Hackettcaldwell6150

For reading times, we found that individuals with dyslexia were overall slower readers. These findings suggest that (1) individuals with dyslexia do rely on heuristics to a greater extent than do non-dyslexic individuals, and (2) individual differences variables (e.g., verbal intelligence and working memory) are also related to the use of parsing heuristics. For the latter, lower ability individuals tended to be more consistent with heuristic processing (i.e., good-enough representations).The first human applications of ultrasound in medicine date back to 1939, when Reimar Pohlmann (Berlin, Germany) published data on therapy of neuralgia with ultrasound [...].Imaging in neurosciences allows for the visual representation of micro- and macro-components of the central (CNS) and peripheral (PNS) nervous systems with the intent of investigating their morphology and function, to provide diagnosis and prognosis of neurological diseases and to monitor responses to treatments [...].Understanding the role of the noradrenergic nucleus locus coeruleus (LC) in cognition and behavior is critical It is involved in several key behavioral functions such as stress and vigilance, as well as in cognitive processes such as attention and decision making. In recent years, the development of viral tools has provided a clear insight into numerous aspects of brain functions in rodents. However, given the specificity of primate brains and the key benefit of monkey research for translational applications, developing viral tools to study the LC in monkeys is essential for understanding its function and exploring potential clinical strategies. Here, we describe a pharmacogenetics approach that allows to selectively and reversibly inactivate LC neurons using Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD). We show that the expression of the hM4Di DREADD can be restricted to noradrenergic LC neurons and that the amount of LC inhibition can be adjusted by adapting the dose of the specific DREADD activator deschloroclozapine (DCZ). Indeed, even if high doses (>0.3 mg/kg) induce a massive inhibition of LC neurons and a clear decrease in vigilance, smaller doses ( less then 0.3 mg/kg) induce a more moderate decrease in LC activity, but it does not affect vigilance, which is more compatible with an assessment of subtle cognitive functions such as decision making and attention.The cochlear implant (CI) is the most successful neuroprosthesis allowing thousands of patients with profound hearing loss to recover speech understanding. Recently, cochlear implants have been proposed to subjects with residual hearing and, in these cases, shorter CIs were implanted. To be successful, it is crucial to preserve the patient's remaining hearing abilities after the implantation. Here, we quantified the effects of CI insertion on the responses of auditory cortex neurons in anesthetized guinea pigs. The responses of auditory cortex neurons were determined before and after the insertion of a 300 µm diameter CI (six stimulating electrodes, length 6 mm). Immediately after CI insertion there was a 5 to 15 dB increase in the threshold for cortical neurons from the middle to the high frequencies, accompanied by a decrease in the evoked firing rate. Analyzing the characteristic frequency (CF) values revealed that in large number of cases, the CFs obtained after insertion were lower than before. These effects were not detected in the control animals. These results indicate that there is a small but immediate cortical hearing loss after CI insertion, even with short length CIs. Therefore, efforts should be made to minimize the damages during CI insertion to preserve the cortical responses to acoustic stimuli.Corticobasal syndrome (CBS) is a rare neurodegenerative condition characterized by four-repeat tau aggregation in the cortical and subcortical brain regions and accompanied by severe atrophy. The aim of this study was to evaluate partial volume effect correction (PVEC) in patients with CBS compared to a control cohort imaged with the 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO) positron emission tomography (PET) tracer [18F]GE-180. Eighteen patients with CBS and 12 age- and sex-matched healthy controls underwent [18F]GE-180 PET. The cortical and subcortical regions were delineated by deep nuclei parcellation (DNP) of a 3D-T1 MRI. Region-specific subcortical volumes and standardized uptake values and ratios (SUV and SUVr) were extracted before and after region-based voxel-wise PVEC. Regional volumes were compared between patients with CBS and controls. The % group differences and effect sizes (CBS vs. controls) of uncorrected and PVE-corrected SUVr data were compared. Single-region positivity in patients with CBS was assessed by a >2 SD threshold vs. controls and compared between uncorrected and PVE-corrected data. Smaller regional volumes were detected in patients with CBS compared to controls in the right ventral striatum (p = 0.041), the left putamen (p = 0.005), the right putamen (p = 0.038) and the left pallidum (p = 0.015). After applying PVEC, the % group differences were distinctly higher, but the effect sizes of TSPO uptake were only slightly stronger due to the higher variance after PVEC. The single-region positivity of TSPO PET increased in patients with CBS after PVEC (100 vs. 83 regions). PVEC in the cortical and subcortical regions is valuable for TSPO imaging of patients with CBS, leading to the improved detection of elevated [18F]GE-180 uptake, although the effect sizes in the comparison against the controls did not improve strongly.We investigated the association between the Magnetic Resonance Parkinsonism Index (MRPI) and REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD). We included 226 de novo PD patients (82 PD-RBD and 144 PD-noRBD) and 19 idiopathic RBD patients. Furthermore, 3T T1-weighted MR images were used for automated brainstem calculations. MRPI values were higher in the PD-RBD (p = 0.004) compared to PD-noRBD patients. Moreover, MRPI proved to be a significant predictor of REM Behavior Disorder Screening Questionnaire scores in PD (β = 0.195, p = 0.007) and iRBD patients (β = 0.582, p = 0.003). MRPI can be used as an imaging marker of RBD in patients with de novo PD and iRBD.

Personalization of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for tinnitus might be capable to overcome the heterogeneity of treatment responses. The assessment of loudness changes after short rTMS protocols in test sessions has been proposed as a strategy to identify the best protocol for the daily treatment application. However, the therapeutic advantages of this approach are currently not clear. The present study was designed to further investigate the feasibility and clinical efficacy of personalized rTMS as compared to a standardized rTMS protocol used for tinnitus.

RTMS personalization was conducted via test sessions and reliable, sham-superior responses respectively short-term reductions in tinnitus loudness following active rTMS protocols (1, 10, 20 Hz, each 200 pulses) applied over the left and right temporal cortex. Twenty pulses at a frequency of 0.1 Hz served as a control condition (sham). In case of a response, patients were randomly allocated to ten treatment sessions of either persapeutic advantages of personalized rTMS for tinnitus based on test session responses. The feasibility of this approach is primarily limited by the low test session response rate.The uncontrolled use of specific Internet applications is increasingly recognized as a mental health issue. Gaming disorder, which is one subtype of specific Internet-use disorders (sIUDs), has been included in the ICD-11 as disorder due to addictive behaviors. Addictive disorders are assumed to be accompanied by cognitive deficits as indicated by weaker performance in executive function and risky decision-making tasks. This study investigates risky decision-making in individuals with tendencies towards sIUDs including gaming, online buying-shopping, and social-networks-use disorders. A total of 293 individuals participated in the study. Based on specific screening instruments, the participants were assigned to a group with tendencies towards sIUD or a control group. Participants completed a risky decision-making task and questionnaires assessing risk-taking propensity, impulsivity, psychopathology, and perceived stress. The group with sIUD tendencies showed higher attentional impulsivity and higher levels of depression and anxiety compared to the control group. The groups did not differ in decision making and risk propensity. Decision making did not have significant effects on sIUD symptoms. Risk for developing sIUDs does not appear to be accompanied by altered general decision-making tendencies. Rather, psychological (pre-)load and attentional deficits appear to be relevant features in uncontrolled use of the Internet.Aggressive behaviour is at the basis of many harms in society, such as violent crime. The efforts to explain, study, and possibly reduce aggression span various disciplines, including neuroscience. The specific brain networks which are involved in the modulation of aggressive behaviour include cortical asymmetry and brain areas such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Recent non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) research suggests that both transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) can play a role in the modulation of aggressive behaviour by directly changing brain activity. In this review, we systematically explore and discuss 11 experimental studies that aimed to modulate aggressive behaviour or self-reported aggression using NIBS. Out of these 11 studies, nine significantly up- or downregulated aggression by using tDCS or cTBS targeting the DLPFC, VLPFC or VMPFC. The potential applications of these findings span both the clinical and the forensic psychological domains. However, the results are limited by the methodological heterogeneity in the aggression measures used across the studies, and by their generally small sample sizes. RZ-2994 price Future research should consider improving the localization and specificity of NIBS by employing neuro-navigational instruments and standardized scoring methods.

There is growing interest in identifying individuals who are in the prodromal phase of Parkinson's disease (PD), as these individuals are potentially suitable for inclusion in intervention trials to prevent clinically manifest PD. However, it is less clear whether-and to what extent-cognitive deficits are present in prodromal PD.

A systematic query was conducted through PubMed and Embase for prospective observational cohort studies that (a) assessed cognitive performance in individuals free of manifest PD at baseline and (b) subsequently followed up participants for incident PD. We grouped the results by cognitive domain, and for domains that had been reported in at least three separate studies, we performed random-effects, inverse variance meta-analyses based on summary statistics.

We identified nine articles suitable for inclusion, with a total of 215 patients with phenoconversion and 13,524 individuals remaining disease-free at follow-up. The studies were highly heterogeneous in study design, study population, and cognitive test batteries.