Uncovering the brain-wide pattern of synaptic input to vasopressin-expressing neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus.

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is a neuropeptide critical for the mammalian stress response and social behavior. AVP produced in the hypothalamus regulates water osmolality and vasoconstriction in the body, and in the brain, it regulates social behavior, aggression, and anxiety. However, the circuit mechanisms that link AVP to social behavior, homeostatic function, and disease are not well understood.

Detailed stratified GWAS analysis for severe COVID-19 in four European populations.

Given the highly variable clinical phenotype of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a deeper analysis of the host genetic contribution to severe COVID-19 is important to improve our understanding of underlying disease mechanisms. Here, we describe an extended genome-wide association meta-analysis of a well-characterized cohort of 3255 COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure and 12 488 population controls from Italy, Spain, Norway and Germany/Austria, including stratified analyses based on age, sex and disease severity, as well as targeted analyses of chromosome Y haplotypes, the human leukocyte antigen region and the SARS-CoV-2 peptidome. By inversion imputation, we traced a reported association at 17q21.

From Reductionism Toward Integration: Understanding How Social Behavior Emerges From Integrated Circuits.

Complex social behaviors are emergent properties of the brain's interconnected and overlapping neural networks. Questions aimed at understanding how brain circuits produce specific and appropriate behaviors have changed over the past half century, shifting from studies of gross anatomical and behavioral associations, to manipulating and monitoring precisely targeted cell types. This technical progression has enabled increasingly deep insights into the regulation of perception and behavior with remarkable precision.

Brain-Wide Synaptic Inputs to Aromatase-Expressing Neurons in the Medial Amygdala Suggest Complex Circuitry for Modulating Social Behavior.

Here, we reveal an unbiased view of the brain regions that provide specific inputs to aromatase-expressing cells in the medial amygdala, neurons that play an outsized role in the production of sex-specific social behaviors, using rabies tracing and light sheet microscopy. While the downstream projections from these cells are known, the specific inputs to the aromatase-expressing cells in the medial amygdala remained unknown. We observed established connections to the medial amygdala (e.

A neural circuit perspective on brain aromatase.

This review explores the role of aromatase in the brain as illuminated by a set of conserved network-level connections identified in several vertebrate taxa. Aromatase-expressing neurons are neurochemically heterogeneous but the brain regions in which they are found are highly-conserved across the vertebrate lineage. During development, aromatase neurons have a prominent role in sexual differentiation of the brain and resultant sex differences in behavior and human brain diseases.

A sex-specific feedback projection from aromatase-expressing neurons in the medial amygdala to the accessory olfactory bulb.

The accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) plays a critical role in classifying pheromonal signals. Here we identify two previously undescribed sources of aromatase signaling in the AOB: (1) a population of aromatase-expressing neurons in the AOB itself; (2) a tract of aromatase-expressing axons which originate in the ventral medial amygdala (MEA) and terminate in the AOB. Using a retrograde tracer in conjunction with a transgenic strategy to label aromatase-expressing neurons throughout the brain, we found that a single contiguous population of neurons in the ventral MEA provides the only significant feedback by aromatase-expressing neurons to the AOB.

Accelerated clearing and molecular labeling of biological tissues using magnetohydrodynamic force.

Techniques used to clear biological tissue for fluorescence microscopy are essential to connect anatomical principles at levels ranging from subcellular to the whole animal. Here we report a simple and straightforward approach to efficiently render opaque tissue samples transparent and show that this approach can be modified to rapidly label intact tissue samples with antibodies for large volume fluorescence microscopy. This strategy applies a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) force to accelerate the removal of lipids from tissue samples at least as large as an intact adult mouse brain.

Patient outcomes after electrical injury - a retrospective study.

Introduction: People exposed to electrical injuries are often admitted to hospital for observation. Current evidence suggests that patients who have a normal ECG on admission after a low-voltage injury, with no loss of consciousness or initial cardiac arrest may be discharged home after a short observation time. Currently, there are no established standards for the duration of monitoring after electric shock, but 24 h of observation is the most commonly adopted approach.

Seventy patients treated for COVID-19 by Østfold Hospital Trust.

Background: There is a need for further data on the COVID-19 situation in Norway. Our aim was to describe the patients admitted to our local hospital with COVID-19 in the spring of 2020.

Material And Method: Data were retrieved retrospectively from our local quality register for COVID-19 and include all patients admitted to Østfold Hospital in the period 10 March 2020-31 May 2020.

Venous thromboembolism and coronavirus disease 2019 in an ambulatory care setting - A report of 4 cases.

• We report four non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients who developed VTE in their course of illness. • None of our patients had major risk factors for developing VTE. • A secondary respiratory worsening of COVID-19 should prompt investigation for the occurrence of VTE.

Synaptic Connections of Aromatase Circuits in the Medial Amygdala Are Sex Specific.

The brains of male and female mice are shaped by genetics and hormones during development. The enzyme aromatase helps establish sex differences in social behaviors and in the neural circuits that produce these behaviors. The medial amygdala of mice contains a large population of aromatase neurons and is a critical hub in the social behavior network.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy effects on pulmonary functions: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Oxygen toxicity is one potential side effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). Previous small studies showed mild reductions in pulmonary functions reflecting reductions in small airway conductance after repetitive hyperbaric oxygen sessions. However, there are no updated data with well performed pulmonary tests that address the pulmonary effect of the currently used HBOT protocols.

Training Needs of Peer and Non-Peer Transition Service Providers: Results of a National Survey.

Participatory action research processes guided a national online survey of service providers working with transition age youth with mental health challenges. The survey investigated transition service providers' ratings of the importance of competencies and skills, self-assessed need for training in these competencies and skills, their preferred training modalities, and obstacles to engaging in training. The 254 participants identified trauma-informed care, understanding youth culture, promoting natural supports, and using culturally responsive practices as most important training needs.

Suprachiasmatic function in a circadian period mutant: Duper alters light-induced activation of vasoactive intestinal peptide cells and PERIOD1 immunostaining.

Mammalian circadian rhythms are entrained by photic stimuli that are relayed by retinal projections to the core of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Neuronal activation, as demonstrated by expression of the immediate early gene c-fos, leads to transcription of the core clock gene per1. The duper mutation in hamsters shortens circadian period and amplifies light-induced phase shifts.

Correction: Hyperbaric oxygen can induce angiogenesis and recover erectile function.

This has been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

Hyperbaric oxygen can induce angiogenesis and recover erectile function.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is caused by microvascular or macrovascular insufficiency in the majority of patients. Recent studies have shown that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can induce angiogenesis in different body organs. The effect of HBOT on the non-surgery-related ED has not been investigated yet.

Oxytocin signaling in the medial amygdala is required for sex discrimination of social cues.

The neural control of social behaviors in rodents requires the encoding of pheromonal cues by the vomeronasal system. Here we show that the typical preference of male mice for females is eliminated in mutants lacking oxytocin, a neuropeptide modulating social behaviors in many species. Ablation of the oxytocin receptor in aromatase-expressing neurons of the medial amygdala (MeA) fully recapitulates the elimination of female preference in males.

Exciting experiences make neurons less excitable.

Neurons in the brain of a female mouse that respond to the scent of a given male become suppressed after mating.

Untangling the Neural Circuits for Sexual Behavior.

In this issue, Ishii and colleagues identify an anatomically and genetically defined circuit by which a single compound, exocrine gland-secreted peptide-1 (ESP1), enhances reproductive behavior in female mice.

Reversibility of retinal ischemia due to central retinal artery occlusion by hyperbaric oxygen.

Purpose: Ischemic retinal damage can be reversed by hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) as long as irreversible infarction damage has not developed. However, the time window till irreversible damage develops is still unknown. The study aim was to evaluate the effect of HBOT and determine possible markers for irreversible retinal damage.

Exogenous lysophospholipids with large head groups perturb clathrin-mediated endocytosis.

In this study, we have investigated how clathrin-dependent endocytosis is affected by exogenously added lysophospholipids (LPLs). Addition of LPLs with large head groups strongly inhibits transferrin (Tf) endocytosis in various cell lines, while LPLs with small head groups do not. Electron and total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (EM and TIRF) reveal that treatment with lysophosphatidylinositol (LPI) with the fatty acyl group C18:0 leads to reduced numbers of invaginated clathrin-coated pits (CCPs) at the plasma membrane, fewer endocytic events per membrane area and increased lifetime of CCPs.

Optimized Protocol for Imaging Cleared Neural Tissues Using Light Microscopy.

Understanding physical and chemical processes at an organismal scale is a fundamental goal in biology. While science is adept at explaining biological phenomena at both molecular and cellular levels, understanding how these processes translate to organismal functions remains a challenging problem. This issue is particularly significant for the nervous system where cell signaling and synaptic activities function in the context of broad neural networks.

Addition of lysophospholipids with large head groups to cells inhibits Shiga toxin binding.

Shiga toxin (Stx), an AB5 toxin, binds specifically to the neutral glycosphingolipid Gb3 at the cell surface before being transported into cells. We here demonstrate that addition of conical lysophospholipids (LPLs) with large head groups inhibit Stx binding to cells whereas LPLs with small head groups do not. Lysophosphatidylinositol (LPI 18:0), the most efficient LPL with the largest head group, was selected for in-depth investigations to study how the binding of Stx is regulated.

Determining the Turnover of Glycosphingolipid Species by Stable-Isotope Tracer Lipidomics.

In this study, we used water-soluble stable mass isotope precursors to measure the turnover of endogenous ceramide (Cer) and glycosphingolipids (GSLs) in HEp-2 cells. Cells incubated in the presence of [C-U]glucose showed rapid incorporation of hexose residues with an increased mass of 6Da into GSLs. Different turnover rates of GSL classes and their molecular species were observed.

The safety of hyperbaric oxygen treatment--retrospective analysis in 2,334 patients.

Introduction: Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) therapy is applied in a growing number of cases for patients with different comorbidities and is considered a generally safe therapy. The main side effects related to HBO2 therapy are barotrauma, central nervous system- and pulmonary oxygen toxicity, claustrophobia, anxiety and visual disturbances. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of side effects associated with HBO2 therapy and risk factors in a large cohort of patients treated for different indications.