Category Archives: Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Infants Outperform AI in Commonsense Psychology – Neuroscience News

Summary: When it comes to detecting what motivates a persons actions, infants outperform current artificial intelligence algorithms. The findings highlight fundamental differences between computation and human cognition, pointing to shortcomings in current machine learning and identifying where improvements are needed for AI to fully replicate human behavior.

Source: NYU

Infants outperform artificial intelligence in detecting what motivates other peoples actions, finds a new study by a team of psychology and data science researchers.

Its results, which highlight fundamental differences between cognition and computation, point to shortcomings in todays technologies and where improvements are needed for AI to more fully replicate human behavior.

Adults and even infants can easily make reliable inferences about what drives other peoples actions, explains Moira Dillon, an assistant professor in New York Universitys Department of Psychology and the senior author of thepaper, which appears in the journalCognition. Current AI finds these inferences challenging to make.

The novel idea of putting infants and AI head-to-head on the same tasks is allowing researchers to better describe infants intuitive knowledge about other people and suggest ways of integrating that knowledge into AI, she adds.

If AI aims to build flexible, commonsense thinkers likehuman adultsbecome, then machines should draw upon the same core abilities infants possess in detecting goals and preferences, says Brenden Lake, an assistant professor in NYUs Center for Data Science and Department of Psychology and one of the papers authors.

Its been well-established that infants are fascinated by other peopleas evidenced by how long they look at others to observe their actions and to engage with them socially. In addition, previous studies focused on infants commonsense psychologytheir understanding of the intentions, goals, preferences, and rationality underlying others actionshave indicated that infants are able to attribute goals to others and expect others to pursue goals rationally and efficiently. The ability to make these predictions is foundational to human social intelligence.

Conversely, commonsense AIdriven bymachine-learning algorithmspredicts actions directly. This is why, for example, an ad touting San Francisco as a travel destination pops up on your computer screen after you read a news story on a newly elected city official. However, what AI lacks is flexibility in recognizing different contexts and situations that guidehuman behavior.

To develop a foundational understanding of the differences between humans and AIs abilities, the researchers conducted a series of experiments with 11-month-old infants and compared their responses to those yielded by state-of-the-art learning-driven neural-network models.

To do so, they deployed the previously established Baby Intuitions Benchmark (BIB)six tasks probing commonsense psychology. BIB was designed to allow for testing both infant and machine intelligence, allowing for a comparison of performance between infants and machines and, significantly, providing an empirical foundation for building human-like AI.

Specifically, infants on Zoom watched a series of videos of simple animated shapes moving around the screensimilar to a video game. The shapes actions simulated human behavior anddecision-makingthrough the retrieval of objects on the screen and other movements.

Similarly, the researchers built and trained learning-driven neural-network modelsAI tools that help computers recognize patterns and simulate human intelligenceand tested the models responses to the exact same videos.

Their results showed that infants recognize human-like motivations even in the simplified actions of animated shapes. Infants predict that these actions are driven by hidden but consistent goalsfor example, the on-screen retrieval of the same object no matter what location its in and the movement of that shape efficiently even when the surrounding environment changes.

Infants demonstrate such predictions through their longer looking to such events that violate their predictionsa common and decades-old measurement for gauging the nature of infants knowledge.

Adopting this surprise paradigm to study machine intelligence allows for direct comparisons between an algorithms quantitative measure of surprise and a well-established human psychological measure of surpriseinfants looking time.

The models showed no such evidence of understanding the motivations underlying such actions, revealing that they are missing key foundational principles of commonsense psychology thatinfantspossess.

A human infants foundational knowledge is limited, abstract, and reflects our evolutionary inheritance, yet it can accommodate any context or culture in which that infant might live and learn, observes Dillon.

The papers other authors are Gala Stojni, an NYU postdoctoral fellow at the time of the study, Kanishk Gandhi, an NYU research assistant at the time of the study, and Shannon Yasuda, an NYU doctoral student.

Author: Press OfficeSource: NYUContact: Press Office NYUImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Open access.Commonsense psychology in human infants and machines by Gala Stojni et al. Cognition

Abstract

Commonsense psychology in human infants and machines

Human infants are fascinated by other people. They bring to this fascination a constellation of rich and flexible expectations about the intentions motivating peoples actions.

Here we test 11-month-old infants and state-of-the-art learning-driven neural-network models on the Baby Intuitions Benchmark (BIB), a suite of tasks challenging both infants and machines to make high-level predictions about the underlying causes of agents actions.

Infants expected agents actions to be directed towards objects, not locations, and infants demonstrated default expectations about agents rationally efficient actions towards goals. The neural-network models failed to capture infants knowledge.

Our work provides a comprehensive framework in which to characterize infants commonsense psychology and takes the first step in testing whether human knowledge and human-like artificial intelligence can be built from the foundations cognitive and developmental theories postulate.

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Infants Outperform AI in Commonsense Psychology - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Domestic Abuse in Pregnancy Linked to Structural Brain Changes in … – Neuroscience News

Summary: Babies born to mothers who experience domestic violence during pregnancy have altered brain development and changes in brain structure. In females, maternal exposure to IPV was associated with a smaller amygdala, a brain area associated with social and emotional development. In males, the caudate nucleus size was increased. This brain area is associated with multiple functions including memory, learning, reward, and movement. The findings may explain why children of mothers who experience domestic abuse are more likely to suffer from mental health problems later in life.

Source: University of Bath

Domestic abuse against women during pregnancy can potentially have a significant impact on how the unborn babys brain develops, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Bath, working in collaboration with researchers from the University of Cape Town, analyzedbrain scansof 143 South African infants whose mothers had been subject tointimate partner violence(IPV) during pregnancy. Intimate partner violence includes emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse or assault.

Brain MRI scans were taken when infants were just 3 weeks old on average so any changes that were observed are likely to have developed inside the womb.

Publishing their findings in the journalDevelopmental Cognitive Neuroscience, the research team report thatmaternal exposureto IPV during pregnancy is associated with alterations inbrain structurein young infants identified shortly after birth.

This was evident even when the researchers took into account maternal alcohol use and smoking throughout pregnancy as well as pregnancy complications.

Importantly, the effects of IPV exposure may differ by the babys sex.

For girls, their mothers exposure to IPV during pregnancy was linked to a smaller amygdala, an area of thebraininvolved in emotional andsocial development.

For boys, IPV exposure was instead associated with a larger caudate nucleus, an area of the brain involved in multiple functions including the execution of movement, learning, memory, reward, and motivation.

Early changes to brain structures may explain why children whose mothers experience high levels of stress during pregnancy are more likely to have psychological issues in childhood or later life.

Sex differences in brain development may also help explain why girls and boys often develop different mental health problems. However, the researchers cautioned that the study did not analyze emotional andcognitive developmentin children.

Lead researcher, Dr. Lucy Hiscox from the Department of Psychology at Bath, explained, Our findings are a call to act on the three Rs of domestic violence awareness: recognize, respond, and refer. Preventing or quickly acting to help women escape domestic violence may be an effective way of supporting healthy brain development in children.

While previous studies have looked at the impact of maternal stress in pregnancy and its impacts on childrensbrain development, this is the first to examinedomestic abuse. The children involved in this study are now aged 8-9 years and follow-up research is testing whether the differences in brain structure seen at 3 weeks old persist, or are altered, as they age.

For this study, the team from Bath worked with researchers at the University of Cape Town (UCT) to analyze data from a major South African cohort study, the Drakenstein Child Health Study (DCHS), led by South African pediatrician Professor Heather Zar. The DCHS has been tracking 1,143 children since birth with data collection ongoing.

Co-author, Professor Kirsty Donald, a pediatric neurologist and Head of the Division of Developmental Pediatrics at UCT added, Strategies that help identify and support pregnant mums for multiple potential risks to their unborn babies will require an integrated health system approach and should be considered a public health priority.

Author: Andy DunneSource: University of BathContact: Andy Dunne University of BathImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Open access.Antenatal maternal intimate partner violence exposure is associated with sex-specific alterations in brain structure among young infants: Evidence from a South African birth cohort by Lucy V. Hiscox et al. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Abstract

Antenatal maternal intimate partner violence exposure is associated with sex-specific alterations in brain structure among young infants: Evidence from a South African birth cohort

Maternal psychological distress during pregnancy has been linked to adverse outcomes in children with evidence of sex-specific effects on brain development.

Here, we investigated whetherin uteroexposure to intimate partner violence (IPV), a particularly severe maternal stressor, is associated with brain structure in young infants from a South African birth cohort.

Exposure to IPV during pregnancy was measured in 143 mothers at 2832 weeks gestation and infants underwent structural and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (mean age 3 weeks).

Subcortical volumetric estimates were compared between IPV-exposed (n=63; 52% female) and unexposed infants (n=80; 48% female), with white matter microstructure also examined in a subsample (IPV-exposed,n=28, 54% female; unexposed infants,n=42, 40% female).

In confound adjusted analyses, maternal IPV exposure was associated with sexually dimorphic effects in brain volumes: IPV exposure predicted a larger caudate nucleus among males but not females, and smaller amygdala among females but not males. Diffusivity alterations within white matter tracts of interest were evident in males, but not females exposed to IPV.

Results were robust to the removal of mother-infant pairs with pregnancy complications.

Further research is required to understand how these early alterations are linked to the sex-bias in neuropsychiatric outcomes later observed in IPV-exposed children.

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Neuroscience

What Neuroscience Tells Us About Insurrections | Essay – zocalopublicsquare.org

Research from the burgeoning field of neuropolitics supports the claim that political violencesuch as the recent uprising in Braziloriginates in a primitive part of the brain, linked to humans' fight-or-flight instinct. Political scientist and former biologist Matt Qvortrup explains. Courtesy of AP Newsroom.

by Matt Qvortrup|February21,2023

Why do people take part in insurrections, like the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the storming of the presidential residence in Sri Lanka, or Januarys sacking of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace in Brazil?

Sometimes, that question is answered by pointing to precipitating eventselections and their results, protests that descend into anger, or the speeches of powerful demagogues. On other occasions, we blame insurrections on prejudices, or bigotriesracism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, white nationalism.

Id suggest that we think about insurrections differentlybecause they originate in our brains.

Indeed, Id suggest that the insurrections in Washington, D.C. and Brasilia are due to overactivity in the limbic system in the braina primitive part of the brain that evolved millions of years ago, which we share with rats and cats and lizards and other creatures.

Social scientists used to focus on rational actions. But in recent years we have made great advances in understanding what goes on in the brain when we think politically. The biology of radical politics is no exception.

Scholars have explored why people rebel as long as there has been political science. In the early 1970s, one sociologist hypothesized that the reason was poverty, or relative deprivation. Political scientists and economists, using sophisticated mathematical models, also tried to explain rebellion, but found it hard to come up with a rational explanation. Very few people, the math showed, had any personal incentive to risk life and limb for the rather abstract benefits of overthrowing a government.

From a rational point of view, rebellions seem pointless. A political scientist even coined the phrase the paradox of revolution.

Enter neuroscience.

Since the early 2000s we have been able to look at what happens inside our heads when we think. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans which measure changing blood flow to brain cells, we can now see which parts of the brain get activated when we engage in various activities, like shopping, thinking about sex, and feeling remorse.

I started out as a biologist before becoming a political scientist. Together, those two different academic fields offer a similar lesson: To prevent rebellions and insurrections, we should avoid angry and polarized debate.

This perspective has also entered into the realm of political analysisfinally putting the science in political science. Of course, fMRI isnt useful for studying rebellions in real time; theres no way to scan peoples brains at the moment they storm the palace. But we can design experiments that observe how people who share insurrectionist views react to hate-speech and views that are articulated by politicians on the far right. Presenting subjects with statements about vulnerable minority groups during some brain scan studies, and showing them photos of political candidates they didnt agree with during others, researchers could literally see what happened in would-be insurrectionists brains.

When neurologist Giovanna Zamboni and colleagues conducted such an experiment a little over a decade ago, they found that a part of the brain known as the ventral striatum, which is associated with the limbic system, was activated when individuals who were identified by psychological tests as radicals were exposed to hate-speech statements or other intolerant assertions about other groups or minorities. These studies have been replicated in recent years and their findings confirmed and refined.

That the ventral striatum was activated is remarkable. This part of the brain is one of the oldest, in evolutionary terms. It is what makes animals respond positively to simple rewards in social situations and to negative stimuli in dangerous moments, such as fear that they might be attacked. The ventral striatum is linked with amygdala, the fight-and-flight center in the brain. When people hear statements aboutor see images ofgroups or individuals that they fear, the brain reacts as if it is attacked.

In contrast, study subjects who, based on personality tests, were identified as moderate or conservative used parts of the brain that only humans have evolved, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for planning and working memory and associated with listening, speaking, and reasoning. In another study, from 2011, young people with far-right views showed greater activation of amygdala, indicating that they were less likely to reflect on political statements and more likely to revert to fight-or-flight mode.

The most interesting part of this body of research: Generally, brains respond differently to politics than to policy. Scans show that when people think about politicsas in the rough and tumble partisan strugglethe fight-and-flight amygdala gets activated. But when people are exposed to questions about policy, they use the more advanced parts of the brain. In fMRI studies dating as far back as 2009, scientists found that the dorsolateral frontal cortex lit up in people exposed to arguments about economic policy.

I started out as a biologist before becoming a political scientist. Together, those two different academic fields offer a similar lesson: To prevent rebellions and insurrections, we should avoid angry and polarized debate. And when possible, we should avoid political hot-buttons and instead talk about the policy issues that affect our lives.

Biological research suggests the advantages of such an approach go beyond de-polarizing the public square. When we really listen to each other in debates about policy and related politics, we learn new things. And learning new things may make us less likely to develop degenerative conditions like Alzheimers and Parkinsons.

Humans are the product of 8 million years of evolution. We have the capacity to use the powers with which we have been endowed, namely to learn by being attentive, and through open deliberation. Human evolution hardwired us to process information, and make progress, through listening. But when we engage in hate speech and angry rebellion we revert to an evolutionarily primitive stage.

Neuropolitics shows us a way out of the current polarized debate and into a better future.

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Neuroscience

The Neuroscience of Math Instruction – The Tech Edvocate

There is more to learning math than just memorizing formulas. The entire learning process is as complex as it is fascinating. Mathematical principles tend to become overly complicated at advanced levels of learning. Some people might wonder how we are able to maneuver these processes and solve mathematical problems.

Fortunately, we have the human brain to thank for our advanced logical abilities. Typically, all parts of the brain are engaged when solving mathematical problems, as weve explained below.

The Role of Neuroscience

According to the Frontiers for Young Minds, Trying to understand how the brain works can be like solving a complicated puzzle. Different parts of the brain perform different roles in learning mathematics.

As a teacher, it is important to know these different parts and how they contribute to a learners ability to grasp and retain mathematical concepts. This knowledge will help you create tailored learning experiences for your learners for the best possible outcomes.

From our younger years, the learning process allows us to constantly make improvements on how we do things, like handling math problems. Any mistakes made provide critical lessons to realize academic growth along the way as we get older.

During our junior years, we are introduced to procedural approaches for solving arithmetic problems. However, we rarely use this principle and rely more on fact retrieval as we become older. This preference manifests some of the changes occurring in the brain as we grow. The different parts of the brain develop unique roles, unlike in previous years.

How Neuroscience Can Inform Mathematic Instructions

It is important to understand that most learning occurs when the learner encounters a challenge instead of smooth sailing experiences. Most times, the teacher will teach a concept and give problems and the solutions to these problems before moving on to the next concept. A pattern will be formed, and the learner better understands the concept with time.

On the flip side, this manner of teaching does not present enough of a challenge for the brain to grow. This does not mean that teachers should make it difficult for students while in class. Instead, instructors should give learners room to struggle and find different ways of solving math problems. The teachers main role can then be to offer guidance along the way.

Remember, it is through mental struggle that the human brain experiences meaningful growth. Ultimately, the students memory improves alongside their grasp of the subject.

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The Neuroscience of Math Instruction - The Tech Edvocate

Neuroscience

Scientists Record First-Ever Brain Waves From Freely Moving … – Neuroscience News

Summary: By implanting electrodes and monitoring data, researchers have successfully captured the brain activity of freely moving octopuses. The recorded brain activity could solve numerous questions about octopus behaviors including movement, cognition, and learning abilities.

Source: OIST

Scientists have successfully recorded brain activity from freely moving octopuses, a feat made possible by implanting electrodes and a data logger directly into the creatures.

The study, published online inCurrent Biologyon February 23, is a critical step forward in figuring out how octopus brains control their behavior, and could provide clues to the common principles needed for intelligence and cognition to occur.

If we want to understand how the brain works, octopuses are the perfect animal to study as a comparison to mammals. They have a large brain, an amazingly unique body, and advanced cognitive abilities that have developed completely differently from those of vertebrates, said Dr. Tamar Gutnick, first author and former postdoctoral researcher in thePhysics and Biology Unitat the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST).

But measuring the brainwaves of octopuses has proven a real technical challenge. Unlike vertebrates, octopuses are soft bodied, so they have no skull to anchor the recording equipment onto, to prevent it being removed.

Octopuses have eight powerful and ultra-flexible arms, which can reach absolutely anywhere on their body, said Dr. Gutnick. If we tried to attach wires to them, they would immediately rip if off, so we needed a way of getting the equipment completely out of their reach, by placing it under their skin.

The researchers settled on small and lightweight data loggers as the solution, which were originally designed to track the brain activity of birds during flight. The team adapted the devices to make them waterproof, but still small enough to easily fit inside the octopuses. The batteries, which needed to work in a low-air environment, allowed up to 12 hours of continuous recording.

The researchers choseOctopus cyanea, more commonly known as the day octopus, as their model animal, due to its larger size. They anesthetized three octopuses and implanted a logger into a cavity in the muscle wall of the mantle.

The scientists then implanted the electrodes into an area of the octopus brain called the vertical lobe and median superior frontal lobe, which is the most accessible area. This brain region is also believed to be important for visual learning and memory, which are brain processes that Dr. Gutnick is particularly interested in understanding.

Once the surgery was complete, the octopuses were returned to their home tank and monitored by video. After five minutes, the octopuses had recovered and spent the following 12 hours sleeping, eating and moving around their tank, as their brain activity was recorded. The logger and electrodes were then removed from the octopuses, and the data was synchronized to the video.

The researchers identified several distinct patterns of brain activity, some of which were similar in size and shape to those seen in mammals, whilst others were very long lasting, slow oscillations that have not been described before.

The researchers were not yet able to link these brain activity patterns to specific behaviors from the videos. However, this is not completely surprising, Dr. Gutnick explained, as they didnt require the animals to do specific learning tasks.

This is an area thats associated with learning and memory, so in order to explore this circuit, we really need to do repetitive, memory tasks with the octopuses. Thats something were hoping to do very soon!

The researchers also believe that this method of recording brain activity from freely moving octopuses can be used in other octopus species and could help solve questions in many other areas of octopus cognition, including how they learn, socialize and control the movement of their body and arms.

This is a really pivotal study, but its just the first step, said Prof. Michael Kuba, who led the project at the OIST Physics and Biology Unit and now continues at the University of Naples Federico II.

Octopuses are so clever, but right now, we know so little about how their brains work. This technique means we now have the ability to peer into their brain while they are doing specific tasks. Thats really exciting and powerful.

The study involved an international collaboration between researchers in Japan, Italy, Germany, Ukraine, and Switzerland.

Author: Tomomi OkuboSource: OISTContact: Tomomi Okubo OISTImage: The image is credited to Keishu Asada

Original Research: Closed access.Recording Electrical Activity from the Brain of Behaving Octopus by Tamar Gutnick et al. Current Biology

Abstract

Recording Electrical Activity from the Brain of Behaving Octopus

Octopuses, which are considered to be among the most intelligent invertebrates, have no skeleton and eight highly flexible arms whose sensory and motor activities are at once autonomous and coordinated by a complex central nervous system.

The octopus brain is comprised of very large numbers of neurons, organized into numerous distinct lobes, the functions of which have been proposed based largely on the results of lesioning experiments. In other species, linking brain activity to behavior is done by implanting electrodes and directly correlating electrical activity with observed animal behavior.

However, because the octopus lacks any hard structure to which recording equipment can be anchored, and because it uses its eight flexible arms to remove any foreign object attached to the outside of its body, in-vivo recording of electrical activity from behaving octopuses has thus far not been possible.

Here we describe a novel technique for inserting a portable data logger into the octopus and implanting electrodes into the vertical lobe system, such that brain activity can be recorded for up to 12 hours from unanesthetized, untethered octopuses, and synchronized with simultaneous video recordings of behavior. In the brain activity we identified several distinct patterns that appeared consistently in all animals. While some resemble activity patterns in mammalian neural tissue, others, such as episodes of 2Hz, large amplitude, oscillations have not been reported.

This study provides the first insight into the brain activity of behaving octopuses, and represents a critical step towards understanding how the brain controls behavior in these remarkable animals.

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Psychology News – Research Topics – Page 541 of 541 – Neuroscience News

Neuroscience research articles are provided.

What is neuroscience? Neuroscience is the scientific study of nervous systems. Neuroscience can involve research from many branches of science including those involving neurology, brain science, neurobiology, psychology, computer science, artificial intelligence, statistics, prosthetics, neuroimaging, engineering, medicine, physics, mathematics, pharmacology, electrophysiology, biology, robotics and technology.

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New Research Explores the Appeal of Dangerous Men – Neuroscience News

Summary: For short-term relationships, most women are more attracted to risk-taking men, a new study reports. Women who are in better health or have greater access to quality healthcare are more likely to be attracted to risk-taking men than women from other socioeconomic or health backgrounds.

Source: University of Western Australia

A new study led by The University of Western Australia has probed the age-old question of whether women prefer risk-taking men over their more careful cousins and come up with some surprising results.

The study, published today inEvolutionary Psychological Science, used anevolutionary perspectiveto shed light on the topic and found that relationship context and the health status ofwomenwere critical factors.

More than 1,300 women from 47 countries were surveyed for the study.

Lead researcher Dr. Cyril Grueter, from UWAs School of Human Sciences, said the findings clearly showed that risk-taking men were more attractive for short-term flings than long-term relationships.

For casual sexual liaisons, women prefer courageous cads with a good genetic constitutionrisk-takers seem to fit this bill, Dr. Grueter said.

For more serious long-term relationships, women place agreater valueon committed men.

Interestingly, the study found that women in better health and with better access to health care were more attracted to risk-takers than women from other socioeconomic backgrounds.

Women in healthier countries may have greater control over whether they become pregnant in a short-term relationshipthrough contraceptives and abortionand therefore can afford to choose a risk-prone male partner, Dr. Goodman said.

The study also showed thatbisexual womenand so-called adrenaline junkies were more into risk-takers thanheterosexual womenand risk-avoiders.

Bisexual women may have less conservative perceptions about relationships, and the pairing of similar-minded couples may bring greater relationship satisfaction, Dr. Grueter said.

Author: Press OfficeSource: University of Western AustraliaContact: Press Office University of Western AustraliaImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Open access.Preference for Male Risk Takers Varies with Relationship Context and Health Status but not COVID Risk by Cyril C. Grueter et al. Evolutionary Psychological Science

Abstract

Preference for Male Risk Takers Varies with Relationship Context and Health Status but not COVID Risk

Risk taking is more commonly shown by males than females and has a signalling function, serving to advertise ones intrinsic quality to prospective mates.

Previous research has established that male risk takers are judged as more attractive for short-term flings than long-term relationships, but the environmental and socioeconomic context surrounding female preferences for male risk takers has been overlooked.

Using a survey instrument, we examined female preferences for male risk takers across 1304 females from 47 countries.

We found preferences for physical risk takers to be more pronounced in females with a bisexual orientation and females who scored high on risk proneness. Self-reported health was positively associated with preferences for high risk takers as short-term mates, but the effect was moderated by country-level health, i.e. the association was stronger in countries with poorer health.

The security provided by better health and access to health care may allow females to capitalise on the genetic quality afforded by selecting a risk-prone male whilst concurrently buffering the potential costs associated with the risk takers lower paternal investment.

The risk of contracting COVID-19 did not predict avoidance of risk takers, perhaps because this environmental cue is too novel to have moulded our behavioural preferences.

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New Research Explores the Appeal of Dangerous Men - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Pill for Skin Disease Also Curbs Excessive Drinking – Neuroscience News

Summary: Apremilast, an FDA-approved drug for the treatment of skin conditions including psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, triggers increased activity in the nucleus accumbens, a brain area associated with regulating alcohol intake. Apremilast reduced drinking behaviors in mouse models with a genetic risk of alcohol use disorder.

Source: Oregon Health and Science University

Researchers from Oregon Health & Science University and institutions across the country have identified a pill used to treat a common skin disease as an incredibly promising treatment for alcohol use disorder.

The study was recentlypublished in theJournal of Clinical Investigation.

On average, the people who received the medication, called apremilast, reduced their alcohol intake by more than half from five drinks per day to two.

Ive never seen anything like that before, said co-senior authorAngela Ozburn, Ph.D., associate professor of behavioral neuroscience in the OHSU School of Medicine and a research biologist with the Portland VA Health Care System.

The lead author isKolter Grigsby, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Ozburn laboratory at OHSU.

Beginning in 2015, Ozburn and collaborators searched a genetic database looking for compounds likely to counteract the expression of genes known to be linked to heavy alcohol use. Apremilast, an FDA-approved anti-inflammatory medication used to treatpsoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, appeared to be a promising candidate.

They then tested it in two unique animal models that have a genetic of risk for excessive drinking, as well as in other strains of mice at laboratories across the country. In each case, apremilast reduced drinking among a variety of models predisposed to mild to heavy alcohol use. They found that apremilast triggered an increase in activity in the nucleus accumbens, the region of the brain involved in controlling alcohol intake.

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, then tested apremilast in people.

The Scripps team conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical proof-of-concept study involving 51 people who were assessed over 11 days of treatment.

Apremilasts large effect size on reducing drinking, combined with its good tolerability in our participants, suggests it is an excellent candidate for further evaluation as a novel treatment for people with alcohol use disorder, said co-senior authorBarbara Mason, Ph.D., Pearson Family professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Scripps.

The clinical study involved people with alcohol use disorder who werent seeking any form of treatment, and Mason predicts that apremilast may be even more effective among people who are motivated to reduce their alcohol consumption.

Its imperative for more clinical trials to be done on people seeking treatment, Ozburn said. In this study, we saw that apremilast worked in mice. It worked in different labs, and it worked in people. This is incredibly promising for treatment of addiction in general.

An estimated 95,000 people in the United Statesdie every year from alcohol-related deaths, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Currently, there are three medications approved foralcohol use disorderin the United States: Antabuse, which produces an acute sensitivity akin to a hangover when alcohol is consumed; acamprosate, a medication thought to stabilize chemical signaling in the brain that is associated with relapse; and naltrexone, a medication that blocks the euphoric effects of both alcohol and opioids.

Funding: The research reported here was supported by the National Institutes of Health awards AA016651, AA013519, AA010760, AA07468, AA027692, U01 AA013498, DA013429, P60AA06420 and U01AA025476; the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awards BX000313, BX004699 and IK2 BX002488; and a gift from the John R. Andrews Family. The content is solely the responsibility of the researchers and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Author: Erik RobinsonSource: Oregon Health and Science UniversityContact; Erik Robinson Oregon Health and Science UniversityImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Open access.Pre-clinical and clinical evidence for suppression of alcohol intake by apremilast by Angela Ozburn et al. Journal of Clinical Investigation

Abstract

Pre-clinical and clinical evidence for suppression of alcohol intake by apremilast

Treatment options for Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) have minimally advanced since 2004, while the annual deaths and economic toll have increased alarmingly. Phosphodiesterase type 4 (PDE4) is associated with alcohol and nicotine dependence. PDE4 inhibitors were identified as a potential AUD treatment using a novel bioinformatics approach.

We prioritized a newer PDE4 inhibitor, apremilast, as ideal for repurposing, (i.e. FDA approved for psoriasis, low incidence of adverse events, excellent safety profile), and tested it using multiple animal strains and models, as well as in a human Phase IIa study.

We found that apremilast reduced binge-like alcohol intake and behavioral measures of alcohol motivation in mouse models of genetic risk for drinking to intoxication. Apremilast also reduced excessive alcohol drinking in models for stress-facilitated drinking and alcohol dependence.

Using site-directed drug infusions and electrophysiology, we uncovered that apremilast may act to lessen drinking in mice by increasing neural activity in the nucleus accumbens, a key brain region in the regulation of alcohol intake. Importantly, apremilast (90 mg/d) reduced excessive drinking in non-treatment seeking individuals with AUD in a double blind, placebo-controlled study.

These results demonstrate that apremilast suppresses excessive alcohol drinking across the spectrum of AUD severity.

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Pill for Skin Disease Also Curbs Excessive Drinking - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Protein Biomarkers Identified in Women Who Developed Perinatal … – Neuroscience News

Summary: Study reveals women who develop anxiety and mood disorders such as perinatal depression during pregnancy have specific altered proteins circulating in their bloodstream during the third trimester.

Source: Cedars Sinai Medical Center

Cedars-Sinai investigators found that women who developed mood and anxiety disorders associated with pregnancy and childbirth had specific altered proteins circulating in their bloodstream in the third trimester.

The study is published in theAmerican Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

In thispilot study, we found that participants with perinatal mood and anxiety disorder (PMAD) symptoms had a unique and distinct prenatal plasma protein signature that regulated certain brain signaling activity and pro-inflammatory pathways, said Eynav Accortt, Ph.D., director of the Reproductive Psychology Program at Cedars-Sinai and corresponding author of the study.

The controlled pilot study included 34 women at risk for developing PMAD and 18 controls. Mental health screening was conducted in the third trimester and again three months after giving birth. Investigators used a highly sensitive tool called slow off-rate modified aptamers (SOMA) scan technology to detect plasma biomarkers correlated with specific disorders, such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 8 women experience significant symptoms of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders that can interfere with overall health, daily activities andfamily life.

The critical first step in prevention of any disease is knowing if you are at risk. The process of discovering adiagnostic testfor perinatal mood andanxiety disorders, through biomarker research like this, is our holy grail, said Accortt, a clinical psychologist.

It can be incredibly challenging for a woman who is distressed to identify her need for intervention. Family members and friends can look for red flags but may not know how to help. If we had an early blood test, like the test all women take for gestational diabetes, she and her family would know that she is at higher risk and begin to get education and consider treatment options much earlier, said Accortt.

A previous study led by Accortt and published in theAmerican Journal of Reproductive Immunologyfound that women with prolongedmental health problemsup to three years after childbirth may be suffering from chronic irregularities in their immune system.

Larger validation studies are needed to determine whether biomarkers identified in this pilot study can be used with traditional risk factorssuch as a previous history of depression or medical complications during pregnancy or childbirthto develop protocols for early detection.

The financial and societal costs for untreated maternal mental illness are enormous. One study published in theAmerican Journal of Public Healthestimated the national cost in 2017 to be $14 billion.

In addition to the financial costs of mood disorders associated with pregnancy and childbirth, including reduced economic productivity and more preterm births, children and the family structure can be deeply affected.

We need research-based diagnostics developed so we can help women find a pathway to wellness and be able to emerge out of the shadow of debilitating mood disorders that harm their health and thehealthof their families, said Sarah Kilpatrick, MD, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cedars-Sinai and study co-author.

Author: Press OfficeSource: Cedars Sinai Medical CenterContact: Press Office Cedars Sinai Medical CenterImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Closed access.Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders: biomarker discovery using plasma proteomics by Eynav Accortt et al. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Abstract

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders: biomarker discovery using plasma proteomics

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders encompass a range of mental health disorders that occur during pregnancy and up to 1 year postpartum, affecting approximately 20% of women. Traditional risk factors, such as a history of depression and pregnancy complications including preeclampsia, are known. Their predictive utility, however, is not specific or sensitive enough to inform clinical decision-making or prevention strategies for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Better diagnostic and prognostic models are needed for early identification and referral to treatment.

This study aimed to determine if a panel of novel third-trimester plasma protein biomarkers in pregnant women can be used to identify those who have a high predisposed risk for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders within 3 months postpartum.

We studied 52 women (n=34 with a risk for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and n=18 controls) among whom mental health screening was conducted at 2 time points, namely in the third trimester and again at 3 months postdelivery. An elevated perinatal mood and anxiety disorder risk was identified by screening individuals with above-validated cutoffs for depression (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale 12), anxiety (Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale 7), and/or posttraumatic stress disorder (Impact of Events Scale >26) at both time points. Plasma samples collected in the third trimester were screened using the aptamer-based SomaLogic SomaScan proteomic assay technology to evaluate perinatal mood and anxiety disorderassociated changes in the expression of 1305 protein analytes. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis was conducted to highlight pathophysiological relationships between perinatal mood and anxiety disorderspecific proteins found to be significantly up- or down-regulated in all subjects with perinatal mood and anxiety disorder and in those with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and no preeclampsia.

From a panel of 53 significant perinatal mood and anxiety disorderassociated proteins, a unique 20-protein signature differentiated perinatal mood and anxiety disorder cases from controls in a principal component analysis (P<.05). This protein signature included NCAM1, NRCAM, and NTRK3 that converge around neuronal signaling pathways regulating axonal guidance, astrocyte differentiation, and maintenance of GABAergic neurons. Interestingly, when we restricted the analysis to subjects without preeclampsia, a 30-protein signature differentiated perinatal mood and anxiety disorder cases from all controls without overlap on the principal component analysis (P<.001). In the nonpreeclamptic perinatal mood and anxiety disorder group, we observed increased expression of proteins, such as CXCL11, CXCL6, MIC-B, and B2MG, which regulate leucocyte migration, inflammation, and immune function.

Participants with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders had a unique and distinct plasma protein signature that regulated a variety of neuronal signaling and proinflammatory pathways. Additional validation studies with larger sample sizes are needed to determine whether some of these molecules can be used in conjunction with traditional risk factors for the early detection of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.

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Neuroscience, which has had a longstanding tradition of excellence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has now entered an exciting new era by the creation of a Department of Neuroscience in the School of Medicine and Public Health. This department brings together research and teaching in wide ranging areas of neuroscience including the study of ion channels, synaptic transmission, neural development, sensory and cognitive physiology and neural circuits. The recent move of the department to a new research building, the second wing of the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research (WIMR) has further strengthened collaboration and innovation through shared interests, techniques, equipment and facilities. Proximity of WIMR to the Waisman Center and University Hospitals has also promoted collaborative efforts to apply the findings of basic research in neuroscience to the study and treatment of human disease.

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