Oxford open neuroscience最新文献

It has been suggested that mentalizing abilities underlie the distinct profiles of autism characteristics observed between Cornelia de Lange (CdLS) and fragile X syndromes (FXS) and autistic people without a genetic syndrome. However, traditional explicit mentalizing tasks have high language demands that may mask true mentalizing abilities in these populations. We compared performance on traditional explicit tasks and an implicit anticipatory looking mentalizing task in children with CdLS (N = 9), boys with FXS (N = 9), autistic (N = 22) and neurotypical (N = 34) children. The groups showed divergent patterns of performance. Neurotypical children had higher explicit mentalizing scores than all other groups. However, neurotypical, FXS and CdLS groups showed better implicit mentalizing performance than autistic children. Both chronological age and receptive language ability correlated with explicit mentalizing scores in neurotypical children. In autistic children, there was an association between explicit mentalizing score and receptive language ability but not chronological age. Explicit mentalizing score was not associated with receptive language ability or chronological age in the CdLS and FXS groups. Neither chronological age nor receptive language ability correlated with implicit mentalizing task performance in any group. Findings suggest that explicit tasks may mask true mentalizing abilities in autistic children, children with CdLS and children with FXS.

This paper approaches the role of intentional action in brain-computer interface (BCI) tool use to allow for an ethical discourse regarding the development and usage of neurotechnology. The exploration of mental actions and user control in BCI tool use brings us closer to understanding the philosophical underpinnings of intentions and agency for BCI-mediated actions. The author presents that under some theories of intentional action, certain BCI-mediated overt movements qualify as both voluntary and unintentional. This plausibly magnifies the ethical considerations surrounding BCI tool use. This problem is referred by the author as the contemplation conundrum. Thus, the paper proposes research scope for the neural correlates of intention formation and the neural correlates of imagination aimed at clarifying implementational control and safeguarding privacy of thought in BCI tool use.

The cerebellum is a large brain structure. Most of the mass and volume of the cerebellum is made up by the cerebellar cortex. The outer layer of the cerebellar cortex is divided functionally into long, thin strips called microzones. We argue that the cerebellar microzone computation is the aggregate of simple unit computations and a passive effect of anatomy, unaided and unlearned, which we recreate in silico. This is likely to polarise opinion. In the traditional view, data processing by the cerebellum (stated very briefly) is the effect of learned synaptic changes. However, this has become difficult to reconcile with evidence that rate information is linearly conserved in cerebellar signalling. We present an alternative interpretation of cell morphologies and network architecture in the light of linear communication. Parallel fibre synaptic memory has a supporting role in the network computation.

Anxiety-related illnesses constitute one of the leading causes of disability across the globe. Consequently, the need for validated preclinical models to uncover the etiology of anxiety phenotypes remains essential. Given the link between social stress experience and the manifestation of anxiogenic-like outcomes, we evaluated whether social defeat stress (SDS) reduces open-space exploratory behavior in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). Thus, we exposed adult sexually-naïve male voles to 10 consecutive days of SDS episodes and evaluated responses to the anxiogenic environment of the light/dark box test or the elevated plus-maze, 24 hours later. We found that, when compared to non-stressed controls, SDS-exposed voles displayed longer latency to enter the light compartment of the light/dark box. Similarly, on the elevated plus-maze, SDS-exposed voles displayed decreases in the number of entries into the open arms, while spending more time in the closed arms of the maze. No differences in locomotor activity were noted between the experimental groups. Collectively, these data indicate that chronic SDS exposure induces anxiety-like responses in adult male prairie voles, thus, providing a preclinical model for the study of social stress-induced anxiogenic phenotypes.

Background: Accurate prediction of mortality following an ischemic stroke is essential for tailoring personalized treatment strategies. This study evaluates the effectiveness of machine learning models in predicting one-year mortality after an ischemic stroke.

Methods: Five machine learning models were trained using data from a national stroke registry, with logistic regression demonstrating the highest performance. The SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis explained the model's outcomes and defined the influential predictive factors.

Results: Analyzing 8183 ischemic stroke patients, logistic regression achieved 83% accuracy, 0.89 AUC, and an F1 score of 0.83. Significant predictors included stroke severity, pre-stroke functional status, age, hospital-acquired pneumonia, ischemic stroke subtype, tobacco use, and co-existing diabetes mellitus (DM).

Discussion: The model highlights the importance of predicting mortality in enhancing personalized stroke care. Apart from pneumonia, all predictors can serve the early prediction of mortality risk which supports the initiation of early preventive measures and in setting realistic expectations of disease outcomes for all stakeholders. The identified tobacco paradox warrants further investigation.

Conclusion: This study offers a promising tool for early prediction of stroke mortality and for advancing personalized stroke care. It emphasizes the need for prospective studies to validate these findings in diverse clinical settings.

Decision making is a process of selecting a course of action by assessing the worth or value of the potential consequences. Rat Gambling Task (RGT) is a well-established behavioral paradigm that allows for assessment of the decision-making performance of rats. Astrocytes are emerging as key players in modulating cognitive functions. Using repeated RGTs with short intersession time intervals (48 h), the current study demonstrates that G_i pathway activation of astrocytes in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) leads to impaired decision-making in consistently good decision-making rats. On the other hand, ACC astrocytic G_q pathway activation improves decision-making in a subset of rats who are not consistently good decision-makers. Furthermore, we show that astrocytic G_q activation is associated with an increase in the L-lactate level in the extracellular fluid of the ACC. Together, these results expand our knowledge of the role of astrocytic GPCR signaling in modulating cognitive functions.