Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Anisa Morava, Benjamin Tari, Joshua Ahn, Mustafa Shirzad, Matthew Heath, Harry Prapavessis
Summary: Cognitive flexibility, an important aspect of executive function, is essential for efficient task switching. Acute stress has been found to impair cognitive flexibility, while a single bout of aerobic exercise can improve it. This study aimed to investigate whether a single session of aerobic exercise can attenuate the negative effects of stress on task switching.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Tomoaki Banno, Shuhei Tsuruhara, Yu Seikoba, Ryohei Tonai, Koji Yamashita, Shinnosuke Idogawa, Yuto Kita, Ko Suzuki, Yuki Yagi, Yuki Kondo, Rika Numano, Kowa Koida, Takeshi Kawano
Summary: Microscale needle-like electrodes offer high spatiotemporal resolution for in vivo extracellular recording. However, reducing the size to the nanoscale increases electrical impedance. By stacking a nanoelectrode on an amplifier module, the quality of neuronal signal recording can be improved. In experiments conducted on the mouse cortex, the nanoelectrode with amplifier could record a wider range of neural signals compared to the electrode without the amplifier.
Review
Reproductive Biology
Yanshe Xie, Changhua Wu, Weidong Chen, Zhenfang Wu, Gengyuan Cai, Linjun Hong
Summary: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanoscale lipid vesicles derived from cells that participate in cell-cell communication by delivering cargo such as mRNAs, proteins, and non-coding RNAs to recipient cells. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), typically 22 nucleotides long, play a crucial role in developmental and pathophysiological processes by regulating gene expression in recipient cells. Infertility is a global health issue, and the use of EVs-encapsulated miRNAs in assisted reproductive technology (ART) could potentially optimize ART, improve reproductive rate, and treat infertility. This review discusses the current understanding of EVs-encapsulated miRNAs in reproductive regulation.
Review
Neurosciences
Kari L. Hanson, Simone E. Grant, Lucy H. Funk, Cynthia M. Schumann, Melissa D. Bauman
Summary: Late adolescence is a period of dynamic changes in the brain, particularly in the prefrontal cortical regions, which orchestrate cognitive control. Early challenges may lead to aberrant PFC connectivity and function, while activation of the mother's immune system during pregnancy could contribute to an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders.
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Kristin N. Hageman, Margaret R. Chow, Dale C. Roberts, Charles C. Della Santina
Summary: This study presents a new magnetic coil system optimized for recording 3-D eye movements with high precision and accuracy in small animals. By utilizing an FPGA for digital demodulation, the system is able to provide real-time output at a high sampling rate, resulting in improved performance compared to older analog-based systems.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yixin Tian, Jiapeng Yin, Chengyao Wang, Zhenliang He, Jingyi Xie, Xiaoshan Feng, Yang Zhou, Tianyu Ma, Yang Xie, Xue Li, Tianming Yang, Chi Ren, Chengyu Li, Zhengtuo Zhao
Summary: Researchers have developed a mechanically robust ultraflexible electrode array, the MERF, for high-density, large-scale, and chronic recording of neurons in the nonhuman primate brain. The MERF array has shown promising results in basic neuroscience studies and brain-machine interface applications.
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Corey E. Cruttenden, Wei Zhu, Yi Zhang, Xiao-Hong Zhu, Wei Chen, Rajesh Rajamani
Summary: This study aims to estimate severe fMRI scanning artifacts in extracellular neural recordings made at ultrahigh magnetic field strengths and proposes several methods to remove the artifacts and uncover the complete neural electrophysiology signal. The results show the successful detection of extracellular action potentials recorded during fMRI gradient interferences, with the SVS methods outperforming sliding template subtraction.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MEDICAL IMAGING
(2022)
News Item
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Saima May Sidik
Summary: A platelet factor is added to the list of blood components that may have anti-aging effects.
Article
Computer Science, Cybernetics
Rua M. Williams, Kiana Alikhademi, Juan E. Gilbert
Summary: Virtual Reality (VR) and game-like experiences are commonly used in neurocognitive rehabilitation research. Executive Functions (EF) are recognized as a concern in various neurocognitive conditions. We have developed a toolkit for building virtual interactions that can replicate traditional cognitive tests consistently. Analyzing participant performance data between traditional tasks and VR replications may indicate the toolkit's ability to successfully replicate traditional measures and extend to more complex contexts.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN-COMPUTER STUDIES
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Giovanni Cantarella, Greta Vianello, Giuliana Vezzadini, Francesca Frassinetti, Elisa Ciaramelli, Michela Candini
Summary: Previous studies have shown that damage to the right hemisphere affects time processing, leading to the perception of shorter time intervals and the reproduction of longer time intervals. This study compared right brain damaged (RBD) patients, left brain damaged (LBD) patients, and healthy controls in their performance on time bisection and time reproduction tasks. The results revealed that RBD patients exhibited underestimation of time intervals in the bisection task and over-reproduction in the reproduction task, specifically for short time intervals. Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping identified a right cortico-subcortical network involving the insula and inferior frontal gyrus as the neural basis for time underestimation.
Article
Biology
Kathleen Hoi Kei Choy, Sze Yan Chan, William Lam, Jing Jin, Tingting Zheng, Tin Yu Samuel Law, Sidney Siubun Yu, Weiping Wang, Linxian Li, Gangcai Xie, Howard Chi Ho Yim, Hao Chen, Ellis Kin Lam Fok
Summary: This study established a protocol for the isolation and characterization of testicular extracellular vesicles (EVs). The results showed that testicular EVs can be efficiently taken up by somatic cells and germ cells. The proteome and small RNA cargoes of testicular EVs were analyzed, revealing the potential contributions from Leydig cells and testicular macrophages. The study also found that small molecule inhibition of EV secretion can perturb spermatogenesis through inter-compartmental communication.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yoshiko Kojima, Jonathan T. Ting, Robijanto Soetedjo, Shane D. Gibson, Gregory D. Horwitz
Summary: The method described in the text involves using injection cannulas made from polytetrafluoroethylene and stainless-steel tubes, which are autoclavable, disposable, and have low minimal-loading volumes. An inert, red-dyed mineral oil is used to fill the dead space, allowing for precise measurement of injection rates and volumes. This procedure can produce robust expression of optogenetic proteins in non-human primates for optical control of neural activity and behavior.
JOVE-JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS
(2021)
Article
Biology
Richard McFarland, S. Peter Henzi, Andrea Fuller, Robyn S. Hetem, Christopher Young, Louise Barrett
Summary: Most primates, including humans, give birth during the inactive phase of the daily cycle. However, our understanding of the timing of nocturnal birth in wild diurnal primates is limited. This study measured maternal core body temperature during 24 births in wild vervet monkeys and found distinct changes in temperature during the birth process. Vervet monkeys typically give birth during their inactive phase, in sync with the lowest point of the maternal daily temperature rhythm, but individual variations in temperature during birth were observed. These findings suggest that the timing of primate birth may be influenced by the lower night-time temperatures and improve thermal efficiency during birth.
Article
Microbiology
Katja Rudolph, Dominik Schneider, Claudia Fichtel, Rolf Daniel, Michael Heistermann, Peter M. Kappeler
Summary: Environmental factors shape population-specific gut microbiota, while intrinsic and social factors have a stronger impact on gut microbiome variation in this primate species.
Article
Cell Biology
Alireza Rouzitalab, Chadwick B. Boulay, Jeongwon Park, Julio C. Martinez-Trujillo, Adam J. Sachs
Summary: The neuronal ensembles in the lateral prefrontal cortex of non-human primates can dynamically encode and store arbitrary stimulus-response associations. These ensembles rapidly learn new associations and can retrieve multiple previously learned associations from a neuronal subspace. Additionally, knowledge of old associations facilitates the learning of new, similar associations.
Review
Neurosciences
Masaki Tanaka, Jun Kunimatsu, Tomoki W. Suzuki, Masashi Kameda, Shogo Ohmae, Akiko Uematsu, Ryuji Takeya
Summary: The cerebellum plays a crucial role in movement control and temporal prediction, exhibiting preparatory activity and time tracking mechanisms. It provides more accurate temporal information than the striatum and generates signals that regulate movement timing in the cerebral cortex.
Review
Neurosciences
Mitsuo Kawato, Shogo Ohmae, Huu Hoang, Terry Sanger
Summary: Fifty years have passed since seminal models of cerebellar functions were proposed by David Marr, Masao Ito, and James Albus. These models share the concept of plastic changes in parallel-fiber-Purkinje-cell synapses guided by climbing-fiber activities during sensorimotor learning, but differ in key aspects. Evaluating the features of the three models based on recent studies, a new direction of hierarchical reinforcement learning with multiple internal models in cerebellar computational frameworks is proposed.
Article
Neurosciences
Kei Matsuyama, Masaki Tanaka
Summary: Neurons in the central thalamus were found to exhibit different types of responses to repetitive stimuli, including sensory adaptation, increasing suppressive response, and switching activity. Switch-type neurons showed a correlation between their activity before stimulus omission and behavioral latency, suggesting a more advanced role in detecting stimulus omission. These findings imply that the central thalamus may play a crucial role in transmitting integrated signals for temporal information processing in predicting rhythmic event timing accurately.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jun Kunimatsu, Shinya Yamamoto, Kazutaka Maeda, Okihide Hikosaka
Summary: The basal ganglia play a crucial role in object-value learning in different environments, with the local network in the striatum tail controlling the learning of object values that are selective to the scene-environment. This mechanism supports flexible switching behavior in various environments.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Biology
Yawei Wang, Osamu Toyoshima, Jun Kunimatsu, Hiroshi Yamada, Masayuki Matsumoto
Summary: Animal behavior is regulated based on future reward values, with dopamine neurons adapting their activity in a tonic firing mode to effectively track changing reward values. Research shows that dopamine neurons adjust their activity level continuously in response to increasing or decreasing reward values, with this sustained activity pattern being more influenced by non-burst spikes.
Article
Neurosciences
Ryo Sawagashira, Masaki Tanaka
Summary: This study developed a novel behavioral paradigm to assess the impact of low-dose ketamine on various components of working memory in monkeys. It was found that memory capacity and utility rate were significantly reduced after ketamine administration, while memory decay remained largely unchanged. This suggests that the behavioral deficits observed during NMDA receptor blockade may be primarily attributed to decreased utilization of short-term memory.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ryuji Takeya, Shuntaro Nakamura, Masaki Tanaka
Summary: By training monkeys to perform predictive saccades synchronized with visual stimuli, two types of motor segmentation were identified during synchronized movements: one related to the hierarchical organization of sequential movements and the other related to the spontaneous grouping of rhythmic events.
Article
Neurosciences
Tomoki W. Suzuki, Ken-Ichi Inoue, Masahiko Takada, Masaki Tanaka
Summary: The study shows that cortical feedback inputs play a role in modulating neuronal activity in the motor thalamus during goal-directed behavior, especially in primates. Optical stimulation influences thalamic neuron activity, with task-specific effects and non-task-specific changes observed.
Article
Neurosciences
Akiko Uematsu, Masaki Tanaka
Summary: The study investigates the role of the cerebellum in temporal information processing. Neurons in the cerebellar dentate nucleus exhibit periodic activity predicting stimulus timing. The relative contribution of signals from different sources to the periodic activity is assessed through pharmacological experiments. The results suggest that inputs from the cerebellar cortex contribute to the predictive neuronal activity in the dentate nucleus.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ken-ichi Okada, Ryuji Takeya, Masaki Tanaka
Summary: This study investigated the response properties of cerebellar cells in macaques performing synchronized saccades and identified three groups of cerebellar neurons with distinct response profiles. One-third of the neurons were active regardless of saccade direction and showed greater activity for synchronized saccades. The activity of these neurons corresponded to the internal rhythmic structure rather than specific motor commands.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Ryo Sawagashira, Masaki Tanaka
Summary: The study examined the effects of AChR-related agents on working memory (WM) and eye movements during an oculomotor foraging task. Results showed that nicotine and mecamylamine significantly increased the utility of short-term memory, while the muscarinic AChR-related agents had no effect on any WM parameters. The findings suggest that nicotine improves visual search by enhancing the utility of short-term memory, with minimal changes in oculomotor parameters.
PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Jun Kunimatsu, Yusuke Akiyama, Osamu Toyoshima, Masayuki Matsumoto
Summary: Respiration is closely linked to internal states and provides valuable information for estimating these states. In this study, a method to monitor the respiration of behaving monkeys was developed. The measurement of nasal air temperature was found to be an accurate way to monitor the respiration and estimate the internal states of monkeys.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Masashi Kameda, Koichiro Niikawa, Akiko Uematsu, Masaki Tanaka
Summary: Both the cerebellum and basal ganglia play important roles in rhythm processing, but their specific functions are still unclear. Neurons in both areas exhibit periodic activity during rhythm perception, with the cerebellum involved in multiple stages from sensory prediction to motor control, and the basal ganglia consistently involved in motor preparation.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)