Massachusetts' new performance assessment for teacher candidates helps boost readiness.

What goes on behind all the closed doors in politics? Most teachers never get a chance to find out, writes teacher-turned-politician John Waldron.

Math teachers share advice for making remote instruction work.

The shooting death of a 10-year-old spectator at a high school football game exposes a critical vulnerability and crucial responsibility for schools: keeping people safe at events outside school buildings.

Michael Kirst will be stepping down from his job as president of the California School Board when Gov. Jerry Brown's tenure is over, Kirst announced this week. Kirst, who is an emeritus professor education and business administration at Stanford University, was first appointed to the state board bac

The Montreal Canadiens sit near the bottom of the NHL standings, fuelling more speculation about trade targets.

Recruiters already are offering bonuses, free housing, and airfare to entice teachers to their remote districts—and the competition is about to get worse.

As Oklahoma teachers prepare for day four of their statewide walkout, here's a guide to the larger picture of teacher protests.

Elena Neumann
Oct 9, 2024; 44:e0591242024-e0591242024
Systems/Circuits

Laura Medlock
Apr 13, 2022; 42:3133-3149
Systems/Circuits

Yasmin L. Hurd
Oct 16, 2019; 39:8250-8258
Symposium and Mini-Symposium

Yulia Lerner
Feb 23, 2011; 31:2906-2915
BehavioralSystemsCognitive

Matthew F. Glasser
Aug 10, 2011; 31:11597-11616
BehavioralSystemsCognitive

During adolescence, cannabis experimentation is common, and its association with interindividual variations in brain maturation well studied. Cellular and molecular underpinnings of these system-level relationships are, however, unclear. We thus conducted a three-step study. First, we exposed adolescent male mice to -9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or a synthetic cannabinoid WIN 55,212-2 (WIN) and assessed differentially expressed genes (DEGs), spine numbers, and dendritic complexity in their frontal cortex. Second, in human (male) adolescents, we examined group differences in cortical thickness in 34 brain regions, using magnetic resonance imaging, between those who experimented with cannabis before age 16 (n = 140) and those who did not (n = 327). Finally, we correlated spatially these group differences with gene expression of human homologs of mouse-identified DEGs. The spatial expression of 13 THC-related human homologs of DEGs correlated with cannabis-related variations in cortical thickness, and virtual histology revealed coexpression patterns of these 13 genes with cell-specific markers of astrocytes, microglia, and a type of pyramidal cells enriched in dendrite-regulating genes. Similarly, the spatial expression of 18 WIN-related human homologs of DEGs correlated with group differences in cortical thickness and showed coexpression patterns with the same three cell types. Gene ontology analysis indicated that 37 THC-related human homologs are enriched in neuron projection development, while 33 WIN-related homologs are enriched in processes associated with learning and memory. In mice, we observed spine loss and lower dendritic complexity in pyramidal cells of THC-exposed animals (vs controls). Experimentation with cannabis during adolescence may influence cortical thickness by impacting glutamatergic synapses and dendritic arborization.

GABAergic neurons and GABA_A receptors (GABA_ARs) are critical elements of almost all neuronal circuits. Most GABA_ARs of the CNS are heteropentameric ion channels composed of two α, two β, and one subunits. These receptors serve as important drug targets for benzodiazepine (BDZ) site agonists, which potentiate the action of GABA at GABA_ARs. Most GABA_AR classifications rely on the heterogeneity of the α subunit (α1–α6) included in the receptor complex. Heterogeneity of the subunits (1–3), which mediate synaptic clustering of GABA_ARs and contribute, together with α subunits, to the benzodiazepine (BDZ) binding site, has gained less attention, mainly because 2 subunits greatly outnumber the other subunits in most brain regions. Here, we have investigated a potential role of non-2 GABA_ARs in neural circuits of the spinal dorsal horn, a key site of nociceptive processing. Female and male mice were studied. We demonstrate that besides 2 subunits, 1 subunits are significantly expressed in the spinal dorsal horn, especially in its superficial layers. Unlike global 2 subunit deletion, which is lethal, spinal cord-specific loss of 2 subunits was well tolerated. GABA_AR clustering in the superficial dorsal horn remained largely unaffected and antihyperalgesic actions of HZ-166, a nonsedative BDZ site agonist, were partially retained. Our results thus suggest that the superficial dorsal horn harbors functionally relevant amounts of 1 subunits that support the synaptic clustering of GABA_ARs in this site. They further suggest that 1 containing GABA_ARs contribute to the spinal control of nociceptive information flow.

Injuries to the central nervous system (CNS) can cause severe neurological deficits. Axonal regrowth is a fundamental process for the reconstruction of compensatory neuronal networks after injury; however, it is extremely limited in the adult mammalian CNS. In this study, we conducted a loss-of-function genetic screen in cortical neurons, combined with a Web resource-based phenotypic screen, and identified synaptotagmin 4 (Syt4) as a novel regulator of axon elongation. Silencing Syt4 in primary cultured cortical neurons inhibits neurite elongation, with changes in gene expression involved in signaling pathways related to neuronal development. In a spinal cord injury model, inhibition of Syt4 expression in cortical neurons prevented axonal sprouting of the corticospinal tract, as well as neurological recovery after injury. These results provide a novel therapeutic approach to CNS injury by modulating Syt4 function.

Sleep is known to drive the consolidation of motor memories. During nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, the close temporal proximity between slow oscillations (SOs) and spindles ("nesting" of SO-spindles) is known to be essential for consolidation, likely because it is closely associated with the reactivation of awake task activity. Interestingly, recent work has found that spindles can occur in temporal clusters or "trains." However, it remains unclear how spindle trains are related to the nesting phenomenon. Here, we hypothesized that spindle trains are more likely when SOs co-occur in the prefrontal and motor cortex. We conducted simultaneous neural recordings in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and primary motor cortex (M1) of male rats training on the reach-to-grasp motor task. We found that intracortically recorded M1 spindles are organized into distinct temporal clusters. Notably, the occurrence of temporally precise SOs between mPFC and M1 was a strong predictor of spindle trains. Moreover, reactivation of awake task patterns is much more persistent during spindle trains in comparison with that during isolated spindles. Together, our work suggests that the precise coupling of SOs across mPFC and M1 may be a potential driver of spindle trains and persistent reactivation of motor memory during NREM sleep.

Dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NE) have been repeatedly implicated in neuropsychiatric vulnerability, in part via their roles in mediating the decision-making processes. Although two neuromodulators share a synthesis pathway and are coactivated under states of arousal, they engage in distinct circuits and modulatory roles. However, the specific role of each neuromodulator in decision-making, in particular the exploration–exploitation tradeoff, remains unclear. Revealing how each neuromodulator contributes to exploration–exploitation tradeoff is important in guiding mechanistic hypotheses emerging from computational psychiatric approaches. To understand the differences and overlaps of the roles of these two catecholamine systems in regulating exploration, a direct comparison using the same dynamic decision-making task is needed. Here, we ran male and female mice in a restless two-armed bandit task, which encourages both exploration and exploitation. We systemically administered a nonselective DA antagonist (flupenthixol), a nonselective DA agonist (apomorphine), a NE beta-receptor antagonist (propranolol), and a NE beta-receptor agonist (isoproterenol) and examined changes in exploration within subjects across sessions. We found a bidirectional modulatory effect of dopamine on exploration. Increasing dopamine activity decreased exploration and decreasing dopamine activity increased exploration. The modulatory effect of beta-noradrenergic receptor activity on exploration was mediated by sex. Reinforcement learning model parameters suggested that dopamine modulation affected exploration via decision noise and norepinephrine modulation affected exploration via sensitivity to outcome. Together, these findings suggested that the mechanisms that govern the exploration–exploitation transition are sensitive to changes in both catecholamine functions and revealed differential roles for NE and DA in mediating exploration.

Tens of thousands of farmers are bringing in their first rice harvest just six months after one of the worst typhoons to ever hit the Philippines left their fields in [...]

The first in a series of Conference side events, the high-level panel on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) was held on Saturday. The aim of this event was to present [...]

From the visits of Prince Charles and theGlobal Indigenous Youth Caucus (GIYC) to headquarters, to the Director-General’s ongoing visit to crisis-stricken parts of Africa, and the release of new FAO [...]

By 2020, the Starkey Hearing Foundation plans to donate one million hearing aids to kids in the developing world

To save a species from extinction, scientists scour the Panamanian jungle for the few remaining frogs. But will they be too late?

David Silverman has collected more than 800 pinball machines to preserve their history and create a national pinball museum.

Man’s best friend is also one of his oldest.

Read more about the event here: http://j.mp/TyPfBO The world famous Chinese artist uses pyrotechnics to turn a 40-foot-tall pine tree into an optical illusion.

Smithsonian Institution Secretary Dr. David Skorton joins some of the world’s leading thinkers in a spirited discussion about our ever changing planet

At high elevations in the northern Rockies, mountain pine beetles are killing countless whitebark pine trees, a major source of food for wildlife including grizzly bears

For decades, in a tradition imported from Belgium, bowlers in Michigan have rolled their balls at feathers, not pins (Edited and produced by: Roberta Cruger)

David Burnett on His Experience Jumping Out of a Plane With D-Day Vets

This stripy toe sock appears to have warmed the foot of a tot in the late antiquity period

The energetic streams are together 23 million light-years in length—roughly as long as 140 Milky Way galaxies lined end to end

The viewfinders are outfitted with special lenses that help people with red-green colorblindness distinguish between hues

The one-minute composition, which dates to the 1830s, was found on a piece of paper about the size of an index card at a museum in New York City

Once the first primate made a break, the 42 others followed suit in a simple case of monkey-see, monkey-do

The artificial waste could fertilize the ocean and sequester carbon

With president-elect Donald Trump promising to drill in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Gwich'in are preparing to fight for the Porcupine caribou herd.

A group of volunteers have been providing emergency services to West Dawson residents during the periods of freeze up and break up, when there is no reliable access across the Yukon River to town.

Eight years ago, a woman filed a complaint about two RCMP constables in Moncton. She accused them of having "an improper and racist attitude" and of discriminating against her and her husband during an investigation into a stolen truck and trailer. 

A Sudbury pharmacy technician has come up with a better way to do her job, while also improving patient safety. Now her method is being used at Sudbury's hospital, and is getting interest from others.

With hundreds of vessels passing through Windsor's waterways every year, the company that fuels many of them will receive nearly $5 million in new funding to improve their infrastructure for the distribution of lower-carbon fuels — making the shipping industry more sustainable and lower emission. 

Calgarians who contributed to peacekeeping missions around the world reflected on the country's contributions to this work, highlighting the country's mission in Cyprus, which started 60 years ago.

Vault Structures Saves $150,000 in Prototyping Costs, Cuts Development Time by 70 Percent Using SolidWorks Software

Integrated Tools Make Mechatronics-Oriented Design and Seamless Deployment to Hardware Easy