Empowering the future: improving community wellbeing and health literacy through outreach and service-learning.

Institutions training future healthcare professionals in healthcare and community engagement play a crucial role beyond traditional classroom settings. Recognizing their potential to support under-represented groups and minorities, institutions increasingly encourage engagement with schools and community organizations. However, work remains to advance meaningful and impactful educational outreach and service-learning programs.

Differential regulation of nucleus accumbens glutamate and GABA in obesity-prone and obesity-resistant rats.

Obesity is one of the leading health concerns in the United States. Studies from human and rodent models suggest that inherent differences in the function of brain motivation centers, including the nucleus accumbens (NAc), contribute to overeating and thus obesity. For example, there are basal enhancements in the excitability of NAc GABAergic medium spiny neurons (MSN) and reductions in basal expression of AMPA-type glutamate receptors in obesity-prone vs obesity-resistant rats.

A Case-Based Neuroanatomy Laboratory on the Neurobiology of Psychiatric Conditions for Second-Year Medical Students.

Unlabelled: A case-based laboratory event integrating neuroanatomy, neuroscience, and psychiatry was implemented into a pre-clerkship psychiatry-based course for second-year medical students. Learners rotating through lab stations to work on different cases to make interdisciplinary connections among these fields is an innovative way for them to integrate foundational neurology, neuroanatomy, and psychiatry concepts.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.

Lessons learned while creating an effective emergency remote learning environment for students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing many institutions to consider remote, virtual instruction for the safety of employees and students. Based upon the authors' experiences in transforming preclerkship medical science courses to virtual platforms, this paper shares tips for faculty rapidly establishing remote medical science instruction. With planning and support, faculty can create engaging, high-quality educational experiences for learners.

Developing outreach events that impact underrepresented students: Are we doing it right?

Many outreach programs share the common goals of serving underrepresented groups in STEM and improving public attitudes toward science. To meet these goals, scientists must find ways to both reach the appropriate audience and communicate the importance of science in meaningful and accessible ways. This requires careful consideration of the outreach method being used.

An Effective Model for Engaging Faculty and Undergraduate Students in Neuroscience Outreach with Middle Schoolers.

Engaging undergraduate students in science outreach events is critical for improving future communication between scientists and community members. Outreach events are opportunities for faculty and undergraduates to utilize active learning strategies to engage non-scientists in scientific questions and principles. Through careful design of outreach events, undergraduate students can practice science communication skills while reaching populations of the public that remain underserved and underrepresented in scientific fields.

Cocaine and desipramine elicit distinct striatal noradrenergic and behavioral responses in selectively bred obesity-resistant and obesity-prone rats.

Previous studies have demonstrated a role for norepinephrine (NE) in energy regulation and feeding, and basal differences have been observed in hypothalamic NE systems in obesity-prone vs. obesity-resistant rats. Differences in the function of brain reward circuits, including in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), have been shown in obesity-prone vs.

Pre-existing differences and diet-induced alterations in striatal dopamine systems of obesity-prone rats.

Objective: Interactions between pre-existing differences in mesolimbic function and neuroadaptations induced by consumption of fatty, sugary foods are thought to contribute to human obesity. This study examined basal and cocaine-induced changes in striatal neurotransmitter levels without diet manipulation and D2 /D3 dopamine receptor-mediated transmission prior to and after consumption of "junk-foods" in obesity-prone and obesity-resistant rats.

Methods: Microdialysis and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry were used to determine basal and cocaine-induced changes in neurotransmitter levels in real time with cocaine-induced locomotor activity.

Pre-existing differences in motivation for food and sensitivity to cocaine-induced locomotion in obesity-prone rats.

Obesity is a significant problem in the United States, with roughly one third of adults having a body mass index (BMI) over thirty. Recent evidence from human studies suggests that pre-existing differences in the function of mesolimbic circuits that mediate motivational processes may promote obesity and hamper weight loss. However, few preclinical studies have examined pre-existing neurobehavioral differences related to the function of mesolimbic systems in models of individual susceptibility to obesity.

A role for the p75 neurotrophin receptor in axonal degeneration and apoptosis induced by oxidative stress.

The p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75(NTR)) mediates the death of specific populations of neurons during the development of the nervous system or after cellular injury. The receptor has also been implicated as a contributor to neurodegeneration caused by numerous pathological conditions. Because many of these conditions are associated with increases in reactive oxygen species, we investigated whether p75(NTR) has a role in neurodegeneration in response to oxidative stress.

Dopamine denervation of the prefrontal cortex increases expression of the astrocytic glutamate transporter GLT-1.

Both dopamine and glutamate are critically involved in cognitive processes such as working memory. Astrocytes, which express dopamine receptors, are essential elements in the termination of glutamatergic signaling: the astrocytic glutamate transporter GLT-1 is responsible for > 90% of cortical glutamate uptake. The effect of dopamine depletion on glutamate transporters in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) remains unknown.

A role for MGA2, but not SPT23, in activation of transcription of ERG1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The SaccharomycescerevisiaeMGA2 gene encodes an important regulator of unsaturated fatty acid production, by controlling transcription and mRNA stability of OLE1, the gene encoding the Δ9 fatty acid desaturase. Lipid composition studies indicated that the mga2Δ strain contains elevated relative amounts of squalene when compared to wild-type cells. The deletion of the MGA2 homologue SPT23 did not impact squalene levels.