Neuroscience
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Determining the neural bases of basic linguistic composition is central to research on the cognitive neuroscience of language. The left anterior temporal lobe (LATL) is widely reported during linguistic composition of visual stimuli in magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies. However, this effect is less reported during the linguistic composition of auditory stimuli in intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) studies. ⋯ Participants were asked to read minimal two-word phrases in the composition condition and read words preceded by pound signs in the noncomposition condition. The results showed that high-gamma power in the LATL was higher in the composition condition compared to the noncomposition condition. These results provide more substantial evidence for the role of LATL in basic linguistic composition (at least in visual modality) and highlight the potential role of stimuli modality (visual vs. auditory) in the phrasal composition effect in LATL.
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Apelin, an endogenous ligand of G protein-coupled receptor APJ, is widely distributed in the central nervous system (CNS). It can be divided into such subtypes as Apelin-13, Apelin-17, and Apelin-36 as they have different amino acid structures. ⋯ As an adipokine, Apelin has been found to play a crucial role in cardiovascular disease development. In this paper, we reviewed the effects and mechanisms of Apelin in treating CNS diseases, such as neurotrauma, stroke, spinal cord injury, primary tumors, neurodegenerative diseases, psychiatric diseases, epilepsy, and pain.
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The association of neuroticism and cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) development remains unclear. In this study, we used Mendelian randomization (MR) to explore the potential role of neuroticism in CSVD development. ⋯ This research suggests a potential correlation between certain aspects of neuroticism and CSVD, with further studies needed to better understand the causal relationship and its implications for patient intervention.
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We used the framework of the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) hypothesis to explore the origin of inter-trial variance within the UCM, which by definition does not affect the salient performance variable, during accurate two-finger force production. Specifically, we tested several hypotheses on two main sources of variance within the UCM, variability in the sharing patterns between the fingers across trials and covaried variability in finger forces within individual trials. We also explored effects on unintentional changes in the structure of variance during preparation for a quick force change and during force drift without visual feedback. ⋯ Changing the initial magnitude of variance along the UCM was reflected in its magnitude during anticipatory synergy adjustments prior to the force pulse and following the unintentional force drift. We interpret the results assuming a hierarchical control with two commands, reciprocal and coactivation. The results support the scheme with two contributing factors to variance along the UCM, likely associated with feed-forward and feedback mechanisms.
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Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) are widely expressed throughout the central nervous system. They are linked to G-protein coupled receptors and are known to modulate synaptic transmission. The data regarding their expression in auditory structures are not systematic and mainly originate from physiological studies where expression was used to support physiological findings. ⋯ In the AC, the staining was more intense near the surface and diminished toward white matter. We also found that the overall expression level of mGluR2/3 was increased significantly in aged animals in all auditory structures tested. Collectively, our detailed immunostaining findings suggest that the group II mGluRs are widely expressed throughout the central auditory system and their contribution to auditory processing increases with age.