altruism: Neurobiology Of The Selfish–Selfless Spectrum, James W. H. Sonne, Don M. Gash

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

The age-old philosophical, biological, and social debate over the basic nature of humans as being “universally selfish” or “universally good” continues today highlighting sharply divergent views of natural social order. Here we analyze advances in biology, genetics and neuroscience increasing our understanding of the evolution, features and neurocircuitry of the human brain underlying behavior in the selfish–selfless spectrum. First, we examine evolutionary pressures for selection of altruistic traits in species with protracted periods of dependence on parents and communities for subsistence and acquisition of learned behaviors. Evidence supporting the concept that altruistic potential is a common feature in human populations …

Efficient Reduced Bias Genetic Algorithm For Generic Community Detection Objectives, Aditya Karnam Gururaj Rao

Theses

The problem of community structure identification has been an extensively investigated area for biology, physics, social sciences, and computer science in recent years for studying the properties of networks representing complex relationships. Most traditional methods, such as K-means and hierarchical clustering, are based on the assumption that communities have spherical configurations. Lately, Genetic Algorithms (GA) are being utilized for efficient community detection without imposing sphericity. GAs are machine learning methods which mimic natural selection and scale with the complexity of the network. However, traditional GA approaches employ a representation method that dramatically increases the solution space to be searched by …

Factors That Determine Spreading Depolarization Propagation In Brain Slices, Linday Selters

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

In the US alone, more than 750,000 people had a stroke in 2017, more than 1.7 million reported a traumatic brain injury, and more than 9 million suffered from migraines with aura. While all three of these neurological conditions have vastly different causes and possible outcomes they all have a common phenomenon occurring within the brain. A wave that slowly propagates through grey matter, hitting neurons with a large burst of energy, opening them up to a flood of ions and silencing them for an extended period of time. These waves are known as spreading depolarizations (SD). Within well-nourished tissue, …

Bilateral Carotid Artery Stenosis Causes Unexpected Early Changes In Brain Extracellular Matrix And Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity In Mice, Jill M. Roberts, Michael E. Maniskas, Gregory J. Bix

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

Bilateral carotid artery stenosis (BCAS) is one experimental model of vascular dementia thought to preferentially impact brain white matter. Indeed, few studies report hippocampal and cortical pathology prior to 30 days post-stenosis; though it is unclear whether those studies examined regions outside the white matter. Since changes in the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability precede more overt brain pathology in various diseases, we hypothesized that changes within the BBB and/or BBB-associated extracellular matrix (ECM) could occur earlier after BCAS in the hippocampus, cortex and striatum and be a precursor of longer term pathology. Here, C57Bl/6 mice underwent BCAS or sham surgeries …

The Fata Morgana Of Unconscious Perception, Marjan Persuh

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Global Burden Of Neuroendocrine Tumors And Changing Incidence In Kentucky, Aman Chauhan, Qian Yu, Neha Ray, Zainab Farooqui, Bin Huang, Eric B. Durbin, Thomas Tucker, B. Mark Evers, Susanne Arnold, Lowell B. Anthony

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Background: Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) have a low incidence but relatively high prevalence. Over the last three decades, the incidence of NETs has risen 6-fold in the United States. We conducted an observational study to compare the incidence of NETs reported to the Kentucky Cancer Registry (KCR) versus that reported to Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER). We also provide a systematic review of the state of neuroendocrine tumors worldwide, and compare the available global and local published data.

Methods: KCR and SEER databases were queried for NET cases between 1995 and 2015. A detailed literature review of epidemiological data …

Moderate Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Impairs Performance In An Object-Place-Paired-Associate Task, Lilliana May Sanchez

Psychology ETDs

Memory impairments, including spatial and object processing, are often observed in individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Much attention has been directed towards the hippocampus, which displays significant alterations after moderate prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). In the present study, we tested a moderate PAE rat model in an object-place-paired-associate (OPPA) task, previously shown to require hippocampal processing. The OPPA task was composed of training rats to discriminate between an identical pair of objects presented in 180° opposite arms of a radial arm maze. Animals were given a total of 10 trials per day over 14 consecutive days of training and …

Inhibition Of Tnf-Alpha Decreases Microglia Activation In Rats Neonatally Treated With Poly I:C, Heath W. Shelton, Russell W. Brown

Appalachian Student Research Forum

Introduction: Current medical treatment for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (SCHZ) primarily relies on the inhibition of the dopamine D₂ receptor that has been shown to be supersensitive in these patients. Treatment occurs through the use of antipsychotic medication which leads to a number of debilitating dose-dependent side effects, such as weight gain, agranulocytosis, and seizures. Patients diagnosed with SCHZ have also been shown to have increased inflammation in their central nervous system (CNS), particularly within specific brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. This is in large part due to the interaction between a pro-inflammatory cytokine called …

Unimanual And Bimanual Haptic Shape Discrimination, Catherine Jane Dowell

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In the current study 24 younger adults and 24 older adults haptically discriminated natural 3-D shapes (bell peppers, Capsicum annuum) using unimanual (one hand used to explore two objects) and bimanual (both hands used, but each hand explored separate objects) successive exploration. Haptic exploration using just one hand requires somatosensory processing in only one cerebral hemisphere (the hemisphere contralateral to the hand being used), while bimanual haptic exploration requires somatosensory processing in both hemispheres. Previous studies related to curvature/shape perception have found either an advantage for unimanual exploration over bimanual exploration or no difference between the two conditions. In contrast …

Socioeconomic Predictors Of Recognition And Recall Memory In Infants, Ashley Greaves , '18

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

Relationships between socioeconomic status and recognition and recall memory were explored in a sample of72 infants at 6-,9-, and 12-months-ofage. Socioeconomic status was disentangled into household annual income, parental education, and parental subjective social status to test their individual associations with recognition and recall memory function. Findings suggest differential effects on recognition memory in 6 month olds, and recall memory in 12 month olds, based on income, education, and subjective social status. Discussion points to a larger sample size with an older age group as next steps in the analyses.

Investigating The Effects Of Sensory Learning In Rats Using Intra And Extra Stimulus Modalities, Ariel M. Kershner

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

The purpose of this study was to see what rats learn about the elements of a compound stimulus (a stimulus composed of two different stimuli), and whether their learning differs if the compound is from the same modality (intra-modal), i.e. both visual, or from different modalities (inter-modal), i.e. visual and auditory. We hypothesized that the rats would respond more to the compound stimuli than to the single stimuli (Pearce and Wilson, 1990), more to the compound modality of inter-modal elements than to the compound modality of intra-modal elements (Miller, 1971 and Gingras, 2009), equally to the intra-modal elements (Rescorla, 1972), …

Ambiguities In The Efficacy Of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors In The Treatment Of Depression, Stephanie Giblin

Writing Across the Curriculum

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the most debilitating mental illness worldwide. Primary treatment of MDD is the administration of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Deemed as the safest psychotropic drug thus far, SSRIs have been shown to reduce depressive symptoms and enhance the quality of life in youth, adult and geriatric populations. However, with rising numbers of individuals taking maintenance doses of SSRIs for five or more years, researchers are beginning to discover severe adverse side effects associated with prolonged treatment. The overall risks of long-term SSRI therapy include tachyphylaxis, tardive dysphoria, structural neurological abnormalities and suicide. SSRIs also have …

Nocturnal Activation Of Melatonin Receptor Type 1 Signaling Modulates Diurnal Insulin Sensitivity Via Regulation Of Pi3k Activity, Sharon Owino, Aida Sánchez-Bretaño, Cynthia Tchio, Erika Cecon, Angeliki Karamitri, Julie Dam, Ralf Jockers, Giuseppe Piccione, Hye Lim Noh, Taekyoon Kim, Jason K. Kim, Kenkichi Baba, Gianluca Tosini

Neuroscience: Faculty Publications

Recent genetic studies have highlighted the potential involvement of melatonin receptor 1 (MT1) and melatonin receptor 2 (MT2) in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. Here, we report that mice lacking MT1 (MT1 KO) tend to accumulate more fat mass than WT mice and exhibit marked systemic insulin resistance. Additional experiments revealed that the main insulin signaling pathway affected by the loss of MT1 was the activation of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K). Transcripts of both catalytic and regulatory subunits of PI3K were strongly downregulated within MT1 KO mice. Moreover, the suppression of nocturnal melatonin levels within WT mice, by exposing mice to …

The Dynamics Of Concussion: Mapping Pathophysiology, Persistence, And Recovery With Causal-Loop Diagramming, Erin S. Kenzie, Elle L. Parks, Erin D. Bigler, David W, Wright, Miranda M. Lim, James C. Chesnutt, Gregory W.J. Hawryluk, Wayne Gordon, Wayne Wakeland

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Concussion, also known as mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI),1 is a significant public health issue responsible for a variety of cognitive, emotional, and somatic symptoms and deficits (3). It is unclear why some individuals appear to recover relatively quickly while others suffer prolonged symptoms and impairments (4–7). Robust clinical means of diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment are also lacking (8–11). Research is hindered by an inadequate classification system for traumatic brain injury (TBI) (12), “poor” study quality (13, 14), disagreement about appropriate inclusion and exclusion criteria for concussion (8, 15), and an incomplete understanding of underlying pathophysiology (16–18). The heterogeneity and …

Arts Based Brain Research, Alicia Arendt

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

Art is believed to be “the expression or application of the human creative skill and imagination, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their aesthetic value or emotional power” (Buk, 2009, p. 61). While there are a myriad of ways to define and categorize art, such a definition as the one above is useful as it touches upon three key areas of arts based brain research; artistic cognition, artistic production and aesthetic experience. The study of arts based brain science, or the neuroscience of art, demands an understanding of the interplay between these three facets of the artistic experience. Most …

The Influence Of Cognitive Reserve On Recovery From Traumatic Brain Injury, Jacobus Donders, Jacob Stout

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Objective: we sought to determine the degree to which cognitive reserve, as assessed by the Test of Premorbid Functioning in combination with demographic variables, could act as a buffer against the effect of traumatic brain injury (TBI) on cognitive test performance. Method: retrospective analysis of a cohort of 121 persons with TBI who completed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) within 1-12 months after injury. Results: regression analyses indicated that cognitive reserve was a statistically significant predictor of all postinjury WAIS-IV factor index scores, after controlling for various premorbid and comorbid confounding variables. Only for Processing Speed …

The Effect Of Hypoxia On The Nervous System Of Aplysia Californica, Victor Escalona, Lynne Annette Fieber, Joseph Serafy

2018 Entries

The intertidal zone of California’s Pacific coast is home to the marine snail known as Aplysia californica, an organism that has found use as a model in experiments focused on understanding the basis of learning and memory. Its simple nervous system consisting of easily identifiable neurons, its life span of a year, and a readily-accessed aquacultured source from the National Resource for Aplysia make it an excellent model for ontogenetic, neural, and behavioral studies. Here, however, the focus was on strategies this species uses to survive in an environment rife with risks of hypoxia and desiccation during the tidal …

Tinnitus And Dysfunctional Interactions Between Distributed Resting State Networks, Sivayini Kandeepan

Western Research Forum

It is known that peripheral lesions in the cochlea or the auditory nerve produce dysfunctional input to central auditory structures and induce changes in the auditory system causing tinnitus. Recently, it has been proposed that the unified percept of tinnitus could be considered as an emergent property of multiple overlapping dynamic brain networks, each encoding a specific tinnitus characteristic.

The aim of our study was to investigate the neuronal activation patterns associated with specific clinical tinnitus characteristics using fMRI. We hypothesize that tinnitus clinical characteristics could be associated with specific resting-state activity and connectivity patterns and that this could be …

Multisensory Integration And Autistic Traits Using Non-Sociolinguistic Information, Sébastien A. Lauzon, Samantha E. Schulz, Zack I. Cohen, Ryan A. Stevenson

Western Research Forum

Background: Sensory processing issues are one of the most common complaints in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One area of sensory difficulties in ASD that has been the focus of intense research in recent years is multisensory integration (MSI), or the ability to bind auditory and visual information into a single, unified percept. While integration of social or linguistic information is consistently shown to be an area of difficulty in ASD, results are less clear with simple, non-sociolinguistic stimuli. This study aims to address this ambiguity by determining whether MSI of non-sociolinguistic sensory information is related to traits and symptomatology …

Killi-Data News (Winter), Tyrone Genade

Killifish Research Review

Valued readers, it is with a heavy heart that I inform you that this is the last issue of Killi-Data News. The good news is that we will be back as Killifish Research Review. The dissolution of Killi-Data International created a prob- lem: how can the newsletter of a defunct organization live on without that organization? But other additional problems were building in the background. The first issue numbered 15 pages. The previous issue was 28 pages. The number of killifish related papers is increasing while time on our end (the editorial team) is running out. It takes a lot …