THE ROLE OF NADPH OXIDASE IN NEURITE OUTGROWTH AND ZEBRAFISH NEURODEVELOPMENT

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidases (NOX) are a family of enzymes that produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). The first NOX enzyme was discovered in leukocytes and associated with host defense in the immune system. Subsequent findings of ROS production in non-immune cells led to the identification of six additional NOX isoforms, and opened new avenues for research into NOX-mediated cellular functions. Since then, NOX-derived ROS have been found to be involved in a tremendous number of cell signaling pathways. Of particular interest is the well-established function of NOX-derived ROS in signaling pathways that drive cytoskeletal rearrangements and motility in several cell types. Our lab is interested in the highly motile neuronal growth cone that guides axonal growth during neurodevelopment and regeneration. Others have reported that inhibition of NOX enzymes during development causes a decrease in the size of some brain areas, and NOX deficiencies in humans are correlated with diminished cognitive function. Despite the fact that NOX activity is necessary for some cell motility in non-neuronal cells and a loss of NOX function during development has impacts on brain structure, it is still unclear what role NOX plays in axonal growth and guidance or the establishment of connections in the central nervous system

Attention Restraint, Working Memory Capacity, and Mind Wandering: Do Emotional Valence or Intentionality Matter?

Attention restraint appears to mediate the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC) and mind wandering (Kane et al., 2016). Prior work has identifed two dimensions of mind wandering—emotional valence and intentionality. However, less is known about how WMC and attention restraint correlate with these dimensions. Te current study examined the relationship between WMC, attention restraint, and mind wandering by emotional valence and intentionality. A confrmatory factor analysis demonstrated that WMC and attention restraint were strongly correlated, but only attention restraint was related to overall mind wandering, consistent with prior fndings. However, when examining the emotional valence of mind wandering, attention restraint and WMC were related to negatively and positively valenced, but not neutral, mind wandering. Attention restraint was also related to intentional but not unintentional mind wandering. Tese results suggest that WMC and attention restraint predict some, but not all, types of mind wandering

Ontogenesis of the Corpora Pedunculata: Integral Relay Structures of Chemosensory Content Addressable Memory Networks of Hexapods: A Synthesis of Development and Function

Biological memory is the temporal storage of information as a function of evolution. Several mechanisms have evolved by which memory can be stored. There are two components involved in the storage of memory in metazoan organisms. Innate memory is strictly teleonomically determined, and hence, depends on the phylogenic predisposition of an organisms' ontogenesis. 'Learned' memory is, in contrast, strictly ontogenically determined and, hence, influenced by the organisms environment. Whilst strictly ontogenic determined memory is stored in the spatial arrangement of nerve cells, phylogenic memory is stored in the sequential arrangement of the four components of the DNA. Accordingly, ontogenic memory is lost in subsequent generations, whereas phylogenic memory is passed on and recalled during the course of evolution. Insects are among the best understood organisms. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, for instance, has been widely used as a model to unravel the genetic components of development. Most of the genes that are involved in this process are known. Other insect species have been physiologically and behaviourally well researched. By assembling the information derived from the latest research on Drosophila melanogaster and other insect species, I have made the attempt to characterise the different components of molecular memory formation (hereafter referred to as mnemogenesis) in insects. Chemosensory memory pathways of Drosophila are composed of at least two different entities: the morphogenic fields such as the peripheral and the central nervous system. I have concluded that during the ontogenesis of the Drosophila chemosensory memory pathways, genes are active that function as modules during this process. Most of the genes which mediate this process are not strictly employed during the morphogenesis of the chemosensory memory pathways. However, they are redeployed to a large extent during development of other germ layers and morphogenic fields, as well. Only certain key genes, which expression is initiated by the several coinciding morphogenic signals, determine the specificity of the different components of the chemosensory memory pathways. Hence, the specificity of the chemosensory memory pathways of Drosophila is determined by the temporally and spatially distinct expression of genes, in addition to the modification of their products. Whilst stage and cell specific gene expression is primarily regulated on the level of chromosome structure and transcriptional activity, the specific function of genes that are expressed in the different regions during different stages of ontogenesis is generated by messenger ribonucleic acid and protein processing. The morphogenic cascades are probably frozen down once the chemosensory memory pathways have reached the state of maturity. The mature insect has maintained the ability to employ some components of the developmental cascade to modulate its memory in response to environmental stimuli. Imaginal chemosensory memory pathways comprise at least four levels. Chemosensory receptor (level I) cells receive environmental information. Projection neurones (level II) reduce the background noise and transfer the information to diverging memory structures, in addition to the control centres (levels III/i and III/ii). Whereas memory structures modulate chemosensory information, the control centres feed this modulated information into output fibres that link the chemosensory memory networks with the premotor fibres (level IV). The function of the memory structures, which in insects are called the corpora pedunculata, is to compare input information to the information stored intrinsically in these organs. The information that is stored intrinsic to these structures is able to modulate the behaviour of an signal, which exits the chemosensory pathways via the premotor neurones. It has been postulated that the modulation of this information depends on the synaptic configuration within the corpora pedunculata. Hence, the synaptic arrangement is thought to underlie the modulation of the information transfer within the chemosensory memory networks. Long term memory is associated with the alteration of this synaptic configuration, which in turn requires the activity of several genetic circuits. Intriguingly, these genetic circuits are probably identical to those employed during axonogenesis, in addition to other morphogenic events

Formaciones imaginarias del diseñador gráfico en el discurso del campo académico.

En este trabajo se describe un proyecto de tesis doctoral en el que se analiza el discurso sobre el diseñador gráfico. Se parte del supuesto de que existe una tricotomía de su perfil: 1) el campo profesional, 2) el campo educativo y, 3) el campo académico. Proponemos que dicha tricotomía permite la identificación de imaginarios sobre el tema, y no solo eso, sino que también aporta elementos que conforman la identidad (Bauman, 2002) de un diseñador gráfico. La pregunta de investigación es ¿Cuál es la identidad discursiva del diseñador gráfico en el campo académico? La investigación descrita es de tipo cualitativo y deductivo; para la construcción la identidad discursiva (Van Dijk, T; 2008) del diseñador gráfico, se toman en cuenta diversas publicaciones: principalmente investigaciones y breves artículos difundidos en comunidades/foros de reflexión y debate en torno a la temática, además de memorias de congresos y libros. En apoyo al desarrollo del proyecto se ha diseñado un Laboratorio de Intervención en el Diseño, cuyos objetivos son impulsar el desarrollo social y cultural de los diseñadores gráficos por medio de la investigación, educación continua, producción y vinculación. En un primer acercamiento a las formaciones imaginarias (Pêcheux, 1978) sobre la identidad del diseñador gráfico se centran en el grado de erudición para la ejecución de su trabajo, en la cultura que demuestran y en la autonomía con la que producen