The Neurobiology of Eating Disorders.

Eating disorders are severe psychiatric illnesses with a typical age of onset in adolescence. Brain research in youth and young adults may help us identify specific neurobiology that contributes to onset and maintenance of those disorders. This article provides a state-of-the-art review of our current understanding of the neurobiology of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. This includes brain structure and function studies to understand food restriction, binge-eating or purging behaviors, cognitive and emotional factors, as well as interoception. Binge-eating disorder and avoidant restrictive food intake disorder are also discussed, but the literature is still very small

Use of Residential Care in Europe for Children Aged Under Three: Some Lessons from Neurobiology

This critical commentary reviews the research into the use of residential care for children aged under three years and looks at some of the explanations that can be found for this in neurobiology. There continue to be high numbers and rates of these vulnerable children in institutions not only in the former Soviet states, but also in Western Europe. The new research provides strong evidence on the negative consequences for these children, particularly for those who remain in institutional care beyond the age of six months. Explanations from neurobiology sit well beside understandings drawn from attachment theory and start to show the mechanisms for this and also the ability of the brain to compensate

The neurobiology of circadian rhythms

Purpose of review There is growing awareness of the importance of circadian rhythmicity in various research fields. Exciting developments are ongoing in the field of circadian neurobiology linked to sleep, food intake, and memory. With the current knowledge of critical ‘clock genes’ (genes found to be involved in the generation of circadian rhythms) and novel techniques for imaging cyclic events in brain and peripheral tissue, this field of research is rapidly expanding. We reviewed only some of the highlights of the past year, and placed these findings into a mutual circadian perspective. Recent findings Recent findings on the organization of the circadian clock systems are addressed, ranging from the retina to the suprachiasmatic nucleus and peripheral organs. Novel developments in sleep, food intake, and memory research linked to circadian aspects are discussed. Summary The neurobiology of circadian rhythms is pivotal to the orchestration of the temporal organization of an individual’s physiology and behavior. Endogenous circadian timing systems underlie coupling and uncoupling mechanisms of many neuronal and physiological processes, the latter possibly inducing health risks to the organism. The integration of sleep, food intake and memory in a circadian setting has clear potential as a systems neurobiology line of research.

Synthetic Quantum Systems

So far proposed quantum computers use fragile and environmentally sensitive natural quantum systems. Here we explore the new notion that synthetic quantum systems suitable for quantum computation may be fabricated from smart nanostructures using topological excitations of a stochastic neural-type network that can mimic natural quantum systems. These developments are a technological application of process physics which is an information theory of reality in which space and quantum phenomena are emergent, and so indicates the deep origins of quantum phenomena. Analogous complex stochastic dynamical systems have recently been proposed within neurobiology to deal with the emergent complexity of biosystems, particularly the biodynamics of higher brain function. The reasons for analogous discoveries in fundamental physics and neurobiology are discussed.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, 1 eps figure fil

The neurobiology of reference-dependent value computation

A key focus of current research in neuroeconomics concerns how the human brain computes value. Although, value has generally been viewed as an absolute measure (e.g., expected value, reward magnitude), much evidence suggests that value is more often computed with respect to a changing reference point, rather than in isolation. Here, we present the results of a study aimed to dissociate brain regions involved in reference-independent (i.e., “absolute”) value computations, from those involved in value computations relative to a reference point. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, subjects acted as buyers and sellers during a market exchange of lottery tickets. At a behavioral level, we demonstrate that subjects systematically accorded a higher value to objects they owned relative to those they did not, an effect that results from a shift in reference point (i.e., status quo bias or endowment effect). Our results show that activity in orbitofrontal cortex and dorsal striatum track parameters such as the expected value of lottery tickets indicating the computation of reference-independent value. In contrast, activity in ventral striatum indexed the degree to which stated prices, at a within-subjects and between-subjects level, were distorted with respect to a reference point. The findings speak to the neurobiological underpinnings of reference dependency during real market value computations

ICWL session: Behavior, neurobiology, and behavioral ecology

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/Documents/rock_lobster/the_lobster_newsletter/lobster_newsletter_v30_no2.pdfhttp://www.fish.wa.gov.au/Documents/rock_lobster/the_lobster_newsletter/lobster_newsletter_v30_no2.pdfPublished versio

The Hopfield model and its role in the development of synthetic biology

Neural network models make extensive use of concepts coming from physics and engineering. How do scientists justify the use of these concepts in the representation of biological systems? How is evidence for or against the use of these concepts produced in the application and manipulation of the models? It will be shown in this article that neural network models are evaluated differently depending on the scientific context and its modeling practice. In the case of the Hopfield model, the different modeling practices related to theoretical physics and neurobiology played a central role for how the model was received and used in the different scientific communities. In theoretical physics, where the Hopfield model has its roots, mathematical modeling is much more common and established than in neurobiology which is strongly experiment driven. These differences in modeling practice contributed to the development of the new field of synthetic biology which introduced a third type of model which combines mathematical modeling and experimenting on biological systems and by doing so mediates between the different modeling practices

START: A Bridge between Emotion Theory and Neurobiology through Dynamic System Modeling

Lewis proposes "reconceptualization" (p. 1) of how to link the psychology and neurobiology of emotion and cognitive-emotional interactions. His main proposed themes have actually been actively and quantitatively developed in the neural modeling literature for over thirty years. This commentary summarizes some of these themes and points to areas of particularly active research in this area

Wormwholes: A Commentary On K.F. Schaffer\u27s Genes, Behavior, And Developmental Emergentism

Although Caenorhabditis elegans was chosen and modified to be an organism that would facilitate a reductionist program for neurogenetics, recent research has provided evidence for properties that are emergent from the neurons. While neurogenetic advances have been made using C. elegans which may be useful in explaining human neurobiology, there are severe limitations on C. elegans to explain any significant human behavior