scholarly journals Spectral partitioning identifies individual heterogeneity in the functional network topography of ventral and anterior medial prefrontal cortex

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Toro-Serey ◽  
Sean M. Tobyne ◽  
Joseph T. McGuire
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Fmri Data ◽  
Default Network ◽  
List Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Human Connectome Project ◽  
Spectral Partitioning ◽  
The Individual

AbstractRegions of human medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) are part of the default network (DN), and additionally are implicated in diverse cognitive functions ranging from autobiographical memory to subjective valuation. Our ability to interpret the apparent co-localization of task-related effects with DN-regions is constrained by a limited understanding of the individual-level heterogeneity in mPFC/PCC functional organization. Here we used cortical surface-based meta-analysis to identify a parcel in human PCC that was more strongly associated with the DN than with valuation effects. We then used resting-state fMRI data and a data-driven network analysis algorithm, spectral partitioning, to partition mPFC and PCC into “DN” and “non-DN” subdivisions in individual participants (n = 100 from the Human Connectome Project). The spectral partitioning algorithm identified individual-level cortical subdivisions that varied markedly across individuals, especially in mPFC, and were reliable across test/retest datasets. Our results point toward new strategies for assessing whether distinct cognitive functions engage common or distinct mPFC subregions at the individual level.HighlightsThe topography of Default Network cortical regions varies across individuals.A community detection algorithm, spectral partitioning, was applied to rs-fMRI data.The algorithm identified individualized Default Network regions in mPFC and PCC.Default Network topography varied across individuals in mPFC, moreso than in PCC.Overlap of task effects with DN regions should be assessed at the individual level.

Localizing the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex at the individual level

NeuroImage ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 1387-1396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachelle Smith ◽  
Kamyar Keramatian ◽  
Kalina Christoff
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual

scholarly journals Cannabidiol as an add-on therapy to overcome the slow-onset and, possibly, resistance to antidepressant treatment: involvement of NAPE-PLD in the medial prefrontal cortex

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franciele F. Scarante ◽  
Vinícius D. Lopes ◽  
Eduardo J. Fusse ◽  
Maria A. Vicente ◽  
Melissa R. Araújo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Rating Scales ◽  
Case Series ◽  
List Type ◽  
Stress Effect ◽  
Treatment Resistant Depression ◽  
Treatment Resistant ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Resistant Depression

AbstractAntidepressants such as serotonin uptake inhibitors are the first-line pharmacological treatment for chronic stress-related psychiatric disorders. However, their late-onset therapeutic action and frequent side effects, however, are important challenges for clinicians and patients. Besides, around 30% of major depression patients are considered treatment-resistant. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychotomimetic phytocannabinoid with a wide range of psychopharmacological effects, but its mechanism of action remains unclear. Here, we found that in male mice submitted to two different repeated stress protocols (chronic unpredictable and social defeat stress), low doses of CBD (7.5mg/Kg) caused an early-onset behavioral effect when combined to the antidepressant escitalopram (ESC-10mg/Kg). The behavioral effects of the ESC+CBD combination depended on the expression/activity of the N-acyl phosphatidylethanolamine phospholipase D (NAPE-PLD, responsible for synthesizing the endocannabinoid anandamide), but not the DAGLα, enzyme in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. In addition, we described a case series with three treatment-resistant depression that were successfully treated with CBD as adjuvant therapy, as evaluated by standardized clinical rating scales. After 12 weeks of treatment, two patients were considered depression remitted (MADRS score lower than 10) while one patient successfully responded to CBD as add-on treatment (more than 50% decrease from the baseline MADRS). Our results suggest that CBD might be useful as an add-on therapy for optimizing the action of antidepressants. They also suggest that CBD’s beneficial actions depends on the facilitation of N-acylethanolamines actions in the medial prefrontal cortex.HighlightsIn mice, cannabidiol (CBD), but not escitalopram, induced a fast-onset anti-stress action.Combinations of sub-effective doses of CBD and escitalopram produce anti-stress effects after only 7 days.The Escitalopram + CBD treatment modulated synaptic protein markers in the medial prefrontal cortex.CRISPR-Cas9-mediated knockdown of NAPE-PLD in the medial PFC prevents the anti-stress effect of the Escitalopram + CBD.Adding CBD to an antidepressants regimen successfully treated three patients with treatment resistant depression.Graphical abstract

scholarly journals Change in vaccine willingness in Australia: August 2020 to January 2021

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Biddle ◽  
Ben Edwards ◽  
Matthew Gray ◽  
Kate Sollis
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
National Level ◽  
Indigenous Australians ◽  
List Type ◽  
Public Health Campaign ◽  
Australian Population ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Large Decline

AbstractThe ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods ANU COVID-19 Impact Monitoring Survey Program asked the same group of respondents about their vaccine intentions in August 2020 and January 2021. The paper provides data on the vaccine willingness in Australia as of January 2021 and how this changed since August 2020 both at the national level and for particular individuals. The paper provides estimates of how vaccine willingness has changed for different population sub-groups and the individual level characteristics which are associated with changes in vaccine willingness. We find an overall decrease in vaccine willingness, with the biggest decline being those who would definitely get a vaccine as of August 2020 but said they would only probably get a vaccine as of January 2021. We also look at the factors associated with vaccine willingness, as well as the factors associated with change through time.Executive summaryThe paper provides data on the vaccine willingness in Australia as of January 2021 and how this changed since August 2020 both at the national level and for particular individuals.There has been a substantial increase in vaccine resistance and hesitancy and a large decline in vaccine likeliness between August 2020 and January 2021Combined, 21.7 per cent of Australians said they probably or definitely would not get a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine in January 2021, a significant and substantial increase from the 12.7 per cent of Australians who gave the same responses in August 2020.At the individual level, 31.9 per cent of Australians became less willing to get the vaccine between August 2020 and January 2021 in that they moved from a more to a less willing category.There were still some Australians who became more willing over the period to get vaccinated (9.9 per cent).The largest single flow across willingness categories was the 18.7 per cent of Australians who went from being definitely willing to get a COVID-19 vaccination to only probably willing to get one. There was a large decline in vaccine certainty, alongside increases in vaccine resistance.We found three attitudinal factors that were particularly important in explaining the decline in willingness. Those Australians who think too much is being made of COVID-19, those who have low confidence in hospitals and the health care system, and those who are not optimistic about the next 12 months had all decreased in terms of their willingness to get vaccinated once a vaccine is available.In addition to campaigns targeting vaccination directly, those programs that improve confidence, remind people of the dangers of COVID-19, but importantly highlight the potential for a much better 2022 all have the potential to improve vaccination rates.Females, Indigenous Australians, those who speak a language other than English at home and those who have not completed Year 12 have all became less willing to get a vaccine since August 2020 compared to the rest of the Australian population.These population groups are arguably the most urgent focus of any public health campaigns to improve willingness, both because they have low willingness to start with, but also because there is the potential opportunity to bring their willingness back to what it was in August 2020 when there was a smaller gap with the rest of the Australian population.There is a real need to consider a significantly enhanced public health campaign in languages other than EnglishThere is a need to convey information to the general public in a way that is informative, reassuring and salient for those without a degree

scholarly journals Satisfaction with Democracy in Perspective: Anchoring Today By Looking Back and Forward

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-26
Author(s):  
Pepijn van Houwelingen ◽  
Paul Dekker
Keyword(s):  
Political Trust ◽  
Political Efficacy ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
List Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Satisfaction With Democracy ◽  
Expert Opinions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Almost All

Abstract The question of how satisfied people are with the workings of their national democracy has oft en been criticized but is still the international standard measurement of satisfaction with democracy (SWD). In this paper we explore the benefits of adding questions about remembered and expected satisfaction ‘ten years ago’ and ‘ten years from now’, as were asked in the ISSP citizenship surveys of 2004 and 2014. Based on the data from seventeen European countries, we find that national samples: ■ do not show universal ‘nostalgia’, ■ produce good guesses of past satisfaction but show no futurist insights, ■ give retrospective judgments that do not correlate well with changes in expert opinions, ■ give retrospective judgments that do not correlate well with changes in the share of the populist vote. At the individual level we find: ■ that in almost all countries expected satisfaction with democracy ten years from now is a better predictor of political trust and feelings of political efficacy than satisfaction with democracy today, ■ that in almost all countries expected satisfaction with democracy ten years from now is a better predictor of the preference for populist voting (in one national case study), we note that Poland is the only country in our sample where citizens were, in 2014, retrospectively more positive about the development of their democracy, probably due to the severe economic conditions Poland faced in 2004. Overall, we do not find evidence for the relevance of retrospective judgements, but some evidence for the relevance of prospective judgements. We recommend further research into individual changes in present satisfaction and perceptions of these changes to better understand the frames of reference of ‘satisfaction with democracy today’.

scholarly journals O6E.2 Exposure assessment for a study of cognitive impairment in former professional footballers in england

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. A59.2-A59
Author(s):  
Damien Mcelvenny ◽  
Ioannis Basinas ◽  
Richard Graveling ◽  
John Cherrie ◽  
Valeintina Gallo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Exposure Assessment ◽  
Study Cohort ◽  
List Type ◽  
Head Impacts ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Video Footage ◽  
Predictive Variables ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Training

Evidence is accumulating on the possible increased risks of neurodegenerative disease in former (professional) sportspersons. This study will assess the associations between a history of repetitive low-level head trauma and general and neurological health in retired professional footballers aged 50+in England. The main exposure measures are concussions and cumulative lifetime repeated sub-concussive head impacts (RSHIs), either from heading footballs or other forces applied to the head. Information on factors associated with concussions and RSHIs will be collected via a structured questionnaire during face-to-face interviews.Our approach will include:Literature search to identify potentially important proxy measures of RSHI during training and matches;Developing a model of cumulative RSHIs, based on the more strongly predictive variables, which may include playing position, the frequency of heading, the number of games played and training sessions attended, decade of play and the type of ball used.The model will be developed from analyses of head contacts from video footage of matches and training, at the individual level and in general, and from statistics on playing career. We will also consult a panel of former professional footballers on the exposure assessment.The exposure data will be crucial to assess whether those with higher exposure within the study cohort are at increased risk compared to those with lower exposure.

Ventral Hippocampal Neurons Project Axons Simultaneously to the Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Amygdala in the Rat

2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 2134-2138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akinori Ishikawa ◽  
Shoji Nakamura
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Hippocampal Neurons ◽  
Ventral Hippocampus ◽  
Fluorescent Tracers ◽  
Afferent Projections ◽  
Electrophysiological Evidence ◽  
Antidromic Responses ◽  
The Individual

The ventral hippocampus (VH) may have an important role in spatial memory processes and emotional behaviors through connections with the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and amygdala. Although the mPFC and amygdala receive afferent projections from the VH, it has not been determined whether the individual VH neurons project to both the mPFC and the amygdala. In this study, antidromic responses to the mPFC and amygdala stimulation were evoked in single VH neurons. In addition, VH neurons were retrogradely double-labeled with fluorescent tracers injected in the mPFC and amygdala. VH neurons projecting to both the mPFC and amygdala were predominantly located in the subiculum and CA1 and bifurcated near or at the soma. Our anatomical and electrophysiological evidence for the presence of VH neurons projecting to both the mPFC and amygdala provides a previously unrecognized pathway from the hippocampus that simultaneously activates the mPFC and amygdala.

scholarly journals Medial Prefrontal Cortex Represents the Object-Based Cognitive Map When Remembering an Egocentric Target Location

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 5356-5371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Zhang ◽  
Yuji Naya
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Object Based ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Constituent Elements ◽  
The Brain

Abstract A cognitive map, representing an environment around oneself, is necessary for spatial navigation. However, compared with its constituent elements such as individual landmarks, neural substrates of coherent spatial information, which consists in a relationship among the individual elements, remain largely unknown. The present study investigated how the brain codes map-like representations in a virtual environment specified by the relative positions of three objects. Representational similarity analysis revealed an object-based spatial representation in the hippocampus (HPC) when participants located themselves within the environment, while the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) represented it when they recollected a target object’s location relative to their self-body. During recollection, task-dependent functional connectivity increased between the two areas implying exchange of self-location and target location signals between the HPC and mPFC. Together, the object-based cognitive map, whose coherent spatial information could be formed by objects, may be recruited in the HPC and mPFC for complementary functions during navigation, which may generalize to other aspects of cognition, such as navigating social interactions.

scholarly journals The developing Human Connectome Project (dHCP) automated resting-state functional processing framework for newborn infants

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean P. Fitzgibbon ◽  
Samuel J. Harrison ◽  
Mark Jenkinson ◽  
Luke Baxter ◽  
Emma C. Robinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resting State ◽  
Motion Correction ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
Distortion Correction ◽  
Fmri Data ◽  
Dynamic Susceptibility ◽  
List Type ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Multimodal Registration ◽  
Human Connectome Project

AbstractThe developing Human Connectome Project (dHCP) aims to create a detailed 4-dimensional connectome of early life spanning 20 to 45 weeks post-menstrual age. This is being achieved through the acquisition of multi-modal MRI data from over 1000 in- and ex-utero subjects combined with the development of optimised pre-processing pipelines. In this paper we present an automated and robust pipeline to minimally pre-process highly confounded neonatal resting-state fMRI data, robustly, with low failure rates and high quality-assurance. The pipeline has been designed to specifically address the challenges that neonatal data presents including low and variable contrast and high levels of head motion. We provide a detailed description and evaluation of the pipeline which includes integrated slice-to-volume motion correction and dynamic susceptibility distortion correction, a robust multimodal registration approach, bespoke ICA-based denoising, and an automated QC framework. We assess these components on a large cohort of dHCP subjects and demonstrate that processing refinements integrated into the pipeline provide substantial reduction in movement related distortions, resulting in significant improvements in SNR, and detection of high quality RSNs from neonates.HighlightsAn automated and robust pipeline to minimally pre-process highly confounded neonatal fMRI dataIncludes integrated dynamic distortion and slice-to-volume motion correctionA robust multimodal registration approach which includes custom neonatal templatesIncorporates an automated and self-reporting QC framework to quantify data quality and identify issues for further inspectionData analysis of 538 infants imaged at 26-45 weeks post-menstrual age

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