Alex Ovechkin calmly slid into the right circle and sniped a snapshot past a blinded Juuse Saros to lead the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 triumph over the Nashville Predators.

After percolating for roughly a year, NSF has issued the next solicitation for the National Quantum Virtual Lab program — this one focused on design and implementation phases of the […]

The post NSF Issues Next Solicitation and More Detail on National Quantum Virtual Laboratory appeared first on HPCwire.

As U.S. and Slovenian troops wrapped up a joint exercise, military officials from both countries met to discuss their response to potential threats, the Air Force said Wednesday.

The USNS Choctaw County has arrived in Beirut, Lebanon, to participate in a first-of-its-kind mission intended to strengthen military ties between the countries, the U.S. Navy said Tuesday.

Four U.S. Marines remain hospitalized after an attack near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, last month as service members were evacuating foreign nationals and refugees.

Vitamin D supplements might lower blood pressure in seniors who are obese, reducing their heart health risk, a new study says.

Health officials in Britain have detected the country's first confirmed human case of a new strain of mpox that has been spreading throughout Africa.

Two additional cases of a new strain of mpox have been detected in Britain, national health officials said Monday, less than a week after the first case was announced to the public.

An additional case of a new strain of mpox has been detected in Britain, bringing the total number of infections in the country to four.

RUTHERFORD, N.J., Dec. 5, 2023 — Intelligent Light has announced it has been selected by AFWERX for a Direct-to-Phase II contract in the amount of $1.15 Million focused on IntelliTwin […]

The post AFWERX Selects IntelliTwin as the Realizable Digital Thread for HPC-scale CFD appeared first on HPCwire.

TOKYO, March 7, 2024 — Fujitsu Limited and Carnegie Mellon University today announced the development of a new technology to visualize traffic situations, including people and vehicles, as part of […]

The post Fujitsu and Carnegie Mellon University Develop AI-powered Social Digital Twin Tech with Traffic Data from Pittsburgh appeared first on HPCwire.

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 20, 2024 — To accelerate efforts to combat the $140 billion in economic losses due to extreme weather brought on by climate change, NVIDIA this week […]

The post NVIDIA Announces Earth Climate Digital Twin appeared first on HPCwire.

MTV's Europe Music Awards included a heartfelt tribute to late musician Liam Payne.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has opted to quit as head of the Church of England after a critical report over his handling of an abuse scandal, it was announced.

An explosion at a food-coloring factory in Louisville, Ky., hospitalized at least 11, including two in critical condition, on Tuesday afternoon.

An unnamed astronaut was released from Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola in Florida and returned to Johnson Space Center in Houston in good health Saturday, NASA reported.

Levels are typically lower in the body through the winter months in northern latitudes.

The study found that 68% were vitamin D deficient.

We can blame capitalism for worsening the climate crisis, says journalist Akshat Rathi, but we can also use it to create the solutions we need for the mess we're in. He details how “climate capitalism” — the strategic use of market forces and government policies to make polluting the planet cost more than advancing climate solutions — can flip the script and actually make sustainability profitable.

What if AI could help connect you with the right medical care, exactly when you need it? Health systems entrepreneur, surgeon and TED Fellow Mohamed Aburawi explores how his digital health platform, Speetar, uses AI to bridge the healthcare gap in underserved regions, like his native Libya, by connecting patients with doctors who truly understand their needs.

In this whimsical talk and performance, musician and comedian Elle Cordova ponders what happened before the Big Bang. She’s then joined by guitarist Toni Lindgren for the original song “Carl Sagan,” exploring social media, human connection and how we’re all just reaching out like stars in the night sky.

Try these 5 quick tips when you’re feeling grumpy and irritable. 1. Do some kind of mindfulness practice. Try this or any of these. Learn enough about the philosophy of mindfulness meditation that you know what you’re doing. Since most people won’t want to do formal practice everyday on a permanent basis, do it everyday […]

The post 5 Tips for Irritability appeared first on Dr Alice Boyes.

School districts are competing against each other for purchases of digital devices as remote learning expands to schools across the country.

Teachers are using a variety of games, videos, and apps to supplement online math instruction—but not all of them are created equal.

Concerns about local school systems can pose recruitment and retention hurdles for the armed services as they seek to meet the needs of military families.

Data on the usage of educational technology tools can provide districts with a helpful road map for improving student engagement under remote, in-person, or hybrid learning conditions. See how school districts are using such data to make smart, strategic decisions.

Some districts are scrambling to account for thousands of devices—a task made more urgent by the uncertainty over when students will be able to return to school buildings full-time.

Data on the usage of educational technology tools can provide districts with a helpful road map for improving student engagement under remote, in-person, or hybrid learning conditions. See how school districts are using such data to make smart, strategic decisions.

Emma Lingan and Eric Cruikshank discuss Washington Capitals center Dylan Strome, the Bruins and Red Wings coaches, Kirill Kaprizov's next contract and much more.

The Pittsburgh Penguins traded Lars Eller to the Washington Capitals for two draft picks after a blowout loss dropped them to 6-9-2 on the season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins traded Lars Eller to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday afternoon.

Former Montreal Canadiens forward Lars Eller was traded from the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.

Washington sent a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2027 third-round pick to Pittsburgh on Tuesday for Eller.

Nearly 17 million children lack high-speed internet at home that's considered crucial to their ability to participate in remote learning during the pandemic, according to a new study.

Data on the usage of educational technology tools can provide districts with a helpful road map for improving student engagement under remote, in-person, or hybrid learning conditions. See how school districts are using such data to make smart, strategic decisions.

Fadel Zeidan
Nov 18, 2015; 35:15307-15325
BehavioralSystemsCognitive

α-Neurexins are essential and highly expressed presynaptic cell-adhesion molecules that are frequently linked to neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Despite their importance, how the elaborate extracellular sequences of α-neurexins contribute to synapse function is poorly understood. We recently characterized the presynaptic gain-of-function phenotype caused by a missense mutation in an evolutionarily conserved extracellular sequence of neurexin-3α (A687T) that we identified in a patient diagnosed with profound intellectual disability and epilepsy. The striking A687T gain-of-function mutation on neurexin-3α prompted us to systematically test using mutants whether the presynaptic gain-of-function phenotype is a consequence of the addition of side-chain bulk (i.e., A687V) or polar/hydrophilic properties (i.e., A687S). We used multidisciplinary approaches in mixed-sex primary hippocampal cultures to assess the impact of the neurexin-3α^A687 residue on synapse morphology, function and ligand binding. Unexpectedly, neither A687V nor A687S recapitulated the neurexin-3α A687T phenotype. Instead, distinct from A687T, molecular replacement with A687S significantly enhanced postsynaptic properties exclusively at excitatory synapses and selectively increased binding to neuroligin-1 and neuroligin-3 without changing binding to neuroligin-2 or LRRTM2. Importantly, we provide the first experimental evidence supporting the notion that the position A687 of neurexin-3α and the N-terminal sequences of neuroligins may contribute to the stability of α-neurexin–neuroligin-1 trans-synaptic interactions and that these interactions may specifically regulate the postsynaptic strength of excitatory synapses.

When faced with danger, human beings respond with a repertoire of defensive behaviors, including freezing and active avoidance. Previous research has revealed a pattern of physiological responses, characterized by heart rate bradycardia, reduced visual exploration, and heightened sympathetic arousal in reaction to avoidable threats, suggesting a state of attentive immobility in humans. However, the electrocortical underpinnings of these behaviors remain largely unexplored. To investigate the visuocortical components of attentive immobility, we recorded parieto-occipital alpha activity, along with eye movements and autonomic responses, while participants awaited either an avoidable, inevitable, or no threat. To test the robustness and generalizability of our findings, we collected data from a total of 101 participants (76 females, 25 males) at two laboratories. Across sites, we observed an enhanced suppression of parieto-occipital alpha activity during avoidable threats, in contrast to inevitable or no threat trials, particularly toward the end of the trial that prompted avoidance responses. This response pattern coincided with heart rate bradycardia, centralization of gaze, and increased sympathetic arousal. Furthermore, our findings expand on previous research by revealing that the amount of alpha suppression, along with centralization of gaze, and heart rate changes predict the speed of motor responses. Collectively, these findings indicate that when individuals encounter avoidable threats, they enter a state of attentive immobility, which enhances perceptual processing and facilitates action preparation. This state appears to reflect freezing-like behavior in humans.

The GluN3A subunit of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) plays an established role in synapse development, but its contribution to neural circuits in the adult brain is less clear. Recent work has demonstrated that in select cell populations, GluN3A assembles with GluN1 to form GluN1/GluN3A receptors that are insensitive to glutamate and instead serve as functional excitatory glycine receptors (eGlyRs). Our understanding of these eGlyRs, and how they contribute to intrinsic excitability and synaptic communication within relevant networks of the developing and the mature brain, is only beginning to be uncovered. Here, using male and female mice, we demonstrate that GluN3A subunits are enriched in the adult ventral hippocampus (VH), where they localize to synaptic and extrasynaptic sites and can assemble as functional eGlyRs on CA1 pyramidal cells. GluN3A expression was barely detectable in the adult dorsal hippocampus (DH). We also observed a high GluN2B content in the adult VH, characterized by slow NMDAR current decay kinetics and a high sensitivity to the GluN2B-containing NMDAR antagonist ifenprodil. Interestingly, the GluN2B enrichment in the adult VH was dependent on GluN3A as GluN3A deletion accelerated NMDAR decay and reduced ifenprodil sensitivity in the VH, suggesting that GluN3A expression can regulate the balance of conventional NMDAR subunit composition at synaptic sites. Lastly, we found that GluN3A knock-out also enhanced both NMDAR-dependent calcium influx and NMDAR-dependent long-term potentiation in the VH. Together, these data reveal a novel role for GluN3A and eGlyRs in the control of ventral hippocampal circuits in the mature brain.

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.