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Genetics

Genetics Institute of America is Selected by Designer Genomics International as IRB Approved Laboratory for Inflammasome Study – Yahoo Finance

Study to Look at DNA, mRNA and miRNA

IRB Approved Clinical Study

Seeks to identify Inflammation Indicators

Designer Genomics International, a Contract Research Organization (CRO) announced today that it has selected Genetics Institute of America as the Institutional Review Board approved testing laboratory for a new clinical study into inflammasome activation.

"My long experience with the management team of the laboratory made them the logical choice as genomics laboratory," said Marvin Hausman, MD, the study principal investigator at Designer Genomics International.

"Our experience in working with DNA and RNA, as well as our collaborative relationship with ThermoFischer Scientific, make for a great combination for this study," said Holly Magliochetti, CEO of Genetics Institute of America.

Genetics Institute of America will be running DNA, RNA, mRNA and miRNA studies on buccal swab specimens. The study of currently available cancer genomic and pharmacogenomic DNA profiles combined with newly designed proprietary mRNA and miRNA panels will allow leveraging newly developed machine learning and deep learning methods for genetic analysis. The study (GH-101 Genetic Susceptibility to Chronic Disease) is designed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with development of chronic diseases such as Cardiovascular Disease, End Stage Renal Disease, PTSD, as well as Cancer.

For more information about this study, please contact Designer Genomics International or Genetics Institute of America.

About Genetics Institute of AmericaGenetics Institute of America is a national laboratory dedicated to heightening the awareness of early intervention and genetic screening to promote longevity and quality of life outcomes by focusing on DNA, RNA and Proteins. Our modern CLIA laboratory facility in Delray Beach, FL contains the most current technology, allowing us to provide leadership in both research and clinical laboratory testing. For more information, please visit http://www.GenLabUS.com/.

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About Designer Genomics InternationalDesigner Genomics International is a Contract Research Organization that focuses on conducting clinical trials for Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, and Companion Diagnostics companies. Designer Genomics International is headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200416005768/en/

Contacts

Holly Magliochettimedia@GenLabUS.com

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Genetics Institute of America is Selected by Designer Genomics International as IRB Approved Laboratory for Inflammasome Study - Yahoo Finance

Physiology

Here And Elsewhere, Obesity A Major Factor In Severe COVID-19 Illness | 90.1 FM WABE – WABE 90.1 FM

Obesity has emerged as a major predictor of severe COVID-19 illness, according to new research.

That linkage is demonstrated in Albany, where dozens of patients have died of COVID-19 at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

Phoebes chief medical officer, Dr. Steven Kitchen, said the hospital has not yet gathered precise data on obesity rates of coronavirus patients. But he told GHN on Thursday that a disproportionate percentage of our critically ill patients in our ICUs are morbidly obese.

Other medical conditions are frequently associated with obesity, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney disease, Kitchen noted. Morbid obesity is probably an independent risk factor for poor health outcomes, he added.

Obesity is a rising problem in Georgia and the U.S. as a whole. Roughly one in three adults in the state is obese, according to County Health Rankings. That percentage is higher for African-Americans than other racial or ethnic groups.

And Dougherty County has a higher obesity rate than the Georgia average, Kitchen said.

The hospital is doing epidemiological studies on its COVID-19 patients with state public health officials and the CDC, as well as with the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. Phoebe Putney reported nine more COVID-19 patient deaths Thursday, bringing the hospitals total to 64.

The CDC recently reported that among hospitalized COVID-19 patients studied, almost half were obese.

At Ochsner Health, a system with 41 hospitals in Louisiana and southern Mississippi, Dr. Leo Seoane, the companys senior vice president, said that 60 percent of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had obesity, and that obesity appeared to nearly double their risk of requiring a ventilator, the New York Times reported.

Louisiana and Mississippi have a high number of deceased COVID-19 patients who were obese, USA Today reported.

The Georgia Department of Public Health said it hasnt tracked the rate of obesity among COVID-19 cases or among those who have died from the disease.

The new research points to obesity as the most significant risk factor, after only older age, for being hospitalized with COVID-19. Young adults with obesity appear to be at particular risk, studies show.

The age-adjusted prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults was 42 percent in 20172018.

Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women. A BMI of 30 or more is considered obese.

In one of two new studies released this week, COVID-19 patients who were younger than 60 and had a body mass index BMI between 30 and 34 were twice as likely as their non-obese peers to be admitted to the hospital for acute care instead of being sent home from the ER, the Los Angeles Times reported. They were also 1.8 times more likely to require critical care in a hospitals intensive care unit.

In a second report, a team of NYU doctors and researchers examined the factors that appeared to predispose 4,103 COVID-19 patients of all ages to hospitalization. The research is preliminary, and not peer reviewed. The study found that being older than 75 was the most potent predictor of hospitalization for COVID-19, followed by being between the ages of 65 and 75. The third-best predictor was having a BMI over 40, a condition doctors call severe obesity.

When all other factors were held equal, COVID-19 patients with severe obesity were more than six times more likely to be hospitalized than were patients who were not obese.

Dr. Phillip Coule, chief medical officer for Augusta University Health, said Thursday that there is certainly evidence to support a high body mass index as a major contributing factor to severe complications for COVID-19.

Obesity alters respiratory physiology, interfering with adequate function of the lungs, he said. And an obese patient is harder to prone positioning the individual on the stomach a technique that is used to improve respiratory mechanics, Coule said.

Obesity appears to disproportionately worsen COVID-19 outcomes, Coule told GHN.

The new findings about obesity risks are bad news for all Americans, but particularly for African-Americans and other people of color, who have higher rates of obesity and are already bearing a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 deaths, the New York Times reported. High rates of obesity are also prevalent among low-income white Americans, who may also be adversely affected, the newspaper reported.

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Here And Elsewhere, Obesity A Major Factor In Severe COVID-19 Illness | 90.1 FM WABE - WABE 90.1 FM

Physiology

The Right Chemistry: Hand sanitizers, homeopathy and humidifiers – London Free Press (Blogs)

The coronavirus questions just keep coming.

Are hand sanitizers and surface disinfectants labelled alcohol-free effective?

These products mostly use benzalkonium chloride, also known as alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chlorides, introduced in 1935 by the German bacteriologist Gerhard Domagk who received the 1939 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in recognition of his discovery of sulfonamides, the first truly effective antibiotic drugs. One of these, under the trade name Prontosil, was widely used until it was displaced in the 1940s by penicillin.

The alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chlorides are actually a mixture of compounds that are collectively known as quaternary ammonium salts. The term alkyl refers to a chain of carbon atoms that vary in length from eight to 18, with the 12 and 14 derivatives having the highest activity against bacteria, viruses and fungi. Aside from being disinfectants, these compounds have properties that allow for use as fabric softeners, hair conditioners and preservatives for pharmaceutical products. As far as hand sanitizers and surface disinfectants go, benzalkonium chloride is used at low concentrations in the range of 0.03 to 0.1 per cent. They are approved by Health Canada for inactivating the SARS-CoV-2 virus based on what is known about similar viruses, but how they fare when compared with alcohol-based disinfectants is not clear.

Can the homeopathic remedy Bryonia prevent infection by the coronavirus?

Bryonia is a plant, an extremely diluted extract of which is added to a sugar pellet to produce a homeopathic remedy. That dilution is so extreme that the sugar pill doesnt contain a single molecule from the original plant. Since nonexistent molecules cannot prevent disease, homeopaths propose that the dilution and ritual shaking between dilutions leaves some sort of imprint on the solution that has a physiological effect. Based on what we know about chemistry and the workings of the body, this makes no sense.

Homeopathic products can, however, serve as useful placebos for certain conditions, but viral infections do not respond to placebo treatment. This is even recognized by Boiron, the largest manufacturer of homeopathic products in the world. To its credit, the company has released a statement that It is certain that no Boiron homeopathic medicine is specific for the prevention or symptomatic treatment of the Coronavirus 2019-nCoV.

Yet, there are individual homeopaths who claim that they have successfully treated coronavirus infections. One Montreal homeopath reported the following in a newsletter: A most remarkable case among my patients is a 71-year-old man who contracted the virus with a cough, fever and extreme weakness. He called me the following day and began taking the homeopathic remedy I prescribed for him immediately. Within four days he was symptom-free. Almost more impressive is that his wife, in her late 60s, took remedies preventatively against COVID during the whole time he was sick and has not gotten sick herself, despite being her husbands primary caregiver. This is what is known as anecdotal evidence. We dont know if the man had actually contracted the virus, or that the homeopathic remedy was responsible for his improvement. His wife not contracting the disease is meaningless because we dont know if there was any disease to be contracted.

The homeopath goes on to suggest that Bryonia should be taken once a week, but if you know you have been exposed, or are likely to be exposed based on your profession, take it once every three to five days. Needless to say, there is zero evidence for this recommendation, but is it possibly harmful? Not physiologically, since nonexistent molecules do not produce side effects. But believing that one is being protected by taking Bryonia may result in people being more cavalier about physical distancing. Homeopathic rhetoric about preventing or treating COVID-19 has about as much substance as is contained in a Bryonia pellet. None.

Can a humidifier reduce the chance of coronavirus transmission?

Maybe. The most significant mode of transmission for viruses is through droplets emitted by coughs or sneezes. When the weather is humid, these droplets absorb moisture, become heavier, and fall to the ground. In dry weather, as in winter, the droplets are smaller and stay airborne longer. It is therefore possible that increasing indoor humidity can reduce the transmission of the virus from an infected person. There is another reason to increase humidity. Dryness causes the mucous membranes in the nasal passages that act as a barrier against microbes to dry out. Without sufficient moisture they become less effective at keeping invaders at bay. Making sure one is hydrated by drinking enough fluids helps to keep the mucous membranes from drying out, but drinking every 20 minutes as some circulating instructions suggest is not necessary.

Is it true that we should avoid eating eggs because viruses love eggs?

That bit of absurdity comes from Anthony William, the Medical Medium who dispenses advice he gets from a spirit. It seems the spirit has come to this conclusion based on viruses being cultured in eggs for the production of some vaccines. This of course has nothing to do with eating eggs. In the spirit of science, it is best to ignore any offerings from the Medical Medium and his spirit guide.

joe.schwarcz@mcgill.ca

Joe Schwarcz is director of McGill Universitys Office for Science & Society (mcgill.ca/oss). He hosts The Dr. Joe Show on CJAD Radio 800 AM every Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m.

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The Right Chemistry: Hand sanitizers, homeopathy and humidifiers - London Free Press (Blogs)

Physiology

How simulation-based learning is filling the educational gap left by Covid-19 for healthcare students – Thrive Global

As most students across the country have transitioned from in-person school to virtual on-line instruction, for some this approach isnt all thats needed. For the hundreds of thousands of healthcare students, including future nurses, pharmacists, physical and respiratory therapists, and physicians, who must earn hundreds of required hours of in-person clinical experiences to graduate and sit for licensing exams, the coronavirus has meant that these hands-on learning opportunities cannot happen. At a time when we are seeing hospitals overrun, large numbers of healthcare workers becoming ill or succumbing to coronavirus we simply cannot afford to have any slowdown in being able to inject new workers into the system. Fortunately, healthcare simulation is quickly being deployed to help fill this educational gap, thus helping to ensure that a new healthcare workforce will join the healthcare profession at a time when our medical system is under extreme stress. By allowing these students to graduate on schedule, simulation-based learning is playing a critical role in this urgent time.

Healthcare simulation is a technique used to replace or amplify real experiences with guided practices that evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in an interactive manner. Healthcare simulation uses a variety of tools ranging from life-like or immersive simulated healthcare settings replete with almost anything you can find in a real clinical setting to virtual healthcare environments offered in a virtual format.

In the immersive version, humans alone or in combination with advanced technology manikins that can depict normal and abnormal human physiology create interactive settings where emergent and non-emergent scenarios can be created to provide safe practice arenas for learners without risk to patients or the potential for psychological trauma to students if an error were made on a human. In virtual simulation, computer-based programs similarly allow for practice in a safe environment, but do so using a computer-based platform. Virtual simulation does not allow some of the hands-on practice experiences or the in-person interactivity afforded in immersive simulation such as placing a breathing tube in a patient, palpating a pulse or practicing CPR compressions with real time feedback. But the usual disadvantage of virtual simulation not allowing hands-on practice has now become a huge advantage in a time of coronavirus because virtual simulation can fill the void in healthcare education when medical campuses have closed.

Simulation facilities are nearly ubiquitous in schools of nursing and medicine; most healthcare programs now incorporate some simulation to augment in-person clinical experiences and didactic content. In the last twenty years, simulation has garnered support for its use as part of quality healthcare programs due to its unique educational benefits backed by research demonstrating its effectiveness. Some pre-licensure programs, such as nursing, with the backing of accrediting bodies and state licensing boards have even begun using simulation to replace in-person clinical hours following a recent multi-site landmark study providing evidence that high quality simulation could reliably replace up to 50% of clinical hours while producing similar educational outcomes.

Simulation in many ways has been a game changer in terms of quality of healthcare education and readiness for practice of students, but we have never had to implement it like we are now in the absence of clinical experiences . While many healthcare schools are well versed at augmenting their curricula with immersive simulation alone or in combination with virtual simulation, the vast majority are not adept at completely replacing clinical hours with only virtual simulation. Also, the fact that immersive simulation isnt possible due to social distancing measures means this shift in educational programing has to be done at Mach speed to prevent hundreds of thousands of healthcare students to fall behind and fail to graduate on time. In a setting where healthcare systems are being tested beyond their limits, we simply cant afford not to ensure we can keep the pipeline of healthcare workers moving forward. Even before coronavirus, the US faced an impending nursing shortage, and we simply do not have enough healthcare workers or resources in rural settings. Coronavirus amplifies these dire circumstances. We need more healthcare workers, and we need them now. Some states are even pushing for the early graduation of healthcare students so that they can serve communities that are being hardest hit by coronavirus.

As a healthcare simulation expert, I am heartened by how the simulation community has come together to help, including educators, businesses, and organizations. Two of the major simulation organizations, Society for Simulation in Healthcare and the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning joined forces, putting out a joint position statement on the use of virtual simulation during the pandemic. The listserv of both organizations have become think tanks for new uses of simulation during these challenging times. WhatsApp groups, social media pages and cloud-drives are rife with resources that have been shared from all corners of the globe, and many companies have generously shared their products free of charge. Even in this time of social distancing and forced isolation, healthcare simulation educators and the simulation community as a whole have never been more connected and singly focused on a goal than now.

While the battle against an invisible enemy wages on across the world, simulationists are quietly readying the next generation of healthcare professionals using the best tools we know how. As scientists and current healthcare professionals test new medications and develop new treatments, we are conducting our own important work. We are testing the depth and breadth of healthcare simulation, learning how far we can push it, creating new ways to use it, and discovering how impactful it can be in a new setting. Our outcomes the next generation of healthcare soldiers ready for battle.

Jill Steiner Sanko is an assistant professor of Nursing and Health Studies at the University of Miami and a Public Voices Fellow.

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How simulation-based learning is filling the educational gap left by Covid-19 for healthcare students - Thrive Global

Physiology

Landmark study of adolescent brain development renews for additional seven years – National Institutes of Health

News Release

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

NIH-supported, multi-institute research program will generate robust data about how young brains mature.

With nearly $290M of new funding for seven years to research institutions around the country, the National Institutes of Health renewed its commitment to the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, the largest long-term study of brain development and child health ever conducted in the United States.

Launched in 2015, ABCD is following 11,750 children, including 2,100 who are twins or triplets, for at least 10 years starting at ages 9 to10. The new awards continue funding for a Coordinating Center and Data Analysis Informatics & Resource Center at the University of California, San Diego, as well as the research project sites where children are assessed.

The next phase of the ABCD study will help us understand the effects of substance use, as well as environmental, social, genetic, and other biological factors on the developing adolescent brain, said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, M.D. Since the participants are now in their vulnerable middle school years or are beginning high school, this is a critical time to learn more about what enhances or disrupts a young persons life trajectory.

Scientists are documenting exposures to drugs (including nicotine, alcohol, and marijuana), screen time activities, sleep patterns, engagement in sports and arts, among other variables, that may affect brain development, cognitive skills, mental health, and many other outcomes. The young participants undergo interviews and behavioral assessments once or twice a year, with physiological measures (e.g., blood pressure, cholesterol) of cardiovascular health and neuroimaging of brain structure and function every two years.

While the project is designed to answer long-held questions about the development of the teenage brain through the entire period of adolescence and beyond, the study has already released two sets of anonymized high-quality baseline data to the broader research community via the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive to enable both ABCD investigators and non-ABCD researchers to pursue their own research questions. The dataso far more than 140 terabytesinclude basic participant demographics, assessments of physical and mental health, substance use, culture and environment, and neurocognition, tabulated structural and functional neuroimaging data, and minimally processed brain images. The comprehensive dataset, which is disaggregated by sex, racial/ethnic group, and socioeconomic status, allows researchers to address numerous questions that may ultimately inform health decisions and policies related to education, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, and prevention of substance use and mental illness.

So far, 32 research papers have been published using these data, with 11 from investigators not involved in the ABCD study. These analyses have led to a better understanding of the association between certain traits and experiences in adolescence (e.g., sleep, body mass index, family conflict, screen time) and brain physiology and other outcomes, such as cognitive ability and mental illness (e.g., depression and suicide). While most of these research projects have only looked at associations at a single point in time, data that will be collected over time will allow scientists to examine the developmental trajectories of individuals and how they are affected by many of the factors mentioned aboveincluding genetics.

Additional data will be released this summer that includes the six month and one-year follow up for the full cohort and other interim data. The data will be made available through the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Data Archive, which can be accessed by researchers who obtain a free NIMH Data Archive account.

The ABCD Study, like many other research projects, is adapting to the restrictions necessary to address COVID-19. Scientists will conduct virtual assessments as long as needed so that valuable data will not be lost, and participant health and safety will be ensured. It is crucial that researchers stay in contact with ABCD families throughout this period and resume comprehensive data collection when it is over to understand the factors that influence long-term developmental trajectories.

Information about the ABCD Study and the study sites can be found online. The ABCD Study was initiated by the Collaborative Research on Addiction at NIH (CRAN), a consortium of institutes that include a focus on addiction research. CRAN comprises NIDA, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Cancer Institute. Other NIH collaborators in this project are the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, the NIH Office of Research on Womens Health, and the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with additional partnerships with the National Institute of Justice, the CDC Division of Violence Prevention, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the worlds research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy and improve practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and information on NIDA research and other activities can be found at https://www.drugabuse.gov, which is compatible with your smartphone, iPad or tablet. To order publications in English or Spanish, call NIDAs DrugPubs research dissemination center at 1-877-NIDA-NIH or 240-645-0228 (TDD) or email requests to drugpubs@nida.nih.gov. Online ordering is available at https://drugpubs.drugabuse.gov. NIDAs media guide can be found at http://drugabuse.gov/mediaguide/, and its easy-to-read website can be found at https://www.easyread.drugabuse.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

NIHTurning Discovery Into Health

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Landmark study of adolescent brain development renews for additional seven years - National Institutes of Health

Neuroscience

The neuroscience of loneliness and how technology is helping us – The Conversation UK

Large numbers of people around the globe have been forced into solitude due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, social distancing is utterly at odds with our drive for social connection, the cornerstone of human evolution.

Suddenly confronted with a lack of social interactions, many of us are now experiencing more loneliness. We are missing that reassuring hug or shoulder pat from another human things we might normally expect in times of adversity. To cope, we try to fill the void with online social activities, such as synchronised Netflix viewings, games and video chat dance parties. But do these help?

When we spend quality time with another person, we experience intrinsic joy. Brain scanning studies show that subcortical brain regions, such as the ventral striatum, which plays an important role in motivation, are activated when receiving monetary and social rewards.

When we feel lonely and rejected, brain regions associated with distress and rumination are activated instead. This may be due to evolution driving us to establish and maintain social connections to ensure survival. Lonely people also have a more negative focus and anxiously scrutinise peoples intentions. Sometimes this can become so strong that it makes us feel even more lonely creating a vicious cycle.

Not everyone relishes social connection to the same extent though. People with a more extrovert personality type seek more social activities, have access to larger social networks, and report lower perceived loneliness. People who score highly on neuroticism tend to report more perceived social isolation.

Loneliness has for some time been recognised as a significant threat to physical and mental health and has been found to be predictive of mortality.

So how can you best cope with loneliness and isolation? Analysis has suggested that the most successful interventions find ways to address the distorted thinking that loneliness creates. So if you are feeling lonely, try identifying automatic negative thoughts such as assuming people dont want to hear from you and reframing them as hypotheses rather than facts.

Another recent review of literature found that targeting coping strategies can also be beneficial. It discovered that approaches such as joining a support group to remove feelings of loneliness work particularly well. Emotion-based coping strategies, such as lowering expectations about relationships, were not as effective.

Social media is often vilified in public discourse. But many people who are self-isolating now rely on online social tools. An important aspect missing in instant messaging and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, however, is the nonverbal cue such as a smile, gesture or glance. These allow us to gauge the tone and context of a social encounter. When this information is missing, we perceive fewer friendly cues from others.

So while online tools can be helpful during periods of isolation, embodiment and social presence are nevertheless missing. But there are ways to boost the rewards of online communication. One study used augmented reality to enable two people to interact with each others video chat images and found that they reported higher sense of social presence and a more engaging experience. Similarly, participating in shared activities benefits the formation of close relationships with others. So whether it is a virtual pub quiz or a dance party, this may be particularly valuable during lockdown.

Robots designed to engage us on a social level could also help isolated people feel less lonely, as they carry the benefit of embodiment. In a randomised control trial with Paro, a cuddly baby seal robot, residents in a care home who interacted with it reported reduced feelings of loneliness.

Research from our own laboratory seeks to identify how robotic features or behaviours influence our ability to feel socially connected to these machines. For example, a new study highlights that people conversationally engage with a humanoid robot to a similar extent as another person, and more so than with a voice assistant like Alexa or Siri.

New advances in mobile brain imaging technologies, along with the increasing social sophistication of some robots, provide opportunities for examining how people establish and maintain social connections with robots in real time.

While the rise of social robots appears futuristic, they are already moving out of factories and into our homes, supermarkets and hospitals. They even have new social roles in the coronavirus crisis for example as supermarket assistants, reminding shoppers of new health and safety rules.

Until we all have a sophisticated social robot to keep us company, perhaps the best remedy is to keep in touch with our loved ones online, especially through shared activities. And lets focus on the fact that close human contact will soon be safe again.

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The neuroscience of loneliness and how technology is helping us - The Conversation UK

Neuroscience

The neuroscience behind missing Sunderland… despite the worries and heartaches! – Roker Report

Why are we as supporters hooked on football, and live games in particular? There is a shallow answer, something along the lines of we just love football or I am Sunderland til I die or an equally true and similar phrase.

But I would like to go a little deeper - especially during this lockdown as there is more time available for reflection and even contemplation. I have worked within neuroscience research for a few decades now, so will take a look at the topic from that angle.

This virus-influenced time my wife and I are not going out aside from exercise as well as some visits to a vulnerable relative living nearby has shown me how much I love and miss football. Obviously, Sunderland is my first love, but life is just not the same without all the football chatter going on, mainly on Radio 5Live, SAFC websites and in the print media.

Although Roker Report and other fan websites are manfully providing great content in what is essentially a news vacuum, we all know that it is not the same without input from real games and the very compelling gossip that surrounds them.

Match of the Day just does not work when it is Gary Lineker, Ian Wright and the monotone Alan Shearer burbling about the beautiful game with no real action.

There is something addictive but intangible about the excitement and adrenaline rush created by being present at a big win, or even a well-executed 1-0 away result against the odds, surrounded by opposition fans when the defence held firm and needed to. Or even the occasional 3-0 away win at Newcastle...

The human brain will endure a lot of everyday dross for an occasional high and neuroscience tells us that this is dopamine driven. This notion is illustrated in this quote from the film Art School Confidential:

What do you think the artist thinks about? Do they think about fine wines or black-tie affairs? No, they live for that narcotic moment of creative bliss. A moment that may come once a decade, or never at all.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, passing on signals in the brain, and is responsible for many of the pleasure signals we experience. We go to games partly to meet with family and friends, to feel we belong to something bigger, but I would argue that the main driver is the high, or reward we feel when a great goal is scored or we see a historically great display on the pitch.

The brain has several distinct dopamine pathways, one of which plays a major role in the motivational component of reward-motivated behaviour. The anticipation of most types of rewards increases the level of this neurotransmitter in the brain, and many addictive drugs increase dopamine release.

So, as we look at the neuroscience behind being a football fan, even the anticipation of a good game, and that may be irrational, is enough to make us feel good.

I define a fan as someone whose mood is influenced by a football result and that certainly applies to all of the Roker Report writers. In my last piece for the site, I mentioned some lingering memories of the smell of Bovril and cigarettes at Roker Park. It was not that that got me hooked, but to my young brain it was the amazing atmosphere at Sunderlands home ground that had a formative effect.

I remember Sunderlands 1968 last day of the season win at Old Trafford really clearly I was very young and had just been to my first Sunderland home game, a 0-0 draw the week before against WBA by cycling from Boldon to Roker Park. The climax of the campaign was upon us and the Lads were clear of relegation, having won 4 times and drawn 4 on their travels, and got the points in 8 home games the team were on 45 points in the modern, 3-points for a win parlance.

The magic of that season-ending day in my young consciousness was that Man. City were playing at Newcastle. Sunderland were expected just to roll over and let Man. Utd. win the league, since Best, Charlton and Law were in that great team, with Man. City ending as runners-up. Well, Sunderland stunned the Reds in a 2-1 win, with goals from Colin Suggett and George Mulhall - Hurley, Todd, Stuckey, Montgomery and Porterfield also starred that day.

I was then of course hooked as a fan, seeing the game in black and white later on Match of the Day. Man. City capped it all by winning 4-3 at St. James and gaining their last title before modern Guardiola era, in an amazing climax to the 1967-68 season.

As grown-up people with jobs, I believe that we often can lead fairly humdrum lives and have to behave ourselves; wear nice clothes, be polite, go to work, rein in our true feelings, be responsible.

But when Saturday comes round, we can go to a game, let our hair down, shout at the referee and jump with joy when our team scores. In terms of neuroscience, we are moving from being affected by stress hormones such as cortisol and allowing that feel-good messenger dopamine to take over.

I am not suggesting that following Sunderland is stress-free, as recent relegations and some miserable winless runs we have endured. However, watching season two of Netflixs Sunderland Til I Die, the passion generated during games is tangible, and terrifying according to Charlie Methuen.

I would argue that neuroscience is part of that; currently we are all missing all the dopamine-driven highs that football can bring.

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The neuroscience behind missing Sunderland... despite the worries and heartaches! - Roker Report

Neuroscience

WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute first in the world to open hippocampal blood brain barrier in Alzheimer’s patients – Dominion Post – The…

WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute first in the world to open hippocampal blood brain barrier in Alzheimer's patients - Dominion Post  The Dominion Post

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WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute first in the world to open hippocampal blood brain barrier in Alzheimer's patients - Dominion Post - The...

Neuroscience

Psychiatrists review the treatment of stuttering – UC Riverside

In a recent review article in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience, Dr. Gerald Maguire of the UC Riverside School of Medicine and colleagues argue that although there is no medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, for the treatment of stuttering, there is hope: Two active medications, ecopipam and deutetrabenazine, are currently going through clinical trials and may be FDA approved for stuttering if the studies yield positive results.

Stuttering, an interruption in the flow of speech, affects about three million Americans and approximately 5% of children. A psychiatric condition, it shares many similarities to Tourettes Syndrome. Both begin in childhood and affect more males than females. What exactly causes stuttering is not known.

The neurotransmitter dopamine is known to play an important role in how stuttering is caused in the brain. Because high levels of cerebral dopamine levels are associated with stuttering, medications have targeted dopamine to improve stuttering symptoms.

Ecopipam selectively blocks the actions of dopamine at its receptor. Dopamine receptors can be broadly classified into two families based on their structures: D1 receptors and D2 receptors. Ecopipam blocks dopamine only at D1 receptors.

Ecopipam has been studied for stuttering in adults in an open-label single-case experimental design funded by philanthropy, Maguire, professor and chair of psychiatry and neuroscience, and his coauthors write in the review paper. The results revealed that ecopipam significantly improved stuttering symptoms.

The authors note that deutetrabenazine decreases the release of dopamine by inhibiting a transport protein that packages dopamine into synaptic vesicles for release within the central nervous system. One drawback, however, is that the inhibition could result in patients feeling depressed.

Ecopipam on the other hand was well-tolerated, Maguire and his coauthors write, and argue for further research.

Maguires coauthors are Diem L. Nguyen, Kevin C. Simonson and Troy L. Kurz at the Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience in the UCR School of Medicine. The review paper is titled The Pharmacologic Treatment of Stuttering and Its Neuropharmacologic Basis.

Maguire recently received an investigator-initiated research grant from Teva the manufacturer of deutetrabenzaine.

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Psychiatrists review the treatment of stuttering - UC Riverside

Neuroscience

Blood Pressure Medication Solves Spasticity in Mice With Spinal Cord Injuries – Technology Networks

Spinal cord injury can be highly debilitating and affect motor skills, the sensation as well as autonomic brain functions. Besides, the injury will often lead to the development of spasticity which manifests itself in involuntary, sustained or rhythmic muscle contractions. It is estimated that 70 percent of those who have a spinal cord injury will develop spasticity.Now, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have discovered a possible treatment tested on mice against the development of spasticity following a spinal cord injury. After the treatment, the mice showed no or only modest signs of spasticity.

The researchers treated the mice with the drug nimodipine, which is an already approved drug that has been used since the 1980s.

We show that nimodipine by and large can prevent the development of spasticity after a spinal cord injury if administered soon after the injury and for an extended period of time. One of the most surprising and interesting elements in the study is that the effect continues, even after treatment has stopped, says co-author Ole Kiehn, Professor at the Department of Neuroscience.

The new results have been published in the scientific journal Science Translational Medicine.

In addition, the treatment must continue for an extended period of time. In the experiment, the mice were treated with the drug for six weeks and then observed for nine weeks, where they developed no or only mild signs of spasticity.

The most surprising thing to the researchers was that the effect was long-lasting.

We had guessed that the spasticity would be blocked for as long as the pharmacological treatment was ongoing. But we were positively surprised to see that the development of spasticity remained blocked even after we stopped the pharmacological treatment, says co-author Carmelo Bellardita, Postdoc at the Department of Neuroscience.

In the study, the researchers show that the effect of nimodipine is due to the blocking of one specific L-type calcium channel, the so-called CaV1.3 channel. By genetically removing that type of calcium channels in the spinal cord of mice, they achieved the same result: the development of spasticity was blocked.

According to the researchers, the results could potentially also be relevant to other diseases where spasticity may develop. For example, in connection with multiple sclerosis and stroke.

It is still uncertain whether nimodipine will have the same effect on human spasticity as all experiments have been done on mice. The researchers will now study this question.

We are quite optimistic that nimodipine will have the same effect in humans. But we cannot be certain. Nimodipine is an approved drug that easily enters the brain, and we will now begin trials together with other researchers where we test nimodipine on healthy test subjects to study the effect on various reflexes and motor skills. Subsequently, it may potentially be possible to test the drug on people with spasticity, says Ole Kiehn.ReferenceMarcantoni et al. (2020) Early delivery and prolonged treatment with nimodipine prevents the development of spasticity after spinal cord injury in mice. Science Translational Medicine. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.aay0167

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Blood Pressure Medication Solves Spasticity in Mice With Spinal Cord Injuries - Technology Networks