Allison

24 posts · 1,972 views

Dormivigilia
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  • March 8, 2010
  • 11:15 PM
  • 38 views

The Athlete Brain

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Recent progress in neuroscience suggests that athlete's are the masters of mind over matter, expending less brain energy while focusing more intently on motor procedural tasks compared to sedentary controls. ... Read more »

  • March 6, 2010
  • 02:00 PM
  • 39 views

Neury Thursday (Weekend Edition): Neuronal Origin of Handedness

by Allison in Dormivigilia

In this week's Journal of Neuroscience, European researchers have recognized that though humans are innately endowed with handedness, owing to a greater, hemispheric-specific distribution of cortical matter within the premotor cortex, this unequal cortical distribution can be modified post-birth through deliberate practice, producing either ambidexterity or anti-handedness (if of course, practice is maintained).... Read more »

Stefan Klo¨ppel, Jean-Francois Mangin, Anna Vongerichten, Richard S. J. Frackowiak,and Hartwig R. Siebner. (2010) Nuture versus Nature: Long-Term Impact of Forced Right-Handedness on Structure of Pericentral Cortexand Basal Ganglia. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(9), 3271-3275. info:/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4394-09.2010

  • March 3, 2010
  • 05:00 PM
  • 33 views

March Madness Preview: Neuroscience Edition

by Allison in Dormivigilia

This week in Neuro Journal Club, I discussed a recent Journal of Neuroscience publication finding high activation of attentional and premotor planning areas of the brain during the recall of basketball game plays in avid Duke and UNC fans. The Duke fans had faster recall vs. the UNC fans, despite no differences in activation intensity within these brain areas.
... Read more »

  • March 1, 2010
  • 05:55 PM
  • 47 views

Elucidating Sleep and Reward Centers

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Elucidating Sleep and Reward Centers
March 1, 2010 - Author: Allison

It is rare for one to see an empirical article in a moderately-impactful journal, such as SLEEP, that solely reports about one case study (let alone have multiple affiliations……can we say out-sourcing/contracting the work?). I can overlook the extremely small sample size, however, because this study may help my lab elucidate a reciprocal relationship between sleep/wake and reward centers of the brain and relat........ Read more »

Smaranda Leu-Semenescu; Isabelle Arnulf; Caroline Decaix; Fathi Moussa; Fabienne Clot; Camille Boniol; Yvan Touitou; Richard Levy; Marie Vidailhet; Emmanuel Roze. (2010) Sleep and Rhythm Consequences of a Genetically Induced Loss of Serotonin. SLEEP, 33(3), 307-314. info:/

  • February 22, 2010
  • 11:00 PM
  • 46 views

DNA Methylation, Glucocorticoid Receptors, and Suicide Risk

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Researchers at McGill have elucidated epigenetic contributions to suicidal attempts in individuals who were abused/neglected during childhood. These individuals have hyper DNA methylation, particularly within the hippocampus. These researchers also discovered that this suicide risk is also potentiated by reduced glucocorticoid receptor expression. ... Read more »

McGowan, P., Sasaki, A., D'Alessio, A., Dymov, S., Labonté, B., Szyf, M., Turecki, G., & Meaney, M. (2009) Epigenetic regulation of the glucocorticoid receptor in human brain associates with childhood abuse. Nature Neuroscience, 12(3), 342-348. DOI: 10.1038/nn.2270  

  • February 21, 2010
  • 11:09 AM
  • 56 views

Guze Symposium in Saint Louis

by Allison in Dormivigilia

A review of Thursday's Guze Symposium on disentangling the genetics of alcoholism, sponsored by the Washington University of St. Louis School of Medicine in honor of Samuel Guze, a pioneer in the field of alcohol abuse and alcoholism.... Read more »

  • February 18, 2010
  • 12:00 PM
  • 59 views

Neury Thursday: Ependymal Cells Regulation of Ventricular Function

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Researchers have identified the functional significance of developing ependymal cells that line the ventricular system. Disruption of the ciliary beating of these cells perturbs the circulation of cerebral spinal fluid within the ventricles and may lead to fluid retention in the head,which is typically fatal.... Read more »

Mirzadeh, Z., Han, Y., Soriano-Navarro, M., Garcia-Verdugo, J., & Alvarez-Buylla, A. (2010) Cilia Organize Ependymal Planar Polarity. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(7), 2600-2610. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3744-09.2010  

  • February 15, 2010
  • 09:00 PM
  • 68 views

DISC1 and Schizophrenia

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Researchers at MIT have identified a gene, DISC1, implicated in the neural and behavioral psychopathology of schizophrenia.... Read more »

  • February 13, 2010
  • 06:52 PM
  • 92 views

Photic Sneezing

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Swiss researchers have discovered that bright sunlight exposure can elicit 'photic sneezing" which is characterized by the co-recruitment/hyperactivation of visual and somatosensory cortices. Though the researchers define it as a reflex, it is an anomalous reflex in that it requires activation of cortex unlike the classical knee-jerk reflex and others which only necessitate the activation of spinal cord interneurons ... Read more »

Nicolas Langer*, Gian Beeli, Lutz Jäncke. (2010) When the Sun Prickles Your Nose: An EEG Study Identifying Neural Bases of Photic Sneezing. PLoS ONE, 5(2). info:/10.1371/journal.pone.0009208

  • February 12, 2010
  • 05:00 PM
  • 87 views

The Science of the 2010 Winter Olympics Are Here!!

by Allison in Dormivigilia

The March issue of Experimental Physiology highlights articles relevant to particular sports of the Winter Olympic Games of which I will feature in the upcoming weeks.....let the games begin!!... Read more »

Stuart Egginton and Michael J.White. (2010) 2010 Winter Games Themed Issue. Experimental Physiology, 95(3), 402-403. info:/10.1113/expphysiol.2009.047530

  • February 11, 2010
  • 11:00 AM
  • 48 views

Neury Thursday: Even Leeches Have Rhythm

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Scientists have localized and dissected the function of neural oscillators controlling rhythmic crawling in medicinal leeches. ... Read more »

  • February 8, 2010
  • 05:00 PM
  • 81 views

Science, Cookies, and Pizza

by Allison in Dormivigilia

With a departmental initiative to hire new tenure-track neuroscientists/psychopathologists, I highlight today's job seminar given by Dr. Jilla Sabeti of The Scripps Institute and attach her respective paper. ... Read more »

  • February 5, 2010
  • 11:30 AM
  • 78 views

Empirical Evidence that Men Love Badonkadonks

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Using fMRI, researchers have found that men are most attracted to women with a waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7. Using neuroimaging as a methodology to study human attraction, in my opinion, is a fantastic to establish a new branch of human ual behavior research. ... Read more »

Steven M. Platek, Devendra Singh. (2010) Optimal Waist-to-Hip Ratios in Women Activate Neural Reward Centers in Men. PLOS One, 5(2). info:/

  • February 3, 2010
  • 11:55 PM
  • 79 views

Neury Thursday: Recent Success with Neural Stem Cells

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Neural stem/progenitor cells have been co-grafted with growth factors into damaged spinal cord tissue. Prior to this, the tissue was infused with an enzyme that not only reduces chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, which appear in the CNS following damage, but also increases the survival of the neural stem cells. The article can be found in this week's Journal of Neuroscience... Read more »

Soheila Karimi-Abdolrezaee, Eftekhar Eftekharpour, Jian Wang, Desiree Schut, and Michael G. Fehlings. (2010) Synergistic Effects of Transplanted Adult Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells, Chondroitinase, and Growth Factors Promote Functional Repair and Plasticity of the Chronically Injured Spinal Cord. Journal of Neuroscience. info:/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3111-09.2010

  • January 30, 2010
  • 11:00 AM
  • 123 views

Which [Flying] Animal Can Drink You Under the Table?

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Syrian hamsters are not the only animals that can "drink you under the table." Frugivorous fruit bats have a high tolerance for alcohol in that marked alcohol consumption does not impair flying and/or echolocation. This high alcohol tolerance, of course, is attributed to fermented fruits being a diet staple.... Read more »

Dara N. Orbach, Nina Veselka, Yvonne Dzal, Louis Lazure, M. Brock Fenton. (2010) Drinking and Flying: Does Alcohol Consumption Affect the Flight and Echolocation Performance of Phyllostomid Bats? . PLOS One, 5(2). info:/10.1371/journal.pone.0008993

  • January 28, 2010
  • 11:00 AM
  • 98 views

Financial Risks and Reward Centers

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Stanfordian scientists have attributed age-related financial risks with differential accumbal activity. Honestly, this begs a philosophical conversation of how we can control financial risks of the elderly without jeopardizing their basic human rights.... Read more »

  • January 26, 2010
  • 03:00 PM
  • 116 views

The Mozart Effect Revisited

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Preterm infants who listened to Mozart or other Western classical music had improved weight gain. ... Read more »

Lubetzky, R., Mimouni, F., Dollberg, S., Reifen, R., Ashbel, G., & Mandel, D. (2009) Effect of Music by Mozart on Energy Expenditure in Growing Preterm Infants. PEDIATRICS, 125(1). DOI: 10.1542/peds.2009-0990  

  • January 24, 2010
  • 04:48 PM
  • 114 views

Cavemen, Clinique, and Chanel No. 5

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Scientists uncovered perforated Pecten shells containing red-to-black pigments suggesting that Neanderthals were equally as materialistic... Read more »

Zilhao, J., Angelucci, D., Badal-Garcia, E., d'Errico, F., Daniel, F., Dayet, L., Douka, K., Higham, T., Martinez-Sanchez, M., Montes-Bernardez, R.... (2010) Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(3), 1023-1028. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0914088107  

  • January 23, 2010
  • 11:52 AM
  • 127 views

ADHD in Flies?

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Researchers have discovered a mutation encoding for memory formation in Drosophila (radish) that elicits attention-like deficit symptoms which can subsequently be treated with Ritalin... Read more »

Owens JA. (2005) The ADHD and sleep conundrum: a review. Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBP, 26(4), 312-22. PMID: 16100507  

van Swinderen B, & Brembs B. (2010) Attention-like deficit and hyperactivity in a Drosophila memory mutant. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 30(3), 1003-14. PMID: 20089909  

  • January 22, 2010
  • 12:00 AM
  • 85 views

Synthetically Synchronized E.Coli Clocks

by Allison in Dormivigilia

Even E.Coli clocks "Twitter." Dr. Martin Fussenegger reviews in a recent Nature News & Views... Read more »

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