(C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“In the present study, a biologically plausible neuronal population model is developed, which considers functional outcome of neuron-astrocyte interactions.

Based on established neurophysiologic findings, astrocytes dynamically regulate the synaptic transmission of neuronal networks. The employed structure is based on the main physiological and anatomical features of the CA1 subfield of the hippocampus. Utilizing our model, we demonstrate that healthy astrocytes provide appropriate feedback control in regulating neural activity. In this way, the astrocytes compensate the increase of excitation coupling strength among neurons and stabilize the normal level of synchronized behavior. Next, malfunction of astrocytes in the regulatory feedback loop is investigated. In this way, pathologic astrocytes are no longer check details able to regulate and/or compensate the excessive increase of the excitation level. Consequently, disruption of astrocyte signaling initiates hypersynchronous

firing of neurons. LY2874455 nmr Our results suggest that diminishing of neuron-astrocyte cross-talk leads to an abnormal synchronized neuronal firing, which suggests that astrocytes could be a proximal target for the treatment of related disorders including epilepsy. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Although signs of empathy have now been well documented in non-human primates, only during the past few years have systematic observations suggested that a primal form of empathy exists in

rodents. Thus, the study of empathy in animals has started in earnest. Here we review recent studies indicating that rodents are able to share states of fear, and highlight how affective neuroscience approaches to the study of primary-process emotional systems can help to delineate how primal empathy is constituted in mammalian brains. Cross-species evolutionary approaches to understanding the neural circuitry see more of emotional ‘contagion’ or ‘resonance’ between nearby animals, together with the underlying neurochemistries, may help to clarify the origins of human empathy.”
“Background. Little is known about the epidemiology of bulimia nervosa outside clinical settings. We report the incidence, prevalence and outcomes of bulimia nervosa using for the first time a nationwide Study design.

Method. To assess the incidence and natural course and outcomes of DSM-IV bulimia nervosa among women from the general Population, women (n = 2881) from the 1975-79 birth cohorts of Finnish twins were screened for lifetime eating disorders using 3 two-stage procedure consisting of a questionnaire screen and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID).