{"title":"<i>Brain and Neuroscience Advances</i> - 2024 in review.","authors":"Kate Baker","doi":"10.1177/23982128251317305","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23982128251317305","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72444,"journal":{"name":"Brain and neuroscience advances","volume":"9 ","pages":"23982128251317305"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11800242/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143366912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mark E Walton, Catherine M Abbott, Laura A Ajram, Narender Ramnani, Tara L Spires-Jones
{"title":"Under pressure: UK preclinical neuroscience at a crossroads.","authors":"Mark E Walton, Catherine M Abbott, Laura A Ajram, Narender Ramnani, Tara L Spires-Jones","doi":"10.1177/23982128251314616","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23982128251314616","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Graphical Abstract.</p>","PeriodicalId":72444,"journal":{"name":"Brain and neuroscience advances","volume":"9 ","pages":"23982128251314616"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11792005/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143191296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Petar P Raykov, Jessica Daly, Simon E Fisher, Else Eising, Linda Geerligs, Chris M Bird
{"title":"No effect of apolipoprotein E polymorphism on MRI brain activity during movie watching.","authors":"Petar P Raykov, Jessica Daly, Simon E Fisher, Else Eising, Linda Geerligs, Chris M Bird","doi":"10.1177/23982128251314577","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23982128251314577","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Apolipoprotein E ε4 is a major genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, and some apolipoprotein E ε4 carriers show Alzheimer's disease-related neuropathology many years before cognitive changes are apparent. Therefore, studying healthy apolipoprotein E genotyped individuals offers an opportunity to investigate the earliest changes in brain measures that may signal the presence of disease-related processes. For example, subtle changes in functional magnetic resonance imaging functional connectivity, particularly within the default mode network, have been described when comparing healthy ε4 carriers to ε3 carriers. Similarly, very mild impairments of episodic memory have also been documented in healthy apolipoprotein E ε4 carriers. Here, we use a naturalistic activity (movie watching), and a marker of episodic memory encoding (transient changes in functional magnetic resonance imaging activity and functional connectivity around so-called 'event boundaries'), to investigate potential phenotype differences associated with the apolipoprotein E ε4 genotype in a large sample of healthy adults. Using Bayes factor analyses, we found strong evidence against existence of differences associated with apolipoprotein E allelic status. Similarly, we did not find apolipoprotein E-associated differences when we ran exploratory analyses examining: functional system segregation across the whole brain, and connectivity within the default mode network. We conclude that apolipoprotein E genotype has little or no effect on how ongoing experiences are processed in healthy adults. The mild phenotype differences observed in some studies may reflect early effects of Alzheimer's disease-related pathology in apolipoprotein E ε4 carriers.</p>","PeriodicalId":72444,"journal":{"name":"Brain and neuroscience advances","volume":"9 ","pages":"23982128251314577"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11783505/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143082102","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lindsey I Sinclair, Laura Ajram, Gertrude Seneviratne, Derek Tracy, Hugo Critchley
{"title":"Why does research matter to psychiatrists?","authors":"Lindsey I Sinclair, Laura Ajram, Gertrude Seneviratne, Derek Tracy, Hugo Critchley","doi":"10.1177/23982128241305866","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23982128241305866","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72444,"journal":{"name":"Brain and neuroscience advances","volume":"9 ","pages":"23982128241305866"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11724414/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142973696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sameer N B Alladin, Ruth Judson, Poppy Whittaker, Angela S Attwood, Edwin S Dalmaijer
{"title":"Review of the gastric physiology of disgust: Proto-nausea as an under-explored facet of the gut-brain axis.","authors":"Sameer N B Alladin, Ruth Judson, Poppy Whittaker, Angela S Attwood, Edwin S Dalmaijer","doi":"10.1177/23982128241305890","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23982128241305890","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Humans feel visceral disgust when faced with potential contaminants like bodily effluvia. The emotion serves to reject potentially contaminated food and is paired with proto-nausea: alterations in gastric rhythm in response to disgust. Here, we offer a narrative synthesis of the existing literature on the effects of disgust on the stomach as measured through electrogastrography, a non-invasive technique that measures stomach activity with electrodes placed on the abdominal skin surface. After identifying and assessing 368 studies for eligibility and inclusion based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses process, we reviewed a final sample of only 10 articles that employed electrogastrography to assess gastric responses to unpleasant stimuli, including disgust elicitors. Reviewed findings illustrate that changes in gastric rhythm are associated with negatively valenced emotions, and most reliably with visceral disgust elicitors. This rhymes with recent evidence for a causal role of gastric state in reductions in visceral disgust avoidance. Because limitations in the reviewed body of work come from the low number of studies and relatively small sample sizes, we strongly encourage studies of proto-nausea in designs with higher statistical power, ideally paired with experimental manipulations of gastric state.</p>","PeriodicalId":72444,"journal":{"name":"Brain and neuroscience advances","volume":"8 ","pages":"23982128241305890"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11662309/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142878734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From neurophobia to neurophilia: Fostering confidence and passion for neurology in medical students.","authors":"Amna Ali, Paul Stephen Hubbard, Muzuki Ueda","doi":"10.1177/23982128241307148","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23982128241307148","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72444,"journal":{"name":"Brain and neuroscience advances","volume":"8 ","pages":"23982128241307148"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11656419/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142866715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Isabel M Logan, Charlotte Mosley, Thomas Malcomson, Emma Yhnell
{"title":"Are all neuroscience degrees the same? A comparison of undergraduate neuroscience degrees across the United Kingdom.","authors":"Isabel M Logan, Charlotte Mosley, Thomas Malcomson, Emma Yhnell","doi":"10.1177/23982128241307585","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23982128241307585","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Considering the broad scope covered by the field of neuroscience, this study compares neuroscience undergraduate degree programmes across the United Kingdom, with a focus on the distribution of core and optional neuroscience-specific modules. Data from 13 universities were analysed; this revealed significant variation in the proportion of NS module credits acquired by graduation, ranging from 28% to 100% across institutions. The findings highlight particularly low core NS content in Year 1, potentially affecting informed choice of subsequent modules. The observed flexibility in module selection throughout a neuroscience undergraduate degree is a promising opportunity for students to explore their interdisciplinary interests. However, in response to the high variability in NS core and total credits demonstrated by this research, this study calls for further discussion on establishing an accreditation framework to ensure consistency in neuroscience undergraduate degrees across the United Kingdom.</p>","PeriodicalId":72444,"journal":{"name":"Brain and neuroscience advances","volume":"8 ","pages":"23982128241307585"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11653284/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142855864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Centralising a loss of consciousness to the central medial thalamus.","authors":"Florence Rawlings-Mortimer, Jeffrey W Dalley","doi":"10.1177/23982128241306549","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23982128241306549","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although a role of the thalamus in different arousal and awareness states is well established, there is a surprising lack of knowledge on subregional specificity within this complex, multinucleated structure of the diencephalon. In their recent paper 'Extrasynaptic GABA-A receptors in central medial thalamus mediate anaesthesia in rats', Muheyati et al. evaluated whether GABA<sub>A</sub> receptors expressed in the central medial (CM), paraventricular (PV) or lateral mediodorsal (MD) nuclei of the thalamus contribute to the loss of the righting reflex (LORR) in rats. Deficits in this reflex have previously been interpreted as a surrogate marker of altered levels of consciousness. Using a range of convergent techniques, the authors report the novel finding that delta subunit-expressing GABA<sub>A</sub> receptors in the CM contribute to distinct awareness states. This important discovery implicates a tonic GABA<sub>A</sub>-mediated conductance in the CM that may be relevant for minimally conscious states and other conditions of altered awareness.</p>","PeriodicalId":72444,"journal":{"name":"Brain and neuroscience advances","volume":"8 ","pages":"23982128241306549"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11650603/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142848003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Emma Wilson, Gillian Currie, Malcolm Macleod, Peter Kind, Emily S Sena
{"title":"Genetically modified animals as models of neurodevelopmental conditions: A review of systematic review reporting quality.","authors":"Emma Wilson, Gillian Currie, Malcolm Macleod, Peter Kind, Emily S Sena","doi":"10.1177/23982128241287279","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23982128241287279","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Using genetically modified animals to model neurodevelopmental conditions helps better our understanding of biology underlying these conditions. Animal research has unique characteristics not shared with clinical research, meaning systematic review methods must be adapted to this context. We aim to evaluate the quantity, characteristics, and reporting quality of systematic reviews which synthesise research using genetically modified animals to model neurodevelopmental conditions. On 23 January 2023, we searched PubMed, Embase, and the Web of Science Core Collection to identify systematic reviews of genetic neurodevelopmental condition animal research where the modified gene was one in a list of 102 genes associated with neurodevelopmental conditions identified through large-scale exome sequencing or <i>Fmr1</i>, <i>Mecp2</i>, or <i>Ube3a</i>. Two independent reviewers screened studies based on full text and assessed the reporting quality of relevant reviews using an adapted version of the PRISMA checklist (PRISMA-Pre). Twelve review publications met our criteria. We found mixed levels of reporting: items such as identifying the publication as a systematic review in the title, search strategies, and funding sources being well reported, and others such as protocol registration and data sharing less well reported. We also identified 19 review registrations via PROSPERO, most of which remain unpublished after their anticipated end dates. Systematic reviews are limited by lack of reporting. Increased awareness of reporting guidelines may help authors increase the transparency and reproducibility, and therefore the reliability, of their systematic reviews.</p>","PeriodicalId":72444,"journal":{"name":"Brain and neuroscience advances","volume":"8 ","pages":"23982128241287279"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11489925/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142486052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}