The mental and physical health benefits of sunlight have been heavily researched.

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The benefits of sunlight have been widely discussed for many years. In fact, there are a number of physical and mental health benefits to sun exposure.

Sunshine (and the lack of) both impact your hormone levels.

Sunlight (and alternatively, the lack of sunlight) both trigger the release of certain hormones in your brain. Exposure to sunlight is thought to increase serotonin, which is associated with boosting your mood and helping you feel calm and focused.

Alternatively, dark lighting triggers melatonin, a hormone that is helpful in allowing you to rest and fall asleep. Without enough sunlight, your serotonin levels can lip - and low serotonin levels have been associated with a higher risk of major depression with seasonal pattern (formerly known as seasonal affective disorder).

Sunlight can build strong bones.

Exposure to the ultraviolet-B radiation in the sun's rays can interact with your skin, causing it to create vitamin D. According to NHS, vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body. A lack of vitamin D can lead to bone deformities or bone pain. A 2008 study has shown that even 30 minutes in sunlight (while wearing a bathing suit) can boost vitamin D levels.

Can sunlight actually prevent cancer?

Although heavy exposure to sunlight has been proven to contribute to certain skin cancers, a moderate amount of sunlight has actually been proved to have preventative benefits.

According to a 2008 study from the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, those who live in areas with fewer daylight hours are more likely to have some specific cancers (including, but not limited to, colon cancer, ovarian cancer, and prostate cancer) than those who live in areas with increased daylight hours.

Additionally, sunlight has been proven to help people with skin conditions such as psoriasis.

According to the World Health Organization, sun exposure may also be able to help treat skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema, jaundice, and acne. Some research has also indicated the sun benefits people who struggle with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus, and inflammatory bowel disease.

The large-scale study examines the link between addiction and sunlight, with some surprising results...

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Addictions are multi-step conditions that, by definition, require exposure to the addictive agent. Due to the increase of serotonin (a chemical in the human body that has been proven to help reduce depression, regulate anxiety, and maintain bone health), it's natural that being exposed to prolonged periods of sunlight could become somewhat addictive to the human body and mind. We crave things that make us feel good, and sometimes those cravings become something we depend on. This is the very nature of addiction.

Countless people are exposed to addictive things (substances, medications, and yes, even the sun), but not all become addicted. This is because of the genetic component of addiction.

A large-scale study from King's College in London examines more than 260,000 people to better understand how sun-seeking behavior in humans can be linked to genes involving addiction, behavior traits, and brain function.

The study included two phases.

Phase one suggested genetics played a role in sun-seeking behaviors and phase 2 helped pinpoint what those genetic markers are.

Phase 1: the researchers studied the detailed health information of 2,500 twins, including their sun-seeking behavior and their genetics. Identical twins in a pair were more likely to have similar sun-seeking behavior than non-identical twins, indicating that genetics plays a role here.

Phase 2: the team of researchers then were able to identify 5 key gene markers involved in this sun-seeking behavior from further analysis of 260,000 participants.

Some of the genes indicated have been linked to behaviors traits that are associated with risk-taking and addiction (including smoking and alcohol consumption).

What does this study really prove?

Some may think it's natural to become addicted to something that makes you feel good. The physical and mental health benefits of the outdoors have been heavily studied...so what does this study really mean?

First and foremost, it means more research needs to be done to examine the link between human conditions and exposure to sunlight. Senior author Dr. Mario Falchi explains to the King's College London News Center: "Our results suggest that tackling excessive sun exposure or use of tanning beds might be more challenging than expected, as it is influenced by genetic factors. It is important for the public to be aware of this predisposition, as it could make people more mindful of their behavior and the potential harms of excessive sun exposure."

Additionally, it could mean alternative treatments, and further research needs to be conducted in terms of how we treat certain conditions that are caused or heavily influenced by human exposure to sunlight.

From Your Site Articles

Good News on Climate Change: Most Americans Agree It’s Real, Even in the Midwest – Flatland

September 18, 2020 medical

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Published September 16th, 2020 at 6:00 AM

Rising sea levels. An extraordinary inland hurricane ripping through the Corn Belt. Uncontrolled wildfires scorching the West Coast. Shrinking glaciers in the Arctic.

We are already seeing the effects of climate change.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that the average yearly temperatures in both Missouri and Kansas have been steadily increasing since 1950. Last year was the second hottest on record.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, if global temperatures increase 2.7 degrees fahrenheit, (a number that scientists believe will be reached between 2030 and 2052 unless unprecedented action is taken) more than 70% of coral reefs will die, disrupting the food chain and livelihood of over 500 million people. Millions of people living on the coasts could be forced to flee inward due to rising sea levels. In the Midwest, flooding and extreme rain will impact infrastructure, and heat waves will affect agriculture.

All of this may be scary, but there is a silver lining. Most Americans agree its real.

According to the new 2020 Yale Climate Opinion Map, the majority of Americans (72%) believe global warming is happening. The study found that in Missouri and Kansas 67% of people now believe in global warming. The Kansas City area matched the national average at 72%.

The study surveyed more than 25,000 Americans, asking them several questions related to climate change. The questions ranged from belief in climate change, to whether human behavior influences climate outcomes, and support of climate-related public policies. The model has a margin of error of 7% at the state level, and 8% at the county level.

While the study did find that an overwhelming majority believe in climate change, a majority doesnt believe it will personally affect them.

There is essentially an optimism bias, said Jennifer Marlon, a Ph.D. Research Scientist at Yales School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. We tend to acknowledge that people in our community, or places farther away, or even in other countries are going to get impacted. But we tend to think that we personally are somehow protected, and so we often underestimate the risk.

In this region, 37% of Missourians and Kansans believe they will be harmed personally by global warming, 6 percentage points below the national average. In contrast, 69% of Missourians, and 67% of Kansans believe global warming will harm future generations.

That could be the symptom of a lack of understanding of how imminent the threat of climate change may be.

Its not taken seriously enough. Were not really understanding that were talking about a really severe threat, Marlon said. Were talking about the extreme weather were seeing just being the tip of the iceberg. The heat we are seeing this summer, dont think of this as the hottest year on record, think of this as the coolest summer you are going to have for the next 20 or 30 years.

When the Climate Disruption Index recently ranked the cities that would feel the effects of climate change the most, Kansas City was 5th on the list.

Roeland Park Mayor Mike Kelly, a member of the executive board for Climate Action KC, says the effects of climate change are already showing in Kansas City.

Were going to see increased heating degree days, Kelly said. Weve seen increased extreme weather and flooding on the Kaw (Kansas River) thats affecting various communities.

Kelly also noted that vulnerable populations that live on low income, rely on government assistance, live in older housing, lack access to transportation or live in food deserts will feel the impacts worse than others.

Climate change is also currently affecting health issues. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, rising temperatures caused by climate change lead to a longer allergy season. They estimate rising temperatures have caused the pollen season to be 11 to 27 days longer.

The Yale study asked Americans whether they supported a number of climate change related policies.

Funding research into renewable energy sources, regulating CO2 as a pollutant, providing tax rebates for energy-efficient vehicles and solar panels and teaching about climate change in schools all have more than 70% approval in Missouri and Kansas.

Kelly said that Climate Action KC has seen an increase in support for green policies around the KC metro. Half a dozen cities are participating in Evergys Renewable Direct Program, which allows a city to acquire 100% of its metered electricity from renewable sources in this case, a wind farm.

When you look at these solutions for their own sake, you realize that a lot of them have a great fiscal impact outside of their emissions reduction, Kelly said. What were seeing is that weve shown people the long-term plan to the dollars and cents, and the improvement in quality of life for things like making your building more energy efficient, or providing walking and biking trails, or multimodal transportation options. People like those solutions.

Despite the large support for climate policies, there is less demand for elected officials to address the issue of climate change.

A narrower majority of 56% of Missourians and 54% of Kansans believe the president should be doing more to address climate change. Those numbers drop to 49% and 48%, respectively, when asked the same question about their states governor. And 44% in both states think global warming should be a high priority for the next president and Congress.

Its fascinating. So what this says (is) in theory people do support these policies, they do support action, but they somehow dont want the government to do it, Marlon said. That really gets at this anti-government sentiment that really runs deep.

Marlon said that while market-based policies, and buy-in from citizens and corporations will definitely help, the government must play a role in mitigating the effects of climate change.

Climate Action KCs executive board is made up of several elected officials in the area, including Kelly, Shawnee Councilwoman Lindsey Constance, Gladstone Mayor Carol Suter and Smithville Mayor Damien Boley. The organization is currently working on their 2020 Climate Action Playbook that will give officials and organization concrete steps they can take towards helping the environment. The playbook is slated to release in December of this year.

One of the findings of the Yale study is that less than 35% of Missourians and Kansans say they rarely or never talk about global warming. Even less see stories about climate change. Both states reported less than 25% of people hear about climate change in the media.

Yale Climate Connections is dedicated to increasing the accessibility to these stories by telling real, science-based stories about the effects of climate change throughout the country.

We have to be able to have a productive dialogue about the solutions, Marlon said. There are many things we can do (to fight climate change), but we need the public first to understand this threat, and then be willing to talk about these solutions and decide which ones to support.

Another big hurdle is convincing the human race to admit fault. While the study found that most people believe in climate change, it found far less people who believe humans are to blame (53% in Missouri, 52% in Kansas).

According to a study of scientific consensus on climate change, 97% of scientists believe that climate change is a result of human emissions such as the burning of fossil fuels and some agricultural practices.

Marlon says the problem is two-fold. One, the false balance of pitting climate scientists against climate change deniers in debate formats in the media. Two, the nature of science, and its inherent embrace of debate, and constant craving for progress.

I mean we get rewarded when we find something new, Marlon said. We have publications from the 1920s and 30s documenting how burning coal and oil and gas can warm the climate, so thats nothing new. We dont emphasize whats already solid and agreed upon.

Last year Climate Action KC held their 2019 Metro KC Climate Action Summit, where more than 750 people came together to talk about the issues facing our planet. They had more than 500 people sign up for their 2020 summit, which was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Both Kelly and Marlon agree public education is essential to saving the Earth.

Forty-three percent (of people) dont understand it (human impact on climate change), Marlon said. I mean if you dont understand that, then why would you think that we can actually fix it?

Jacob Douglas covers rural affairs for Kansas City PBS in cooperation with Report for America.

Discover more unheard stories about Kansas City, every Thursday.

Check your inbox, you should see something from us.

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Good News on Climate Change: Most Americans Agree It's Real, Even in the Midwest - Flatland

Neuroscience

Brain-scanning backpack brings neuroscience into the real world – Science Magazine

September 18, 2020 medical

The mobile brain-monitoring device includes a wand and backpack that works in conjunction with a neural implant. It can also be paired with virtual reality goggles.

By Rebekah TuchschererSep. 18, 2020 , 2:40 PM

Call it neuroscience on the go. Scientists have developed a backpack that tracks and stimulates brain activity as people go about their daily lives. The advance could allow researchers to get a sense of how the brain works outside of a laboratoryand how to monitor diseases such as Parkinsons and post-traumatic stress disorder in real-world settings.

The technology is an inspiring demonstration of whats possible with portable neuroscience equipment, says Timothy Spellman, a neurobiologist at Weill Cornell Medicine who was not involved with the work. The backpack and its vast suite of tools, he says, could broaden the landscape for neuroscience research to study the brain while the body is in motion.

Typically, when scientists want to scan the brain, they need a lot of roomand a lot of money. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanners, which detect activity in various regions of the brain, are about the size of a pickup truckand can costmore than $1 million. And patients must stay still in the machine for about 1 hour to ensure a clear, readable scan.

Approaches like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) that zap the brainoften to treat severe depressionare also not portable; patients must sit still and upright in a lab for about 30 minutes while a large coil delivers magnetic pulses through their scalp to electrically activate neurons.

Searching for a better way, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), have developed what they call the mobile deep brain recording and stimulation platform.

Heres how it works: A wand snakes up out of a 9-pound backpack to rest near the top of the patients scalp. There, the wand can communicate with a neural implant that lies deep in the brain. Meanwhile, the backpack is filled with monitorsa setup that allows for real-time data collection from the implant. At the same time, depending on the experiment, the participant can wear additional gear for measuring brain and body activities, including a scalp electroencephalography cap with electrodes that monitor surface brain activity, a pair of virtual reality goggles that track eye movement, and other devices that track heart and breathing rates. All of this information can then be synchronized with signals from the implant.

The beauty of this is that you have many streams of data that are coming in simultaneously, says study author Zahra Aghajan, a UCLA neurophysicist.

In lab testing, the team was able to show that the backpack records activity and stimulates various brain regions without requiring people to stay still. It was also able to collect the same data as an fMRI machine and stimulate the brain in a way similar to TMS, the team reports this week in Neuron.

Not being tied to a lab setting could enable scientists to study how the brain functions while people are in motion and interacting with others, rather than lying still inside an fMRI machine, the researchers say.

Theres a catch, however: Only patients who have neural implants can use the device. About 150,000 people worldwide have such implants, which doctors use to treat and monitor a wide range of conditions including Parkinsons disease, epilepsy, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The team has released the backpacks software and blueprints for all scientists to use, says study author Uros Topalovic, a Ph.D. student at UCLA. The hope, he says, is that other researchers can use the technology to study neurological conditions of all kinds without the constraints of a lab or hospital bed.

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Brain-scanning backpack brings neuroscience into the real world - Science Magazine

Neuroscience

NEUROSCIENCE ANTIBODIES AND ASSAYS Market to Witness Exponential Growth by 2020-2027 | Leading Players Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. , Overview,…

September 18, 2020 medical

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Neuroscience

Live Imaging Method Links Functional Brain Maps to Structure – Technology Networks

September 18, 2020 medical

To understand the massive capabilities and complexities of the brain, neuroscientists segment it into regions based on what they appear to do--like processing what we sense or how to move. What's been lacking, however, is an ability to tie those functional maps precisely and consistently to matching distinctions of physical structure, especially in live animals while they are performing the functions of interest. In a new study, MIT researchers demonstrate a new way to do that, providing an unprecedented pairing of functional mapping in live mice with distinguishing structural information for each region all the way through the cortex into deeper tissue below.

"Our study shows for the first time that structural and functional coupling of visual areas in the mouse brain can be detected at sub-cellular resolution in vivo," wrote the authors based in the lab of Mriganka Sur, Newton Professor of Neuroscience in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT.

The technique could give scientists more precise ways to distinguish the borders and contents of regions they wish to study and could help them better understand the way that structural distinctions develop within individuals in different functional regions over time. Sur's lab, for instance, is intensely interested in understanding the especially complex development of vision. Humans have 35 or so distinct functional regions that contribute to processing vision, Sur notes, and even mice have 10.

A fly-through of six functionally defined regions of the mouse cortex shows different structures of blood vessels and myelin fibers. These help to produce a distinct optical value for each region called effective attenuation length. Credit:Sur Lab/MIT Picower Institute

In retinotopic mapping, researchers can identify functional regions by engineering neurons to flash when they become electrically active (and show changes in calcium) in response to a particular stimulation. For example, scientists could show a mouse a pattern moving across a screen and mark where neurons light up, with each area showing a characteristic location and pattern of response.

Three-photon microscopy can finely resolve individual cells and their smaller substructures as deep as a millimeter or more--enough to see all the way through the cortex. THG, meanwhile, adds the capability to finely resolve both blood vessels and the fibers of a material called myelin that wrap the long, tendrilous axons of many neurons. THG does not require adding any labeling dyes or chemicals.

Crucially, THG yields an important optical measure called effective attenuation length (EAL), which is a measure of how much the light is absorbed or scattered as it moves through the tissue. In the study, Yildirim and co-authors show that EAL specifically depends on each region's unique architecture of cells, blood vessels and myelin. They measured EAL in each of six visual functional regions and showed that the EAL significantly differed among neighboring visual areas, providing a structural signature of sorts for each functional area. Their measurements were so precise, in fact, that they could show how EAL varied within functional regions, being most unique toward the middle and blending closer to the values of neighboring regions out toward the borders.

In other words, by combining the retinotopic mapping with THG three-photon microscopy, Yildirim said, scientists can identify distinct regions by both their function and structure while continuing to work with animals in live experiments. This can produce more accurate and faster results than making observations during behavior and then dissecting tissue in hopes of relocating those same exact positions in preserved brain sections later.

"We would like to combine the strength of retinotopic mapping with three-photon imaging to get more structural information," Yildirim said. "Otherwise there may be some discrepancies when you do the live imaging of brain activity but then take the tissue out, stain it and try to find the same region."

Especially as three-photon microscopy gains wider adoption and imaging speeds improve--right now imaging a millimeter deep column of cortex takes about 15 minutes, the authors acknowledge--the team expects its new method could be used not only for studies of the visual system but also in regions all around the cortex. Moreover it may help characterize disease states as well as healthy brain structure and function.

"This advance should enable similar studies of structural and functional coupling in other sensory and non-sensory cortical areas in the brains of mice and other animal models," they wrote. "We believe that the structural and functional correlation in visual areas that we describe for the first time points to crucial developmental mechanisms that set up these areas, thus our work would lead to a better fundamental understanding of brain development, and of disorders such as Alzheimer's, stroke and aging."Reference:

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Live Imaging Method Links Functional Brain Maps to Structure - Technology Networks

Neuroscience

How Fear Persists in the Mouse Brain – ScienceBlog.com

September 18, 2020 medical

Most people have experienced, at some point in their lives, a sudden unexpected fright. Even after a shadowy figure in a darkened room turns out to just be a chair, your heart rate is still high, your palms stay sweaty, and your senses remain alert for another threat. This sort of lasting response is an example of a persistent internal state. The phenomenon of persistence is what distinguishes an internal emotional state from a reflex, such as jumping when hearing a loud noise.

In a similar way, mice exhibit fear responses to threats, such as the presence of a rat, and these behaviors appear to linger even after the threat is gone. What is happening in the mouse brain at the cellular level during these persistent displays of fear behavior? A team of neuroscientists in the Caltech laboratory ofDavid AndersonSeymour Benzer Professor of Biology, Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience Leadership Chair, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, and director of theTianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscienceanswer this question in a new paper appearing in the journalNatureon September 16.

An interdisciplinary team effort led by former postdoctoral scholar Ann Kennedy, former Caltech staff scientist Prabhat Kunwar, and postdoctoral scholar Ling-yun Li has discovered the neural mechanisms underlying persistent fear responses. Surprisingly, the team discovered that these persistent responses are encoded in a center of the brain that was thought to be much more evolutionarily primitive and reflexive.

The overarching significance of our findings is that they show that persistent fear states are not due simply to persistently elevated stress hormones, as traditionally thought, but also involve persistent electrical activity in the brain, says Anderson. It is surprising to find such neural dynamics in the hypothalamusa fundamental region of the brain found in all vertebrates including humanssince this type of persistent activity is more often associated with cognitive functions, such as working memory, in the cortex.

Mice have a well-characterized repertoire of defensive behaviors, such as freezing and fleeing. In the study, the team focused on a particular facet of mices fear response to rats: when a rat is present in a mouses experimental arena, the mouse will hug up against the walls of the space instead of roaming freely around.

In their study, the researchers specifically focused on a brain region called the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH). In 2015, researchers from the Anderson lab discovered that the VMH encodes for defensive behaviors in mice.

The hypothalamus is generally thought by neuroscientists to be a primitive area, controlling reflexes in a robotic way. Neurons receive a stimulus, react accordingly, and shut off again, says Kennedy, who is now a professor of physiology at Northwestern University. Our work shows that this is not always the case.

In this new research, the team found that VMH neurons are activated when presented with a threatthe nearby ratand that they stay active for tens of seconds even after the rat is taken away. In general, neurons are usually only active for a few milliseconds. The team also found that they could induce mice to display fear behaviors by artificially stimulating these neurons, and essentially make mice unafraid by artificially silencing them.

Because the lingering fear response might be due to some lingering rat odor, the researchers examined mices fear response when they were presented with only sounds at the precise frequency at which rats vocalize. In this case, the mice also displayed persistent fear behavior and their VMH neurons were persistently active, again for tens of seconds, after the sound ceased.

The team then took a closer look at the activity of individual neurons in the VMH, instead of just the overall activity of the area. This would be like examining the individual activity of each musician in an orchestra, instead of listening to the whole orchestra playing together. Measuring individual neuron activity showed that there were two distinct populations of neurons that each responded to the two different types of threatsrat sound versus rat presence.

How did the persistent neural activity last for tens of seconds, when neurons only fire in bursts of activity on the order of milliseconds? Two possible mechanisms might explain this. First, the neurons may form a so-called neural feedback loop that causes their sequential activation, like runners passing a baton during a relay; or second, the neurons may release chemicals into their environment that keep triggering their re-activation. Alternatively, a combination of both scenariosa neural feedback loop and the release of neurochemicalsmight be at play.

Kennedy developed neural networks to model the first scenario, the second scenario, and combinations of the two to find out which would accurately predict the persistent neural activity following a stimulus as well as the identity of the stimulus (i.e., the actual presence of a rat or only the sound of a rat). Only the combination models could explain both of these features.

The paper is titledStimulus-specific hypothalamic encoding of a persistent defensive state.Kennedy, Kunwar, and Li are the studys first authors. Postdoctoral scholar Stefanos Stagkourakis, Research Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering Daniel Wagenaar (PhD 06), and Anderson are co-authors. Funding was provided by the National Institutes of Health, the Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain Foundation, the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation, and the EMBO ALTF.

Originally posted here:
How Fear Persists in the Mouse Brain - ScienceBlog.com

Neuroscience

Backed by $1.1 million grant, UNR Med researcher studying root of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s diseases – Northern Nevada Business Weekly

September 18, 2020 medical

RENO, Nev. Every person carries around a 3-pound universe filled with billions of cells that communicate and orchestrate everything we do from thinking to moving to sensing.

It makes sense that such a busy planet of activity can get stressed or damaged as we age.

For some, this can potentially lead to neurodegenerative diseases of the brain, such as Alzheimers, a type of dementia that slowly destroys memory skills, thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out daily activities.

In 2018, Nevada saw 874 people die from Alzheimers disease, making it the sixth-leading cause of death in the state, according to the Alzheimers Association. All told, that year the total number of Nevadans aged 65 and older with Alzheimers was 45,000, a number projected to jump to 64,000 by 2025.

Yet, despite decades of neuroscience research, scientists dont yet fully understand what causes neurodegenerative diseases of the brain like Alzheimers and Parkinsons and how to treat them.

One researcher at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, with the help of a federal grant, is on a mission to help change that.

Dr. Robert Renden, assistantprofessor in the department of physiology and cell biology at UNR Med and the UNR Neuroscience Institute, this summer was awarded a five-year, $1.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Specifically, Renden will explore how brain cells maintain the energy needed to communicate at contact sites synapses which play a critical role in a variety of cognitive processes, learning and memory. Moreover, synapses play a crucial role in many brain diseases and disorders.

This project answers the NSF mission of really understanding the most basic biology of how synapses function, Renden said in a video interview with Peak NV. And also provide a component to help educate the next generation of researchers, which is part of the NSF mission. This will help UNR Med by providing research opportunities for med school students, physician assistants, postdocs thats the immediate payoff.

The longer-term payoff will be having the basic knowledge of how these synapses function. And then that will inform us what could probably be going wrong when we have disease states.

To that end, Renden said that his study aims to advance new approaches in the study of Alzheimers, Parkinsons and dementia, among others. Theseneurodegenerativediseases, he said, result from a loss of energy production, homeostasis and reduced mitochondria function.

That delivery of energy and utilization of energy is fundamentally and acutely important, Renden said. One of the goals of this research is to try to tie that together at a really fundamental level. And so the hope is that we can make really basic observations about how energy is utilized, generated and distributed at synapses.

Renden is collaborating with Dr. Ruben Dagda, associate professor in pharmacology at UNR Med, who is looking at brain disease models. Dagda said Alzheimers research is lagging behind severely in Nevada due to a lack of state funding, making Rendens research grant all the more important.

Our hope is that whatever we publish, our observations can lead us to a better understanding ofAlzheimers, Dagda told Peak NV. Its very important because in Nevada, 15% of its population is over 65. And by 2025, its going to be over 20%.

And people over 65 have a two-fold increase or 200% for developing Alzheimers, according to Dagda. In addition, they have an 80% increase in developing Parkinsons, he added.

Why?Dagdacontinued. We dont really know but the destructionand energy production and the utilization of energy and the brain makes the neurons very sensitive to dying. We know in those two diseases, theres an increase in stress and inflammation in the brain.

With that in mind, Renden said if research can lead to identifying the potential for these neurodegenerative problems early before clinical symptoms surface they could then be treated early with self-care, proper nutrition and exercise.

After all, Parkinsons and Alzheimers symptoms do now show up until significant damage in the brain has already been done, according to Renden.

You dont see Parkinsons disease motor symptoms until something like 80% of your dopaminergic neurons are dead, he explained. And for Alzheimers disease, youve got to see profound structural loss literally chunks of the brain dying off before you see the clinical manifestation.

Simply put, Renden and Dagda are using techniques to identify changes in synaptic function or cellular function far in advance of cellular death.

In the (petri) dish, we can see the cells as theyre starting to get stressed or just starting to get damaged, Renden said. And then the idea is that at that point youd want to go in and do some of these really early, noninvasive nutritional-type interventions, which have been shown to be really effective.

Go to unr.edu/neuroscience to learn more about the Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Nevada, Reno.

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Backed by $1.1 million grant, UNR Med researcher studying root of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's diseases - Northern Nevada Business Weekly

Neuroscience

Yale teams get multi-million-dollar awards to study biology of Parkinson’s – Yale News

September 18, 2020 medical

Two Yale research teams will each receive approximately $9 million in grants from the Aligning Sciences Across Parkinsons (ASAP) initiative to study the underlying biology of Parkinsons disease.

The ASAP grants, to be distributed over three years, are part of a major international, multi-institutional effort to uncover the basic disease mechanisms that drive the progressive neurological disorder, which afflicts 7 to 10 million people worldwide. The initiative builds and leverages a network of leading investigators, which will ultimately serve to promote rapid access to data, enabling breakthroughs across scales that will accelerate benefits for patients.

A Yale team headed byPietro De Camilli, the John Klingenstein Professor of Neuroscience, professor of cell biology, and investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, will study how gene mutations linked to Parkinsons affect the function of brain cells during the course of the disease. De Camilli will team with scientists from Weill Cornell Medicine to study the impact of Parkinsons disease on the physiology and metabolism of synapses, with the goal of identifying new therapeutic targets.

A second Yale team led byDavid Hafler, the William S. and Lois Stiles Edgerly Professor of Neurology and professor of immunobiology, will investigate whether the progression of Parkinsons disease pathology in the brain is initiated by an autoimmune process triggered by the gut microbiome. The research, part of the Center for Neuroinflammation at Yale, will leverage long-standing collaborations with researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute to produce an unprecedented map of the neuro-immune-gut interactions, with the goal of identifying new treatments for the disease.

The awards to two Yale teams illustrate the universitys dedication to collaborative science and the growing role Yale neuroscientists are playing in elucidating fundamental mechanisms of the most intractable conditions afflicting the brain and central nervous system, said Nancy J. Brown, dean of the Yale School of Medicine. Without a more robust understanding of basic mechanisms we cannot make progress in the treatment of Parkinsonism, she added.

Other Yale members of the De Camilli team areKarin Reinisch, the David W. Wallace Professor of Cell Biology and of molecular biophysics and biochemistry;Shawn Ferguson, associate professor of cell biology and neuroscience; andKallol Gupta, assistant professor of cell biology.

Other Yale members of the Hafler team areLe Zhang, assistant professor of neurology;Sreeganga Chandra,associate professor of neurology and neuroscience;Rui Chang,assistant professor of neuroscience;Noah Palm,assistant professor of immunobiology;Brian KooandJesse Cedarbaum, members of the clinical Department of Neurology; andDavid van Dijk, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine and Genetics.

ASAP is a coordinated research initiative dedicated to fostering collaboration and resources to better understand the underlying causes of Parkinsons disease. The Michael J. Fox Foundation is ASAPs implementation partner and issued the grants.

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Yale teams get multi-million-dollar awards to study biology of Parkinson's - Yale News

Neuroscience

New molecular therapeutics center established at MIT’s McGovern Institute – MIT News

September 18, 2020 medical

More than 1 million Americans are diagnosed with a chronic brain disorder each year, yet effective treatments for most complex brain disorders are inadequate or even nonexistent.

A major new research effort at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT aims to change how we treat brain disorders by developing innovative molecular tools that precisely target dysfunctional genetic, molecular, and circuit pathways.

The K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Center for Molecular Therapeutics in Neuroscience was established at MIT through a $28 million gift from philanthropist Lisa Yang and MIT alumnus Hock Tan 75. Yang is a former investment banker who has devoted much of her time to advocacy for individuals with disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. Tan is president and CEO of Broadcom, a global technology infrastructure company.This latest gift brings Yang and Tans total philanthropy to MIT to more than $72 million.

In the best MIT spirit, Lisa and Hock have always focused their generosity on insights that lead to real impact," says MIT President L. Rafael Reif. Scientifically, we stand at a moment when the tools and insights to make progress against major brain disorders are finally within reach. By accelerating the development of promising treatments, the new center opens the door to a hopeful new future for all those who suffer from these disorders and those who love them. I am deeply grateful to Lisa and Hock for making MIT the home of this pivotal research.

Engineering with precision

Research at the K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Center for Molecular Therapeutics in Neuroscience will initially focus on three major lines of investigation: genetic engineering using CRISPR tools, delivery of genetic and molecular cargo across the blood-brain barrier, and the translation of basic research into the clinical setting. The center will serve as a hub for researchers with backgrounds ranging from biological engineering and genetics to computer science and medicine.

Developing the next generation of molecular therapeutics demands collaboration among researchers with diverse backgrounds, says Robert Desimone, McGovern Institute director and the Doris and Don Berkey Professor of Neuroscience at MIT. I am confident that the multidisciplinary expertise convened by this center will revolutionize how we improve our health and fight disease in the coming decade. Although our initial focus will be on the brain and its relationship to the body, many of the new therapies could have other health applications.

There are an estimated 19,000 to 22,000 genes in the human genome and a third of those genes are active in the brain the highest proportion of genes expressed in any part of the body. Variations in genetic code have been linked to many complex brain disorders, including depression and Parkinsons disease. Emerging genetic technologies, such as the CRISPR gene editing platform pioneered by McGovern Investigator Feng Zhang, hold great potential in both targeting and fixing these errant genes. But the safe and effective delivery of this genetic cargo to the brain remains a challenge.

Researchers within the new Yang-Tan Center will improve and fine-tune CRISPR gene therapies and develop innovative ways of delivering gene therapy cargo into the brain and other organs. In addition, the center will leverage newly developed single-cell analysis technologies that are revealing cellular targets for modulating brain functions with unprecedented precision, opening the door for noninvasive neuromodulation as well as the development of medicines. The center will also focus on developing novel engineering approaches to delivering small molecules and proteins from the bloodstream into the brain. Desimone will direct the center and some of the initial research initiatives will be led by associate professor of materials science and engineering Polina Anikeeva; Ed Boyden, the Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology at MIT; Guoping Feng, the James W. (1963) and Patricia T. Poitras Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT; and Feng Zhang, James and Patricia Poitras Professor of Neuroscience at MIT.

Building a research hub

My goal in creating this center is to cement the Cambridge and Boston region as the global epicenter of next-generation therapeutics research. The novel ideas I have seen undertaken at MITs McGovern Institute and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard leave no doubt in my mind that major therapeutic breakthroughs for mental illness, neurodegenerative disease, autism, and epilepsy are just around the corner, says Yang.

Center funding will also be earmarked to create the Y. Eva Tan Fellows program, named for Tan and Yangs daughter Eva, which will support fellowships for young neuroscientists and engineers eager to design revolutionary treatments for human diseases.

We want to build a strong pipeline for tomorrows scientists and neuroengineers, explains Hock Tan. We depend on the next generation of bright young minds to help improve the lives of people suffering from chronic illnesses, and I can think of no better place to provide the very best education and training than MIT.

The molecular therapeutics center is the second research center established by Yang and Tan at MIT. In 2017, they launched the Hock E. Tan and K. Lisa Yang Center for Autism Research, and, two years later, they created a sister center at Harvard Medical School, with the unique strengths of each institution converging toward a shared goal: understanding the basic biology of autism and how genetic and environmental influences converge to give rise to the condition, then translating those insights into novel treatment approaches.

All tools developed at the molecular therapeutics center will be shared globally with academic and clinical researchers with the goal of bringing one or more novel molecular tools to human clinical trials by 2025.

We are hopeful that our centers, located in the heart of the Cambridge-Boston biotech ecosystem, will spur further innovation and fuel critical new insights to our understanding of health and disease, says Yang.

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New molecular therapeutics center established at MIT's McGovern Institute - MIT News

Neuroscience

Lessons From Teaching in a Pandemic | Duke Today – Duke Today

September 18, 2020 medical

After teaching a doctoral course for the past five years that mixes in-person learning and online class sessions, Duke Divinity Schools Curtis Freeman is an online teaching veteran.

But with COVID-19 limiting in-person classes this fall, and making Freemans class an entirely online affair, even he knew hed need to keep evolving.

The delivery and interaction with students is different this fall, said Freeman, research director of theology and Baptist studies. I cant teach the class the same way I have before.

This has been a fall like no other at Duke as the pandemic leaves little unchanged. While many faculty members are trying new ways of connecting with students, after teaching moved online in the spring and summer, theyre not starting from scratch.

Here are some of the lessons Duke faculty members are leaning on during an unprecedented semester.

Maintain Connections

Makeba Wilbourn, associate professor of the practice of psychology and neuroscience, understands that, in addition to producing important research on the cognitive development of children,her labsgoal is to inspire students with a healthy atmosphere.

While studying how young minds process words and gestures, her labs team builds a welcoming culture with inside jokes, informal mentorship and occasional Family Feud clashes with other labs.

There are authentic experiences that happen in a lab environment, Wilbourn said. Theres a sense of community where youre seen for your contribution to the team, and all the beautiful things you bring with that are valued. Not tolerated but valued. Those are the sorts of things that are part of the culture of a lab when you do it right.

With most student team members now working remotely, COVID-19 has made building that culture challenging. But with technological tools she embraced in the spring, Wilbourn has kept the atmosphere alive.

During many Zoom lab meetings, shell have an extra 30 minutes for everyone to catch up and discuss how theyre doing. The team also uses Marco Polo, a video chat app forAndroidorAppledevices, to share quick, fun updates.

I study non-verbal communication, so its hard for me to get a sense of how my students are doing if I cant see their faces, Wilbourn said. There are times when Ive done a roll call. I sent a video message to the lab and said, I need to see your faces.

Wilbourn got a rush of short video responses, providing peppy snapshots of everyones lives.

Traditionally, team members show up in large numbers to support seniors defending their honors thesis. This spring, when those defenses moved to Zoom, Wilbourn recalls the sessions drawing around 60 people, including many of their lab colleagues.

Were doing the best we can to stay connected, Wilbourn said. You want to keep that sense that theres a group of people who care about you.

Remember Who You Are

When COVID-19 disrupted the spring semester, the changes at theDuke University Marine Labwere especially obvious.

In mid-March, the labs few dozen residential students went home. Trips to Singapore, Mexico and the Caribbean were called off. The labs new research vessel, the R/V Shearwater, stayed in port.

But this semester, the familiar rhythm of life at the lab has returned, though with slight differences.

We pride ourselves on experiential learning, getting kids out into salt marshes, out on boats, said Duke University Marine Lab Director Andy Read. Our kids are passionate about the ocean and marine science and we didnt want to give that up. So were trying to do as much as we would do in a normal term as safely as possible.

While the lab can house as many as 70 students, only 24 will be there this fall. Each student will have their own dorm room and the labs, classrooms and dining facilities will have strict social distancing protocols in place. Student daytrips on the R/V Shearwater will only be done on nice days so passengers can be outdoors as much as possible.

Much like in the spring, the lab is incorporating more online courses, including four fully online courses and Reads Biology of Marine Mammals class, which will feature a hybrid online and in-person approach.

Were dealing with online learning differently now, were all better at it, Read said. So that gives us some new capabilities moving forward. Were trying to do what we do best, just modify it for the era of COVID.

Embrace the Challenge

Duke Divinitys Freeman saw challenges posed by COVID-19 as opportunities. Getting students to engage with him, his material and their classmates would be more difficult, so he knew he needed a deeper knowledge of technological tools and an open mind.

This has forced us to step up our game and use the technology in some ways that can really be fantastic, Freeman said.

Freeman teaches course for doctoral students on leadership approaches derived from the worlds of both business and faith. In the past, the semester-long course featured a week of in-person classes and eight weeks of online learning.

Knowing hed be doing the course entirely online this fall, Freeman leaned on the resources provided by theDuke Divinity School, including workshops about Zoom and Sakai, the online learning hub for Duke students.

Among the new approaches hes embracing are condensing 45-minute lectures down to 15 minutes and recording them. Hes also helping students set up book clubs where they can discuss material outside of class.

I think whatever the new normal will be after this pandemic is over, it will not be what the old normal was in terms of teaching, Freeman said. The pandemic jump-started us into what we saw need to happen anyway. Theres probably no going back.

Help share the proactive and extensive work being done by all Duke community members during the COVID-19 outbreak. Send ideas, shout-outs and photographs throughour story idea formor writeworking@duke.edu.

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Lessons From Teaching in a Pandemic | Duke Today - Duke Today