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Understanding gut response to high-fat meals key to effective IBD treatments, says study – NutraIngredients.com

June 7, 2022 medical

This apparent link between diet, gut microbiota, and gene expression could be used to develop prognostic or therapeutic treatments for IBDs, such as Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis, according to study authors.

The study focused on a transcription factor called hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha (HNF4A), known to regulate genes involved in lipid metabolism and genes that respond to microbes.

Genetic variants at human HNF4A are associated with both Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis, the authors explain, but the underlying reason for the overlap between microbial and HNF4A-regulated genes, and how microbes alter HNF4A occupancy, host metabolism and acquisition of nutrients, remain unknown.

Therefore, understanding how the intestine perceives and responds to the major stimuli of nutritional and microbial signals remains a fundamental challenge.

Lead author, Dr Colin Lickwar said: We thought that it might represent an interface or a crossroads between interpreting information that comes from either microbial sources or from dietary fat.

Its certainly complicated, but we do appear to identify that HNF4-Alpha is important in simultaneously integrating multiple signals within the intestine.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest a high-fat diet and microbiota interactively influence host physiology but there is limited intelligence on integrative host reponses, say researchers.

In their report, published in Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, they write: Chronic high-fat diet feeding leads to adaptive physiological responses that can make it difficult to distinguish primary impacts of microbiota on host response, those impacts can be more easily discerned in the postprandial response to a single high-fat meal.

In the current study, scientists focused on a single, early postprandial period after consumption of a HFM consisting of chicken egg yolk emulsion. The time point was chosen to capture initial responses prior to cell-division and cell-type changes.

Adult mice were split among four groups: germ-free (GF); GF plus HFM; ex-GF colonised (CV) with conventional microbiota, and CV plus HFM.

Multiple functional genomic assays were applied to evaluate the interaction between HFM and microbiota colonisation in mouse small IECs.

There were significant differences in gene transcriptions for each of the four groups, and blocks of genes were impacted by either microbial or nutritional status.

Both germ-free and normal mice were able to metabolise fatty acids in a high-fat diet, although the germ-free group used a different set of genes to metabolise the HFM.

Professor of Molecular Genomics and Microbiology, John Rawls, commented: We were surprised to find that the gene playbook that the gut epithelium uses to respond to dietary fat is different depending on whether or not microbes are there.

Researchers note that microbes assisted with gut absorption of fatty acids. They observed increased activity of genes involved in fatty acid oxidation in germ-free mice, which literally burned off fatty acids to provide fuel for the guts cells.

Professor Rawls added: Typically we think about the gut just doing its job absorbing dietary nutrients across the epithelium to share with the rest of the body, but the gut has to eat too. So, what we think is going on in germ-free animals, is that the gut is consuming more of the fat than it would if the microbes were there.

Overall findings suggest that gut microbes may promote lipid accumulation and weight gain, while suppressing gene activity designed to regulate beneficial intestinal and metabolic activity, including gut inflammation.

Source: Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Published online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmgh.2022.04.013

Transcriptional Integration of Distinct Microbial and Nutritional Signals by the Small Intestinal Epithelium

Colin R. Lickwar, James M. Davison, Cecelia Kelly, Gilberto Padilla Mercado, Jia Wen, Briana R. Davis, Matthew C. Tillman, Ivana Semova, Sarah F. Andres, Goncalo Vale, Jeffrey G. McDonald, and John F. Rawls

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Understanding gut response to high-fat meals key to effective IBD treatments, says study - NutraIngredients.com

Physiology

An APS fellowship helps to complete the transition from machine gunner to researcher – news.wm.edu

June 7, 2022 medical

In 2019, Jacob Stechmann was a U.S. Marine deployed to Syria.

I was a machine gunner, he said, adding that circumstances of combat meant that he was occasionally pressed into service by Army and Navy Special Forces medics to help treat casualties among the Kurdish population.

They would bring some of us over if they needed help, Stechmann said. Not anything serious, but we got to do some of the little things.

Those little things included treating a gunshot wound to the arm and replacing bandages of people who had suffered shrapnel wounds to the stomach.

That was my last year in the Corps, Stechmann said. That was the deployment that kind of opened my eyes up to medicine: getting to see Army doctors and surgeons work on Kurdish allies coming in after certain incidents.

In 2022, Stechmann is a student-researcher at William & Mary, studying the function of blood vessels in Robin Looft-Wilsons lab. He was one a dozen students awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) by the American Physiological Society (APS).

The SURF fellowships supports students conducting research in the laboratory of an APS member. Looft-Wilson, a professor in William & Marys Department of Kinesiology, studies artery function and its role in cardiovascular health. She says Stechmann is a good addition to her lab and is well deserving of the SURF fellowship.

I loved that he had a military background. Im from a military family, and I know the work ethic, so that that was certainly a plus, Looft-Wilson said. He expressed a strong interest in research and said he wanted to go into medicine.

Stechmann transferred into William & Mary from J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College. He expects to get his bachelors degree in 2024 and is already considering his post-William & Mary options. Depending on how he wants to balance research and patient care, he will choose among programs leading to an M.D., a Ph.D. or an M.D./Ph.D. combination.

I know that many M.D.s will do research and they dont have the Ph.D. attached, Stechmann said. I dont think Ive talked to enough M.D.-Ph.D.s and M.D.s-only yet. But yeah, if I want research to be a big part of my career, then maybe M.D.-Ph.D. is something that I want to look at.

Hes getting plenty of opportunity to see how he likes conducting research in Looft-Wilsons lab. Theyre studying constriction in very small blood vessels. Lately, Stechmann has been cannulating mesenteric arteries, those vessels that supply blood from the aorta to the intestines.

This is a microsurgery, so Jacob does all of this under the microscope, Looft-Wilson explained. The cannula are teeny-tiny. And as you can imagine, youve got these very fine tipped forceps and youre in this tiny little dish, the dish is about this big, making a thumb-forefinger circle.

Each cannula Stechmann uses is roughly twice the diameter of a human hair. Working in the tiny little dish, peering through the microscope, Stechmann slips the artery over the teeny-tiny glass cannula (Kind of like putting a sock on a foot, Looft-Wilson says) and ties it down. Stechmann explained that once he has an artery cannulated, the lab adds a chemical to stimulate constriction of the artery.

We study artery function at the molecular level, and also at the tissue level, Looft-Wilson explained. We look at contraction and relaxation of the artery, which is very important for controlling blood both blood pressure in the body, and blood flow to individual tissues.

She went on to say that her lab is researching the molecular signaling in the sympathetic nerve stimulation pathway.

You know: your fight or flight response, Looft-Wilson said. When youre stressed or when you exercise, your sympathetic nervous system is activated. And one of the things that happens is sympathetic nerves release a neurotransmitter that causes the blood vessels to constrict.

The APS SURF fellowship carries a stipend to support his summer research in the Looft-Wilson lab. It also provides for Stechmann to attend the APS international meeting, the Physiology Summit, in April 2023.

Thousands of scientists will be there, Looft-Wilson said. Jacob will be presenting a poster, probably in a couple of different forums, including one highlighting undergraduates.

Mingling with the M.D.s, Ph.D.s and M.D.-Ph.D.s at the Physiology Summit will give Stechmann the opportunity to hear different points of view on the research-patient care professional spectrum. Its another of the many advantages the SURF fellowship offers.

At a very basic level, the fellowship allows me to really dive deep and research and understand the process that is backbone of science to understand how it actually works and how these results are determined and presented and shared among colleagues, Stechmann said. I think it just really opens me up to the experience in general. And as for my future, Im sort of debating as how much I want research to be a part of my career, and I think this will be perfect for seeing how I enjoy it.

Joseph McClain, Research Writer

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An APS fellowship helps to complete the transition from machine gunner to researcher - news.wm.edu

Neuroscience

Overman and Friedland publish an article on the intersection of neuroscience and law – Today at Elon

June 7, 2022 medical

Law professor and neuroscience professor co-author a peer-reviewed article on cognitive bias in the criminal justice system.

Steven Friedland, professor in the Elon University School of Law, and Amy Overman, professor in the Psychology Department and Neuroscience Program and assistant dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, recently collaborated in writing an article that was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Criminal Law Bulletin.

The article, Neutrality and the Rules of Evidence, highlights the many ways in which apparently neutral evidence rules can be influenced by cognitive biases, particularly when applied in a court of law. These biases can have a significant impact, even working to undermine fair outcomes, particularly with regard to racial inequalities in the criminal justice system.

The Criminal Law Bulletinfocuses on criminal law, criminal procedure, criminal and forensic scientific evidence, or the legal and ethical issues that affect how justice system professionals perform their tasks in policing, crime labs, the courts and in corrections.The journals review process is conducted by faculty members rather than law school students, as is the case for most law journals.It iswidely read by both scholars and practitioners in the field of criminal justice.

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Overman and Friedland publish an article on the intersection of neuroscience and law - Today at Elon

Neuroscience

For NFT Collectors, There’s a Fine Line Between Buzz and Boredom – Neuroscience News

June 7, 2022 medical

Summary: Researchers say that when it comes to NFT collecting, a focus on rarity can become self-defeating. To sustain value, the study suggests designers should make sure people dont only see the rarest items in any given category.

Source: Stevens Institute of Technology

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are all the rage, with collectors spending vast sums in some cases, tens of millions of dollars to own and trade unique digital images. For researchers, that offers a rare opportunity to study the way that people learn about new marketplaces and assign value to different categories of assets.

Because NFT trading records are public, they offer a remarkable chance for us to look at why people perceive collectible items as valuable, and how those perceptions change over time, said Jordan Suchow, a cognitive scientist who led the study at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Suchows team conducted the first cognitive study of NFT trading, looking at a collection of NFTs known as the Bored Ape Yacht Club a set of 10,000 computer-generated cartoon apes, each with different features such as color, clothing, and accessories, that have grown immensely popular in recent months.

Each individual Bored Ape is unique, and thus equally rare, but some features are more common than others. An ape in a plain striped sweater might be more common and thus potentially less valuable than an ape in a suit and tie, or one wearing earrings, for instance.

Its a bit like stamp collecting: the stamps printed in the same run all look the same, so if theres a printing error or some other rare feature that sets a stamp apart, people will pay far more for it, explained Suchow, whose work, co-authored with Stevens doctorate student Vahid Ashrafimoghari, will be presented at the Cognitive Science Society Conference on July 27-30 in Toronto, Canada.

When people first began trading Bored Ape NFTs, the apes with rare features quickly became more sought-after. But that, in turn, distorted the information landscape: because rare apes were more valuable and more widely discussed, they also became much more visible.

Today, a newcomer to Bored Ape trading sees these rare apes everywhere and perceives them to be much more common than they are in fact, Suchow explained.

That creates a puzzle: how can people be expected to learn about a new category when their experience of that category is dominated by the rarest examples?

If a person wants to learn what a dog is, Suchow explains, they could do so by going to a dog park and looking at a range of common animals. Going to an experimental breeder and looking only at rare breeds, on the other hand, would skew their perception of the category and of how much any given dog is worth.

To test their theory, Suchows team identified the rarest and most common features in Bored Ape NFTs, then mapped their findings onto the relative value of the NFTs over time.

The results were striking: while rarity was strongly correlated with value in the early days of Bored Ape trading, the connection all but disappeared as an influx of newcomers began trading the NFTs.

The findings hold lessons for collectors of all kinds, says Suchow. Weve shown that a focus on rarity can become self-defeating if you want to sustain value, you need to make sure that people dont seeonlythe rarest items in a given category, he explained.

That could spark a rethink about how online marketplaces are designed and lead individual investors to assign less value to rarity in new markets.

Some interesting questions remain: the Stevens team found that some rare NFT features, such as unusually colored backgrounds, retained their value over time, while others, such as an apes fur color, quickly lost value.

Figuring out why some features continue to correlate with value and others dont, and how that plays out in other categories such as stamp collecting or art markets, will require additional study, Suchow said.

The exciting thing here is that weve revealed a general principle: that demand for rarity is self-defeating, Suchow said. That should be very broadly applicable, so the big question now is whether we can observe this effect in other categories of collectible items, too.

Author: Thania BeniosSource: Stevens Institute of TechnologyContact: Thania Benios Stevens Institute of TechnologyImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: The abstract The paradox of learning categories from rare examples: a case study of NFTs & The Bored Ape Yacht Club by Jordan Suchow et al, is available online. The findings will be presented at the Cognitive Science Society meeting.

Abstract

The paradox of learning categories from rare examples: a case study of NFTs & The Bored Ape Yacht Club

Collectible items, such as stamps, coins, paintings, and trading cards, are often valued for their rarity. A side effect of rarer items being more highly valued is that they are also more often traded, discussed, and displayed. A new collectors experience of the category defined by a set collectible items is thus heavily biased towards the rare items.

Theories of category learning predict that these conditions make for a uniquely challenging environment in which to learn a category because rarity-based sampling can invert the distribution of associated attribute frequencies.

Here, we show that under these conditions, the demand for rarity is self-defeating: when newcomers do not correct for the sampling bias present in their experience, they will have a distorted sense of the category and misunderstand which items are in fact rare, causing rarity to become devalued over time.

We find evidence for this dynamic in the context of The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), a collection of 10,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs), each with a set of attributes that vary in rarity.

We demonstrate that, in line with our theory, over time the influx of newcomers learning about BAYC has been associated with a decrease in the demand for tokens with rare attributes.

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For NFT Collectors, There's a Fine Line Between Buzz and Boredom - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Alzheimer’s Disease Causes Cells to Overheat and ‘Fry Like Eggs’ – Neuroscience News

June 7, 2022 medical

Summary: The heat produced by amyloid-beta aggregation may cause other, healthy amyloid-beta to aggregate, causing more and more aggregates to form. However, with the addition of a novel drug compound, amyloid-beta aggregation can be stopped and the cell temperature lowered.

Source: University of Cambridge

Researchers have shown that aggregation of amyloid-beta, one of two key proteins implicated in Alzheimers disease, causes cells to overheat and fry like eggs.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, used sensors small and sensitive enough to detect temperature changes inside individual cells, and found that as amyloid-beta misfolds and clumps together, it causes cells to overheat.

In an experiment using human cell lines, the researchers found the heat released by amyloid-beta aggregation could potentially cause other, healthy amyloid-beta to aggregate, causing more and more aggregates to form.

In the same series of experiments, the researchers also showed that amyloid-beta aggregation can be stopped, and the cell temperature lowered, with the addition of a drug compound. The experiments also suggest that the compound has potential as a therapeutic for Alzheimers disease, although extensive tests and clinical trials would first be required.

The researchers say their assay could be used as a diagnostic tool for Alzheimers disease, or to screen potential drug candidates.

Theresultsare reported in theJournal of the American Chemical Society.

Alzheimers disease affects an estimated 44 million people worldwide, and there are currently no effective diagnostics or treatments. In Alzheimers disease, amyloid-beta and another protein called tau build up into tangles and plaques known collectively as aggregates causing brain cells to die and the brain to shrink. This results in memory loss, personality changes and difficulty carrying out daily functions.

It is a difficult disease to study, since it develops over decades, and a definitive diagnosis can only be given after examining samples of brain tissue after death. It is still not known what kind of biochemical changes inside a cell lead to amyloid-beta aggregation.

InProfessor Gabriele Kaminski Schierles research groupat CambridgesDepartment of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, they have been investigating the possible link between temperature and amyloid-beta aggregation in human cells.

The field of studying temperature changes inside a cell is known as intracellular thermogenesis. It is a new and challenging field: scientists have developed sensors with which temperature changes can be measured, however, no one has ever tried to use these sensors to study conditions such as Alzheimers disease.

Thermogenesis has been associated with cellular stress, which may promote further aggregation, said Chyi Wei Chung, the studys first author. We believe that when theres an imbalance in cells, like when the amyloid-beta concentration is slightly too high and it starts to accumulate, cellular temperatures increase.

Overheating a cell is like frying an egg as it heats up, the proteins start to clump together and become non-functional, said Kaminski Schierle, who led the research.

The researchers used tiny temperature sensors called fluorescent polymeric thermometers (FTPs) to study the link between aggregation and temperature. They added amyloid-beta to human cell lines to kickstart the aggregation process and used a chemical called FCCP as a control, since it is known to induce an increase in temperature.

They found that as amyloid-beta started to form thread-like aggregates called fibrils, the average temperature of the cells started to rise. The increase in cellular temperature was significant compared to cells that did not have any amyloid-beta added.

As the fibrils start elongating, they release energy in the form of heat, said Kaminski Schierle. Amyloid-beta aggregation requires quite a lot of energy to get going, but once the aggregation process starts, it speeds up and releases more heat, allowing more aggregates to form.

Once the aggregates have formed, they can exit the cell and be taken up by neighbouring cells, infecting healthy amyloid-beta in those cells, said Chung. No one has shown this link between temperature and aggregation in live cells before.

Using a drug that inhibits amyloid-beta aggregation, the researchers were able to pinpoint the fibrils as the cause of thermogenesis. It had previously been unknown whether protein aggregation or potential damage to mitochondria the batteries that power cells was responsible for this phenomenon.

The researchers also found that the rise in cellular temperatures could be mitigated by treating them with an aggregation inhibitor, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic for Alzheimers disease.

The laboratory experiments were complemented by computational modelling describing what might happen to amyloid-beta in an intracellular environment and why it might lead to an increase in intracellular temperatures. The researchers hope their work will motivate new studies incorporating different parameters of physiological relevance.

Funding: The research was supported in part by Alzheimers Research UK, the Cambridge Trust, Wellcome, and the Medical Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Author: Sarah CollinsSource: University of CambridgeContact: Sarah Collins University of CambridgeImage: The image is credited to Chyi Wei Chung

Original Research: Open access.Intracellular A42 Aggregation Leads to Cellular Thermogenesis by Chyi Wei Chung et al. Journal of the American Chemical Association

Abstract

Intracellular A42 Aggregation Leads to Cellular Thermogenesis

The aggregation of A42 is a hallmark of Alzheimers disease. It is still not known what the biochemical changes are inside a cell which will eventually lead to A42 aggregation.

Thermogenesis has been associated with cellular stress, the latter of which may promote aggregation.

We perform intracellular thermometry measurements using fluorescent polymeric thermometers to show that A42 aggregation in live cells leads to an increase in cell-averaged temperatures. This rise in temperature is mitigated upon treatment with an aggregation inhibitor of A42 and is independent of mitochondrial damage that can otherwise lead to thermogenesis.

With this, we present a diagnostic assay which could be used to screen small-molecule inhibitors to amyloid proteins in physiologically relevant settings. To interpret our experimental observations and motivate the development of future models, we perform classical molecular dynamics of model A peptides to examine the factors that hinder thermal dissipation.

We observe that this is controlled by the presence of ions in its surrounding environment, the morphology of the amyloid peptides, and the extent of its hydrogen-bonding interactions with water.

We show that aggregation and heat retention by A peptides are favored under intracellular-mimicking ionic conditions, which could potentially promote thermogenesis. The latter will, in turn, trigger further nucleation events that accelerate disease progression.

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Alzheimer's Disease Causes Cells to Overheat and 'Fry Like Eggs' - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Babies Exposed to COVID in the Womb Show Neurodevelopmental Changes – Neuroscience News

June 7, 2022 medical

Summary: Babies whose mothers contracted COVID-19 while pregnant had greater difficulties relaxing and adapting their bodies while being held than those whose mothers did not contract covid. Additionally, babies born to infected mothers had greater difficulty in controlling their head and shoulder movements. Findings suggest prenatal COVID-19 infection may impact motor function development in babies.

Source: European Psychiatric Association

Babies born to mothers who suffered COVID-19 disease during pregnancy seem to exhibit differences in neurodevelopmental outcomes at 6 weeks, according to a preliminary analysis presented in the 30thEuropean Congress of Psychiatry.

Project Leader Dr Rosa Ayesa Arriola said: Not all babies born to mothers infected with COVID show neurodevelopmental differences, but our data shows that their risk is increased in comparison to those not exposed to COVID in the womb. We need a bigger study to confirm the exact extent of the difference.

Researchers found that babies born to mothers who had been infected show greater difficulties in relaxing and adapting their bodies when they are being held, when compared to infants from non-infected mothers, especially when infection took place in late pregnancy.

Moreover, infants born from infected mothers tend to show greater difficulty in controlling head and shoulder movement. These alterations suggest a possible COVID-19 effect on motor function (movement control).

The results come from an initial evaluation of the Spanish COGESTCOV-19 project, which followed the course of pregnancy and baby development in mothers infected with COVID-19.

The researchers are presenting the data on pregnancy and post-natal assessment at 6 weeks after birth, but the project will continue to see if there are longer-term effects. The group will monitor infant language and motor development between 18 and 42 months old.

The initial evaluation compared babies born to 21 COVID-positive pregnant women and their babies, with 21 healthy controls attending the Marqus de Valdecilla University Hospital in Santander, Spain.

The mothers underwent a series of tests during and after pregnancy. These included hormonal and other biochemical tests (measuring such things as cortisol levels, immunological response, etc.) salivary tests, movement responses, and psychological questionnaires.

All analyses were adjusted for infant age, sex, and other factors.

The post-natal tests included the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), which measures the babys movement and behavior.

Researcher Ms. gueda Castro Quintas (University of Barcelona, Network Centre for Biomedical Research in Mental Health), said:

We found that certain elements of the NBAS measurement were changed in 6-week-old infants who had been exposed to the SARS-COV-2 virus. Effectively they react slightly differently to being held, or cuddled.

We have been especially sensitive in how we have conducted these tests. Each mother and baby was closely examined by clinicians with expert training in the field and in the tests.

We need to note that these are preliminary result, but this is part of a project following a larger sample of 100 mothers and their babies. They have also been monitored during pregnancy, and after birth.

We also plan to compare these mothers and babies with data from another similar project (the epi-project) which looks at the effect of stress and genetics on a childs neurodevelopment.

gueda Castro Quintas continued:

This is an ongoing project, and we are at an early stage. We found that babies whose mothers had been exposed to COVID did show neurological effects at 6 weeks, but we dont know if these effects will result in any longer-term issues, longer-term observation may help us understand this.

Co-researcher Nerea San Martn Gonzlez, added:

Of course, in babies who are so young there are several things we just cant measure, such as language skills or cognition. We also need to be aware that this is a comparatively small sample, so we are repeating the work, and we will follow this up over a longer period. We need a bigger sample to determine the role of infection on offsprings neurodevelopmental alterations and the contribution of other environmental factors.

In the meantime, we need to stress the importance of medical monitoring to facilitate a healthy pregnancy, discussing any concerns with your doctor wherever necessary.

Commenting, Project Leader Dr Rosa Ayesa Arriola said:

This is the right moment to establish international collaborations that would permit us to assess long-term neurodevelopment in children born during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research in this field is vital in understanding and preventing possible neurological problems and mental health vulnerabilities in those children in the coming years.

In an independent comment, Dr Livio Provenzi (University of Pavia, Italy) said:

There is a great need to study both direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and well-being of parents and infants. Pregnancy is a period of life which shapes much of our subsequent development, and exposure to adversity in pregnancy can leave long-lasting biological footprints.

These findings from Dr Rosa Ayesa Arriolas group reinforces evidence of epigenetic alterations in in infants born from mothers exposed to pandemic-related stress during pregnancy. It shows we need more large scale, international research to allow us to understand the developmental effects of this health emergency, and to deliver better quality of care to parents and infants.

Dr Provenzi was not involved in this work.

Note: The epi-project is a multicentre project involving Hospital Clnic of Barcelona and Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias. It looks at the effects of genetics and stress on baby outcome. It is led by Prof. Dr. Lourdes Faans.

Funding: This research has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Instituto de Salud Carlos III through the University of Barcelona multicenter project Intramural Grants (SAM15-20PI12 & SAM18PI01)-PI L. Faanas and the Government of Cantabria (INNVAL20/02)-PI R. Ayesa. Authors do not have any conflict of interest regarding the development of this study and the publication of the results.

Author: Tom ParkhillSource: European Psychiatric AssociationContact: Tom Parkhill European Psychiatric AssociationImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: The findings will be presented at the 30thEuropean Congress of Psychiatry.

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Babies Exposed to COVID in the Womb Show Neurodevelopmental Changes - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Adults Sleep Better Together Than They Do Alone – Neuroscience News

June 7, 2022 medical

Summary: Adults who share a bed with their partners sleep better than those who sleep alone. Researchers found bed-sharing was associated with a lower risk of depression and stress, and improved quality of life and relationships. However, sharing a bed with a child was associated with more stress.

Source: American Association of Sleep Medicine

Adults who share a bed with a partner or spouse sleep better than those who sleep alone, according to a newstudyfrom researchers at the University of Arizona.

Results show that those who shared a bed with a partner most nights reported less severe insomnia, less fatigue, and more time asleep than those who said they never share a bed with a partner.

Those sleeping with a partner also fell asleep faster, stayed asleep longer after falling asleep, and had less risk of sleep apnea.

However, those who slept with their child most nights reported greater insomnia severity, greater sleep apnea risk, and less control over their sleep.

Researchers also found that sleeping with a partner was associated with lower depression, anxiety, and stress scores, and greater social support and satisfaction with life and relationships. Sleeping with children was associated with more stress. Sleeping alone was associated with higher depression scores, lower social support, and worse life and relationship satisfaction.

Sleeping with a romantic partner or spouse shows to have great benefits on sleep health including reduced sleep apnea risk, sleep insomnia severity, and overall improvement in sleep quality, said lead author Brandon Fuentes, undergraduate researcher in the department of psychiatry at the University of Arizona.

The study involved an analysis of data collected in the Sleep and Health Activity, Diet, Environment, and Socialization (SHADES) study of 1,007 working-age adults from southeastern Pennsylvania. Bed sharing was evaluated with surveys, and sleep health factors were assessed with common tools such as the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Insomnia Severity Index, and STOP-BANG apnea score.

Very few research studies explore this, but our findings suggest that whether we sleep alone or with a partner, family member, or pet may impact our sleep health, said senior study author Dr. Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona. We were very surprised to find out just how important this could be.

Author: Sydney PrestonSource: American Academy of Sleep MedicineContact: Sydney Preston American Academy of Sleep MedicineImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: The findings will be presented at SLEEP 2022

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Adults Sleep Better Together Than They Do Alone - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Vigil Neuroscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIGL) Expected to Announce Earnings of -$0.63 Per Share – Defense World

June 7, 2022 medical

Brokerages expect Vigil Neuroscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIGL Get Rating) to announce earnings per share (EPS) of ($0.63) for the current fiscal quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research. Zero analysts have provided estimates for Vigil Neurosciences earnings. The lowest EPS estimate is ($0.74) and the highest is ($0.57). The company is scheduled to announce its next quarterly earnings report on Monday, January 1st.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that Vigil Neuroscience will report full-year earnings of ($2.81) per share for the current financial year, with EPS estimates ranging from ($3.30) to ($2.45). For the next year, analysts forecast that the firm will post earnings of ($3.65) per share, with EPS estimates ranging from ($4.05) to ($3.02). Zacks earnings per share averages are an average based on a survey of research analysts that follow Vigil Neuroscience.

Vigil Neuroscience (NASDAQ:VIGL Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.55) by ($0.03).

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Artal Group S.A. bought a new stake in Vigil Neuroscience in the first quarter worth about $7,882,000. Rock Springs Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Vigil Neuroscience in the first quarter worth about $3,318,000. Deep Track Capital LP bought a new stake in Vigil Neuroscience in the first quarter worth about $2,736,000. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new stake in Vigil Neuroscience in the first quarter worth about $2,708,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Vigil Neuroscience in the first quarter worth about $2,135,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.39% of the companys stock.

Shares of NASDAQ VIGL opened at $3.39 on Friday. Vigil Neuroscience has a fifty-two week low of $2.18 and a fifty-two week high of $18.27. The companys 50-day moving average is $4.66.

Vigil Neuroscience Company Profile (Get Rating)

Vigil Neuroscience, Inc, a microglia-focused company, engages in the development of disease-modifying therapeutics for patients, caregivers, and families affected by rare and common neurodegenerative diseases. Its lead product candidate is VGL101, a fully human monoclonal antibody (mAb) that is designed to activate triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) which is in Phase I for the treatment of adult-onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia, as well as for the treatment of cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy and alzheimer's disease.

The Perils of Perfectionism – Neuroscience News

June 7, 2022 medical

Summary: While theres nothing wrong with having high personal standards, perfectionists often feel as though their achievements and successes are never good enough. Perfectionism increases the risk of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and several other mental health disorders.

Source: Particle

WA researchers aim to help teen girls feel better in their bodies with an online program targeting perfectionism, which has been linked to depression, anxiety and eating disorders.

TheOvercoming Perfectionismstudy uses cognitive behavior therapy to challengeperfectionistic thinking.

This way of thinking is aknown risk factorfor depression, anxiety and eating disorders.

Australians are experiencing deteriorating mental health since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers hope the free online program can helpteenage girlsimprove their state of mind and well-being.

The problem with perfectionism

Clinical psychologist and Curtin University Ph.D. student Amy OBrien is leading the research.

She says theres nothing wrong with havinghigh standardsand being driven to succeed.

But perfectionism can make us feel like were never good enough regardless of how high we score on a test or how well we perform on the sporting field. Thats unhelpful and takes a toll on our self-esteem.

Were not trying to lower peoples standards or stop them from achieving great things, says Amy.

We just want them to have self-esteem that comes from other places, not just based on whether they achieve good results or not.

The shadow pandemic

Mental illness symptoms have increased across the board since the start of the pandemic.

The World Health Organization estimates COVID-19 triggered a25% increase in anxiety and depressionwith young people and women bearing the brunt.

InsideOut, Australias national research institute for eating disorders,foundeating disorder symptoms increased significantly during the first wave of the pandemic. This was coupled with difficulty accessing treatment.

Amy says relationships are key in our livesparticularly for teenagers.

Its a really important developmental step when they differentiate from their family and they start to rely on their peer groups as big influences, she says.

So the fact that weve all been driven online I think definitely is playing into things.

Instagram versus reality

We know that eating disorders have existed long before TV and the internet, says Amy.

But certainly I think the number of images that were exposed to online and all the filters and the photoshopping is warping, maybe, our perspective of normal.

Onsocial media, were constantly comparing ourselves to other peoples best moments.

Thats really going to make ourself-esteemtake a dip, particularly if were prone to having perfectionistic standards for ourselves, says Amy.

Cutting through inequality

When it comes to treating anxiety and depression, online programs can bealmost as effectiveas face-to-face services.

Amy believes this is the first online program to treat perfectionism in people at risk of eating disorders.

She says online treatments can cut through inequality in accessingmental healthservices, particularly for people living in rural or remote communities.

Thereal-world applicationsreally excite me, says Amy.

If we can get good evidence that shows this is effective, then its one more resource for the people who might struggle to access help.

Amy is currently recruiting participants for the Overcoming Perfectionism study. To find out more, visitwww.youthperfectionism.org.

Author: Michelle WheelerSource: ParticleContact: Michelle Wheeler ParticleImage: The image is in the public domain

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The Perils of Perfectionism - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

This Illusion, New to Science, Is Strong Enough to Trick Our Reflexes – Neuroscience News

June 7, 2022 medical

Summary: The highly dynamic, new expanding hole optical illusion can be perceived by 86% of people. The illusion is so good at deceiving the brain, it causes pupillary dilation as though we are walking into a darkened room.

Source: Frontiers

Have a look at this image. Do you perceive that the central black hole is expanding, as if youre moving into a dark environment, or falling into a hole?

If so, youre not alone: a new study shows that this expanding hole illusion, which is new to science, is perceived by approximately 86% of people.

Dr. Bruno Laeng, a professor at the Department of Psychology of the University of Oslo and the studys first author, said, The expanding hole is a highly dynamic illusion: The circular smear or shadow gradient of the central black hole evokes a marked impression of optic flow, as if the observer were heading forward into a hole or tunnel.

Optical illusions arent mere gimmicks without scientific interest: Researchers in the field of psychosociology study them to better understand the complex processes ourvisual systemuses to anticipate and make sense of the visual worldin a far more roundabout way than a photometer device, which simply registers the amount of photonic energy.

In the new study, published inFrontiers in Human Neuroscience, Laeng and colleagues show that the expanding hole illusion is so good at deceiving our brain that it even prompts a dilation reflex of the pupils to let in more light, just as would happen if we were really moving into a dark area.

Pupil reflex depends on perception, not necessarily reality

Here we show based on the new expanding hole illusion that that thepupilreacts to how we perceive lighteven if this light is imaginary like in the illusionand not just to the amount of light energy that actually enters the eye.

The illusion of the expanding hole prompts a corresponding dilation of the pupil, as it would happen if darkness really increased, said Laeng.

Laeng and colleagues explored how the color of the hole (besides black: blue, cyan, green, magenta, red, yellow, or white) and of the surrounding dots affect how strongly we mentally and physiologically react to the illusion.

On a screen they presented variations of the expanding hole image to 50 women and men with normal vision, asking them to rate subjectively how strongly they perceived the illusion.

While participants gazed at the image, the researchers measured their eye movements and their pupils unconscious constrictions and dilations.

As controls, the participants were shown scrambled versions of the expanding hole image, with equal luminance and colors, but without any pattern.

The illusion appeared most effective when the hole was black. Fourteen percent of participants didnt perceive any illusory expansion when the hole was black, while 20% didnt if the hole was in color. Among those who did perceive an expansion, the subjective strength of the illusion differed markedly.

The researchers also found that black holes promoted strong reflex dilations of the participants pupils, while colored holes prompted their pupils to constrict. For black holes, but not for colored holes, the stronger individual participants subjectively rated their perception of the illusion, the more their pupil diameter tended to change.

Minority not susceptible

The researchers dont yet know why a minority seem unsusceptible to the expanding hole illusion. Nor do they know whether othervertebrate species, or even nonvertebrate animals with camera eyes such as octopuses, might perceive the sameillusionas we do.

Our results show that pupils dilation or contraction reflex is not a closed-loop mechanism, like a photocell opening a door, impervious to any other information than the actual amount of light stimulating the photoreceptor. Rather, the eye adjusts to perceived and even imagined light, not simply to physical energy. Future studies could reveal other types of physiological or bodily changes that can throw light onto how illusions work, concluded Laeng.

Author: Press OfficeSource: FrontiersContact: Press Office FrontiersImage: The image is credited to Laeng, Nabil, and Kitaoka

Original Research: Open access.The Eye Pupil Adjusts to Illusorily Expanding Holes by Laeng, Nabil, and Kitaoka. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Abstract

The Eye Pupil Adjusts to Illusorily Expanding Holes

Some static patterns evoke the perception of an illusory expanding central region or hole.

We asked observers to rate the magnitudes of illusory motion or expansion of black holes, and these predicted the degree of dilation of the pupil, measured with an eye tracker.

In contrast, when the holes were colored (including white), i.e., emitted light, these patterns constricted the pupils, but the subjective expansions were also weaker compared with the black holes.

The change rates of pupil diameters were significantly related to the illusory motion phenomenology only with the black holes.

These findings can be accounted for within a perceiving-the-present account of visual illusions, where both the illusory motion and the pupillary adjustments represent compensatory mechanisms to the perception of the next moment, based on shared experiences with the ecological regularities of light.

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This Illusion, New to Science, Is Strong Enough to Trick Our Reflexes - Neuroscience News