Neuroscience
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GDAP2 is a gene highly expressed in the human brain and encodes ganglioside-induced differentiation-associated protein 2 (GDAP2). At present, little is known about the function of GDAP2. In recent years, it has been reported that mutations in the GDAP2 gene may be involved in hereditary cerebellar ataxia. ⋯ The electrophysiological recordings showed that GDAP2 overexpression significantly increased the frequency of mEPSCs, suggesting that GDAP2 overexpression dysregulates excitatory synaptic transmission in cultured primary hippocampal neurons in vitro. On the other hand, behavioural and field-potential recordings of epileptic mouse models showed that GDAP2 overexpression was associated with increased seizure frequency. In summary, this preliminary study suggested that GDAP2 overexpression may have a certain pathogenic effect, providing a new perspective for the study of gene-related diseases such as epilepsy.
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A growing number of functional neuroimaging studies have identified regions within the temporal lobe, particularly along the planum polare and planum temporale, that respond more strongly to music than other types of acoustic stimuli, including voice. This "music preferred" regions have been reported using a variety of stimulus sets, paradigms and analysis approaches and their consistency across studies confirmed through meta-analyses. However, the critical question of intra-subject reliability of these responses has received less attention. ⋯ Results demonstrated that music-preferred activity previously reported in temporal regions, and its modulation by expertise, exhibits a high intra-subject reliability. However, we also found that activity in some extra-temporal regions, such as the precentral and middle frontal gyri, did depend on the particular stimuli employed, which may explain why these are less consistently reported in the literature. Taken together, our findings confirm and extend the notion that specific regions in the brain consistently respond more strongly to certain socially-relevant stimulus categories, such as faces, voices and music, but that some of these responses appear to depend, at least to some extent, on the specific features of the paradigm employed.
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Visually guided equivalence learning is a special type of associative learning, which can be evaluated using the Rutgers Acquired Equivalence Test (RAET) among other tests. RAET applies complex stimuli (faces and colored fish) between which the test subjects build associations. The complexity of these stimuli offers the test subject several clues that might ease association learning. ⋯ Equivalence learning, which is a basal ganglia-associated form of learning, appears to be strongly influenced by the complexity of the visual stimuli. The simple geometric shapes were associated with poor performance as compared to faces and fish. However, the difference in stimulus complexity did not affect performance in the retrieval and transfer parts of the test phase, which are assumed to be mediated by the hippocampi.
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Threats to stability elicit context-specific changes in balance control; however, the underlying neural mechanisms are not fully understood. Previous work has speculated that a shift toward greater supraspinal control may contribute to threat-related balance changes. This study investigated how neural correlates of cortical and subcortical control of balance were affected by initial and repeated exposure to a height-related postural threat. ⋯ Following repeated threat exposure, only estimates of cortical control (gamma CMC and 21-40 Hz IMC) demonstrated significant habituation. Estimates of cortical control changed in parallel with high-frequency centre of pressure power (>0.5 Hz) and plantar-dorsiflexor coactivation, but not other threat-related balance changes which did not habituate. These results support the hypothesis that postural threat induces a shift toward more supraspinal control of balance, and suggests this altered neural control may contribute to specific threat-related balance changes.