3,409 results match your criteria: "Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.[Affiliation]"

Protein phosphatases are critical for regulating cell signaling, cell cycle, and cell fate decisions, and their dysregulation leads to an array of human diseases like cancer. The dual specificity phosphatases (DUSPs) have emerged as important factors driving tumorigenesis and cancer therapy resistance. DUSP12 is a poorly characterized atypical DUSP widely conserved throughout evolution.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Peripheral inflammatory markers (PIMs), such as C-reactive protein (CRP) or white blood cell count (WBC), have been associated with depression severity in meta-analyses and large cohort studies. However, in typically-sized psychoimmunology studies (N < 200) that explore associations between PIMs and neurobiological/psychosocial constructs related to depression and studies that examine less-studied PIMs (e.g.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Problem: Regulatory B-cells (Bregs, CD19CD24CD38) are a specialized B-cell subset that suppresses immune responses and potentially contribute to the maintenance of an immune-privileged environment for fetal development during pregnancy. However, little is known about the surrounding immunological environment of Bregs in gestational physiology. The relationship of regulatory T-cells (Tregs, CD4CD25CD127FoxP3) to Bregs in coordinating immunoregulation during pregnancy is unknown.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic Rapamycin Prevents Electrophysiological and Morphological Alterations Produced by Conditional Pten Deletion in Mouse Cortex.

Cells

January 2025

IDDRC, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.

Article Synopsis
  • Abnormalities in the mTOR pathway are linked to various brain disorders, affecting synaptic and membrane excitability in neurons.
  • Using a mouse model with Pten deletion, the study found that CPNs had increased membrane size and reduced neuronal firing, which could be reversed with rapamycin treatment.
  • Chronic rapamycin not only prevented changes in Pten mice but also altered the membrane properties of normal mice, suggesting potential treatments for neurological disorders like epilepsy and autism associated with mTOR dysfunction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Bipolar disorder is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease. Despite high heritability (60-80%), the majority of the underlying genetic determinants remain unknown. We analysed data from participants of European, East Asian, African American and Latino ancestries (n = 158,036 cases with bipolar disorder, 2.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Autism Spectrum Disorder Across the Lifespan.

Annu Rev Clin Psychol

January 2025

Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA;

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects individuals worldwide throughout their lives. Copious advances in research have enhanced our understanding of autism significantly since Dr. Leo Kanner's first description of the condition in 1943.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Once believed to be the culprits of epileptogenic activity, the functional properties of balloon/giant cells (BC/GC), commonly found in some malformations of cortical development including focal cortical dysplasia type IIb (FCDIIb) and tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), are beginning to be unraveled. These abnormal cells emerge during early brain development as a result of a hyperactive mTOR pathway and may express both neuronal and glial markers. A paradigm shift occurred when our group demonstrated that BC/GC in pediatric cases of FCDIIb and TSC are unable to generate action potentials and lack synaptic inputs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Trajectory of peripheral inflammation during index ECT in association with clinical outcomes in treatment-resistant depression.

Brain Behav Immun Health

February 2025

Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Background: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a highly efficacious intervention for severe and intractable depression. Evidence suggests ECT provokes an initial acute inflammatory response that subsequently decreases with repeated administration. However, relationships between inflammatory changes and clinical effects are unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Future of HIV: Challenges in meeting the 2030 Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) reduction goal.

AIDS

January 2025

Center for Biomedical Modeling, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA.

Objectives: To predict the burden of HIV in the United States (US) nationally and by region, transmission type, and race/ethnicity through 2030.

Methods: Using publicly available data from the CDC NCHHSTP AtlasPlus dashboard, we generated 11-year prospective forecasts of incident HIV diagnoses nationally and by region (South, non-South), race/ethnicity (White, Hispanic/Latino, Black/African American), and transmission type (Injection-Drug Use, Male-to-Male Sexual Contact (MMSC), and Heterosexual Contact (HSC)). We employed weighted (W) and unweighted (UW) n-sub-epidemic ensemble models, calibrated using 12 years of historical data (2008-2019), and forecasted trends for 2020-2030.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Effective team science requires procedural harmonization for rigor and reproducibility. Multicenter studies across experimental modalities (domains) can help accelerate translation. The Translational Outcomes Project in NeuroTrauma (TOP-NT) is a pre-clinical traumatic brain injury (TBI) consortium charged with establishing and validating noninvasive TBI assessment tools through team science.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Future of HIV: Challenges in meeting the 2030 reduction goal.

medRxiv

January 2025

Center for Biomedical Modeling, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Objectives: To predict the burden of HIV in the United States (US) nationally and by region, transmission type, and race/ethnicity through 2030.

Methods: Using publicly available data from the CDC NCHHSTP dashboard, we generated 11-year prospective forecasts of incident HIV diagnoses nationally and by region (South, non-South), race/ethnicity (White, Hispanic/Latino, Black/African American), and transmission type (Injection-Drug Use, Male-to-Male Sexual Contact (MMSC), and Heterosexual Contact (HSC)). We employed weighted (W) and unweighted (UW) -sub-epidemic ensemble models, calibrated using 12 years of historical data (2008-2019), and forecasted trends for 2020-2030.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Identifying genetic differences between bipolar disorder and major depression through multiple genome-wide association analyses.

Br J Psychiatry

January 2025

Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, USA; Department of Human Genetics, University of California Los Angeles, USA; and Department of Computational Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, USA.

Background: Accurate diagnosis of bipolar disorder (BPD) is difficult in clinical practice, with an average delay between symptom onset and diagnosis of about 7 years. A depressive episode often precedes the first manic episode, making it difficult to distinguish BPD from unipolar major depressive disorder (MDD).

Aims: We use genome-wide association analyses (GWAS) to identify differential genetic factors and to develop predictors based on polygenic risk scores (PRS) that may aid early differential diagnosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is required for learning associations that determine whether animals approach or avoid potential threats in the environment. Dopaminergic (DA) projections from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the mPFC carry information, particularly about aversive outcomes, that may inform prefrontal computations. But the role of prefrontal DA in learning based on aversive outcomes remains poorly understood.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Since the federal Canadian government legalized cannabis in 2018, cannabis use in the general population has slightly increased. However, little is known about the impact of cannabis legalization on pattens of cannabis use in psychiatric populations.

Method: We studied changes in daily/almost daily and average 30-day cannabis use amongst individuals currently using cannabis who reported past 12-month experiences of specific mental health disorders and among those without past 12-month experiences of any mental health disorder before and after Canadian legalization of recreational cannabis use ( = 13,527).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Endothelial-secreted Endocan activates PDGFRA and regulates vascularity and spatial phenotype in glioblastoma.

Nat Commun

January 2025

The Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, The Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and The Broad Stem Cell Research Center, The Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Extensive neovascularization is a hallmark of glioblastoma (GBM). In addition to supplying oxygen and nutrients, vascular endothelial cells provide trophic support to GBM cells via paracrine signaling. Here we report that Endocan (ESM1), an endothelial-secreted proteoglycan, confers enhanced proliferative, migratory, and angiogenic properties to GBM cells and regulates their spatial identity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In studies of individuals of primarily European genetic ancestry, common and low-frequency variants and rare coding variants have been found to be associated with the risk of bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SZ). However, less is known for individuals of other genetic ancestries or the role of rare non-coding variants in BD and SZ risk. We performed whole genome sequencing of African American individuals: 1,598 with BD, 3,295 with SZ, and 2,651 unaffected controls (InPSYght study).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Reaching social milestones is an important goal of childhood. Children with acquired brain injury (ABI) and cerebral palsy (CP) frequently experience challenges with social functioning and participation. The Programme for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) is a group-based social skills programme for adolescents.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

One's ability to infer the goals and intentions of others is crucial for social interactions, and such social capabilities are broadly distributed across individuals. Autism-like traits (i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Although several studies have well described the characteristics of people who use psychedelics alongside their motivations and beliefs, little research has examined the preferences surrounding the source of psychedelic substances. In an anonymous online survey, we collected data from 6,379 consumers of 11 different psychedelic substances from 85 different countries, exploring their preferences and perceptions on natural and synthetic psychedelics. There was a strong preference of natural sources over synthetic alternatives for psilocybin (75%), DMT (56%), and mescaline (56%).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Dr. Jeffrey et al. Reply.

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

December 2024

UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California; The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.

We are writing in response to 2 Letters to the Editor, both of which discussed our commentary, entitled "Clinical Research Trials of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in Adolescents Aged 16 to 17 Years: Rationale Balanced With Caution." We appreciate the thoughtful responses to our commentary, and we invite further dialogue about this important subject. Both letters emphasized the importance in engaging in thoughtful research approaches to ensure the safety of individuals who are administered psychedelics.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Digital sensing tools, like smartphones and wearables, offer transformative potential for mental health research by enabling scalable, longitudinal data collection. Realizing this promise requires overcoming significant challenges including limited data standards, underpowered studies, and a disconnect between research aims and community needs. This report, based on the 2023 Workshop on Advancing Digital Sensing Tools for Mental Health, articulates strategies to address these challenges to ensure rigorous, equitable, and impactful research.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Genomics-informed neuropsychiatric care for neurodevelopmental disorders: Results from a multidisciplinary clinic.

Genet Med

December 2024

Division of Neurology, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. Electronic address:

Purpose: Patients with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) have high rates of neuropsychiatric comorbidities. Genomic medicine may help guide care because pathogenic variants are identified in up to 50% of patients with NDDs. We evaluate the impact of a genomics-informed, multidisciplinary, neuropsychiatric specialty clinic on the diagnosis and management of patients with NDDs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Among presenting conditions in pediatric acute care settings, conduct disorder (CD) is a potentially stigmatizing yet common diagnosis in the setting of behavioral dysregulation requiring psychiatric admission. Concerns exist about over-diagnosis of CD in non-Hispanic Black children relative to White peers and the potential for the CD diagnosis to obfuscate manifestations of co-occurring psychiatric conditions.

Methods: We evaluated the number of manuscripts on CD diagnoses that report race and ethnicity and co-occurring mental health characteristics (i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF