Neuroscience
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There is growing basic and clinical evidence that major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with gut microbiome alterations, but clinical studies have tended not to adjust for confounding factors. And few studies on the gut microbiome focused on young adults with MDD. Here we performed a pilot study to compare the gut microbiome of young adults with MDD with healthy controls. ⋯ Abundance of Sutterellaceae and species belonging to Clostridium, Eubacterium, and Ruminococcus were significantly different between groups. The cysteine degradation I pathway was increased in MDD. After controlling for most confounding factors, this pilot study provides new evidence on the specific, often subtle gut dysbiosis affecting young adults with depression.
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On the dark side of creativity, creative ideation is intentionally used to damage others. This first electroencephalogram (EEG) study on malevolent creativity investigated task-related power (TRP) changes in the alpha band while n = 89 participants (52 women, 37 men) generated original ideas for revenge in the psychometric Malevolent Creativity Test. ⋯ This performance-related, time-sensitive pattern of TRP changes during malevolent creativity may reflect early conceptual expansion from prosocial to antisocial perspectives, and subsequent inhibition of dominant semantic associations in favor of novel revenge ideas. 3) The observed, right-lateralized alpha power increases over the entire ideation phase may denote an additional emotional load of creative ideation. Our study highlights the seminal role of EEG alpha oscillations as a biomarker for creativity, also when creative processes operate in a malevolent context.
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The psychological effects of long-term exposure to high-altitude environments have attracted great attention. These effects are usually attributed to the diminished cognitive resources due to high-altitude exposure. This study employed electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the effects of exposure duration on awareness detection tasks. ⋯ Additionally, increased LP and shorter reaction times with exposure duration may reflect a resistance to the high-altitude environment. We also conducted time-frequency analysis and found that theta power did not vary with exposure duration, suggesting that the reduction in cognitive resources remains stable in these individuals over time. Overall, our study provides new insights into the dynamic effects of high-altitude environments on awareness detection in the presence of reduced cognitive resources.
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Perinatal hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury leads to mortality and morbidity in neonates and children. There are no effective and practical methods to attenuate this brain injury. This study determined whether desflurane, a volatile anesthetic with limited effect on the cardiovascular system, protected against HI-induced brain damage and the role of transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1), a mediator for simulated ischemia-induced myelin damage, in this protection. ⋯ However, the combination of TRPA1 inhibition and desflurane post-treatment did not preserve brain tissues, learning and memory better than TRPA1 inhibition or desflurane post-treatment alone. Our results suggest that desflurane post-treatment induces neuroprotection against neonatal HI. This effect may be mediated by inhibiting TRPA1.
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Previous studies have shown that in addition to its role within the voltage-gated calcium channel complex in the plasma membrane, the neuronal CaVβ subunit can translocate to the cell nucleus. However, little is known regarding the role this protein could play in the nucleus, nor the molecular mechanism used by CaVβ to enter this cell compartment. This report shows evidence that CaVβ3 has nuclear localization signals (NLS) that are not functional, suggesting that the protein does not use a classical nuclear import pathway. ⋯ Likewise, through proximity ligation assays (PLA), it was found that members of the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs) and B56δ, a regulatory subunit of the protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), could function as proteins that regulate this piggyback mechanism. On the other hand, bioinformatics and site-directed mutagenesis assays allowed the identification of a functional nuclear export signal (NES) that controls the exit of CaVβ3 from the nucleus, which would allow the completion of the nuclear transport cycle of the protein. These results reveal a novel mechanism for the nuclear transport cycle of the neuronal CaVβ3 subunit.