Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
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Neurosci Biobehav Rev · Apr 2019
ReviewThe evolutionarily conserved role of melatonin in CNS disorders and behavioral regulation: Translational lessons from zebrafish.
Melatonin is an important hormone regulating circadian rhythm, neuroprotection and neuroimmune processes. However, its exact physiological roles in brain mechanisms remain poorly understood. ⋯ Here, we discuss melatonin neurobiology of zebrafish, and parallel these findings with clinical and rodent data. We also discuss the genomic effects of melatonin in zebrafish, and emphasize the growing utility of zebrafish models to study melatonin neurobiology and drug discovery.
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Fatigue and workplace sleepiness are consequences of modern industrial society. Fatigue is a complex biological phenomenon that occurs as a function of time awake, time-of-day, workload, health, and off-duty lifestyle. Fatigue is a function of two major biological factors - the homeostatic drive for sleep and circadian rhythm of sleepiness. ⋯ Evidence-based strategies that promote better sleep and optimize work/rest schedules can mitigate the impact of fatigue and sleep loss. Proper nap and sleep scheduling, work breaks, modeling and monitoring tools, fatigue detection technologies, and pharmacological countermeasures can be implemented at home and/or in the workplace to reduce performance and safety hazards. Education about obtaining adequate sleep, the dangers of fatigue in terms of both health and cognitive consequences, and the availability of scientifically-proven sleep-enhancement and alertness-management strategies is essential.
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Neurosci Biobehav Rev · Dec 2018
Review Meta AnalysisMeta-analyses of the neural mechanisms and predictors of response to psychotherapy in depression and anxiety.
Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying psychological therapy could aid understanding of recovery processes and help target treatments. The dual-process model hypothesises that psychological therapy is associated with increased emotional-regulation in prefrontal brain regions and decreased implicit emotional-reactivity in limbic regions; however, research has yielded inconsistent findings. Meta-analyses of brain activity changes accompanying psychological therapy (22 studies, n = 352) and neural predictors of symptomatic improvement (11 studies, n = 293) in depression and anxiety were conducted using seed-based d mapping. ⋯ The results are in agreement with neural models of improved emotional-reactivity following therapy as evidenced by decreased activity within the anterior cingulate and insula. We propose compensatory as well as corrective neural mechanisms of action underlie therapeutic efficacy, and suggest the dual-process model may be too simplistic to account fully for treatment mechanisms. More research on predictors of psychotherapeutic response is required to provide reliable predictors of response.
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Neurosci Biobehav Rev · Oct 2018
Cannabis use and the development of tolerance: a systematic review of human evidence.
Previous studies have reported conflicting results in terms of acute effects of cannabis in man. Independently of other factors, such discrepancy may be attributable to the different cannabis use history of study volunteers. It is thought that regular cannabis users may develop tolerance to the effects of acute cannabis administration. ⋯ Cognitive function is the domain showing the highest degree of tolerance, with some evidence of complete absence of acute effect (full tolerance). The acute intoxicating, psychotomimetic, and cardiac effects are also blunted upon regular exposure, but to a lesser extent (partial tolerance). Limited research also suggests development of tolerance to other behavioral, physiological, and neural effects of cannabis.
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Neurosci Biobehav Rev · Sep 2018
Review Meta AnalysisInvestigating the influence of social support on experimental pain and related physiological arousal: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Social support is demonstrated to have mixed effects on both pain and related physiological arousal. In this study, a meta-analysis was conducted to characterise these effects. A total of 2416 studies were identified in a systematic search, among which 21 were eligible for the quantitative review. ⋯ We further found verbal support to decrease pain (SMD = -0.69) and arousal (SMD = -0.99), and we demonstrated moderate to large analgesic effects of intimate relationships through touching (SMD = -0.95) and viewing (SMD = -0.60) of a romantic partner. Finally, we presented evidence of publication bias for pain-related arousal but not for behavioural pain outcomes. Together, our findings suggest that the impact of social support on pain is context-dependent with the verbal communication of support and intimate relationships being of particular importance.