Publications by authors named "Joshua L Cohen"

Emotional responses arise from limbic circuits including the hippocampus and amygdala. In the human brain, beta-frequency communication between these structures correlates with self-reported mood and anxiety. However, both the mechanism and significance of this biomarker as a readout vs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Despite increasing prevalence and huge personal and societal burden, psychiatric diseases still lack treatments which can control symptoms for a large fraction of patients. Increasing insight into the neurobiology underlying these diseases has demonstrated wide-ranging aberrant activity and functioning in multiple brain circuits and networks. Together with varied presentation and symptoms, this makes one-size-fits-all treatment a challenge.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Animal models provide important tools to study biological and environmental factors that shape brain function and behavior. These models can be effectively leveraged by drawing on concepts from the National Institute of Mental Health Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Initiative, which aims to delineate molecular pathways and neural circuits that underpin behavioral anomalies that transcend psychiatric conditions. To study factors that contribute to individual differences in emotionality and stress reactivity, our laboratory utilized Sprague-Dawley rats that were selectively bred for differences in novelty exploration.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

-Glycans are structurally similar to human milk oligosaccharides, the gold standard prebiotics for infants. Bovine milk -glycans released by endo-β--acetylglucosaminidase (EndoBI-1) were shown to have similar prebiotic selectivity as human milk oligosaccharides, explaining the interest for -glycan recovery for use as prebiotics. Industrial thermal treatments such as high-temperature short-time (HTST) and ultra-high-temperature (UHT) might favor the enzymatic deglycosylation of -glycans through promoting protein denaturation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Effective treatment for pediatric embryonal brain tumors includes dose-intensive multiagent chemotherapy (DIMAC) followed by high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue (HDCSCR). Use of repeated cycles of DIMAC including high-dose methotrexate (HDMTX) without HDCSCR has not been described.

Procedure: We retrospectively reviewed the responses/toxicities in 13 patients (aged 2-155 months, median 22 months) with central nervous system (CNS) tumors (atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors, CNS embryonal tumors not otherwise specified, pineoblastoma, embryonal tumor with multilayered rosettes, and CNS sarcoma) treated over a 12-year period with repeated cycles of HDMTX followed by etoposide, cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, and vincristine.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The hippocampus is essential for learning and memory but also regulates emotional behavior. We previously identified the hippocampus as a major brain region that differs in rats bred for emotionality differences. Rats bred for low novelty response (LRs) exhibit high levels of anxiety- and depression-like behavior compared to high novelty responder (HR) rats.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

As more is learned about glycoproteins' roles in human health and disease, the biological functionalities of -linked glycans are becoming more relevant. Protein deglycosylation allows for the selective release of -glycans and facilitates glycoproteomic investigation into their roles as prebiotics or anti-pathogenic factors. To increase throughput and enzyme reusability, this work evaluated several immobilization methods for an endo-β--acetylglucosaminidase recently discovered from the commensal .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

There is growing evidence of abnormal epigenetic processes playing a role in the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders, although the precise nature of these anomalies remains largely unknown. To study neurobiological (including epigenetic) factors that influence emotionality, we use rats bred for distinct behavioral responses to novelty. Rats bred for low novelty response (low responder [LR]) exhibit high levels of anxiety- and depressive-like behavior compared with high novelty responder (HR) rats.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Oleaginous fungi are efficient tools to convert agricultural waste streams into valuable components. The filamentous fungus was cultivated in whey permeate, a byproduct from cheese production, to produce an oil-rich fungal biomass. Response surface methodology was used to optimize the fermentation conditions such as pH and temperature for increased biomass yield and lipid accumulation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Donor milk is the best option when mother's own milk is unavailable. Heat treatments are applied to ensure donor milk safety. The effects of heat treatments on milk gangliosides-bioactive compounds with beneficial antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and prebiotic roles-have not been studied.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The design of new food products and increased agricultural activities have produced a diversity of waste streams or by-products that contain a high load of organic matter. The underutilization of these streams presents a serious threat to the environment and to the financial viability of the agricultural sector and the food industry. Oleaginous microorganisms, such as yeast and microalgae, have been used to convert the organic matter present in many agricultural waste streams into an oil-rich biomass.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A major challenge in isolating oligosaccharides from dairy streams is to enrich oligosaccharides while simultaneously reducing the content of simple sugars (mono- and disaccharides) that do not possess the desired prebiotic functions. An integrated approach based on optimized conditions that favor maximum lactose hydrolysis, monosaccharide fermentation and oligosaccharides recovery by nanofiltration was developed. Upon complete lactose hydrolysis and fermentation of the monosaccharides by yeast, nanofiltration of fermented whey permeate from colostrum enabled the recovery of 95% of the oligosaccharides at high purity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The purification of caprine milk oligosaccharides (COS) by membrane filtration has been hampered by the low concentration of target COS and high concentration of lactose. In addition, their molecular weight proximity hinders the recovery of a COS fraction with high degree of purity and recovery yield. In this work, the recovery of a high purity COS concentrate was obtained by the optimization of an integrated approach including complete lactose hydrolysis, fermentation of the resulting monosaccharides and nanofiltration.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlabelled: Casein-hydrolysates (NaCaH) are desirable functional ingredients, but their bitterness impedes usage in foods. This study sought to validate a paper-disk approach to help evaluate bitterness in NaCaHs and to develop a food-grade approach to separate a NaCaH into distinct fractions, which could be evaluated by a sensory panel. Membrane filtration generated <0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Milk oligosaccharides are associated with improved health outcomes in infants. Nanofiltration (NF) is used for isolation of bovine milk oligosaccharides (BMO). The study aim was to improve the recovery of BMO from lactose-hydrolyzed colostrum whey permeate.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A greater understanding of neural mechanisms contributing to anxiety is needed in order to develop better therapeutic interventions. This study interrogates a novel molecular mechanism that shapes anxiety-like behaviour, demonstrating that the microRNA miR-101a-3p and its target, enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (Ezh2) in the amygdala, contribute to rodent anxiety-like behaviour. We utilized rats that were selectively bred for differences in emotionality and stress reactivity, showing that high-novelty-responding (HR) rats, which display low trait anxiety, have lower miR-101a-3p levels in the amygdala compared to low-novelty-responding (LR) rats that characteristically display high trait anxiety.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic stress triggers a variety of physical and mental health problems, and how individuals cope with stress influences risk for emotional disorders. To investigate molecular mechanisms underlying distinct stress coping styles, we utilized rats that were selectively-bred for differences in emotionality and stress reactivity. We show that high novelty responding (HR) rats readily bury a shock probe in the defensive burying test, a measure of proactive stress coping behavior, while low novelty responding (LR) rats exhibit enhanced immobility, a measure of reactive coping.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * Current methods for deglycosylation often involve harsh conditions that can damage the glycan structures needed for research.
  • * Recent advancements, particularly an enzyme called EndoBI-1 from Bifidobacterium longum, allow for better isolation of N-glycans without damaging them, providing insight into their biological activities and potential applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Enzymatic hydrolysis of lactose has been shown to improve the efficiency and selectivity of membrane-based separations toward the recovery of bioactive oligosaccharides. Achieving maximum lactose hydrolysis requires intrinsic process optimization for each specific substrate, but the effects of those processing conditions on the target oligosaccharides are not well understood. Response surface methodology was used to investigate the effects of pH (3.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The early-life environment critically influences neurodevelopment and later psychological health. To elucidate neural and environmental elements that shape emotional behavior, we developed a rat model of individual differences in temperament and environmental reactivity. We selectively bred rats for high versus low behavioral response to novelty and found that high-reactive (bred high-responder, bHR) rats displayed greater risk-taking, impulsivity and aggression relative to low-reactive (bred low-responder, bLR) rats, which showed high levels of anxiety/depression-like behavior and certain stress vulnerability.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Responses to the chronic disease epidemic have predominantly been standardized in their approach to date. Barriers to better health outcomes remain, and effective management requires patient-specific data and disease state knowledge be presented in methods that foster clinical decision-making and patient self-management. Mobile technology provides a new platform for data collection and patient-provider communication.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To determine whether a multicomponent nutrition intervention program at a corporate site reduces body weight and improves other cardiovascular risk factors in overweight individuals.

Design: Prospective clinical intervention study.

Subjects/setting: Employees of the Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) (N = 113), aged 21 to 65 years, with a body mass index > or =25 kg/m(2) and/or previous diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF