Obesity-associated memory impairment and neuroinflammation precede widespread peripheral perturbations in aged rats.

Background: Obesity and metabolic syndrome are major public health concerns linked to cognitive decline with aging. Prior work from our lab has demonstrated that short-term high fat diet (HFD) rapidly impairs memory function via a neuroinflammatory mechanism. However, the degree to which these rapid inflammatory changes are unique to the brain is unknown.

Leveraging machine learning to study how temperament scores predict pre-term birth status.

Background: Preterm birth (birth at <37 completed weeks gestation) is a significant public heatlh concern worldwide. Important health, and developmental consequences of preterm birth include altered temperament development, with greater dysregulation and distress proneness.

Aims: The present study leveraged advanced quantitative techniques, namely machine learning approaches, to discern the contribution of narrowly defined and broadband temperament dimensions to birth status classification (full-term vs.

Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein reactive Th17 cells drive Janus Kinase 1 dependent transcriptional reprogramming in astrocytes and alter cell surface cytokine receptor profiles during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune demyelinating disease affecting the central nervous system (CNS). T helper (Th) 17 cells are involved in the pathogenesis of MS and its animal model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) by infiltrating the CNS and producing effector molecules that engage resident glial cells. Among these glial cells, astrocytes have a central role in coordinating inflammatory processes by responding to cytokines and chemokines released by Th17 cells.

Impact of handgun ownership and biological sex on startle reactivity to predictable and unpredictable threats.

Extant literature suggests that many individuals obtain firearms because they perceive the world as unsafe and believe that firearm ownership increases physical protection. Converging evidence suggests that firearm owners are vulnerable to uncertainty and experience chronic anticipatory anxiety in daily life; however, biological sex is thought to potentially moderate this association. Studies have yet to examine this hypothesis using objective markers of anticipatory anxiety.

Astrocyte coverage of excitatory synapses correlates to measures of synapse structure and function in primary visual cortex.

Most excitatory synapses in the mammalian brain are contacted by astrocytes, forming the tripartite synapse. This interface is thought to be critical for glutamate turnover and structural or functional dynamics of synapses. While the degree of synaptic contact of astrocytes is known to vary across brain regions and animal species, the implications of this variability remain unknown.

Microglia moonlighting after traumatic brain injury: aging and interferons influence chronic microglia reactivity.

Most of the individuals who experience traumatic brain injury (TBI) develop neuropsychiatric and cognitive complications that negatively affect recovery and health span. Activation of multiple inflammatory pathways persists after TBI, but it is unclear how inflammation contributes to long-term behavioral and cognitive deficits. One outcome of TBI is microglial priming and subsequent hyper-reactivity to secondary stressors, injuries, or immune challenges that further augment complications.

Intolerance of Uncertainty and Cognition in Breast Cancer Survivors: The Mediating Role of Anxiety.

Cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) is one of the most prevalent symptoms that breast cancer survivors experience. While cancer treatments are established contributors to CRCI, inter-individual differences in CRCI are not well understood. Individual differences in sensitivity to uncertainty are potential contributors to CRCI; however, no prior studies have attempted to examine this link in the context of breast cancer.

Behavioral and brain reactivity to uncertain stress prospectively predicts binge drinking in youth.

Prior studies show that individuals with alcohol use disorder exhibit exaggerated behavioral and brain reactivity to uncertain threats (U-threat). It is posited this brain-based factor emerges early in life and contributes to the onset and escalation of alcohol problems. However, no study to date has tested this theory using a longitudinal within-subjects design.

TAM receptor signaling dictates lesion location and clinical phenotype during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), induced by the adoptive transfer of Th17 cells, typically presents with ascending paralysis and inflammatory demyelination of the spinal cord. Brain white matter is relatively spared. Here we show that treatment of Th17 transfer recipients with a highly selective inhibitor to the TAM family of tyrosine kinase receptors results in ataxia associated with a shift of the inflammatory infiltrate to the hindbrain parenchyma.

Prepubertal ovariectomy confers resilience to stress-induced anxiety in adult female mice.

The increased vulnerability to stress-induced neuropsychiatric disorders in women, including anxiety disorders, does not emerge until pubertal onset, suggesting a role for ovarian hormones in organizing sex-specific vulnerability to anxiety. Parvalbumin (PV) interneurons in the prefrontal cortex are a potential target for these ovarian hormones. PV+ interneurons undergo maturation during the adolescent period and have been shown to be sensitive to stress and to mediate stress-induced anxiety in female mice.

Acute orexin antagonism selectively modulates anticipatory anxiety in humans: implications for addiction and anxiety.

Research indicates that heightened anticipatory anxiety underlies several forms of psychopathology. Anticipatory anxiety can be reliably and objectively measured in the laboratory using the No-Predictable-Unpredictable (NPU) threat paradigm. The NPU paradigm is an ideal research tool for the NIH 'Fast-Fail' approach of screening promising compounds and testing human target engagement.

Sleep fragmentation engages stress-responsive circuitry, enhances inflammation and compromises hippocampal function following traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) impairs the ability to restore homeostasis in response to stress, indicating hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis dysfunction. Many stressors result in sleep disturbances, thus mechanical sleep fragmentation (SF) provides a physiologically relevant approach to study the effects of stress after injury. We hypothesize SF stress engages the dysregulated HPA-axis after TBI to exacerbate post-injury neuroinflammation and compromise recovery.

Neural and self-report indices of cognitive reappraisal moderate the association between sensitivity to uncertain threat and problem alcohol use.

Exaggerated reactivity to threats that are uncertain (U-threat) is a risk factor for problem alcohol use. Data suggest that exaggerated reactivity to U-threat is associated with chronic anxiety and motivation for coping-oriented drinking. Not all individuals with high U-threat reactivity engage in excessive drinking and theory and research suggest that individual differences in emotion regulation, particularly frequency and effectiveness of cognitive reappraisal, are potential moderators of this well-established link.

Mammary tumors alter the fecal bacteriome and permit enteric bacterial translocation.

Background: Cancer patients experience gastrointestinal and behavioral symptoms, and are at increased risk of systemic infection and inflammation. These conditions are a major source of morbidity and decreased quality of life prior to cancer treatment, but poorly defined etiologies impede successful treatment. The gastrointestinal microbiota shape inflammation, influence cancer progression and treatment, and colonize tumors.

Community coalition and key stakeholder perceptions of the community opioid epidemic before an intensive community-level intervention.

Introduction: Opioid overdoses are a major public health emergency in the United States. Despite effective treatments that can save lives, access to and utilization of such treatments are limited. Community context plays an important role in addressing treatment barriers and increasing access.

Co-establishing an infrastructure for routine data collection to address disparities in infant mortality: planning and implementation.

Background: Efforts to address infant mortality disparities in Ohio have historically been adversely affected by the lack of consistent data collection and infrastructure across the community-based organizations performing front-line work with expectant mothers, and there is no established template for implementing such systems in the context of diverse technological capacities and varying data collection magnitude among participating organizations.

Methods: Taking into account both the needs and limitations of participating community-based organizations, we created a data collection infrastructure that was refined by feedback from sponsors and the organizations to serve as both a solution to their existing needs and a template for future efforts in other settings.

Results: By standardizing the collected data elements across participating organizations, integration on a scale large enough to detect changes in a rare outcome such as infant mortality was made possible.