Chemical Defenses Of Aplysia Californica And Sensory Processing By Predatory Fishes, 2011 Georgia State University
Chemical Defenses Of Aplysia Californica And Sensory Processing By Predatory Fishes, Matthew Nusnbaum
Neuroscience Institute Dissertations
In predator-prey interactions, prey species have complex defensive behaviors to protect themselves from predators. Chemical defenses are one tool that is employed to protect against predators, especially for slow-moving or otherwise susceptible prey. Many of these chemical defenses have been studied and the effective compounds identified, but few studies were performed on their mechanisms of detection.
In my research, I used the sea hare, Aplysia californica, as chemically defended prey. This slow moving mollusk is soft-bodied with no external shell, but it has adapted a number of defenses including chemical defenses. Ink is a sticky mixture of the products …
Dissociable And Dynamic Components Of Cognitive Control: A Developmental Electrophysiological Investigation, 2011 Western University
Dissociable And Dynamic Components Of Cognitive Control: A Developmental Electrophysiological Investigation, Matthew Waxer
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
One standard task used to investigate the development of cognitive control is the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS). Performance and patterns of brain activity associated with the DCCS show continued age-related advances into early adolescence. According to many theoretical accounts, the DCCS places demands on a single underlying executive control process. Three experiments examined the possibility that the DCCS places demands on multiple control processes that follow distinct developmental trajectories. In Experiment 1, rule switching and conflict processing made orthogonal contributions to DCCS performance. Rule switching was associated with a cue-locked late frontal negativity (LFN) event-related potential (ERP) and conflict …
Analysis Of Morris Water Maze Data With Bayesian Statistical Methods, 2011 University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Analysis Of Morris Water Maze Data With Bayesian Statistical Methods, Maxym V. Myroshnychenko, Anton Westveld, Jefferson Kinney
Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)
Neuroscientists commonly use a Morris Water Maze to assess learning in rodents. In his kind of a maze, the subjects learn to swim toward a platform hidden in opaque water as they orient themselves according to the cues on the walls. This protocol presents a challenge to statistical analysis, because an artificial cut-off must be set for those experimental subjects that do not reach the platform so as they do not drown from exhaustion. This fact leads to the data being right censored. In our experimental data, which compares learning in rodents that have chemically induced symptoms of schizophrenia to …
Aging Is Associated With Positive Responding To Neutral Information But Reduced Recovery From Negative Information, 2011 University of Reading
Aging Is Associated With Positive Responding To Neutral Information But Reduced Recovery From Negative Information, Carien M. Van Reekum, Stacey M. Schaefer, Regina C. Lapate, Catherine J. Norris, Lawrence L. Greischar, Richard J. Davidson
Dartmouth Scholarship
Studies on aging and emotion suggest an increase in reported positive affect, a processing bias of positive over negative information, as well as increasingly adaptive regulation in response to negative events with advancing age. These findings imply that older individuals evaluate information differently, resulting in lowered reactivity to, and/or faster recovery from, negative information, while maintaining more positive responding to positive information. We examined this hypothesis in an ongoing study on Midlife in the US (MIDUS II) where emotional reactivity and recovery were assessed in a large number of respondents (N = 159) from a wide age range (36–84 …
Analyses Of Spinal Cord Mononuclear Cells Following Spinal Nerve L5 Transection-Induced Neuropathic Pain In Wild Type, Cd4 Knockout, And Cd40 Knockout Mice, 2011 University of New England
Analyses Of Spinal Cord Mononuclear Cells Following Spinal Nerve L5 Transection-Induced Neuropathic Pain In Wild Type, Cd4 Knockout, And Cd40 Knockout Mice, Holly Beaulac
All Theses And Dissertations
CD4+ T cells and CD40, highly expressed in activated microglia, along with microglia themselves have been demonstrated to contribute to mechanical hypersensitivity in a murine model of neuropathic pain, spinal nerve L5 transection (L5Tx). This study investigated whether CD4 and CD40 mediate their effects by affecting spinal cord microglial responses and/or leukocyte infiltration into the spinal cord. L5Tx was performed on wild type (WT), CD4 knockout (KO), and CD40 KO mice. Mononuclear cells from the lumbar spinal cord were collected and the total number of microglia (CD45loCD11b+) and infiltrating leukocytes (CD45hi) were analyzed …
Modulation Of Glutamate-Mediated Neuronal Cell Death By Neurosteroids, 2011 University of Lynchburg
Modulation Of Glutamate-Mediated Neuronal Cell Death By Neurosteroids, Benjamin J. Phelps
Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and permanent disability in the United States. Approximately 1.7 million cases of TBI are reported annually. After an injury to the head, excessive glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter, is released into the extracellular fluid resulting in the excitotoxic death of neuronal tissue. Recent studies have suggested neurosteroids, may serve as an effective means by which to modulate excitotoxicity via the excitatory neurotransmitter alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA). Using mixed astrocyte-neuronal cell cultures (14-16 DIV) exposed to increasing concentrations of AMPA as the model for TBI, the experiments examined the effect of the neurosteroids, …
Mind Perception: Real But Not Artificial Faces Sustain Neural Activity Beyond The N170/Vpp, 2011 Dartmouth College
Mind Perception: Real But Not Artificial Faces Sustain Neural Activity Beyond The N170/Vpp, Thalia Wheatley, Anna Weinberg, Christine Looser, Tim Moran, Greg Hajcak
Dartmouth Scholarship
Faces are visual objects that hold special significance as the icons of other minds. Previous researchers using event-related potentials (ERPs) have found that faces are uniquely associated with an increased N170/vertex positive potential (VPP) and a more sustained frontal positivity. Here, we examined the processing of faces as objects vs. faces as cues to minds by contrasting images of faces possessing minds (human faces), faces lacking minds (doll faces), and non-face objects (i.e., clocks). Although both doll and human faces were associated with an increased N170/VPP from 175–200 ms following stimulus onset, only human faces were associated with a sustained …
Non-Invasive Imaging Of Neuroanatomical Structures And Neural Activation With High-Resolution Mri, 2011 University of Maryland - College Park
Non-Invasive Imaging Of Neuroanatomical Structures And Neural Activation With High-Resolution Mri, Jens Herberholz, Subrata H. Mishra, Divya Uma, Markus W. Germann, Donald H. Edwards, Kimberlee Potter
Neuroscience Institute Faculty Publications
Several years ago, manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI) was introduced as a new powerful tool to image active brain areas and to identify neural connections in living, non-human animals. Primarily restricted to studies in rodents and later adapted for bird species, MEMRI has recently been discovered as a useful technique for neuroimaging of invertebrate animals. Using crayfish as a model system, we highlight the advantages of MEMRI over conventional techniques for imaging of small nervous systems. MEMRI can be applied to image invertebrate nervous systems at relatively high spatial resolution, and permits identification of stimulus-evoked neural activation non-invasively. Since the …
Common And Distinct Mechanisms Of Cognitive Flexibility In Prefrontal Cortex, 2011 University of Kentucky
Common And Distinct Mechanisms Of Cognitive Flexibility In Prefrontal Cortex, Chobok Kim, Nathan F. Johnson, Sara E. Cilles, Brian T. Gold
Neuroscience Faculty Publications
The human ability to flexibly alternate between tasks represents a central component of cognitive control. Neuroimaging studies have linked task switching with a diverse set of prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions, but the contributions of these regions to various forms of cognitive flexibility remain largely unknown. Here, subjects underwent functional brain imaging while they completed a paradigm that selectively induced stimulus, response, or cognitive set switches in the context of a single task decision performed on a common set of stimuli. Behavioral results indicated comparable reaction time costs associated with each switch type. Domain-general task-switching activation was observed in the inferior …
Differential Levels Of Glutamate Dehydrogenase 1 (Glud1) In Balb/C And C57bl/6 Mice And The Effects Of Overexpression Of The Glud1 Gene On Glutamate Release In Striatum, 2011 University of Kentucky
Differential Levels Of Glutamate Dehydrogenase 1 (Glud1) In Balb/C And C57bl/6 Mice And The Effects Of Overexpression Of The Glud1 Gene On Glutamate Release In Striatum, Kevin N. Hascup, Xiaodong Bao, Erin R. Hascup, Dongwei Hui, Wenhao Xu, Francois Pomerleau, Peter Huettl, Mary L. Michaelis, Elias K. Michaelis, Greg A. Gerhardt
Neuroscience Faculty Publications
We have previously shown that overexpression of the Glud1 (glutamate dehydrogenase 1) gene in neurons of C57BL/6 mice results in increased depolarization-induced glutamate release that eventually leads to selective neuronal injury and cell loss by 12 months of age. However, it is known that isogenic lines of Tg (transgenic) mice produced through back-crossing with one strain may differ in their phenotypic characteristics from those produced using another inbred mouse strain. Therefore, we decided to introduce the Glud1 transgene into the Balb/c strain that has endogenously lower levels of GLUD1 (glutamate dehydrogenase 1) enzyme activity in the brain as compared with …
Flexible Dependence Of Functional Responses On Scalar Predictors, 2011 New York University
Flexible Dependence Of Functional Responses On Scalar Predictors, Philip T. Reiss, Lei Huang
Philip T. Reiss
No abstract provided.
Association Between Academic Performance And Electrocortical Processing Of Cognitive Stimuli In College Students, 2011 Brigham Young University - Provo
Association Between Academic Performance And Electrocortical Processing Of Cognitive Stimuli In College Students, Mary Menn Wolf
Theses and Dissertations
Because event-related potentials (ERPs) can reflect individual differences in intellectual ability, individual differences in college grade-point average (GPA) may be associated with specific individual ERP waves, such as the P300. However, P300 amplitude is higher in women than in men and varies across the menstrual cycle, factors that could confound the association between GPA and ERPs. In this regard, our objective was to determine whether differences in GPA are reflected in ERPs while standardling for sex and menstrual phase. After participants provided informed consent, we obtained GPAs from 22 right-handed college students (11 male, age range 22 to 26 and …
Neuromagnetic Measures Of Word Processing In Bilinguals And Monolinguals, 2011 Cincinnati Children's Hospital & University of Cincinnati
Neuromagnetic Measures Of Word Processing In Bilinguals And Monolinguals, Yingying Wang, Jing Xiang, Jennifer Vannest, Tom Holroyd, Daria Narmoneva, Paul Horn, Yinhong Liu, Douglas Rose, Ton Degrauw, Scott Holland
Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications
Objective: This study aimed to use magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine the question of whether Mandarin-English bilingual speakers recruit the same cortical areas or develop distinct language-specific networks without overlaps for word processing.
Methods: Eight healthy Mandarin-English bilingual adults and eight healthy English monolingual adults were scanned while single-word paradigms were audio-visually presented.
Results: Our results showed significantly stronger beta-band power suppression in the right inferior parietal lobe (IPL) covering the supramarginal gyrus (BA 40) and angular gyrus (BA 39) for bilinguals when processing Mandarin versus English. Moreover, there were no significant differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in the left inferior …
Open To The Public: Meeting The Nursing Challenge Of A Diverse America, 2011 Lehigh Valley Health Network
Open To The Public: Meeting The Nursing Challenge Of A Diverse America, Bonnie Wasilowsky Rn, Bspa-Hca, Cnrn
Patient Care Services / Nursing
No abstract provided.
Driving For Results: Building A Strong Local Aann Chapter To Assure Relevance In Neuroscience Nursing, 2011 Lehigh Valley Health Network
Driving For Results: Building A Strong Local Aann Chapter To Assure Relevance In Neuroscience Nursing, Holly Tavianini Rn, Bsn, Mshsa, Cnrn, Jill Hinnershitz Msn, Rn
Patient Care Services / Nursing
No abstract provided.
Sleep Assessments In Healthy School-Aged Children Using Actigraphy: Concordance With Polysomnography, 2011 University of Chicago
Sleep Assessments In Healthy School-Aged Children Using Actigraphy: Concordance With Polysomnography, Karen Spruyt, David Gozal, Ehab Dayyat, Adrienne Roman, Dennis L. Molfese
Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications
Actigraphic recordings (ACT) are widely used in school children as a less intrusive and more extended approach to evaluation of sleep problems. However, critical assessment of the validity and reliability of ACT against overnight polysomnography (NPSG) are unavailable. Thus, we explored the degree of concordance between NPSG and ACT in school-aged children to delineate potential ACT boundaries when interpreting pediatric sleep. Non-dominant wrist ACT was simultaneously recorded with NPSG in 149 healthy school-aged children (4.1 to 8.8 years old, 41.7% boys and 80.4% Caucasian) recruited from the community. Analyses were limited to the Actiware (MiniMitter-64) calculated parameters originating from 1-min …
Revisiting Ampa Receptors As An Antiepileptic Drug Target, 2011 University of California - Davis
Revisiting Ampa Receptors As An Antiepileptic Drug Target, Michael A. Rogawski
Michael A. Rogawski
In the 1990s there was intense interest in ionotropic glutamate receptors as therapeutic targets for diverse neurological disorders, including epilepsy. NMDA receptors were thought to play a key role in the generation of seizures, leading to clinical studies of NMDA receptor blocking drugs in epilepsy. Disappointing results dampened enthusiasm for ionotropic glutamate receptors as a therapeutic target. Eventually it became appreciated that another type of ionotropic glutamate receptor, the AMPA receptor, is actually the predominant mediator of excitatory neurotransmission in the central nervous system and moreover that AMPA receptors are critical to the generation and spread of epileptic activity. As …
Fuzzy Logic: A “Simple” Solution For Complexities In Neurosciences?, 2011 Aga Khan University
Fuzzy Logic: A “Simple” Solution For Complexities In Neurosciences?, Saniya Siraj Godil, Muhammad Shahzad Shamim, Ather Enam, Uvais Qidwai
Medical College Documents
Background: Fuzzy logic is a multi-valued logic which is similar to human thinking and interpretation. It has the potential of combining human heuristics into computer-assisted decision making, which is applicable to individual patients as it takes into account all the factors and complexities of individuals. Fuzzy logic has been applied in all disciplines of medicine in some form and recently its applicability in neurosciences has also gained momentum.
Methods: This review focuses on the use of this concept in various branches of neurosciences including basic neuroscience, neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry and psychology.
Results: The applicability of fuzzy logic is not limited …
Characterization Of Genetically Targeted Neuron Types In The Zebrafish Optic Tectum, 2011 University of California, San Francisco
Characterization Of Genetically Targeted Neuron Types In The Zebrafish Optic Tectum, Estuardo Robles, Stephen J. Smith, Herwig Baier
Neuroscience: Faculty Publications
The optically transparent larval zebrafish is ideally suited for in vivo analyses of neural circuitry controlling visually guided behaviors. However, there is a lack of information regarding specific cell types in the major retinorecipient brain region of the fish, the optic tectum. Here we report the characterization of three previously unidentified tectal cell types that are specifically labeled by dlx5/6 enhancer elements. In vivo laser-scanning microscopy in conjunction with ex vivo array tomography revealed that these neurons differ in their morphologies, synaptic connectivity, and neurotransmitter phenotypes. The first type is an excitatory bistratified periventricular interneuron that forms a dendritic arbor …
Excitotoxic Lesions Of The Nucleus Paragigantocellularis Facilitate Male Sexual Behavior But Attenuate Female Sexual Behavior In Rats, 2011 Georgia State University
Excitotoxic Lesions Of The Nucleus Paragigantocellularis Facilitate Male Sexual Behavior But Attenuate Female Sexual Behavior In Rats, Joseph J. Normandin, Anne Z. Murphy Phd
Neuroscience Institute Faculty Publications
Little is known regarding the descending inhibitory control of genital reflexes such as ejaculation and vaginal contractions. The brainstem nucleus paragigantocellularis (nPGi) projects bilaterally to the lumbosacral motoneuron pools that innervate the genital musculature of both male and female rats. Electrolytic nPGi lesions facilitate ejaculation in males, leading to the hypothesis that the nPGi is the source of descending inhibition to genital reflexes. However, the function of the nPGi in female sexual behavior remains to be elucidated. To this end, male and female rats received bilateral excitotoxic fiber-sparing lesions of the nPGi, and sexual behavior and sexual behavior-induced Fos expression …