44 research outputs found
Noise-induced synchronization and anti-resonance in excitable systems; Implications for information processing in Parkinson's Disease and Deep Brain Stimulation
We study the statistical physics of a surprising phenomenon arising in large
networks of excitable elements in response to noise: while at low noise,
solutions remain in the vicinity of the resting state and large-noise solutions
show asynchronous activity, the network displays orderly, perfectly
synchronized periodic responses at intermediate level of noise. We show that
this phenomenon is fundamentally stochastic and collective in nature. Indeed,
for noise and coupling within specific ranges, an asymmetry in the transition
rates between a resting and an excited regime progressively builds up, leading
to an increase in the fraction of excited neurons eventually triggering a chain
reaction associated with a macroscopic synchronized excursion and a collective
return to rest where this process starts afresh, thus yielding the observed
periodic synchronized oscillations. We further uncover a novel anti-resonance
phenomenon: noise-induced synchronized oscillations disappear when the system
is driven by periodic stimulation with frequency within a specific range. In
that anti-resonance regime, the system is optimal for measures of information
capacity. This observation provides a new hypothesis accounting for the
efficiency of Deep Brain Stimulation therapies in Parkinson's disease, a
neurodegenerative disease characterized by an increased synchronization of
brain motor circuits. We further discuss the universality of these phenomena in
the class of stochastic networks of excitable elements with confining coupling,
and illustrate this universality by analyzing various classical models of
neuronal networks. Altogether, these results uncover some universal mechanisms
supporting a regularizing impact of noise in excitable systems, reveal a novel
anti-resonance phenomenon in these systems, and propose a new hypothesis for
the efficiency of high-frequency stimulation in Parkinson's disease
Synaptic plasticity through a naturalistic lens
From the myriad of studies on neuronal plasticity, investigating its underlying molecular mechanisms up to its behavioral relevance, a very complex landscape has emerged. Recent efforts have been achieved toward more naturalistic investigations as an attempt to better capture the synaptic plasticity underpinning of learning and memory, which has been fostered by the development of in vivo electrophysiological and imaging tools. In this review, we examine these naturalistic investigations, by devoting a first part to synaptic plasticity rules issued from naturalistic in vivo-like activity patterns. We next give an overview of the novel tools, which enable an increased spatio-temporal specificity for detecting and manipulating plasticity expressed at individual spines up to neuronal circuit level during behavior. Finally, we put particular emphasis on works considering brain-body communication loops and macroscale contributors to synaptic plasticity, such as body internal states and brain energy metabolism
Lactate supply overtakes glucose when neural computational and cognitive loads scale up
International audienceNeural computational power is determined by neuroenergetics, but how and which energy substrates are allocated to various forms of memory engram is unclear. To solve this question, we asked whether neuronal fueling by glucose or lactate scales differently upon increasing neural computation and cognitive loads. Here, using electrophysiology, two-photon imaging, cognitive tasks, and mathematical modeling, we show that both glucose and lactate are involved in engram formation, with lactate supporting long-term synaptic plasticity evoked by high-stimulation load activity patterns and high attentional load in cognitive tasks and glucose being sufficient for less demanding neural computation and learning tasks. Indeed, we show that lactate is mandatory for demanding neural computation, such as theta-burst stimulation, while glucose is sufficient for lighter forms of activity-dependent long-term potentiation (LTP), such as spike timing–dependent plasticity (STDP). We find that subtle variations of spike number or frequency in STDP are sufficient to shift the on-demand fueling from glucose to lactate. Finally, we demonstrate that lactate is necessary for a cognitive task requiring high attentional load, such as the object-in-place task, and for the corresponding in vivo hippocampal LTP expression but is not needed for a less demanding task, such as a simple novel object recognition. Overall, these results demonstrate that glucose and lactate metabolism are differentially engaged in neuronal fueling depending on the complexity of the activity-dependent plasticity and behavior
Quality of life of long-term childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivors:Comparison with healthy controls
peer reviewed[en] OBJECTIVE: Improved treatment landscape has led to better outcomes for paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivors. As the number of survivors increase, we need to elucidate the long-term quality of life (QoL) and domains of complaints in these patients. Furthermore, the main priorities of these patients need to be clarified. We assessed long-term QoL outcomes of survivors of childhood ALL compared to matched population controls.
METHODS: QoL data were collected from survivors recruited in France and Belgium between 2012 and 2017, including the Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) and the Quality of Life Systemic Inventory (QLSI). The Wilcoxon test was used to compare SF-12 scale scores between survivors and matched population controls. For the QLSI, comparisons were mainly descriptive.
RESULTS: One hundred and eighty-six survivors (mean age: 27.6Â years; range: 18.1-52.8) at follow-up completed QoL measures, amongst whom 180 were matched to controls. Overall, survivors had higher QoL on all SF12 scale scores, indicating that they had better functioning compared to controls. Statistically significant differences on the SF12 were observed for Vitality, Social Functioning, Role Limitations due to Emotional Problems and Mental Health scales. QLSI outcomes suggested that survivors were happier than controls with Couple and Social Relations. Controls were unhappiest compared to survivors with Money, Love life, Self-esteem, Nutrition and Paid Work.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that survivors of childhood ALL have better QoL outcomes on some domains compared to the general population, specifically around social and emotional functioning, and that they tend to prioritize their relationships more. Interventions for improving QoL outcomes, might build on existing positive experiences with family, friends and partners
L'utilisation des données de la littérature dans les projets en éducation nutritionnelle: enquête qualitative.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe
Extracellular and intracellular components of the impedance of neural tissue
International audienceElectric phenomena in brain tissue can be measured using extracellular potentials, such as the local field potential, or the electro-encephalogram. The interpretation of these signals depends on the electric structure and properties of extracellular media, but the measurements of these electric properties are still debated. Some measurements point to a model in which the extracellular medium is purely resistive, and thus parameters such as electric conductivity and permittivity should be independent of frequency. Other measurements point to a pronounced frequency dependence of these parameters, with scaling laws that are consistent with capacitive or diffusive effects. However, these experiments correspond to different preparations, and it is unclear how to correctly compare them. Here, we provide for the first time, impedance measurements (in the 1-10 kHz frequency range) using the same setup in various preparations, from primary cell cultures to acute brain slices, and a comparison with similar measurements performed in artificial cerebrospinal fluid with no biological material. The measurements show that when the current flows across a cell membrane, the frequency dependence of the macroscopic impedance between intracellular and extracellular electrodes is significant, and cannot be captured by a model with resistive media. Fitting a mean-field model to the data shows that this frequency dependence could be explained by the ionic diffusion mainly associated with Debye layers surrounding the membranes. We conclude that neuronal membranes and their ionic environment induce strong deviations to resistivity that should be taken into account to correctly interpret extracellular potentials generated by neurons
Santé et bien-être des étudiants de première année: rapport de la troisième enquête des comportements de santé des nouveaux étudiants inscrits en première année de bachelier à l'ULB
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe