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Age-related declines in delayed non-match-to-sample performance (DNMS) are reversed by the novel 5HT6 receptor antagonist SB742457.

Age-related declines in delayed non-match-to-sample performance (DNMS) are reversed by the novel 5HT6 receptor antagonist SB742457 (available here) Callaghan CK, Hok V, Della-Chiesa A, Virley DJ, Upton N, O’Mara SM. Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland. callaghc@tcd.ie Abstract Alterations in synaptic plasticity and neurocognitive function with age have been well documented in the literature. These changes are… Read More

Perfectly Sane Delusions

Originally posted on The Dish:
Rebecca Schwarzlose says a surprising number of mentally healthy people experience them: Delusions are a common symptom of schizophrenia and were once thought to reflect the poor reasoning abilities of a broken brain. More recently, a growing number of physicians and scientists have opted for a different explanation. According to this model,…

An alcoholic’s brain – Irish Medical News Interview

An alcoholic’s brain Wednesday, 18 September 2013 11:05 Danielle Barron There is a complex relationship between the brain and alcohol dependence, writes Danielle Barron You can get a heart transplant, a lung transplant, a kidney transplant but you can’t get a brain transplant. The brain remains the final frontier in research as it is still… Read More

CREB selectively controls learning-induced structural remodeling of neurons.

Learn Mem. 2012 Jul 18;19(8):330-6. doi: 10.1101/lm.025817.112. CREB selectively controls learning-induced structural remodeling of neurons. [download] Middei S, Spalloni A, Longone P, Pittenger C, O’Mara SM, Marie H, Ammassari-Teule M. Source CNR-National Research Council, Rome 00143, Italy. s.middei@hsantalucia.it Abstract The modulation of synaptic strength associated with learning is post-synaptically regulated by changes in density and shape of dendritic spines. The transcription factor… Read More

The awesomeness of ocular anatomy and physiology: the scleral membrane and the oculocephalic reflex as defenses against insult

Today brings one of those dismal events that afflict us all from time-to-time: a stupid accident that makes you deeply thankful for that combined achievement of evolution – a tough scleral membrane and the oculocephalic reflex. Moving furniture outside, I manage to stab myself in the dorsolateral aspect of my right eye while bending down to… Read More

Dissociation of dorsal hippocampal regional activation under the influence of stress [Front Behav Neurosci. 2011] – PubMed – NCBI

(Available for download as OA on Frontiers – just click through the link) via Dissociation of dorsal hippocampal regi… [Front Behav Neurosci. 2011] – PubMed – NCBI. Passecker J, Hok V, Della-Chiesa A, Chah E, O’Mara SM. Source Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Abstract Stress has deleterious effects on brain, body, and behavior… Read More

Hangover nation: What is it about Ireland and drink?

A piece I did for the Irish Examiner a little while back: We drink too much in Ireland. As a nation, we consistently place highly in the global heavy drinking league. Excess alcohol consumption causes many problems. It is, for example, the major cause of death in men aged 35 to 50 in Ireland. A HSE report… Read More

Terrorism, Torture and Memory: Royal Irish Academy | About | Science Series

[My book ‘Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation’ (Harvard UP) can be preordered from Amazon (.com) – more details at end of post] Royal Irish Academy | About | Science Series via Royal Irish Academy | About | Science Series. This links to a podcast of an unusual interdisciplinary evening, featuring a neuroscientist (me), a political scientist (Richard… Read More