Examination-related anticipatory levels of dehydroepiandrosterone and cortisol predict positive affect, examination marks and support-seeking in college students.

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and cortisol release appear to have contrasting effects on stress perception during stressful tasks. This study aimed to investigate anticipatory examination stress in college students by considering DHEA, cortisol, psycho-emotional aspects and examination performance. Seventy-six students (66 females, 10 males; age range 18-25 years) provided saliva samples and completed questionnaires in two sessions 48 hours apart.

How people with brain injury run and evaluate a SLAM-based smartphone augmented reality application to assess object-location memory.

Augmented reality (AR) technology allows virtual objects to be superimposed on the real-world environment, offering significant potential for improving cognitive assessments and rehabilitation processes in the field of visuospatial learning. This study examines how patients with acquired brain injury (ABI) evaluate the functions and usability of a SLAM-based smartphone AR app to assess object-location skills. Ten ABI patients performed a task for the spatial recall of four objects using an AR app.

Female students' personality and stress response to an academic examination.

Background: Women are vulnerable to stress-related disorders. Examinations are a source of stress, triggering emotional, cognitive, and hormonal responses. We examined women's psychological and hormonal stress responses and academic performance according to personality during a real-life examination.

Anosmia in COVID-19 could be associated with long-term deficits in the consolidation of procedural and verbal declarative memories.

Background And Purpose: Long-COVID describes the long-term effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In long-COVID patients, neuropsychological alterations are frequently reported symptoms. Research points to medial temporal lobe dysfunction and its association with anosmia in long-COVID patients.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy in the neuropsychological assessment of spatial memory: A systematic review.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive optical imaging technique that employs near-infrared light to measure cortical brain oxygenation. The use of fNIRS has increased exponentially in recent years. Spatial memory is defined as the ability to learn and use spatial information.

Evaluation of an Augmented Reality Application for Learning Neuroanatomy in Psychology.

Neuroanatomy is difficult for psychology students because of spatial visualization and the relationship among brain structures. Some technologies have been implemented to facilitate the learning of anatomy using three-dimensional (3D) visualization of anatomy contents. Augmented reality (AR) is a promising technology in this field.

Methylene blue and photobiomodulation recover cognitive impairment in hepatic encephalopathy through different effects on cytochrome c-oxidase.

Mitochondrial dysfunction plays a central role in hepatic encephalopathy (HE), due to changes in enzyme cytochrome c-oxidase (CCO), causing a decline in brain metabolism. We used an HE animal model and applied intracranial administration of methylene blue (MB) and transcranial photobiomodulation (PBM), both targeting CCO, to determine their differential effects on recovering cognition. Five groups of rats were used: sham-operated group + saline (SHAM + SAL, n = 6), hepatic encephalopathy + SAL (HE + SAL, n = 7), SHAM + methylene blue (SHAM + MB, n = 7), HE + MB (n = 7), HE + PBM (n = 7).

SLAM-based augmented reality for the assessment of short-term spatial memory. A comparative study of visual versus tactile stimuli.

The assessment of human spatial short-term memory has mainly been performed using visual stimuli and less frequently using auditory stimuli. This paper presents a framework for the development of SLAM-based Augmented Reality applications for the assessment of spatial memory. An AR mobile application was developed for this type of assessment involving visual and tactile stimuli by using our framework.

Wayfinding Strategy and Gender - Testing the Mediating Effects of Wayfinding Experience, Personality and Emotions.

Background: Individual differences have been seen to play a key role in spatial orientation. Gender implications have been previously described but little is known about how other variables, such as wayfinding anxiety, emotional difficulties and wayfinding experience can mediate this relationship.

Methods: A group of 269 participants were involved in this study and completed questionnaires on their self-reported allocentric orientation strategy, wayfinding experience and satisfaction with the ability for wayfinding.

Memory for Object Location in Augmented Reality: The Role of Gender and the Relationship Among Spatial and Anxiety Outcomes.

The potential of augmented reality (AR) technology for the study of spatial memory and orientation is a new research field. AR defines systems that attempt to enhance the user's experience with the physical world. In our app, we enhance the sense of sight by adding interactive 3D elements to the real environment.

BDNF over-expression induces striatal serotonin fiber sprouting and increases the susceptibility to l-DOPA-induced dyskinesia in 6-OHDA-lesioned rats.

In addition to its role in neuronal survival, the brain neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been shown to influence serotonin transmission and synaptic plasticity, events strongly implicated in the appearance of l-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID), a motor complication occurring in parkinsonian patients after long-term treatment with the dopamine precursor. In order to evaluate a possible influence of BDNF in the appearance of LID, 6-OHDA-lesioned rats received a striatal injection of different concentrations of an adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector over-expressing either BDNF or GFP, as control vector. Eight weeks later, animals started to receive a daily treatment with l-DOPA (4-6mg/kg plus benserazide 4-6mg/kg, s.

The 5-alpha reductase inhibitor finasteride reduces dyskinesia in a rat model of Parkinson's disease.

Levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) is a disabling motor complication occurring in Parkinson's disease patients (PD) after long-term l-DOPA treatment. Although its etiology remains unclear, there is accumulating evidence that LID relies on an excessive dopamine receptor transmission, particularly at the downstream signaling of D receptors. We previously reported that the pharmacological blockade of 5-alpha reductase (5AR), the rate limiting enzyme in neurosteroids synthesis, rescued a number of behavioral aberrations induced by D receptor-selective and non-selective agonists, without inducing extrapyramidal symptoms.

Foetal Cell Transplantation for Parkinson's Disease: Focus on Graft-Induced Dyskinesia.

Transplantation of dopamine- (DA-) rich foetal ventral mesencephalic cells emerged as a promising therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD), as it allowed significant improvement of motor symptoms in several PD patients in open-label studies. However, double-blind clinical trials have been largely disappointing. The general agreement in the field is that the lack of standardization of tissue collection and preparation, together with the absence of postsurgical immunosuppression, played a key role in the failure of these studies.

Antidyskinetic effect of A2A and 5HT1A/1B receptor ligands in two animal models of Parkinson's disease.

Background: The serotonin 5-HT1A/1B receptor agonist eltoprazine suppressed dyskinetic-like behavior in animal models of Parkinson's disease (PD) but simultaneously reduced levodopa (l-dopa)-induced motility. Moreover, adenosine A2A receptor antagonists, such as preladenant, significantly increased l-dopa efficacy in PD without exacerbating dyskinetic-like behavior.

Objectives: We evaluated whether a combination of eltoprazine and preladenant may prevent or suppress l-dopa-induced dyskinesia, without impairing l-dopa's efficacy in relieving motor signs, in 2 PD models: unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rats and 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-treated monkeys.

Modulation of serotonergic transmission by eltoprazine in L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia: Behavioral, molecular, and synaptic mechanisms.

L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA)-induced dyskinesias (LIDs) represent the main side effect of Parkinson's Disease (PD) therapy. Among the various pharmacological targets for novel therapeutic approaches, the serotonergic system represents a promising one. In experimental models of PD and in PD patients the development of abnormal involuntary movements (AIMs) and LIDs, respectively, is accompanied by the impairment of bidirectional synaptic plasticity in key structures such as striatum.

Dynamic functional brain networks involved in simple visual discrimination learning.

Visual discrimination tasks have been widely used to evaluate many types of learning and memory processes. However, little is known about the brain regions involved at different stages of visual discrimination learning. We used cytochrome c oxidase histochemistry to evaluate changes in regional brain oxidative metabolism during visual discrimination learning in a water-T maze at different time points during training.

Brain network function during shifts in learning strategies in portal hypertension animals.

Patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy exhibit early impairments in their ability to shift attentional set. We employed a task-switching protocol to evaluate brain network changes. Strategy switching requires the modification of both the relevant stimulus dimension and the required memory system.

The effects of hyperammonemia in learning and brain metabolic activity.

Ammonia is thought to be central in the development of hepatic encephalopathy. However, the specific relation of ammonia with brain energy depletions and learning has not been studied. Our work attempts to reproduce an increase in rat cerebral ammonia level, study the hyperamonemic animals' performance of two learning tasks, an allocentric (ALLO) and a cue guided (CG) task, and elucidate the contribution of hyperammonemia to the differential energy requirements of the brain limbic system regions involved in these tasks.

The anti-dyskinetic effect of dopamine receptor blockade is enhanced in parkinsonian rats following dopamine neuron transplantation.

Graft-induced dyskinesia (GID) is a serious complication induced by dopamine (DA) cell transplantation in parkinsonian patients. We have recently shown that DA D2 receptor blockade produces striking blockade of dyskinesia induced by amphetamine in grafted 6-OHDA-lesioned rats, a model of GID. This study was designed to investigate whether blockade of DA D1 receptors could produce similar outcome, and to see whether the effect of these treatments in grafted rats was specific for dyskinesia induced by amphetamine, or could also influence L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID).

Effect of lighting conditions on brain network complexity associated with response learning.

Several studies have reported the brain regions involved in response learning. However, there is discrepancy regarding the lighting conditions in the experimental setting (i.e.

5-Hydroxy-tryptophan for the treatment of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia in the rat Parkinson's disease model.

The serotonin system has recently emerged as an important player in the appearance of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID) in experimental models of Parkinson's disease, as it provides an unregulated source of L-DOPA-derived dopamine release in the dopamine-depleted striatum. Accordingly, toxin lesion or pharmacological silencing of serotonin neurons suppressed LID in the rat and monkey models of Parkinson's disease. However, 5-HT1 receptor agonists were also found to partially reduce the therapeutic effect of L-DOPA.

Mapping metabolic brain activity in three models of hepatic encephalopathy.

Cirrhosis is a common disease in Western countries. Liver failure, hyperammonemia, and portal hypertension are the main factors that contribute to human cirrhosis that frequently leads to a neuropsychiatric disorder known as hepatic encephalopathy (HE). In this study, we examined the differential contribution of these leading factors to the oxidative metabolism of diverse brain limbic system regions frequently involved in memory process by histochemical labelling of cytochrome oxidase (COx).

Cortico-limbic-striatal contribution after response and reversal learning: a metabolic mapping study.

Learning of arbitrary stimulus-response associations is an adaptive behavior essential for species survival in an ever-changing environment. Particular subdivisions of the striatum have been shown to be critical for both motor-response learning and reversal learning. However, recent evidence suggests that different cortical and subcortical brain regions may be involved in response learning, a kind of learning more complex than previously thought.