Volume 12 Issue 8, August 2011

Rare copy number variations explain a relatively large proportion of sporadic cases of autism spectrum disorders.

Social stress processing in healthy individuals is affected by city living and an urban upbringing

Blocking interactions between CRMP2 and the calcium channel CaV2.2 suppresses imflammatory and neuropathic pain.

Odorants that cause prolonged activation of CO₂-sensing neurons in mosquitoes interfere with their host-seeking behaviour, and might lead to the development of a new class of insect repellents.

Adult hippocampal neural stem cells can give rise to persisting populations of stem cells and neurons, with cell fate being affected by an animal's experiences.

Flies use visual cues to guide their navigation and require neurons in the ellipsoid body to do so.

Calcium signalling mediates circadian regulation of extracellular ATP accumulation by astrocytes.

Immune factors mediate the effect of circadian disruption on depression-like behaviour

Loneliness increases aggressiveness, even in flies

Rapamycin, an inhibitor of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), has neuroprotective effects in models of several neurodegenerative diseases. In this Review, Vila and colleagues discuss the mechanisms by which rapamycin exerts neuroprotection, including effects on autophagy and apoptosis, and on the translation of pro-death and pro-survival proteins.

The importance of interactions between the brain and the digestive system in health and disease has been recognized for centuries. Mayer reviews the neuroanatomy and signalling mechanisms that underlie this bidirectional communication system in health and disease, as well as possible consequences for higher-level executive functions and emotional states.

Aaron Beck's influential cognitive model of depression posits that cognitive biases lead to depressive symptoms. In this Review, Beck and colleagues discuss neuroimaging findings suggesting that both top-down and bottom-up neural mechanisms underlie these biases, and propose a neurobiological architecture of the cognitive model of depression.

The immediate subjective effects of cocaine are central to its rewarding properties and addictive qualities; however, the mechanisms by which the drug causes these rapid effects were unclear. Wise and Kayatkin describe recent findings that show that cocaine-predictive cues can activate the dopaminergic reward system in less time than it takes for cocaine to reach and block dopamine transporters in the brain.