Increased promoter activity as a mechanism in atypical normokalemic periodic paralysis.

Objective: To identify the genetic basis of a patient with symptoms of normokalemic sporadic periodic paralysis (PP) and to study the effect of mutations.

Methods: A candidate gene approach was used to identify causative gene mutations, using Sanger sequencing. promoter activity was analyzed in transfected HEK293 cells with a luciferase assay, and functional analysis of Kir2.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Improves Semantic Speech-Gesture Matching in Patients With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder.

Background: Patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) have severe deficits in speech and gesture processing that contribute considerably to the burden of this disorder. Brain imaging shows left inferior frontal gyrus involvement for impaired processing of co-verbal gestures in patients with schizophrenia. Recently, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the left frontal lobe has been shown to modulate processing of co-verbal gestures in healthy subjects.

Ultrasonic vocalization in female rats: A comparison among three outbred stocks from pups to adults.

Long Evans (LE), Sprague-Dawley (SD) and Wistar (WU) are outbred rat stocks, which differ in terms of brain, physiology, pharmacological reactivity and behavior. Extending our previous work with males from these stocks, we here report the analysis of ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) in females. Identical to our previous studies, we tested them as pups for 40-kHz calls during short-term isolation, as juveniles for appetitive 50-kHz calls during a cage test or when being tickled, and finally as adults for 22-kHz calls in a fear conditioning paradigm.

The Role of Gamma Oscillations During Integration of Metaphoric Gestures and Abstract Speech.

Metaphoric (MP) co-speech gestures are commonly used during daily communication. They communicate about abstract information by referring to gestures that are clearly concrete (e.g.

Intraoperative computed tomography as reliable navigation registration device in 200 cranial procedures.

Background: Registration accuracy is a main factor influencing overall navigation accuracy. Standard fiducial- or landmark-based patient registration is user dependent and error-prone. Intraoperative imaging offers the possibility for user-independent patient registration.

Navigation-Supported Stereotaxy by Applying Intraoperative Computed Tomography.

Objective: To investigate how frameless navigational techniques can be implemented to support standard frame-based stereotactic procedures.

Methods: In 25 patients (18 deep brain stimulation procedures, 3 stereotactic biopsies, and 4 stereoencephalography procedures), 57 trajectories were planned. A navigation reference array was attached to the stereotactic frame for automatic registration applying intraoperative computed tomography.

Isolation-induced ultrasonic vocalizations in pups: A comparison between Long-Evans, Sprague-Dawley, and Wistar rats.

Rat pup ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) are usually studied in outbred rats belonging to either Long-Evans, Sprague-Dawley, or Wistar stocks, but these were not compared so far. We therefore performed a stock comparison and analyzed USV of male pups (postnatal day 11) belonging to these three stocks. Pups of all three stocks showed substantial isolation-induced USV, but differed in various call features, like call numbers, peak frequency, and frequency modulation.

Spatial-temporal dynamics of gesture-speech integration: a simultaneous EEG-fMRI study.

The semantic integration between gesture and speech (GSI) is mediated by the left posterior temporal sulcus/middle temporal gyrus (pSTS/MTG) and the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Evidence from electroencephalography (EEG) suggests that oscillations in the alpha and beta bands may support processes at different stages of GSI. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between electrophysiological oscillations and blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) activity during GSI.

The specific social costs of expressive negative symptoms in schizophrenia: reduced smiling predicts interactional outcome.

Objective: We tested whether people with schizophrenia and prominent expressive negative symptoms (ENS) show reduced facial expressions in face-to-face social interactions and whether this expressive reduction explains negative social evaluations of these persons.

Method: We compared participants with schizophrenia with high ENS (n = 18) with participants with schizophrenia with low ENS (n = 30) and with healthy controls (n = 39). Participants engaged in an affiliative role-play that was coded for the frequency of positive and negative facial expression and rated for social performance skills and willingness for future interactions with the respective role-play partner.

Age Dependent Hypothalamic and Pituitary Responses to Novel Environment Stress or Lipopolysaccharide in Rats.

Previously, we have shown that the transcription factor nuclear factor interleukin (NF-IL)6 can be used as an activation marker for inflammatory lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced and psychological novel environment stress (NES) in the rat brain. Here, we aimed to investigate age dependent changes of hypothalamic and pituitary responses to NES (cage switch) or LPS (100 μg/kg) in 2 and 24 months old rats. Animals were sacrificed at specific time points, blood and brains withdrawn and analyzed using immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR and bioassays.

The Neural Correlates of Probabilistic Classification Learning in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Pilot Study.

Individuals suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have been found to show deficits in implicitly learning probabilistic associations between events. Neuroimaging studies have associated these implicit learning deficits in OCD individuals with aberrant activation of the striatal system. Recent behavioral studies have highlighted that probabilistic classification learning (PCL) deficits in OCD individuals only occur in a disorder-specific context, while PCL remains intact in a neutral context.

Diazepam blocks 50 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations and stereotypies but not the increase in locomotor activity induced in rats by amphetamine.

Rationale: We have recently shown that the benzodiazepine diazepam inhibits dopamine release in the NAc and blocks the increased release of dopamine induced by DL-amphetamine. Rewarding stimuli and many drugs of abuse can induce dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens as well as 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in rats.

Objectives: In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that diazepam can also block the increase in locomotor activity and USVs elicited by amphetamine.

Paradoxical kinesia induced by appetitive 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations in rats depends on glutamatergic mechanisms in the inferior colliculus.

Paradoxical kinesia is a sudden transient ability of akinetic patients to perform motor tasks they are otherwise unable to perform. This phenomenon is known to depend on the patient's emotional state and external stimuli. Paradoxical kinesia can be induced by appetitive 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) in rats displaying catalepsy following systemic haloperidol.

Calcium-activated SK potassium channels are key modulators of the pacemaker frequency in locus coeruleus neurons.

The physiological, intrinsic activity of noradrenergic locus coeruleus (LC) neurons is important for the control of sleep/wakefulness, cognition and autonomous body functions. Dysregulations of the LC-noradrenergic network contribute to the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders and are key findings in early stages of neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, identifying ion channels mediating the intrinsic pacemaking mechanism of LC neurons, which is in turn directly coupled to Ca homeostasis and cell survival signaling pathways, can help to foster our understanding of the vulnerability of these neurons in neurodegenerative diseases.

Impaired Object Recognition but Normal Social Behavior and Ultrasonic Communication in Cofilin1 Mutant Mice.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), schizophrenia (SCZ) and intellectual disability (ID) show a remarkable overlap in symptoms, including impairments in cognition, social behavior and communication. Human genetic studies revealed an enrichment of mutations in actin-related genes for these disorders, and some of the strongest candidate genes control actin dynamics. These findings led to the hypotheses: (i) that ASD, SCZ and ID share common disease mechanisms; and (ii) that, at least in a subgroup of affected individuals, defects in the actin cytoskeleton cause or contribute to their pathologies.

17-β estradiol increases parvalbumin levels in heterozygous mice and attenuates behavioral phenotypes with relevance to autism core symptoms.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by two core symptoms: impaired social interaction and communication, and restricted, repetitive behaviors and interests. The pathophysiology of ASD is not yet fully understood, due to a plethora of genetic and environmental risk factors that might be associated with or causal for ASD. Recent findings suggest that one putative convergent pathway for some forms of ASD might be the downregulation of the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin (PV).

The neural correlates of morphological complexity processing: Detecting structure in pseudowords.

Morphological complexity is a highly debated issue in visual word recognition. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that speakers are sensitive to degrees of morphological complexity. Two-step derived complex words (bridging through bridge  > bridge  > bridging) led to more enhanced activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus than their 1-step derived counterparts (running through run  > running).

Expressive suppression is associated with state paranoia in psychosis: An experience sampling study on the association between adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and paranoia.

Objectives: Although emotional instability and problems in emotion regulation (ER) are known to be linked to the formation and maintenance of psychosis and paranoia, it remains unclear whether the use of specific ER strategies is associated with it. The first aim of the study was to explore the association between emotional instability and paranoia. The second and third aims were to investigate whether the use of maladaptive ER strategies leads to paranoia in patients with psychosis in daily life and whether the use of more adaptive ER strategies reduces paranoia.

The Marburg-Münster Affective Disorders Cohort Study (MACS): A quality assurance protocol for MR neuroimaging data.

Large, longitudinal, multi-center MR neuroimaging studies require comprehensive quality assurance (QA) protocols for assessing the general quality of the compiled data, indicating potential malfunctions in the scanning equipment, and evaluating inter-site differences that need to be accounted for in subsequent analyses. We describe the implementation of a QA protocol for functional magnet resonance imaging (fMRI) data based on the regular measurement of an MRI phantom and an extensive variety of currently published QA statistics. The protocol is implemented in the MACS (Marburg-Münster Affective Disorders Cohort Study, http://for2107.

Haloperidol-induced catalepsy is ameliorated by deep brain stimulation of the inferior colliculus.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has evolved as a promising alternative treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD), but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Moreover, conventional DBS protocols targeted at basal ganglia sites can turn out completely ineffective for some PD patients, warranting the search for alternative targets. The inferior colliculus (IC) is a midbrain auditory relay station involved in sensorimotor processes.

Mitochondrial rescue prevents glutathione peroxidase-dependent ferroptosis.

Research into oxidative cell death is producing exciting new mechanisms, such as ferroptosis, in the neuropathologies of cerebral ischemia and hemorrhagic brain insults. Ferroptosis is an oxidative form of regulated necrotic cell death featuring glutathione (GSH) depletion, disrupted glutathione peroxidase-4 (GPX4) redox defense and detrimental lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. Further, our recent findings identified mitochondrial damage in models of oxidative glutamate toxicity, glutathione peroxidase depletion, and ferroptosis.

Developmental social communication deficits in the Shank3 rat model of phelan-mcdermid syndrome and autism spectrum disorder.

Unlabelled: Mutations in the SHANK3 gene have been discovered in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and the intellectual disability, Phelan-McDermid Syndrome. This study leveraged a new rat model of Shank3 deficiency to assess complex behavioral phenomena, unique to rats, which display a richer social behavior repertoire than mice. Uniquely detectable emissions of ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) in rats serve as situation-dependent affective signals and accomplish important communicative functions.

Electrical stimulation or MK-801 in the inferior colliculus improve motor deficits in MPTP-treated mice.

The inferior colliculus (IC) is an important midbrain relay station for the integration of descending and ascending auditory information. Additionally, the IC has been implicated in processing sensorimotor responses. Glutamatergic and GABAergic manipulations in the IC can improve motor deficits as demonstrated by the animal model of haloperidol-induced catalepsy.

Cylindromatosis mediates neuronal cell death in vitro and in vivo.

The tumor-suppressor cylindromatosis (CYLD) is a deubiquitinating enzyme and key regulator of cell proliferation and inflammation. A genome-wide siRNA screen linked CYLD to receptor interacting protein-1 (RIP1) kinase-mediated necroptosis; however, the exact mechanisms of CYLD-mediated cell death remain unknown. Therefore, we investigated the precise role of CYLD in models of neuronal cell death in vitro and evaluated whether CYLD deletion affects brain injury in vivo.

Effects of ketamine on vocal impairment, gait changes, and anhedonia induced by bilateral 6-OHDA infusion into the substantia nigra pars compacta in rats: Therapeutic implications for Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder characterized by cardinal motor features, such as bradykinesia, but also vocal deficits (e.g. difficulties to articulate words and to keep the tone of voice) and depression.