Category Archives: Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Bad Dreams Could Be Early Warning of Parkinson’s Disease – Neuroscience News

Summary: Older adults who frequently experience bad dreams or nightmares are twice as likely to be diagnosed with Parkinsons disease, a new study reports.

Source: University of Birmingham

Older adults who start to experience bad dreams or nightmares could be exhibiting the earliest signs of Parkinsons disease, say researchers at the University of Birmingham.

A new study, published ineClinicalMedicine, showed that in a cohort of older men, individuals experiencing frequent bad dreams were twice as likely to be later diagnosed with Parkinsons as those who did not.

Previous studies have shown that people with Parkinsons disease experience nightmares and bad dreams more frequently than adults in the general population, but using nightmares as a risk indicator for Parkinsons has not previously been considered.

Lead author, Dr Abidemi Otaiku, of the Universitys Centre for Human Brain Health, said: Although it can be really beneficial to diagnose Parkinsons disease early, there are very few risk indicators and many of these require expensive hospital tests or are very common and non-specific, such as diabetes.

While we need to carry out further research in this area, identifying the significance of bad dreams and nightmares could indicate that individuals who experience changes to their dreams in older age without any obvious trigger should seek medical advice.

The team used data from a large cohort study from the USA, which contained data over a period of 12 years from 3818 older men living independently. At the beginning of the study, the men completed a range of questionnaires, one of which included a question about sleep quality.

Participants reporting bad dreams at least once per week were then followed up at the end of the study to see whether they were more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinsons disease.

During the follow-up period, 91 cases of Parkinsons were diagnosed. The researchers found that participants experiencing frequent bad dreams were twice as likely to develop the disease compared to those who did not.

Most of the diagnoses happened in the first five years of the study. Participants with frequent bad dreams during this period were more than three times as likely to go on to develop Parkinsons.

The results suggest that older adults who will one day be diagnosed with Parkinsons are likely to begin experiencing bad drams and nightmares a few years before developing the characteristic features of Parkinsons, including tremors, stiffness and slowness of movement.

The study also shows that our dreams can reveal important information about our brain structure and function and may prove to be an important target for neuroscience research.

The researchers plan to use electroencephalography (EEG) to look at the biological reasons for dream changes. They will also look at replicating the findings in larger and more diverse cohorts and explore possible links between dreams and other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers.

Author: Beck LockwoodSource: University of BirminghamContact: Beck Lockwood University of BirminghamImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Open access.Distressing dreams and risk of Parkinsons disease: A population-based cohort study by Abidemi Otaiku et al. EClinicalMedicine

Abstract

Distressing dreams and risk of Parkinsons disease: A population-based cohort study

Parkinsons disease (PD) is associated with alterations to the phenomenology of dreaming including an increased frequency of distressing dreams. Whether distressing dreams may precede the development of PD is unknown. This study investigated the association between frequent distressing dreams and the risk of incident PD.

3818 men aged 67 years or older from the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study (MrOS), a population-based cohort from the USA, who were free from PD at baseline (December 2003 April 2011) and completed item 5h of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index which probes the frequency of distressing dreams in the past month, were included in this analysis. Incident PD was based on doctor diagnosis. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) for incident PD according to distressing dream frequency, with adjustment for potential confounders.

During a mean follow-up of 73 years, 91 (24%) cases of incident PD were identified. Participants with frequent distressing dreams at baseline had a 2-fold risk for incident PD (OR, 201; 95% CI, 11-36,P=0.02). When stratified by follow-up time, frequent distressing dreams were associated with a greater than 3-fold risk for incident PD during the first 5 years after baseline (OR, 338; 95% CI, 13-87;P=001), however no effect was found during the subsequent 7 years (OR, 155; 95% CI, 07-33;P=026).

In this prospective cohort, frequent distressing dreams were associated with an increased risk for incident PD. The association was only significant within the 5 years prior to diagnosis, which suggests that frequent distressing dreams may be a prodromal symptom of PD.

The study received no external funding.

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Bad Dreams Could Be Early Warning of Parkinson's Disease - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Does Grief Depend on How the Loved One Died? – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers found no difference in the intensity of grief or the levels of distress between those who lost loved ones to medically assisted death or natural death in palliative care.

Source: University of Montreal

Is the grief experience different for individuals who have lost a loved one by medical assistance in dying (MAiD) compared to natural death with palliative care (NDPC)?

Philippe Laperle examines this sensitive issue in a recent article published in theJournal of Death and Dying, based on his Ph.D. research under the supervision of Marie Achille of the University of Montreals Department of Psychology and Deborah Ummel of the Universit de Sherbrookes Department of Psychoeducation.

Previous research suggests thatgrieffollowing the medically assisteddeathof a loved is no more challenging or complex than grief in other dying contexts, including sudden natural death or suicide. Some studies have even concluded that it may be easier.

Comparing two groups of bereaved individuals

To date, however, no one has compared bereavement following the loss of a loved one by MAiD and by NDPC, considered the gold standard in in end-of-life care and death preparation.

Laperle recruited 60 subjects who had been bereaved for at least six months. Twenty-five of them had lost a loved one by MAiD and 35 by NDPC. In the majority of cases (48), the cause of death was cancer.

The 51 women and 9 men first completed two questionnaires assessing different aspects of grief, symptoms of distress and the presence of prolonged grief disorder requiring professional psychological support. This quantitative component was followed by in-depth interviews with 8 members of each group.

No overall differences, but a diversity of experiences

Contrary to his initial hypothesis that grief would be easier after MAiD than after natural death, Laperle did not observe any significant differences in intensity or distress between the two groups.

The low scores for distress symptoms indicate that these two contexts tend to make grief easier in certain respects, said Laperle, although some bereaved individuals still reported a more difficult grief experience characterized by depression and guilt.

The interviews showed that the experiences of the bereaved were diverse and, sometimes, mixed in both groups. And that the traces, or imprints, left on the bereaved individual by their loved ones final moments and the separation brought by death could be painful, comforting or both at the same time.

When preparation for death and acceptance of its coming unfold at a similar pace in the dying person and their loved one, the two arrive at the same point mentally and emotionally at the time of death, which makes the subsequent grieving process easier, explained Laperle.

But if one of them accepts the impending death while the other remains in denial, this leaves imprints that are more difficult to overcome.

But regardless of whether the loved one passed away by MAiD or naturally under palliative sedation, in which case the person gradually slips into unconsciousness and death, some bereaved individuals felt the process was rushed.

In general, those who were in synchrony with their loved one experienced the death more serenely and felt it came at the right time.

Differences were also found n the subjects memories of the loved one. In the case of MAiD, some of the bereaved remembered the departed as a hero who embodied values of freedom, control, courage and/or immortality.

In the case of NDPC, the departed was more likely to be remembered as the embodiment of a beauty that never fades completely although it withers. Others felt left behind by their hero, which created a even greater void after their passing.

Its important to remember that every grieving process is different and that not everyone will be left with the same imprints, said Laperle.

In general, imprints fluctuate over time, arising momentarily to then dissipate and even transform. Other factors also impact grief, including the persons relationship with the deceased and degree of involvement during the illness. These factors can increase or decrease the effects of the imprints left by MAiD or NDPC.

Author: Press OfficeSource: University of MontrealContact: Press Office University of MontrealImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Open access.To Lose a Loved One by Medical Assistance in Dying or by Natural Death with Palliative Care: A Mixed Methods Comparison of Grief Experiences by Philippe Laperle et al. OMEGAJournal of Death and Dying

Abstract

To Lose a Loved One by Medical Assistance in Dying or by Natural Death with Palliative Care: A Mixed Methods Comparison of Grief Experiences

The integration of assisted dying into end-of-life care is raising reflections on bereavement.

Patients and families may be faced with a choice between this option and natural death assisted by palliative care; a choice that may affect grief. Therefore, this study describes and compares grief experiences of individuals who have lost a loved one by medical assistance in dying or natural death with palliative care.

A mixed design was used. Sixty bereaved individuals completed two grief questionnaires. The qualitative component consisted of 16 individual semi-structured interviews.

We found no statistically significant differences between medically assisted and natural deaths, and scores did not suggest grief complications.

Qualitative results are nuanced: positive and negative imprints may influence grief in both contexts. Hastened and natural deaths are death circumstances that seem to generally help ease mourning.

However, they can still, in interaction with other risk factors, produce difficult experiences for some family caregivers.

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Does Grief Depend on How the Loved One Died? - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

A map of mystery: How researchers discovered unique brain organization in bats – The Aggie – The Aggie

New research by Dr. Andrew Halley and the Krubitzer Lab at UC Davis details how bat brains are highly specialized for echolocation and flight

By MARGO ROSENBAUM science@theaggie.org

People often wonder how the mammals we see swinging through trees, swimming in the ocean or flying over our heads relate to us. We ponder how millions of years of evolution resulted in so many mammals of varying intelligence and abilities.

If only we could look right into their brains.

Dr. Andrew Halley, a postdoctoral researcher in the Krubitzer Lab at UC Davis, did just that. With the help of fellow researchers at UC Davis, Simon Fraser University and UC Berkeley, Halley performed brain surgeries on anesthetized bats to better understand the motor cortex the region of the brain controlling voluntary movement across the body.

Publishing the results on May 25 in the journal Current Biology, Halley and the other researchers discovered that bats brains are highly specialized for two unique aspects of their biology: echolocation and self-propelled flight.

To make this discovery, Halley, the lead author of the paper, and his colleagues mapped the brain regions controlling movements in these fruit bats, focusing on areas dedicated to echolocation and flight.

Bats represent a quarter of all living mammalian species, but until only recently, much of their brains and evolution remained a mystery. Halley and his fellow researchers sought to change that.

Before this study, a bat species full motor cortex had never been mapped. This achievement now allows researchers to understand the part of the brain involved in the planning, control and execution of voluntary movements.

Paths to studying evolution

Fascinated by evolutionary questions, Halley studies evolutionary neurobiology and comparative neuroscience. Originally from Philadelphia, he majored in psychology and worked in a genetics laboratory as an undergraduate at Pennsylvania State University. Halley said he grew up more interested in the humanities but always held a fascination for psychology.

Biology piqued his interest when he started taking biology classes in college, especially after learning about evolutionary theory. With the questions he started asking, he realized he needed to learn more about neuroscience to answer them and wanted to study brain evolution.

Halley completed his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley in 2016, after studying biological anthropology and working on a project tangentially related to neuroscience, in which he studied differences in embryonic development across species.

This fascination for evolution and neuroscience brought him to the Krubitzer Lab at the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience as a postdoctoral researcher.

The Krubitzer Lab was sort of a natural fit; [Dr. Krubitzer] is one of the preeminent brain evolution researchers thats around, Halley said.

Dr. Mackenzie Englund, a former graduate student in the lab and co-author of the paper, shares Halleys appreciation for evolution and sensory systems, which he said are this medium through which we interact with the world. Englund came to UC Davis for his Ph.D. to research similar questions.

Evolution was always just one of those things that made me feel really close to the world, Englund said.

Straying from the study of traditional model organisms

Led by Dr. Leah Krubitzer, the lab largely focuses on studying the evolution of the neocortex, which is the part of the brain that most people think of when they think of a brain, according to Halley. The lab is interested in multiple aspects of the neocortex: its function, interconnectivity within the structure and how it links to other parts of the brain.

By studying a range of mammals, the labs researchers seek to understand how evolution results in varied brain organization across species. Halley said the lab takes a comparative approach and studies animals that stray from traditional model organisms, such as mice and zebrafish.

The lab strives to understand whether parts of the brain have evolved to correspond to uniqueness in the bodies of mammals like opossums, platypi, primates, tree shrews and most recently with the help of Halley bats.

You can learn a lot of things just by looking at extreme adaptations that you find in the natural world, Halley said. Comparative research on the one hand is just inherently interesting because were interested in understanding how evolution works, and specifically how brain evolution works.

According to Halley, its important to study animals other than just model organisms, since studying only these animals tells researchers little about evolutions role in altering brains across many different species.

Theres a handful of biological models that are generally used to do sort of bread and butter neuroscience, and theyre also really widely used for translational research for trying to develop medicines, Halley said. There are limits to the degree to which a laboratory mouse is a good model for a human.

Brain surgery on bats

Halleys recent work is part of a larger project in the Krubitzer Lab to illustrate how regions of species brains are organized according to differences in their bodies and behaviors.

This study focused on understanding the motor cortex in bats: its variation, what it represents and whether flight and echolocation have resulted in unique morphologies, such as the extra elongated fingers of bats, with membranes connecting the digits, forelimbs and hind limbs to form their giant wings.

It varies from individual to individual motor cortex is so much more variable than other sensory areas because the cortex may be built by things that we do, our behaviors, Englund said.

All mammals have a motor cortex, so understanding this important part of the brain in bats could hint at understanding brain function and evolution in humans.

Whats really important is figuring out the common themes of the motor cortex across all species, and what things can vary, Englund said.

Using bats from a breeding colony at UC Berkeley, Halley, Englund and the other researchers performed brain surgery to study their questions.

After anesthetizing the bat under study, Halley and the scientists opened up the bats skull, exposed the neocortex and used electrodes to stimulate different areas of the motor cortex. By applying small bits of current, they sought to determine which muscle and limb movements were created by stimulating various parts of the motor cortex.

Applying small bits of current to different parts of the brain was essentially an artificial way of mimicking what happened in a naturally-behaving bat, Halley said

Halley and Englund worked together and took turns in the experiments, which often resulted in work days lasting from 12 to 15 hours. Because every animals life is so precious, they wanted to get the most data they could out of each experiment, Englund said.

Wed be switching off in the experiment room, giving each other breaks so we could go slam some coffee and maybe a granola bar, Englund said.

In the end, their novel findings were worth the grueling days.

The researchers notably discovered that in Egyptian fruit bats, large regions of the motor cortex are devoted to their tongue, which makes sounds for echolocation, and to the muscles propelling their limbs for flight.

Mapping a motor cortex

After the experiments, the researchers could create a map of the spatially-segregated areas of the brain that regulate body movements. The map is topographic compared to the body, meaning certain parts of the body are larger or smaller depending on the species. Larger areas on the map mean that part of the body is overrepresented in the brain, Halley said.

The central findings of our study were that different parts of the brain are enlarged in different species based on their behaviors or their body types, Halley said.

Areas of emphasis in the motor cortex can likely be explained by their unique biology and adaptations. Egyptian fruit bats have unusual methods of echolocation instead of using their larynx like most bats, these animals use their tongue. In the study, over 40% of the stimulated sensory and motor cortex controlled tongue movements. Additionally, the vast majority of the motor cortex was responsible for coordinated shoulder and hindlimb movements, explaining a possible reason for the special morphology of bat wings.

Despite all the work of Halley, Englund and others at the Krubitzer Lab, more study is necessary to understand the full scope of the motor cortex and other parts of the brain in bats.

These animals are becoming more common as model species of study, but still, many of their neurobiology basics remain poorly understood. Creating and maintaining colonies is complex, and their unique body morphology makes it more difficult to use them in neuroscience research, Halley said.

Future evolutionary neurology research could involve more study of bats based on Halleys findings: Mapping the motor cortex is just step one.

Written by Margo Rosenbaum science@theaggie.org

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A map of mystery: How researchers discovered unique brain organization in bats - The Aggie - The Aggie

Neuroscience

People With a High Omega-3 DHA Level in Their Blood Are at 49% Lower Risk of Alzheimer’s – Neuroscience News

Summary: People with higher levels of omega-3 DHA in their blood are 49% less likely to develop dementia than those with lower levels. Researchers say adding additional omega-3 DHA to the diet, especially in those with the Alzheimers associated Apoe4 gene, could slow the development and progress of dementia.

Source: Wright On Marketing & Communications

New research published today inNutrientsshows that people with a higher blood DHA level are 49% less likely to develop Alzheimers disease vs. those with lower levels, according to theFatty Acid Research Institute(FARI).

The study, led by Aleix Sala-Vila, PhD, suggested that providing extra dietary omega-3 DHA, especially for those carrying the ApoE4 gene (which approximately doubles an individuals susceptibility to develop AD) might slow the development of the disease.

Such a cost-effective, low-risk dietary intervention like this could potentially save billions in health care costs.

In this prospective observational study conducted within theFramingham Offspring Cohort including 1490 dementia-free participants aged 65 years old researchers examined the association of red blood cell (RBC) docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) with incident Alzheimers Disease (AD), while also testing for an interaction with APOE-4 carriership.

Risk for incident AD in the highest RBC DHA quintile (Q5, >6.1%) was 49% lower compared with the lowest quintile (Q1, <3.8%). An increase in RBC DHA from Q1 to Q5 was predicted to provide an estimated 4.7 additional years of life free of AD.

Further, the researchers noted that an increased intake of DHA might lower risk for developing AD, particularly in higher-risk individuals such as those carrying theAPOE-4 allele, suggestingthat they may benefit more from higher DHA levels than non-carriers.

The public health impact of preventing AD with something as simple as a dietary intervention like DHA is also significant.

The researchers noted that Given that estimated health-care payments in 2021 for all patients with AD or other dementias amount to $355 billion in the US (not including caregiving by family members and other unpaid caregivers), any cost-effective strategy for delaying the onset of AD is of utmost public health interest, and that Delaying AD by 5 years leads to 2.7 additional years of life, and 4.8 additional AD-free years for an individual who would have acquired AD and is worth over $500,000.

So how does this paper stack up to others in this area? Our study is in line with that ofTan et al.who reported cross-sectional associations with RBC DHA on cognitive performance and brain volume measurements (with higher DHA being associated with beneficial outcomes) in the same cohort as studied here, said William S. Harris, PhD, President of FARI, and senior author on this recent study.

Most interestingly, 15 years ago similar findings were reported bySchaefer et al.in the parents of the individuals who were the focus of this present investigation (i.e., the Original Framingham Heart Study cohort).

Schaefer et al. reported that participants in the top quartile of plasma phosphatidylcholine DHA experienced a significant, 47% reduction in the risk of developing all-cause dementia compared with those with lower levels, Dr. Harris continued.

Similar findings a generation apart in a similar genetic pool provide considerable confirmation of this DHA-dementia relationship.

Author: Becky WrightSource: Wright on Marketing & CommunicationsContact: Becky Wright Wright On Marketing & CommunicationsImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: The findings will appear in Nutrients

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People With a High Omega-3 DHA Level in Their Blood Are at 49% Lower Risk of Alzheimer's - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Exponential Growth Expected for Neuroscience Market With Complete SWOT Analysis by Forecast From 2022 to 2028: Alpha Omega, Inc., GE Healthcare, Axion…

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Exponential Growth Expected for Neuroscience Market With Complete SWOT Analysis by Forecast From 2022 to 2028: Alpha Omega, Inc., GE Healthcare, Axion...

Neuroscience

Overman and Friedland publish an article on the intersection of neuroscience and law – Today at Elon

Law professor and neuroscience professor co-author a peer-reviewed article on cognitive bias in the criminal justice system.

Steven Friedland, professor in the Elon University School of Law, and Amy Overman, professor in the Psychology Department and Neuroscience Program and assistant dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, recently collaborated in writing an article that was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Criminal Law Bulletin.

The article, Neutrality and the Rules of Evidence, highlights the many ways in which apparently neutral evidence rules can be influenced by cognitive biases, particularly when applied in a court of law. These biases can have a significant impact, even working to undermine fair outcomes, particularly with regard to racial inequalities in the criminal justice system.

The Criminal Law Bulletinfocuses on criminal law, criminal procedure, criminal and forensic scientific evidence, or the legal and ethical issues that affect how justice system professionals perform their tasks in policing, crime labs, the courts and in corrections.The journals review process is conducted by faculty members rather than law school students, as is the case for most law journals.It iswidely read by both scholars and practitioners in the field of criminal justice.

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Overman and Friedland publish an article on the intersection of neuroscience and law - Today at Elon

Neuroscience

For NFT Collectors, There’s a Fine Line Between Buzz and Boredom – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers say that when it comes to NFT collecting, a focus on rarity can become self-defeating. To sustain value, the study suggests designers should make sure people dont only see the rarest items in any given category.

Source: Stevens Institute of Technology

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are all the rage, with collectors spending vast sums in some cases, tens of millions of dollars to own and trade unique digital images. For researchers, that offers a rare opportunity to study the way that people learn about new marketplaces and assign value to different categories of assets.

Because NFT trading records are public, they offer a remarkable chance for us to look at why people perceive collectible items as valuable, and how those perceptions change over time, said Jordan Suchow, a cognitive scientist who led the study at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Suchows team conducted the first cognitive study of NFT trading, looking at a collection of NFTs known as the Bored Ape Yacht Club a set of 10,000 computer-generated cartoon apes, each with different features such as color, clothing, and accessories, that have grown immensely popular in recent months.

Each individual Bored Ape is unique, and thus equally rare, but some features are more common than others. An ape in a plain striped sweater might be more common and thus potentially less valuable than an ape in a suit and tie, or one wearing earrings, for instance.

Its a bit like stamp collecting: the stamps printed in the same run all look the same, so if theres a printing error or some other rare feature that sets a stamp apart, people will pay far more for it, explained Suchow, whose work, co-authored with Stevens doctorate student Vahid Ashrafimoghari, will be presented at the Cognitive Science Society Conference on July 27-30 in Toronto, Canada.

When people first began trading Bored Ape NFTs, the apes with rare features quickly became more sought-after. But that, in turn, distorted the information landscape: because rare apes were more valuable and more widely discussed, they also became much more visible.

Today, a newcomer to Bored Ape trading sees these rare apes everywhere and perceives them to be much more common than they are in fact, Suchow explained.

That creates a puzzle: how can people be expected to learn about a new category when their experience of that category is dominated by the rarest examples?

If a person wants to learn what a dog is, Suchow explains, they could do so by going to a dog park and looking at a range of common animals. Going to an experimental breeder and looking only at rare breeds, on the other hand, would skew their perception of the category and of how much any given dog is worth.

To test their theory, Suchows team identified the rarest and most common features in Bored Ape NFTs, then mapped their findings onto the relative value of the NFTs over time.

The results were striking: while rarity was strongly correlated with value in the early days of Bored Ape trading, the connection all but disappeared as an influx of newcomers began trading the NFTs.

The findings hold lessons for collectors of all kinds, says Suchow. Weve shown that a focus on rarity can become self-defeating if you want to sustain value, you need to make sure that people dont seeonlythe rarest items in a given category, he explained.

That could spark a rethink about how online marketplaces are designed and lead individual investors to assign less value to rarity in new markets.

Some interesting questions remain: the Stevens team found that some rare NFT features, such as unusually colored backgrounds, retained their value over time, while others, such as an apes fur color, quickly lost value.

Figuring out why some features continue to correlate with value and others dont, and how that plays out in other categories such as stamp collecting or art markets, will require additional study, Suchow said.

The exciting thing here is that weve revealed a general principle: that demand for rarity is self-defeating, Suchow said. That should be very broadly applicable, so the big question now is whether we can observe this effect in other categories of collectible items, too.

Author: Thania BeniosSource: Stevens Institute of TechnologyContact: Thania Benios Stevens Institute of TechnologyImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: The abstract The paradox of learning categories from rare examples: a case study of NFTs & The Bored Ape Yacht Club by Jordan Suchow et al, is available online. The findings will be presented at the Cognitive Science Society meeting.

Abstract

The paradox of learning categories from rare examples: a case study of NFTs & The Bored Ape Yacht Club

Collectible items, such as stamps, coins, paintings, and trading cards, are often valued for their rarity. A side effect of rarer items being more highly valued is that they are also more often traded, discussed, and displayed. A new collectors experience of the category defined by a set collectible items is thus heavily biased towards the rare items.

Theories of category learning predict that these conditions make for a uniquely challenging environment in which to learn a category because rarity-based sampling can invert the distribution of associated attribute frequencies.

Here, we show that under these conditions, the demand for rarity is self-defeating: when newcomers do not correct for the sampling bias present in their experience, they will have a distorted sense of the category and misunderstand which items are in fact rare, causing rarity to become devalued over time.

We find evidence for this dynamic in the context of The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), a collection of 10,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs), each with a set of attributes that vary in rarity.

We demonstrate that, in line with our theory, over time the influx of newcomers learning about BAYC has been associated with a decrease in the demand for tokens with rare attributes.

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For NFT Collectors, There's a Fine Line Between Buzz and Boredom - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Alzheimer’s Disease Causes Cells to Overheat and ‘Fry Like Eggs’ – Neuroscience News

Summary: The heat produced by amyloid-beta aggregation may cause other, healthy amyloid-beta to aggregate, causing more and more aggregates to form. However, with the addition of a novel drug compound, amyloid-beta aggregation can be stopped and the cell temperature lowered.

Source: University of Cambridge

Researchers have shown that aggregation of amyloid-beta, one of two key proteins implicated in Alzheimers disease, causes cells to overheat and fry like eggs.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, used sensors small and sensitive enough to detect temperature changes inside individual cells, and found that as amyloid-beta misfolds and clumps together, it causes cells to overheat.

In an experiment using human cell lines, the researchers found the heat released by amyloid-beta aggregation could potentially cause other, healthy amyloid-beta to aggregate, causing more and more aggregates to form.

In the same series of experiments, the researchers also showed that amyloid-beta aggregation can be stopped, and the cell temperature lowered, with the addition of a drug compound. The experiments also suggest that the compound has potential as a therapeutic for Alzheimers disease, although extensive tests and clinical trials would first be required.

The researchers say their assay could be used as a diagnostic tool for Alzheimers disease, or to screen potential drug candidates.

Theresultsare reported in theJournal of the American Chemical Society.

Alzheimers disease affects an estimated 44 million people worldwide, and there are currently no effective diagnostics or treatments. In Alzheimers disease, amyloid-beta and another protein called tau build up into tangles and plaques known collectively as aggregates causing brain cells to die and the brain to shrink. This results in memory loss, personality changes and difficulty carrying out daily functions.

It is a difficult disease to study, since it develops over decades, and a definitive diagnosis can only be given after examining samples of brain tissue after death. It is still not known what kind of biochemical changes inside a cell lead to amyloid-beta aggregation.

InProfessor Gabriele Kaminski Schierles research groupat CambridgesDepartment of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, they have been investigating the possible link between temperature and amyloid-beta aggregation in human cells.

The field of studying temperature changes inside a cell is known as intracellular thermogenesis. It is a new and challenging field: scientists have developed sensors with which temperature changes can be measured, however, no one has ever tried to use these sensors to study conditions such as Alzheimers disease.

Thermogenesis has been associated with cellular stress, which may promote further aggregation, said Chyi Wei Chung, the studys first author. We believe that when theres an imbalance in cells, like when the amyloid-beta concentration is slightly too high and it starts to accumulate, cellular temperatures increase.

Overheating a cell is like frying an egg as it heats up, the proteins start to clump together and become non-functional, said Kaminski Schierle, who led the research.

The researchers used tiny temperature sensors called fluorescent polymeric thermometers (FTPs) to study the link between aggregation and temperature. They added amyloid-beta to human cell lines to kickstart the aggregation process and used a chemical called FCCP as a control, since it is known to induce an increase in temperature.

They found that as amyloid-beta started to form thread-like aggregates called fibrils, the average temperature of the cells started to rise. The increase in cellular temperature was significant compared to cells that did not have any amyloid-beta added.

As the fibrils start elongating, they release energy in the form of heat, said Kaminski Schierle. Amyloid-beta aggregation requires quite a lot of energy to get going, but once the aggregation process starts, it speeds up and releases more heat, allowing more aggregates to form.

Once the aggregates have formed, they can exit the cell and be taken up by neighbouring cells, infecting healthy amyloid-beta in those cells, said Chung. No one has shown this link between temperature and aggregation in live cells before.

Using a drug that inhibits amyloid-beta aggregation, the researchers were able to pinpoint the fibrils as the cause of thermogenesis. It had previously been unknown whether protein aggregation or potential damage to mitochondria the batteries that power cells was responsible for this phenomenon.

The researchers also found that the rise in cellular temperatures could be mitigated by treating them with an aggregation inhibitor, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic for Alzheimers disease.

The laboratory experiments were complemented by computational modelling describing what might happen to amyloid-beta in an intracellular environment and why it might lead to an increase in intracellular temperatures. The researchers hope their work will motivate new studies incorporating different parameters of physiological relevance.

Funding: The research was supported in part by Alzheimers Research UK, the Cambridge Trust, Wellcome, and the Medical Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Author: Sarah CollinsSource: University of CambridgeContact: Sarah Collins University of CambridgeImage: The image is credited to Chyi Wei Chung

Original Research: Open access.Intracellular A42 Aggregation Leads to Cellular Thermogenesis by Chyi Wei Chung et al. Journal of the American Chemical Association

Abstract

Intracellular A42 Aggregation Leads to Cellular Thermogenesis

The aggregation of A42 is a hallmark of Alzheimers disease. It is still not known what the biochemical changes are inside a cell which will eventually lead to A42 aggregation.

Thermogenesis has been associated with cellular stress, the latter of which may promote aggregation.

We perform intracellular thermometry measurements using fluorescent polymeric thermometers to show that A42 aggregation in live cells leads to an increase in cell-averaged temperatures. This rise in temperature is mitigated upon treatment with an aggregation inhibitor of A42 and is independent of mitochondrial damage that can otherwise lead to thermogenesis.

With this, we present a diagnostic assay which could be used to screen small-molecule inhibitors to amyloid proteins in physiologically relevant settings. To interpret our experimental observations and motivate the development of future models, we perform classical molecular dynamics of model A peptides to examine the factors that hinder thermal dissipation.

We observe that this is controlled by the presence of ions in its surrounding environment, the morphology of the amyloid peptides, and the extent of its hydrogen-bonding interactions with water.

We show that aggregation and heat retention by A peptides are favored under intracellular-mimicking ionic conditions, which could potentially promote thermogenesis. The latter will, in turn, trigger further nucleation events that accelerate disease progression.

Original post:
Alzheimer's Disease Causes Cells to Overheat and 'Fry Like Eggs' - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Babies Exposed to COVID in the Womb Show Neurodevelopmental Changes – Neuroscience News

Summary: Babies whose mothers contracted COVID-19 while pregnant had greater difficulties relaxing and adapting their bodies while being held than those whose mothers did not contract covid. Additionally, babies born to infected mothers had greater difficulty in controlling their head and shoulder movements. Findings suggest prenatal COVID-19 infection may impact motor function development in babies.

Source: European Psychiatric Association

Babies born to mothers who suffered COVID-19 disease during pregnancy seem to exhibit differences in neurodevelopmental outcomes at 6 weeks, according to a preliminary analysis presented in the 30thEuropean Congress of Psychiatry.

Project Leader Dr Rosa Ayesa Arriola said: Not all babies born to mothers infected with COVID show neurodevelopmental differences, but our data shows that their risk is increased in comparison to those not exposed to COVID in the womb. We need a bigger study to confirm the exact extent of the difference.

Researchers found that babies born to mothers who had been infected show greater difficulties in relaxing and adapting their bodies when they are being held, when compared to infants from non-infected mothers, especially when infection took place in late pregnancy.

Moreover, infants born from infected mothers tend to show greater difficulty in controlling head and shoulder movement. These alterations suggest a possible COVID-19 effect on motor function (movement control).

The results come from an initial evaluation of the Spanish COGESTCOV-19 project, which followed the course of pregnancy and baby development in mothers infected with COVID-19.

The researchers are presenting the data on pregnancy and post-natal assessment at 6 weeks after birth, but the project will continue to see if there are longer-term effects. The group will monitor infant language and motor development between 18 and 42 months old.

The initial evaluation compared babies born to 21 COVID-positive pregnant women and their babies, with 21 healthy controls attending the Marqus de Valdecilla University Hospital in Santander, Spain.

The mothers underwent a series of tests during and after pregnancy. These included hormonal and other biochemical tests (measuring such things as cortisol levels, immunological response, etc.) salivary tests, movement responses, and psychological questionnaires.

All analyses were adjusted for infant age, sex, and other factors.

The post-natal tests included the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), which measures the babys movement and behavior.

Researcher Ms. gueda Castro Quintas (University of Barcelona, Network Centre for Biomedical Research in Mental Health), said:

We found that certain elements of the NBAS measurement were changed in 6-week-old infants who had been exposed to the SARS-COV-2 virus. Effectively they react slightly differently to being held, or cuddled.

We have been especially sensitive in how we have conducted these tests. Each mother and baby was closely examined by clinicians with expert training in the field and in the tests.

We need to note that these are preliminary result, but this is part of a project following a larger sample of 100 mothers and their babies. They have also been monitored during pregnancy, and after birth.

We also plan to compare these mothers and babies with data from another similar project (the epi-project) which looks at the effect of stress and genetics on a childs neurodevelopment.

gueda Castro Quintas continued:

This is an ongoing project, and we are at an early stage. We found that babies whose mothers had been exposed to COVID did show neurological effects at 6 weeks, but we dont know if these effects will result in any longer-term issues, longer-term observation may help us understand this.

Co-researcher Nerea San Martn Gonzlez, added:

Of course, in babies who are so young there are several things we just cant measure, such as language skills or cognition. We also need to be aware that this is a comparatively small sample, so we are repeating the work, and we will follow this up over a longer period. We need a bigger sample to determine the role of infection on offsprings neurodevelopmental alterations and the contribution of other environmental factors.

In the meantime, we need to stress the importance of medical monitoring to facilitate a healthy pregnancy, discussing any concerns with your doctor wherever necessary.

Commenting, Project Leader Dr Rosa Ayesa Arriola said:

This is the right moment to establish international collaborations that would permit us to assess long-term neurodevelopment in children born during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research in this field is vital in understanding and preventing possible neurological problems and mental health vulnerabilities in those children in the coming years.

In an independent comment, Dr Livio Provenzi (University of Pavia, Italy) said:

There is a great need to study both direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and well-being of parents and infants. Pregnancy is a period of life which shapes much of our subsequent development, and exposure to adversity in pregnancy can leave long-lasting biological footprints.

These findings from Dr Rosa Ayesa Arriolas group reinforces evidence of epigenetic alterations in in infants born from mothers exposed to pandemic-related stress during pregnancy. It shows we need more large scale, international research to allow us to understand the developmental effects of this health emergency, and to deliver better quality of care to parents and infants.

Dr Provenzi was not involved in this work.

Note: The epi-project is a multicentre project involving Hospital Clnic of Barcelona and Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias. It looks at the effects of genetics and stress on baby outcome. It is led by Prof. Dr. Lourdes Faans.

Funding: This research has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Instituto de Salud Carlos III through the University of Barcelona multicenter project Intramural Grants (SAM15-20PI12 & SAM18PI01)-PI L. Faanas and the Government of Cantabria (INNVAL20/02)-PI R. Ayesa. Authors do not have any conflict of interest regarding the development of this study and the publication of the results.

Author: Tom ParkhillSource: European Psychiatric AssociationContact: Tom Parkhill European Psychiatric AssociationImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: The findings will be presented at the 30thEuropean Congress of Psychiatry.

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Babies Exposed to COVID in the Womb Show Neurodevelopmental Changes - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Adults Sleep Better Together Than They Do Alone – Neuroscience News

Summary: Adults who share a bed with their partners sleep better than those who sleep alone. Researchers found bed-sharing was associated with a lower risk of depression and stress, and improved quality of life and relationships. However, sharing a bed with a child was associated with more stress.

Source: American Association of Sleep Medicine

Adults who share a bed with a partner or spouse sleep better than those who sleep alone, according to a newstudyfrom researchers at the University of Arizona.

Results show that those who shared a bed with a partner most nights reported less severe insomnia, less fatigue, and more time asleep than those who said they never share a bed with a partner.

Those sleeping with a partner also fell asleep faster, stayed asleep longer after falling asleep, and had less risk of sleep apnea.

However, those who slept with their child most nights reported greater insomnia severity, greater sleep apnea risk, and less control over their sleep.

Researchers also found that sleeping with a partner was associated with lower depression, anxiety, and stress scores, and greater social support and satisfaction with life and relationships. Sleeping with children was associated with more stress. Sleeping alone was associated with higher depression scores, lower social support, and worse life and relationship satisfaction.

Sleeping with a romantic partner or spouse shows to have great benefits on sleep health including reduced sleep apnea risk, sleep insomnia severity, and overall improvement in sleep quality, said lead author Brandon Fuentes, undergraduate researcher in the department of psychiatry at the University of Arizona.

The study involved an analysis of data collected in the Sleep and Health Activity, Diet, Environment, and Socialization (SHADES) study of 1,007 working-age adults from southeastern Pennsylvania. Bed sharing was evaluated with surveys, and sleep health factors were assessed with common tools such as the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Insomnia Severity Index, and STOP-BANG apnea score.

Very few research studies explore this, but our findings suggest that whether we sleep alone or with a partner, family member, or pet may impact our sleep health, said senior study author Dr. Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona. We were very surprised to find out just how important this could be.

Author: Sydney PrestonSource: American Academy of Sleep MedicineContact: Sydney Preston American Academy of Sleep MedicineImage: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: The findings will be presented at SLEEP 2022

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Adults Sleep Better Together Than They Do Alone - Neuroscience News