Neurosciences Commons^™

The Human Motor System Alters Its Reaching Movement Plan For Task-Irrelevant, Positional Forces., Joshua G A Cashaback, Heather R Mcgregor, Paul L Gribble

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

The minimum intervention principle and the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis state that our nervous system only responds to force perturbations and sensorimotor noise if they affect task success. This idea has been tested in muscle and joint coordinate frames and more recently using workspace redundancy (e.g., reaching to large targets). However, reaching studies typically involve spatial and or temporal constraints. Constrained reaches represent a small proportion of movements we perform daily and may limit the emergence of natural behavior. Using more relaxed constraints, we conducted two reaching experiments to test the hypothesis that humans respond to task-relevant forces and ignore task-irrelevant …

Seasonal Change In The Avian Hippocampus., David F Sherry, Scott A Macdougall-Shackleton

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

The hippocampus plays an important role in cognitive processes, including memory and spatial orientation, in birds. The hippocampus undergoes seasonal change in food-storing birds and brood parasites, there are changes in the hippocampus during breeding, and further changes occur in some species in association with migration. In food-storing birds, seasonal change in the hippocampus occurs in fall and winter when the cognitively demanding behaviour of caching and retrieving food occurs. The timing of annual change in the hippocampus of food-storing birds is quite variable, however, and appears not to be under photoperiod control. A variety of factors, including cognitive performance, …

Developmental Specialization Of The Left Parietal Cortex For The Semantic Representation Of Arabic Numerals: An Fmr-Adaptation Study, Stephan E. Vogel, Celia Goffin, Daniel Ansari

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

The way the human brain constructs representations of numerical symbols is poorly understood. While increasing evidence from neuroimaging studies has indicated that the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) becomes increasingly specialized for symbolic numerical magnitude representation over developmental time, the extent to which these changes are associated with age-related differences in symbolic numerical magnitude representation or with developmental changes in non-numerical processes, such as response selection, remains to be uncovered. To address these outstanding questions we investigated developmental changes in the cortical representation of symbolic numerical magnitude in 6- to 14-year-old children using a passive functional magnetic resonance imaging adaptation design, thereby …

Certain General Anesthetics Used In Pediatrics Hinder Neurological Development In Infants, Michael R. Hirschi

Selected Honors Theses

General anesthetics act by either blocking N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors or over stimulating γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors.^1–3 The actions of these receptors are responsible for the anesthetized state and are also crucial in the neurological development of infants.^2,4–8 Animal studies, although limited, provide vital information about general anesthesia’s neurotoxicity its hindrance of neurological development. Exposure to general anesthesia can severely hinder proper neuronal migration, synaptogenesis, and can drastically increase neuronal apoptosis in infant animals.^9–16 General anesthetics are more neurotoxic to infant animals in combination compared to individually.^10,16,17 Additionally, multiple exposures to general anesthesia tend to have compounding …

The Therapeutic Role Of Turmeric In Treatment And Prevention Of Alzheimer’S Disease, Rylan M. Mcquade

Selected Honors Theses

As a devastating neurological condition that expends millions of lives each year, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a subject of intense investigation.¹ Although AD has been known for over a century, the precise mechanisms that underlie AD pathogenesis and development are still poorly understood. The Alzheimer phenotype is typified by extracellular amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), causing researchers to notice several key enzymes implicated in this process.¹ Most notable are β and γ secretases (which drive Aβ plaque production) and phospholipase

A₂ (which stimulates major cascade activation through the specific cleavage of fatty acyl esters). …

Different Neural Mechanisms For Causal Processing In Language And Perception: An Fmri Study, Brett B. Bankson, Dirk B. Den Ouden

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

Information that is used to establish and evaluate causal relationships between objects and events can be gleaned from many sources, especially those that rely on language and perception. For example, sentences with a verb structure using change of state verbs such as “to break” or “to freeze” imply sequential events that express understood causal relationships. At this time, little research has examined the neural correlates of causal verb processing or has compared them to the more well researched brain activity involved in perceptual causal processing. This study investigated the extent to which the evaluation of causal verbs and causal image …

Brain Blast 2015 Speakers Poster, Annie Leslie

Brain Blast

Poster from UNE's Brain Blast 2015 listing the expected presenters at this event.*

Developing Burrowing As A Non-Evoked Readout Assessment For Novel Analgesic Drug Efficacy, Kayla Lindros, Denise Giuvelis, Ed Bilsky

Neuroscience Student Research Posters

Traditional drug development efforts to diminish the problem of chronic pain rely heavily on pain-evoked assays that can yield false positives, leading to confounding assessments of novel drugs. To avoid this, we are looking at burrowing as a novel readout assessment of analgesic efficacy. Preliminary data shows that induction of post-surgical pain reduces this innate behavior by about 35%. In attempt to increase this number, we tested a variety of additional parameters. Blue pads, placed at the bottom of each chamber in order to reduce the sound made when gravel is displaced, increased baseline amounts roughly 40%. Conversely, neither sex …

Mitochondria-Associated Micrornas In Rat Hippocampus Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Wang-Xia Wang, Nishant P. Visavadiya, Jignesh D. Pandya, Peter T. Nelson, Patrick G. Sullivan, Joe E. Springer

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability. However, the molecular events contributing to the pathogenesis are not well understood. Mitochondria serve as the powerhouse of cells, respond to cellular demands and stressors, and play an essential role in cell signaling, differentiation, and survival. There is clear evidence of compromised mitochondrial function following TBI; however, the underlying mechanisms and consequences are not clear. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally, and function as important mediators of neuronal development, synaptic plasticity, and neurodegeneration. Several miRNAs show altered expression following TBI; however, the …

The Dissociable Effects Of Punishment And Reward On Motor Learning, Joseph M. Galea, Elizabeth Mallia, John Rothwell, Jorn Diedrichsen

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

A common assumption regarding error-based motor learning (motor adaptation) in humans is that its underlying mechanism is automatic and insensitive to reward- or punishment-based feedback. Contrary to this hypothesis, we show in a double dissociation that the two have independent effects on the learning and retention components of motor adaptation. Negative feedback, whether graded or binary, accelerated learning. While it was not necessary for the negative feedback to be coupled to monetary loss, it had to be clearly related to the actual performance on the preceding movement. Positive feedback did not speed up learning, but it increased retention of the …

Overexpression Of Sox11 Promotes Corticospinal Tract Regeneration After Spinal Injury While Interfering With Functional Recovery, Zimei Wang, Ashley Reynolds, Adam Kirry, Christopher Nienhaus, Murray G. Blackmore

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Embryonic neurons, peripheral neurons, and CNS neurons in zebrafish respond to axon injury by initiating pro-regenerative transcriptional programs that enable axons to extend, locate appropriate targets, and ultimately contribute to behavioral recovery. In contrast, many long-distance projection neurons in the adult mammalian CNS, notably corticospinal tract (CST) neurons, display a much lower regenerative capacity. To promote CNS repair, a long-standing goal has been to activate pro-regenerative mechanisms that are normally missing from injured CNS neurons. Sox11 is a transcription factor whose expression is common to a many types of regenerating neurons, but it is unknown whether suboptimal Sox11 expression contributes …

The Role Of Parental Cognitive, Behavioral, And Motor Profiles In Clinical Variability In Individuals With Chromosome 16p11.2 Deletions, Andres Moreno-De-Luca, David W. Evans, K B. Boomer, Ellen Hanson, R Bernier, R. P. Goin-Kochel, S. M. Myers, Thomas D. Challman, Daniel Moreno-De-Luca, Mylissa M. Slane, Abby E. Hare, W K. Chung, J. Spiro, W. A. Faucett, C. L. Martin, David H. Ledbetter

Faculty Journal Articles

Importance Most disorders caused by copy number variants (CNVs) display significant clinical variability, often referred to as incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity. Genetic and environmental sources of this variability are not well understood.

Objectives To investigate the contributors to phenotypic variability in probands with CNVs involving the same genomic region; to measure the effect size for de novo mutation events; and to explore the contribution of familial background to resulting cognitive, behavioral, and motor performance outcomes in probands with de novo CNVs.

Design, Setting, and Participants Family-based study design with a volunteer sample of 56 individuals with de novo 16p11.2 …

Opposing Regulation Of Endolysosomal Pathways By Long-Acting Nanoformulated Antiretroviral Therapy And Hiv-1 In Human Macrophages., Mariluz Araínga, Dongwei Guo, Jayme Wiederin, Pawel Ciborowski, Joellyn Mcmillan, Howard Gendelman

Journal Articles: Pharmacology & Experimental Neuroscience

BACKGROUND: Long-acting nanoformulated antiretroviral therapy (nanoART) is designed to improve patient regimen adherence, reduce systemic drug toxicities, and facilitate clearance of human immunodeficiency virus type one (HIV-1) infection. While nanoART establishes drug depots within recycling and late monocyte-macrophage endosomes, whether or not this provides a strategic advantage towards viral elimination has not been elucidated.

RESULTS: We applied quantitative SWATH-MS proteomics and cell profiling to nanoparticle atazanavir (nanoATV)-treated and HIV-1 infected human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM). Native ATV and uninfected cells served as controls. Both HIV-1 and nanoATV engaged endolysosomal trafficking for assembly and depot formation, respectively. Notably, the pathways were deregulated …

Opposing Regulation Of Endolysosomal Pathways By Long-Acting Nanoformulated Antiretroviral Therapy And Hiv-1 In Human Macrophages., Mariluz Araínga, Dongwei Guo, Jayme Wiederin, Pawel Ciborowski, Joellyn Mcmillan, Howard Gendelman

Journal Articles: Pharmacology & Experimental Neuroscience

BACKGROUND: Long-acting nanoformulated antiretroviral therapy (nanoART) is designed to improve patient regimen adherence, reduce systemic drug toxicities, and facilitate clearance of human immunodeficiency virus type one (HIV-1) infection. While nanoART establishes drug depots within recycling and late monocyte-macrophage endosomes, whether or not this provides a strategic advantage towards viral elimination has not been elucidated.

RESULTS: We applied quantitative SWATH-MS proteomics and cell profiling to nanoparticle atazanavir (nanoATV)-treated and HIV-1 infected human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM). Native ATV and uninfected cells served as controls. Both HIV-1 and nanoATV engaged endolysosomal trafficking for assembly and depot formation, respectively. Notably, the pathways were deregulated …

Effects Of (R)-(-)-5-Methyl-1-Nicotinoyl-2-Pyrazoline On Glutamate Transporter 1 And Cysteine/Glutamate Exchanger As Well As Ethanol Drinking Behavior In Male, Alcohol-Preferring Rats, Munaf Aal-Aaboda, Hasan Alhaddad, Francis Osowik, Surya M. Nauli, Youssef Sari

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Alcohol consumption is largely associated with alterations in the extracellular glutamate concentrations in several brain reward regions. We recently showed that glutamate transporter 1 (GLT-1) is downregulated following chronic exposure to ethanol for 5 weeks in alcohol-preferring (P) rats and that upregulation of the GLT-1 levels in nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex results, in part, in attenuating ethanol consumption. Cystine glutamate antiporter (xCT) is also downregulated after chronic ethanol exposure in P rats, and its upregulation could be valuable in attenuating ethanol drinking. This study examines the effect of a synthetic compound, (R)-(−)-5-methyl-1-nicotinoyl-2-pyrazoline (MS-153), on ethanol drinking and expressions of …

Attentional Filtering Of Visual Information By Neuronal Ensembles In The Primate Lateral Prefrontal Cortex., Sébastien Tremblay, Florian Pieper, Adam Sachs, Julio Martinez-Trujillo

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

The activity of neurons in the primate lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) is strongly modulated by visual attention. Such a modulation has mostly been documented by averaging the activity of independently recorded neurons over repeated experimental trials. However, in realistic settings, ensembles of simultaneously active LPFC neurons must generate attentional signals on a single-trial basis, despite the individual and correlated variability of neuronal responses. Whether, under these circumstances, the LPFC can reliably generate attentional signals is unclear. Here, we show that the simultaneous activity of neuronal ensembles in the primate LPFC can be reliably decoded to predict the allocation of attention …

Management Of Cerebral Cavernous Malformations: From Diagnosis To Treatment, Nikolaos Mouchtouris, Nohra Chalouhi, Md, Ameet Chitale, Robert Starke, Stavropoula Tjoumakaris, Robert H. Rosenwasswer Md, P. M. Jabbour

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

The Piriform, Perirhinal, And Entorhinal Cortex In Seizure Generation., Marta S Vismer, Patrick A Forcelli, Mark D Skopin, Karen Gale, Mohamad Z. Koubeissi

Neurology Faculty Publications

Understanding neural network behavior is essential to shed light on epileptogenesis and seizure propagation. The interconnectivity and plasticity of mammalian limbic and neocortical brain regions provide the substrate for the hypersynchrony and hyperexcitability associated with seizure activity. Recurrent unprovoked seizures are the hallmark of epilepsy, and limbic epilepsy is the most common type of medically-intractable focal epilepsy in adolescents and adults that necessitates surgical evaluation. In this review, we describe the role and relationships among the piriform (PIRC), perirhinal (PRC), and entorhinal cortex (ERC) in seizure-generation and epilepsy. The inherent function, anatomy, and histological composition of these cortical regions are …

Age Related Decline In Memory: Examining The Mediation Effect Of Processing, Executive Functioning And Intelligence In Normal Adults, Jada J. Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

Multiple mediation analyses that collectively examine the prominent theories of cognitive aging (i.e., Common Cause, Processing, and Executive Decline Hypotheses) along with other cognitive domains that are sensitive to aging are rare. Moreover, having identified that cognition begins to decline as early as 30 years old, few studies have examined the mechanisms that underlie memory change among younger aging individuals. As a result, it is unclear whether relevant mediating variables have been excluded from early research on age-related memory decline, or to what extent rehabilitative strategies are applicable as early interventions for maintaining cognitive functioning into late life.

The present …

Parcellation Scheme For A Spatio-Temporal Atlas Of Fetal Brain Lobe Development, Jasmine Kaidbey

GW Research Days 2015

Introduction

Fetal brain development is a complex and dynamic process. During the third trimester of pregnancy the brain’s surface landscape changes from a smooth layer into a complex canopy with convolutions called gyri. The emergence of quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has allowed for in vivo acquisition of high-resolution images of the fetal brain. Although a timeline for the emergence of important gyri exists; we currently lack an in vivo MRI model—or atlas—of the developing brain. Therefore, our objective was to develop a scheme to parcelate the third trimester in vivo fetal brain into lobes, and apply this scheme onto …