Physiology

April: Corticosteroid drugs and adrenal gland | News and features – University of Bristol

New research by academics at the University of Bristol has found evidence that prolonged treatment of synthetic corticosteroid drugs increases adrenal gland inflammation in response to bacterial infection, an effect that in the long-term can damage adrenal function.

Synthetic corticosteroid drugs are widely prescribed to treat many inflammatory and autoimmune diseases but taking a high dose over a long period of time can cause adverse side effects. Patients undergoing prolonged corticosteroid treatment can also develop adrenal insufficiency, which in rare occasions can lead to adrenal gland failure.

Previous studies have concentrated on studying the long-term effects of corticosteroid treatment on the hypothalamus and pituitary but have not looked at the direct effects that these steroids may have on the adrenal gland.

In this study, published in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, the research team tested the hypothesis that synthetic corticosteroids cause long-term changes in the adrenal gland steroidogenic pathways that are responsible for adrenal suppression.

The research found that the rhythms of glucocorticoid secretions are disrupted following prolonged treatment with synthetic corticosteroid drugs, and that the adrenal steroidogenic pathway is directly affected. Importantly, these changes persist long after discontinuation of the treatment.

The study also showed a pro-inflammatory effect of synthetic glucocorticoids treatment in the adrenal gland. This is an important finding with high clinical relevance as intra-adrenal activation of the immune system can affect adrenal functionality by interfering with the steroidogenic pathway, damaging adrenal endothelial microvascular cells, and by inducing apoptosis and reducing cell viability.

Dr Francesca Spiga, Honorary Research Fellow in the Bristol Medical School: Translational Health Sciences (THS) and corresponding author, said: "Our study provides valuable insights on the regulation of the adrenal steroidogenic pathway that are important starting points for future studies on adrenal gland physiology.

"Importantly, our research builds on our knowledge of the mechanisms through which corticosteroid drugs induce adrenal insufficiency, by showing simultaneous effects within multiple pathways involved in steroidogenesis, including circadian clock genes and inflammation pathways.

"A more detailed understanding of the effects of synthetic glucocorticoids on glucocorticoid hormones dynamics and on adrenal steroidogenic activity and the identification of mechanisms regulating these effects, will help develop better treatments that will improve patient care."

Future studies should address whether adrenal insufficiency, and its effects, can be prevented by using synthetic corticosteroid drugs that more closely resemble endogenous glucocorticoids in term of effectiveness and plasma half-life.

Endogenous glucocorticoids (cortisol in humans, corticosterone in rodents) regulate many physiological functions, including metabolism, cardiovascular tone, reproduction, mood and cognition, and the immune system. Clinical therapy with high doses of synthetic corticosteroids results in adrenal insufficiency, characterised by adrenal atrophy and decreased basal and stress-induced cortisol secretion, that may persist for several years after therapy withdrawal. One of the pathological consequences of adrenal insufficiency is the potential development of an adrenal crisis resulting from decreased cortisol secretion in response to inflammatory stressors such as infections, injuries and major surgery.

The study was funded by a Medical Research Council programme grant.

Paper

'Prolonged treatment with the synthetic glucocorticoid methylprednisolone affects adrenal steroidogenic function and response to inflammatory stress in the rat' by Francesca Spiga, Zidong Zhao, Stafford L. Lightman in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

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April: Corticosteroid drugs and adrenal gland | News and features - University of Bristol

Physiology

Chloe Jester | News, Sports, Jobs – The Review

Chloe Jester

CHESTER, W. Va. Chloe Anne Jester, 85, of Chester, passed away Saturday, April 25, 2020, at the Stone Pear Pavilion in Chester.

Born, April 2, 1934, in Foster, W.Va., she was a daughter of the late Clarence and Roma Williams.

She was also preceded in death by her sisters, Geraldine Abshire and Audra Leonian.

She was a graduate of Scott High School in Foster, W.Va.

She began her teaching career at Wells High School, moving to Oak Glen. She taught Biology, Advanced Biology, Anatomy and Physiology.

She was a member of Presbyterian Church in Chester.

She is survived by her husband, David Jester; daughters, Kathleen Thomas and Sharon Hays of Winter Garden, Fla.; brother, Lawrence Cabell of Charlottesville, Va.; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

In compliance with West Virginia State regulations with concerns of the COVID-19 virus a private family service will be held at the Arner Funeral Chapel.

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Chloe Jester | News, Sports, Jobs - The Review

Physiology

The Big O: Who has it better? – The Big Smoke Australia

One Australian study has reached a climax in deciding who experiences the best orgasm. I need a cigarette.

We dont need a formal study to know that the arousal process differs significantly for men and women but when it comes to the actual orgasm, whose experience is better? This age-old question is on everybodys lips at the moment, so we peeled back the cover on some global research from AsapSCIENCEto see if we could arouse a definitive answer as to Who has a better orgasm males or females?

What we immediately learned from our deep dive into the Big O was that there are many similarities in how those fireworks actually feel for men and women. For example, researchers asked college students of both genders to explain how an orgasm feels. After removing any words that specifically referred to genitalia, they were left with an orgy of very similar words, suggesting that males and females feel a very similar experience during their apogee. This may be because irrespective of whether you stand or sit to pee, an identical physiological process occurs in both genders in order for that climax to occur.

Another similarity is the ability of both men and women to enjoy multiple orgasms. Due to these little beauts typically lacking a refractory period, they have long been identified as womens only business; however, in recent times it has been discovered that men can also enjoy in these repeated pleasures. Historically, male orgasms were thought only to occur simultaneously with ejaculation, but research has confirmed that before or after ejaculation, men are capable of non-ejaculatory orgasms.

AsapSCIENCE also identified that post-O, both men and women experience a distinct feeling of drowsiness, which is attributed to a surge in the hormone called prolactin.

Now, interestingly, if you have a busy schedule planned post-coitus, then you may like to consider finishing yourself off because science has shown that four times the amount of that drowsy-inducing hormone is released after intercourse, compared to the amount released after an orgasm achieved via masturbation.

By now youre forgiven for thinking that perhaps males and females do have a similar experience when it comes to climactic fervour. However, lets now take a quick perve at the differences.

A national Australian study exploring heterosexual sex found that women tend to experience orgasms less often than men (69% versus 95% of all sexual encounters), but when they do get there, the actual climax itself goes for longer (20+ seconds for females versus 3 to 10 seconds for males).

Interestingly, the type of sex youre engaging in was also found to contribute to your climactic experience. For example, one study revealed that while the rate of orgasm among straight and gay men was similar, the rate of orgasm for women varied significantly by sexual orientation.

Straight women reportedly have around 12% fewer orgasms than gay women; 25% of who indicated they climaxed in 100% of instances. Whats more, 50% of gay women suggested they orgasmed in more than 75% of their sexual encounters. And if thats not enough to make you admire the tribe, lesbians were found to engage in sex for an average duration of 30 to 45 minutes, compared to a meagre 15 to 30 minutes of sexual activity by straight women.

Whether women will or wont get there was also found to be influenced by genetics, with one study involving twins suggesting that the genetic makeup of women can predict one-third of the likelihood of whether or not she will climax during sex.

Of course, when you think about it, men and women are physiologically designed to have similar experiences, and the orgasm is no exception. Being part of your partners orgasm typically enhances your own climactic experience, and this is no coincidence. We need to be able to understand and relate to each other, in order for emotional connections to occur.

So there you have it; the bare naked facts, all laid out. But who has the upper hand in the orgasm stakes?

From an evolutionary perspective, we are all designed to enjoy the moment, and physiologically speaking, the process to ensure an orgasm occurs is identical in both men and women.

The bottom line is, that while differences definitely exist for males and females during those OMG moments, these discrepancies are most likely due to individual factors such as psychology, anatomy and physiology. The best thing you can do to ensure your endings are always as happy as they can possibly be, is to know how best to please yourself, and then let your partner in on the secrets.

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The Big O: Who has it better? - The Big Smoke Australia

Neuroscience

Study Reveals New Role of Astrocytes in Brain Function | Neuroscience – Sci-News.com

Astrocytes play a direct role in the regulation of neuronal circuits involved in learning and memory, according to new research from Baylor College of Medicine and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Huang et al reveal region-specific transcriptional dependencies for astrocytes and identify astrocytic NFIA as a key transcriptional regulator of hippocampal circuits. Image credit: Huang et al, doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.03.025.

Astrocytes are star-shaped glial cells in the brain and spinal cord.

They have unique cellular, molecular and functional properties and outnumber neurons by over fivefold. They occupy distinct brain regions, indicating regional specialization.

There is evidence suggesting that transcription factors proteins involved in controlling gene expression regulate astrocyte diversity.

A team led by Professor Benjamin Deneen from Baylor College of Medicine looked to get a better understanding of the role transcription factor NFIA, a known regulator of astrocyte development, played in adult mouse brain functions.

The researchers worked with a mouse model they had genetically engineered to lack the NFIA gene specifically in adult astrocytes in the entire brain.

They analyzed several brain regions, looking for alterations in astrocyte morphology, physiology and gene expression signatures.

We found that NFIA-deficient astrocytes presented defective shapes and altered functions, Professor Deneen said.

Surprisingly, although the NFIA gene was eliminated in all brain regions, only the astrocytes in the hippocampus were severely altered. Other regions, such as the cortex and the brain stem, were not affected.

Astrocytes in the hippocampus also had less calcium activity calcium is an indicator of astrocyte function as well as a reduced ability to detect neurotransmitters released from neurons.

NFIA-deficient astrocytes also were not as closely associated with neurons as normal astrocytes.

Importantly, all these morphological and functional alterations were linked to defects in the animals ability to learn and remember, providing the first evidence that astrocytes are to some extent controlling the neuronal circuits that mediate learning and memory.

Astrocytes in the brain are physically close to and communicate with neurons. Neurons release molecules that astrocytes can detect and respond to, Professor Deneen said.

We propose that NFIA-deficient astrocytes are not able to listen to neurons as well as normal astrocytes, and, therefore, they cannot respond appropriately by providing the support needed for efficient memory circuit function and neuronal transmission. Consequently, the circuit is disrupted, leading to impaired learning and memory.

The findings were published online in the journal Neuron.

_____

Anna Yu-Szu Huang et al. Region-Specific Transcriptional Control of Astrocyte Function Oversees Local Circuit Activities. Neuron, published online April 21, 2020; doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.03.025

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Study Reveals New Role of Astrocytes in Brain Function | Neuroscience - Sci-News.com

Neuroscience

Can Rats AI Rats, That is Shed Light on How Neural Networks Work? – HPCwire

Rats have long been highly-valued model organisms helping researchers better understand biology and pursue drug development. Now, researchers from Harvard and DeepMind say AI-versions of rats can help humans better understand how AI neural networks learn and develop and how their counterparts in real life work. An interesting account of their work appear on IEEE Spectrum today.

Heres brief excerpt from the article written by Edd Gent:

[A]uthors ofa new paperdue to be presented this week at theInternational Conference on Learning Representationshave created a biologically-accurate 3D model of a rat that can be controlled by a neural network in a simulated environment. They also showed that they could use neuroscience techniques foranalyzing biological brain activityto understand how the neural net controlled the rats movements.

The platform could be the neuroscience equivalent of a wind tunnel, saysJesse Marshall, co-author and postdoctoral researcher at Harvard, by letting researchers test different neural networks with varying degrees of biological realism to see how well they tackle complex challenges.

Typical experiments in neuroscience probe the brains of animals performing single behaviors, like lever tapping, while most robots are tailor-made to solve specific tasks, like home vacuuming, he says. This paper is the start of our effort to understand how flexibility arises and is implemented in the brain, and use the insights we gain todesign artificial agents with similar capabilities.

Its a fascinating idea. The researchers built the AI rat model (muscles, joints, vision, movement. Etc.) based on observing real rats and then trained a neural network to guide the rat through four tasksjumping over a series of gaps, foraging in a maze, trying to escape a hilly environment, and performing precisely-timed pairs of taps on a ball.

As the rats improved at the tasks the researchers were abler to watch the controlling neural networks develop. Its early work, and the researchers agree that because they built the model much of what they learned was expected. One interesting insight, though, was that the neural activity seemed to occur over longer timescales than would be expected if it was directly controlling muscle forces and limb movements, according to Diego Aldarondo, a co-author and graduate student at Harvard.

He is quoted in the article, This implies that the network represents behaviors at an abstract scale of running, jumping, spinning, and other intuitive behavioral categories, he says, a cognitive model that has previously been proposed to exist in animals. This kind of work, says the researchers, will help understand both how neural networks evolve and also provide insight into how biology neural networks work.

Link to the IEEE Spectrum article by Ed Gent: https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/artificial-intelligence/machine-learning/ai-powered-rat-valuable-new-tool-neuroscience

Link to the paper: https://openreview.net/forum?id=SyxrxR4KPS

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Can Rats AI Rats, That is Shed Light on How Neural Networks Work? - HPCwire

Neuroscience

Forming New Habits in the Era of the Coronavirus – ScienceBlog.com

With the coronavirus pandemic upon us, people are readily forming new habits, such as washing their hands more frequently and communicating with colleagues over video platforms like Zoom. Which of these habits will stick when the pandemic is over and which will pass?

Colin Camerer, the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics and the T&C Chen Center for Social and Decision Neuroscience Leadership Chair in the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech, is looking into this question of habit formation, or what scientists call habitization. He says that the coronavirus pandemic may have ripple effects that lead to lasting behavioral changes in the arenas of public health, education, and more.

Camerer is apioneer in the field of behavioral economics, which combines economics, psychology, and neuroscience to better understand the choices people make. For example, in 2018, he and his colleagues performeda study showing that people prefer somewhere between eight and 15 choiceswhen it comes to making shopping decisions; more than that, and they experience what psychologists call choice overload.

Now, Camerer has turned his attention to the habits people are forming in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak. We spoke with him about these habits, if they will persist, and his plans for future studies.

When people get up in the morning, for the first five minutes, they do things that are very routine. They may go to the refrigerator and look for some iced tea or make coffee. Thats when the motor system is taking over for the brain, and you have a habit. The habits are saving time and energy. For instance, right now because of the coronavirus, people are washing their hands more than they ever did before. This may become even more habitized in the future. Youll go to the bathroom or the kitchen and see soap, or a sanitizer dispenser when youre at an airport, and the sight of those things will act as what we call a cue. Its basically classical conditioning. Youll see that cue and think, Oh, in the past, when I saw that cue, I washed my hands. It can be very automatic.

Fighting the virus on the front lines is critically important, but its also relevant to think about changing behaviors. Take the washing-hands example. People have come to understand in this pandemic that the regular flu kills a lot of people, and these are mostly the same types of people who are vulnerable to COVID-19: older people and those with weakened immune systems. For decades, doctors have been saying, Please wash your hands at home and after you shake hands, etc. Its essentially the same advice we are receiving for COVID-19. If people become habitized to hand washing more regularly in the future, this could save a lot of lives from the flu for many years into the future. Of course, this is just speculation at this point, but it is something we want to look into further.

In general, our team is planning to do research on what gets habitized and what doesnt. There often are unintended consequences or ripple effects from outbreaks like this. We want to know if there are positive spillover effects of behavior that we should have been doing all along. Funding agencies like the NSF [National Science Foundation] and NIH [National Institutes of Health] realize this and know that changing behavior is an important part of the equation.

There is always a big social science behavior component with outbreaks. With AIDS, we saw behavioral changes, such as people wearing condoms and programs for needle exchanges. Studying these behavioral patterns is important because its about public health and, ideally, addressing them can be cheaper and more effortless than using financial incentives.

We also want to look at education at the college level. Universities, including Caltech, have transitioned to online learning, which has many advantages. Students can watch lectures online whenever they want, and when theyre most attentive and not sleepy or stressed, and they can press rewind. I think that going forward a lot of professors will adopt a flipped classroom model, where they will make videos for their lectures and use the classroom for discussion. Weve already seen that, in many cases, students like this better. The open question we want to look at is: What habits formed during this pandemic will continue into the physical classroom?

I think a lot of knowledge work, for example writing jobs or those in law and tech, will move to telecommuting. If you ask people what makes them happy and unhappy and what drives them crazy, the worst things are losing a job, losing a spouse, and other obvious things that are really terrible. If you ask about everyday things, youll hear a lot of people complain about commuting. They want to be able to work from home. The big fear for a lot of businesses in letting people work at home is that they think people will sit in their pajamas and goof off. And theres often somebody in an organization who resists the change.

But now the change has been forced upon us. Companies will realize telecommuting is actually a valuable perk, and employees are happier and efficient. This is called forced experimentation. Forced experiments have a benefit for behavioral economists, because they let us ask questions: Are there things we should have been doing before that, if forced to try now, will make a really, really big difference in how we work and live and teach?

Ill tell you a story thats a small bit of evidence that there are better ways to do things or better routines that people dont always explore. There was a study about the London subway, the Tube. Its a huge sprawling system, and lots of people commute on the Tube in the morning. The Tube workers went on strike because they didnt think they were treated well, but the strike was only 48 hours and only took place on part of the Tube system.

From a scientific point of view, this is a natural experiment: you can look at what happened to the people who commuted during the strike areas where there were no trains running and the people had to find a different train route to get to work, and you can compare them to people who, on the same days, could keep their regular commute. The result of this forced experiment was that 5 percent of the workers found a slightly better commute.

The whole point of a habit is that youre on autopilot, you dont try out new things. But trying out new things can be beneficial.

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Neuroscience

Cover Corona outbreak: NEUROSCIENCE ANTIBODIES AND ASSAYS Market Size Consumption Comparison by Application (2020-2025) – Cole of Duty

Recent report on NEUROSCIENCE ANTIBODIES AND ASSAYS Market Size by Application, By Types, By Regional Outlook Global Industry Analysis, Share, Growth, Opportunity, Latest Trends, and Forecast to 2025.

NEUROSCIENCE ANTIBODIES AND ASSAYSMarket is estimated to reach xxx million USD in 2020 and projected to grow at the CAGR of xx% during 2020-2026

Download Premium Sample Copy Of This Report:Download FREE Sample PDF!

Global NEUROSCIENCE ANTIBODIES AND ASSAYS Market to reach USD 5.1 billion by 2025.

Global NEUROSCIENCE ANTIBODIES AND ASSAYS Market valued approximately USD 2.1 billion in 2016 is anticipated to grow with a healthy growth rate of more than 10.3% over the forecast period 2017-2025. The increasing automation of high-throughput screening and the availability of robust data management software tools, which enable researchers to develop systemic and process-oriented approaches toward neuroscience antibodies and assays techniques are some of the factors contributing to the growth of this segment.

The objective of the study is to define market sizes of different segments & countries in recent years and to forecast the values to the coming eight years. The report is designed to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the industry within each of the regions and countries involved in the study. Furthermore, the report also caters the detailed information about the crucial aspects such as driving factors & challenges which will define the future growth of the market. Additionally, the report shall also incorporate available opportunities in micro markets for stakeholders to invest along with the detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product offerings of key players. The detailed segments and sub-segment of the market are explained below:

By Product oReagents oInstrumentsBy TechnologyoImmunoassayoMolecular DiagnosticsBy End UseroResearch InstitutesoHospitalsBy Regions:oNorth AmericaoU.S.oCanadaoEuropeoUKoGermanyoAsia PacificoChinaoIndiaoJapanoRest of the World

Furthermore, years considered for the study are as follows:

Historical year 2015Base year 2016Forecast period 2017 to 2025

Some of the key manufacturers involved in the market are. 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. Acquisitions and effective mergers are some of the strategies adopted by the key manufacturers. New product launches and continuous technological innovations are the key strategies adopted by the major players.

Target Audience of the Global NEUROSCIENCE ANTIBODIES AND ASSAYS in Market Study:

oKey Consulting Companies & AdvisorsoLarge, medium-sized, and small enterprisesoVenture capitalistsoValue-Added Resellers (VARs)oThird-party knowledge providersoInvestment bankersoInvestors

Have Any Query Or Specific Requirement?Ask Our Industry Experts!

Table of Contents:

Study Coverage:It includes study objectives, years considered for the research study, growth rate and NEUROSCIENCE ANTIBODIES AND ASSAYS market size of type and application segments, key manufacturers covered, product scope, and highlights of segmental analysis.

Executive Summary:In this section, the report focuses on analysis of macroscopic indicators, market issues, drivers, and trends, competitive landscape, CAGR of the global NEUROSCIENCE ANTIBODIES AND ASSAYS market, and global production. Under the global production chapter, the authors of the report have included market pricing and trends, global capacity, global production, and global revenue forecasts.

NEUROSCIENCE ANTIBODIES AND ASSAYS Market Size by Manufacturer: Here, the report concentrates on revenue and production shares of manufacturers for all the years of the forecast period. It also focuses on price by manufacturer and expansion plans and mergers and acquisitions of companies.

Production by Region:It shows how the revenue and production in the global market are distributed among different regions. Each regional market is extensively studied here on the basis of import and export, key players, revenue, and production.

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Cover Corona outbreak: NEUROSCIENCE ANTIBODIES AND ASSAYS Market Size Consumption Comparison by Application (2020-2025) - Cole of Duty

Neuroscience

COVID-19: Potential impact on Surge in the Adoption of Neuroscience to Fuel the Growth of the Neuroscience Market Through the Assessment…

In this report, the global Neuroscience market is valued at USD XX million in 2019 and is projected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% during the period 2019 to 2025.

Persistence Market Research recently published a market study that sheds light on the growth prospects of the global Neuroscience market during the forecast period (20XX-20XX). In addition, the report also includes a detailed analysis of the impact of the novel COVID-19 pandemic on the future prospects of the Neuroscience market. The report provides a thorough evaluation of the latest trends, market drivers, opportunities, and challenges within the global Neuroscience market to assist our clients arrive at beneficial business decisions.

The Neuroscience market report firstly introduced the basics: definitions, classifications, applications and market overview; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures, raw materials and so on. Then it analyzed the worlds main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, supply, demand and market growth rate and forecast etc. In the end, the Neuroscience market report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.

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Resourceful insights enclosed in the report:

The major players profiled in this Neuroscience market report include:

Company Profiles

For any queries get in touch with Industry Expert @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.co/ask-an-expert/13390

The market report addresses the following queries related to the Neuroscience market:

The study objectives of Neuroscience Market Report are:

To analyze and research the Neuroscience market status and future forecast in United States, European Union and China, involving sales, value (revenue), growth rate (CAGR), market share, historical and forecast.

To present the Neuroscience manufacturers, presenting the sales, revenue, market share, and recent development for key players.

To split the breakdown data by regions, type, companies and applications

To analyze the global and key regions Neuroscience market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.

To identify significant trends, drivers, influence factors in global and regions

To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the Neuroscience market.

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COVID-19: Potential impact on Surge in the Adoption of Neuroscience to Fuel the Growth of the Neuroscience Market Through the Assessment...

Neuroscience

WATCH: A Brigham and Women’s bedside nurse shares reality of patient care – Boston.com

Coronavirus is affecting everyday life even for those who have not been infected. We aresharing storiesof its impact on local people. To share your own, please submitthis formor email us atcommunity@boston.com.

This story was submitted by Melissa Coughlin, a registered nurse in the neuroscience unit at Brigham and Womens Hospital.

I am a mother, wife, daughter, substitute school nurse, camp nurse, graduate advanced practice nurse (APN) student, member of my towns Board of Health, and a 20-year bedside nurse at the Brigham and Womens Hospitals neuroscience unit, but not a writer, never a writer.

I saw the opportunity to submit a personal account of our experience on the front lines and I must write. I must write to share what our patients cannot tell you. I must write to share what my colleagues have seen and are doing what you must know.

Almost twenty years ago, September 11, 2001, I biked to work from my apartment in Watertown knowing that this day would change my life forever. It was my first day as a nurse. Around 9 a.m. my life really did change forever; all our lives changed. The first tower came down. I watched from my first-ever patients room. Life as a nurse became real. So real. I learned most of it was not taught in the classroom. Empathy, compassion, handholding, getting to know my patients, who they are, who they were, what they need, how they feel, their fears, and dreams.

In the past twenty years, I have held hands with patients who are dying, who are getting news about new brain tumors, new strokes, new diagnoses of MS; the list is endless. I have held hands with family members while their loved ones are being diagnosed with horrible life-changing diseases.

This is different; worse, so much worse. We are scared. We are holding down the fort. We are gowned and gloved and covered. We cannot hold hands with the family members. We cannot hug them. We deny them the rights to be at their loved ones sides. We tell them, No. When we tell their wife, son, daughter, husband, mother, or father that their beloved relative will likely not make it through the weekend, we do it over FaceTime.

COVID-19 has stripped our humanity.

I do not work on a COVID-19 unit. I am not deployed. I am on our step-down unit and will stay to care for our population of extremely sick neuro patients. We have COVID-19 patients under investigation, we have recovering COVID-19 patients, and we have lots of enhanced respiratory precaution patients. We have sick patients. Patients who are alert enough to be scared, lonely and who know they are sick enough to have to be there.

Nurses are stretched beyond anything we have ever dreamed of. We are the family members, we are the eyes for the doctors, we are the therapists, we go into the room. When we have a critical event, we gown up and go into the room. We do not social distance. We cant.

Yet, despite the daily unknowns, we show up. We actually climb the stairs and show up. Yes, the elevators only allow four riders. So we walk up the stairs with masks on to get to work. My unit is on the tenth and twelfth floors. We climb literally and metaphorically to work every day.

We do not need praise. I promise you this is not why we do this. We do not consider ourselves heroes. We all just want this to be over. I assure you this is not media hype. This is very real. We want our patients to get the care and love they deserve. We want to feel safe.

We want our humanity back.

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Neuroscience

University study shows faulty cell cleanup in the brain may lead to long lasting neurological issues – University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

The process of neurodevelopment is responsible for creating neurological pathways in the brain that are responsible for controlling our movements, body functions and helping us retain memories. According to the Brighton Center for Pediatric Neurodevelopment, neurodevelopment sets a person up for the rest of their life and is a critical function. During this process, over half of the neurons die, a process called cell cleanup or dieback, in order to ensure the strongest neurological connections. A group of University neuroscientists and researchers discovered the importance of the AIM2 cell cleanup pathway as it relates to faulty cell cleanup and possible reactivation later in life.

Dr. John Lukens, assistant professor of medicine and principal investigator, notes the importance of neurodevelopment.

If there's any kind of perturbations or changes in the kinetics, it can have long lasting issues that lead to things like neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and schizophrenia, Lukens said.

There are a variety of issues that lead to too much or little cell cleanup. According to Lukens, early infections soon after birth, exposure to neurotoxic chemicals, oxygen levels in the brain and other infections such as Zika virus can all have negative impacts on the development.

If you have a neuron that has issues straight out of the gate, it has all these errors in the DNA that's basically going to have a result in a faulty neuronal connection being in the brain from a very early time point, Lukens said.

The John Lukens Lab, where the research project took place, is part of the neuroscience department at the University and focuses on immunological pathways and the development of neurodegenerative, neurodevelopmental, mental and behavioral disorders.

The research team consisting of neuroscience graduate student Catherine Lammert, postdoctoral fellow Elizabeth Frost, undergraduate lab researcher Calli Bellinger, neuroscience graduate student Ashley Bolte, Washington University neuroscience graduate student Celia McKee, data science graduate student Mariah Hurt, cognitive sciences undergraduate student Matt Paysour, neuroscience graduate student Hannah Ennerfelt and Lukens discovered a pathway that helps to control DNA damage and ensure proper neurodevelopment. Their discovery was somewhat of a chance discovery stemming from unexpected results from their initial focus on traumatic brain injury.

Before moving forward with the initial trauma experiment, they tested mice to measure their motor coordination and discovered that mice and other animals lacking a specific cell cleanup pathway, AIM2 inflammasome, performed very poorly. The molecular pathway detects neurons that are faulty in order to ensure dangerous neurons do not get incorporated to the brain.

The team found that a lot of people with mutations or those that lack the AIM2 inflammasome have neurodevelopmental disorders amongst other diseases.

Manipulating this pathway to help the developing nervous system to eliminate those cells could potentially provide at least biomarkers or therapeutic targets to treat neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, Lukens said.

The use of the pathway could potentially be useful later in life as well as earlier in life.

As people grow older, the pathways that repair DNA become less effective. According to Lukens, it is thought that the acquisition of DNA damage overtime causes the degenerating of our organs, or atrophy.

As there are currently no treatments that treat the underlying causes of neurological diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Alzheimers, the possibility of reactivating the pathway later in life could potentially hold back neurodegeneration.

Lukens also emphasized the pathway can get inadvertently reactivated in old age due to DNA damage and if not controlled, can have negative consequences.

Lammert, who worked on the project for just under five years, thinks that treatments are far away but notes that many papers have shown inflammasomes to be important.

I think that the main really cool thing about this finding is that inflammasomes, which usually are activated in response to an infection or some kind of exogenous danger signal actually respond in the brain just at baseline and not responding to any disease or damage, Lammert said. In terms of treatment for things, it's just maybe shedding light on a new pathway that could be targeted.

The teams discovery is the tip of the iceberg in regard to possible neurological disease treatment and prevention. The pathway could be a possible target to combat neurological diseases such as ALS or alzheimers.

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University study shows faulty cell cleanup in the brain may lead to long lasting neurological issues - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily