Monoamines: Dopamine, Norepinephrine, and Serotonin, Beyond Modulation, “Switches” That Alter the State of Target Networks

How do monoamines influence the perceptual and behavioral aspects of brain function? A library of information regarding the genetic, molecular, cellular, and function of monoamines in the nervous system and other organs has accumulated. We briefly review monoamines’ anatomy and physiology and discuss their effects on the target neurons and circuits. Monoaminergic cells in the brain stem receive inputs from sensory, limbic, and prefrontal areas and project extensively to the forebrain and hindbrain. We review selected studies on molecular, cellular, and electrophysiological effects of monoamines on the brain’s target areas. The idea is that monoamines, by reversibly modulating the “primary” information processing circuits, regulate and switch the functions of brain networks and can reversibly alter the “brain states,” such as consciousness, emotions, and movements. Monoamines, as the drivers of normal motor and sensory brain operations, including housekeeping, play essential roles in pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric diseases.

A Tribute to Dr Robert J. White

Robert J. White is probably best known as the first neurosurgeon to perform successful “cephalic exchange” on monkeys in 1971. However, he was also a pioneer in the field of neurosurgery and contributed tremendously to the field of neuroanesthesia and bioethics. White received medical training at the University of Minnesota, Harvard University, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, and Mayo Clinic before becoming the first Chief of Neurosurgery at Metrohealth Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. He made significant strides in the field of spinal cord cooling and hypothermia. White and his team was also the first to successfully isolate the monkey brain with retention of biological activity. In 2004 and 2006, White and colleagues were nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, with Harvey Cushing and Wilder Penfield being the only other 2 neurosurgeons ever to be nominated for the award. Aside from his career as a neurosurgeon, he was also an advisor to 2 popes and an advocate for animal research. By the end of his career, White performed over 10 000 brain operations and published over 1000 articles, which has pushed the frontiers of neurosurgical research.

The Surgical Elimination of Violence? Conflicting Attitudes towards Technology and Science during the Psychosurgery Controversy of the 1970s

ArgumentIn the 1970s a public controversy erupted over the proposed use of brain operations to curtail violent behavior. Civil libertarians, civil rights and community activists, leaders of the anti-psychiatry movement, and some U.S. Congressmen charged psychosurgeons and the National Institute of Mental Health, with furthering a political project: the suppression of dissent. Several government-sponsored investigations into psychosurgery rebutted this charge and led to an official qualified endorsement of the practice while calling attention to the need for more “scientific” understanding and better ethical safeguards. This paper argues that the psychosurgery debate of the 1970s was more than a power struggle between members of the public and the psychiatric establishment. The debate represented a clash between a postmodern skepticism about science and renewed focus on ultimate ends, on the one hand, and a modern faith in standards and procedures, a preoccupation with means, on the other. These diverging commitments made the dispute ultimately irresolvable.

Face identification by computerized superposition method: Methodology and two case reports

INTRODUCTION Skull-face photograph superposition is one of the methods of identification. Digitally recorded and stored within the computer, the images of the skull and face could be superimposed on the monitor. The method requires cooperation among the anthropologist, odontologist, forensic pathologist and the computer technician so as to avoid objective and subjective errors in the identification. CASE OUTLINES We present two cases of positive identification by superimposition. In the first case, it was a 65 year-old male with several brain operations, thus surgical skull bonetrepanations could be seen as the irregularities on the forehead, and were used as the antropological identificational figure. In the second case, it was an 83 year-old female, whose positive identification was made according a photograph taken at least 26 years before death. CONCLUSION Face identification by computerized superposition method is useful in all cases where both the skull and the photograph of the missing person are present, and where other methods of identification have failed due to multiple reasons.

What is interpretation?

This essay answers the question: what is interpretation? It does so by proposing that interpretation involves certain brain operations. These utilize perceptual and procedural culture stored in neural networks. The parts of the brain performing interpretation are said to constitute a cultural neurohermenetic system, hypothesized to function according to an interpretive hierarchy. It is argued that such an approach has two benefits. The first of these is to provide a non-sociobiological, non-reductionist way of analyzing interactions between culture and biology. The second benefit is to provide conceptual tools for explaining how the micro-realm within individuals (I-space) makes connections in the macro-realm (E-space) of events in social forms. Conceptualization of such connections forms a basis for a variety of social analysis termed complex string being theory.