This volume has highlighted the many recent advances in tinnitus theory, models, diagnostics, therapies, and therapeutics. But tinnitus knowledge is far from complete. In this chapter, contributors to the Behavioral Neuroscience of Tinnitus consider emerging topics and areas of research needed in light of recent findings. New research avenues and methods to explore are discussed. Issues pertaining to current assessment, treatment, and research methods are outlined, along with recommendations on new avenues to explore with research.
The paper describes a new type of evolving connectionist systems (ECOS) called evolving spatio-temporal data machines based on neuromorphic, brain-like information processing principles (eSTDM). These are multi-modular computer systems designed to deal with large and fast spatio/spectro temporal data using spiking neural networks (SNN) as major processing modules. ECOS and eSTDM in particular can learn incrementally from data streams, can include 'on the fly' new input variables, new output class labels or regression outputs, can continuously adapt their structure and functionality, can be visualised and interpreted for new knowledge discovery and for a better understanding of the data and the processes that generated it. eSTDM can be used for early event prediction due to the ability of the SNN to spike early, before whole input vectors (they were trained on) are presented. A framework for building eSTDM called NeuCube along with a design methodology for building eSTDM using this is presented. The implementation of this framework in MATLAB, Java, and PyNN (Python) is presented. The latter facilitates the use of neuromorphic hardware platforms to run the eSTDM. Selected examples are given of eSTDM for pattern recognition and early event prediction on EEG data, fMRI data, multisensory seismic data, ecological data, climate data, audio-visual data. Future directions are discussed, including extension of the NeuCube framework for building neurogenetic eSTDM and also new applications of eSTDM.
Africa is faced with an increasing underrepresentation of her research progress in many fields of science including neuroscience. This underrepresentation stems from the very low investments directed towards research by African governments as these are thought to be high-priced. Scientists and researchers within the continent are left to compete highly for the very limited research grants or choose to fund research from their personal purse. Therefore, presenting a need for all possible strategies to make science and research approaches more affordable in Africa. This paper presents one of such strategy, which advocates the use of invertebrate animal models for neuroscience research in place of the commonly used vertebrate models. Invertebrates are cheaper, more available and easy to handle options and their use is on the rise, even in the developed societies of the world. Here, we investigate the current state of invertebrate neuroscience research in Africa looking at countries and institutions conducting neuroscience research with invertebrates and their publication output. We discuss the factors which impede invertebrate neuroscience research in Africa like lack of research infrastructure and adequate expert scientists and conclude by suggesting solutions to these challenges.
Neuroscience research and training in many African countries are difficult due to funding and infrastructure deficit. This has resulted in few neuroscientists within Africa. However, invertebrates such as Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans could provide the perfect answer to these difficulties. These organisms are cheap, easy to handle and offer a comparable advantage over vertebrates in neuroscience research modeling because they have a simple nervous system and exhibit well-defined behaviors. Studies using invertebrates have helped to understand neurosciences and the complexes associated with it. If Africa wants to catch up with the rest of the world in neuroscience research, it needs to employ this innovative cost-effective approach in its research. To improve invertebrate neuroscience within the Africa continent, the authors advocated the establishment of invertebrate research centers either at regional or national level across Africa. Finally, there is also a need to provide public funding to consolidate the gains that have been made by not-for-profit international organizations over the years.
Muslim relies on the structure or guideline of shari'ah or the maqasid al-shariah, which consist of five essential values, namely preservation/protection of faith, life, intellect, property, and dignity/lineage - to guide them in discovering guiding principles for new concerns such as posed by neuroscience. Like in the case of brain imaging technology, there is in need for proper explanation within Islamic and among the Muslim scientists/scholars on how Islamic beliefs, values, and practices might cumulatively provide 'different' meanings to the practice and application of this technology, or whether it is in line with the shari'ah - in the context of preservation of health and protection of disease. This paper highlights the Islamic mechanism for neuroethics as basis for a holistic ethical framework of neuroscience to cope with its new, modern, and emerging technologies in the globalised world, and how Muslim should response to such changes.
The human neuroblastoma cell line, SH-SY5Y cells, derived from the parental SK-N-SH cell line, is commonly used as an in vitro model for neuroscience and neurobiology research. Since SH-SY5Y cells are widely cultured for research, several different culture media have been used to optimize the growth of the cells, including Eagle's Minimum Essential Medium (EMEM), Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) and other recently developed culture media. SH-SY5Y cells has the ability to reach confluency in culture flasks ranges from 5 days to 15 days, depending on the culture media used. Hence, the optimization of the culture media is crucial to achieve the fastest growth rate for the cells. The objective of the study is to evaluate the culture media for the proliferation of SH-SY5Y cells. We compared the growth rate of SH-SY5Y cells cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) supplemented with 15% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum (hiFBS), Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium: Nutrient mixture F-12 (DMEM:F12) + supplemented with 15% hiFBS and DMEM:F12 supplemented with 10% hiFBS. In DMEM:F12 supplemented with 15% hiFBS, cells grew up to 6.67E+05 cells. In DMEM:F12 supplemented with 10% hiFBS, cells grew up to 5.28E+05 cells. In DMEM supplemented with 15% hiFBS, the cells grew up to 4.76E+05 cells. There was a significant difference between culture media DMEM:F12 supplemented with 15% hiFBS as compared to DMEM:F12 supplemented with 10%hiFBS and DMEM supplemented with 15% hiFBS (p0.05). We found that DMEM:F12 supplemented with 15% hiFBS could serve as an optimized culture media for high proliferation rate of SH-SY5Y cells.
An extensive guide on practicable and significant quantitative proteomic approaches in neuroscience research is important not only because of the existing overwhelming limitations but also for gaining valuable understanding into brain function and deciphering proteomics from the workbench to the bedside. Early methodologies to understand the functioning of biological systems are now improving with high-throughput technologies, which allow analysis of various samples concurrently, or of thousand of analytes in a particular sample. Quantitative proteomic approaches include both gel-based and non-gel-based methods that can be further divided into different labelling approaches. This review will emphasize the role of existing technologies, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as their applications in neuroscience. This review will also discuss advanced approaches for targeted proteomics using isotope-coded affinity tag (ICAT) coupled with laser capture microdissection (LCM) followed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) analysis. This technology can further be extended to single cell proteomics in other areas of biological sciences and can be combined with other 'omics' approaches to reveal the mechanism of a cellular alterations. This approach may lead to further investigation in basic biology, disease analysis and surveillance, as well as drug discovery. Although numerous challenges still exist, we are confident that this approach will increase the understanding of pathological mechanisms involved in neuroendocrinology, neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders by delivering protein biomarker signatures for brain dysfunction.
The existence of numerous World Wide Web (WWW) sites devoted to dental education is proof that dental educators have been utilizing the pedagogical potential of information technology. Despite the availability of an immense quantity of information on the Internet, performing a search is often a complex, uncoordinated and time-consuming procedure, thus the usefulness of a guide on a topic of interest. Forty WWW sites devoted to dental education have been located using search engines. They were evaluated and classified as follows: guides, electronic publications, databases, patient education and undergraduate education; and according to subjects such as oral biology, morphology, histology, microbiology oral pathology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, radiology, periodontology, dental materials, orthodontics and neuroscience. The extensiveness and quality of some of these sites make them useful resources and knowledge banks for the teacher and the student.
The conjoint 17thAsian and Oceanian Myology Centre (AOMC) and 28thMalaysian Society of Neurosciences (MSN) Annual Scientific Meeting, held in Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 27 to 29 July 2018, was a great success to gather all neurosciences professionals locally and in the Asian-Oceanian region to share the latest updates in Neurology and specifically Myology. This congress attracted 516 local participants and 167 international delegates from 14 countries
There is growing awareness across the neuroscience community that the replicability of findings about the relationship between brain activity and cognitive phenomena can be improved by conducting studies with high statistical power that adhere to well-defined and standardised analysis pipelines. Inspired by recent efforts from the psychological sciences, and with the desire to examine some of the foundational findings using electroencephalography (EEG), we have launched #EEGManyLabs, a large-scale international collaborative replication effort. Since its discovery in the early 20th century, EEG has had a profound influence on our understanding of human cognition, but there is limited evidence on the replicability of some of the most highly cited discoveries. After a systematic search and selection process, we have identified 27 of the most influential and continually cited studies in the field. We plan to directly test the replicability of key findings from 20 of these studies in teams of at least three independent laboratories. The design and protocol of each replication effort will be submitted as a Registered Report and peer-reviewed prior to data collection. Prediction markets, open to all EEG researchers, will be used as a forecasting tool to examine which findings the community expects to replicate. This project will update our confidence in some of the most influential EEG findings and generate a large open access database that can be used to inform future research practices. Finally, through this international effort, we hope to create a cultural shift towards inclusive, high-powered multi-laboratory collaborations.
Sekolah Menengah Sains Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra (SMSTMFP) and Sekolah Kebangsaan Kubang Kerian (3) (SKKK3) were selected by the Department of Neurosciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), in 2011 to be a 'school-based Neuroscience Club' via the 'Knowledge Transfer Programme (KTP) - Community' project. This community project was known as "The Brain Apprentice Project". The objectives of this project were to promote science and the neurosciences beyond conventional classroom teachings whilst guiding creativity and innovation as well as to assist in the delivery of neuroscience knowledge through graduate interns as part of the cultivation of neuroscience as a fruitful future career option. All of the planned club activities moulded the students to be knowledgeable individuals with admirable leadership skills, which will help the schools produce more scientists, technocrats and professionals who can fulfil the requirements of our religion, race and nation in the future. Some of the activities carried out over the years include the "My Brain Invention Competition", "Mini Brain Bee Contest", "Recycled Melody" and "Brain Dissection". These activities educated the students well and improved their confidence levels in their communication and soft skills. The participation of the students in international-level competition, such as the "International Brain Bee", was one of the ways future professionals were created for the nation. The implementation of Neuroscience Club as one of the organisations in the school's cocurriculum was an appropriate step in transferring science and neuroscience knowledge and skills from a higher education institution, namely USM, to both of the schools, SMSTMFP and SKKK3. The club members showed great interest in all of the club's activities and their performance on the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) or Primary School Achievement Test and Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) or Malaysian Certificate of Education examinations improved tremendously.
There is great need for coordination around standards and best practices in neuroscience to support efforts to make neuroscience a data-centric discipline. Major brain initiatives launched around the world are poised to generate huge stores of neuroscience data. At the same time, neuroscience, like many domains in biomedicine, is confronting the issues of transparency, rigor, and reproducibility. Widely used, validated standards and best practices are key to addressing the challenges in both big and small data science, as they are essential for integrating diverse data and for developing a robust, effective, and sustainable infrastructure to support open and reproducible neuroscience. However, developing community standards and gaining their adoption is difficult. The current landscape is characterized both by a lack of robust, validated standards and a plethora of overlapping, underdeveloped, untested and underutilized standards and best practices. The International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF), an independent organization dedicated to promoting data sharing through the coordination of infrastructure and standards, has recently implemented a formal procedure for evaluating and endorsing community standards and best practices in support of the FAIR principles. By formally serving as a standards organization dedicated to open and FAIR neuroscience, INCF helps evaluate, promulgate, and coordinate standards and best practices across neuroscience. Here, we provide an overview of the process and discuss how neuroscience can benefit from having a dedicated standards body.
Depression is usually discussed as an adult problem; however there is a need to recognize it being a significant problem for children. Rarely is depression focused on how it affects parenting and child outcomes, particularly for young children.Often women are victims of violence, and the devastating effects of depression are significant in such households. However one must not ignore, the effect depression has on parenting, where in these contexts, women themselves, become the perpetrators of violence. When mothers are not well-2 central parental functions are threatened: the ability to foster healthy relationships and to carry out the practical functions of parenting2.When this is not carried out, one sees obvious reductions in young children’s behavioral, cognitive, and social and emotional functioning. Neuroscience is clearly evident that the primary ingredient for healthy early brain development is the quality of the earliest relationships from a baby’s primary caregiver.
Contact repulsion of growing axons is an essential mechanism for spinal nerve patterning. In birds and mammals the embryonic somites generate a linear series of impenetrable barriers, forcing axon growth cones to traverse one half of each somite as they extend towards their body targets. This study shows that protein disulphide isomerase provides a key component of these barriers, mediating contact repulsion at the cell surface in chick half-somites. Repulsion is reduced both in vivo and in vitro by a range of methods that inhibit enzyme activity. The activity is critical in initiating a nitric oxide/S-nitrosylation-dependent signal transduction pathway that regulates the growth cone cytoskeleton. Rat forebrain grey matter extracts contain a similar activity, and the enzyme is expressed at the surface of cultured human astrocytic cells and rat cortical astrocytes. We suggest this system is co-opted in the brain to counteract and regulate aberrant nerve terminal growth.
Diseases involving the nervous system drastically change lives of victims and commonly increase dependency on others. This paper focuses on senile dementia from both the neuroscientific and Islamic perspectives, with special emphasis on the integration of ideas between the two different disciplines. This would enable effective implementation of strategies to address issues involving this disease across different cultures, especially among the world-wide Muslim communities. In addition, certain incongruence ideas on similar issues can be understood better. The former perspective is molded according to conventional modern science, while the latter on the analysis of various texts including the holy Qur'an, sunnah [sayings and actions of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad (pbuh)] and writings of Islamic scholars. Emphasis is particularly given on causes, symptoms, treatments and prevention of dementia.
This paper examines the concept of free will, or independent action, in light of recent research in psychology and neuroscience. Reviewing findings in memory, prospection, and mental simulation, as well as the neurological mechanisms underlying behavioral control, planning, and integration, it is suggested in accord with previous arguments (e.g., Wegner, 2003; Harris, 2012) that a folk conception of free will as entirely conscious control over behavior should be rejected. However, it is argued that, when taken together, these findings can also support an alternative conception of free will. The constructive nature of memory and an integrative "default network" provide the means for novel and creative combinations of information, such as the imagining of counterfactual scenarios and alternative courses of action. Considering recent findings of extensive functional connections between these systems and those that subsume motor control and goal maintenance, it is argued that individuals have the capability of producing novel ideas and translating them into actionable goals. Although most of these processes take place beneath conscious awareness, it is argued that they are unique to the individual and thus, can be considered a form of independent control over behavior, or free will.