Prefrontal cortex

Boehringer Ingelheim and Sosei Heptares join forces to develop first-in-class treatments targeting all symptoms of schizophrenia

Retrieved on: 
Monday, March 11, 2024

While ‘positive’ symptoms can be stabilized with antipsychotics, some of which can have side effects, there are currently no approved medicines for ‘negative’ or cognitive symptoms.

Key Points: 
  • While ‘positive’ symptoms can be stabilized with antipsychotics, some of which can have side effects, there are currently no approved medicines for ‘negative’ or cognitive symptoms.
  • The development of a new schizophrenia treatment targeting GPR52 has the potential to address all three aspects of schizophrenia1,2 providing a novel precision treatment.
  • “We’re very excited to enter this partnership with Sosei Heptares with this novel approach, which aims to address a huge unmet need of those living with schizophrenia.
  • We’re delighted to partner with Boehringer Ingelheim and leverage its leading expertise in neurological disease research and innovation.

Latest Holistic Approach for those Struggling With Chemical Dependency

Retrieved on: 
Friday, February 23, 2024

The effects of this active metabolite begin to peak within a week after treatment, based upon past patients’ reports of improved cognitive functioning.

Key Points: 
  • The effects of this active metabolite begin to peak within a week after treatment, based upon past patients’ reports of improved cognitive functioning.
  • Informative data stems from metabolic data collected before ibogaine treatment and once more in the days to follow.
  • Results from twenty patients indicate smooth stabilization, indicating safety and efficacy of the active metabolite.
  • Thorough monitoring is crucial for sustained success, but the long-term effectiveness of noribogaine necessitates follow-up updates in subsequent months.

Pison Launches New Class of Sports Performance Wearable with Sponsorship of NASCAR Driver Anthony Alfredo

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

More than just a technological marvel, Pison READY is poised to reshape the wearable tech scene.

Key Points: 
  • More than just a technological marvel, Pison READY is poised to reshape the wearable tech scene.
  • Its launch coincides with the start of the 2024 racing season, beginning with the Daytona 500, and Pison’s sponsorship of NASCAR Driver Anthony Alfredo.
  • “Anthony Alfredo was instrumental in the development of this key innovation at Pison.
  • Pison offers three membership options from three months for $59, a year for $119, and two years for $199.

How effective is fear as a teaching tool? How and what do we learn when we are scared?

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Terrifying experiences often get imprinted in our memory; remembering frightening events is essential to avoid them in future.

Key Points: 
  • Terrifying experiences often get imprinted in our memory; remembering frightening events is essential to avoid them in future.
  • This strong connection between fear and memory may lead us to think fear can be an effective learning tool.
  • Research shows, however, fear can have long-term negative consequences for children and adults alike – and can actually make it harder to learn in meaningful ways.

How fear affects children’s learning

  • If children are faced with experiences that trigger fear, they learn to avoid new experiences – as opposed to exploring, engaging, and approaching the unknown with curiosity.
  • Consistent exposure to fear changes how the brain reacts to the outside world.
  • Fear triggers a stress response in the brain and puts it in a state of alert; we become hyper ready to react swiftly and decisively to incoming threats.

Children learn fear from the adults in their lives

  • Adults play a critical role in the healthy development of fear responses by modelling reactions to unknown situations.
  • Studies have shown both toddlers and school-aged children learn to avoid new experiences if their parents communicate or show signs of fear in reference to them.
  • Think, for instance, about how a child can learn to fear animals by seeing how their parents react to them.


have a curious and open attitude towards students’ interests
seek their perspective and offer choices
invite their thoughts, and
accept a range of emotions (from frustration, anger and reticence to playfulness, joy and curiosity).

How fear affects learning in adult life

  • These adults may end up avoiding taking on new tasks, considering multiple viewpoints, and responding to questions.
  • Work environments that induce fear can also be counterproductive and stressful.
  • Research suggests when employees perceive their work environments as unsafe, they are more likely to experience burnout, anxiety and stress.

So, what do we learn when we are scared?

  • The question is: what do we learn?
  • In response to threats and hostility, we learn to avoid challenge and comply with external rules (instead of wondering how systems can be improved).
  • That requires safe and nurturing environments – not home, school or work settings that are ruled by fear.


Deborah Pino Pasternak has previously received funding from The Australian Research Council.

Think you're good at multi-tasking? Here's how your brain compensates – and how this changes with age

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 2, 2024

We answer work emails while watching TV, make shopping lists in meetings and listen to podcasts when doing the dishes.

Key Points: 
  • We answer work emails while watching TV, make shopping lists in meetings and listen to podcasts when doing the dishes.
  • We attempt to split our attention countless times a day when juggling both mundane and important tasks.

Doing more things, but less effectively

  • In particular, the brain’s planning centres in the frontal cortex (and connections to parieto-cerebellar system, among others) are needed for both motor and cognitive tasks.
  • The more tasks rely on the same sensory system, like vision, the greater the interference.


This is why multi-tasking, such as talking on the phone, while driving can be risky. It takes longer to react to critical events, such as a car braking suddenly, and you have a higher risk of missing critical signals, such as a red light. The more involved the phone conversation, the higher the accident risk, even when talking “hands-free”.
Generally, the more skilled you are on a primary motor task, the better able you are to juggle another task at the same time. Skilled surgeons, for example, can multitask more effectively than residents, which is reassuring in a busy operating suite. Highly automated skills and efficient brain processes mean greater flexibility when multi-tasking.

Adults are better at multi-tasking than kids

  • Both brain capacity and experience endow adults with a greater capacity for multi-tasking compared with children.
  • The ability to walk and think at the same time gets better over childhood and adolescence, as do other types of multi-tasking.
  • Alternately, outside the lab, the cognitive task might fall by wayside as the motor goal takes precedence.
  • This means better capacity to maintain performance at or near single-task levels.

What about as we approach older age?


Older adults are more prone to multi-tasking errors. When walking, for example, adding another task generally means older adults walk much slower and with less fluid movement than younger adults. These age differences are even more pronounced when obstacles must be avoided or the path is winding or uneven.
Older adults tend to enlist more of their prefrontal cortex when walking and, especially, when multi-tasking. This creates more interference when the same brain networks are also enlisted to perform a cognitive task. These age differences in performance of multi-tasking might be more “compensatory” than anything else, allowing older adults more time and safety when negotiating events around them.

Older people can practise and improve

  • Testing multi-tasking capabilities can tell clinicians about an older patient’s risk of future falls better than an assessment of walking alone, even for healthy people living in the community.
  • Patients can then practise and improve these abilities by, for example, pedalling an exercise bike or walking on a treadmill while composing a poem, making a shopping list, or playing a word game.

There are times when we do think better when moving


Let’s not forget that a good walk can help unclutter our mind and promote creative thought. And, some research shows walking can improve our ability to search and respond to visual events in the environment.

But often, it’s better to focus on one thing at a time

  • In many areas of life – home, work and school – we think it will save us time and energy.
  • Multi-tasking can sometimes sap our reserves and create stress, raising our cortisol levels, especially when we’re time-pressured.
  • Sometimes, it’s better to focus on one thing at a time.


Peter Wilson has received prior funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), studying the motor and cognitive development of children. He currently receives funding from the Australian Automobile Association (AAA), studying hazard perception in older adult pedestrians.

Intra-Cellular Therapies Highlights Data Presentations at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Annual Meeting

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, December 5, 2023

NEW YORK, Dec. 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITCI), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) disorders, today announced data presentations at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) 62nd Annual Meeting.

Key Points: 
  • Company presents preclinical data on ITI-1549, our lead product candidate in our non-hallucinogenic psychedelics program in mood disorders and other psychiatric disorders.
  • NEW YORK, Dec. 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITCI), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) disorders, today announced data presentations at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) 62nd Annual Meeting.
  • Inner tension is an item within the MADRS which is often used as a surrogate marker for anxiety.
  • The data presented in this poster represent further analyses from Study 403.

Delix Presents Interim Data From Phase I Trial of Novel Neuroplastogen at ACNP Annual Meeting

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Delix Therapeutics , a clinical-stage neuroscience company developing novel neuroplasticity-promoting therapeutics for psychiatric and neurological disorders, today announced interim results from the Phase 1 trial evaluating DLX-001, a novel neuroplastogen, in healthy volunteers, which were presented at the 2023 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) Annual Meeting in Tampa, Florida.

Key Points: 
  • Delix Therapeutics , a clinical-stage neuroscience company developing novel neuroplasticity-promoting therapeutics for psychiatric and neurological disorders, today announced interim results from the Phase 1 trial evaluating DLX-001, a novel neuroplastogen, in healthy volunteers, which were presented at the 2023 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) Annual Meeting in Tampa, Florida.
  • “Delix is excited to share these data from DLX-001, the first novel neuroplastogen to enter clinical testing.
  • These data reinforce the potential of our broader neuroplastogen platform to develop therapies that can repair damaged neurons,” said Delix CEO Mark Rus.
  • I look forward to leveraging his considerable experiences as we progress our novel neuroplastogen platform and build Delix into a leading neuroscience company."

'News overload': how a constant stream of violent images affects your brain

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, November 9, 2023

Even then, they would only have heard accounts of the events, without images or videos to reproduce exactly what happened.

Key Points: 
  • Even then, they would only have heard accounts of the events, without images or videos to reproduce exactly what happened.
  • In today’s world, omnipresent communication technology means the spread of horrific images is all but impossible to escape.
  • We experience this now, for example, with images from Israel and Gaza, and other wars and attacks in recent years.

Images that release cortisol

  • Even when viewed through a phone screen, experiencing an extremely violent situation activates the sympathetic branch of our nervous systems, which governs our “fight or flight” response.
  • Our bodies react to these images by secreting hormones into the bloodstream including adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol, commonly known as the stress hormone.
  • If they become chronic, they can cause serious health problems in the long run, as has been common knowledge for decades.

Poor memory and a loss of control

  • In acutely stressful situations the hippocampus’ role in memory becomes inhibited, and the prefrontal cortex ceases to exercise control.
  • These changes are, in principle, intended to help us cope with specific stressful situations in the short term.
  • When we face a threat the priority is to react quickly, not taking time to remember similar events and analyse contextual factors.
  • This is essentially because chronic stress causes problems for our learning and memory, affecting three areas which are worth exploring in more detail: precision, flexibility and reconsolidation.


Francisco Javier Saavedra Macías no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.

Motif Neurotech Conducts First-in-human Brain Stimulation With Millimeter-sized Implantable Device for Treatment-resistant Depression

Retrieved on: 
Monday, September 18, 2023

In intraoperative studies, the team showed that their miniature implants could safely and effectively stimulate the human brain without contacting the brain surface.

Key Points: 
  • In intraoperative studies, the team showed that their miniature implants could safely and effectively stimulate the human brain without contacting the brain surface.
  • They further showed their implants provided safe and effective brain stimulation in large animal studies lasting over 30 days.
  • Motif is developing a miniature brain pacemaker that is designed to precisely stimulate the brain to restore healthy circuit activity to treat mental health disorders.
  • “This tiny device, which cannot be seen once implanted, provides at-home stimulation that engages brain networks known to treat depression.

PreveCeutical & Endosane Announces Innovative Preclinical Approaches to Assess Brain Availability of CBD And Pharmacologically Relevant Doses Following Intranasal CBD Application

Retrieved on: 
Monday, September 18, 2023

The company's commitment to advancing medical research is demonstrated through its comprehensive research proposal for a first preclinical study in rats.

Key Points: 
  • The company's commitment to advancing medical research is demonstrated through its comprehensive research proposal for a first preclinical study in rats.
  • The primary objectives of this study include:
    Objective 1: Investigating the potential of sol-gel technology for rapid delivery of CBD to the brain.
  • This includes assessing the amounts achieved, regional distribution, and time course of CBD uptake in the brain (Experiments 1 and 2).
  • Experiment 3: Building upon the outcomes of Experiment 1, the study will assess intranasal CBD doses that yield significant brain exposure in rat models of anxiety and chronic pain.