Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the sole output neurons of the retina, receive synapses from amacrine and bipolar cells in the inner plexiform layer (IPL). The visual features to which different RGCs respond depend on what input they receive, prime deter...

Aim: NeuroImaging Tools and Resources Collaboratory (NITRC) is a neuroinformatics knowledge environment for MR, PET/SPECT, CT, EEG/MEG, optical imaging, clinical neuroinformatics, computational neuroscience, and imaging genomics tools and resources. Met...

Convolutional networks (ConvNets) have become a popular technique for diverse computer vision tasks like object recognition and image segmentation. ConvNets are being applied to brain images generated by MRI and microscopy. Training often involves datas...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) adversely affects the learning, social interaction, and daily living of affected children. Atomoxetine (ATX) hydrochloride (HCI) has been widely used in clinical practice. Electroencephalogram (EEG) biofeedback, as a nonpharmacological treatment approach, has also demonstrated potential in improving symptoms in children with ADHD. We aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy of combining ATX HCI with EEG biofeedback in the treatment of ADHD in children. We hypothesized that this combined therapy would be more effective in alleviating symptoms in children with ADHD. Ninety children with ADHD were randomly separated into the control group (receiving ATX HCI treatment for 12 weeks) and study group (receiving ATX HCI treatment for 12 weeks combined with 60 sessions of EEG biofeedback treatment; n  = 45). Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham-IV (SNAP-IV) rating scale scores, integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test results, Conners parent symptom question...

Synaptic vesicle protein 2 (SV2), one of the first synaptic vesicle proteins identified, is characterized by multiple transmembrane regions that exhibit homology to sugar transporters, and by a highly glycosylated intravesicular sequence. Deletion of SV2 causes postnatal lethality in mice, primarily because of fulminant epilepsy. At the cellular level, deletion of SV2 impairs neurotransmitter release, but its function is unknown, and even the exact point at which release is affected in SV2-deleted synapses remains unclear. Using electrophysiological approaches, we now examine at what step in exocytosis the deletion of SV2 impairs release. Our data demonstrate that deletion of SV2 produces a decrease in evoked synaptic responses without causing changes in mini frequency, mini amplitude, the readily releasable pool of vesicles, or the apparent Ca2+ sensitivity of vesicle fusion. These findings indicate that a previously unidentified step may couple priming of synaptic vesicles to Ca2+ triggering of fusion, a...

Reward function appears to be modulated by the circadian system, but little is known about the neural basis of this interaction. Previous research suggests that the neural reward response may be different in the afternoon; however, the direction of this effect is contentious. Reward response may follow the diurnal rhythm in self-reported positive affect, peaking in the early afternoon. An alternative is that daily reward response represents a type of prediction error, with neural reward activation relatively high at times of day when rewards are unexpected (i.e., early and late in the day). The present study measured neural reward activation in the context of a validated reward task at 10.00 h, 14.00 h, and 19.00 h in healthy human males. A region of interest BOLD fMRI protocol was used to investigate the diurnal waveform of activation in reward-related brain regions. Multilevel modeling found, as expected, a highly significant quadratic time-of-day effect focusing on the left putamen ( p < 0.001). Consist...

EEG/MEG are currently the only methods to non-invasively record human neural dynamics with millisecond temporal resolution. These signals are correlated with nearly all healthy and pathological brain functions. However, it is still difficult to infer th...

Background: The systemic failure to develop successful treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is in part driven by an incomplete understanding of underlying heterogeneous biological processes such as gene expression patterns. To help address this chall...

Suspense refers to the affective state that accompanies anticipation about the delivery of information. To explore the factors that induce suspense in humans, we designed a novel task similar to the card game Blackjack during which we asked people to su...

Category members that are more typical, or perceived to better represent their category, benefit from enhanced semantic processing and resistance to disruption by brain damage. Furthermore, features of typical (compared to atypical) items are more often...