We thus provide a conceptual framework for characterising cortical morphology in a statistically valid and interpretable manner, based on theoretical reasoning about the shape of the cortex.
  The dopamine (DA) neurotransmission has been implicated in fundamental brain functions, exemplified by movement controls, reward-seeking, motivation, and cognition. Although dysregulation of DA neurotransmission in the striatum is known to be involved in diverse neuropsychiatric disorders, it is yet to be clarified whether components of the DA transmission, such as synthesis, receptors, and reuptake are coupled with each other to homeostatically maintain the DA neurotransmission. The purpose of this study was to investigate associations of the DA synthesis capacity with the availabilities of DA transporters and D2 receptors in the striatum of healthy subjects.
 
  First, we examined correlations between the DA synthesis capacity and DA transporter availability in the caudate and putamen using PET data with L-[β-
  C]DOPA and [
  F]FE-PE2I, respectively, acquired from our past dual-tracer studies. Next, we investigated relationships between the DA synthesis capacity and D2 receptor availability employing PET datimmediate relationship to this regulatory mechanism.Pain demands attention, yet pain can be reduced by focusing attention elsewhere. The neural processes involved in this robust psychophysical phenomenon, attentional analgesia, are still being defined. Our previous fMRI study linked activity in the brainstem triad of locus coeruleus (LC), rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) and periaqueductal grey (PAG) with attentional analgesia. Here we identify and model the functional interactions between these regions and the cortex in healthy human subjects (n = 57), who received painful thermal stimuli whilst simultaneously performing a visual attention task. RVM activity encoded pain intensity while contralateral LC activity correlated with attentional analgesia. Psycho-Physiological Interaction analysis and Dynamic Causal Modelling identified two parallel paths between forebrain and brainstem. These connections are modulated by attentional demand a bidirectional anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) - right-LC loop, and a top-down influence of task on ACC-PAG-RVM. By recruiting discrete brainstem circuits, the ACC is able to modulate nociceptive input to reduce pain in situations of conflicting attentional demand.The human auditory cortex is recently found to contribute to the frequency following response (FFR) and the cortical component has been shown to be more relevant to speech perception.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/forskolin.html  However, it is not clear how cortical FFR may contribute to the processing of speech fundamental frequency (F0) and the dynamic pitch. Using intracranial EEG recordings, we observed a significant FFR at the fundamental frequency (F0) for both speech and speech-like harmonic complex stimuli in the human auditory cortex, even in the missing fundamental condition. Both the spectral amplitude and phase coherence of the cortical FFR showed a significant harmonic preference, and attenuated from the primary auditory cortex to the surrounding associative auditory cortex. The phase coherence of the speech FFR was found significantly higher than that of the harmonic complex stimuli, especially in the left hemisphere, showing a high timing fidelity of the cortical FFR in tracking dynamic F0 in speech. Spectrally, the frequency band of the cortical FFR was largely overlapped with the range of the human vocal pitch. Taken together, our study parsed the intrinsic properties of the cortical FFR and reveals a preference for speech-like sounds, supporting its potential role in processing speech intonation and lexical tones.In 2009, Dr. Anthony Fauci stated, "The 1918-1919 influenza pandemic was a defining event in the history of public health."1 In 2020, a popular medical website suggested that the 1918 pandemic may offer "lasting lessons for the world in the grip of COVID-19."2 One lesson from the 1918 pandemic relates to residual long-term effects. In his influential book published in 1971, Minimal Brain Dysfunction in Children, Wender3 reviewed historical accounts of the 1918 pandemic and suggested that viral infection had selective brain effects on catecholamine nuclei, and behavioral sequelae in some children emerged and overlapped with symptoms that now define attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and behavioral sequelae emerged in some adults that overlapped with symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Based on this and several excitotoxic models of behavioral disorders (ie, Volpe, Altman, Amsel, Benveniste, and Lou) related to arterial architecture and patterns of blood flow to the brain, previously our group4 proposed etiologic subtypes of ADHD based on a dopamine-deficit hypothesis and assumption that dopamine neurons might be particularly sensitive to a variety of environmental insults. We speculate that residual effects of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) may selectively affect brain regions underlying attention and motivation deficits associated with ADHD, as documented by positron emission tomography imaging studies of adults (see Volkow et al.5), which could increase risk for an infection-triggered etiologic subtype of ADHD.Garcinol, a polyisoprenylated benzophenone derivative, is isolated from fruit rind of Garcinia indica. It is known to exert potent anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties. In the present study, we tried to investigate the neuroprotective effects of garcinol on a rat model with middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) and a cell model subjected to oxygen glucose deprivation and reperfusion (OGD/R). In vivo, we found that the rats with garcinol treatment showed a lower neurological deficit score and a smaller infarct size compared with the rats with ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury alone. We further found that garcinol treatment decreased cerebral I/R-induced inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress, including inhibiting the production of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), decreasing the levels of malonaldehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO), and suppressing the decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. Moreover, the suppression of toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 and nuclear NF-κB (p65) expression by garcinol was found both in vivo and in vitro.