Category Archives: Neuroscience

Neuroscience

How we talk to each other about the tough stuff – Axios

2020 brought unprecedented challenges for millions of people, but how we talk about our distress, pain and problems can help us cope.

Why it matters: Conversation "partners help, collaborate and validate us as we try to put into words what in some ways are unspeakable difficulties," says Denise Solomon, who studies interpersonal communication at Penn State University.

The big picture: Some researchers are calling for neuroscientists and communication scientists to collaborate in studying our conversations to more precisely understand what happens in our brains when we interact and try to support one another.

How it works: Supportive conversations can relieve stress and improve our emotions.

But the content of a conversation is key.

How a conversation unfolds is important, too.

But it's important to listen because advice often isn't what people are looking for, says Amanda Holmstrom, who studies interpersonal communication at Michigan State University.

The flip side: There's a lot of pressure on the listener, but the teller plays an important role. "Disclosers have to be willing to tell their story and be receptive to the help even recognizing their experience may be so specific and extreme that no one else has ever experienced it," says Solomon.

One potential pitfall: Conversations can devolve into rumination and co-rumination. We can get stuck in these "cul-de-sacs," as Solomon describes them, and "never get past this mutual telling of our distress to where it is reflective and ultimately put into a broader perspective."

Context: Neuroscientists have long studied our social brains through the lens of empathy, morality and other processes often by looking at one brain's neural activity during different interactions.

What to watch: Holmstrom and her colleagues propose in a new paper that interpersonal communication scientists could benefit from neuroscience tools to look at the simultaneous brain activity of two people engaged in conversation.

The bottom line: "Collaboration is critical," says Frith. "We have vast amounts of data but not enough theory to understand it."

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How we talk to each other about the tough stuff - Axios

Neuroscience

Managing stress and anxiety at the holidays – Norton Healthcare

Managing stress and anxiety at the holidays | Norton Healthcare Louisville, Ky. Bryan Davis, Psy.D., clinical health psychologist with Norton Neuroscience Institute, discusses some ways to manage feelings you experience around the holidays.

By: Norton Healthcare Posted: December 18, 2020

Holidays can be a joyful time but also a time to cause extra mental stress and anxiety. Bryan Davis, Psy.D., clinical health psychologist with Norton Neuroscience Institute, discusses some ways to manage feelings you experience around the holidays.

Educational, therapeutic, support and exercise programs free of charge. Patient navigators help patients and families to coordinate care, communication and connection with other Norton Healthcare and community resources.

Call (502) 559-3230

Link:
Managing stress and anxiety at the holidays - Norton Healthcare

Neuroscience

Tagging, recording and replaying neural activity | Stanford News – Stanford University News

A new molecular probe from Stanford University could help reveal how our brains think and remember. This tool, called Fast Light and Calcium-Regulated Expression or FLiCRE (pronounced flicker), can be sent inside any cell to perform a variety of research tasks, including tagging, recording and controlling cellular functions.

Stanford researchers have developed and tested a new molecular probe, called Fast Light and Calcium-Regulated Expression or FLiCRE (pronounced flicker), which could help scientists map and control neural activity. (Image credit: Getty Images)

This work gets at a central goal of neuroscience: How do you find the system of neurons that underlie a thought or cognitive process? Neuroscientists have been wanting this type of tool for a long time, said Alice Ting, professor of genetics in the Stanford School of Medicine and of biology in the School of Humanities and sciences, whose team co-led this work with the lab of Stanford psychiatrist and bioengineer, Karl Deisseroth.

In proof-of-concept experiments, detailed in a paper published Dec. 11 in Cell, the researchers used FLiCRE to take a snapshot of neural activity associated with avoidance behavior in mice. By coupling the FLiCRE snapshot with RNA sequencing, they discovered that these activated neurons primarily belonged to a single cell type, which was inaccessible using genetic tools alone. They then used FLiCRE in combination with an opsin a protein for controlling neural activity with light developed by Deisseroth to reactivate those same neurons a day later, which led the mice to avoid entering a certain room. The brain region the researchers studied, called the nucleus accumbens, is thought to play an important role in human psychiatric diseases, including depression.

FLiCRE is made up of two chains of molecular components that respond to the presence of blue light and calcium. This light sensitivity allows the researchers to precisely control the timing of their experiments, and calcium is an almost-universal indicator of cell activity. To get FLiCRE inside a cell, the researchers package it, in two parts, within a harmless virus. One part of FLiCRE attaches to the cell membrane and contains a protein that can enter the cells nucleus and drive expression of whatever gene the researchers have selected. The other part of FLiCRE is responsible for freeing the protein under certain specific conditions, namely if the concentration of calcium is high and the cell is bathed in blue light.

Whereas existing tagging techniques require hours to activate, the FLiCRE tagging process takes just minutes. The researchers also designed FLiCRE so that they can use standard genetic sequencing to find the cells in which FLiCRE activated. This allows them to study tens of thousands of cells at once, while other techniques tend to require the analysis of multiple microscopic images that each contain hundreds of cells.

In one series of experiments, the researchers injected FLiCRE into cells in the nucleus accumbens and used an opsin to activate a neural pathway associated with avoidance behavior in the mice. Once the calcium in FLiCRE-containing cells spiked the cellular indication that the mouse is avoiding something the cells glowed a permanent red that was visible through a microscope. The researchers also sequenced the RNA of the cells to see which ones contained the fluorescent protein, producing a cell-by-cell record of neural activity.

One goal was to map how brain regions are connected to each other in living animals, which is a really hard problem, said Christina Kim, a postdoctoral scholar in genetics at Stanford and co-lead author of the paper. The beauty of FLiCRE is that we can pulse and activate neurons in one region and then record all of the connected downstream neurons. It is a really cool way to look at long-range brain activity connections.

In the next experiments, the researchers used the cellular activity map from the first experiments. They also adjusted FLiCRE so that the protein expressed the opsin protein, which can be controlled by orange light to alter neuronal activity. After activating FLiCRE in the cells, the researchers sent orange light through the fiber optic implant whenever the mice would enter a certain room. In response, the mice steered clear of that room, indicating that FLiCRE had indeed located cells in the brain that drive avoidant behavior.

The development and testing of FLiCRE combined chemistry, genetics, biology and neuroscience, and many specialties within those disciplines. As a result, the tool has a wide range of possible applications, including in cells outside the brain, the researchers say.

I moved to Stanford in 2016 with the hope of being able to carry out extremely interdisciplinary and collaborative projects such as this, said Ting. This project has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my move to Stanford seeing something this challenging and ambitious actually work out.

The researchers are now working on additional versions of FLiCRE, with a goal of streamlining the process. They are hoping to simplify its structure and also make it capable of working with other biochemical events, such as protein interactions or neurotransmitter release.

Mateo Snchez, a former postdoctoral scholar in the Ting lab, is also co-lead author of the paper. Additional authors are Paul Hoerbelt, Lief E. Fenno and Robert Malenka, the Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Director of the Nancy Pritzker Laboratory and Deputy Director of the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Deisseroth, is the D. H. Chen Professor, and a professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences; and a member of Stanford Bio-X and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Ting is a member ofStanford Bio-X, the Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI), theStanford Cancer Institute and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, and a faculty fellow ofStanford ChEM-H.

This research was funded by the Walter V. and Idun Berry Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, the EMBO long-term postdoctoral fellowship, the National Institute of Mental Health, Stanford Psychiatry, the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Neuro-FAST program, the NOMIS Foundation, the Wiegers Family Fund, the Nancy and James Grosfeld Foundation, the H. L. Snyder Medical Foundation, the Samuel and Betsy Reeves Fund, the Gatsby Foundation, the AE Foundation, the Fresenius Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub.

To read all stories about Stanford science, subscribe to the biweeklyStanford Science Digest.

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Tagging, recording and replaying neural activity | Stanford News - Stanford University News

Neuroscience

AB Science will host a live webcast on December 17, 2020 on masitinib results in Alzheimer’s Disease – GlobeNewswire

AB SCIENCE WILL HOST A LIVE WEBCAST ON THURSDAY DECEMBER 17, 2020 ON MASITINIB RESULTS IN ALZHEIMERS DISEASE

Paris, December 16, 2020, 6pm CET

AB Science SA (NYSE Euronext FR0010557264 AB) will host a live webcast on December 17, 2020 with key opinion leaders to discuss recently reported results from the Phase 2B/3 masitinib trial in Alzheimers Disease.

The webcast will feature presentations by four Key Opinion Leaders:

AB Science, along with these key opinion leaders, will provide:

The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session with the key opinion leaders and management of AB Science.

Masitinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor designed to selectively target mast cells and macrophages, through inhibition of c-Kit, Lyn, Fyn, and MCSFR-1 kinases, which may have broad applicability in neurodegenerative disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis and Alzheimers Disease.

On December 16th, AB Science announced that its Phase 2B/3 trial with oral masitinib met its predefined primary endpoint.

Dial-In & Webcast Information

Webcast date: Thursday, December 17, 2020. US: 11am-12pm EST; Europe 5pm-6pm CETNumber for the US: +1646722 4916Number for France: +33 1 70 71 01 59 International numbers (outside US and France): Numbers for other countries are listed on the webcast pageConference ID: 14544963#

Webcast connection page here

KOL Biographies

The following key opinion leaders will participate in the webcast:

Bruno Dubois Bruno Dubois is currently Professor of Neurology at the Neurological Institute of the Salptrire University Hospital at Paris, University Pierre et Marie Curie Paris VI. He is Director of the Behavioural Neurology Department and of the Dementia Research Center at the Hospital. He is also Director of the Research Unit Inserm U-610 of the ICM (Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinire) of the Hospital. He is coordinator of the National Reference Center on Rare Dementias and of the National Reference Center for young-onset Alzheimer patients. He is President of the Scientific Committee of France-Alzheimer and of IFRAD (International Fund Raising for Alzheimers disease), consultant for the Human Frontier Program and Expert of the French Agency of Drugs. He is a member of the European Alzheimer Disease Consortium (EADC). He has published on anatomical and biochemical studies on the central cholinergic systems in rodents and humans; on cognitive neuropharmacology; and on neuropsychology in patients with dementia, with special reference to memory and executive functions. He recently organized an Expert Consensus on the new criteria for Alzheimers disease and a Task Force on the new criteria for Parkinsons disease dementia. He is principal or co-investigator of a number of research programs focusing on AD, prodromal AD and dementia in Parkinsons disease.

Philip ScheltensPhilip Scheltens, MD, PhD is Professor of Cognitive Neurology and Director of the Alzheimer Center at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, as well as Honorary Professor of Neurology at University College London.From 2011-2015, he was the scientific director of the Dutch Pearlstring Institute (PSI). In 2013, he was appointed vice-chair of the board of the Dutch Deltaplan Dementie. Since 2015, he has been a member of the board of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Art. His main clinical and research interests are dementia in the broadest sense, from basic research to care and translational research. He is active in the field of biomarkers and clinical trials and has been the (inter) national PI for many studies, including Phase IIII multicentre clinical trials.He is founder of, and has directed since 2000, the VUmc Alzheimer Center in The Netherlands, and during this period, he has produced over 50 PhD theses. He also founded the Alzheimer Research Center, a center dedicated to and specialised in Alzheimer clinical trials, where he is now a scientific adviser and member of the Board of Trustees.Dr. Scheltens is an active member of several societies, including the Dutch Society for Neurology, the AAN, the Alzheimer Imaging Consortium, the ISTAART Consortium, and the ECNP. He has been instrumental in organising several national and international conferences, including the Imaging Symposium attached to AAIC. He is member of the management board of the dementia panel of the EAN.He is co-editor-in-chief of Alzheimers Research & Therapy and acts as an ad hoc reviewer of scientific articles for all of the major journals. He has authored >730 peer reviewed papers and >50 book chapters. His current Hirsch factor is 117 (Google Scholar).

Jeffrey L. CummingsJeffrey L. Cummings, M.D., is Director of the Chamber-Grundy Center for Transformative Neuroscience at UNLV in Las Vegas. Dr. Cummings is principal investigator/ director of the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences-funded Center for Neurodegeneration and Translational Neuroscience.Dr. Cummings is a world-renowned Alzheimers researcher and leader of clinical trials. He has been recognized for his research and leadership contributions in the field of Alzheimers disease through the Henderson Award of the American Geriatrics Society (2006), the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Award of the National Alzheimers Association (2008) and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society for Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology (2017). In 2010, he was honored by the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry with their Distinguished Scientist Award. He was featured in Gentlemens Quarterly (June 2009) as a Rockstar of Science. Dr. Cummings interests embrace clinical trials, developing new therapies for brain diseases and the interface of neuroscience and society.Dr. Cummings was formerly professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), director of the Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimers Disease Research at UCLA and director of the Deane F. Johnson Center for Neurotherapeutics at UCLA. He is past president of the Behavioral Neurology Society and of the American Neuropsychiatric Association. Dr. Cummings has authored or edited 39 books and published over 700 peer-reviewed papers.Dr. Cummings completed his neurology residency and a fellowship in behavioral neurology at Boston University, Boston. His U.S. training was followed by a research fellowship in neuropathology and neuropsychiatry at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London.

Olivier Hermine, MD, PhDOlivier Hermine, MD, PhD is Professor of Hematology at Paris V-Ren Descartes University, Chief of adults Hematology staff at Hospital Necker (Paris), member of the French Acadmie des Sciences and author of over 700 international publications. Olivier Hermine is also co-founder of AB Science and Head of its scientific committee.

About masitinibMasitinib is a new orally administered tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets mast cells and macrophages, important cells for immunity, through inhibiting a limited number of kinases. Based on its unique mechanism of action, masitinib can be developed in a large number of conditions in oncology, in inflammatory diseases, and in certain diseases of the central nervous system. In oncology due to its immunotherapy effect, masitinib can have an effect on survival, alone or in combination with chemotherapy. Through its activity on mast cells and microglia and consequently the inhibition of the activation of the inflammatory process, masitinib can have an effect on the symptoms associated with some inflammatory and central nervous system diseases and the degeneration of these diseases.

About AB ScienceFounded in 2001, AB Science is a pharmaceutical company specializing in the research, development and commercialization of protein kinase inhibitors (PKIs), a class of targeted proteins whose action are key in signaling pathways within cells. Our programs target only diseases with high unmet medical needs, often lethal with short term survival or rare or refractory to previous line of treatment. AB Science has developed a proprietary portfolio of molecules and the Companys lead compound, masitinib, has already been registered for veterinary medicine and is developed in human medicine in oncology, neurological diseases, and inflammatory diseases. The company is headquartered in Paris, France, and listed on Euronext Paris (ticker: AB).

Further information is available on AB Sciences website: http://www.ab-science.com.

Forward-looking Statements - AB ScienceThis press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts. These statements include projections and estimates as well as the assumptions on which they are based, statements based on projects, objectives, intentions and expectations regarding financial results, events, operations, future services, product development and their potential or future performance.

These forward-looking statements can often be identified by the words "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate" or "plan" as well as other similar terms. While AB Science believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of AB Science and which may imply that results and actual events significantly differ from those expressed, induced or anticipated in the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include the uncertainties related to product development of the Company which may not be successful or to the marketing authorizations granted by competent authorities or, more generally, any factors that may affect marketing capacity of the products developed by AB Science, as well as those developed or identified in the public documents filed by AB Science with the Autorit des Marchs Financiers (AMF), including those listed in the Chapter 4 "Risk Factors" of AB Science reference document filed with the AMF on November 22, 2016, under the number R. 16-078. AB Science disclaims any obligationor undertaking to update the forward-looking information and statements, subject to the applicable regulations, in particular articles 223-1 et seq. of the AMF General Regulations.

For additional information, please contact:

AB ScienceFinancial Communication & Media Relations investors@ab-science.com

Media Relations USA

RooneyPartnersJeffrey Freedmanjfreedman@rooneyco.com

+1646432 0191

Media Relations France

NewCapArthur Rouillarouille@newcap.fr

+33 (0)1 44 71 00 15

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AB Science will host a live webcast on December 17, 2020 on masitinib results in Alzheimer's Disease - GlobeNewswire

Neuroscience

AB Science communicates the results from phase 2B/3 study evaluating masitinib in Alzheimer’s disease – GlobeNewswire

AB SCIENCE COMMUNICATES RESULTS FROM PHASE 2B/3 STUDY EVALUATING MASITINIB IN ALZHEIMERS DISEASE

Paris, December 18, 2020, 8.30am CET

AB Science SA (NYSE Euronext FR0010557264 AB) today communicates the results from phase 2B/3 study evaluating masitinib in Alzheimers disease, together with details on the mode of action of masitinib in Alzheimers disease.

The presentation is available on the companys website and is available here.

Highlights of this presentation are:

The mode of action of masitinib in Alzheimers disease (AD) is based on four targets, which may have a synergistic effect:

The following preclinical data are presented. Experiments in a transgenic mouse model of AD that were carried out by the ICM Brain Institute in Paris, demonstrated that masitinib could:

The masitinib clinical development program in Alzheimers disease is comprised of one proof of concept study (AB04024) [Piette, 2011] and a phase 2B/3 study (AB09004).

Masitinib is positioned in patients with mild and moderate dementia, with MMSE Score (Mini Mental State Examination) ranging from 12 to 25, which is a different positioning from other compounds.

There are currently four drugs used in the treatment of mild and moderate AD (donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine and memantine) that were approved about 20 years ago. Masitinib was evaluated in add-on to this standard of care.

Study AB09004 was an international, randomized, placebo-controlled, phase 2B/3 study evaluating different doses of masitinib as a treatment of patients with confirmed mild to moderate Alzheimers disease. This study compared the efficacy and safety of masitinib relative to placebo after 24 weeks of treatment when administered as an add-on therapy to cholinesterase inhibitor (donepezil, rivastigmine or galantamine) and/or Memantine.

Study AB09004 was comprised of two independent sub-studies testing two distinct dosing regimens; masitinib 4.5 mg/kg/day versus its own placebo control (n=358, randomization 1:1), and masitinib 6.0 mg/kg/day titrated dose versus its own placebo control (n=277, randomization 2:1).

The study was to be considered successful if a significant improvement was reached on either ADAS-Cog or ADCS-ADL at a 2.5% level of statistical significance.

Baseline characteristics were balanced. Study AB9004 results were the following:

A new patent was filed based on results from study AB09004, which would permit AB Science to retain exclusive rights on the use of masitinib in Alzheimers disease until 2041.

Bruno Dubois (MD, PhD), Professor of Neurology at the Neurological Institute of the Salptrire University Hospital at Paris in France and coordinating investigator of the study said: Study AB09004 was a well-designed phase 2b/3 as it compared masitinib on top of standard of care treatment versus the standard of care. These data are very encouraging and may provide new hope for patients with Alzheimers disease.

Philip Scheltens (MD, PhD), Professor of Cognitive Neurology and Director of the Alzheimer Center at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam said: Results from study AB09004 bring a novel mechanism of action, which is very interesting considering the need for effective treatment in AD. The positive results from this study provide a robust basis to initiate a phase 3 confirmatory study.

Jeffrey L. Cummings (M.D), Director of the Chamber-Grundy Center for Transformative Neuroscience at UNLV in Las Vegas said: The data from this study are promising and support the use of the dose 4.5 mg /kg/day of masitinib for the future confirmatory study. Based on the mechanism of action of masitinib targeting the innate immune system via mast cells and microglia, it should be possible to investigate the correlations between clinical endpoints and biomarkers of neuro-inflammation and neurodegeneration in the next study.

KOL Biographies

The following key opinion leaders participated in the webcast:

Bruno Dubois Bruno Dubois is currently Professor of Neurology at the Neurological Institute of the Salptrire University Hospital at Paris, University Pierre et Marie Curie Paris VI. He is Director of the Behavioural Neurology Department and of the Dementia Research Center at the Hospital. He is also Director of the Research Unit Inserm U-610 of the ICM (Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinire) of the Hospital. He is coordinator of the National Reference Center on Rare Dementias and of the National Reference Center for young-onset Alzheimer patients. He is President of the Scientific Committee of France-Alzheimer and of IFRAD (International Fund Raising for Alzheimers disease), consultant for the Human Frontier Program and Expert of the French Agency of Drugs. He is a member of the European Alzheimer Disease Consortium (EADC). He has published on anatomical and biochemical studies on the central cholinergic systems in rodents and humans; on cognitive neuropharmacology; and on neuropsychology in patients with dementia, with special reference to memory and executive functions. He recently organized an Expert Consensus on the new criteria for Alzheimers disease and a Task Force on the new criteria for Parkinsons disease dementia. He is principal or co-investigator of a number of research programs focusing on AD, prodromal AD and dementia in Parkinsons disease.

Philip ScheltensPhilip Scheltens, MD, PhD is Professor of Cognitive Neurology and Director of the Alzheimer Center at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, as well as Honorary Professor of Neurology at University College London. From 2011-2015, he was the scientific director of the Dutch Pearlstring Institute (PSI). In 2013, he was appointed vice-chair of the board of the Dutch Deltaplan Dementie. Since 2015, he has been a member of the board of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Art. His main clinical and research interests are dementia in the broadest sense, from basic research to care and translational research. He is active in the field of biomarkers and clinical trials and has been the (inter) national PI for many studies, including Phase IIII multicentre clinical trials. He is founder of, and has directed since 2000, the VUmc Alzheimer Center in The Netherlands, and during this period, he has produced over 50 PhD theses. He also founded the Alzheimer Research Center, a center dedicated to and specialised in Alzheimer clinical trials, where he is now a scientific adviser and member of the Board of Trustees. Dr. Scheltens is an active member of several societies, including the Dutch Society for Neurology, the AAN, the Alzheimer Imaging Consortium, the ISTAART Consortium, and the ECNP. He has been instrumental in organising several national and international conferences, including the Imaging Symposium attached to AAIC. He is member of the management board of the dementia panel of the EAN. He is co-editor-in-chief of Alzheimers Research & Therapy and acts as an ad hoc reviewer of scientific articles for all of the major journals. He has authored >730 peer reviewed papers and >50 book chapters. His current Hirsch factor is 117 (Google Scholar).

Jeffrey L. CummingsJeffrey L. Cummings, M.D., is Director of the Chamber-Grundy Center for Transformative Neuroscience at UNLV in Las Vegas. Dr. Cummings is principal investigator/ director of the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences-funded Center for Neurodegeneration and Translational Neuroscience. Dr. Cummings is a world-renowned Alzheimers researcher and leader of clinical trials. He has been recognized for his research and leadership contributions in the field of Alzheimers disease through the Henderson Award of the American Geriatrics Society (2006), the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Award of the National Alzheimers Association (2008) and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society for Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology (2017). In 2010, he was honored by the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry with their Distinguished Scientist Award. He was featured in Gentlemens Quarterly (June 2009) as a Rockstar of Science. Dr. Cummings interests embrace clinical trials, developing new therapies for brain diseases and the interface of neuroscience and society. Dr. Cummings was formerly professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), director of the Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimers Disease Research at UCLA and director of the Deane F. Johnson Center for Neurotherapeutics at UCLA. He is past president of the Behavioral Neurology Society and of the American Neuropsychiatric Association. Dr. Cummings has authored or edited 39 books and published over 700 peer-reviewed papers. Dr. Cummings completed his neurology residency and a fellowship in behavioral neurology at Boston University, Boston. His U.S. training was followed by a research fellowship in neuropathology and neuropsychiatry at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London.

Olivier Hermine, MD, PhDOlivier Hermine, MD, PhD is Professor of Hematology at Paris V-Ren Descartes University, Chief of adults Hematology staff at Hospital Necker (Paris), member of the French Acadmie des Sciences and author of over 700 international publications. Olivier Hermine is also co-founder of AB Science and Head of its scientific committee.

About masitinibMasitinib is a new orally administered tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets mast cells and macrophages, important cells for immunity, through inhibiting a limited number of kinases. Based on its unique mechanism of action, masitinib can be developed in a large number of conditions in oncology, in inflammatory diseases, and in certain diseases of the central nervous system. In oncology due to its immunotherapy effect, masitinib can have an effect on survival, alone or in combination with chemotherapy. Through its activity on mast cells and microglia and consequently the inhibition of the activation of the inflammatory process, masitinib can have an effect on the symptoms associated with some inflammatory and central nervous system diseases and the degeneration of these diseases.

About AB ScienceFounded in 2001, AB Science is a pharmaceutical company specializing in the research, development and commercialization of protein kinase inhibitors (PKIs), a class of targeted proteins whose action are key in signaling pathways within cells. Our programs target only diseases with high unmet medical needs, often lethal with short term survival or rare or refractory to previous line of treatment. AB Science has developed a proprietary portfolio of molecules and the Companys lead compound, masitinib, has already been registered for veterinary medicine and is developed in human medicine in oncology, neurological diseases, and inflammatory diseases. The company is headquartered in Paris, France, and listed on Euronext Paris (ticker: AB).

Further information is available on AB Sciences website: http://www.ab-science.com.

Forward-looking Statements - AB ScienceThis press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts. These statements include projections and estimates as well as the assumptions on which they are based, statements based on projects, objectives, intentions and expectations regarding financial results, events, operations, future services, product development and their potential or future performance.

These forward-looking statements can often be identified by the words "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate" or "plan" as well as other similar terms. While AB Science believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of AB Science and which may imply that results and actual events significantly differ from those expressed, induced or anticipated in the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include the uncertainties related to product development of the Company which may not be successful or to the marketing authorizations granted by competent authorities or, more generally, any factors that may affect marketing capacity of the products developed by AB Science, as well as those developed or identified in the public documents filed by AB Science with the Autorit des Marchs Financiers (AMF), including those listed in the Chapter 4 "Risk Factors" of AB Science reference document filed with the AMF on November 22, 2016, under the number R. 16-078. AB Science disclaims any obligationor undertaking to update the forward-looking information and statements, subject to the applicable regulations, in particular articles 223-1 et seq. of the AMF General Regulations.

For additional information, please contact:

AB ScienceFinancial Communication & Media Relations investors@ab-science.com

Media Relations USA

RooneyPartnersJeffrey Freedmanjfreedman@rooneyco.com

+1646432 0191

Media Relations France

NewCapArthur Rouillarouille@newcap.fr

+33 (0)1 44 71 00 15

Read more here:
AB Science communicates the results from phase 2B/3 study evaluating masitinib in Alzheimer's disease - GlobeNewswire

Neuroscience

Purdue researchers uncover blind spots at the intersection of AI and neuroscience – Purdue News Service

Findings debunk dozens of prominent published papers claiming to read minds with EEG

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Is it possible to read a persons mind by analyzing the electric signals from the brain? The answer may be much more complex than most people think.

Purdue University researchers working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and neuroscience say a prominent dataset used to try to answer this question is confounded, and therefore many eye-popping findings that were based on this dataset and received high-profile recognition are false after all.

The Purdue team performed extensive tests over more than one year on the dataset, which looked at the brain activity of individuals taking part in a study where they looked at a series of images. Each individual wore a cap with dozens of electrodes while they viewed the images.

The Purdue teams work is published in IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. The team received funding from the National Science Foundation.

This measurement technique, known as electroencephalography or EEG, can provide information about brain activity that could, in principle, be used to read minds, said Jeffrey Mark Siskind, professor of electrical and computer engineering in Purdues College of Engineering. The problem is that they used EEG in a way that the dataset itself was contaminated. The study was conducted without randomizing the order of images, so the researchers were able to tell what image was being seen just by reading the timing and order information contained in EEG, instead of solving the real problem of decoding visual perception from the brain waves.

The Purdue researchers originally began questioning the dataset when they could not obtain similar outcomes from their own tests. Thats when they started analyzing the previous results and determined that a lack of randomization contaminated the dataset.

This is one of the challenges of working in cross-disciplinary research areas, said Hari Bharadwaj, an assistant professor with a joint appointment in Purdues College of Engineering and College of Health and Human Sciences. Important scientific questions often demand cross-disciplinary work. The catch is that, sometimes, researchers trained in one field are not aware of the common pitfalls that can occur when applying their ideas to another. In this case, the prior work seems to have suffered from a disconnect between AI/machine-learning scientists, and pitfalls that are well-known to neuroscientists.

The Purdue team reviewed publications that used the dataset for tasks such as object classification, transfer learning and generation of images depicting human perception and thought using brain-derived representations measured through electroencephalograms (EEGs)

The question of whether someone can read another persons mind through electric brain activity is very valid, said Ronnie Wilbur, a professor with a joint appointment in Purdues College of Health and Human Sciences and College of Liberal Arts. Our research shows that a better approach is needed.

Siskind is a well-known Purdue innovator and has worked on multiple patented technologies with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization. For more information on licensing and other opportunities with Purdue technologies, contact OTC at otcip@prf.org.

About Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization

The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university's academic activities through commercializing, licensing and protecting Purdue intellectual property. The office recently moved into the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration in Discovery Park District, adjacent to the Purdue campus. In fiscal year 2020, the office reported 148 deals finalized with 225 technologies signed, 408 disclosures received and 180 issued U.S. patents. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. In 2020, IPWatchdog Institute ranked Purdue third nationally in startup creation and in the top 20 for patents. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Contact otcip@prf.org for more information.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 5 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu.

Writer: Chris Adam, cladam@prf.orgSources: Jeffrey Siskind, qobi@purdue.edu

Hari Bharadwaj, hbharadw@purdue.edu

Ronnie Wilbur, wilbur@purdue.edu

ABSTRACT

The Perils and Pitfalls of Block Design for EEG Classification Experiments

Ren Li, Jared S. Johansen, Hamad Ahmed, Thomas V. Ilyevsky, Ronnie B. Wilbur, Hari M. Bharadwaj and Jeffrey Mark Siskind

A recent paper claims to classify brain processing evoked in subjects watching ImageNet stimuli as measured with EEG and to employ a representation derived from this processing to construct a novel object classifier. That paper, together with a series of subsequent papers, claims to achieve successful results on a wide variety of computer-vision tasks, including object classification, transfer learning, and generation of images depicting human perception and thought using brain-derived representations measured through EEG. Our novel experiments and analyses demonstrate that their results crucially depend on the block design that they employ, where all stimuli of a given class are presented together, and fail with a rapid-event design, where stimuli of different classes are randomly intermixed. The block design leads to classification of arbitrary brain states based on block-level temporal correlations that are known to exist in all EEG data, rather than stimulus-related activity. Because every trial in their test sets comes from the same block as many trials in the corresponding training sets, their block design thus leads to classifying arbitrary temporal artifacts of the data instead of stimulus-related activity. This invalidates all subsequent analyses performed on this data in multiple published papers and calls into question all of the reported results. We further show that a novel object classifier constructed with a random codebook performs as well as or better than a novel object classifier constructed with the representation extracted from EEG data, suggesting that the performance of their classifier constructed with a representation extracted from EEG data does not benefit from the brain-derived representation. Together, our results illustrate the far-reaching implications of the temporal autocorrelations that exist in all neuroimaging data for classification experiments. Further, our results calibrate the underlying difficulty of the tasks involved and caution against overly optimistic, but incorrect, claims to the contrary.

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Purdue researchers uncover blind spots at the intersection of AI and neuroscience - Purdue News Service

Neuroscience

Has Neuroscience Proved that the Mind Is Just the Brain? – Discovery Institute

Photo credit: Rama, CC BY-SA 2.0 FR , via Wikimedia Commons.

Last month, materialist neurologistSteven Novella(at Yale University School of Medicine) made a ratherastonishing claimin a post at hisNeurologica blog:A recent open-accessstudyof learning and decision-making in mice shows that the human mind is merely what the human brain does. Thats a lot for mice to prove.

In the study, the mice were trained to choose holes from which food is provided. Their brain activity was measured as they learned and decided which holes were best. The research looks specifically at quick and intuitive decision-making vs. decision-making that is slower and involves analysis of the situation. The investigators found that analysis-based decisions in the mice involve brain activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, which is a region of the brain in the fissure between the hemispheres.

From the standpoint of understanding the mind-brain relationship, this study is unremarkable. There is no doubt that thinking usually involves brain activity of some sort. Dualists (who think that the human mind uses the brain but is not identical with it) and materialists (who think that the mind is just what the brain does) have no disagreement here. This study details the correlative brain activity in mice, which is nice to know. But Dr. Novella takes this mundane study and draws a ludicrous conclusion:

I also feel obligated to point out that research like this completely destroys any notion of dualism that mental function exists somehow outside of or separate from the biological functioning of the brain. So far, the neuroscience hypothesis, that mental function is brain function, is working quite well. The brain is a complex biological computer, and we can figure out how it works by studying it. Even the most sophisticated cognitive processes, such as analytical decision-making, are demonstrably happening in the brain. Further, not only is there zero evidence for the dualist hypothesis, it is completely unnecessary, which is a fate in science even worse than being wrong.

Nonsense. Novella has been trying to sell his materialist ideology in the guise of neuroscience for more than a decade. This is only the most recent in a host of his bizarre claims, including his 2008assertionthat The materialist hypothesis that the brain causes consciousness has made a number of predictions, and every single prediction has been validated.

Thats a beautiful example of theDunning-Kruger effect(people overestimate their mastery of a situation they dont understand). In neuroscience, materialism is the answer only if you dont understand the questions.

Read the rest at Mind Matters, published by Discovery Institutes Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence.

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Has Neuroscience Proved that the Mind Is Just the Brain? - Discovery Institute

Neuroscience

Dont Make Your Brain Dumb: The Neuroscience Of Success – Forbes

What makes a person successful?

Having a growth mindset? Being a visionary? Being born into the right family?

These may help, but a healthy brain is foundational. Without it, success is going to be far harder to come by. So what is a healthy brain, a successful brain? Its one that has high blood flow and high activity.

TheAmen Clinics perform brain imaging calledsingle photon emission computed tomography(SPECT), which assesses at blood flow and activity patterns in the brain. Since 1991, they have performed over 135,000 brain SPECT scans on patients from 120 countries. The data from SPECT teaches us the four crucial aspects of a persons brain-based success.

Daniel Amen

Here are the 4 crucial aspects of ensuring your brain stays strong, and doesnt dumb down:

1) Protect your prefrontal cortex (PFC).Youve heard me talk about this key region of the brain before. Its behind your forehead and it governs the development of your personality as well as complex behaviors. In humans, it accounts for 30% of the brains volume. Thats a lot. Cats weigh in at 3%, dogs at 7%, chimpanzees at 11% of their brains volume. The PFC is involved with executive functions, such as strategy, visioning the future, planning, focus, judgment, impulse control, and empathy. Its your internal CEO. Low PFC activity = bad decision making. Thats why protecting it is crucial. In astudyAmen published they found that 91% of traumatic brain injuries involve the PFC.

Preventing brain injuries is easy (phew!):

Daniel Amen

2) Protect your brains pleasure centers.The nucleus accumbens (NA), in both the right and left hemispheres of your brain, are involved in pleasure and motivation. Youll remember blogs Ive written about the neurotransmitter dopamine. Well the NA is lit up by the dopamine your brain releases from sex, chocolate, video games, cocaine, stimulants like coffee, high fat and high sugar foods, and fame. Most of us are familiar with the connection between dopamine and addiction, which weve been seeing with excessive video gaming for many years now. Not to bum your high, but intense pleasure actually results in substantial drops in your levels of dopamine. When repeated over time (like with heroin addiction, for instance) the NA becomes less responsive, which leads to needing more of these behaviors. Thats how addiction happens, be it to chocolate or methamphetamines.

Protect your pleasure centers by:

3) You can make your brain better.Amen Clinics is well-known for running the first and largest brain imaging and rehabilitationstudyon active and retired NFL players. Needless to say, they witnessed high levels of brain damage players, many of which had been hit in the head thousands of times. They were thrilledand surprisedto see that 80% of the players showed improvement in as little as two months on their Memory Rescue program. Since most of us have (thankfully) not been repeatedly hit in the head, there is hope for all of us to have better brainsand better lives.

The Net-Net

How does a person become successful? Thats a long answer. For starters, you can stack the deck in your favor by having a healthy brain!

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Dont Make Your Brain Dumb: The Neuroscience Of Success - Forbes

Neuroscience

Decorating for the Holidays? Doctors Share Tips on How to Avoid a Trip to the ER. – Baptist Health South Florida

Here in South Florida and around the country, emergency departments see a notable increase in falls, back strains and other injuries during the holidays. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, injuries sustained while decorating account for some 15,000 trips a year to the ER.

Resource spoke recently with two experts from Miami Neuroscience Institute, a part of Baptist Health South Florida:

Jose Andres Restrepo, M.D., medical director for outpatient rehabilitation, specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, electrodiagnosis, regenerative medicine and musculoskeletal conditions including arthritis.

Raul A. Vasquez-Castellanos, M.D., neurosurgeon and director of complex spine surgery, specializing in the surgical treatment of complex spinal conditions including tumors, degenerative spine diseases, spinal deformities, scoliosis, kyphoscoliosis and neurotrauma.

We asked Drs. Restrepo and Vasquez for their thoughts on how you can prevent the most common holiday injuries and avoid the ER this holiday season.

Resource: In general, regardless of the season, what are the most common types of injuries you treat in your practice?

Dr. Vasquez: We see a lot of people who come in with nerve impingement, herniated disk, disk degeneration, chronic back pain, and simple spine fractures. Most of these result from falls or lifting heavy things. But I think it also has something to do with the fact that we live in an area with an aging population, at a time when people are living longer. As we age, our flexibility, balance and reaction times all start diminishing. We need to be mindful of our body and what its actually capable of doing.

Resource: What kind of injuries are you seeing now, as people decorate for the holidays?

Dr. Restrepo: So far this holiday season, weve seen a 10 to 15 percent increase in patients with back injuries. Most of these have been a result of decorating ones home for the holidays moving heavy furniture and boxes, falling off ladders and performing various other activities required for the job. Weve had patients complaining of everything from neck pain from looking up for long periods; back pain from bending over and lifting; hand and wrist pain from grappling with hammers, screwdrivers and other tools; ankle sprains from falling off ladders; knee sprains from awkward rotation of the knee, and bursitis of the knee from kneeling on hard surfaces for too long.

One patient came in with a back sprain and lacerations on his back. He was on a ladder stringing holiday lights along the eaves of his house, unspooling the lights he had wrapped around himself as he worked his way along the eaves. At some point he slipped and fell into the bushes below but, fortunately, his fall was broken somewhat by the lights he had wrapped around himself and the ones he had just strung around the chimney. Otherwise, his injuries might have been much worse.

Resource: Are you seeing anything different this year with holiday injuries because of the pandemic?

Dr. Vasquez: We are. What is common now, it seems especially with this second surge were seeing now is people are injuring themselves at home but reluctant to go to the ER because theyre concerned about exposure to the coronavirus. I can tell you that our facilities are perhaps the cleanest, safest spaces anywhere far more so than your local grocery store. Remember that delaying care is aggravating an existing injury. By not seeking treatment, you could possibly wind up with permanent weakness and long-term, chronic back pain. Is that a chance you want to take?

Resource: Dr. Vasquez, what recommendations do you have for avoiding injuries during the holidays?

Dr. Vasquez:

Resource: And Dr. Restrepo, what about youwhat advice can you offer that would help people avoid the ER during the holidays?

Dr. Restrepo:

Resource: If somebody is injured, should they go to Urgent Care or the ER?

Dr. Vasquez: If you suffer an acute injury from a fall, such as a broken back or broken arm, Baptist Health has Urgent Care and Urgent Care Express locations across South Florida, some of which are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We also have a couple of freestanding emergency departments in West Coral Way and West Kendall, and of course, there are on-campus ERs at all of our hospitals across the region. Serious back injuries requiring specialized care will be referred to our team here at Miami Neuroscience Institute. If you need us, were here 24/7 to help care for you.

Tags: ankle sprain, back pain, back sprain, Dr. Jose Andres Restrepo, Dr. Raul Vasquez-Castellanos, holiday decorating injuries, holiday decorating safety tips, Miami Neuroscience Institute

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Decorating for the Holidays? Doctors Share Tips on How to Avoid a Trip to the ER. - Baptist Health South Florida

Neuroscience

Neuroscience antibodies and assays Market (2020-2026) | Where Should Participant Focus To Gain Maximum ROI | Exclusive Report By PMI – LionLowdown

The data presented in the global Neuroscience antibodies and assays market report is a compilation of data identified and collected from various sources. The scope of growth of the Neuroscience antibodies and assays market during the forecast period is identified after analyzing different data sources. The report is a valuable guidance tool that can be used to increase the market share or to develop new products that can revolutionize the market growth. The analysis of the collected data also helps in providing an overview of the Neuroscience antibodies and assays industry which further helps people make an informed choice. Latent growth factors that can manifest themselves during the forecast period are identified as they are key to the Neuroscience antibodies and assays market growth. The Neuroscience antibodies and assays report presents the data from the year 2020 to the year 2027 during the base period while forecasting the same during the forecast period for the year 2020 to the year 2027.

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Thermo Fisher Scientific, Abcam, Bio-Rad, Merck KGAA, Cell Signaling Technology, Genscript, Rockland Immunochemicals. Bio Legend, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Tecan, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Siemens.

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Global Neuroscience antibodies and assays Market by Geography:

Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia)

Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)

North America (the United States, Mexico, and Canada.)

South America (Brazil etc.)

The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt.)

This analysis provides evaluation for altering competitive dynamics:

This thorough Neuroscience antibodies and assays analysis of this shifting contest dynamics and keeps you in front of competitions;

Six-year prediction assessment primarily based mostly on the way the sector is anticipated to development;

Precisely which Neuroscience antibodies and assays application/end-user kind or Types can observe incremental increase prospects;

Which trends, barriers, and challenges could impact the development and size of Neuroscience antibodies and assays economy;

It helps to know that the vital product-type sections along with their growth;

Fundamentals of Table of Content:

1 Report Overview1.1 Study Scope1.2 Key Market Segments1.3 Players Covered1.4 Market Analysis by Type1.5 Market by Application1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered

2 Global Growth Trends2.1 Neuroscience antibodies and assays Market Size2.2 Neuroscience antibodies and assays Growth Trends by Regions2.3 Industry Trends

3 Market Share by Key Players3.1 Neuroscience antibodies and assays Market Size by Manufacturers3.2 Neuroscience antibodies and assays Key Players Head office and Area Served3.3 Key Players Neuroscience antibodies and assays Product/Solution/Service3.4 Date of Enter into Neuroscience antibodies and assays Market3.5 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans

4 Breakdown Data by Product4.1 Global Neuroscience antibodies and assays Sales by Product4.2 Global Neuroscience antibodies and assays Revenue by Product4.3 Neuroscience antibodies and assays Price by Product

5 Breakdown Data by End User5.1 Overview5.2 Global Neuroscience antibodies and assays Breakdown Data by End User

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Neuroscience antibodies and assays Market (2020-2026) | Where Should Participant Focus To Gain Maximum ROI | Exclusive Report By PMI - LionLowdown