Genetic disruption of ankyrin-G in adult mouse forebrain causes cortical synapse alteration and behavior reminiscent of bipolar disorder.

Genome-wide association studies have implicated the locus in bipolar disorder, a major human psychotic illness. encodes ankyrin-G, which organizes the neuronal axon initial segment (AIS). We generated a mouse model with conditional disruption of in pyramidal neurons of the adult forebrain (Ank-G cKO).

Finding Home: A Qualitative Approach to Understanding Adolescent Mothers' Housing Instability.

Many low-income Latina adolescent mothers face instability in their housing circumstances, which has implications for their long-term prospects and that of their children. This study used longitudinal, ethnographic data from Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study to explore experiences of low-income, Latina adolescent mothers (N = 15) with unstable housing who primarily rely on their families or the families of their significant others for housing support. Results of analysis employing grounded theory and narrative approaches suggested two types of instability: "Horizontal moves" between family homes and "vertical moves" between family homes and independent living.

Does poor health predict moving, move quality, and desire to move?: A study examining neighborhood selection in US adolescents and adults.

To date, research has rarely considered the role of health in shaping characteristics of the neighborhood, including mobility patterns. We explored whether individual health status shapes and constrains where individuals live. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data, we examined whether 16 health indicators predicted moving, move quality, and desire to move.

Long-term modification of cortical synapses improves sensory perception.

Synapses and receptive fields of the cerebral cortex are plastic. However, changes to specific inputs must be coordinated within neural networks to ensure that excitability and feature selectivity are appropriately configured for perception of the sensory environment. We induced long-lasting enhancements and decrements to excitatory synaptic strength in rat primary auditory cortex by pairing acoustic stimuli with activation of the nucleus basalis neuromodulatory system.