Central dopamine receptors: Radiotracers unveiling the Role of dopaminergic tone in obesity.

Brain dopamine type 2 and 3 receptors (D2/3R) have been postulated to play a role in obesity. However, results from molecular neuroimaging studies exploring these receptors in obesity are not consensual. These inconsistencies may be due to the distinct characteristics of radiotracers that confound the interpretation of D2/3R assessment.

Rapid effects of tryptamine psychedelics on perceptual distortions and early visual cortical population receptive fields.

N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a psychedelic tryptamine acting on 5-HT2A serotonin receptors, which is associated with intense visual hallucinatory phenomena and perceptual changes such as distortions in visual space. The neural underpinnings of these effects remain unknown. We hypothesised that changes in population receptive field (pRF) properties in the primary visual cortex (V1) might underlie visual perceptual experience.

Portuguese observational cross-sectional clinical imaging study protocol to investigate central dopaminergic mechanisms of successful weight loss through bariatric surgery.

Introduction: Bariatric surgery (BS) is the treatment of choice for refractory obesity. Although weight loss (WL) reduces the prevalence of obesity-related comorbidities, not all patients maintain it. It has been suggested that central mechanisms involving dopamine receptors may play a role in successful WL.

The Effects of Tryptamine Psychedelics in the Brain: A meta-Analysis of Functional and Review of Molecular Imaging Studies.

There is an increasing interest in the neural effects of psychoactive drugs, in particular tryptamine psychedelics, which has been incremented by the proposal that they have potential therapeutic benefits, based on their molecular mimicry of serotonin. It is widely believed that they act mainly through 5HT2A receptors but their effects on neural activation of distinct brain systems are not fully understood. We performed a quantitative meta-analysis of brain imaging studies to investigate the effects of substances within this class (e.

Promotion of children's rights and prevention of child maltreatment.

In medical literature, child maltreatment is considered as a public-health problem or an issue of harm to individuals, but less frequently as a violation of children's human rights. Public-health approaches emphasise monitoring, prevention, cost-effectiveness, and population strategies; protective approaches concentrate on the legal and professional response to cases of maltreatment. Both approaches have been associated with improvement in outcomes for children, yet maltreatment remains a major global problem.