122 posts · 38,433 views
This blog highlights current neuroscience news published in peer-reviewed journals, with a particular emphasis on sleep/circadian rhythms. Every Thursday, I feature the front-page photomicrograph and the respective article from the current week's Journal of Neuroscience in a segment titled Neury Thursday. I also incorporate a substantial amount of media, including the highlighted article and related video. I try to write for the lay person, but if I do inevitably use jargon, I will briefly explain and provide a wikipedia reference. I'd like to think I have a sense of humor reflected through my writing style and/or post topics
Allison
122 posts
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- January 26, 2012
- 10:00 PM
- 43 views
Neury (Retro) Thursday: What is the Meaning of the ATP Surge During Sleep?
by Allison in Dormivigilia
This paper, published a year prior, has received a large amount of criticism from the basic sleep research community for its grossly biased interpretation of the results as well as calculation boo-boos of which were found nearly a year after its publication. Although the data is interesting and lends credence to the biological importance of a good night's sleep it should be a lesson to us all to consult others and have thorough reviews of the results, statistics, and conclusions drawn. ... Read more »
Dworak M, McCarley RW, Kim T, Kalinchuk AV, & Basheer R. (2010) Sleep and brain energy levels: ATP changes during sleep. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 30(26), 9007-16. PMID: 20592221
- January 18, 2012
- 08:25 PM
- 67 views
Circadian Rhythms of Wikipedia Posting and Editing
by Allison in Dormivigilia
Appropriately timed. Title speaks for itself, but this data set is yet another example of the usefulness of social and educational media platforms for predicting and modeling (healthy and pathological) human physiology and behavior.... Read more »
Taha Yasseri, Róbert Sumi, & János Kertész. (2011) Circadian patterns of Wikipedia editorial activity: A demographic analysis. PLoS ONE 7(1): e30091 (2012). arXiv: 1109.1746v3
- January 13, 2012
- 08:30 PM
- 68 views
Neury Thursday: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Slow Waves
by Allison in Dormivigilia
This post is a summary of the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation which has been widely used to treat Parkinson's and depression to understand the origin, architecture, and propagation of slow wave activity; the predominant waveform of deep sleep... Read more »
Murphy, M., Riedner, B., Huber, R., Massimini, M., Ferrarelli, F., & Tononi, G. (2009) Source modeling sleep slow waves. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(5), 1608-1613. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0807933106
Bergmann TO, Mölle M, Schmidt MA, Lindner C, Marshall L, Born J, & Siebner HR. (2012) EEG-Guided Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Reveals Rapid Shifts in Motor Cortical Excitability during the Human Sleep Slow Oscillation. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 32(1), 243-253. PMID: 22219286
- January 10, 2012
- 10:55 PM
- 97 views
The Inception of the Bed
by Allison in Dormivigilia
A recent report in Science details the intricacies of prehistoric mattresses which gave some clue as to fluctuations in populations and human land use some 70,000 years ago. ... Read more »
Wadley, L., Sievers, C., Bamford, M., Goldberg, P., Berna, F., & Miller, C. (2011) Middle Stone Age Bedding Construction and Settlement Patterns at Sibudu, South Africa. Science, 334(6061), 1388-1391. DOI: 10.1126/science.1213317
- December 28, 2011
- 10:22 PM
- 104 views
Neury Thursday: Cortical Localization of Sleep Spindles
by Allison in Dormivigilia
In a beautifully executed experiment, well-known experts in sleep research undertook a study in which deep electrodes were implanted in numerous cortical and subcortical brain areas to determine the neuroanatomical localization of electrophysiological waveforms characteristic of a lighter sleep state. This type of experimentation is re-defining how we characterize and how neurons behave during sleep and wakefulness... Read more »
Andrillon, T., Nir, Y., Staba, R., Ferrarelli, F., Cirelli, C., Tononi, G., & Fried, I. (2011) Sleep Spindles in Humans: Insights from Intracranial EEG and Unit Recordings. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(49), 17821-17834. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2604-11.2011
- October 31, 2011
- 09:27 PM
- 178 views
Do Horror Films Disrupt Sleep, at least Objectively?
by Allison in Dormivigilia
Few studies have investigated the direct effects of horror films on subsequent sleep quality, making this post a call for action to address as the few studies that have been done are largely restricted to young children. But then again, which NIH agency would ever offer funding for this??... Read more »
Schredl M, & Reinhard I. (2011) Gender differences in nightmare frequency: a meta-analysis. Sleep medicine reviews, 15(2), 115-21. PMID: 20817509
- October 26, 2011
- 10:21 PM
- 164 views
Neury Thursday: Yet Another Neurotrophic Factor Gates Alcohol Intake
by Allison in Dormivigilia
This week's journal summarizes an interesting study that identified yet another neurotrophic factor that modulates alcohol intake manifest from the alteration of central dopaminergic signaling. So I ask, is this a generalized effect of all neurotrophic factors? or are there some (that have yet to be identified) that actually have no effect, little effect, or even exacerbate drug intake?... Read more »
Pickens CL, & Calu DJ. (2011) Alcohol Reward, Dopamine Depletion, and GDNF. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 31(42), 14833-4. PMID: 22016515
- October 17, 2011
- 10:00 PM
- 126 views
Neury Thursday: Primary Rewards and Brain Pathway Specificity
by Allison in Dormivigilia
Neuroeconomists mapped brain areas associated with risk aversions to money, food, and water to examine if there is general convergence of brain areas/pathways linked to risk aversion or if there is differential brain areas/pathways that are activated by specific rewards. Really cool work. ... Read more »
Levy DJ, & Glimcher PW. (2011) Comparing apples and oranges: using reward-specific and reward-general subjective value representation in the brain. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 31(41), 14693-707. PMID: 21994386
- October 7, 2011
- 11:15 PM
- 157 views
Neury Thursday: Molecular Manipulation of Cocaine-Induced Neuronal Adaptations
by Allison in Dormivigilia
Researchers tweaked a protein phosphorylating cascade to show its importance in driving cocaine-induced neuronal adaptations. This may be an ideal signaling cascade for big pharma to focus on, er at least, in a mouse model for now.... Read more »
Besnard A, Bouveyron N, Kappes V, Pascoli V, Pagès C, Heck N, Vanhoutte P, & Caboche J. (2011) Alterations of molecular and behavioral responses to cocaine by selective inhibition of elk-1 phosphorylation. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 31(40), 14296-307. PMID: 21976515
- September 26, 2011
- 10:44 PM
- 148 views
At Last: Third, Author Publication in Press
by Allison in Dormivigilia
After a year of wrestling with journal and reviewers, a long-term behavioral and pharmacological study of the effects of clock gene mutations on ethanol intake and responsiveness to pharmacological suppression has been published. ... Read more »
Brager AJ, Prosser RA, & Glass JD. (2011) Circadian and Acamprosate Modulation of Elevated Ethanol Drinking in mPer2 Clock Gene Mutant Mice. Chronobiology international, 28(8), 664-672. PMID: 21929298
- September 18, 2011
- 10:22 PM
- 282 views
Neury Thursday: Adenosine Increases Drug Permeability
by Allison in Dormivigilia
Researchers reported in this week's Journal of Neuroscience that co-activation of adenosine receptor subtypes, A1 and A2, additively increases the permeability of macromolecules across the blood-brain barrier. This could result in huge, rapid advancements in drug development and for finding efficacious treatment strategies for at present incurable neurologic diseases such as Alzheimer's... Read more »
Aaron J. Carman, Jeffrey H. Mills, Antje Krenz, Do-Geun Kim, and Margaret S. Bynoe. (2011) Adenosine Receptor Signaling Modulates Permeability of the Blood–Brain Barrier. Journal of Neuroscience. info:/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3337-11.2011
- September 9, 2011
- 10:00 PM
- 272 views
Neury Thursday: Summarizing a Century of Research on Tourette's
by Allison in Dormivigilia
There is a nice review on the history, symptomatologies, putative etiologies, and future research investments on the study of Tourette's syndrome. ... Read more »
Felling RJ, & Singer HS. (2011) Neurobiology of tourette syndrome: current status and need for further investigation. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 31(35), 12387-95. PMID: 21880899
- August 30, 2011
- 11:20 AM
- 292 views
Astonishing Results in Science (the magazine)
by Allison in Dormivigilia
Last week's issue of Science focused on education and social reform. In a series of baffling, yet informative original research reports, PIs uncovered substantial racial disparities in awarded NIH grants that severely disadvantage blacks and also that there is a research lesson to be learned from teaching as a graduate student. Finally, a recent study found a positive correlation between journal impact factors and the number of article retractions....which I guess isn't terribly shocki........ Read more »
Ginther DK, Schaffer WT, Schnell J, Masimore B, Liu F, Haak LL, & Kington R. (2011) Race, ethnicity, and NIH research awards. Science (New York, N.Y.), 333(6045), 1015-9. PMID: 21852498
Feldon DF, Peugh J, Timmerman BE, Maher MA, Hurst M, Strickland D, Gilmore JA, & Stiegelmeyer C. (2011) Graduate students' teaching experiences improve their methodological research skills. Science (New York, N.Y.), 333(6045), 1037-9. PMID: 21852504
- August 25, 2011
- 12:00 PM
- 317 views
Neury Thursday: Immediate Reward System Tolerance to Cocaine
by Allison in Dormivigilia
A worldwide group of neuroscientists characterized immediate electrophysiologic tolerance to single-time use (injection) of cocaine. This could implicated serious consequences for those with a family history of hedonism as it would not take much to send someone, particularly with a powerful drug like cocaine, into a downward spiral of drug abuse. ... Read more »
Devinder Arora,1* Matthew Hearing,1* Desirae M. Haluk,1* Kelsey Mirkovic,1 Ana Fajardo-Serrano,3, & Martin W. Wessendorf,2 Masahiko Watanabe,4 Rafael Luja´n,3 and Kevin Wickman1. (2011) Acute Cocaine Exposure Weakens GABAB Receptor- Dependent G-Protein-Gated Inwardly Rectifying K Signaling in Dopamine Neurons of the Ventral Tegmental Area. Journal of Neuroscience. info:/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0494-11.2011
- August 17, 2011
- 03:22 PM
- 306 views
Elucidation of the Malarial Mosquito Genome
by Allison in Dormivigilia
Chronobiologists at Notre Dame have taken advantage of DNA microarrays to illustrate a wide-array of rhythmically expressed genes in the African vector harbinger of malaria. ... Read more »
Rund SS, Hou TY, Ward SM, Collins FH, & Duffield GE. (2011) Genome-wide profiling of diel and circadian gene expression in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(32). PMID: 21715657
- August 14, 2011
- 11:30 AM
- 271 views
Neury Thursday: Little Exercise, Big [Neuroprotective] Effects
by Allison in Dormivigilia
Researchers at Boulder examined the neuroprotective benefits of exercise on infection- and aging-induced neuroinflammation, neural degenerative, and learning impairments. A win-win for physiological and behavioral systems. ... Read more »
Barrientos RM, Frank MG, Crysdale NY, Chapman TR, Ahrendsen JT, Day HE, Campeau S, Watkins LR, Patterson SL, & Maier SF. (2011) Little exercise, big effects: reversing aging and infection-induced memory deficits, and underlying processes. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 31(32), 11578-86. PMID: 21832188
- August 3, 2011
- 11:29 PM
- 336 views
Newest Pub!! Acute Ethanol Impairment of Circadian Clock Output
by Allison in Dormivigilia
In my second, first-author publication, we report the deleterious effects of alcohol on adaptation (entrainment) to photic and nonphotic environmental stimuli at a behavioral, physiological, and anatomical level. Such disruption could underlie alcohol disruption to endocrine systems and physiological events, and possibly, lead to alcohol dependence. ... Read more »
Brager AJ, Ruby CL, Prosser RA, & Glass JD. (2011) Acute ethanol disrupts photic and serotonergic circadian clock phase-resetting in the mouse. Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 35(8), 1467-74. PMID: 21463340
- July 20, 2011
- 10:00 PM
- 349 views
Off-lining in the Awake Rodent
by Allison in Dormivigilia
Recent research has redefined electrophysiologic sleep/wake states. ... Read more »
Vyazovskiy VV, Olcese U, Hanlon EC, Nir Y, Cirelli C, & Tononi G. (2011) Local sleep in awake rats. Nature, 472(7344), 443-7. PMID: 21525926
- July 14, 2011
- 10:11 PM
- 357 views
Evidence for BMAL1 Regulation of Circadian Rhythms
by Allison in Dormivigilia
An eloquent study on tissue-specific regulation of circadian clock output through the utility of some bad ass molecular tools... Read more »
McDearmon EL, Patel KN, Ko CH, Walisser JA, Schook AC, Chong JL, Wilsbacher LD, Song EJ, Hong HK, Bradfield CA.... (2006) Dissecting the functions of the mammalian clock protein BMAL1 by tissue-specific rescue in mice. Science (New York, N.Y.), 314(5803), 1304-8. PMID: 17124323
- July 6, 2011
- 10:00 PM
- 379 views
Sleep in Science
by Allison in Dormivigilia
Midwestern researchers used a Drosophila model of study to investigate the positive benefits of sleep and the deleterious effects of sleep deprivation on biological enrichment at the behavioral and neurobiological level, providing further evidence of its need (value). ... Read more »
Donlea JM, Thimgan MS, Suzuki Y, Gottschalk L, & Shaw PJ. (2011) Inducing sleep by remote control facilitates memory consolidation in Drosophila. Science (New York, N.Y.), 332(6037), 1571-6. PMID: 21700877
Bushey D, Tononi G, & Cirelli C. (2011) Sleep and synaptic homeostasis: structural evidence in Drosophila. Science (New York, N.Y.), 332(6037), 1576-81. PMID: 21700878
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