Revealing hidden talents: The development, use, and benefit of VESPARCH.

Background: School attainment tests and Cognitive Abilities Tests are used in the United Kingdom to set targets for educational outcome. Whilst these are good predictors, they depend not only on basic ability but also on learnt knowledge and skills, such as reading.

Method And Aims: VESPARCH is an online group test of verbal and spatial reasoning, which we propose gives a measure that more closely approximates to basic ability - fluid intelligence.

Teaching neuroanatomy using computer-aided learning: What makes for successful outcomes?

Computer-aided learning (CAL) is an integral part of many medical courses. The neuroscience course at Oxford University for medical students includes CAL course of neuroanatomy. CAL is particularly suited to this since neuroanatomy requires much detailed three-dimensional visualization, which can be presented on screen.

Genetic and environmental influences on analogical and categorical verbal and spatial reasoning in 12-year old twins.

Research on the genetic influences on different abstract reasoning skills (fluid intelligence) and their interrelation (especially in childhood/adolescence) has been sparse. A novel cognitive test battery, the Verbal and Spatial Reasoning test for Children (VESPARCH 1), consisting of four matched (in terms of test-procedure and design) subtests assessing verbal [analogical (VA) and categorical (VC)] and spatial [analogical (SA) and categorical (SC)] reasoning, was administered to a population based sample of 12-year old twins (169 pairs). Multivariate analysis was conducted to explore the genetic relationship between the four cognitive sub-domains.

Verbal and spatial analogical reasoning in deaf and hearing children: the role of grammar and vocabulary.

The extent to which cognitive development and abilities are dependent on language remains controversial. In this study, the analogical reasoning skills of deaf and hard of hearing children are explored. Two groups of children (deaf and hard of hearing children with either cochlear implants or hearing aids and hearing children) completed tests of verbal and spatial analogical reasoning.

Attitudes to e-learning, learning style and achievement in learning neuroanatomy by medical students.

Background: Two main learning approaches adopted by students have been identified by research: deep (seeking for meaning motivated by interest in the subject matter) and surface (rote-learning motivated by fear of failure). There is evidence that learning approach is influenced by learning environment (e.g.

The association between cord pH at birth and intellectual function in childhood.

Background: Acidemia at birth is very common but little is known about its long-term consequences.

Aim: To determine if pH at birth is related to established tests of intellectual function.

Subjects: School children aged 6-8, for whom obstetric data were available, who had been delivered after labour at term, and had an umbilical cord arterial pH>7.

Do fits really beget fits? The effect of previous epileptic activity on the subsequent induction of the tetanus toxin model of limbic epilepsy in the rat.

The effect of pretreatment with either tetanus toxin (in ventral hippocampus) or kainic acid (into dorsal hippocampus, with or without suppression of seizures by phenobarbital) on the subsequent development of epilepsy in rats injected with tetanus toxin (into ventral hippocampus) has been studied. Both treatments advanced the timing of the development of the subsequent epilepsy by a few days but did not affect the severity of the syndrome. The fits stopped after 3 weeks in all the rats but recurred in 6 of 20 of those given kainic acid, with or without phenobarbital, but not in those given only tetanus toxin.

Gamma-vinyl GABA reduces paired pulse inhibition in the rat dentate gyrus in vivo and in vitro.

Gamma vinyl GABA (GVG), an irreversible GABA transaminase inhibitor, has anticonvulsant effects. GVG increases GABA levels in the brain by blocking its degradation, and is presumed to enhance GABAergic inhibition, however, in some cases it exacerbates seizures. We investigated the effects of GVG in vivo and in vitro on paired pulse inhibition (PPI) recorded in the rat dentate gyrus (DG) evoked by perforant path stimulation.

The 'gender gap' in final examination results at Oxford University.

A lower proportion of women than men obtain first class degrees at British universities (the so-called gender gap). At Oxford University, this difference is not seen in all degree subjects but is found both in some Arts and in some Science subjects. We have used a questionnaire administered under supervision to undergraduates 2 to 3 months before their final examination to assess factors which might be expected to affect examination performance.

The effects of tetanus toxin-induced limbic epilepsy on the exploratory response to novelty in the rat.

Purpose: To investigate the exploratory response to novelty in rats that have recovered from experimental limbic epilepsy.

Methods: Epilepsy was induced in 12 male rats by injecting a minute amount of tetanus toxin into the ventral hippocampus (and buffer vehicle was injected into 12 controls). Eight weeks after the injection, when the animals appeared behaviourally normal (and previous work would indicate that their electroencephalograms also would have returned to normal), they were tested on the playground maze.

Forebrain ischaemia with CA1 cell loss impairs epileptogenesis in the tetanus toxin limbic seizure model.

There is a long-standing controversy as to whether Ammon's horn sclerosis is the result or the cause of severe limbic epilepsy. In the tetanus toxin model of limbic epilepsy, rats have intermittent spontaneous fits over a period of 3-6 weeks after injection of tetanus toxin into the hippocampus. The fits then usually remit and the EEG returns to normal.

The effect of experimental epilepsy induced by injection of tetanus toxin into the amygdala of the rat on eating behaviour and response to novelty.

A minute dose of tetanus toxin injected into the amygdala of rats produced an apparently reversible epileptiform syndrome similar to that previously described after injection of the toxin into the hippocampus. During the active epilepsy the toxin-injected rats occasionally exhibited 'paroxysmal eating' and also sometimes ran round in circles attempting to bite their own tails. When presented with a novel but palatable food (chocolate buttons or harvest crunch) the toxin-injected rats showed less neophobia than their controls--they ate sooner and ate more.

Heparin injection into the adult rat hippocampus induces seizures in the absence of macroscopic abnormalities.

The pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease include neurofibrillary tangles, neuropil threads and neuritic plaques. Neurofibrillary tangles and neuropil threads are comprised of paired helical filaments which are themselves composed of a hyperphosphorylated form of the microtubule-associated protein tau. Neuritic plaques are extracellular deposits of aggregated beta amyloid associated with neurites containing hyperphosphorylated tau.

Discrepantly poor verbal skills in poor readers: a failure of learning or ability?

Poor verbal skills in poor readers have long been reported in the literature. There have been many attempts to understand the interaction between poor verbal ability and poor verbal achievement. The methodological problems are considerable, including the measurement of verbal ability, which has been confounded by previous learning.

A new protocol for the transmission of physiological signals by digital telemetry.

A method has been devised to transmit physiological signals from the brains of rats using a new digital telemetry transmission protocol. The chief advantage of the present system over existing systems is that the circuit only consumes power during the transmission of a brief pulse of information. This results in a very much extended battery life allowing the device to be implanted and recordings to be carried out over a longer period of time.

Chronic focal epilepsy induced by intracerebral tetanus toxin.

A single, minute dose of tetanus toxin injected into mammalian cerebral cortex induces a chronic epileptic syndrome. Seizures lasting up to 3 minutes occur spontaneously and intermittently for several weeks to months. The cellular mechanisms of this model have been studied in detail using brain slices in vitro.

MHC class II expression by microglia in tetanus toxin-induced experimental epilepsy in the rat.

Minute amounts of tetanus toxin injected into the hippocampus of rats results in an epileptiform syndrome. When the toxin injection is made unilaterally or bilaterally into the ventral hippocampus, about one-third of animals with seizures show bilateral neuronal loss in dorsal CA1 of the hippocampus after 1 week. In animals with seizures, microglia in hippocampus are found to be activated.

The effect of Ro 15-4513, an inverse agonist at the benzodiazepine receptor, on the exploratory response to novelty in the playground maze.

The effects of chlordiazepoxide and the inverse agonist, Ro 15-4513, were compared on the exploratory response of rats to a novel object introduced into a familiar environment containing seven familiar objects. While chlordiazepoxide (5 mg/kg) increased the novelty response, Ro 15-4513 reduced the response in a dose-dependent manner (0.5-5.

Effect of experimental limbic epilepsy on the estrus cycle and reproductive success in rats.

Epilepsy was induced in female rats by the injection of tetanus toxin (5 mouse LD50) unilaterally into the ventral hippocampus under anesthesia. During the 2-4 weeks that the rats exhibited intermittent spontaneous convulsions, daily vaginal smear tests showed that their estrous cycle was interrupted. In control rats such interruption only occurred for just a few days after the operation.

The playground maze: a new method for measuring directed exploration in the rat.

A new test, called the 'playground maze', is described. Rat exploratory responses to a single novel object are measured in the context of responses to 7 familiar objects in a familiar environment. Responses are measured as time spent in areas around the objects on a circular open field.

Tetanus toxin-induced seizures cause microglial activation in rat hippocampus.

Tetanus toxin (about 20 mouse LD50) injected into the ventral hippocampus of rats leads to brief seizures occurring intermittently over a period of weeks. Toxin injection leads to the appearance of activated microglia (detected with OX42 immunohistochemistry) in the hippocampus. After 7-14 days, many activated microglia are visible in CA1 area of dorsal hippocampus aligned with the pyramidal cell dendrites and having the morphology characteristic of 'rod cells'.

Tetanus toxin blocks inhibition of granule cells in the dentate gyrus of the urethane-anaesthetized rat.

Field potentials of dentate granule cells in response to stimulation of the perforant path have been studied before and after injecting tetanus toxin (200 mouse LD50; or phosphate-buffered saline in controls) into the hilus of the dentate gyrus of rats under urethane anaesthesia. Within 1 h of toxin injection, the population spike, but not the slope of the excitatory postsynaptic potential, had increased markedly in amplitude and double or treble population spikes appeared in response to perforant path stimulation. Both paired pulse inhibition (15-ms interval between conditioning and test stimuli) and commissural inhibition (10-ms interval) were substantially reduced by the toxin.

Fragment A-B of tetanus toxin does not block neuromuscular transmission in the goldfish.

While 4 micrograms of Fragment A-B of tetanus toxin (which lacks the binding site for nervous tissue) causes flaccid paralysis and death in mice, 26 micrograms has no toxic effect in goldfish. Antibodies to either A-B or to fragment C (which contains the binding site) block the paralytic effect of whole toxin in goldfish. It is concluded that binding is necessary for the neuromuscular blocking action of the toxin in goldfish.

The effect of lanthanum on nerve terminals in goldfish muscle after paralysis with tetanus toxin.

Lanthanum (1.9 mM) has previously been shown to produce a massive increase in the frequency of spontaneous miniature junction potentials at the neuromuscular junctions of goldfish fin muscles. In fins where transmission has been blocked by previous injection of tetanus toxin and where there are few (if any) spontaneous miniature potentials, lanthanum treatment is able to restore a modest frequency.