ABHD6 loss-of-function in mesoaccumbens postsynaptic but not presynaptic neurons prevents diet-induced obesity in male mice.

α/β-hydrolase domain 6 (ABHD6) is a lipase linked to physiological functions affecting energy metabolism. Brain ABHD6 degrades 2-arachidonoylglycerol and thereby modifies cannabinoid receptor signalling. However, its functional role within mesoaccumbens circuitry critical for motivated behaviour and considerably modulated by endocannabinoids was unknown.

Early-life gut inflammation drives sex-dependent shifts in the microbiome-endocrine-brain axis.

Despite recent advances in understanding the connection between the gut microbiota and the adult brain, significant knowledge gaps remain regarding how gut inflammation affects brain development. We hypothesized that gut inflammation during early life would negatively affect neurodevelopment by disrupting microbiota communication to the brain. We therefore developed a novel pediatric chemical model of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), an incurable condition affecting millions of people worldwide.

Audit and Feedback Interventions for Antibiotic Prescribing in Primary Care: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: This systematic review evaluates the effect of audit and feedback (A&F) interventions targeting antibiotic prescribing in primary care and examines factors that may explain the variation in effectiveness.

Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving A&F interventions targeting antibiotic prescribing in primary care were included in the systematic review. Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and ClinicalTrials.

Phase 2A Proof-of-Concept Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Nicotinamide in Early Alzheimer Disease.

Background And Objectives: Nicotinamide is a coenzyme involved in cellular oxidation-reduction reactions that can inhibit Class III histone deacetylases (HDACs) or sirtuins. HDAC inhibition can affect numerous therapeutic pathways, including tau phosphorylation. We tested the hypothesis that nicotinamide treatment could reduce tau phosphorylation in early Alzheimer disease (AD).

A community-based task shifting program in 25 remote indigenous communities in Nunavut, Canada.

Task shifting can improve access, availability, efficiency, and quality of health services in under resourced settings. Task shifting can occur formally or informally within health professions, between health professions, between support staff and health professions, or between lay community members and health professionals. There are currently thousands of Indigenous peoples in Canada's high Arctic, living in remote communities, north of the 60 parallel with limited access to basic medical services.

The relationship of bispectral index values to conscious state: an analysis of two volunteer cohort studies.

Background: The ability of current depth-of-anaesthesia monitors to differentiate subtle changes in the conscious state has not been well characterised. We examine the variability in bispectral index (BIS) scores associated with disconnected conscious and unconscious states as confirmed by a novel serial awakening paradigm.

Methods: Seventy adult participants, given propofol or dexmedetomidine, had a cumulative 1381 electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings across two centres.

How Problem Gambling Shapes Activities of Daily Living: A Narrative Inquiry.

Importance: People experiencing addiction often face difficulties completing their activities of daily living (ADLs). Little research exists on how problem gambling (PG)-a serious public health issue-intersects with ADLs.

Objective: To explore how PG shapes a person's ADLs.

Harnessing BDNF Signaling to Promote Resilience in Aging.

As a key member of the neurotrophin family in the central nervous system, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a critical role in the maintenance and plasticity of the nervous system. Its innate neuroprotective advantage can also be shared with the brain when normal aging-dependent processes challenge neural circuits. The intricate relationship between BDNF and resilience during the aging process signifies the molecular mechanisms that underlie the maintenance and protection of brain function, such as cognition, movement and psychological well-being.

Passive and active exercise do not mitigate mental fatigue during a sustained vigilance task.

Executive function (EF) is improved following a single bout of exercise and impaired when an individual experiences mental fatigue (MF). These performance outcomes have been linked to a bi-directional change in cerebral blood flow (CBF). Here, we sought to determine whether MF-induced by a sustained vigilance task (i.

Impact of a national dementia research consortium: The Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA).

The Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) was created by the Canadian federal government through its health research funding agency, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), in 2014, as a response to the G7 initiative to fight dementia. Two five-year funding cycles (2014-2019; 2019-2024) have occurred following peer review, and a third cycle (Phase 3) has just begun. A unique construct was mandated, consisting of 20 national teams in Phase I and 19 teams in Phase II (with research topics spanning from basic to clinical science to health resource systems) along with cross-cutting programs to support them.

Non-maternal nest building behaviours in mice predict bilateral dorsal hippocampal lesion extent.

Lesions and pharmacological inactivation of the hippocampus have long been important tools for assessing the critical role of the hippocampus in learning and memory. Such studies often require a substantial investment of time and resources and, so, a tool for estimating lesion extent and screening animals prior to histological verification would be of considerable utility. Mice with bilateral hippocampal lesions have previously been observed to be deficient at nest building.

Incorporation of the central vein sign into the McDonald criteria.

Background: Diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) frequently relies on MRI dissemination in time (DIT) and space (DIS), as codified in 2017 McDonald criteria (McD 2017). The central vein sign (CVS) is a proposed MS diagnostic biomarker, but its optimal incorporation into McD 2017 has not been extensively studied.

Objective: Evaluate the diagnostic performance of several methods incorporating CVS into McD 2017 radiological DIS criteria.

Anterograde versus Retrograde Effects of Damage to Identified Learning and Memory Systems during Acquisition, Retention, and Re-Acquisition of an Instrumental Visual Discrimination Task: Dorsal Striatum, Perirhinal Cortex, and Hippocampus.

Background: The goal of these experiments was to determine which learning and memory system(s) were necessary for the retention of visual discriminations and subsequent acquisition of a second problem. The dorsal striatum should be involved in the acquisition and expression of this task based on previous work implicating this region in instrumental learning and memory processes. The perirhinal cortex has been implicated in learning and memory processes associated with visual information like objects, and pictures and may also play a role in the acquisition and/or retention of visual discriminations.

Interventions for the management of long covid (post-covid condition): living systematic review.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of interventions for the management of long covid (post-covid condition).

Design: Living systematic review.

Data Sources: Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from inception to December 2023.

Entropy of Neuronal Spike Patterns.

Neuronal spike patterns are the fundamental units of neural communication in the brain, which is still not fully understood. Entropy measures offer a quantitative framework to assess the variability and information content of these spike patterns. By quantifying the uncertainty and informational content of neuronal patterns, entropy measures provide insights into neural coding strategies, synaptic plasticity, network dynamics, and cognitive processes.

Cannabis use, sleep and mood disturbances among persons with epilepsy - A clinical and polysomnography study from a Canadian tertiary care epilepsy center.

Objective: Interest in anti-seizure properties of cannabinoids is increasing, with the rise in prevalence of recreational and medical cannabis use, especially across Canada. In a recent study on people with epilepsy (PWE), cannabis use showed a strong association with poor psychosocial health. Sleep and mood comorbidities are highly prevalent in epilepsy, and are common motivations for cannabis use.

Neural integration of egocentric and allocentric visual cues in the gaze system.

A fundamental question in neuroscience is how the brain integrates egocentric (body-centered) and allocentric (landmark-centered) visual cues, but for many years this question was ignored in sensorimotor studies. This changed in recent behavioral experiments, but the underlying physiology of ego/allocentric integration remained largely unstudied. The specific goal of this review is to explain how prefrontal neurons integrate eye-centered and landmark-centered visual codes for optimal gaze behavior.

Effects of Physical Exercise Breaks on Executive Function in a Simulated Classroom Setting: Uncovering a Window into the Brain.

Acknowledging the detrimental effects of prolonged sitting, this study examined the effects of an acute exercise break during prolonged sitting on executive function, cortical hemodynamics, and microvascular status. In this randomized crossover study, 71 college students completed three conditions: (i) uninterrupted sitting (SIT); (ii) SIT with a 15 min moderate-intensity cycling break (MIC); and (iii) SIT with a 15 min vigorous-intensity cycling break (VIC). Behavioral outcomes, retinal vessel diameters (central retinal artery equivalents [CRAE], retinal vein equivalents [CRVE], arteriovenous ratio [AVR]), cortical activation, and effective connectivity were evaluated.

Targeted Child Mental Health Prevention and Parenting Support Within a Canadian Context: A Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating the U.S.-Developed Family Check-Up®.

Canada lacks an approach to early childhood mental health prevention aimed at decreasing barriers to care among highest-needs families. In this Canadian randomized controlled trial, we aimed to evaluate whether participation in the Family Check-Up® (FCU®) would be associated with lower severity of child behavior problems (primary outcome) and caregiver psychological distress and daily parenting stress (secondary outcomes). Eligible caregivers of children aged 2-4 years with (i) high severity of behavior problems and/or (ii) above-average severity plus ≥ 1 family psychosocial risk factor were recruited from early education, community, and clinical settings in Hamilton, Ontario.

Introspective psychophysics for the study of subjective experience.

Studying subjective experience is hard. We believe that pain is not identical to nociception, nor pleasure a computational reward signal, nor fear the activation of "threat circuitry". Unfortunately, introspective self-reports offer our best bet for accessing subjective experience, but many still believe that introspection is "unreliable" and "unverifiable".