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Early neural wiring for smell persists

By Guest PostMay 11, 2014Scienceagendas project, brown university, comparative policy, drexel university, energieversorger, gilad barnea, glomeruli, harald stadler, hedge fund, joshua borrajo, kommunale, lulu tsai, market swings, memory, nervous system, neural circuits, private, produce, psychiatric disorders, smell, tante ju

A new study in Science reveals that the fundamental wiring of the olfactory system in mice sets up shortly after birth and then remains stable but adaptable. The research highlights how important early development can be throughout life and provides insights that may be important in devising regenerative medical therapies in the nervous system.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — To accommodate a lifetime of scents and aromas, mammals have hundreds of genes that each produce a different odorant receptor. The complex and diverse olfactory system they build remains adaptable, but a new study in the journal Science shows that the system’s flexibility, or plasticity, has its limits. Working in mice, Brown University scientists found that the fundamental neural wiring map between the nose and the brain becomes established in a critical period of early development and then regenerates the same map thereafter. (more…)

The origins of laughter

By Guest PostApril 2, 2013Healtharistotle, behavioural program, benefits of laughter, bernard chapais, bibliographic guide, brain activation, change, cultural transmission, cultural variability, descartes, duchenne, evolution of laughter, evolutionary origins, freud, Health, humour, kant, mimic play, nervous laughter, neural circuits, non duchenne, origins of laughter, plato, positive emotions, psychology of laughter, steven legare, types of laughter, universal behavior

We know the benefits of laughter on health. But why do we laugh? What are the evolutionary origins of laughter and humour? Steven Légaré has asked these questions and has made them the subject of his master’s thesis, which he recently submitted to the Université de Montréal’s Department of Anthropology.

“Science provides few answers to these questions other than in psychology and neuroscience. From the perspective of anthropology, laughter and humour are often overlooked. However, it is a serious subject,” says the recent graduate. (more…)

New Insights into the ‘Borderline Personality’ Brain

By Guest PostJanuary 21, 2013Healthanger, anthony c ruocco, borderline personality disorder, bpd, brain function, brain region, chaotic relationship, cycle, data, diagnosis and treatment, disorders, emotion dysregulation, emotional reaction, frontal part, function of brains, hallmark symptom, hyperactive, insula, major depression, mental illness, negative emotions, neural circuits, people with bpd, sadness, scarborough, suicide, university of toronto

TORONTO, ON — New work by University of Toronto Scarborough researchers gives the best description yet of the neural circuits that underlie a severe mental illness called Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), and could lead to better treatments and diagnosis.

The work shows that brain regions that process negative emotions (for example, anger and sadness) are overactive in people with BPD, while brain regions that would normally help damp down negative emotions are underactive. (more…)

Cosmetic Chemical Hinders Brain Development in Tadpoles

By Guest PostJanuary 11, 2012Scienceariana spawn, behavioral effects, biocide methylisothiazolinone, brain development, brown researchers, brown university, carlos aizenman, concentration, cosmetics industry, david orenstein, electrophysiological analysis, growth of animal neurons, immature tadpole, low concentrations, MIT, neural circuits, neurological development, optic tectum, parts per million, patterns of light, physiological difference, ppm, shampoos, signal, tadpole tanks, tadpoles, visual information, whitehall foundation

*A new study finds that low concentrations of the chemical methylisothiazolinone has subtle but measurable negative effects on the neural development of tadpoles. The chemical is found in some cosmetics, although the study does not provide any evidence that cosmetics are unsafe for humans.*

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Scientists, health officials, and manufacturers already know that a chemical preservative found in some products, including cosmetics, is harmful to people and animals in high concentrations, but a new Brown University study in tadpoles reports that it can also interrupt neurological development even in very low concentrations.

In the cosmetics industry, the biocide methylisothiazolinone or MIT, is considered safe at concentrations of less than 100 parts per million. Lab studies, however, have found that lower concentrations affected the growth of animal neurons. Picking up from there, the Brown researchers performed a series of experiments to investigate how 10 days of exposure at concentrations as low as 1.5 ppm would affect whole, living tadpoles as they develop. Their results appear in advance online in the journal Neuroscience. (more…)

Tag Archives: neural circuits

Early neural wiring for smell persists

The origins of laughter

New Insights into the ‘Borderline Personality’ Brain

Cosmetic Chemical Hinders Brain Development in Tadpoles