Functional and anatomical specificity in a higher olfactory centre.

Most sensory systems are organized into parallel neuronal pathways that process distinct aspects of incoming stimuli. In the insect olfactory system, second order projection neurons target both the mushroom body, required for learning, and the lateral horn (LH), proposed to mediate innate olfactory behavior. Mushroom body neurons form a sparse olfactory population code, which is not stereotyped across animals. In contrast, odor coding in the LH remains poorly understood. We combine genetic driver lines, anatomical and functional criteria to show that the Drosophila LH has ~1400 neurons and >165 cell types. Genetically labeled LHNs have stereotyped odor responses across animals and on average respond to three times more odors than single projection neurons. LHNs are better odor categorizers than projection neurons, likely due to stereotyped pooling of related inputs. Our results reveal some of the principles by which a higher processing area can extract innate behavioral significance from sensory stimuli

Inklusive Gestaltung betrieblicher Gesundheitsmaßnahmen für junge und ältere Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter durch die Schwerbehindertenvertretung als proaktiver betrieblicher Initiator

Dokumentation des 60. Arbeitswissenschaftlichen Kongresses München 12.03.-14.03.201

Progress and challenges in deep brain stimulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder

This narrative review summarizes the recent literature on deep brain stimulation for treatment resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder highlighting both progress and challenges of this novel treatment. Common targets of psychiatric deep brain stimulation involve both white matter trajectories (anterior limb of the internal capsule, inferior thalamic peduncle, and medial forebrain bundle) and grey matter subcortical nuclei (nucleus accumbens, nucleus subthalamicus, and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis) each of which have been reported with a relevant beneficial effect on obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The mechanisms of action are only partially understood but increasing evidence points towards network effects involving the prefrontal cortex, the striatum and possibly anxiety-related anatomical structures. Deep brain stimulation is a promising therapeutical technique for otherwise treatment refractory patients, but many major issues are unresolved and thorough investigations are needed. Relevant topics for future investigations include treatment predictors and therapeutical augmentation. An international registry of patients treated with deep brain stimulation could improve our understanding of adverse events and target specific effects. In order to step forward, researchers must face inconvenient questions and outperform the status quo of clinical research in this field. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

A step forward in elucidating the mystery of OCD

Obsessive-compulsive disorder represents one of the most disabling psychiatric disorders. The underlying pathophysiology is not fully understood. In a recent Science article, Ahmari and colleagues enlighten fundamental aspects of obsessive-compulsive disorder by means of optogenetic stimulation, thereby also elucidating the usefulness of SSRI in the treatment for OCD