Structural Characterisation of the Drosophila Mushroom Bodies

The brain of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, although only comprising some 200 thousand neurons, displays a remarkable repertoire of behavioural responses to it's environment. The relative simplicity of it's brain structure in comparison with vertebrate models or even higher invertebrates, wealth of genetic data and availability of both quantitative and qualitative behavioural assays, make it an ideal model organism for studying brain structure/function relationships. The recent development of P-element based enhancer-trap technology has provided a new tool both for visualisation and for manipulation of neurons. This technology has been used here to investigate the structure of the mushroom bodies. One of the major regions of higher function in the insect brain, the mushroom bodies have been compared to the mammalian hippocampus. Confocal microscopy of enhancer-trap expression pattems reveals neuronal structure to a higher degree of resolution than is possible usin most traditional neuroanatomical techniques. A total of 31 P{GAL4} enhancer-trap lines isolated from a screen of 1800 were chosen for detailed analysis. Structural subdivisions in terms of gene expression invisible to classical neuroanatomy are evident, suggesting a possible degree of functional subdivision. The expression pattems in the larval mushroom bodies also show subdivisions. The nature of the subdivisions are different at the two developmental stages. Analysis of the developing brain during the pupal stages illustrates the structural re-organisation of the mushroom bodies during this period. Hydroxyurea ablation of the mushroom body neuroblasts in the early larvae results in a small renuiant that survives from the embryo to the adult Extrinsic output from the mb lobes and input to the calyx appears unaffected by the ablation of the mushroom bodies. Partial ablation of the neuroblasts provides evidence that the four fold symmetry of the mb structure is a reflection of the clonal nature of each of the four clusters and tracts and that the mushroom bodies are closely related to the lower order olfactory centre, the antennal lobes

Nonfatal Strangulation in a Sample of Domestically Violent Stalkers: The Importance of Recognizing Coercively Controlling Behaviors

© 2019 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology. Strangulation is different to other types of physical violence as it often leaves no visible injuries and is frequently motivated by coercive control. Few studies have explored nonfatal strangulation and coercive control, and no studies have explored these factors within a sample of stalkers. Given that stalking perpetrators exhibit many of the coercively controlling behaviors related to nonfatal strangulation, the current study explored nonfatal strangulation and other coercively controlling behaviors in a stalking sample. A police dataset of 9,884 cases of domestic violence that involved stalking was analyzed. Results revealed that coercive control and related behaviors of excessive jealousy, victim isolation, victim fear, and victim’s belief that the perpetrator will kill them were associated with higher likelihood of having experienced nonfatal strangulation. These results may help first responders to identify victims at risk of nonfatal strangulation and suggest a need for nonfatal strangulation to be a criminal offense

Lewy Body Dementia Association\u27s Research Centers of Excellence Program: Inaugural Meeting Proceedings.

The first Lewy Body Dementia Association (LBDA) Research Centers of Excellence (RCOE) Investigator\u27s meeting was held on December 14, 2017, in New Orleans. The program was established to increase patient access to clinical experts on Lewy body dementia (LBD), which includes dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson\u27s disease dementia (PDD), and to create a clinical trials-ready network. Four working groups (WG) were created to pursue the LBDA RCOE aims: (1) increase access to high-quality clinical care, (2) increase access to support for people living with LBD and their caregivers, (3) increase knowledge of LBD among medical and allied (or other) professionals, and (4) create infrastructure for a clinical trials-ready network as well as resources to advance the study of new therapeutics

A Systematic Nomenclature for the <i>Drosophila </i>Ventral Nerve Cord

The ventral nerve cord (VNC) of Drosophila is an important model system for understanding how nervous systems generate locomotion. In this issue of Neuron, Court et al. define the structures of the adult VNC to provide an anatomical framework for analyzing the functional organization of the VNC.Drosophila melanogaster is an established model for neuroscience research with relevance in biology and medicine. Until recently, research on the Drosophila brain was hindered by the lack of a complete and uniform nomenclature. Recognizing this, Ito et al. (2014) produced an authoritative nomenclature for the adult insect brain, using Drosophila as the reference. Here, we extend this nomenclature to the adult thoracic and abdominal neuromeres, the ventral nerve cord (VNC), to provide an anatomical description of this major component of the Drosophila nervous system. The VNC is the locus for the reception and integration of sensory information and involved in generating most of the locomotor actions that underlie fly behaviors. The aim is to create a nomenclature, definitions, and spatial boundaries for the Drosophila VNC that are consistent with other insects. The work establishes an anatomical framework that provides a powerful tool for analyzing the functional organization of the VNC