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Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) develop when unborn children are exposed to alcohol prenatally. As a result of this exposure, children with FASD exhibit a range of social, behavioural, cognitive and even physical deficits that can impede their life-long development. These deficits can be influenced by maltreatment and the instability resulting from being placed into out-of-home care, and/or multiple foster-care placement breakdowns. The aim of this article is to increase awareness amongst child welfare professionals of how prenatal alcohol exposure impacts on children's social development. Social deficits include problems with social cognition and social information processing, which result in issues in social problem solving, processing social cues, social judgement, and developing and maintaining relationships. These deficits leave children with a FASD vulnerable to victimisation, exploitation, peer pressure and, as a result, interaction with the criminal justice system. Deficits are life-long and become more pronounced with age, although early detection and intervention appears to improve social skills deficits. Such interventions need to be explored further as they could potentially mitigate some of these deficits by capitalising on the neuroplasticity of a child's developing brain and pave a more positive trajectory for these children's future.

Intro -- Preface -- Contents -- Contributors -- About the Editors -- Part I: Introduction to Substance Use -- 1: A Primer on Alcohol and Adolescent Brain Development: Implications for Prevention -- Introduction -- Adolescent Brain Development Is a New Area Research -- Adolescent Brain Basics -- Changes in the Frontal Lobes During Adolescence -- Changes in Other Parts of the Cortex -- Structures Involved in Emotional Reactivity and Risky Behaviors -- The Corpus Callosum and Sex Differences in Adolescent Brain Development -- Alcohol and Adolescent Brain Development -- Differences in Sensitivity to Alcohol Between Adolescents and Adults -- Age of Onset of Drinking -- Adolescent Neuroplasticity Facilitates the Learning of Both Adaptive and Maladaptive Habits -- Implications for Prevention -- Conclusions -- References -- 2: Epidemiology of Substance Use Internationally -- Introduction -- Data Collections and Caveats -- Prevalence of Substance Use -- Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illicit Drugs -- Injecting Drug Use -- New Psychoactive Substances -- Prevalence of Substance Dependence -- Substance-Related Health Burden -- Mortality -- Burden of Disease -- Risk Factors for Health Harms -- Conclusion -- References -- 3: An Integrative Perspective on the Etiology of Substance Use -- Introduction to the "Ecobiodevelopmental" Framework -- Person Level -- Genetic Susceptibilities and Personality Traits -- Behavioral and Mental Health -- Neurological Development -- Stress Exposures and Physiological Reactivity -- Microlevel Influences -- Parenting and Family Functioning -- Schools and Educational Opportunities -- Peer Influences -- Macro-Level Influences -- The Neighborhood and Physical Environment -- Income/Resources -- Public Policy/Government Influence -- An Integrative Perspective of the Etiology of Substance Use.

This study is focused on the declarations made by different Chilean institutions regarding the modifications affecting the subject Physical Education and Health (PEH), which were approved by the National Education Council. Purpose: The main aim was to analyse the speech generated and gather data around the curricular modifications in the 3rd and 4th course of the middle education in 2020, specifically the choice of leaving the subject PEH as an elective subject. Design: A qualitative, pragma-dialectic approach was used, focusing on the point of view and main arguments of the institutions on the topic. Results: 23 declarations were reviewed, pertaining 6 to health institutions, 12 to educational institutions, 4 to sports institutions, and finally, 1 corresponding to the political ambit. In summary, a common point of view rejecting curricular modification was found in all the institutions analysed. The main arguments to reject leaving PEH as an elective subject are related to health concerns (such as sedentarism and obesity), cognitive development and neuroplasticity, recreation, national sports performance. Due to all these factors, the institutions consulted propose PEH to be a core subject. Apart from the issues presented, the PEH teacher's role as a pedagogue should be considered. Conclusion: This study establishes a theoretical foundation to support and highlight the need for PEH to be a core subject in basic, middle, and higher education.

This study is focused on the declarations made by different Chilean institutions regarding the modifications affecting the subject Physical Education and Health (PEH), which were approved by the National Education Council. Purpose: The main aim was to analyse the speech generated and gather data around the curricular modifications in the 3rd and 4th course of the middle education in 2020, specifically the choice of leaving the subject PEH as an elective subject. Design: A qualitative, pragma-dialectic approach was used, focusing on the point of view and main arguments of the institutions on the topic. Results: 23 declarations were reviewed, pertaining 6 to health institutions, 12 to educational institutions, 4 to sports institutions, and finally, 1 corresponding to the political ambit. In summary, a common point of view rejecting curricular modification was found in all the institutions analysed. The main arguments to reject leaving PEH as an elective subject are related to health concerns (such as sedentarism and obesity), cognitive development and neuroplasticity, recreation, national sports performance. Due to all these factors, the institutions consulted propose PEH to be a core subject. Apart from the issues presented, the PEH teacher's role as a pedagogue should be considered. Conclusion: This study establishes a theoretical foundation to support and highlight the need for PEH to be a core subject in basic, middle, and higher education.

Background: The head injuries are unique in the pediatric age group, owing the distinctive characteristics in the anatomy and physiology of the brain, characterized by neuroplasticity. Several factors like physiological changes, etiology, management and its outcome pertaining to TBI needs to be evaluated to probe the potential for being a preventable risk factor. This study was carried out to assess the pattern of presentation of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) among pediatric age group visiting the emergency room. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among 175 pediatric patients visiting the emergency room with a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury. Patient with moderate to severe traumatic head injury within 72 hours and those aged 1 - 15 years were included. Glasgow coma scale was used to assess and grade the severity of the TBI. Results: Majority of the participants (70.9%) belonged to moderate TBI and 29.1% belonged to severe TBI. Motor vehicle accidents were predominantly associated with severe injury (50%), fall from a height was associated more with moderate TBI. This association was found to be statistically significant (p<0.0005). Conclusion: Considering the impact of specific causes of TBI namely motor vehicle accidents and fall from height, there is a need for implementation of rigorous legislations which can minimize the risk for such accidents involving the pediatric age groups.

Long-term operations carried out at high altitude (HA) by military personnel, pilots, and astronauts may trigger health complications. In particular, chronic exposure to high altitude (CEHA) has been associated with deficits in cognitive function. In this study, we found that mice exposed to chronic HA (5000 m for 12 weeks) exhibited deficits in learning and memory associated with hippocampal function and were linked with changes in the expression of synaptic proteins across various regions of the brain. Specifically, we found decreased levels of synaptophysin (SYP) (p < 0.05) and spinophilin (SPH) (p < 0.05) in the olfactory cortex, post synaptic density−95 (PSD-95) (p < 0.05), growth associated protein 43 (GAP43) (p < 0.05), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) (p < 0.05) in the cerebellum, and SYP (p < 0.05) and PSD-95 (p < 0.05) in the brainstem. Ultrastructural analyses of synaptic density and morphology in the hippocampus did not reveal any differences in CEHA mice compared to SL mice. Our data are novel and suggest that CEHA exposure leads to cognitive impairment in conjunction with neuroanatomically-based molecular changes in synaptic protein levels and astroglial cell marker in a region specific manner. We hypothesize that these new findings are part of highly complex molecular and neuroplasticity mechanisms underlying neuroadaptation response that occurs in brains when chronically exposed to HA.

Abstract. Cognitive rehabilitation is an important area of neurological rehabilitation, which aims at the treatment of cognitive disorders due to acquired brain damage of different etiology, including stroke. Although the importance of cognitive rehabilitation for stroke survivors is well recognized, available cognitive treatments for neuropsychological disorders, such as spatial neglect, hemianopia, apraxia, and working memory, are overall still unsatisfactory. The growing body of evidence supporting the potential of the transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES) as tool for interacting with neuroplasticity in the human brain, in turn for enhancing perceptual and cognitive functions, has obvious implications for the translation of this noninvasive brain stimulation technique into clinical settings, in particular for the development of tES as adjuvant tool for cognitive rehabilitation. The present review aims at presenting the current state of art concerning the use of tES for the improvement of post-stroke visual and cognitive deficits (except for aphasia and memory disorders), showing the therapeutic promises of this technique and offering some suggestions for the design of future clinical trials. Although this line of research is still in infancy, as compared to the progresses made in the last years in other neurorehabilitation domains, current findings appear very encouraging, supporting the development of tES for the treatment of post-stroke cognitive impairments.

Stereotaxic surgery for the implantation of cannulae into specific brain regions has for many decades been a very successful experimental technique to investigate the effects of locally manipulated neurotransmitter and signaling pathways in awake, behaving animals. Moreover, the stereotaxic implantation of electrodes for electrophysiological stimulation and recording studies has been instrumental to our current understanding of neuroplasticity and brain networks in behaving animals. Ever-increasing knowledge about optimizing surgical techniques in rodents1-4, public awareness concerning animal welfare issues and stringent legislation (e.g., the 2010 European Union Directive on the use of laboratory animals5) prompted us to refine these surgical procedures, particularly with respect to implementing new procedures for oxygen supplementation and the continuous monitoring of blood oxygenation and heart rate levels during the surgery as well as introducing a standardized protocol for post-surgical care. Our observations indicate that these modifications resulted in an increased survival rate and an improvement in the general condition of the animals after surgery (e.g. less weight loss and a more active animal). This video presentation will show the general procedures involved in this type of stereotaxic surgery with special attention to our several modifications. We will illustrate these surgical procedures in rats, but it is also possible to perform this type of surgery in mice or other small laboratory animals by using special adaptors for the stereotaxic apparatus6.

Cover -- Title page -- Endorsements -- Copyright page -- Full title page -- Acknowledgements -- Table of contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- About the author -- Acronyms -- Icons used -- The aims and objectives of this book -- 1 There is no learning withouthaving to pose a question -- 2 A brainwise value chain -NeuroCapital drives humancapital -- 3 Making it as simple as possible -- 4 It's not rocket science...it's neuroscience -- 4.1 Start with the brain in mind -- 4.2 Three metaphorical (but not literal) layers -- 4.3 The nervous system: fight/flight/freeze/fudge andfriends -- 4.4 An electrochemical symphony: your enemy and yourfriend -- 5 The Big 5 Neuro-Insights -- 5.1 Safety first -- 5.2 Conscious thinking is overrated - the untapped powerof your brain -- 5.3 Attention is an open system -- 5.4 Lifelong neuroplasticity - the brain remodels all the time -- 5.5 Scaling the brain into networks -- 6 From scanner to the office -- 6.1 Stress: manage it and build resilience -- 6.2 Sleep health -- 6.3 Stillness of mind: switch to mindful awareness -- 6.4 States of mood -- 6.5 Simple fluency and regulation of emotions -- 6.6 Social Connectivity -- 6.7 Stratification of purpose and goals - the will, the way and the habit -- 7 Putting it all together -- Final reflection -- Appendix A: Thinking frameworks and models -- Appendix B: Categories of brainwaves and mentalstates -- Appendix C: Neurotransmitters and their functions -- Appendix D: Bias and mental short cuts -- Appendix E: Neuropedia - some helpful definitions -- Endnotes -- Index -- Back cover.

Intro -- RABBITS. BIOLOGY, DIET AND EATING HABITS AND DISORDERS -- RABBITS. BIOLOGY, DIET AND EATING HABITS AND DISORDERS -- Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter I: The Rabbit Brain As a Model of Structural Neuroplasticity -- Abstract -- Introduction -- A link between Adult Neurogenesis and Brain Repair Is not Granted -- Parenchymal Neurogenesis -- The Rabbit as a Model for Postnatal and Adult Neurogenesis -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter II: A Survey on the Studies of Rabbit Prion Proteins -- Abstract -- Introduction -- The Detailed Survey -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter III: The Effect of Reduced Dietary Consistency on the Fiber Properties of Rabbit Jaw Muscles -- Abstract -- Introduction -- Muscle Adaptation -- Animal Experiment -- Discussion -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter IV: The Use of Rabbits to Investigate the Pathogenesis of Disease -- Abstract -- Introduction -- 1. Cerebrovascular Disease -- 2. Cardiovascular Disease -- 3. Lung Disease -- 4. Liver Disease -- 5. Kidney Disease -- 6. Reproductive Disease and Erectile Dysfunction -- 7. Bone Disease -- 8. Viral Infection -- 9. Transgenic Rabbits -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter V: The Assessment of Sperm DNA Damage in the Rabbit Using the Halomax Assay -- Abstract -- Introduction -- Material and Methods -- Results -- Discussion -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter VI: Nutritional Effects of Plant Oil and Seeds in Rabbit Feeding -- Abstract -- Introduction -- Oilseed and Plant Oil Chemical Composition -- Mixed Feed Digestibility -- Meat Quality -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter VII: Current Studies on the Etiology of Obstructive Dysfunction of the Male Rabbit Urinary Bladder -- Abstract -- Introduction.

Available evidence highlights the importance of emotion regulation (ER) in psychological well-being. However, translation of the beneficial effects of ER from laboratory to real-life remains scarce. Here, we present proof-of-principle evidence from a novel cognitive-emotional training intervention targeting the development of ER skills aimed at increasing resilience against emotional distress. This pilot intervention involved training military veterans over 5–8 weeks in applying two effective ER strategies [Focused Attention (FA) and Cognitive Reappraisal (CR)] to scenarios presenting emotional conflicts (constructed with both external and internal cues). Training was preceded and followed by neuropsychological, personality, and clinical assessments, and resting-state functional MRI data were also collected from a subsample of the participants. Results show enhanced executive function and psychological well-being following training, reflected in increased working memory (WM), post-traumatic growth (PTG), and general self-efficacy (GSE). Brain imaging results showed evidence of diminished bottom-up influences from emotional and perceptual brain regions, along with evidence of normalized functional connectivity in the large-scale functional networks following training. The latter was reflected in increased connectivity among cognitive and emotion control regions and across regions of self-referential and control networks. Overall, our results provide proof-of-concept evidence that resilience and well-being can be learned through ER training, and that training-related improvements manifested in both behavioral change and neuroplasticity can translate into real-life benefits.

Fibromyalgia (FM) has been explained as a result of gene-environment interactions. The present study aims to verify DNA methylation differences in eleven candidate genome regions previously associated to FM, evaluating DNA methylation patterns as potential disease biomarkers. DNA methylation was analyzed through bisulfite sequencing, comparing 42 FM women and their 42 healthy sisters. The associations between the level of methylation in these regions were further explored through a network analysis. Lastly, a logistic regression model investigated the regions potentially associated with FM, when controlling for sociodemographic variables and depressive symptoms. The analysis highlighted significant differences in the GCSAML region methylation between patients and controls. Moreover, seventeen single CpGs, belonging to other genes, were significantly different, however, only one cytosine related to GCSAML survived the correction for multiple comparisons. The network structure of methylation sites was different for each group; GRM2 methylation represented a central node only for FM patients. Logistic regression revealed that depressive symptoms and DNA methylation in the GRM2 region were significantly associated with FM risk. Our study encourages better exploration of GCSAML and GRM2 functions and their possible role in FM affecting immune, inflammatory response, and central sensitization of pain. ; This research was funded by the Spanish Government Funding (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad: grant PSI2013-45818-R). MCG and LAN are part of the Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP) which is supported by the Danish National Research Foundation ...

Identity is the essence of performance and performance is the essence of identity. Without identity our performance does not assume any cultural significance. Our relative identity allows our performance to be located in the socio-cultural space. Our identity forms the foundation for the discursive significance of our performance. However, our identity is not unique, it is established by performing a pre-existing script. The biological basis of identity can be understood by applying learning theories and by analyzing how these leant behavior is embedded in our neuronal network in the brain and how these behavior patterns are controlled by psychological factors to result in the identity we observe. Recent developments in the fields of neuroscience and functional neuro imaging have enabled us to study objectively the process of neural mechanisms and map areas of brain that are involved in learning various behavior patterns. These neuronal networks and the neuro transmitters play a key role in memory and behavior of animals. Aby studying the particular pattern of behavior and the brain area that mediates that behavior it will be possible to determine neuronal networks that control core identity characteristics and that control other less important characteristics. With the emergence of studies in neuroplasticity the possibility of relearning behaviors through new neuronal pathways may open new avenues to treat conditions that affect identity. Understanding the biological basis of identity will lead to widening of research area and better understanding of the concept.

Fibromyalgia (FM) has been explained as a result of gene-environment interactions. The present study aims to verify DNA methylation differences in eleven candidate genome regions previously associated to FM, evaluating DNA methylation patterns as potential disease biomarkers. DNA methylation was analyzed through bisulfite sequencing, comparing 42 FM women and their 42 healthy sisters. The associations between the level of methylation in these regions were further explored through a network analysis. Lastly, a logistic regression model investigated the regions potentially associated with FM, when controlling for sociodemographic variables and depressive symptoms. The analysis highlighted significant differences in the GCSAML region methylation between patients and controls. Moreover, seventeen single CpGs, belonging to other genes, were significantly different, however, only one cytosine related to GCSAML survived the correction for multiple comparisons. The network structure of methylation sites was different for each group; GRM2 methylation represented a central node only for FM patients. Logistic regression revealed that depressive symptoms and DNA methylation in the GRM2 region were significantly associated with FM risk. Our study encourages better exploration of GCSAML and GRM2 functions and their possible role in FM affecting immune, inflammatory response, and central sensitization of pain ; This research was funded by the Spanish Government Funding (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad: grant PSI2013-45818-R). MCG and LAN are part of the Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP) which is supported by the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF121) ; SI

Fibromyalgia (FM) has been explained as a result of gene-environment interactions. The present study aims to verify DNA methylation differences in eleven candidate genome regions previously associated to FM, evaluating DNA methylation patterns as potential disease biomarkers. DNA methylation was analyzed through bisulfite sequencing, comparing 42 FM women and their 42 healthy sisters. The associations between the level of methylation in these regions were further explored through a network analysis. Lastly, a logistic regression model investigated the regions potentially associated with FM, when controlling for sociodemographic variables and depressive symptoms. The analysis highlighted significant differences in the GCSAML region methylation between patients and controls. Moreover, seventeen single CpGs, belonging to other genes, were significantly different, however, only one cytosine related to GCSAML survived the correction for multiple comparisons. The network structure of methylation sites was different for each group; GRM2 methylation represented a central node only for FM patients. Logistic regression revealed that depressive symptoms and DNA methylation in the GRM2 region were significantly associated with FM risk. Our study encourages better exploration of GCSAML and GRM2 functions and their possible role in FM affecting immune, inflammatory response, and central sensitization of pain. ; This research was funded by the Spanish Government Funding (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad: grant PSI2013-45818-R). MCG and LAN are part of the Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP) which is supported by the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF121)