scholarly journals Optogenetics

2015 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-27
Author(s):  
Phillip Williams ◽  
Steven Wong

The nature of the brain presents many challenges to its study, from the intricacy of its structure to the minute timescale at which it functions. Traditional research techniques, such as electrophysiological manipulation and pharmacologic intervention, are limited by their inability to operate with both high temporal and spatial resolution. Optogenetics is a novel technology that provides unparalleled specificity in this regard. It allows for control of neural activity with high temporospatial resolution in a manner that does not disrupt the normal physiology of the system. It is an elegant research tool that uses light to control the electrical activity of genetically defined neuron populations with millisecond precision in systems as complex as freely moving live animals. First demonstrated in 2005, it was identified by Nature as the Scientific Method of the Year in 2010 and is currently used by thousands of labs across the world. It has already yielded new discoveries in a variety of neuroscience subfields and will undoubtedly continue to do so. The technology currently exists in a basic science capacity, but has potential for therapeutic application. It is not without its own limitations, but has advantages over more crude alternatives and has proven to be a powerful tool in the hand of the neuroscientist.

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (127) ◽  
pp. 20160872
Author(s):  
Benjamin J. Zhang ◽  
Maysamreza Chamanzar ◽  
Mohammad-Reza Alam

Here we show that brain seizures can be effectively suppressed through random modulation of the brain medium. We use an established mesoscale cortical model in the form of a system of coupled stochastic partial differential equations. We show that by temporal and spatial randomization of parameters governing the firing rates of the excitatory and inhibitory neuron populations, seizure waves can be significantly suppressed. We find that the attenuation is the most effective when applied to the mean threshold potential. The proposed technique can serve as a non-invasive paradigm to mitigate epileptic seizures without knowing the location of the epileptic foci.


GYNECOLOGY ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 84-86
Author(s):  
Sergei P. Sinchikhin ◽  
Sarkis G. Magakyan ◽  
Oganes G. Magakyan

Relevance.A neoplasm originated from the myelonic sheath of the nerve trunk is called neurinoma or neurilemmoma, neurinoma, schwannoglioma, schwannoma. This tumor can cause compression and dysfunction of adjacent tissues and organs. The most common are the auditory nerve neurinomas (1 case per 100 000 population per year), the brain and spinal cord neurinomas are rare. In the world literature, there is no information on the occurrences of this tumor in the pelvic region. Description.Presented below is a clinical observation of a 30-year-old patient who was scheduled for myomectomy. During laparoscopy, an unusual tumor of the small pelvis was found and radically removed. A morphological study allowed to identify the remote neoplasm as a neuroma. Conclusion.The presented practical case shows that any tumor can hide under a clinical mask of another disease. The qualification of the doctor performing laparoscopic myomectomy should be sufficient to carry out, if necessary, another surgical volume.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyang Yu

Nomological determinism does not mean everything is predictable. It just means everything follows the law of nature. And the most important thing Is that the brain and consciousness follow the law of nature. In other words, there is no free will. Without life, brain and consciousness, the world follows law of nature, that is clear. The life and brain are also part of nature, and they follow the law of nature. This is due to scientific findings. There are not enough scientific findings for consciousness yet. But I think that the consciousness is a nature phenomenon, and it also follows the law of nature.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grazianne-Geneve V. Mendoza ◽  
Christie Sio

Filipino:Sa loob ng mahabang panahon, ang mga metodong pampananaliksik na ginagamit sa Sikolohiyang Pilipino (SP) ay hango sa pang-araw-araw na pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga Pilipino. Ngunit makalipas ang higit 40 taon simula nang unang itatag ang SP, malaki na ang pinagbago ng pakikipag-ugnayan at pakikitungo ng mga Pilipino sa isa’t isa dahil sa modernisasyon at pag-unlad ng teknolohiya. Gayundin, dumarami na rin ang mga iskolar ng SP na kumikilala sa kahalagahan ng pagsasakatutubo-mula-sa-labas upang higit pang mapayaman ang disiplina. Kabilang dito ang pag-aangkop ng mga lapit at metodong pampananaliksik. Bilang tugon sa mga pagbabagong ito, tinatampok sa kasalukuyang pag-aaral ang experience sampling method (ESM), isang metodong malaki ang potensiyal ngunit hindi pa nagagamit sa kontekstong Pilipino. Kumpara sa mga tradisyunal na metodo, may kakayahan ang ESM na suriin at pag-aralan ang karanasan ng tao, kabilang na ang kaniyang damdamin, saloobin, at kilos, habang nangyayari ito mismo sa kasalukuyan. Upang higit na mailapit ito sa araw-araw na buhay at gawi ng mga kalahok, marami nang mga smartphone applications o apps na magagamit sa pagsasagawa ng ESM. Sa papel na ito, tinasa ang kaangkupan ng ESM bilang metodong pampananaliksik sa SP sa pamamagitan ng paggamit nito sa pag-aaral ng mga emosyonal na karanasan ng mga Pilipinong kalahok. Batay sa mga obserbasyong nakalap mula sa pag-aaral, masasabing mayroong natatanging kontribusyon ang ESM sa pag-unlad ng SP dahil tugma ito sa layunin ng disiplina at malapit ito sa araw-araw na pamumuhay ng mga Pilipino sa makabagong panahon. Iminumungkahi ang paggamit ng ESM katuwang ng iba pang metodong kasalukuyang tinatanggap sa SP upang higit na mapalalim ang pag-unawa sa karanasang Pilipino.English:For the longest time, the research methods used in Sikolohiyang Pilipino (SP) are those derived from the day-to-day manner of communication among Filipinos. However, more than 40 years since SP was first established, modernity and rapid advancements in technology have greatly changed the way Filipinos interact and communicate with each other. At the same time, scholars have increasingly recognized the importance of indigenization-from-without to further enrich the study of SP, including the adoption of non-indigenous approaches to research. In response to these changes, the current study features the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), which, though currently underutilized in the Filipino context, has great potential in the study of it. Compared to traditional research methods, ESM allows researchers to study people’s experiences, including their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, as they occur in the present. Furthermore, ESM smartphone applications or apps have been created to facilitate the use of ESM in obtaining a more representative sample of the everyday lives of participants. This paper aims to evaluate the appropriateness of ESM as a research method to be used in the study of SP. To do so, ESM was used to study the emotional experiences of Filipino participants. The observations derived from the study lend support to the unique contribution of ESM to the advancement of SP because it coincides with the goals of the discipline and simulates the day-to-day lives of Filipinos in the modern age. As such, ESM is recommended to be used with other methods currently used in SP to further deepen our understanding of the lives of Filipinos.


Author(s):  
Bhumika Chauhan ◽  
Sisir Nandi

: The world is connected by the internet. It is very useful because we use Google to find out any new topic, to search new places, to quest updated research, and to get knowledge for learnng. The person around the world can communicate with each other through the Google video conference talk. Internet is frequently used in smartphones, laptops, desktop, and tablet. Excessive affinity towards internet-based online data collection, downloading pictures, videos, cyber relationships, and social media may produce addiction disorders followed by different symptoms such as behaviors change, mind disturbance, depression, anxiety, loss of appetite hyperactivity, sleeping disorder, headache, visual fatigueness, trafficking of memory, attention-deficit, loss of efficiency in work and social detachment which may be caused by an imbalance of neurotransmitters. This is very difficult to control because of abnormal signal transduction in the brain. The present study is an attempt to discuss internet addiction disorder (IAD), internet gaming disorder (IGD), and give awareness to society to get rid of this addiction.


Author(s):  
Thomas Douglas

Interventions that modify a person’s motivations through chemically or physically influencing the brain seem morally objectionable, at least when they are performed nonconsensually. This chapter raises a puzzle for attempts to explain their objectionability. It first seeks to show that the objectionability of such interventions must be explained at least in part by reference to the sort of mental interference that they involve. It then argues that it is difficult to furnish an explanation of this sort. The difficulty is that these interventions seem no more objectionable, in terms of the kind of mental interference that they involve, than certain forms of environmental influence that many would regard as morally innocuous. The argument proceeds by comparing a particular neurointervention with a comparable environmental intervention. The author argues, first, that the two dominant explanations for the objectionability of the neurointervention apply equally to the environmental intervention, and second, that the descriptive difference between the environmental intervention and the neurointervention that most plausibly grounds the putative moral difference in fact fails to do so. The author concludes by presenting a trilemma that falls out of the argument.


Author(s):  
Necla Tschirgi ◽  
Cedric de Coning

While demand for international peacebuilding assistance increases around the world, the UN’s Peacebuilding Architecture (PBA) remains a relatively weak player, for many reasons: its original design, uneasy relations between the Peacebuilding Commission and Security Council, turf battles within the UN system, and how UN peacebuilding is funded. This chapter examines the PBA’s operations since 2005, against the evolution of the peacebuilding field, and discusses how the PBA can be a more effective instrument in the UN’s new “sustaining peace” approach. To do so, it would have to become the intergovernmental anchor for that approach, without undermining the intent that “sustaining peace” be a system-wide responsibility, encompassing the entire spectrum of UN activities in peace, security, development, and human rights.


Author(s):  
Thomas Hardy

Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul?' Jude Fawley, poor and working-class, longs to study at the University of Christminster, but he is rebuffed, and trapped in a loveless marriage. He falls in love with his unconventional cousin Sue Bridehead, and their refusal to marry when free to do so confirms their rejection of and by the world around them. The shocking fate that overtakes them is an indictment of a rigid and uncaring society. Hardy's last and most controversial novel, Jude the Obscure caused outrage when it was published in 1895. This is the first truly critical edition, taking account of the changes that Hardy made over twenty-five years. It includes a new chronology and bibliography and substantially revised notes.


Author(s):  
James Deery

AbstractFor some, the states and processes involved in the realisation of phenomenal consciousness are not confined to within the organismic boundaries of the experiencing subject. Instead, the sub-personal basis of perceptual experience can, and does, extend beyond the brain and body to implicate environmental elements through one’s interaction with the world. These claims are met by proponents of predictive processing, who propose that perception and imagination should be understood as a product of the same internal mechanisms. On this view, as visually imagining is not considered to be world-involving, it is assumed that world-involvement must not be essential for perception, and thus internalism about the sub-personal basis is true. However, the argument for internalism from the unity of perception and imagination relies for its strength on a questionable conception of the relationship between the two experiential states. I argue that proponents of the predictive approach are guilty of harbouring an implicit commitment to the common kind assumption which does not follow trivially from their framework. That is, the assumption that perception and imagination are of the same fundamental kind of mental event. I will argue that there are plausible alternative ways of conceiving of this relationship without drawing internalist metaphysical conclusions from their psychological theory. Thus, the internalist owes the debate clarification of this relationship and further argumentation to secure their position.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Victor Crochet ◽  
Marcus Gustafsson

Abstract Discontentment is growing such that governments, and notably that of China, are increasingly providing subsidies to companies outside their jurisdiction, ‘buying their way’ into other countries’ markets and undermining fair competition therein as they do so. In response, the European Union recently published a proposal to tackle such foreign subsidization in its own market. This article asks whether foreign subsidies can instead be addressed under the existing rules of the World Trade Organization, and, if not, whether those rules allow States to take matters into their own hands and act unilaterally. The authors shed light on these issues and provide preliminary guidance on how to design a response to foreign subsidization which is consistent with international trade law.


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