I have developed "tennis elbow" from lugging this book around the past four weeks, but it is worth the pain, the effort, and the aspirin. It is also worth the (relatively speaking) bargain price. Including appendixes, this book contains 894 pages of text. The entire panorama of the neural sciences is surveyed and examined, and it is comprehensive in its scope, from genomes to social behaviors. The editors explicitly state that the book is designed as "an introductory text for students of biology, behavior, and medicine," but it is hard to imagine any audience, interested in any fragment of neuroscience at any level of sophistication, that would not enjoy this book. The editors have done a masterful job of weaving together the biologic, the behavioral, and the clinical sciences into a single tapestry in which everyone from the molecular biologist to the practicing psychiatrist can find and appreciate his or

Principles of Neural Science

EEG alpha oscillations: The inhibition–timing hypothesis

https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/pdf/S1364-6613(12)00243-4.pdf

Alpha-band oscillations, attention, and controlled access to stored information

Synchronous rhythms represent a core mechanism for sculpting temporal coordination of neural activity in the brain-wide network. This review focuses on oscillations in the cerebral cortex that occur during cognition, in alert behaving conditions. Over the last two decades, experimental and modeling work has made great strides in elucidating the detailed cellular and circuit basis of these rhythms, particularly gamma and theta rhythms. The underlying physiological mechanisms are diverse (ranging from resonance and pacemaker properties of single cells to multiple scenarios for population synchronization and wave propagation), but also exhibit unifying principles. A major conceptual advance was the realization that synaptic inhibition plays a fundamental role in rhythmogenesis, either in an interneuronal network or in a reciprocal excitatory-inhibitory loop. Computational functions of synchronous oscillations in cognition are still a matter of debate among systems neuroscientists, in part because the notion of regular oscillation seems to contradict the common observation that spiking discharges of individual neurons in the cortex are highly stochastic and far from being clocklike. However, recent findings have led to a framework that goes beyond the conventional theory of coupled oscillators and reconciles the apparent dichotomy between irregular single neuron activity and field potential oscillations. From this perspective, a plethora of studies will be reviewed on the involvement of long-distance neuronal coherence in cognitive functions such as multisensory integration, working memory, and selective attention. Finally, implications of abnormal neural synchronization are discussed as they relate to mental disorders like schizophrenia and autism.

/pdf/neurophysiological-and-computational-principles-of-cortical-48xnk4ixsg.pdf

Neurophysiological and Computational Principles of Cortical Rhythms in Cognition

Oscillations are ubiquitous in electrical recordings of brain activity. While the amplitude of ongoing oscillatory activity is known to correlate with various aspects of perception, the influence of oscillatory phase on perception remains unknown. In particular, since phase varies on a much faster timescale than the more sluggish amplitude fluctuations, phase effects could reveal the fine-grained neural mechanisms underlying perception. We presented brief flashes of light at the individual luminance threshold while EEG was recorded. Although the stimulus on each trial was identical, subjects detected approximately half of the flashes (hits) and entirely missed the other half (misses). Phase distributions across trials were compared between hits and misses. We found that shortly before stimulus onset, each of the two distributions exhibited significant phase concentration, but at different phase angles. This effect was strongest in the theta and alpha frequency bands. In this time-frequency range, oscillatory phase accounted for at least 16% of variability in detection performance and allowed the prediction of performance on the single-trial level. This finding indicates that the visual detection threshold fluctuates over time along with the phase of ongoing EEG activity. The results support the notion that ongoing oscillations shape our perception, possibly by providing a temporal reference frame for neural codes that rely on precise spike timing.

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/29/24/7869.full.pdf

The Phase of Ongoing EEG Oscillations Predicts Visual Perception

Alpha rhythm of the EEG modulates visual detection performance in humans.

Objective. To assess the antihypertensive efficacy and safety of the combination of the direct renin inhibitor aliskiren and ramipril in patients with diabetes and hypertension. Methods. In this double-blind, multicentre trial, 837 patients with diabetes mellitus and hypertension (mean sitting diastolic blood pressure (BP) > 95 and < 110 mmHg) were randomised to once-daily aliskiren (150 mg titrated to 300 mg after four weeks; n=282), ramipril (5 mg titrated to 10 mg; n=278) or the combination (n=277) for eight weeks. Efficacy variables were cuff mean sitting diastolic BP (msDBP) and mean sitting systolic BP (msSBP); 24-hour ambulatory BP, plasma renin activity (PRA) and plasma renin concentration (PRC) were also assessed. Results. At week 8, aliskiren, ramipril and aliskiren/ramipril lowered msDBP (mean±SEM) by 11.3±0.5, 10.7±0.5 and 12.8±0.5 mmHg, and msSBP by 14.7±0.9, 12.0±0.9 and 16.6±0.9 mmHg, respectively. Aliskiren/ramipril provided superior msDBP reductions to ramipril (p=0.004) or aliskiren (p=0.043) monotherapy; adding aliskiren to ramipril provided an additional mean BP reduction of 4.6/2.1 mmHg. Aliskiren monotherapy was non-inferior to ramipril for msDBP reduction (p=0.0002) and superior for msSBP reduction (p=0.021).All treatments significantly lowered mean 24-hour ambulatory BP. Aliskiren significantly reduced PRA from baseline as monotherapy (by 66%, p<0.0001) or in combination with ramipril (by 48%, p<0.0001), despite large increases in PRC in all treatment groups. Aliskiren was well tolerated as monotherapy or in combination with ramipril. Conclusions. Combining aliskiren with ramipril provided a greater reduction in msDBP than either drug alone in patients with diabetes and hypertension.

Efficacy and safety of the direct renin inhibitor aliskiren and ramipril alone or in combination in patients with diabetes and hypertension

This study compared the influence of different polymerization methods (heat, auto-, and microwave energy), different curing processes (in the case of heat- and autopolymerized specimens), and length of storage of the polymerized specimens in distilled water at 37 degrees C on the residual methyl methacrylate (MMA) content in dental acrylic resin specimens. Residual MMA of 120 resin specimens were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography. For the heat-polymerized resins, the lowest residual MMA content was obtained when they were given a long-term terminal boil and then stored in the distilled water for at least 1 day. For the autopolymerized resins, the lowest residual MMA content was obtained when they were additionally cured in water at 60 degrees C and then stored in the distilled water at least 1 day. For the microwave-polymerized resins, the lowest residual MMA content was obtained when they were stored in the distilled water at least 1 month. The lowest overall residual MMA content was obtained from heat-polymerized specimens that were given a long-term terminal boil cure and then stored in the distilled water at least 1 day. Different polymerization methods and curing processes have different effects on residual MMA content. It is thus shown that storing a dental acrylic resin specimen in distilled water at 37 degrees C is a simple but effective method of reducing its residual MMA content.

Influence of polymerization method, curing process, and length of time of storage in water on the residual methyl methacrylate content in dental acrylic resins

Comparison of the effects of specific and nonspecific inhibition of nitric oxide synthase on morphine analgesia, tolerance and dependence in mice

Objective: To investigate the effects of Nigella sativa seed supplementation on symptom levels, polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) functions, lymphocyte subsets an

/pdf/potential-adjuvant-effects-of-nigella-sativa-seeds-to-21zaqoia3r.pdf

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Papers

Alpha rhythm of the EEG modulates visual detection performance in humans.

Efficacy and safety of the direct renin inhibitor aliskiren and ramipril alone or in combination in patients with diabetes and hypertension

Influence of polymerization method, curing process, and length of time of storage in water on the residual methyl methacrylate content in dental acrylic resins

Comparison of the effects of specific and nonspecific inhibition of nitric oxide synthase on morphine analgesia, tolerance and dependence in mice

Potential adjuvant effects of Nigella sativa seeds to improve specific immunotherapy in allergic rhinitis patients.