Dynamic modulation of amygdala-hippocampal connectivity by emotional arousal.

Positive and negative emotional events are better remembered than neutral events. Studies in animals suggest that this phenomenon depends on the influence of the amygdala upon the hippocampus. In humans, however, it is largely unknown how these two brain structures functionally interact and whether these interactions are similar between positive and negative information.

Epigenetic modification of the glucocorticoid receptor gene is linked to traumatic memory and post-traumatic stress disorder risk in genocide survivors.

Recent evidence suggests that altered expression and epigenetic modification of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) are related to the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The underlying mechanisms, however, remain unknown. Because glucocorticoid receptor signaling is known to regulate emotional memory processes, particularly in men, epigenetic modifications of NR3C1 might affect the strength of traumatic memories.

Social approach and avoidance behaviour for negative emotions is modulated by endogenous oxytocin and paranoia in schizophrenia.

Patients with schizophrenia suffer from dysfunctional social behaviour. Social approach and avoidance (AA) has been associated with motor responses, as the affective valence and gaze direction of facial stimuli can bias push and pull motor tendencies. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of endogenous oxytocin in social AA behaviour in schizophrenia.

Use what you can: storage, abstraction processes, and perceptual adjustments help listeners recognize reduced forms.

Three eye-tracking experiments tested whether native listeners recognized reduced Dutch words better after having heard the same reduced words, or different reduced words of the same reduction type and whether familiarization with one reduction type helps listeners to deal with another reduction type. In the exposure phase, a segmental reduction group was exposed to /b/-reductions (e.g.

Competitive interactions in sensorimotor cortex: oscillations express separation between alternative movement targets.

Choice behavior is influenced by factors such as reward and number of alternatives but also by physical context, for instance, the relative position of alternative movement targets. At small separation, speeded eye or hand movements are more likely to land between targets (spatial averaging) than at larger separation. Neurocomputational models explain such behavior in terms of cortical activity being preshaped by the movement environment.

Between-centre variability in transfer function analysis, a widely used method for linear quantification of the dynamic pressure-flow relation: the CARNet study.

Transfer function analysis (TFA) is a frequently used method to assess dynamic cerebral autoregulation (CA) using spontaneous oscillations in blood pressure (BP) and cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV). However, controversies and variations exist in how research groups utilise TFA, causing high variability in interpretation. The objective of this study was to evaluate between-centre variability in TFA outcome metrics.

Adaptive multiclass classification for brain computer interfaces.

We consider the problem of multiclass adaptive classification for brain-computer interfaces and propose the use of multiclass pooled mean linear discriminant analysis (MPMLDA), a multiclass generalization of the adaptation rule introduced by Vidaurre, Kawanabe, von Bünau, Blankertz, and Müller (2010) for the binary class setting. Using publicly available EEG data sets and tangent space mapping (Barachant, Bonnet, Congedo, & Jutten, 2012) as a feature extractor, we demonstrate that MPMLDA can significantly outperform state-of-the-art multiclass static and adaptive methods. Furthermore, efficient learning rates can be achieved using data from different subjects.

An experimental objective method to determine maximum output and dynamic range of an active bone conduction implant: the Bonebridge.

Introduction: Recently, a new active bone conduction implant, the Bonebridge, was introduced. This transcutaneous device is proposed as an alternative to previous percutaneous systems. The current study aims to determine the maximum output (MO) of the Bonebridge by making use of Bonebridge-generated sound pressure levels in the occluded ear canal of the unaided ear.

Phosphorylation of the Usher syndrome 1G protein SANS controls Magi2-mediated endocytosis.

The human Usher syndrome (USH) is a complex ciliopathy with at least 12 chromosomal loci assigned to three clinical subtypes, USH1-3. The heterogeneous USH proteins are organized into protein networks. Here, we identified Magi2 (membrane-associated guanylate kinase inverted-2) as a new component of the USH protein interactome, binding to the multifunctional scaffold protein SANS (USH1G).

A discrete dopaminergic projection from the incertohypothalamic A13 cell group to the dorsolateral periaqueductal gray in rat.

Several findings have indicated an involvement of dopamine in panic and defensive behaviors. The dorsolateral column of the periaqueductal gray (dlPAG) is crucially involved in the expression of panic attacks in humans and defensive behaviors, also referred to as panic-like behaviors, in animals. Although the dlPAG is known to receive a specific innervation of dopaminergic fibers and abundantly expresses dopamine receptors, the origin of this dopaminergic input is largely unknown.

Odors are expressible in language, as long as you speak the right language.

From Plato to Pinker there has been the common belief that the experience of a smell is impossible to put into words. Decades of studies have confirmed this observation. But the studies to date have focused on participants from urbanized Western societies.

The Central Institute for Brain Research in Amsterdam and its directors.

The Central Institute for Brain Research was founded in Amsterdam in 1908 as part of an international effort to study the nervous system with multiple institutions and various disciplines. The development of research in the past hundred years at the Brain Institute has hardly been documented. We analyze the history of this institute by means of brief portraits of its directors and their main research topics.

Addition of MHPG to Alzheimer's disease biomarkers improves differentiation of dementia with Lewy bodies from Alzheimer's disease but not other dementias.

Background: Overlapping clinical features make it difficult to distinguish dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementia types. In this study we aimed to determine whether the combination of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, amyloid-β42 (Aβ42), total tau protein (t-tau), and phosphorylated tau protein (p-tau), in combination with 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylethyleneglycol (MHPG), could be useful in discriminating DLB from vascular dementia (VaD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), as we previously demonstrated for differentiation of DLB from AD.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed concentrations of MHPG, Aβ42, t-tau, and p-tau in CSF in patients with DLB, AD, VaD, and FTD.

Physical activity is related to the structural integrity of cerebral white matter.

Objective: To investigate the relation between physical exercise and the microstructural integrity of cerebral white matter.

Methods: Four hundred forty individuals with cerebral small-vessel disease, aged between 50 and 85 years, without dementia, were included and underwent MRI scanning. Physical exercise was assessed with a structured questionnaire.

Prospective analysis of falls in dominant ataxias.

In a previous retrospective study, we demonstrated that falls are common and often injurious in dominant spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) and that nonataxia features play an important role in these falls. Retrospective surveys are plagued by recall bias for the presence and details of prior falls. We therefore sought to corroborate and extend these retrospective findings by means of a prospective extension of this fall study.

The original sin of cognitive science.

Classical cognitive science was launched on the premise that the architecture of human cognition is uniform and universal across the species. This premise is biologically impossible and is being actively undermined by, for example, imaging genomics. Anthropology (including archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistics, and cultural anthropology) is, in contrast, largely concerned with the diversification of human culture, language, and biology across time and space-it belongs fundamentally to the evolutionary sciences.

Improving the diagnostic accuracy in parkinsonism: a three-pronged approach.

Separating Parkinson's disease from the various causes of atypical parkinsonism (AP) is a common and clinically relevant challenge in clinical practice. Distinguishing between the different causes of AP is even more difficult. Here the authors discuss a systematic, clinically based and three-pronged approach that can assist clinicians in establishing the correct diagnosis in the consulting room.

Effects of speech rate and practice on the allocation of visual attention in multiple object naming.

Earlier studies had shown that speakers naming several objects typically look at each object until they have retrieved the phonological form of its name and therefore look longer at objects with long names than at objects with shorter names. We examined whether this tight eye-to-speech coordination was maintained at different speech rates and after increasing amounts of practice. Participants named the same set of objects with monosyllabic or disyllabic names on up to 20 successive trials.

Oscillations in cerebral blood flow and cortical oxygenation in Alzheimer's disease.

In Alzheimer's disease (AD) cerebrovascular function is at risk. Transcranial Doppler, near-infrared spectroscopy, and photoplethysmography are noninvasive methods to continuously measure changes in cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV), cerebral cortical oxygenated hemoglobin (O(2)Hb), and blood pressure (BP). In 21 patients with mild to moderate AD and 20 age-matched controls, we investigated how oscillations in cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) and O(2)Hb are associated with spontaneous and induced oscillations in blood pressure (BP) at the very low (VLF = 0.

Recurrent deletion of ZNF630 at Xp11.23 is not associated with mental retardation.

ZNF630 is a member of the primate-specific Xp11 zinc finger gene cluster that consists of six closely related genes, of which ZNF41, ZNF81, and ZNF674 have been shown to be involved in mental retardation. This suggests that mutations of ZNF630 might influence cognitive function. Here, we detected 12 ZNF630 deletions in a total of 1,562 male patients with mental retardation from Brazil, USA, Australia, and Europe.

Atypical dystonic shoulder movements following neuralgic amyotrophy.

Peripherally induced movement disorders are relatively rare. Here, we present 3 patients who suffered a lesion of the brachial plexus because of neuralgic amyotrophy and developed involuntary movements of their shoulder muscles. The nature of the involuntary movements, which did not easily comply with classic descriptions of hyperkinetic movement disorders, is probably best referred to as dystonia.