Human Behavior

Study Shows Humans Were Apex Predators 12,000 Years Ago, Hunted Elephants, Other Large Animals – India.com

New evidence shows that humans from the Paleolithic Period, or Old Stone Age, relied heavily on meat instead of a vegetarian diet consisting of fruits and vegetables. We might picture a balanced diet when we think about the food of our Pleistocene ancestors but the Paleolithic cuisine was anything but lean and green.Also Read - Here's What a Black Hole Sounds Like, Netizens Call It Horror Movie Music. Watch

Paleolithic Era means Old Stone Age which began 2 million years ago. Homo Sapiens during this time period were Nomads who moved around to find food, water and shelter. Also Read - NASA To Send Naked Pictures Of Humans To Space To Attract Aliens

According to a 2021 study on the diets of our Pleistocene ancestors, homo sapiens and their ancestors were primarily apex predators for a good 2 million years, until roughly 12,000 years ago. The study was done by anthropologists from Israels Tel Aviv University and the University of Minho in Portugal. Also Read - Aliens Had Sexual Encounters With Humans, Left One Woman Pregnant, Claims Pentagon

This comparison is futile, however, because 2 million years ago hunter-gatherer societies could hunt and consume elephants and other large animals while todays hunter gatherers do not have access to such bounty, said Miki Ben-Dor from Israels Tel Aviv University in April last year.

The Pleistocene epoch was a defining time in Earths history for us humans. By the end of it, we were marching our way into the far corners of the globe, outliving every other hominid on our branch of the family tree.

The following graph shows where homo sapiens sat on the spectrum of carnivore to herbivore during the Pleistocene and Upper Pleistocene (UP).

During the ice age, with so much water locked up as ice, ecosystems around the world were vastly different to what we see today. Large beasts roamed the landscape, including mammoths, mastodons, and giant sloths in far greater numbers than we see today.

We decided to use other methods to reconstruct the diet of stone-age humans: to examine the memory preserved in our own bodies, our metabolism, genetics and physical build, said Ben-Dor.

Human behavior changes rapidly, but evolution is slow. The body remembers.

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Study Shows Humans Were Apex Predators 12,000 Years Ago, Hunted Elephants, Other Large Animals - India.com

Human Behavior

New show at Guttenberg Arts Gallery looks at the relationships between people and places – NJ.com

Expand Erupt Disperse, a new exhibit by artist Linda K. Mead, opens with a reception on Saturday, May 7, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Guttenberg Arts Gallery. The show will be on view until May 31.

Born in Washington, DC, Mead grew up in Northern Virginia at a time of expanding suburban sprawl. After attaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University with a concentration in metals and textiles, she relocated to Germany where she lived for 11 years. She moved to New Jersey in 2002 where after several years she began etching at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey with Vijay Kumar.

During her time in Germany, Mead gained a better understanding of the relationship between places people find themselves and their relationship to those places. For Mead, Germany was a place where rural and urban, nature and industry, are physically and emotionally hard to separate. This allowed nature to figure into her work, which was also inspired by the hours she spent wandering around the woods and the creek behind her childhood home in Virginia.

Meads original expertise was in jewelry and textile design. She returned to working with metal after spending years as a painter and began embedding images in copper plates, beginning her work as a printmaker and using the etched copper plates as sculptural elements.

Meads current works reflect the present state of the world and the sense of unease that has come with it along with the consequences of human behavior.

My artwork is the culmination of the process of gathering, absorbing and sorting and a fascination with the relationships between what is within and what is without--the seen and unseen, says Mead. It stems from a desire to give form to the undulation and constant state of flux in which we live, from the frenetic and fevered to the still, steadied and silenced.

Guttenberg Arts Gallery is open by appointment only Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and anytime virtually on their website. You can schedule a visit or view the virtual gallery by going to http://www.guttenbergarts.org/exhibitions.

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New show at Guttenberg Arts Gallery looks at the relationships between people and places - NJ.com

Human Behavior

Brown University’s Biggest Medical Success Is Turning Into a Nightmare – GoLocalProv

Wednesday, May 04, 2022

GoLocalProv News Team

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Dr. Stephen Salloway - top researcher on Biogen's "breakthrough drug"

The drug, Aduhelm -- developed by Biogen -- was supposed to be a breakthrough that could transform the treatment of Alzheimers disease the sixth leading cause of death in America.

Biogen's stock soared like a rocket to $468 a share when the drug cleared federal approval. The drug was expected to generate billions in new revenue.

In the United States, an estimated 5.8 million Americans have been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease. Statisticianspredictthat in the next 30 years, 13.8 million people may be living with Alzheimers if researchers arent able to prevent or find a cure for the disease.

Aduhelm was promised to be a critical development that would help early-stage Alzheimer's sufferers and would drive massive profits for Biogen and its research team. During the regulatory review process by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Biogen promised in press releases, "If approved, aducanumab [later renamed Aduhelm] would be the first treatment to meaningfully change the course of the disease for individuals living with Alzheimers."

When the FDA approved the drug in 2021 -- that approval was controversial and Biogen priced the drug at $56,000.

But, the medical success story has turned into a nightmare and the impact is just beginning to be felt.

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Aduhelm has turned into one of the most controversial drugs in American history

In the past few days, Biogen announced the resignation of its CEO. The stock has lost more than half of its value -- closing on Tuesday at $205 a share -- a decline of 56% from its 52-week high.

"BiogenInc. is shedding Chief ExecutiveMichel Vounatsosand effectively abandoning its high-profile Alzheimers disease treatment Aduhelm as it attempts to chart a new course after Medicares devastating refusalto pay for it," reported the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

The business magazine Barron's wrote the most condemning headline, "Its Lights Out for Biogens Aduhelm. But Theres Some Hope for Other Alzheimers Drugs."

Controversial Approval

A 2020 Biogen press release announcing an early regulatory review success featured Salloway.

For many people living with the early stages of Alzheimers disease, maintaining independence for as long as possible is the ultimate goal, said Salloway, M.D., M.S., Director of the Butler Hospital Memory and Aging Program at Brown University. If we can help slow the progression from one stage to the next, this could preserve independence, which, in turn, could have truly meaningful benefits for people living with the disease and their loved ones. Aducanumab represents a potential breakthrough that we hope will provide a treatment foothold in the fight against Alzheimers disease.

Salloway is a leading Alzheimer's researcher in America, and his efforts are further bolstered by recentinvestments made at Brown University, including the $100 million gift for its brain science institute from alumnus Robert and Nancy Carney. Salloway, already a star at Brown, became the face of the Warren Alpert Medical School and the related research.

But, nearly every step of the drug's commercialization was steeped in controversy.

Two weeks ago it was announced that Medicare will deny routine payment for Aduhelm. The final Medicare policy is unusually strict and greatly limits sales.

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FDA approval of Aduhelm was widely criticized

That approval sparked resignations.

In a powerful statement of disagreement with the Food and Drug Administrations approval of Biogens controversialAlzheimersdrug, three scientists resigned from the independent committee that advised the agency on the treatment, reported the New York Times.

This might be the worst approval decision that the F.D.A. has made that I can remember, Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Womens Hospital told the NY Times, who submitted his resignation after six years on the committee.

Stop and Go

Salloway has been a consistent advocate for the drug, even when it initially had its clinic trials canceled in 2019.

Salloway appeared on GoLocal LIVE in June of 2019 calling for the need for volunteers for research conducted by Brown in conjunction with Care New England.

But, by September of 2019, Salloway was back on GoLocal LIVE trumpeting the change in fortune.

As GoLocal reported in 2019:

In March, the aducanumab clinical trials that Salloway worked on were suspended -- and then two weeks ago, Biogen announced that new analysis of the research had shown the drug was having a positive impact on slowing Alzheimers.

This is really exciting news. Weve been testing a medicine that has a funny name -- aducanumab -- thats been developed by Biogen up in Cambridge for a number of years for patients with early Alzheimers disease, said Salloway, on GoLocal LIVE.

It had some encouraging results which we published in 2016. It was covered around the world because it looked really good many people were very interested, we had 60 patients with early Alzheimers on this medicine over at Butler Hospital in our memory and aging program, and from our point of view, they seem to be doing well, so we were encouraged, said Salloway.

"Then all of a sudden in March, I got an email that the drug looked like it didn't meet an outcome analysis an interim analysis and Biogen was going to stop testing it. We were blown away, how could that be, it was looking good and our patients were really devastated. They had to come off the drug some had been on [it] for years and actually doing well," said Salloway, who is the Martin M. Zucker Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and Professor of Neurology at Brown, and Chief of Neurology and Director of the Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital.

"Then last week, we got the news the comeback of the year that additional data came in and actually looked like the drug was having a positive effect, and Biogen has been speaking with the FDA, and the FDA has given them the green light to submit for approval," added Salloway.

Biogen is now unwinding the drug's support and sales. According to the Wall Street Journal, "The company will substantially eliminate the sales infrastructure it built to support Aduhelms launch, including employees to promote the drug to doctors and provide logistical assistance for navigating the complex process of administering it to patients. The cuts will comprise the bulk of an estimated $500 million in annual savings that the company is targeting."

Salloway was unavailable for comment for this story.

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Brown University's Biggest Medical Success Is Turning Into a Nightmare - GoLocalProv

Neuroscience

New Study Reveals How the Brain Says Oops! – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers identified a group of neurons in the frontal lobe that enables flexibility to learn new skills and the focus to develop sophisticated skills. The brain uses the same group of neurons for performance feedback in a variety of situations.

Source; Cedars Sinai

Researchers from Cedars-Sinais Center for Neural Science and Medicine and Department of Neurosurgery have uncovered how signals from a group of neurons in the brains frontal lobe simultaneously give humans the flexibility to learn new tasksand the focus to develop highly specific skills.

Their research, published today in the peer-reviewed journalScience,provides a fundamental understanding of performance monitoring, an executive function used to manage daily life.

The studys key finding is that the brain uses the same group of neurons for performance feedback in many different situationswhether a person is attempting a newtaskfor the first time or working to perfect a specific skill.

Part of the magic of the human brain is that it is so flexible, said Ueli Rutishauser, Ph.D., professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Biomedical Sciences, director of the Center for Neural Science and Medicine, the Board of Governors Chair in Neurosciences and senior author of the study. We designed our study to decipher how the brain can generalizeandspecialize at the same time, both of which are critical for helping us pursue a goal.

Performancemonitoringis an internal signal, a kind of self-generated feedback, that lets a person know they have made a mistake. One example is the person who realizes they drove past an intersection where they should have turned. Another example is the person who says something in conversation and recognizes as soon as the words are out of their mouth that what they just said was inappropriate.

That Oh, shoot moment, that Oops! moment, is performance monitoring kicking in, said Zhongzheng Fu, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Rutishauser Laboratory at Cedars-Sinai and first author of the study.

These signals help improve performance on future attempts by passing information to areas of the brain that regulate emotions, memory, planning and problem-solving. Performance monitoring also helps the brain adjust its focus by signaling how much conflict or difficulty was encountered during the task.

So an Oops! moment might prompt someone to pay closer attention the next time they chat with a friend or plan to stop at the store on the way home from work, said Fu.

To see performance monitoring in action, investigators recorded the activity of individual neurons in the medial frontal cortex of study participants. The participants wereepilepsy patientswho, as part of their treatment, had electrodes implanted in their brains to help locate the focus of their seizures. Specifically, these patients had electrodes implanted in the medial frontal cortex, a brain region known to play a central role in performance monitoring.

In the Stroop task, which pits reading against color naming, participants viewed the written name of a color, such as red, printed in ink of a different color, such as green, and were asked to name the ink color rather than the written word.

This creates conflict in the brain, Rutishauser said. You have decades of training in reading, but now your goal is to suppress that habit of reading and say the color of the ink that the word is written in instead.

In the other task, the Multi-Source Interference Task (MSIT), which involves recognizing numerals, participants saw three numerical digits on screen, two the same and the other uniquefor example, 1-2-2. The subjects task was to press the button associated with the unique numberin this case, 1resisting their tendency to press 2 because that number appears twice.

These two tasks serve as a strong test of how self-monitoring is engaged in different scenarios involving different cognitive domains, Fu said.

A structured response

As the subjects performed these tasks, the investigators noted two different types of neurons at work. Error neurons fired strongly after an error was made, while conflict neurons fired in response to the difficulty of the task the subject had just performed.

When we observed the activity of neurons in this brain area, it surprised us that most of them only become active after a decision or an action was completed. This indicates that this brain area plays a role in evaluating decisions after the fact, rather than making them.

There are two types of performance monitoring: domain general and domain specific. Domain general performance monitoring tells ussomethingwent wrong and can detect errors in any type of taskwhether someone is driving a car, navigating a social situation or playing Wordle for the first time. This allows them to perform new tasks with little instruction, something machines cannot do.

Machines can be trained to do one thing really well, Fu said. You can build a robot to flip hamburgers, but it cant adapt those skills to frying dumplings. Humans, thanks to domain general performance monitoring, can.

Domain specific performance monitoring tells the person who made the errorwhatwent wrong, detecting specific mistakesthat they missed a turn, said something inappropriate or chose the wrong letter in a puzzle. This is one way people perfect individual skills.

Surprisingly, neurons signaling domain general and domain specific information were intermingled in the medial frontal cortex.

We used to think there were portions of the brain dedicated to only domain general performance monitoring and others to only domain specific, Rutishauser said.

Our study now shows thats not the case. Weve learned that the very same group of neurons can do both domain general and domain specific performance monitoring. When youre listening to these neurons, you can read out both types of information simultaneously.

To understand how these signals are interpreted by other areas of the brain, it helps to think of the neurons as musicians in an orchestra, Rutishauser said.

If they all play at random, the listenersin this case the regions of thebrainreceiving the signalsjust hear a garbled set of notes, Rutishauser said.

But if they play an arranged composition, its possible to clearly hear the various melodies and harmonies even with so many instrumentsor performance monitoring neuronsplaying all at once.

Too much or too little of this signaling, however, can cause problems, Rutishauser said.

Overactive performance monitoring can manifest asobsessive-compulsive disorder, causing a person to check obsessively for errors that dont exist. At the other extreme is schizophrenia, where performance monitoring can be underactive to a degree that a person doesnt perceive errors or the inappropriateness of their words or actions.

We believe the mechanistic knowledge we have gained will be critical to perfecting treatments for these devastating psychiatric disorders, Rutishauser said.

The research team also included Jeffrey Chung, MD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Epilepsy Program; Assistant Professor of Neurology Chrystal Reed, MD, Ph.D.; Adam Mamelak, MD, professor of neurosurgery and director of the Functional Neurosurgery Program; Ralph Adolphs, Ph.D., professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Biology at the California Institute of Technology; and research associate Danielle Beam.

Author: Press OfficeSource: Cedars SinaiContact: Press Office Cedars SinaiImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Closed access.The geometry of domain-general performance monitoring in the human medial frontal cortex by Zhongzheng Fu et al. Science

Abstract

The geometry of domain-general performance monitoring in the human medial frontal cortex

Controlling behavior to flexibly achieve desired goals depends on the ability to monitor ones own performance. It is unknown how performance monitoring can be both flexible, to support different tasks, and specialized, to perform each task well.

We recorded single neurons in the human medial frontal cortex while subjects performed two tasks that involve three types of cognitive conflict. Neurons encoding conflict probability, conflict, and error in one or both tasks were intermixed, forming a representational geometry that simultaneously allowed task specialization and generalization. Neurons encoding conflict retrospectively served to update internal estimates of conflict probability. Population representations of conflict were compositional.

These findings reveal how representations of evaluative signals can be both abstract and task-specific and suggest a neuronal mechanism for estimating control demand.

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New Study Reveals How the Brain Says Oops! - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Dopamine Involved in Recognizing Emotions – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers reveal dopamine, a neurotransmitter commonly associated with reward plays a key role in social cognition and emotional recognition.

Source: SfN

The neurotransmitter dopamine, famous for its role in reward, is also involved in recognizing emotions, according to new research published inJournal of Neuroscience.

People with disrupted dopamine levels, likein Parkinsons disease and schizophrenia, often struggle with aspects of social cognition.

Yet the link between dopamine and specific social behaviors remained elusive, in part due to mixed results from studies that did not account for individual differences in dopamine levels.

In a study by Schuster et al., healthy participants took haloperidol a dopamine receptor inhibitor on one day and a placebo pill on another before completing an emotion recognition task.

They assessed videos of people expressing an emotion through their posture and gait (i.e., slow movements for sadness, quick, jerky movements for anger). The researchers also indirectly measured each persons baseline dopamine levels by testing their working memory.

The effects of haloperidol varied in each person depending on their baseline dopamine levels. In people with low dopamine, the drug increased their ability to recognize emotions, while in people with high dopamine, the drug impaired their ability.

Future work will examine how changes in dopamine levels in disorders like Parkinsons disease contribute to social cognition impairments.

Author: Calli McMurraySource: SfNContact: Calli McMurray SfNImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Closed access.Dopaminergic modulation of dynamic emotion perception by B.A. Schuster,S. Sowden,A.J. Rybicki,D.S. Fraser,C. Press,P. HollandandJ.L. Cook. Journal of Neuroscience

Abstract

Dopaminergic modulation of dynamic emotion perception

Emotion recognition abilities are fundamental to our everyday social interaction. A large number of clinical populations show impairments in this domain, with emotion recognition atypicalities being particularly prevalent among disorders exhibiting a dopamine system disruption (e.g., Parkinsons disease).

Although this suggests a role for dopamine in emotion recognition, studies employing dopamine manipulation in healthy volunteers have exhibited mixed neural findings and no behavioural modulation.

Interestingly, whilst a dependence of dopaminergic drug effects on individual baseline dopamine function has been well established in other cognitive domains, the emotion recognition literature so far has failed to account for these possible interindividual differences.

The present within-subjects study therefore tested the effects of the dopamine D2 antagonist haloperidol on emotion recognition from dynamic, whole-body stimuli while accounting for interindividual differences in baseline dopamine. 33 healthy male and female adults rated emotional point-light walkers (PLWs) once after ingestion of 2.5 mg haloperidol and once after placebo.

To evaluate potential mechanistic pathways of the dopaminergic modulation of emotion recognition, participants also performed motoric and counting-based indices of temporal processing.

Confirming our hypotheses, effects of haloperidol on emotion recognition depended on baseline dopamine function, where individuals with low baseline dopamine showed enhanced, and those with high baseline dopamine decreased emotion recognition.

Drug effects on emotion recognition were related to drug effects on movement-based and explicit timing mechanisms, indicating possible mediating effects of temporal processing.

Results highlight the need for future studies to account for baseline dopamine and suggest putative mechanisms underlying the dopaminergic modulation of emotion recognition.

Significance statement

A high prevalence of emotion recognition difficulties amongst clinical conditions where the dopamine system is affected suggests an involvement of dopamine in emotion recognition processes.

However, previous psychopharmacological studies seeking to confirm this role in healthy volunteers thus far have failed to establish whether dopamine affects emotion recognition and lack mechanistic insights.

The present study uncovered effects of dopamine on emotion recognition in healthy individuals by controlling for interindividual differences in baseline dopamine function and investigated potential mechanistic pathways via which dopamine may modulate emotion recognition.

Our findings suggest that dopamine may influence emotion recognition via its effects on temporal processing, providing new directions for future research on typical and atypical emotion recognition.

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Dopamine Involved in Recognizing Emotions - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Does Autism Begin in the Womb? – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers found idiopathic autism occurs as the result of epigenetic abnormalities in hematopoietic cells during fetal development, leading to immune dysregulation in the brain and gut.

Source: Kobe University

Autism (autism spectrum disorder) is a developmental neurological disorder that remains largely unexplored despite the rapidly increasing number of patients. Immune abnormalities, now considered the cause of many diseases, also play an important role in the development of autism.

Brain inflammation and disturbances of the peripheral immune system are frequently observed in autistic patients. Furthermore, immune abnormalities are accompanied by abnormalities in the intestinal microbiota, which is also thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease via the brain-gut axis.

However, the essential mechanisms behind these immune abnormalities have yet to be elucidated.

Given the critical developmental stages of immune insults and the extensive involvement of the immune system in the development of autism, the research team hypothesized that a common etiology underlies the widespread immune dysregulation and originates in different types of progenitor cells.

The analysis focused on the hematopoietic cells from which immune cells are derived, as well as on the yolk sac (YS) and the aorta-gonad-mesonephros (AGM), which are involved in hematopoiesis during the fetal stage.

These results seek a common ancestor of inflammation in the brain and abnormalities in the peripheral immune system. In this study, BTBR mice were used as an idiopathic model for autism.

Research Findings

Single-cell RNA sequencing (sc-RNA seq) of BTBR mice traced the origin of immune abnormalities back to the embryonic stages of the yolk sac (YS) and aorta-gonad-mesonephros (AGM) and identified where macrophages (microglia) and peripheral immune cells differentiate.

Definitive hematopoiesisin YS and AGM single-cell level analysis successfully identified pathological mechanisms at the molecular level within rare progenitor cells in the early stages of development. Namely, we found a common mechanism of transcriptional regulation through HDAC1, a histone deacetylase, underlying these pathologies.

We have also shown that manipulating epigenetic mechanisms during specific developmental stages can restore immune abnormalities in the brain and peripheral tissues. Namely, we identified histone deacetylase HDAC1 as a common mechanism.

Administrating inhibitors of this histone (sodium butyrate or Romidepsin) during the fetal stage in BTBR mice suppressed elevated inflammatory cytokinesand microglial activation.

We further demonstrated that dysregulated immunity can determine gut dysbiosis of specific profiles in autistic model mice, which make the potential biomarkers of Treg and gut dysbiosis a means to categorize the immune-dysregulated ASD subtype.

From the above, it is clear that the abnormalities in the brain and peripheral organs (such as the intestines) seen in autism are caused by epigenetic abnormalities in the hematopoietic stem cell lineage, the ancestor of immune cells.

Perspectives

Our findings not only provide the missing piece to solve the long-time puzzle of systemic immune dysregulation in autism, but also hint the role of epigenetic disturbance as common etiology among different autism models of environmental risk factors.

Furthermore, to develop precision medicine for ASD in the future, ASD subtyping according to the pathogenesis mechanism is a key first step to resolve the heterogeneity of ASD and to open up a new avenue for ASD treatment.

Author: Verity TownsendSource: Kobe UniversityContact: Verity Townsend Kobe UniversityImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Open access.A common epigenetic mechanism across different cellular origins underlies systemic immune dysregulation in an idiopathic autism mouse model by Toru Takumi et al. Molecular Psychiatry

Abstract

A common epigenetic mechanism across different cellular origins underlies systemic immune dysregulation in an idiopathic autism mouse model

Immune dysregulation plays a key role in the pathogenesis of autism. Changes occurring at the systemic level, from brain inflammation to disturbed innate/adaptive immune in the periphery, are frequently observed in patients with autism; however, the intrinsic mechanisms behind them remain elusive.

We hypothesize a common etiology may lie in progenitors of different types underlying widespread immune dysregulation. By single-cell RNA sequencing (sc-RNA seq), we trace the developmental origins of immune dysregulation in a mouse model of idiopathic autism.

It is found that both in aorta-gonad-mesonephros (AGM) and yolk sac (YS) progenitors, the dysregulation of HDAC1-mediated epigenetic machinery alters definitive hematopoiesis during embryogenesis and downregulates the expression of the AP-1 complex for microglia development.

Subsequently, these changes result in the dysregulation of the immune system, leading to gut dysbiosis and hyperactive microglia in the brain.

We further confirm that dysregulated immune profiles are associated with specific microbiota composition, which may serve as a biomarker to identify autism of immune-dysregulated subtypes.

Our findings elucidate a shared mechanism for the origin of immune dysregulation from the brain to the gut in autism and provide new insight to dissecting the heterogeneity of autism, as well as the therapeutic potential of targeting immune-dysregulated autism subtypes.

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Does Autism Begin in the Womb? - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Links Between Paranormal Beliefs and Cognitive Function Described by 40 Years of Research – Neuroscience News

Summary: A review of 71 studies over 40 years aligns with the hypothesis that belief in the paranormal is associated with differences and deficits in cognitive function.

Source: PLOS

In a review of 71 studies that explored links between belief in paranormal phenomena and cognitive function, most of the findings align with the hypothesis that such beliefs are associated with cognitive differences or deficits.

Charlotte E. Dean and colleagues at the University of Hertfordshire, U.K., present this evaluation in the open-access journalPLOS ONE.

For several decades, researchers have examined potential links betweencognitive functioningand belief in paranormal phenomena, such as psychokinesis, hauntings, and clairvoyance. However, about 30 years have passed since a non-systematic review of this literature was last conducted.

To provide updated insights into the findings and quality of studies on this topic, Dean and colleagues systematically identified and evaluated 70 published studies and one unpublished doctoral thesis produced between 1980 and 2020.

The 71 studies explored a range of cognitive functions, such as reasoning ability, thinking style, and memory.

Overall, the findings align with the hypothesis that beliefs in paranormal phenomena are associated with differences or deficits in cognitive function. For example, a particularly consistent association was found between paranormal beliefs and an intuitive thinking style.

The review found that most of the 71 studies were of good methodological quality and that quality has improved over time; for instance, most had clear objectives and appropriate study designs.

However, certain areas for improvement emerged; for instance, many studies lacked a discussion of their own methodological limitations, andundergraduate studentsmade up a large portion of study participants, meaning that the findings may not necessarily apply to thegeneral population.

The authors note that no specific profile of cognitive functioning for paranormal believers has emerged from this literature. They suggest that future research could not only address the methodological weaknesses they observed, but also explore the possibility that paranormal beliefs might be associated with a more overarching difference of cognitionwhich could help explain why past studies have found links with seemingly disparate types of cognitive dysfunction.

The authors add: Four decades of research suggests that belief in the paranormal is linked to our degree of cognitive flexibility and fluid intelligence; however, methodological improvements in future research are required to further our understanding of the relationship.

Author: Press OfficeSource: PLOSContact: Press Office PLOSImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Open access.Paranormal beliefs and cognitive function: A systematic review and assessment of study quality across four decades of research by Charlotte E. Dean et al. PLOS ONE

Abstract

Paranormal beliefs and cognitive function: A systematic review and assessment of study quality across four decades of research

Research into paranormal beliefs and cognitive functioning has expanded considerably since the last review almost 30 years ago, prompting the need for a comprehensive review. The current systematic review aims to identify the reported associations between paranormal beliefs and cognitive functioning, and to assess study quality.

We searched four databases (Scopus, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, and OpenGrey) from inception until May 2021. Inclusion criteria comprised papers published in English that contained original data assessing paranormal beliefs and cognitive function in healthy adult samples. Study quality and risk of bias was assessed using the Appraisal tool for Cross-Sectional Studies (AXIS) and results were synthesised through narrative review.

The review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and was preregistered as part of a larger registration on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/uzm5v).

From 475 identified studies, 71 (n = 20,993) met our inclusion criteria. Studies were subsequently divided into the following six categories: perceptual and cognitive biases (k = 19, n = 3,397), reasoning (k = 17, n = 9,661), intelligence, critical thinking, and academic ability (k = 12, n = 2,657), thinking style (k = 13, n = 4,100), executive function and memory (k = 6, n = 810), and other cognitive functions (k = 4, n = 368).

Study quality was rated as good-to-strong for 75% of studies and appears to be improving across time. Nonetheless, we identified areas of methodological weakness including: the lack of preregistration, discussion of limitations, a-priori justification of sample size, assessment of nonrespondents, and the failure to adjust for multiple testing.

Over 60% of studies have recruited undergraduates and 30% exclusively psychology undergraduates, which raises doubt about external validity. Our narrative synthesis indicates high heterogeneity of study findings.

The most consistent associations emerge for paranormal beliefs with increased intuitive thinking and confirmatory bias, and reduced conditional reasoning ability and perception of randomness.

Although study quality is good, areas of methodological weakness exist. In addressing these methodological issues, we propose that authors engage with preregistration of data collection and analysis procedures. At a conceptual level, we argue poorer cognitive performance across seemingly disparate cognitive domains might reflect the influence of an over-arching executive dysfunction.

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Links Between Paranormal Beliefs and Cognitive Function Described by 40 Years of Research - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

The neuroscience of sleep and its disorders – Big Ideas – ABC News

To sleep, perchance to dream...or perhaps not if youre one of the 1-in-5 Australians struggling with a major sleep disorder, and the prospect of a good nights sleep is remote indeed.

From sleep deprivation, restless leg syndrome, lucid dreaming, sleep paralysis and all the other multitude of reasons 40 winks is often out of your grasp, the latest research offers clues to why so many of us struggle to simply sleep, and why - even when we do - not all our brain sleeps too.

Professor Guy Leschziner is an authority on the brain and the neuroscience of sleep

Speaker

Guy Leschziner - Professor of Neurology and Sleep Medicine at Kings College London, and a consultant neurologist within the Department of Neurology and Sleep Disorders Centre at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals.

Author of "The Nocturnal Brain: Nightmares, Neuroscience and the Secret World of Sleep published by MacMillan.

This lecture was recorded on the 16th March 2022 at Gresham College, London.

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The neuroscience of sleep and its disorders - Big Ideas - ABC News

Neuroscience

The American Association of Neuroscience Nurses Publishes Neurological Assessment of the Adult Hospitalized Patient White Paper – PR Newswire

CHICAGO, May 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN) published a Neurological Assessment of the Adult Hospitalized Patient white paper.

White paper: https://aann.org/uploads/about/AANN21_Neuro_White_Paper_V9.pdf?utm_source=pr_newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=napressreleaseToolkit: https://aann.org/uploads/Education/AANN21_Neuro_Toolkit_v4.pdf?utm_source=pr_newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=napressrelease

A timely and accurate assessment of a patient's neurological status is an important aspect of nursing care. All patients have the potential for a neurological event, whether they have a neurological primary diagnosis or not. Currently, there is no standard of care for the neurological assessment of the hospitalized adult. As the leader in neuroscience nursing, the AANN recognized the importance of a consistent standard assessment for the nurse and appointed a task force to develop a white paper delineating that standard.

The purpose of the white paper is to describe the essential components of the neurological assessment of the hospitalized adult, enabling the nurse to recognize early neurological changes, so interventions can be implemented in a timely manner to prevent injury. The white paper includes information about the timing of the assessment, intervention and documentation, components of the assessment, baseline checklists, and more. A standardized approach can assist with rapid identification of neurological changes so interventions can be initiated promptly.

"These essential components of a neurological assessment provide a standard for nurses from all specialties who care for hospitalized adults. AANN is proud to offer this free resource for the benefit of all nurses to improve patient care." commented Cathy Cartwright, DNP RN-BC PCNS FAAN, member of the Clinical Science Committee Neurological Assessment Task Force.

To access the Neurological Assessment of the Adult Hospitalized Patient white paper and the corresponding toolkit, please visit AANN.org/neuroassessment.

About AANN Founded in 1968, the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN), an organization of more than 5,400 members worldwide, is committed to working for the highest standard of care for neuroscience patients by advancing the science and practice of neuroscience nursing. AANN accomplishes this through continuing education, information dissemination, standard setting, and advocacy on behalf of neuroscience patients, families, and nurses. For more information, visit AANN.org.

News ReleaseAllison Begezda 847.375.4844[emailprotected]

SOURCE American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN)

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The American Association of Neuroscience Nurses Publishes Neurological Assessment of the Adult Hospitalized Patient White Paper - PR Newswire

Neuroscience

New Insights on Gene Activity and Addiction – Neuroscience News

Summary: Study sheds new light on the role dopamine plays in addiction and gene activity in neurons.

Source: North Carolina State University

Researchers at North Carolina State University have demonstrated that neuron-like cells derived from human stem cells can serve as a model for studying changes in the nervous system associated with addiction.

The work sheds light on the effect of dopamine on gene activity in neurons, and offers a blueprint for related research moving forward.

It is extremely difficult to study how addiction changes the brain at acellular levelin humansnobody wants to experiment on somebodys brain, says Albert Keung, corresponding author of the study and an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State.

What weve done here demonstrates that we can gain a deep understanding of those cellular responses using neuron-like cells derived fromhuman stem cells.

At issue is how cells in ournervous systemrespond to drugs that are associated with substance abuse and addiction. Our bodies produce a neurotransmitter calleddopamine. Its associated with feelings, such as pleasure, that are related to motivation and reward.

When neuronal cells in the brains reward pathway are exposed to dopamine, the cells activate a specific suite of genes, triggering the feelings of reward that can make people feel good. Many drugsfrom alcohol and nicotine to opioids and cocainecause the body to produce higher levels of dopamine.

In experiments using rodents, researchers have shown that when relevant neuronal cells are exposed to high levels of dopamine for an extended period of time, they become desensitizedmeaning the cells gene activation is less pronounced in response to the dopamine, Keung says.

This is called gene desensitization. However, until now, it hasnt been possible to do an experimental study using human neuronal cells.

Our work here is the first experimental study to demonstrate gene desensitization in humanneuronal cells, specifically in response to dopamine, says Ryan Tam, first author of the study and a Ph.D. student at NC State. We dont have to infer that it is happening inhuman cells; we can show that it is happening in human cells.

In their study, Tam and Keung exposed neuron-like cells derived from human stem cells to varying levels of dopamine for varying periods of time. The researchers found that when cells were exposed to high levels of dopamine for an extended period of time, the relevant reward genes became significantly less responsive.

This is an interesting finding, but its also a proof of concept study, Tam says. Weve demonstrated that gene desensitization to dopamine occurs in human cells, but there is still a lot we dont know about the nature of the relationship between dopamine and gene desensitization.

For example, could higher levels of dopamine cause desensitization at shorter time scales? Or could lower levels of dopamine cause desensitization at longer time scales? Are there threshold levels, or is there some sort of linear relationship? How might the presence of other neurotransmitters or bioactive chemicals affect these responses?

Those are good questions, which future research could address, says Keung. And weve demonstrated that these neuron-like cells derived from human stem cells are a good model for conducting that research.

Author: Matt ShipmanSource: North Carolina State UniversityContact: Matt Shipman North Carolina State UniversityImage: The image is credited to Ryan Tam, NC State University

Original Research: Open access.Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Medium Spiny Neuron-like Cells Exhibit Gene Desensitization by Ryan W. Tam et al. Cells

AbstractHuman Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Medium Spiny Neuron-like Cells Exhibit Gene Desensitization

Gene desensitization in response to a repeated stimulus is a complex phenotype important across homeostatic and disease processes, including addiction, learning, and memory.

These complex phenotypes are being characterized and connected to important physiologically relevant functions in rodent systems but are difficult to capture in human models where even acute responses to important neurotransmitters are understudied.

Here through transcriptomic analysis, we map the dynamic responses of human stem cell-derived medium spiny neuron-like cells (hMSN-like cells) to dopamine.

Furthermore, we show that these human neurons can reflect and capture cellular desensitization to chronic versus acute administration of dopamine. These human cells are further able to capture complex receptor crosstalk in response to the pharmacological perturbations of distinct dopamine receptor subtypes.

This study demonstrates the potential utility and remaining challenges of using human stem cell-derived neurons to capture and study the complex dynamic mechanisms of the brain.

Read more:
New Insights on Gene Activity and Addiction - Neuroscience News