Publications by authors named "S Kohtala"

Article Synopsis
  • Recent studies show that nitrous oxide (NO) can quickly alleviate symptoms in patients with treatment-resistant depression by acting as an NMDA receptor antagonist.* -
  • The research suggests that NO induces hypothermia and decreased energy use, which are connected to the activation of TrkB neurotrophin receptors that play a role in brain flexibility and health.* -
  • Findings demonstrate that NO exposure results in reduced locomotion and altered brain activity, with temperature changes affecting behaviors linked to depression, indicating a relationship between thermoregulation and antidepressant effects.*
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Many mechanisms have been proposed to explain acute antidepressant drug-induced activation of TrkB neurotrophin receptors, but several questions remain. In a series of pharmacological experiments, we observed that TrkB activation induced by antidepressants and several other drugs correlated with sedation, and most importantly, coinciding hypothermia. Untargeted metabolomics of pharmacologically dissimilar TrkB activating treatments revealed effects on shared bioenergetic targets involved in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) breakdown and synthesis, demonstrating a common perturbation in metabolic activity.

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The dissociative anesthetic ketamine regulates cortical activity in a dose-dependent manner. Subanesthetic-dose ketamine has paradoxical excitatory effects which is proposed to facilitate brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) (a ligand of tropomyosin receptor kinase B, TrkB) signaling, and activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2). Previous data suggests that ketamine, at sub-micromolar concentrations, induces glutamatergic activity, BDNF release, and activation of ERK1/2 also on primary cortical neurons.

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A balanced skeletal remodeling process is paramount to staying healthy. The remodeling process can be studied by analyzing osteoclasts differentiated from mononuclear cells isolated from peripheral blood or from buffy coats. Osteoclasts are highly specialized, multinucleated cells that break down bone tissue.

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This paper presents a new approach for evaluating and controlling expressive humanoid robotic faces using open-source computer vision and machine learning methods. Existing research in Human-Robot Interaction lacks flexible and simple tools that are scalable for evaluating and controlling various robotic faces; thus, our goal is to demonstrate the use of readily available AI-based solutions to support the process. We use a newly developed humanoid robot prototype intended for medical training applications as a case example.

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