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Background: Over the last decades many brain imaging studies have contributed to new insights in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disease. However, in spite of these developments, progress in the development of novel therapeutic drugs for prevalent psychiatric health conditions has been limited. Objective: In this review we discuss translational, diagnostic and methodological issues that have hampered drug development in CNS disorders with a particular focus on psychiatry. The role of preclinical models is critically reviewed and opportunities for brain imaging in early stages of drug development using PET and fMRI are discussed. The role of PET and fMRI in drug development is reviewed emphasizing the need to engage in collaborations between industry, academia and phase I units. Conclusion: Brain imaging technology has revolutionized the study of psychiatric illnesses and during the last decade neuroimaging has provided valuable insights at different levels of analysis and brain organization, such as effective connectivity (anatomical), functional connectivity patterns and neurochemical information that may support both preclinical and clinical drug development. Since there is no unifying pathophysiological theory of individual psychiatric syndromes and since many symptoms cut across diagnostic boundaries, a new theoretical framework has been proposed that may help in defining new targets for treatment and thus enhance drug development in CNS diseases. In addition, it is argued that new proposals for data-mining and mathematical modelling as well as freely available databanks for neural network and neurochemical models of rodents combined with revised psychiatric classification will lead to validated new targets for drug development.

Wydział Anglistyki Niniejsza dysertacja bada problem neuronalnych korelatów przetwarzania fonologicznego języka ojczystego i języka obcego u polskich użytkowników języka angielskiego. W celu wskazania struktur i funkcji mózgu odpowiedzialnych za przetwarzanie fonologiczne stworzono zestaw eksperymentów, które przeprowadzono na grupie średniozaawansowanych polskich użytkowników języka angielskiego. Korzystając z metody rezonansu magnetycznego sprawdzono hipotezę zakładającą zrózżnicowanie w reprezentacji procesów fonologicznych w mózgu, w zależności od przetwarzanego języka oraz stopnia zaawansowania użytkownika. Zestaw zawierał cztery eksperymenty z zadaniami w języku polskim i angielskim, takimi jak słuchanie pasywne, Test Pamięci Roboczej Sternberga, test fluencji słownej, oraz Test Leksykalny dla Zaawansowanych Uczniów Języka Angielskiego. Na eksperymenty złożyły się również trzy eksperymenty nie oparte na żadnych zadaniach. Wyniki wraz z dokładną dyskusją sugerują model przetwarzania drugiego języka, który składa się z modułów związanych z zadaniami językowymi zbudowanych ze współgrających ze sobą sieci mózgowych. W związku z tym, niniejsza dysertacja wnosi nowe odkrycia do dziedzin językoznawstwa i neuronauki, poszerzając nasze zrozumienie procesów przetwarzania języka w mózgu. The present thesis investigates the issue of neural basis for phonological processing of native and non-native speech in Polish-English bilinguals. In order to pinpoint the structures and functions that are relevant to phonological processing, a set of experiments was devised on a group of moderately proficient Polish-English bilinguals. Using the method of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and hypothesizing that there will be differences in the representation of phonological processes in the brain, dependent on the language and the level of proficiency in the language, four task-based experiments in both Polish and English, including listening to stories, Sternberg Working Memory Task, Verbal Fluency Task, and Lexical Test for Advanced Learners of English, and three task-independent experiments were conducted. The results of the thesis, along with the detailed discussion suggest a model of phonological processing in L2, which consists of different task-related modules of interacting brain networks. As such, the present thesis contributes to both fields of linguistics and neuroscience, broadening the understanding of how the brain processes language.

Cuatro imágenes de una atrofia cerebral en un boxeador. Four pictures of a cerebral atrophy in a boxer.

Transcranial pulsed current stimulation (tPCS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are two noninvasive neuromodulatory brain stimulation techniques whose effects on human brain and behavior have been studied individually. In the present study we aimed to quantify the effects of tDCS and tPCS, individually and in combination, on cortical activity, sensitivity and pain-related assessments in healthy individuals in order to understand their neurophysiological mechanisms and potential applications in clinical populations. A total of 48 healthy individuals participated in this randomized double blind sham controlled study. Participants were randomized to receive a single stimulation session of either: active or sham tPCS and active or sham tDCS. Quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG), sensitivity and pain assessments were used before and after each stimulation session. We observed that tPCS had a higher effect on power, as compared to tDCS, in several bandwidths on various cortical regions: the theta band in the parietal region (p = 0.021), the alpha band in the temporal (p = 0.009), parietal (p = 0.0063), and occipital (p < 0.0001) regions. We found that the combination of tPCS and tDCS significantly decreased power in the low beta bandwidth of the frontal (p = 0.0006), central (p = 0.0001), and occipital (p = 0.0003) regions, when compared to sham stimulation. Additionally, tDCS significantly increased power in high beta over the temporal (p = 0.0015) and parietal (p = 0.0007) regions, as compared to sham. We found no effect on sensitivity or pain-related assessments. We concluded that tPCS and tDCS have different neurophysiological mechanisms, elicit distinct signatures, and that the combination of the two leads to no effect or a decrease on qEEG power. Further studies are required to examine the effects of these techniques on clinical populations in which EEG signatures have been found altered. © 2016

Cross, E. S., Riddoch, K. A., Pratts, J., Titone, S., Chaudhury, B., & Hortensius, R. (2019). A neurocognitive investigation of the impact of socialising with a robot on empathy for pain:. http://doi.org/10.1101/470534

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system characterized by patchy areas of demyelination, inflammation, axonal loss and gliosis, and a diffuse axonal degeneration throughout the so-called normal-appearing white matter (NAWM). A number of recent studies using perfusion magnetic resonance imaging in both relapsing and progressive forms of MS have shown a decreased perfusion of the NAWM, which does not appear to be secondary to axonal loss. The reduced perfusion of the NAWM in MS might be caused by a widespread astrocyte dysfunction, possibly related to a deficiency in astrocytic beta(2)-adrenergic receptors and a reduced formation of cAMP, resulting in a reduced uptake of K+ at the nodes of Ranvier and a reduced release of K+ in the perivascular spaces. Pathologic and imaging studies suggest that ischemic changes might be involved in the development of a subtype of focal demyelinating lesions (type III lesions), and there appears to exist a relationship between decreased white matter perfusion and cognitive dysfunction in patients with MS.

Cuatro imágenes de un cerebro afectado por epilepsia. Four pictures of a brain affected by epilepsy.

Objective: To develop a new device for identifying physiological markers of pain perception by reading the brain's electrical activity and hemodynamic interactions while applying thermoalgesic stimulation. Methods: We designed a compact prototype that generates well-controlled thermal stimuli using a computer-driven Peltier cell while simultaneously capturing electroencephalography (EEG) and photoplethysmography (PPG) signals. The study was performed on 35 healthy subjects (mean age 30.46 years, SD 4.93 years; 20 males, 15 females). We first determined the heat pain threshold (HPT) for each subject, defined as the maximum temperature that the subject can withstand when the Peltier cell gradually increased the temperature. Next, we defined the painful condition as the one occurring at temperature equal to 90% of the HPT, comparing this to the no-pain state (control) in the absence of thermoalgesic stimulation. Results: Both the one-dimensional and the two-dimensional spectral entropy (SE) obtained from both the EEG and PPG signals differentiated the condition of pain. In particular, the SE for PPG was significantly reduced in association with pain, while the SE for EEG increased slightly. Moreover, significant discrimination occurred within a specific range of frequencies, 26-30 Hz for EEG and about 5-10 Hz for PPG. Conclusion: Hemodynamics, brain dynamics and their interactions can discriminate thermal pain perception. Significance: The possibility of monitoring on-line variations in thermal pain perception using a similar device and algorithms may be of interest to study different pathologies that affect the peripheral nervous system, such as small fiber neuropathies, fibromyalgia or painful diabetic neuropathy.