The impact of chronic pain on creative ideation: An examination of the underlying attention-related psychophysiological mechanisms.

Background: Attentional deficits in patients with chronic pain are common and well studied. Yet, few studies have examined the effects of chronic pain on more complex cognitive abilities that rely on well-functioning attentional systems. With the current study, we aimed to investigate whether the impact of chronic pain on attention affects creative ideation as measured with an adaptation of the alternate uses task (AUT).

The effect of chronic pain on voluntary and involuntary capture of attention: An event-related potential study.

Although the interrupting effect of chronic pain on voluntary-directed attention is well-documented, research on the impact of chronic pain on involuntary-directed attention remains incomplete. This study aimed to investigate the influence of chronic pain on involuntary as well as voluntary allocation of attention as, respectively, indexed by the P3a and P3b components in the event-related potential derived from the electroencephalogram. Both involuntary and voluntary captures of attention were compared between 33 patients with chronic pain and 33 healthy controls using an auditory three-stimulus oddball task (with standard, target, and unexpected distractor tones).

Advanced cryo-tomography workflow developments - correlative microscopy, milling automation and cryo-lift-out.

Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) is a groundbreaking technology for 3D visualisation and analysis of biomolecules in the context of cellular structures. It allows structural investigations of single proteins as well as their spatial arrangements within the cell. Cryo-tomograms provide a snapshot of the complex, heterogeneous and transient subcellular environment.

Oligodendroglial NMDA Receptors Regulate Glucose Import and Axonal Energy Metabolism.

Oligodendrocytes make myelin and support axons metabolically with lactate. However, it is unknown how glucose utilization and glycolysis are adapted to the different axonal energy demands. Spiking axons release glutamate and oligodendrocytes express NMDA receptors of unknown function.

Ocular Dominance Plasticity after Stroke Was Preserved in PSD-95 Knockout Mice.

Neuronal plasticity is essential to enable rehabilitation when the brain suffers from injury, such as following a stroke. One of the most established models to study cortical plasticity is ocular dominance (OD) plasticity in the primary visual cortex (V1) of the mammalian brain induced by monocular deprivation (MD). We have previously shown that OD-plasticity in adult mouse V1 is absent after a photothrombotic (PT) stroke lesion in the adjacent primary somatosensory cortex (S1).