Capstone Recital: Julie Cross, piano

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment for the degree Bachelor of Arts in Music. Ms. Cross is a piano student of Dr. Robert Henry.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1645/thumbnail.jp

Measuring spike train synchrony

Estimating the degree of synchrony or reliability between two or more spike trains is a frequent task in both experimental and computational neuroscience. In recent years, many different methods have been proposed that typically compare the timing of spikes on a certain time scale to be fixed beforehand. Here, we propose the ISI-distance, a simple complementary approach that extracts information from the interspike intervals by evaluating the ratio of the instantaneous frequencies. The method is parameter free, time scale independent and easy to visualize as illustrated by an application to real neuronal spike trains obtained in vitro from rat slices. In a comparison with existing approaches on spike trains extracted from a simulated Hindemarsh-Rose network, the ISI-distance performs as well as the best time-scale-optimized measure based on spike timing.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures; v2: minor modifications; v3: minor modifications, added link to webpage that includes the Matlab Source Code for the method (http://inls.ucsd.edu/~kreuz/Source-Code/Spike-Sync.html

Class Exploration to a Campus Library Curriculum Center to Develop Book-Building Capacity for Teacher Candidates

The purpose of this pilot was to examine the effectiveness of the practice of providing opportunities for undergraduate elementary education teacher candidates to explore the campus library curriculum center as a group regularly during class time. During their visits, teacher candidates were guided in selecting and analyzing children’s literature for their future teaching. The research was focused on how these visits impacted teacher candidates’ understanding of children’s literature and literacy development. Data were collected through a survey administered at the conclusion of the course and responses were probed further during one-on-one interviews. Candidates described these visits as beneficial in exploring literature collaboratively and deepening their knowledge about curricular materials available to support and enhance their teaching. Teacher candidates were able to develop skills in choosing appropriate texts embodying targeted characteristics. They benefitted from the shared sociolinguistic experiences selecting and examining texts in the curriculum center with teacher and peer support. The results of this investigation suggest that these exploratory curriculum center visits may be a promising practice for teacher educators to include in children’s literature courses

Psychiatric Drugs Bind to Classical Targets Within Early Exocytotic Pathways: Therapeutic Effects

The classical targets for antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs are G protein-coupled receptors and neurotransmitter transporters, respectively. Full therapeutic actions of these drugs require several weeks. We show how therapeutic effects may eventually accrue after existing therapeutic ligands bind to these classical targets, not on the plasma membrane but rather within endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and cis-Golgi. Consequences of such binding may include pharmacological chaperoning: the nascent drug targets are stabilized against degradation and can therefore exit the ER more readily. Another effect may be matchmaking: heterodimers and homodimers of the target form and can more readily exit the ER. Summarizing recent data for nicotinic receptors, we explain how such effects could lead to reduced ER stress and to a decreased unfolded protein response, including changes in gene activation and protein synthesis. In effects not directly related to cellular stress, escorting would allow increased ER exit and trafficking of known associated proteins, as well as other proteins such as growth factors and their receptors, producing both cell-autonomous and non-cell-autonomous effects. Axonal transport of relevant proteins may underlie the several weeks required for full therapy. In contrast, the antidepressant effects of ketamine and other N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor ligands, which occur within <2 hours, could arise from dendritically localized intracellular binding, followed by chaperoning, matchmaking, escorting, and reduced ER stress. Thus, the effects of intracellular binding extend beyond proteostasis of the targets themselves and involve pathways distinct from ion channel and G protein activation. We propose experimental tests and note pathophysiological correlates

Neural Systems Governed by Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors: Emerging Hypotheses

Cholinergic neurons and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the brain participate in diverse functions: reward, learning and memory, mood, sensory processing, pain, and neuroprotection. Nicotinic systems also have well-known roles in drug abuse. Here, we review recent insights into nicotinic function, linking exogenous and endogenous manipulations of nAChRs to alterations in synapses, circuits, and behavior. We also discuss how these contemporary advances can motivate attempts to exploit nicotinic systems therapeutically in Parkinson's disease, cognitive decline, epilepsy, and schizophrenia