Neuroscience
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Electroencephalography (EEG) as a biomarker of neuromodulation by High Definition transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) offers promise as both techniques are deployable and can be integrated into a single head-gear. The present research addresses experimental design for separating focal EEG effect of HD-tDCS in the '4-cathode × 1-anode' (4 × 1) montage over the left motor area (C3). We assessed change in offline EEG at the homologous central (C3, C4), and occipital (O1, O2) locations. ⋯ For the active arm, similar but less pronounced changes occurred in the alpha band. In contrast, responses to IPS developed similar asymmetric amplitude increase at four harmonics of the IPS of 3 Hz only in the active arm, against a background of a brain-wide symmetric increase in both active and sham arms. Our protocols and analyses suggest methodological caveats for how EEG of tDCS studies could be conducted to isolate putative brain polarization outcomes.
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High-intensity cardiovascular exercise prior to motor skill practice is postulated to enhance motor memory consolidation (offline learning), whereas moderate-intensity bouts may benefit skill acquisition (online learning). This study aimed at investigating this suggested intensity-dependent effect of exercise in a complex whole-body task. 50 healthy young adults were randomized into one of three groups performing a bout of either (1) high-intense, (2) moderate-intense, or (3) minimal-intense cycling for a total of 17 min immediately prior to skill practice. The motor task required participants to balance on a tiltable platform (stabilometer) for 30 s. ⋯ Contrary to previous reports, the present data do not support an intensity-dependent effect on motor learning, when exercise is performed prior to task practice. One reason for this might be that similar muscle groups were involved in exercise and the motor task, potentially causing fatigue or interference effects. Further, the results indicate that the memory-promoting effects of acute exercise are task-dependent and may not apply equally for motor skills of different levels of complexity.
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Compared with the biological paradigms of classical conditioning, non-adaptive computational models are not capable of realistically simulating the biological behavioural functions of the hippocampal regions, because of their implausible requirement for a large number of learning trials, which can be on the order of hundreds. Additionally, these models did not attain a unified, final stable state even after hundreds of learning trials. Conversely, the output response has a different threshold for similar tasks in various models with prolonged transient response of unspecified status via the training or even testing phases. ⋯ The results of the Green model showed a significant improvement confirmed by empirical studies of different tasks. In addition, the results indicated that the model outperforms the previously published models. All the obtained results successfully and quickly attained a stable, desired final state (with a unified concluding state of either "1" or "0") with a significantly shorter transient duration.
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Paclitaxel (PTX) is one of the most commonly used chemotherapeutic agents for various cancer diseases. Despite its advantages, PTX also causes behavioral deficits related to nervous-system dysfunction, such as neuropathic pain, depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairments. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is one of the areas that is susceptible to adverse effects of chemotherapeutic agents. ⋯ RNA sequencing and in-depth gene expression analysis of the PFC in paired vehicle and PTX-treated mice showed that PTX induced 1755 differentially expressed genes in the PFCs of male and female mice. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR verified that some gene expressions in the medial PFC (mPFC) were related to neurotransmission. In conclusion, this study identified a sex-biased effect of PTX on PFC function and gene expression, which provides a foundation for future studies to explore the precise mechanisms of PTX-induced behavioral deficits.