Genetics

Non-random genetic alterations in the cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. exposed to space conditions | Scientific Reports – Nature.com

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Non-random genetic alterations in the cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. exposed to space conditions | Scientific Reports - Nature.com

Genetics

Insights on the Genetic Testing Global Market to 2027 – by Type, Technology, Application and Region – Ben – Benzinga

DUBLIN, July 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Genetic Testing Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global genetic testing market reached a value of US$ 14.36 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach a value of US$ 26.39 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 10.67% during 2021-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different end use sectors. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.

Genetic testing, or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing, refers to a medical technique that identifies changes in the chromosome structure or DNA sequence. It includes the collection and analysis of individual blood samples for examining the genetic condition and the chances of developing or passing various inherited disorders in laboratory settings.

Genetic testing assists in providing accurate results regarding gene mutation, eliminating the need for unnecessary checkups, and making informed decisions to manage health. At present, genetic testing is commercially available in varying types, such as carrier, diagnostic, predictive, presymptomatic and prenatal testing.

The increasing prevalence of genetic and chronic disorders across the growth represents the key factor driving the genetic testing market growth. This is further supported by the implementation of numerous favorable initiatives undertaken by the government bodies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for sensitizing masses regarding genetic testing. In line with this, the extensive utilization of genetic testing in pharmacogenomics, or drug-gene testing for examining the response of the body against certain medicines after its interaction with inherited genes, is contributing as another growth-inducing factor.

Additionally, the sudden outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has led to the widespread adoption of virtual testing and the home testing kits for sample collection purposes, which, in turn, is contributing to the market growth. The tremendous technological advancements in genetic testing techniques along with the introduction of DTC-GT (Direct-to-consumer genetic testing) kits are further propelling the market growth. Other factors, such as rising investments in the research and development (R&D) activities in the field of medical science, along with the strategic collaboration amongst top players for launching advanced personalized genetic testing kits, are creating a positive outlook for the market.

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being 23andme Inc., Ambry Genetics Corporation (Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas Inc.), Bio-RAD Laboratories Inc., Cepheid (Danaher Corporation), Eurofins Scientific, Illumina Inc., Invitae Corporation, Luminex Corporation (DiaSorin), Myriad Genetics Inc., QIAGEN, Quest Diagnostics and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Key Questions Answered in This Report:

Key Topics Covered:

1 Preface

2 Scope and Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Introduction4.1 Overview4.2 Key Industry Trends

5 Global Genetic Testing Market5.1 Market Overview5.2 Market Performance5.3 Impact of COVID-195.4 Market Forecast

6 Market Breakup by Type6.1 Predictive and Presymptomatic Testing6.1.1 Market Trends6.1.2 Market Forecast6.2 Carrier Testing6.2.1 Market Trends6.2.2 Market Forecast6.3 Prenatal and Newborn Testing6.3.1 Market Trends6.3.2 Market Forecast6.4 Diagnostic Testing6.4.1 Market Trends6.4.2 Market Forecast6.5 Pharmacogenomic Testing6.5.1 Market Trends6.5.2 Market Forecast6.6 Others6.6.1 Market Trends6.6.2 Market Forecast

7 Market Breakup by Technology7.1 Cytogenetic Testing and Chromosome Analysis7.1.1 Market Trends7.1.2 Market Forecast7.2 Biochemical Testing7.2.1 Market Trends7.2.2 Market Forecast7.3 Molecular Testing7.3.1 Market Trends7.3.2 Key Segments7.3.2.1 DNA Sequencing7.3.2.1 Others7.3.3 Market Forecast

8 Market Breakup by Application8.1 Cancer Diagnosis8.1.1 Market Trends8.1.2 Market Forecast8.2 Genetic Disease Diagnosis8.2.1 Market Trends8.2.2 Market Forecast8.3 Cardiovascular Disease Diagnosis8.3.1 Market Trends8.3.2 Market Forecast8.4 Others8.4.1 Market Trends8.4.2 Market Forecast

9 Market Breakup by Region

10 SWOT Analysis

11 Value Chain Analysis

12 Porters Five Forces Analysis

13 Price Analysis

14 Competitive Landscape14.1 Market Structure14.2 Key Players14.3 Profiles of Key Players14.3.1 23andme Inc.14.3.1.1 Company Overview14.3.1.2 Product Portfolio14.3.2 Ambry Genetics Corporation (Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas Inc.)14.3.2.1 Company Overview14.3.2.2 Product Portfolio14.3.3 Bio-RAD Laboratories Inc.14.3.3.1 Company Overview14.3.3.2 Product Portfolio14.3.3.3 Financials14.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis14.3.4 Cepheid (Danaher Corporation)14.3.4.1 Company Overview14.3.4.2 Product Portfolio14.3.4.3 SWOT Analysis14.3.5 Eurofins Scientific14.3.5.1 Company Overview14.3.5.2 Product Portfolio14.3.5.3 Financials14.3.5.4 SWOT Analysis14.3.6 Illumina Inc.14.3.6.1 Company Overview14.3.6.2 Product Portfolio14.3.6.3 Financials14.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis14.3.7 Invitae Corporation14.3.7.1 Company Overview14.3.7.2 Product Portfolio14.3.7.3 Financials14.3.8 Luminex Corporation (DiaSorin)14.3.8.1 Company Overview14.3.8.2 Product Portfolio14.3.8.3 SWOT Analysis14.3.9 Myriad Genetics Inc.14.3.9.1 Company Overview14.3.9.2 Product Portfolio14.3.9.3 Financials14.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis14.3.10 QIAGEN14.3.10.1 Company Overview14.3.10.2 Product Portfolio14.3.10.3 Financials14.3.10.4 SWOT Analysis14.3.11 Quest Diagnostics14.3.11.1 Company Overview14.3.11.2 Product Portfolio14.3.11.3 Financials14.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis14.3.12 Thermo Fisher Scientific14.3.12.1 Company Overview14.3.12.2 Product Portfolio14.3.12.3 Financials14.3.12.4 SWOT Analysis

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/te1d65

Media Contact:

Research and MarketsLaura Wood, Senior Managerpress@researchandmarkets.com

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Insights on the Genetic Testing Global Market to 2027 - by Type, Technology, Application and Region - Ben - Benzinga

Neuroscience

Finding the Right Memory Strategy to Slow Cognitive Decline – Neuroscience News

Summary: Study compares two forms of cognitive training used to help those with mild cognitive impairment to improve memory and learning.

Source: University of Michigan

Whats the best way to improve your memory as you age? Turns out, it depends, a new study suggests. But your fourth-grade math teacher may have been onto something with that phrase to help you remember how to work out a complicated problem: Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.

A new study led by researchers from the University of Michigan and Penn State College of Medicinecompared two approaches for people with an early form of memory loss.

The two are mnemonic strategy training, which aims to connect what someone is trying to remember to something else like a word, phrase or song (such as the Dear Aunt Sally mnemonic), and spaced retrieval training, which gradually increases the amount of time between tests of remembering something.

People with mild cognitive impairment, which can but does not always lead to a later Alzheimers disease diagnosis, were better able to remember information when using one of these cognitive training approaches. However, the data, and brain scans that revealed which areas of the brain were more active, showed each activity works differently.

Our research shows that we can help people with mild cognitive impairment improve the amount of information they learn and remember; however, different cognitive training approaches engage the brain in distinct ways, said lead and corresponding authorBenjamin Hampstead, Ph.D. Hampstead is a professor of psychiatry at Michigan Medicine and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System.

He directs theResearch Program on Cognition and Neuromodulation Based Interventionsand leads the Clinical Core and co-leads the Neuroimaging Core at the federally fundedMichigan Alzheimers Disease Research Center.

Mnemonic strategy training increased activity in brain areas often affected by Alzheimers disease, which likely explains why this training approach helped participants remember more information and for longer, Hampstead said.

In contrast, those completing rehearsal-based training showed reduced brain activity, which suggests they were processing the information more efficiently.

Hampstead and his team worked with Krish Sathian, MBBS, Ph.D., professor and chair of Penn States Department of Neurology and director of Penn State Neuroscience Institute. Sathian noted that cognitive training approaches are likely to become increasingly important in synergy with the new pharmacological treatments on the horizon for those with neurodegenerative disorders.

Moving forward, Hampstead said researchers and clinicians can use this type of information to help identify the best-fit non-pharmacologic treatments for their patients with memory impairment.

Additional authors include Anthony Y. Stringer, Ph.D. of Emory University, and U-M team members Alexandru D. Iordan, Ph.D. and Rob Ploutz-Snyder, Ph.D.

Author: Kara GavinSource: University of MichiganContact: Kara Gavin University of MichiganImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Closed access.Towards rational use of cognitive training in those with mild cognitive impairment by Benjamin Hampstead et al. Alzheimers Disease & Dementia

Abstract

Towards rational use of cognitive training in those with mild cognitive impairment

The term cognitive training includes a range of techniques that hold potential for treating cognitive impairment caused by neurologic injury and disease.

Ourcentral premiseis that these techniques differ in their mechanisms of action and therefore engage distinct brain regions (or neural networks).

We support this premise using data from a single-blind randomized-controlled trial in which patients with mild cognitive impairment were randomized to either mnemonic strategy training (MST) or spaced retrieval training (SRT) as they learned ecologically relevant object-location associations.

Both training approaches were highly effective in the short term, but MST demonstrated a clear advantage after days to weeks. MST also increased activation in and functional connectivity between frontal, temporal, and parietal regions as well as the hippocampus.

In contrast, patterns of reduced activation and functional connectivity were evident following SRT. These findings support the rational development of cognitive training techniques.

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Finding the Right Memory Strategy to Slow Cognitive Decline - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Self-Reflection Linked to Improved Late-Life Cognition and Brain Health – Neuroscience News

Summary: A persons ability to self-reflect is associated with cognition and glucose metabolism later in life, a new study finds. Those who engage in more self-reflection had improved cognition, better overall brain health, and increased glucose metabolism later in life.

Source: UCL

Self-reflection is positively associated with cognition late in life as well as glucose metabolism, a marker of brain health, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.

The authors of the new study, published inNeurology, say thatolder adultswho engage inself-reflectionmay have a reduced risk ofdementia.

Lead author, Ph.D. student Harriet Demnitz-King (UCL Psychiatry), says that there is a growing body of evidence finding that positive psychological factors, such as purpose in life and conscientiousness, may reduce the risk of dementia.

Finding further ways to reduce the risk of dementia is an urgent priority, so we hope that as self-reflection capabilities can be improved upon, it could be a useful tool in helping people to stay cognitively healthy as they age.

Anyone can engage in self-reflection and potentially increase how much they self-reflect, as it is not dependent onphysical healthor socioeconomic factors.

The study used cross-sectional data (rather than reporting results of the trial interventions) from two clinical trials, Age-Well and SCD-Well, that included a total of 259 participants with mean ages of 69 and 73. They answered questions about reflective pondering, measuring how often they think about and try to understand their thoughts and feelings.

The researchers found that people who engaged more in self-reflection had better cognition and improvedglucose metabolismas shown by brain imaging. The researchers did not find any association with amyloid deposition, the build-up of harmful brain proteins linked to Alzheimers disease.

Previous research has shown that self-reflection capabilities can be improved with a recently tested psychological intervention, and the researchers say that such a program might be useful for people at risk of dementia.

Harriet Demnitz-King explained that other studies have found that a self-reflective thinking style leads to a more adaptive stress response, with evidence even showing improvements ininflammatory responsesto stress and better cardiovascular health, so this may be how self-reflection could improve our resilience againstcognitive decline.

They caution that while their findings suggest that engagement in self-reflection helps to preserve cognition, they cannot rule out that it might instead be that people with better cognition are also better able to self-reflect, and suggest that more, longitudinal research is needed to determine the direction of causation.

Senior author Dr. Natalie Marchant (UCL Psychiatry) says that with no disease-modifying treatments yet available, it is important that we find ways to prevent dementia; by finding out which factors make dementia or cognitive decline more or less likely, we may be able to develop ways to target these factors and reduce dementia risk.

Self-reflection has also been associated with other benefits, such as recovery from depression and better cardiovascular health, so even if we cannot confirm exactly how it might impact cognitive decline, there is other evidence showing its overall benefits.

Previous studies by Dr. Marchant have found that repetitive negative thinking may increase the risk of Alzheimers disease, while mindfulness may help to improve cognition in older adults.

Dr. Richard Oakley, Associate Director of Research at Alzheimers Society, commented that in this study researchers showed for the first time that self-reflectionreflecting on your own thoughts, feelings and behaviorswas linked to better brain function in areas of thebrainknown to be affected by dementia.

While more research is needed to fully understand the implications of this finding, if self-reflection does seem to have a positive effect onbrain function, theres a chance one day we could reduce the risk of dementia with psychological treatments that help people build healthy thought patterns.

The number of people living with dementia in the UK is set to rise to 1.6 million by 2040the Government committing to double dementia research funding will ensure researchers can explore every way to reduce the risk.

Author: Chris LaneSource: UCLContact: Chris Lane UCLImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Closed access.Association Between Self-Reflection, Cognition, and Brain Health in Cognitively Unimpaired Older Adults by Harriet Demnitz-King et al. Neurology

Abstract

Association Between Self-Reflection, Cognition, and Brain Health in Cognitively Unimpaired Older Adults

Background and Objectives:Self-reflection (the active evaluation of ones thoughts, feelings and behaviours) can confer protection against adverse health outcomes. Its impact on markers sensitive to Alzheimers disease (AD), however, is unknown. The primary objective of this cross-sectional study was to examine the association between self-reflection and AD-sensitive markers.

Methods:This study utilised baseline data from cognitively unimpaired older adults enrolled in the Age-Well clinical trial and older adults with subjective cognitive decline from the SCD-Well clinical trial. In both cohorts, self-reflection was measured via the reflective pondering subscale of the Rumination Response Scale, global cognition assessed via the Preclinical Alzheimers Cognitive Composite 5, and a modified late-life Lifestyle-for-Brain-Health (LIBRA) index computed to assess health and lifestyle factors.

In Age-Well, glucose metabolism and amyloid deposition were quantified in AD-sensitive grey matter regions via FDG- and AV45-PET scans, respectively. Associations between self-reflection and AD-sensitive markers (global cognition, glucose metabolism, and amyloid deposition) were assessed via unadjusted and adjusted regressions. Further, we explored whether associations were independent of health and lifestyle factors. To control for multiple comparisons in Age-Well, false discovery rate correctedp-values (pFDR) are reported.

Results:A total of 134 (mean age 69.3 3.8 years, 61.9% female) Age-Well and 125 (mean age 72.6 6.9 years, 65.6% female) SCD-Well participants were included. Across unadjusted and adjusted analyses self-reflection was positively associated with global cognition in both cohorts (Age-Well: adjusted-= 0.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.05-0.40,pFDR= 0.041; SCD-Well: adjusted-= 0.18,95% CI 0.03-0.33,p= 0.023) and with glucose metabolism in Age-Well after adjustment for all covariates (adjusted-= 0.29, 95% CI 0.03-0.55,pFDR= 0.041). Associations remained following additional adjustment for LIBRA but did not survive FDR correction. Self-reflection was not associated with amyloid deposition (adjusted-= 0.13, 95% CI -0.07-0.34,pFDR= 0.189).

Discussion:Self-reflection was associated with better global cognition in two independent cohorts and with higher glucose metabolism after adjustment for covariates. There was weak evidence that relationships were independent from health and lifestyle behaviours. Longitudinal and experimental studies are warranted to elucidate whether self-reflection helps preserve cognition and glucose metabolism, or whether reduced capacity to self-reflect is a harbinger of cognitive decline and glucose hypometabolism.

Trial Registration:Age-Well:NCT02977819; SCD-Well:NCT03005652

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Self-Reflection Linked to Improved Late-Life Cognition and Brain Health - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Making a Memory Positive or Negative – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers discovered a specific neurotransmitter that helps assign either positive or negative emotions to memories.

Source: Salk Institute

Researchers at the Salk Institute and colleagues have discovered the molecule in the brain responsible for associating good or bad feelings with a memory.

Their discovery, published inNatureon July 20, 2022, paves the way for a better understanding of why some people are more likely to retain negative emotions than positive onesas can occur with anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Weve basically gotten a handle on the fundamental biological process of how you can remember if something is good or bad, says senior authorKay Tye, a professor in Salks Systems Neurobiology Laboratory and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. This is something thats core to our experience of life, and the notion that it can boil down to a single molecule is incredibly exciting.

For a human or animal to learn whether to avoid, or seek out, a particular experience again in the future, their brain must associate a positive or negative feeling, or valence with that stimulus. The brains ability to link these feelings with a memory is called valence assignment.

In 2016, Tye discovered that a group of neurons in the brains basolateral amygdala (BLA) helps assign valence when mice are learning. One set of BLA neurons was activated with positive valence, as the animals learned to associate a tone with a sweet taste. A separate set of BLA neurons was activated with negative valence, as the animals learned to associate a different tone with a bitter taste.

We found these two pathwaysanalogous to railroad tracksthat were leading to positive and negative valence, but we still didnt know what signal was acting as the switch operator to direct which track should be used at any given time, says Tye, holder of the Wylie Vale Chair.

In the new study, the researchers homed in on the importance of the signaling molecule neurotensin to these BLA neurons. They already knew that neurotensin is a neuropeptide produced by the cells associated with valence processing, but so are a few other neurotransmitters. So, they used CRISPR gene editing approaches to selectively remove the gene for neurotensin from the cellsthe first time that CRISPR has been used to isolate specific neurotransmitter function.

Without neurotensin signaling in the BLA, mice could no longer assign positive valence and didnt learn to associate the first tone with a positive stimulus. Interestingly, the absence of neurotensin did not block negative valence. The animals instead became even better at negative valence, having a stronger association between the second tone and a negative stimulus.

The findings suggest that the brains default state is to have a bias toward fearthe neurons associated with negative valence are activated until neurotensin is released, switching on the neurons associated with positive valence. From an evolutionary perspective, Tye says, this makes sense because it helps people avoid potentially dangerous situationsand it probably resonates with people who tend to find the worst in a situation.

In further experiments, Tye and her team showed that high levels of neurotensin promoted reward learning and dampened negative valence, further supporting the idea that neurotensin is responsible for positive valence.

We can actually manipulate this switch to turn on positive or negative learning, says co-first author Hao Li, a postdoctoral fellow in the Tye Lab. Ultimately, wed like to try to identify novel therapeutic targets for this pathway.

The researchers still have questions about whether levels of neurotensin can be modulated in peoples brains to treat anxiety or PTSD. They are also planning future studies to probe what other brain pathways and molecules are responsible for triggering the release of neurotensin.

Other authors of the paper were Matilde Borio, Mackenzie Lemieux, Austin Coley, Avraham Libster, Aneesh Bal, Caroline Jia, Jasmin Revanna, Kanha Batra, Kyle Fischer, Laurel Keyes, Nancy Padilla-Coreano and Romy Wichmann of Salk; Praneeth Namburi, Jacob Olson, Anna Beyeler, Gwendolyn Calhoon, Natsuko Hitora-Imamura, Ada Felix-Ortiz, Vernica de la Fuente, Vanessa Barth, Hunter King, Ehsan Izadmehr, Cody Siciliano and Ila Fiete of MIT; Xin Jin, Sourav Choudhury, Xi Shi and Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Huan Wang and Yulong Li of Peking University; and Kenneth McCullough and Kerry Ressler of Harvard Medical School.

Funding: The work was supported by the JPB Foundation, PIIF, PNDRF, JFDP, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, New York Stem Cell Foundation, Klingenstein Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Clayton Foundation, National Institutes of Health (R01-MH102441, RF1-AG047661, DP2-DK102256, DP1-AT009925, F32 MH115446-01 and K99 DA055111), the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, MEXT (15K21744, 17H06043), the Uehara Memorial Foundation, Singleton, Leventhal and Whitaker fellowships, a fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation and a Fulbright scholarship.

Author: Press OfficeSource: Salk InstituteContact: Press Office Salk InstituteImage: The image is credited to Salk Institute

Original Research: Closed access.Neurotensin orchestrates valence assignment in the amygdala by Kay Tye et al. Nature

Abstract

Neurotensin orchestrates valence assignment in the amygdala

The ability to associate temporally segregated information and assign positive or negative valence to environmental cues is paramount for survival. Studies have shown that different projections from the basolateral amygdala (BLA) are potentiated following reward or punishment learning.

However, we do not yet understand how valence-specific information is routed to the BLA neurons with the appropriate downstream projections, nor do we understand how to reconcile the sub-second timescales of synaptic plasticitywith the longer timescales separating the predictive cues from their outcomes.

Here we demonstrate that neurotensin (NT)-expressing neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) projecting to the BLA (PVT-BLA:NT) mediate valence assignment by exerting NT concentration-dependent modulation in BLA during associative learning.

We found that optogenetic activation of the PVT-BLA:NT projection promotes reward learning, whereas PVT-BLA projection-specific knockout of the NT gene (Nts) augments punishment learning. Using genetically encoded calcium and NT sensors, we further revealed that both calcium dynamics within the PVT-BLA:NT projection and NT concentrations in the BLA are enhanced after reward learning and reduced after punishment learning.

Finally, we showed that CRISPR-mediated knockout of theNtsgene in the PVT-BLA pathway blunts BLA neural dynamics and attenuates the preference for active behavioural strategies to reward and punishment predictive cues. In sum, we have identified NT as a neuropeptide that signals valence in the BLA, and showed that NT is a critical neuromodulator that orchestrates positive and negative valence assignment in amygdala neurons by extending valence-specific plasticity to behaviourally relevant timescales.

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Making a Memory Positive or Negative - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Neuroscience Says These 5 Simple Tricks Will Calm Your Anxiety Instantly – Inc.

Fortunately,we can point to simple techniques that neuroscience suggestswork effectively tomake people much less anxious--quicker than you think.

1. Listen to this specially designed song.

I'm putting this first because it's my favorite and I'm still shocked at how well it works.

A decade ago, British musicians teamed up with sound therapists to record a song called Weightlessnessthat stimulates specific neurological reactions: lower heart rate, lower blood pressure, and reduced levels of the stress hormone, cortisol.

"The song...contains a sustaining rhythm that starts at 60 beats per minute and gradually slows to around 50," explained Lyz Cooper, founder of the British Academy of Sound Therapy. "While listening, your heart rate gradually comes to match that beat."

It's just eight minutes long, andit works like a charm. I first tried it several years ago, and I've kept it bookmarked on my computer ever since. I'll embed a YouTube version at the end of this column.

2. Use the 4-7-8 breathing method.

Another very easy, almost too-good-to-be-true method that actually works. In short, by breathing in a very simple way, you can kick-start your parasympathetic nervous system, which causes the body to become calmer.

Repeat steps 3, 4 and 5 a total of three times. Bonus: If you're ever lying awake at night unable to sleep, the 4-7-8 method of breathing works wonders for that, too.

3. Get 45 minutes of vigorous exercise.

This one is fairly recent, and it comes from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Researchers studied 66 college students during the pandemic, and concluded that negative thoughts and anxiety were appreciably less prevalent when participants exercised:

Choose whatever works for your ambition and schedule; I tend to recommend the 45 minute version, simply because if part of what is creating anxiety is concern about getting things done, adding a 2-hour habit to your day might be a bit self-defeating.

4. Get some nature.

We have all kinds of studies to point to here. Two of my colleagues on Inc.com have written pretty extensively about how taking an "awe walk" in nature can make people feel less anxious -- even one lasting just 15 minutes.

You don't even have to walk, necessarily; researchers found that simply commuting to work through "outdoor spaces that contain 'green' and/or 'blue' natural elements" (think trees, grass, and bodies of water) made people less anxious.

For that matter, researchers at the University of Hyogo in Japan say that simply putting small plants on workers' desks in an office "contributed to their psychological stress reduction regardless of their age or plants choice."

Bottom line, it's a lot harder to be anxious when you're surrounded by green and blue.

5. Save it for later.

This last trick is less about shutting off anxiety than it is about making it manageable. In short, make a note about the things that make you anxious -- even a literal, written note -- and then promise yourself that you'll set a block of time later in the day to be worried about them.

Seriously, pick a time and put it on your schedule: "From 2 p.m. to 2:20 p.m. is my "worry time." Any other time of day, I jot down my worries so I can feel anxious about them at the appropriate time."

"This strategy focuses on not postponing your worries," psychologist Dr. Regine Galanti explained to Time, "[instead] setting up a time where you can worry all you want. ... [I]t sets boundaries, so when a worry comes up at 9 a.m., you can say, 'Hey, not now, your time is coming.'"

Perhaps the best part about this trick? By whatever time you've set aside for worrying, you'll often find you're no longer worried.

Bonus:Train your brain

As I write in my free e-book Neuroscience: 13 Ways to Understand and Train Your Brain for Life, there's nothing more fascinating than the human brain, and the unexpected ways in which it works.

If it helps to get rid ofanxiety, that has to be at the top of the list.

Here's the embed of the 8-minute song, Weightlessness,that I promised above. I recommend watching it within this article rather than clicking out, otherwise your calming music might be jarringly interrupted by an ad.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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Neuroscience Says These 5 Simple Tricks Will Calm Your Anxiety Instantly - Inc.

Neuroscience

Psychological Traits of Violent Extremism Investigated Using New Research Tool – Neuroscience News

Summary: The newly developed Extremist Archetypes Scale includes five dimensions of extremist archetypes.

Source: PLOS

Researchers have developed and validated a new tool known as the Extremist Archetypes Scale to help distinguish different psychological traits found among people engaged in violent extremism.

Milan Obaidi and Sara Skaar of the University of Oslo, Norway, and colleagues present the tool and validation results in the open-access journalPLOS ONEon July 20.

People who join violent extremist groups may differ widely in their motivations, knowledge, personalities, and other factors. However, research into violent extremism has often neglected this variation, limiting the scope and usefulness of such research. To help address this issue, Obaidi and colleagues built on earlier research to develop a new scale that captures heterogeneity among extremists.

Their new Extremist Archetypes Scale includes five dimensions of extremist archetypes: adventurer, fellow traveler, leader, drifter and misfit. An adventurer, for instance, may be drawn to extremism out of excitement and the prospect of being a hero, while a drifter may seek group belonging.

The researchers chose to treat archetypes as dimensions in order to allow for instances in which an extremist does not fall perfectly within a single archetype and to be able to capture a persons transition into an extremist archetype.

Next, the researchers conducted several analyses to help validate the Extremist Archetypes Scale. They tested associations between peoples scores on the scale and their scores on several well-established scales that evaluate personality traits, sociopolitical attitudes, ideologies, prejudice, and ethnic identification. In addition, they validated the scales applicability across diverse instances related to gender, political orientation, age, and ethnicity.

The validation analyses supported the predictive validity of the scaleincluding across political orientation and ethnicityas well as the idea that the archetypes consistently reflect different personality and behavioral profiles.

For instance, the adventurer archetype was associated with personality traits of extraversion and violent behavioral intentions, and the misfit was associated with narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.

The researchers suggest that application of their scale in future research could help inform counter-extremism efforts. They also note that they focused on group-based extremism, but future research could examine archetypes of extremists who act alone.

The authors add: The current research developed the Extremist Archetypes Scale, whichmeasures different archetype dimensions that reflect different motivations for joining extremist groups and obtaining different roles within them.

Author: Hanna AbdallahSource: PLOSContact: Hanna Abdallah PLOSImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Open access.Measuring extremist archetypes: Scale development and validation by Milan Obaidi et al. PLOS ONE

Abstract

Measuring extremist archetypes: Scale development and validation

Previous work has often disregarded the psychological heterogeneity of violent extremists. This research aimed to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the psychological diversity of violent extremists.

Based on qualitative work, we developed and validated the Extremist Archetypes Scale, identifying five distinct archetype dimensions: adventurer, fellow traveler, leader, drifter and misfit.

Study 1 identified five dimensions among White majority members (N= 307), four of which were related to extremist violent intentions and which dissociated in terms of sociopolitical ideologies and intergroup attitudes.

Preregistered Study 2 (N= 308) confirmed the scales five-factor solution in another sample of White majority members, replicated relationships with violent intentions, and demonstrated the dimensions distinct personality correlates.

As in Study 1, the archetype dimensions had positive associations with extremist violent intentions and tapped onto different psychological profiles in terms of major personality traits. Study 3 (N= 317) replicated these results in a sample of Muslim minority members.

Measurement equivalence was established across gender, age, political orientation, and ethnicity (majority and minority).

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Psychological Traits of Violent Extremism Investigated Using New Research Tool - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Making Sense of Socially Enhanced Aggression in the Brain – Neuroscience News

Summary: Study reveals the lateral habenula plays a critical role in the priming of aggression in male mice.

Source: University of Tsukuba

When male animals spend time around other males of the same species, subsequent aggressive behavior tends to be amplifiedthis type of priming is known as social instigation. However, the pathway in the brain that leads to this increased aggression was, until recently, relatively unknown.

In a study published inNature Communications, researchers from the University of Tsukuba have revealed that the lateral habenula, a small and relatively primitive region located deep within the brain, is important for this behavior in mice.

Aggressive behavior, especially between males, is important in many animal species and can be promoted in a number of different ways, including by social instigation.

Although this behavioral effect is well characterized, the brain pathway that is responsible for it is less understood.

The dorsal raphe nucleus is a brain region that controls aggressive behaviors, and it receives glutamate (a molecule that acts as a signal between brain cells) when social instigation occurs. However, the source of this glutamate was a mystery.

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba decided to address this gap in the knowledge.

Many different brain regions release glutamate into the dorsal raphe nucleus, explains lead author of the study Professor Aki Takahashi.

Because our initial experiments suggested that glutamate release from the lateral habenula might be responsible for aggression induced by social instigation, we conducted more experiments to see if this was the case.

The research team used two different techniques to block communication between the lateral habenula and dorsal raphe nucleus in mice, and found that this also blocked the increased aggression caused by social instigationbut it didnt affect normal levels of aggression, suggesting that this pathway is not important for aggressive behavior in general.

We then wanted to look at the pathway beyond the dorsal nucleus, says Professor Takahashi.

We found that social instigation caused signals to travel through the brain from the lateral habenula to the dorsal raphe nucleus and then on to the ventral tegmental areaa highly connected region in the midbrainleading to heightened aggression.

Although there are many differences in aggression between humans and mice, the results of this new study may have applications when investigating socially provoked anger or violence. There is currently a lack of effective preventative measures against socially provoked aggression, and any information that increases our understanding of these aggressive behaviors will be useful.

Funding: This research was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP17H04766, JP19H05202, JP21H00183, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) Adaptable and Seamless Technology transfer Program through Target-driven R&D (A-STEP) Grant Number JPMJTM20BW and JST FOREST Program Grant Number JPMJFR214A to AT, and by National Institute of Mental Health grants R01MH114882-01, R01MH104559, and R01MH127820 to SJR.

Author: YAMASHINA NaokoSource: University of TsukubaContact: YAMASHINA Naoko University of TsukubaImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Open access.Lateral habenula glutamatergic neurons projecting to the dorsal raphe nucleus promote aggressive arousal in mice by TAKAHASHI Aki et al. Nature Communications

Abstract

Lateral habenula glutamatergic neurons projecting to the dorsal raphe nucleus promote aggressive arousal in mice

The dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) is known to control aggressive behavior in mice.

Here, we found that glutamatergic projections from the lateral habenula (LHb) to the DRN were activated in male mice that experienced pre-exposure to a rival male mouse (social instigation) resulting in heightened intermale aggression. Both chemogenetic and optogenetic suppression of the LHb-DRN projection blocked heightened aggression after social instigation in male mice.

In contrast, inhibition of this pathway did not affect basal levels of aggressive behavior, suggesting that the activity of the LHb-DRN projection is not necessary for the expression of species-typical aggressive behavior, but required for the increase of aggressive behavior resulting from social instigation.

Anatomical analysis showed that LHb neurons synapse on non-serotonergic DRN neurons that project to the ventral tegmental area (VTA), and optogenetic activation of the DRN-VTA projection increased aggressive behaviors.

Our results demonstrate that the LHb glutamatergic inputs to the DRN promote aggressive arousal induced by social instigation, which contributes to aggressive behavior by activating VTA-projecting non-serotonergic DRN neurons as one of its potential targets.

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Neuroscience

Signs of Alzheimers in Blood 17 Years Before Symptoms Begin – Neuroscience News

Summary: A newly developed immuno-infrared sensor allowed researchers to discover biomarkers for Alzheimers disease in blood samples 17 years before clinical symptoms appeared. The sensory is able to detect the misfolding of amyloid beta.

Source: RUB

The dementia disorder Alzheimers disease has a symptom-free course of 15 to 20 years before the first clinical symptoms emerge. Using an immuno-infrared sensor developed in Bochum, a research team is able to identify signs of Alzheimers disease in the blood up to 17 years before the first clinical symptoms appear. The sensor detects the misfolding of the protein biomarker amyloid-beta. As the disease progresses, this misfolding causes characteristic deposits in the brain, so-called plaques.

Our goal is to determine the risk of developing Alzheimers dementia at a later stage with a simple blood test even before the toxic plaques can form in the brain, in order to ensure that a therapy can be initiated in time, says Professor Klaus Gerwert, founding director of the Centre for Protein Diagnostics (PRODI) at Ruhr-Universitt Bochum. His team cooperated for the study with a group at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg (DKFZ) headed by Professor Hermann Brenner.

The team published the results obtained with the immuno-infrared sensor in the journal Alzheimers & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimers Association on 19 July 2022.

This study is supported by a comparative study published in the same journal on 2 March 2022, in which the researchers used complementary single-molecule array (SIMOA) technology.

Early detection of symptom-free people with a high risk of Alzheimers disease

The researchers analysed blood plasma from participants in the ESTHER study conducted in Saarland for potential Alzheimers biomarkers. The blood samples had been taken between 2000 and 2002 and then frozen.

At that time, the test participants were between 50 and 75 years old and hadnt yet been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease. For the current study, 68 participants were selected who had been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease during the 17-year follow-up and compared with 240 control subjects without such a diagnosis.

The team headed by Klaus Gerwert and Hermann Brenner aimed to find out whether signs of Alzheimers disease could already be found in the blood samples at the beginning of the study.

The immuno-infrared sensor was able to identify the 68 test subjects who later developed Alzheimers disease with a high degree of test accuracy. For comparison, the researchers examined other biomarkers with the complementary, highly sensitive SIMOA technology specifically the P-tau181 biomarker, which is currently being proposed as a promising biomarker candidate in various studies.

Unlike in the clinical phase, however, this marker is not suitable for the early symptom-free phase of Alzheimers disease, as Klaus Gerwert summarises the results of the comparative study.

Surprisingly, we found that the concentration of glial fibre protein (GFAP) can indicate the disease up to 17 years before the clinical phase, even though it does so much less precisely than the immuno-infrared sensor.

Still, by combining amyloid-beta misfolding and GFAP concentration, the researchers were able to further increase the accuracy of the test in the symptom-free stage.

Start-up aims to bring immuno-infrared sensor to market maturity

The Bochum researchers hope that an early diagnosis based on the amyloid-beta misfolding could help to apply Alzheimers drugs at such an early stage that they have a significantly better effect for example, the drug Aduhelm, which was recently approved in the USA.

We plan to use the misfolding test to establish a screening method for older people and determine their risk of developing Alzheimers dementia, says Klaus Gerwert.

The vision of our newly founded start-up betaSENSE is that the disease can be stopped in a symptom-free stage before irreversible damage occurs.

Even though the sensor is still in the development phase, the invention has already been patented worldwide. BetaSENSE aims to bring the immuno-infrared sensor to market and have it approved as a diagnostic device so that it can be used in clinical labs.

Clinical trials with Alzheimers drugs often fail

Approved by the FDA in the USA in spring 2021, the drug Aduhelm has been shown to clear amyloid-beta plaques from the brain. However, previous studies showed it had only a minor effect on clinical symptoms such as memory loss and disorientation. Consequently, the European Medicines Agency decided in winter 2021 not to approve the drug in Europe.

Up to now, clinical trials for Alzheimers drugs have been failing by the dozen, apparently because the established plaque tests used in the trials dont flag up the disease in time, says Gerwert.

It seems that once plaques are deposited, they induce irreversible damage in the brain.

In the tests used to date, the plaques are either detected directly in the brain with the complex and expensive PET scan technology or indirectly determined in a less complex way using protein biomarker concentrations in invasively obtained cerebrospinal fluid with ELISA or mass spectrometry technology.

In contrast to established plaque diagnostics, the immuno-infrared sensor indicates the earlier misfolding of amyloid-beta, which causes the later plaque deposition.

However, it is still controversially discussed whether this misfolding is the cause of Alzheimers disease or if its just an accompanying factor, points out Gerwert.

For the therapeutic approach, this question is crucial, but it is irrelevant for the diagnosis. The misfolding indicates the onset of Alzheimers disease.

The exact timing of therapeutic intervention will become even more important in the future, predicts Lon Beyer, first author and PhD student in Klaus Gerwerts team.

The success of future drug trials will depend on the study participants being correctly characterised and not yet showing irreversible damage at study entry.

Biomarkers for Parkinsons and ALS

Misfolded proteins play a central role in many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinsons disease, Huntingtons disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

As the researchers have showed, the immuno-infrared sensor can in principle also be used to detect other misfolded proteins, such as TDP-43, which is characteristic of ALS. They dont measure the concentration of a specific protein, but detect its misfolding using disease-specific antibodies.

Most importantly, this platform technology enables us to make a differential, precise biomarker-based diagnosis in the early stages of neurodegenerative diseases, in which the currently applied symptom-based diagnosis is very difficult and prone to errors, stresses Gerwert.

Author: Julia WeilerSource: RUBContact: Julia Weiler RUBImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Open access.Amyloid-beta misfolding and GFAP predict risk of clinical Alzheimers disease diagnosis within 17 years by Klaus Gerwert et al. Alzheimers & Dementia

Abstract

Amyloid-beta misfolding and GFAP predict risk of clinical Alzheimers disease diagnosis within 17 years

Blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimers disease (AD) are urgently needed. Here, four plasma biomarkers were measured at baseline in a community-based cohort followed over 17 years, and the association with clinical AD risk was determined.

Amyloid beta (A) misfolding status as a structure-based biomarker as well as phosphorylated tau 181 (P-tau181), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and neurofilament light (NfL) concentration levels were determined at baseline in heparin plasma from 68 participants who were diagnosed with AD and 240 controls without dementia diagnosis throughout follow-up.

A misfolding exhibited high disease prediction accuracy of AD diagnosis within 17 years. Among the concentration markers, GFAP showed the best performance, followed by NfL and P-tau181. The combination of A misfolding and GFAP increased the accuracy.

A misfolding and GFAP showed a strong ability to predict clinical AD risk and may be important early AD risk markers. A misfolding illustrated its potential as a prescreening tool for AD risk stratification in older adults.

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Signs of Alzheimers in Blood 17 Years Before Symptoms Begin - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Ant Colonies Behave Like Neural Networks When Making Decisions – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers suggest that when in a group, ants behave in a similar fashion to networks of neurons in the brain.

Source: Rockefeller University

Temperatures are rising, and one colony of ants will soon have to make a collective decision. Each ant feels the rising heat beneath its feet but carries along as usual until, suddenly, the ants reverse course. The whole group rushes out as onea decision to evacuate has been made. It is almost as if the colony of ants has a greater, collective mind.

A newstudysuggests that indeed, ants as a group behave similar to networks of neurons in a brain.

RockefellersDaniel Kronauerand postdoctoral associate Asaf Gal developed a new experimental setup to meticulously analyze decision-making in ant colonies.

As reported in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they found that when a colony evacuates due to rising temperatures, its decision is a function of both the magnitude of the heat increase and the size of the ant group.

The findings suggest that ants combine sensory information with the parameters of their group to arrive at a group responsea process similar to neural computations giving rise to decisions.

We pioneered an approach to understand the ant colony as a cognitive-like system that perceives inputs and then translates them into behavioral outputs, says Kronauer, head of the Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior.

This is one of the first steps toward really understanding how insect societies engage in collective computation.

A new paradigm

At its most basic level, decision-making boils down to a series of computations meant to maximize benefits and minimize costs. For instance, in a common type of decision-making called sensory response thresholding, an animal has to detect sensory input like heat past a certain level to produce a certain costly behavior, like moving away. If the rise in temperature isnt big enough, it wont be worth it.

Kronauer and Gal wanted to investigate how this type of information processing occurs at the collective level, where group dynamics come into play. They developed a system in which they could precisely perturb an ant colony with controlled temperature increases.

To track the behavioral responses of individual ants and the entire colony, they marked each insect with different colored dots and followed their movements with a tracking camera.

As the researchers expected, colonies of a set size of 36 workers and 18 larvae dependably evacuated their nest when the temperature hit around 34 degrees Celsius. This finding makes intuitive sense, Kronauer says, because if you become too uncomfortable, you leave.

However, the researchers were surprised to find that the ants were not merely responding to temperature itself. When they increased the size of the colony from 10 to 200 individuals, the temperature necessary to trigger the decision to vacate increased. Colonies of 200 individuals, for example, held out until temperatures soared past 36 degrees.

It seems that the threshold isnt fixed. Rather, its an emergent property that changes depending on the group size, Kronauer says.

Individual ants are unaware of the size of their colony, so how can their decision depend on it? He and Gal suspect that the explanation has to do with the way pheromones, the invisible messengers that pass information between ants, scale their effect when more ants are present.

They use a mathematical model to show that such a mechanism is indeed plausible. But they do not know why larger colonies would require higher temperatures to pack up shop.

Kronauer ventures that it could simply be that the larger the colonys size, the more onerous it is to relocate, pushing up the critical temperature for which relocations happen.

In future studies, Kronauer and Gal hope to refine their theoretical model of the decision-making process in the ant colony by interfering with more parameters and seeing how the insects respond. For example, they can tamper with the level of pheromones in the ants enclosure or create genetically altered ants with different abilities to detect temperature changes.

What weve been able to do so far is to perturb the system and measure the output precisely, Kronauer says. In the long term, the idea is to reverse engineer the system to deduce its inner workings in more and more detail.

Author: Katherine FenzSource: Rockefeller UniversityContact: Katherine Fenz Rockefeller UniversityImage: The image is credited to Daniel Kronauer

Original Research: Open access.The emergence of a collective sensory response threshold in ant colonies by Daniel Kronauer et al. PNAS

Abstract

The emergence of a collective sensory response threshold in ant colonies

The sensory response threshold is a fundamental biophysical property of biological systems that underlies many physiological and computational functions, and its systematic study has played a pivotal role in uncovering the principles of biological computation.

Here, we show that ant colonies, which perform computational tasks at the group level, have emergent collective sensory response thresholds.

Colonies respond collectively to step changes in temperature and evacuate the nest during severe perturbations. This response is characterized by a group-sizedependent threshold, and the underlying dynamics are dominated by social feedback between the ants.

Using a binary network model, we demonstrate that a balance between short-range excitatory and long-range inhibitory interactions can explain the emergence of the collective response threshold and its size dependency.

Our findings illustrate how simple social dynamics allow insect colonies to integrate information about the external environment and their internal state to produce adaptive collective responses.

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Ant Colonies Behave Like Neural Networks When Making Decisions - Neuroscience News