Nucleus Accumbens D Receptor-Expressing Spiny Projection Neurons Control Food Motivation and Obesity.

Background: Obesity is a chronic relapsing disorder that is caused by an excess of caloric intake relative to energy expenditure. There is growing recognition that food motivation is altered in people with obesity. However, it remains unclear how brain circuits that control food motivation are altered in obese animals.

Feasibility and Impact of Physical Activity on Compassion Fatigue and Burnout Among Ambulatory Care Oncology Nurses.

Background: Compassion fatigue (CF) and burnout are well described phenomena among oncology nurses. Physical activity (PA) has been shown to reduce CF and burnout.

Objectives: The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the feasibility of promoting PA and assessing its impact on CF and burnout among RNs across three ambulatory care cancer clinics.

Pain induces adaptations in ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons to drive anhedonia-like behavior.

The persistence of negative affect in pain leads to co-morbid symptoms such as anhedonia and depression-major health issues in the United States. The neuronal circuitry and contribution of specific cellular populations underlying these behavioral adaptations remains unknown. A common characteristic of negative affect is a decrease in motivation to initiate and complete goal-directed behavior, known as anhedonia.

Corticothalamic gating of population auditory thalamocortical transmission in mouse.

The mechanisms that govern thalamocortical transmission are poorly understood. Recent data have shown that sensory stimuli elicit activity in ensembles of cortical neurons that recapitulate stereotyped spontaneous activity patterns. Here, we elucidate a possible mechanism by which gating of patterned population cortical activity occurs.

Electrophysiological signatures of acute systemic lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation: potential implications for delirium science.

Background: Novel preventive therapies are needed for postoperative delirium, which especially affects older patients. A mouse model is presented that captures inflammation-associated cortical slow wave activity (SWA) observed in patients, allowing exploration of the mechanistic role of prostaglandin-adenosine signalling.

Methods: EEG and cortical cytokine measurements (interleukin 6, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1) were obtained from adult and aged mice.

Optogenetic Activation of Afferent Pathways in Brain Slices and Modulation of Responses by Volatile Anesthetics.

Anesthetics influence consciousness in part via their actions on thalamocortical circuits. However, the extent to which volatile anesthetics affect distinct cellular and network components of these circuits remains unclear. Ex vivo brain slices provide a means by which investigators may probe discrete components of complex networks and disentangle potential mechanisms underlying the effects of volatile anesthetics on evoked responses.

Excessive Adiposity and Metabolic Dysfunction Relate to Reduced Natriuretic Peptide During RAAS Activation in HIV.

Purpose: Natriuretic peptides (NPs) negatively feedback on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) and play a critical role in preserving cardiac structure and maintaining metabolic homeostasis. Well-treated HIV-infected individuals are at risk for fat redistribution and demonstrate evidence of RAAS dysregulation, which relates to metabolic dysfunction. We investigated circulating NPs in relation to RAAS physiology and metrics of body composition in HIV.

PV+ Cells Enhance Temporal Population Codes but not Stimulus-Related Timing in Auditory Cortex.

Spatio-temporal cortical activity patterns relative to both peripheral input and local network activity carry information about stimulus identity and context. GABAergic interneurons are reported to regulate spiking at millisecond precision in response to sensory stimulation and during gamma oscillations; their role in regulating spike timing during induced network bursts is unclear. We investigated this issue in murine auditory thalamo-cortical (TC) brain slices, in which TC afferents induced network bursts similar to previous reports in vivo.

Relationship between serum IGF-1 and skeletal muscle IGF-1 mRNA expression to phosphocreatine recovery after exercise in obese men with reduced GH.

Context: GH and IGF-1 are believed to be physiological regulators of skeletal muscle mitochondria.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between GH/IGF-1 and skeletal muscle mitochondria in obese subjects with reduced GH secretion in more detail.

Design: Fifteen abdominally obese men with reduced GH secretion were treated for 12 weeks with recombinant human GH.

Discordance of IGF-1 and GH stimulation testing for altered GH secretion in obesity.

Objective: To investigate the concordance/discordance of IGF-1 and peak stimulated GH in identifying subjects with reduced GH secretion and to determine the physiological significance of any discordance in obese subjects.

Design, Patients And Methods: 95 obese and 43 normal weight men and women underwent measurement of IGF-1 and GH stimulation testing with GH releasing hormone (GHRH)-arginine. Reduced IGF-1 and GH secretion were defined using pre-determined cut-points.

The effects of tesamorelin on phosphocreatine recovery in obese subjects with reduced GH.

Context: Few studies have assessed the relationship between GH and mitochondrial function.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effects of improving IGF-I using a GHRH analog, tesamorelin, on mitochondrial function assessed by phosphocreatine (PCr) recovery using (31)P magnetic resonance spectroscopy in obese adults with reduced GH.

Design: A total of 39 obese men and women with reduced GH secretion as determined by GHRH-arginine stimulation tests underwent magnetic resonance spectroscopy as part of a 12-month, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial comparing tesamorelin vs placebo.

Airway somatosensory deficits and dysphagia in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) often experience substantial impairment of swallow control, and are typically unaware of the presence or severity of their impairments suggesting that these individuals may also experience airway sensory deficits. However, the degree to which impaired swallow function in PD may relate to airway sensory deficits has yet to be formally tested.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether airway sensory function is associated with swallow impairment in PD.