Motor cortex is responsible for motoric dynamics in striatum and the execution of both skilled and unskilled actions.

Striatum and its predominant input, motor cortex, are responsible for the selection and performance of purposive movement, but how their interaction guides these processes is not understood. To establish its neural and behavioral contributions, we bilaterally lesioned motor cortex and recorded striatal activity and reaching performance daily, capturing the lesion's direct ramifications within hours of the intervention. We observed reaching impairment and an absence of striatal motoric activity following lesion of motor cortex, but not parietal cortex control lesions.

Attention to Stimuli of Learned versus Innate Biological Value Relies on Separate Neural Systems.

The neural bases of attention, a set of neural processes that promote behavioral selection, is a subject of intense investigation. In humans, rewarded cues influence attention, even when those cues are irrelevant to the current task. Because the amygdala plays a role in reward processing, and the activity of amygdala neurons has been linked to spatial attention, we reasoned that the amygdala may be essential for attending to rewarded images.

CMU Array: A 3D nanoprinted, fully customizable high-density microelectrode array platform.

Microelectrode arrays provide the means to record electrophysiological activity critical to brain research. Despite its fundamental role, there are no means to customize electrode layouts to address specific experimental or clinical needs. Moreover, current electrodes demonstrate substantial limitations in coverage, fragility, and expense.

Resuscitation with epinephrine worsens cerebral capillary no-reflow after experimental pediatric cardiac arrest: An multiphoton microscopy evaluation.

Epinephrine is the principal resuscitation therapy for pediatric cardiac arrest (CA). Clinical data suggest that although epinephrine increases the rate of resuscitation, it fails to improve neurological outcome, possibly secondary to reductions in microvascular flow. We characterized the effect of epinephrine vs.

Engaging women and men in the gender-synchronised, community-based Mbereko+Men intervention to improve maternal mental health and perinatal care-seeking in Manicaland, Zimbabwe: A cluster-randomised controlled pragmatic trial.

Background: Maternal mental morbidity and low perinatal health service utilisation in resource-constrained settings contribute substantially to the global burden of poor maternal, newborn, and child health. The community-based Mbereko+Men program in rural Zimbabwe engaged women and men in complementary activities to improve men's support for women and babies, coparents' equitable, informed health decision-making, and ultimately, maternal mental health and care-seeking for maternal and newborn health services. The study aimed to test the effectiveness of the Mbereko+Men program on maternal mental health at 0-6 months after childbirth.

A machine learning algorithm for predicting maternal readmission for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Background: Maternal postpartum hypertensive emergency is a major cause of maternal mortality and maternal readmission, yet prediction of women who require readmission is limited with false negatives and false positives.

Objective: This study aimed to develop and validate a predictive algorithm for maternal postpartum readmission from complications of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy using machine learning.

Study Design: We performed a cohort study of pregnant women delivering at a single institution using prospectively collected clinical information available from the electronic medical record at the time of discharge.

Preclinical neurorehabilitation with environmental enrichment confers cognitive and histological benefits in a model of pediatric asphyxial cardiac arrest.

Pediatric asphyxial cardiac arrest (ACA) often leaves children with physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities that affect overall quality of life, yet rehabilitation is neither routinely nor systematically provided. Environmental enrichment (EE) is considered a preclinical model of neurorehabilitation and thus we sought to investigate its efficacy in our established model of pediatric ACA. Male Sprague-Dawley rat pups (post-natal day 16-18) were randomly assigned to ACA (9.

Vitamin D and Stroke: Effects on Incidence, Severity, and Outcome and the Potential Benefits of Supplementation.

Vitamin D serum level has been positively associated with improved cardiovascular health, especially with reduction of stroke risk. This systemic review summarizes and synthesizes findings from studies relevant to the relationship between vitamin D and stroke risk, severity, and outcome; potential mechanisms explaining such a relationship; and outcomes from vitamin D supplementation. The literature shows that vitamin D deficiency is a significant risk factor for ischemic stroke, with sun exposure, sex, age, race, diabetes, and genetics playing a role as well.

Open-Source Joystick Manipulandum for Decision-Making, Reaching, and Motor Control Studies in Mice.

To make full use of optogenetic and molecular techniques in the study of motor control, rich behavioral paradigms for rodents must rise to the same level of sophistication and applicability. We describe the layout, construction, use and analysis of data from joystick-based reaching in a head-fixed mouse. The step-by-step guide is designed for both experienced rodent motor labs and new groups looking to enter into this research space.

Chronic treatment with galantamine rescues reversal learning in an attentional set-shifting test after experimental brain trauma.

Approximately 10 million new cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are reported each year worldwide with many of these injuries resulting in higher order cognitive impairments. Galantamine (GAL), an acetylcholine esterase inhibitor (AChEI) and positive allosteric modulator of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), has been reported to ameliorate cognitive deficits after clinical TBI. Previously, we demonstrated that controlled cortical impact (CCI) injury to rats resulted in significant executive function impairments as measured by the attentional set-shifting test (AST), a complex cognitive task analogous to the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST).

Gustatory responses in macaque monkeys revealed with fMRI: Comments on taste, taste preference, and internal state.

Studies of the neural mechanisms underlying value-based decision making typically employ food or fluid rewards to motivate subjects to perform cognitive tasks. Rewards are often treated as interchangeable, but it is well known that the specific tastes of foods and fluids and the values associated with their taste sensations influence choices and contribute to overall levels of food consumption. Accordingly, we characterized the gustatory system in three macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and examined whether gustatory responses were modulated by preferences and hydration status.

Preclinical Models of Traumatic Brain Injury: Emerging Role of Glutamate in the Pathophysiology of Depression.

More than 10 million people worldwide incur a traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year, with two million cases occurring in the United States. TBI survivors exhibit long-lasting cognitive and affective sequelae that are associated with reduced quality of life and work productivity, as well as mental and emotional disturbances. While TBI-related disabilities often manifest physically and conspicuously, TBI has been linked with a "silent epidemic" of psychological disorders, including major depressive disorder (MDD).

Top-Down-Mediated Facilitation in the Visual Cortex Is Gated by Subcortical Neuromodulation.

Response properties in primary sensory cortices are highly dependent on behavioral state. For example, the nucleus basalis of the forebrain plays a critical role in enhancing response properties of excitatory neurons in primary visual cortex (V1) during active exploration and learning. Given the strong reciprocal connections between hierarchically arranged cortical regions, how are increases in sensory response gain constrained to prevent runaway excitation? To explore this, we used in vivo two-photon guided cell-attached recording in conjunction with spatially restricted optogenetic photo-inhibition of higher-order visual cortex in mice.