Cannabidiolɗs Role as a Potential Target in the Treatment for Schizophrenia

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S631-S631
Author(s):  
A. Carvalho ◽  
J. Felgueiras ◽  
T. Abreu ◽  
C. Freitas ◽  
J. Silva
Keyword(s):  
Endocannabinoid System ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Novel Therapy ◽  
Considerable Uncertainty ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain

ObjectivesSchizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder which places a significant emotional and economic strain on the individual and society-at-large. Unfortunately, currently available therapeutic strategies do not provide adequate relief and some patients are treatment-resistant. Therefore there is urgent need for the development of mechanistically different and less side effect prone antipsychotic compounds. Recently, the endocannabinoid system has emerged as a potential therapeutic target for pharmacotherapy that is involved in a wide range of disorders, including schizophrenia. Modulation of this system by the main psychoactive component in cannabis, Δ9tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), induces acute psychotic effects and cognitive impairment. However, the non-psychotropic, plant-derived cannabinoid agent cannabidiol shows great promise for the treatment of psychosis, and is associated with fewer extrapyramidal side effects than conventional antipsychotic drugs.MethodsThe aim of this review is to analyse the involvement of the endocannabinoid system in schizophrenia and the potential role of cannabidiol in its treatment.Results and conclusionsThere is still considerable uncertainty about the mechanism of action of cannabidiol as well as the brain regions which are thought to mediate its putative antipsychotic effect. Further data is warrant before this novel therapy can be introduced into clinical practice.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest

Neuroretinal Dysfunctions in Regular Cannabis Users: An Impact of Cannabis on Retinal Neurotransmission?

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S638-S638
Author(s):  
T. Schwitzer ◽  
R. Schwan ◽  
A. Giersch ◽  
E. Albuisson ◽  
K. Angioi-Duprez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Endocannabinoid System ◽  
Implicit Time ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Transmission Of Information ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
On And Off Pathways ◽  
The Waves ◽  
The Brain

IntroductionAlthough cannabis is very widespread worldwide, its brain toxicity is poorly understood. The neuroretina is an accessible extension of the brain and could be a relevant site for investigating neurotransmission abnormalities in neuropsychiatric disorders. The retina has a functional endocannabinoid system involved in the regulation of retinal neurotransmission. In animals, the modulation of this system led to retinal dysfunctions measured with the electroretinogram (ERG).ObjectivesTo assess whether the regular cannabis use could affect the neuroretinal function.AimsAssessments of the neuroretinal function in cannabis users compared with controls.MethodsRecordings of pattern, flash and on-off ERG were performed in 55 cannabis users and 29 controls. The amplitude and implicit time of the following waves were evaluated: N95 (pattern); a – and b – (flash); a –, b- and d1 – (on-off).ResultsCannabis users showed a significant increase in implicit time of the waves N95 (P = 0.0001), a- (P = 0.029) and b – (P = 0.002) for the flash ERG and b – (P = 0.016) and d1 – (P = 0.027) for the on-off ERG, compared with controls. No significant difference was found between groups in terms of wave's amplitudes.ConclusionsThese results show a delay in the response of cones, bipolar and ganglion cells of the on and off pathways to constitute a delay of ≈ 6 ms in the transmission of information from the retina to the brain in cannabis users. Cannabis could disrupt the regulatory role of the cannabinoid system and impair retinal glutamatergic neurotransmission. The consequences on visual perception should be explored in future studies.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals Activity in the brain’s valuation and mentalizing networks is associated with propagation of online recommendations

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa C. Baek ◽  
Matthew Brook O’Donnell ◽  
Christin Scholz ◽  
Rui Pei ◽  
Javier O. Garcia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Opinion Change ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Mentalizing System

AbstractWord of mouth recommendations influence a wide range of choices and behaviors. What takes place in the mind of recommendation receivers that determines whether they will be successfully influenced? Prior work suggests that brain systems implicated in assessing the value of stimuli (i.e., subjective valuation) and understanding others’ mental states (i.e., mentalizing) play key roles. The current study used neuroimaging and natural language classifiers to extend these findings in a naturalistic context and tested the extent to which the two systems work together or independently in responding to social influence. First, we show that in response to text-based social media recommendations, activity in both the brain’s valuation system and mentalizing system was associated with greater likelihood of opinion change. Second, participants were more likely to update their opinions in response to negative, compared to positive, recommendations, with activity in the mentalizing system scaling with the negativity of the recommendations. Third, decreased functional connectivity between valuation and mentalizing systems was associated with opinion change. Results highlight the role of brain regions involved in mentalizing and positive valuation in recommendation propagation, and further show that mentalizing may be particularly key in processing negative recommendations, whereas the valuation system is relevant in evaluating both positive and negative recommendations.

scholarly journals Identification and Research of Adhd and Healthy Controls using Fmri

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (6S) ◽  
pp. 370-372
Keyword(s):  
Brain Regions ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Network Activation ◽  
Healthy Control ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Coronal View

Analyzing the brain regions for different activations corresponding to the activation input for an experimental setup of task functional MRI or a resting state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging(fMRI) for a diagnosed or healthy control is a challenging issue as the processing data is voluminous 4D data with nearly 1,51,552 voxels for a single volume of 261 scans fMRI. The data considered for analysis consists of 10 healthy controls and 10 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) fMRI. The workflow starts with preprocessing the individual scan for realignment, coregistration and Normalisation to Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) space. Single site scan visit consists of 64x64x37 voxels. Seventy independent components are obtained from processed data by data reduction, Independent Component Analysis (ICA) calculation, Back reconstruction and Component Calibration. ICA performs satisfactorily well on temporal and spatial localization. Visual medial network activation is pronounced in ADHD Controls than in healthy people. Sagittal, Axial and Coronal view of ADHD controls is obtained as component number 42.The analysis is further used for the automatic classification of healthy controls and ADHD people.

scholarly journals Industry 4.0 and their application in medicine and dentistry, as well as the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic

Tehnika ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-520
Author(s):  
Nemanja Majstorović ◽  
Vidosav Majstorović ◽  
Radivoje Mitrović ◽  
Žarko Mišković
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Industry 4.0 ◽  
Review Paper ◽  
Treatment Time ◽  
Complete System ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Review Study ◽  
The Individual

Basics: Industry 4.0 is a realized reality, which already today has a growing application in medicine and dentistry. So, at this moment, its application is especially important in the fight against covid-19. Aim of the paper: The purpose of this review paper is to understand the role of Industry 4.0 in the field of medicine and dentistry and to identify research directions, including future applications, especially for covid-19. Material and method: A detailed analysis of papers on Industry 4.0 in medicine, dentistry and related fields was performed and possible applications and directions of research were identified, especially for covid-19.Result: Through this review study, we identified different technologies, opportunities and research status of Industry 4.0 in the field of medicine, dentistry and covid-19 pandemic, through 19 areas of application. We can say that Industry 4.0 will become an essential part of tomorrow's smart factory of medical and dental devices. Conclusion: Industry 4.0 shows a wide range of possibilities for the production of newly adapted implants (medical and dental) and innovative tools and instruments for the field of medicine and dentistry. This model enables the creation of a digital clinic and digital office, with a complete system of medical and dental monitoring, which meets the individual requirements of the patient, thus creating the industry of medicine and dentistry with optimization of treatment time and costs. In the future, Industry 4.0 will create new capabilities and innovative protocols for the treatment and care of patients, both in medicine and dentistry.

scholarly journals Resting-state brain activity can predict target-independent aptitude in fMRI-neurofeedback training

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Nakano ◽  
Masahiro Takamura ◽  
Haruki Nishimura ◽  
Maro Machizawa ◽  
Naho Ichikawa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resting State ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Fmri Data ◽  
Independent Test ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain

AbstractNeurofeedback (NF) aptitude, which refers to an individual’s ability to change its brain activity through NF training, has been reported to vary significantly from person to person. The prediction of individual NF aptitudes is critical in clinical NF applications. In the present study, we extracted the resting-state functional brain connectivity (FC) markers of NF aptitude independent of NF-targeting brain regions. We combined the data in fMRI-NF studies targeting four different brain regions at two independent sites (obtained from 59 healthy adults and six patients with major depressive disorder) to collect the resting-state fMRI data associated with aptitude scores in subsequent fMRI-NF training. We then trained the regression models to predict the individual NF aptitude scores from the resting-state fMRI data using a discovery dataset from one site and identified six resting-state FCs that predicted NF aptitude. Next we validated the prediction model using independent test data from another site. The result showed that the posterior cingulate cortex was the functional hub among the brain regions and formed predictive resting-state FCs, suggesting NF aptitude may be involved in the attentional mode-orientation modulation system’s characteristics in task-free resting-state brain activity.

Inflammation and Pruning May Inform Risk to Psychiatric Disorders. Lessons From Large Genetic Data

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S56-S56
Author(s):  
C. Crisafulli
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Molecular Mechanics ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Molecular Pathway ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Single Effect ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
The Brain ◽  
New Hypothesis

BackgroundIt's known that psychiatric disorders are caused to either environmental and genetics factors. Through the years several hypotheses were tested and many genes were screened for association, resulting in a huge amount of data available for the scientific community. Despite that, the molecular mechanics behind psychiatric disorders remains largely unknown. Traditional association studies may be not enough to pinpoint the molecular underpinnings of psychiatric disorder. We tried to applying a methodology that investigates molecular-pathway-analysis that takes into account several genes per time, clustered in consistent molecular groups and may successfully capture the signal of a number of genetic variations with a small single effect on the disease. This approach might reveal more of the molecular basis of psychiatric disorders.Methodsi)We collected data on studies available in literature for the studied disorder (e.g. Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder);ii)We extracted a pool of genes that are likely involved with the disease;iii)We used these genes as starting point to map molecular cascades function-linked. The molecular cascades are then analyzed and pathways and sub-pathways, possibly involved with them, are identified and tested for association.Results/discussionWe obtained interesting results. In particular, signals of enrichment (association) were obtained multiple times on the molecular pathway associated with the pruning activity and inflammation. Molecular mechanics related to neuronal pruning were focused as a major and new hypothesis for the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders and the role of inflammatory events has been extensively investigated in psychiatry. intersting, inflammatory mechanics in the brain may also play a role in neuronal pruning during the early development of CNS.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

Role of adrenal catecholamines in cerebrovasodilation evoked from brain stem

1987 ◽  
Vol 252 (6) ◽  
pp. H1183-H1191
Author(s):  
C. Iadecola ◽  
P. M. Lacombe ◽  
M. D. Underwood ◽  
T. Ishitsuka ◽  
D. J. Reis
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Blood Gases ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Elevated Plasma ◽  
Regional Cerebral Blood ◽  
Medullary Reticular Formation ◽  
Alpha Chloralose ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Stimulation Of

We studied whether adrenal medullary catecholamines (CAs) contribute to the metabolically linked increase in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) elicited by electrical stimulation of the dorsal medullary reticular formation (DMRF). Rats were anesthetized (alpha-chloralose, 30 mg/kg), paralyzed, and artificially ventilated. The DMRF was electrically stimulated with intermittent trains of pulses through microelectrodes stereotaxically implanted. Blood gases were controlled and, during stimulation, arterial pressure was maintained within the autoregulated range for rCBF. rCBF and blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability were determined in homogenates of brain regions by using [14C]iodoantipyrine and alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB), respectively, as tracers. Plasma CAs (epinephrine and norepinephrine) were measured radioenzymatically. DMRF stimulation increased rCBF throughout the brain (n = 5; P less than 0.01, analysis of variance) and elevated plasma CAs substantially (n = 4). Acute bilateral adrenalectomy abolished the increase in plasma epinephrine (n = 4), reduced the increases in flow (n = 6) in cerebral cortex (P less than 0.05), and abolished them elsewhere in brain (P greater than 0.05). Comparable effects on rCBF were obtained by selective adrenal demedullation (n = 7) or pretreatment with propranolol (1.5 mg/kg iv) (n = 5). DMRF stimulation did not increase the permeability of the BBB to AIB (n = 5). We conclude that the increases in rCBF elicited from the DMRF has two components, one dependent on, and the other independent of CAs. Since the BBB is impermeable to CAs and DMRF stimulation fails to open the BBB, the results suggest that DMRF stimulation allows, through a mechanism not yet determined, circulating CAs to act on brain and affect brain function.

The Role of Cybersecurity Certifications

2022 ◽  
pp. 93-118
Author(s):  
Adrian Davis
Keyword(s):  
Information Security ◽  
Job Descriptions ◽  
Organizational Perspective ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Real Value ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Security Certifications ◽  
Individual Information

The chapter looks at the burgeoning field of certification for individuals in the field of information security or cybersecurity. Individual information security certifications cover a wide range of topics from the deeply technical to the managerial. These certifications are used as a visible indication of an individual's status and knowledge, used to define experience and status, used in job descriptions and screening, and may define expectations placed on the individual. This chapter examines how these certifications are produced, the subjects they cover, and how they integrate and the various audiences to which the certifications are aimed. The role, the perceived and real value, and benefits of certification within the field of information security both from an individual and an organizational perspective are discussed. Finally, some conclusions on certification are presented.

scholarly journals Neural Substrates of Social Status Inference: Roles of Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Superior Temporal Sulcus

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 1131-1140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malia Mason ◽  
Joe C. Magee ◽  
Susan T. Fiske
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Social Interdependence ◽  
Medial Pfc ◽  
State Inference ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Track Status

The negotiation of social order is intimately connected to the capacity to infer and track status relationships. Despite the foundational role of status in social cognition, we know little about how the brain constructs status from social interactions that display it. Although emerging cognitive neuroscience reveals that status judgments depend on the intraparietal sulcus, a brain region that supports the comparison of targets along a quantitative continuum, we present evidence that status judgments do not necessarily reduce to ranking targets along a quantitative continuum. The process of judging status also fits a social interdependence analysis. Consistent with third-party perceivers judging status by inferring whose goals are dictating the terms of the interaction and who is subordinating their desires to whom, status judgments were associated with increased recruitment of medial pFC and STS, brain regions implicated in mental state inference.

scholarly journals The NCX3 Isoform of the Na+/Ca2+ Exchanger Contributes to Neuroprotection Elicited by Ischemic Postconditioning

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 362-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Pignataro ◽  
Elga Esposito ◽  
Ornella Cuomo ◽  
Rossana Sirabella ◽  
Francesca Boscia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Regions ◽  
Ischemic Postconditioning ◽  
Intracerebroventricular Infusion ◽  
Ionic Transporters ◽  
Relevant Role ◽  
Ischemic Episode ◽  
Study Support ◽  
Interfering Rna ◽  
The Brain

It has been recently shown that a short sublethal brain ischemia subsequent to a prolonged harmful ischemic episode may confer ischemic neuroprotection, a phenomenon termed ischemic postconditioning. Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX) isoforms, NCX1, NCX2, and NCX3, are plasma membrane ionic transporters widely distributed in the brain and involved in the control of Na+ and Ca2+ homeostasis and in the progression of stroke damage. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of these three proteins in the postconditioning-induced neuroprotection. The NCX protein and mRNA expression was evaluated at different time points in the ischemic temporoparietal cortex of rats subjected to tMCAO alone or to tMCAO plus ischemic postconditioning. The results of this study showed that NCX3 protein and ncx3 mRNA were upregulated in those brain regions protected by postconditioning treatment. These changes in NCX3 expression were mediated by the phosphorylated form of the ubiquitously expressed serine/threonine protein kinase p-AKT, as the p-AKT inhibition prevented NCX3 upregulation. The relevant role of NCX3 during postconditioning was further confirmed by results showing that NCX3 silencing, induced by intracerebroventricular infusion of small interfering RNA (siRNA), partially reverted the postconditioning-induced neuroprotection. The results of this study support the idea that the enhancement of NCX3 expression and activity might represent a reasonable strategy to reduce the infarct extension after stroke.

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