Category Archives: Neuroscience

Aural Analytics, Inc. Announces the Launch of a Large-Scale Pivotal Study for Its Respiratory and Speech Motor Control Prediction Software Tools -…

December 10, 2020 medical

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aural Analytics, Inc., the industry leader in speech neuroscience and speech analytics technologies, announced today the initiation of a multi-product pivotal study to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of its speech-based tools for measuring pulmonary function and speech motor function in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The company anticipates submitting the results of this multi-site, multi-language, 280 participant, prospective, blinded study to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late 2021. The study, conducted as part of the Target ALS Diagnosis Initiative, is one of several pivotal studies Aural Analytics is set to kick off in 2021 as it expands its suite of clinical-grade speech-based digital tools.

The Aural Analytics VCP software tool enables on-demand, real-time objective evaluation of pulmonary function by predicting forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume (FEV1) without the need for specialized hardware in-clinic and at-home. These measurements are commonly used in the assessment of airflow obstruction (COPD, asthma) and restrictive lung disease (ALS). The VCP software is currently being used as one approach to screen for eligibility in the Healey Center ALS platform trial at Massachusetts General Hospital. Aural Analytics will also use the study to further demonstrate the safety and efficacy of its speech-based assessment software that enables on-demand, real-time objective monitoring of symptoms and progression in diseases known to impact bulbar function (speech and swallowing).

Aural Analytics is enabling clinical-grade speech analytics in areas of critical unmet patient and clinical need. This study will be the basis of multiple regulatory submissions for products that have broad clinical utility and commercial pathways, said Daniel Jones, co-founder and CEO of Aural Analytics. We continue to work closely with regulators at the FDA and key stakeholders across the healthcare industry to ensure safe, reliable, repeatable and transparent speech-based tools are brought to market.

More about the Aural Analytics VCP Software in ALS

Respiratory failure is the leading cause of death in patients with ALS. As a result, regular assessment of respiratory function is the standard of care. People with ALS often have problems achieving valid measures on standard in-clinic or at-home spirometers. Lip weakness can prevent creation of a tight seal around the spirometer and some with ALS experience an involuntary slamming shut of their vocal cords when they exhale forcefully. Spirometers often induce bouts of coughing which, given the COVID-19 pandemic, has made it increasingly difficult to objectively measure respiratory function in-clinic. Our VCP software is designed to tap into both inspiratory and expiratory muscle strength, without requiring lip strength, and with far less chance of inducing laryngospasm or coughing, said Dr. Julie Liss, co-founder and chief clinical officer at Aural Analytics. Our application enables a patient to easily deliver pulmonary function data, remotely, with just a few short tasks. The outcome measures are clinically relevant, interpretable, reliable and highly repeatable.

More about the Aural Analytics Speech Motor Control Software

Functional rating scales have been used historically to capture the impact of disease on a person's daily life. These rating scales are often coarse, subjective, and can miss key information about how a patient is doing. We have found that the information we extract from speech samples tracks well with a number of functional rating scales for different diseases, said Dr. Liss. Yet, more importantly, our speech metrics can detect changes in disease before they have functional consequences and in a far more frequent, objective way. We believe this tool will provide an opportunity for greater precision in clinical management.

The Aural Analytics VCP and speech motor assessment applications further add to the companys technology suite which includes mobile applications currently available for use in clinical research and clinical settings, an embeddable mobile and web SDK, web-progressive applications, and APIs, all with cloud-based computation that power disease-specific speech tasks and analytics.

About Aural Analytics, Inc.

Aural Analytics is the industrys leading speech neuroscience company building the worlds most advanced clinical-grade speech analytics platform for health applications across the lifespan. Its suite of mobile-first, patient-centric applications, available in up to 30 languages across Android, iOS and the web are easy to use, secure, and provide robust, clinically relevant, interpretable and validated metrics reflecting the neurological and respiratory health of its users. The company is founded on nearly three decades of NIH and NSF-funded research in speech neuroscience, is backed by dozens of high-caliber scientific publications, and has won several awards for its work in the field, including the prestigious Global SCRIP Award for Best Technology Development in Clinical Trials. Aural Analytics is based in Scottsdale, AZ. For more information, please visit auralanalytics.com or follow Aural Analytics on Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium and Facebook.

About Target ALS

Target ALS is a 501(c)(3) medical research foundation committed to the search for effective treatments for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrigs disease. We envision a world in which no one dies of ALS and play a unique role in the battle against this disease. Founded in 2013 by former New York City deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff who lost both his father and uncle to ALS our approach is breaking down barriers and silos that previously inhibited research results. We do this through our Target ALS Innovation Ecosystem, which facilitates unparalleled collaboration between researchers from academia and the pharma/biotech industry. The Target ALS Innovation Ecosystem has revolutionized the field in just seven years through collaborations that have resulted in the first potential treatments since ALS was identified in 1869.

To date, the Target ALS Innovation Ecosystem, which launched in 2013 and set the groundwork for the new Target ALS Diagnosis Initiative, has yielded 175+ research projects, 12+ therapeutic targets and five clinical trials, to date.

About The Target ALS Diagnosis Initiative

Target ALS launched the first-ever comprehensive effort to discover ALS biomarkers The Target ALS Diagnosis Initiative through which the organization will invest $15 million in collaborative grantmaking and the development of new scientific resources. The initiative was developed in response to input from over 100 scientists, patients, caregivers and other thought leaders. They universally identified ALS biomarkers as a critical unmet need to diagnose the disease early, track its progression and provide reliable measures for new treatments.

The Target ALS Diagnosis Initiative strategically focuses on three promising areas:

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Aural Analytics, Inc. Announces the Launch of a Large-Scale Pivotal Study for Its Respiratory and Speech Motor Control Prediction Software Tools -...

Neuroscience

Global Neuroscience Antibodies and Assays Market Analysis by 2020-2025 – Industry Today

December 10, 2020 medical

The global Neuroscience Antibodies and Assaysmarket size is expected to gain market growth in the forecast period of 2020 to 2025, with a CAGR of xx%% in the forecast period of 2020 to 2025 and will expected to reach USD xx million by 2025, from USD xx million in 2019.

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Global Neuroscience Antibodies and Assays Market Analysis by 2020-2025 - Industry Today

Neuroscience

Neuroscientists Use Pac-Man Style Video Games To Study The Origin Of Human Emotions – Hot Hardware

December 10, 2020 medical

While anyone could say a good movie, book, or video game made them feel emotional, scientists did not understand why until now. A research team at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, found that emotions result from the synchronization of several neural systems throughout the brain. They found this out by analyzing volunteers' "feelings, expressions, and physiological responses" while playing a video game designed for arousing different emotions depending on the game's progress.As the University of Geneva press release explains, "Emotions are complex phenomena that influence our minds, bodies, and behavior." This complexity makes emotions challenging to understand and study. Previously, theories "have attempted to model the emergence of an emotion, although none has so far been proven experimentally." Moreover, experiments relating to emotions were more "targeted," such as showing a volunteer an image or video to try and extract emotion from a specific area of the brain. "The problem is, these [neural] regions overlap for different emotions, so they're not specific," as one area of the brain, says Joana Leito, a post-doctoral neuroscience fellow at the university. On the other hand, video games can evoke emotions and target different areas of the brain at one time, making them a viable candidate for experimentation with volunteers.With the thought of video games in mind, the neuroscientists at the University of Geneva created a video game to evoke emotions by putting volunteers "in situations they'll have to evaluate so they can advance and win rewards," as Dr. Leito explains. The game is similar to Pac-Man in a way, where players need to grab coins, interact with "nice monsters," ignore the "neutral monsters," and avoid the "bad guys" to win points and go to the next level. These game features create scenarios that trigger different emotions through a theoretical model called the component process model, whereby other neurological pieces come together to form an emotional state. During the game, the researchers were then able to study volunteers' brain activity through facial imaging, feelings through questions, and physiology through several other methods. Once the study was complete, the researchers could conclusively state that emotions are created when different brain components work in parallel to create an emotional state. This finding "validat[es] the idea that emotion is grounded in action-oriented functions in order to allow an adapted response to events." While there could be more happening inside the brain when emotions are created, we now have a base understanding of the 'why' emotions happen, and thanks to video games, no less. My mom always said video games were bad for my brain, but maybe they were just making me more emotionally developed.

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Neuroscientists Use Pac-Man Style Video Games To Study The Origin Of Human Emotions - Hot Hardware

Neuroscience

Why did the Human Brain Project Crash and Burn? – Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

December 10, 2020 medical

The Human Brain Project from 2013 sounded like science fiction in an EU setting: We will build a brain in a decade: And, if we do succeed, we will send, in ten years, a hologram to talk to you.

Well, we all got one thing right. It was fiction. Filmmaker Noah Hutton, a sympathetic observer, chronicled the decline, producing a documentary, In Silico, that focuses on booster Henry Markram who, according to his TED talk bio from 2009, was director of Blue Brain, a supercomputing project that can model components of the mammalian brain to precise cellular detail and simulate their activity in 3D. Soon hell simulate a whole rat brain in real time.

When the project started to wobble, many neuroscientists were angry and disappointed:

But that year (2010), Hutton also started to encounter critics in the neuroscience community. They claimed that the simulation project was premature because too little was known about the different types of neuron in the brain and how they were wired. Anyone can repair a broken watch by putting its known components in the right places, neuroscientist Zachary Mainen at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon, Portugal, tells the camera. Try this with the incompletely understood components of the brain, he says, and youll end up with a bunch of parts that doesnt tell the time.

By 2014, about 750 neuroscientists had signed a letter pledging that they wouldnt participate and by 2016, Markram was no longer in charge.

And the whole brain maps? They never happened.

Reflecting on the premiere of the documentary, science writer Alison Abbott tells us,

Hutton hints that the disputes were driven by money. I disagree; my sense is that it came down to leadership style and irresolvable differences in scientific opinion. There is a bolder, even more interesting, story waiting to be told.

Abbott does not spell out the irresolvable differences in scientific opinion but we cant help wondering if they relate to the question of whether the brain can be understood in such a simplistic way.

Some thoughts from The Guardian in 2014:

Central to the latest controversy are recent changes made by Henry Markram, head of the Human Brain Project at the Swiss Federal Institute for Technology in Lausanne. The changes sidelined cognitive scientists who study high-level brain functions, such as thought and behaviour. Without them, the brain simulation will be built from the bottom up, drawing on more fundamental science, such as studies of individual neurons. The brain, the most complex object known, has some 86bn neurons and 100tn connections.

The main apparent goal of building the capacity to construct a larger-scale simulation of the human brain is radically premature, Peter Dayan, director of the computational neuroscience unit at UCL, told the Guardian.

Some thoughts from The Scientist in 2015:

After weathering serious criticism last year, the European Commission-backed effort to map the brains neural connections must reform or die, a review panel says.

Its been a rough nine months for the European Commissions Human Brain Project (HBP). More than 250 of Europes top neuroscientists threatened to boycott the $1.6 billion effort to create a computer simulation of the human brain last July, and now a European Commission (EC) review panel has echoed some of the same concerns voiced by those scientists.

Some thoughts from HBC, a portal dedicated to fast computers, in 2019:

From the outset, HBP was beset by criticism unrealistic goals, un-useful goals, poor organization, waste of scarce research resources said many. Others argued its big goals would lead to big insights as well as myriad useful tools. Its hard to gloss over the HBPs problems, but perhaps too easy to understate its contributions Whether the HBP was and is tilting at windmills is a significant question.

Tilting at windmills along with Don Quixote maybe? (See the illustration of the outcome of the Dons famous attempt to charge a windmill.) What if the brain is not only not a computer but not even like a computer?

As neuroscientist Yuri Danilov has pointed out, Right now people are saying, each synoptical connection is a microprocessor. So if its a microprocessor, you have 1012 neurons, each neuron has 105 synapses, so you have you can compute how many parallel processing units you have in the brain if each synapse is a microprocessor. But as soon as you assume that each neuron is a microprocessor, you assume that there is a programmer. There is no programmer in the brain; there are no algorithms in the brain.

The human brain exceeds the most powerful computers in efficiency. Its also not clear exactly how it works. Lemurs, with brains 1/200th the size of a chimpanzees brain, passed the same IQ test. And this is to say nothing of the little understood relationship between the human brain and the human mind.

Underlying the quarrels and stalemates of the Human Brain Project may be practical problems with the idea of simply simulating the brain on a computer.

Cerevel Therapeutics to Host Investor Webcast Moderated by Stifel – GlobeNewswire

December 10, 2020 medical

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 04, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cerevel Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CERE), a company dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of the brain totreatneurosciencediseases, announced it will host a live webcast providing a current corporate overview, followed by a moderated question and answer session on Monday, December 14.

The live webcast will be from 11:00 a.m. to noon EST with presentations from Tony Coles, M.D., chairperson and chief executive officer, Ray Sanchez, M.D., chief medical officer, and John Renger, Ph.D., chief scientific officer. The question and answer session will also include Kathy Yi, chief financial officer, and will be moderated by Paul Matteis, managing director and senior biotech analyst at Stifel.

The live webcast can be accessed on the investor relations section of the Cerevel Therapeutics website here. A replay will be available in the same section of the companys website for approximately 90 days.

About Cerevel TherapeuticsCerevel Therapeutics is dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of the brain to treat neuroscience diseases. The company is tackling neuroscience diseases with a differentiated approach that combines expertise in neurocircuitry with a focus on receptor selectivity. Cerevel Therapeutics has a diversified pipeline comprising five clinical-stage investigational therapies and several preclinical compounds with the potential to treat a range of neuroscience diseases, including schizophrenia, epilepsy, Parkinsons disease and substance use disorder. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Cerevel Therapeutics is advancing its current research and development programs while exploring new modalities through internal research efforts, external collaborations or potential acquisitions. For more information, visit http://www.cerevel.com.

Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on managements beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the following words: may, will, could, would, should, expect, intend, plan, anticipate, believe, estimate, predict, project, potential, continue, ongoing or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained in this press release, we caution you that these statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known by us and our projections of the future, about which we cannot be certain. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements about the potential attributes and benefits of our product candidates, the format and timing of our product development activities and clinical trials, including the expected timing of data announcements, and the sufficiency of our financial resources. We cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements in this press release will prove to be accurate. Furthermore, if the forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. Actual performance and results may differ materially from those projected or suggested in the forward-looking statements due to various risks and uncertainties, including, among others: that clinical trial results may not be favorable; uncertainties inherent in the product development process (including with respect to the timing of results and whether such results will be predictive of future results); the impact of COVID-19 on the timing, progress and results of ongoing or planned clinical trials; other impacts of COVID-19, including operational disruptions or delays or to our ability to raise additional capital; whether and when, if at all, our product candidates will receive approval from the FDA or other regulatory authorities, and for which, if any, indications; competition from other biotechnology companies; uncertainties regarding intellectual property protection; and other risks identified in our SEC filings, including those under the heading Risk Factors in our definitive proxy statement/prospectus filed with the SEC on October 7, 2020. In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified time frame, or at all. The forward-looking statements in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we have no current intention of doing so except to the extent required by applicable law. You should, therefore, not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Media Contact:Rachel EidesW2O purereides@purecommunications.com

Investor Contact:Matthew CalistriCerevel Therapeuticsmatthew.calistri@cerevel.com

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Cerevel Therapeutics to Host Investor Webcast Moderated by Stifel - GlobeNewswire

Neuroscience

Neuroscience Antibodies and Assays Market Size, Analytical Overview, Growth Factors, Demand, and Forecast to 2027 – Cheshire Media

December 10, 2020 medical

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Neuroscience Antibodies and Assays Market Size, Analytical Overview, Growth Factors, Demand, and Forecast to 2027 - Cheshire Media

Neuroscience

Researchers receive $651,997 funding to study memory dysfunction in MS – News-Medical.Net

December 10, 2020 medical

Researchers at Montclair State University and Kessler Foundation have received funding totaling $651,997 from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to measure memory-related abilities in individuals with and without multiple sclerosis (MS) for clues to how such cognitive processes are altered by MS. Joshua Sandry, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at Montclair State and Ekaterina Dobryakova, PhD, research scientist in the Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Research at Kessler Foundation, collaborate on the 4-year study, titled "Neuroimaging of Hippocampally Mediated Memory Dysfunction in Multiple Sclerosis."

Dr. Sandry, director of the Cognition and Neurocognitive Disorders Research Laboratory, at Montclair State, is principal investigator for this project. Dr. Dobryakova will oversee the clinical study, including advanced neuroimaging studies performed at the research-dedicated Rocco Ortenzio Center for Neuroimaging at Kessler Foundation.

Memory problems are a common cognitive disability that negatively affect the quality of life of individuals with MS. Despite the urgent need to develop effective treatments, this challenge has been met with mixed success. Lack of knowledge about the underlying cognitive and brain processes responsible for memory problems in MS hinders clinical progress.

This study aims to translate research from cognitive neuroscience to the MS research community to help identify which underlying cognitive and brain processes are impacted by MS. Specifically, researchers will investigate how changes in working memory and structural changes in the hippocampus may contribute to the memory problems that affect individuals with MS.

To our knowledge, this is the first investigation to utilize a strong translational approach to begin to pinpoint the interrelationship of working memory, brain functioning, and long-term memory problems in MS. This cutting-edge research may provide a strong foundation to our understanding of memory loss, and lead to effective interventions for restoring lost function."

Dr. Ekaterina Dobryakova, PhD, Research Scientist, Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Research, Kessler Foundation

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Researchers receive $651,997 funding to study memory dysfunction in MS - News-Medical.Net

Neuroscience

To Convince Vaccine Skeptics, Use Empathy, Information and a Re-Start, Experts Say – Duke Today

December 10, 2020 medical

DURHAM, N.C. With multiple COVID-19 vaccines on the way in the United States, public health officials now face the daunting challenge of convincing skeptics to actually get the vaccine.

Three Duke experts in public health messaging, leadership and human behavior spoke with journalists Thursday in a virtual media briefing about challenges and solutions.

Replay the briefing on YouTube.

Here are excerpts:

ON REACHING PEOPLE WHO DONT FOLLOW PUBLIC HEALTH RECOMMENDATIONS

Dan Ariely, psychologist, behavioral economist

Doing something now, after a really, really long time of not doing a lot, is not easy. We have to work against a lot of forces. The first thing we need to do is put a time separation between the past and between the future. Theres lots of negative trends in life. Theres not upward trends. If we want an upward trend, what we need to do is stop, reflect and start fresh. Think of something like the Day of Atonement, or the Catholic confession. We need to create a new contract.

If you think about peoples personal experience, it would basically teach us that its not a good idea to follow the guidelines. Think about something like texting and driving. Imagine if you think to yourself the probability of texting and driving and something bad happening is 1 percent. So one day you drive and youre tempted by your phone, and you text, and nothing happened. So you update your belief and say maybe its not one percent, its more like .75 of a percent.

COVID-19 is a terrible tragedy but on an individual level, if you one day walk without a mask, or youre not careful and nothing bad happens to you, you learn the wrong lesson and you learn it again and again. Its a low probability event. So we need very different tools. We cant hope that peoples personal experience will teach them this is a good idea.

We need social understanding that this is the right behavior. We need people to say to each other, Im sorry, I dont feel comfortable. Would you mind putting a mask on? It has to be friendly enforcement of everything we do.

ON WHAT MESSAGING WORKS, WHAT DOESNT

Gary Bennett, professor of psychology and neuroscience

Browbeating doesnt work. Its also not useful to imagine that all of the kinds of change were trying to promote is within the control of the individuals. Organizations, leaders have a role to put together policies and systems and structures that will make it easier for individuals to adhere to recommendations.

There is a widespread perception that education is a cure-all. If we just told people more about the condition, if we just helped them understand how significant an event this is, they would change. That kind of notion doesnt work.

We want to do a lot less telling people what to do, and show them examples of how they can do it. It really starts with leaders; its really critical they model the types of recommendations theyre making.

If youre a business leader, having your handwashing stations, having your sanitizing stations, having a testing protocol, those are all really critical components.

Id argue we also have to have empathy for the complexity of this moment.

What we aspire to is a world in which everyone feels theyre doing the right things by following the guidelines. Thats about having very clear goals and being very consistent with them. Be really, really careful to encourage people and not to browbeat them when they have not adhered.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF HIGH VACCINATION RATES

Lavanya Vasudevan, assistant professor of family medicine and community health

In my opinion, our best hope of getting the pandemic under control is to get high rates of vaccinations. Vaccines arent going to be our only way out of this pandemic, but I definitely believe they will be a very important component.

Public health is all about collective action. There is no public in public health without public participation.

Having effective vaccines like we have right now are critical. But vaccines themselves dont save lives; vaccinations do.

We need to focus all our efforts on doing everything we can to get people vaccinated. My hope is that as the vaccination campaigns unfold in the UK, Canada and here in the U.S., we will see the vaccine acceptances go up. Theres no excuse for losing more lives to this pandemic once we have an approved vaccine.

ON THE BEST VACCINE PUBLIC RELATIONS CAMPAIGNS

Lavanya Vasudevan

The two things that come up are the need for information and the need for trust. Information alone is not enough; it is important that the information has certain characteristics. The more personalized information is, the more it answers the questions that people have, as opposed to it being generic, (the better it is.)

Who is providing that information? If you just have information coming from a source you dont know or trust, that information is not going to go very far.

Gary Bennett

Vaccine hesitancy is going to be a primary risk factor for COVID deaths in the next year. This is one of the most important public health challenges for our time.

For me, the mistrust is a primary challenge that were going to be dealing with. The reasons for mistrust vary considerably across the population. They happen to be particularly high in populations that have the highest rates of COVID. So it would be a mistake to imagine a kind of one-size-fits-all public service campaign as a solution. It will take a much more nuanced strategy.

ON ONE WAY TO MAKE IT EASIER TO BE VACCINATED

Dan Ariely

If I could design a system to increase vaccination, one of things Id change is, Id change the default. Right now when you wake up in the morning, the default is that youre not vaccinated and you need to do something to get vaccinated. This creates a bias against doing it. I would love to schedule for each citizen an appointment for vaccination. Id still allow the citizen to opt out. But instead of saying, I want in, they can opt out. Thats a shift in the way of thinking about this. I think more people would get vaccinated. The systems we create are incredibly important. Is it the easiest thing to do to get vaccinated?

So here we need to say, How do we make it public? How do we make it visible? How do we make it the default?

ON REBUILDING TRUST IN GOVERNMENT

Dan Ariely

Trust is one of those things that allow us to collaborate. If I think other people are not going to adhere to the COVID rules, I dont have a reason to do it as well. Its only if everybody does it that we all have the benefit.

I think a new president can get us to start a new contract with the government, basically saying lets start fresh from now. Here are the rules. That president will also have .... to say, I will communicate when things will go well and when things dont go well.

We can have a new contract, but it cant be an empty promise. It has to be something with some power behind it.

We need better explanations for what the science is. Some people are afraid of injections. What is this material that comes in? Theres all kinds of conspiracy theories around. I think we need to calm people down. Maybe we need to take this fear seriously, with respect, and explain what is an RNA-based vaccination? What does it look like? How does it work? What is the mechanism? We cant do a Ph.D. in biology but maybe we need to work a little bit on helping people understand what this is all about.

ON EMPATHY FROM LEADERS

Gary Bennett

I think its critically important. An essential human need is to be seen and heard and understood. When leaders demonstrate that with their words, its an essential building block in establishing trust.

The challenge for leaders now is being vulnerable enough and wise enough to do the hard work of really understanding some of the reasons for the mistrust and how they may vary among different groups.

My recommendation to policymakers at moments like these is to really spend some time listening intently to various constituencies.

ON LEADERS ADDRESSING VACCINE UNCERTAINTY

Gary Bennett

The first thing is certainly not to try to be all-knowing. That generally fails. This is a critical challenge for most organizations at most times. Its particularly true right now.

Frequent communication is absolutely critical, and the nature of that communication is critically important. Communication from leaders to others that is authentic, that is transparent as possible, that demonstrates empathy and knowledge is really important.

One way of countering uncertainty is to provide certainty where certainty can be provided. Communicating what we know on a relatively expected and pre-defined timeline is really important.

The challenge for leaders in moments of uncertainty is that trust is in short supply. The return on investment for frequent communication is only realized at some point far in the future.

Lavanya Vasudevan

Trust cannot be earned overnight. It really takes long-term effort, building relationships to build trust.

ON US VACCINE CAMPAIGNS AND DENIALISM

Lavanya Vasudevan

We have the added challenge of being in a highly partisan environment, but I would argue that is not unique to the U.S. You see that in other parts of the world as well. In terms of what we need to communicate, this tailoring and personalization is extremely important.

We are seeing this huge wave of denial. Even though there were 3,000 deaths yesterday, there are huge numbers of people out there saying there is no COVID-19.

This is one of the issues weve had in this COVID-19 pandemic in general. We have made tremendous scientific progress given we knew nothing a year ago. But there are still gaps in information, and what happens when you have gaps, those gaps get filled in with things other than science. You have misinformation, myths. And when you have something in place, its harder to dislodge that and replace that with science and facts.

ON CREATING VACCINE DEMAND

Dan Ariely

I think we should use the scarcity as a way to create motivation. Im imagining that we have a wait list. We let everybody sign up and wait. Even if 58 percent of people sign up, there will be a long wait list. It will look like everyone wants this.

ON CONCERNS ABOUT LONG-TERM VACCINE EFFECTIVENESS

Lavanya Vasudevan

With the number of deaths we have had over 3,000 yesterday even a vaccine that offers short-term benefits is worth it. Thats something we need to communicate. If it turns out the immunity is just going to last for a year and well have to re-vaccinate, well figure out a way to do that.

ON SKEPTICISM OF HOW FAST VACCINES WERE CREATED

Gary Bennett

Weve gone from the bliss of a year ago to having a vaccine in a year. It only makes sense that people would imagine theres something wrong with the speed of that timeline.

The fact is, weve known how to create these vaccines for quite a long time. The U.S. government invested a ton of money in providing readiness to be able to stand up vaccines like this.

Messaging that kind of thing now is unlikely to be heard in the way we would hope it to.

My concern is that in the politically fraught environment in which we live, its been impossible to describe the response, the public/private partnership that has resulted in these vaccines in the way that we should. Its on the order of the kinds of public works projects we saw in World War II.

Its a fairly amazing undertaking. Its been challenging to describe. I hope that changes.

Dan Ariely

People think of it as a year. Its not a year. Its been an ongoing effort for a very long time.

I think science has (not) done a good job of promoting science. I think we should have had a celebration of all the people working so hard for such a long time to find solutions. Its a great history of people working unbelievably hard to try to figure this out.

So its not true to think of it as a year. Its a breadth of effort.

ON POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

Gary Bennett

We had a moment back in February/March where there was a pretty good chance that we could have significantly curtailed this pandemic. There are some arguments that say that President Trump is one of the few people who probably could have gotten it done in some respects because he could have spoken to a group of people who are particularly disaffected and less historically likely to (listen) to government messages.

We have another chance coming now with the vaccine. Its the kind of thing that should be unifying to some degree really across this politically fraught divide we have right now.

Its going to require really deft leadership that isnt focused exclusively on hogging the mic at all times.

ON WHAT YOUD SAY TO A FRIEND WHOS UNSURE ABOUT VACCINE

Dan Ariely

I would say I think theres no chance they will regret it, but, if they dont take it they are either going to get sick or get other people sick, and they could regret it. I would ask them to imagine how they would feel if they passed COVID-19 to someone else. Just try to imagine how that would feel. Now tell me you shouldnt do a lot to prevent that terrible feeling of regret that you didnt take the vaccination earlier.

Gary Bennett

I usually ask people to get three people in your mind, over age 60, people you care about now imagine that you have the ability to keep them from getting this disease. Help me understand why you wouldnt choose to do the right thing. For me, this is about the communal impact and helping people to understand that even if youre in a very low risk group, the decisions they make have potentially significant impacts.

Lavanya Vasudevan

I would actually try to understand what their positions on vaccines are and what their concerns are and try to respond to that directly.

Faculty Participants

Dan ArielyDan Ariely is a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke, and a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight. He studies the irrational ways people behave and designs ways to make human behavior more rational.

Gary BennettGary Bennett is a professor of psychology and neuroscience, global health and medicine at Duke University. He directs the Duke Global Digital Health Science Center and is also president of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.

Lavanya VasudevanLavanya Vasudevan is an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health and the Global Health Institute at Duke. She is also a faculty affiliate at Dukes Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research.

Duke experts on a variety of other topics related the coronavirus pandemic can be found here.

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Continued here:
To Convince Vaccine Skeptics, Use Empathy, Information and a Re-Start, Experts Say - Duke Today

Neuroscience

Construction progresses on neuroscience research building – Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

December 3, 2020 medical

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Project will be the largest in School of Medicines history

The neuroscience research buildings basement lies in a hole 25 feet deep and 400 feet long, dug at the southeast corner of Duncan and Newstead avenues. More than 106 drilled concrete piers have been poured, and the interior columns and floor in the western half of the basement have been completed.

Washington University School of Medicines eastern border began noticeably changing in April and will look strikingly different in 2023, when the neuroscience research building 11 stories tall and 609,000 square feet is complete. The building project, the largest in the medical schools history, will span almost a block in the 200-acre Cortex Innovation Community, one of the fastest-growing business, innovation and technology hubs in the United States.

The buildings basement lies in a hole 25 feet deep and 400 feet long, dug at the southeast corner of Duncan and Newstead avenues. More than 106 drilled concrete piers have been poured, and the interior columns and floor in the western half of the basement have been completed.

When the state-of-the art building at 4370 Duncan Ave. is finished, it will hold enough steel to stretch 2,125 miles, enough drywall to cover 31 football fields and enough concrete to fill 6,500 truckloads.

This building project will connect our campus core to the Cortex Innovation Community and define the eastern edge of the Medical Campus, said Melissa Hopkins, the schools assistant vice chancellor and assistant dean of operations and facilities. More importantly, it will bring together interdisciplinary neuroscience research and innovation at the School of Medicine.

To get an idea of the project, campus visitors can see a construction mock-up in front of the Couch Biomedical Research Building. Mock-ups generally are full-size representations of sections of proposed buildings, assembled to evaluate design and construction details. When the mock-up is complete, it will consist of two 20-foot structures. One of these structures will resemble the glass three-story lobby on the north side of the neuroscience research building.

Initially, 5 floors of the building will house 100 research teams in laboratory space, and additional shell space could be built out later for another 45 research teams. The building will feature a large seminar room on the first floor and a coffee shop with a rooftop terrace on the third floor. The terrace will provide a social space for employees and also be used for events.

In addition to the building, the project will include an 1,839-space parking garage, a pedestrian link connecting the St. Louis Childrens Hospital garage and a separate utility plant.

The building is the first facility on the Medical Campus to feature research neighborhoods on each floor to spur collaboration. The neighborhoods will be organized around research themes including addiction, neurodegeneration, sleep and circadian rhythm, synapse and circuits, and neurogenomics and neurogenetics that bring people together with common interests from multiple departments. These departments include neurology, neuroscience, neurosurgery, psychiatry and anesthesiology.

Hopkins said the school is working with design team members and local subcontractors to help ensure the project involves a diversified, local workforce. Several of the companies involved in the project are participating in an Entrepreneur Forum led by Washington University and McCarthy Building Companies. The forum was developed to support Minority Business Enterprise/Womens Business Enterprise contractors sustainable growth by providing networking, technical assistance and other support during the neuroscience research building project. As companies are awarded contracts, they are invited to join the forum, which meets monthly.

Additionally, several entrepreneurs are participating in a goal-oriented program involving representatives from the School of Medicine and McCarthy. The intent is to help boost minority-led companies by helping them define how they want to grow while working on the neuroscience research building project and to support them in such efforts. The aim goes beyond construction of the new building; its also to show support for and build relationships with the communitys less-established minority-led companies.

The School of Medicine is focused on ensuring that at the end of this project, we will not only have a state-of-the-art research hub but that we will have been a leader in the continued growth and prosperity of the St. Louis region by maximizing the participation of minority and women-owned companies and supporting efforts to ensure there is a diverse workforce on site, Hopkins said.

Sustainability also is key to the project, and the building is tracking to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification. LEED is a green building rating program that provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient and less expensive buildings.

Sophisticated mechanical systems will direct air flow and air exchanges to create a safe, healthy work environment and to reduce the amount of energy used in the building, according to Hopkins. This also is the first time one of the medical schools buildings will feature all LED light fixtures, noted for their energy efficiency.

The parking garage is on track to receive Parksmart certification, a rating system designed to advance sustainable mobility through smarter parking design and operation. The garage will feature racks for bicycle parking, electric vehicle charging stations and infrastructure to later add solar panels to the garage roof.

The buildings rooftop terrace will feature sustainable landscaping, including native plants for all seasons and trees that provide shade.

Overseeing a building project of this scope involves tracking multiple processes, juggling countless tasks and meeting changing deadlines each day. Steve Sobo, executive project manager, said viewing the process as a collection of small parts coming together, instead of as a whole, is essential. That way, its easier to handle as the project marches along, said Sobo, also senior technical director of capital projects and physical planning.

The architectural firms Perkins+Will and CannonDesign designed the project, and McCarthy Building Companies is overseeing construction.

To get an idea of the neuroscience research building project, campus visitors can see a construction mock-up in front of the Couch Biomedical Research Building.

Neuroscience

CANAQUEST ANNOUNCES MENTABINOL A SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY, AS PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE – GlobeNewswire

December 3, 2020 medical

CanaQuest Medical Corp

MENTABINOL SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY AS PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE

TORONTO, Dec. 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CANAQUEST MEDICAL CORP (OTC Markets: CANQF) (the "Company" or CanaQuest), a Life Science/Pharmaceutical Company developing health products utilizing cannabinoid molecules and other botanical compounds (pharmaceutical grade), today announced that The Journal of Neuroscience has published the findings of Western Universitys research leading to the discovery of the Mentabinol, a patented THC based formulation & L-theanine, a compound derived from Green Tea leaves.

The Journal of Neuroscience, a world leading research publication, is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Society for Neuroscience. It covers empirical research on all aspects of neuroscience.

This research showed that when the THC based formulation was combined with the compound L-theanine it protected rats against the negative side-effects that can result from straight THC.

What we found was that by administering L-theanine along with the THC based formulation, we were able to block several side effects of THC exposure, including changes to schizophrenia-related neurochemical pathways, and abnormalities in behaviors including cognitive and emotional disturbances, said Dr. Steven Laviolette, a professor at Westerns Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.

We started looking at L-theanine because there was strong evidence that it has neuroprotective properties, and previous studies havent shown any toxicity effects in humans or animals, said Marta De Felice, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in Laviolettes lab and first author on the study.

It was exciting to see the extent of those changes and we think this is really quite promising. The goal here is to produce a safer formulation for THC that is going to give the benefits without the negative psychiatric side effects. This will be especially beneficial for those who are taking THC for things like long-term pain, chemotherapy side-effects or reducing anxiety or depression. said Laviolette.

Western researchers believe this substance may mitigate this type of harm to chronic cannabis users. The team also concluded that their research provides evidence for combining the THC based formulations with L-theanine to make them safer for both recreational and medicinal use.

Laviolette emphasizes that the University research took place in pre-clinical animal models and he looks forward to moving onto future human clinical trials to study and determine efficacy on humans.

Paul Ramsay, CanaQuests President/Co-Founder, added, We believe this important research discovery can help lead to a safer alternative for THC consumers, with our Mentabinol product providing a viable treatment to help address and alleviate the opioid crisis.

About CanaQuest Medical Corp:

CanaQuest Medical Corp is a Life Science/Pharmaceutical Company developing health products utilizing cannabinoid molecules and other botanical compounds (pharmaceutical grade). The Company is the industry partner for research and product development with Dr. Steven Laviolette, a professor and neuroscientist, and his 13 team members, at Western University. The Companys research is focused on the use of cannabinoids for the development of novel pharmacotherapies for mental health, such as anxiety, depression, addiction, schizophrenia, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD. CanaQuest has identified the regulatory pathways to obtain Drug Identification Numbers (DINs) for its two Master Formations, MentanineRx and MentabinolRx in Canada and the USA.

CanaQuest will be selling both products through its wholly owned subsidiary, ADC BioMedical Corp, which was awarded a Cannabis Medical Sales, Import/Export License, from Health Canada under the Cannabis Act. Licenced GMP Contract Manufacturers in Canada and the USA, capable of formulating, processing, and packaging, have been selected for production and distribution. The Company won the Go Global Awards, 2019, "Business of the Year Category of Life Science, presented by the International Trade Council.

For a copy of the Journal Article, visit The study was published in The Journal of Neuroscience. (jneurosci.org)

For a short video on the research, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_D4wkHHbDg

For more information on CanaQuest, visit http://www.canaquest.com

About Dr. Steven Laviolette:

The investigator leading the research is Dr. Steven Laviolette, a Professor and Neuroscientist in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University in London, Ontario. Dr. Laviolette is a leader in the study of cannabinoids in mental health and was recently awarded Faculty Scholar status at Western University. Dr. Laviolettes research team has previously made numerous fundamental discoveries related to how cannabinoids impact and may serve as treatments for mental health disorders including schizophrenia, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. Dr. Laviolettes primary research focus is in characterizing how specific phytochemical derivatives of cannabis may interact with specific brain pathways and molecular mechanisms whereby they may improve symptoms associated with various mental health disorders. Research from Dr. Laviolettes team has been published in the top tier of neuroscience and psychiatry journals in the world. The following is a link to Dr. Laviolettes profile on the Western University website. https://www.schulich.uwo.ca/about/news/2020/december/research_news_molecule_found_in_green_tea_may_block_negative_effects_of_chronic_cannabis_use.html

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements in this press release which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, use of proceeds and the development, costs, and results of current or future actions and opportunities in the sector. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects and development stage companies, our ability to raise the additional funding we will need to continue to pursue our exploration and development program, and our ability to retain important members of our management team and attract other qualified personnel. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations, and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission and OTC Markets.

CANAQUEST CONTACT:Paul Ramsay, Co-Founder & PresidentCanaQuest Medical Corppaul@canaquest.com: Tel.: 416-704-3040

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CANAQUEST ANNOUNCES MENTABINOL A SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY, AS PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE - GlobeNewswire