Higgs Particle has been discovered by LHC!

Finally the Higgs Particle has been discovered by LHC!
Here is the Higgs -> two gamma decay, observed by CMS.
The paper is available here.

Early Events in Axon/Dendrite Polarization

Differentiation of axons and dendrites is a critical step in neuronal development. Here we review the evidence that axon/dendrite formation during neuronal polarization depends on the intrinsic cytoplasmic asymmetry inherited by the postmitotic neuron, the exposure of the neuron to extracellular chemical factors, and the action of anisotropic mechanical forces imposed by the environment. To better delineate the functions of early signals among a myriad of cellular components that were shown to influence axon/dendrite formation, the authors discuss their functions by distinguishing their roles as determinants, mediators, or modulators and consider selective degradation of these components as a potential mechanism for axon/dendrite polarization. Finally, we examine whether these early events of axon/dendrite formation involve local autocatalytic activation and long-range inhibition, as postulated by Alan Turing for the morphogenesis of patterned biological structure.

Pei-lin Cheng and Mu-ming Poo
Annual Review of Neuroscience
Vol. 35: 181-201 (Volume publication date July 2012)
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-061010-113618

Evolution of Synapse Complexity and Diversity

Proteomic studies of the composition of mammalian synapses have revealed a high degree of complexity. The postsynaptic and presynaptic terminals are molecular systems with highly organized protein networks producing emergent physiological and behavioral properties. The major classes of synapse proteins and their respective functions in intercellular communication and adaptive responses evolved in prokaryotes and eukaryotes prior to the origins of neurons in metazoa. In eukaryotes, the organization of individual proteins into multiprotein complexes comprising scaffold proteins, receptors, and signaling enzymes formed the precursor to the core adaptive machinery of the metazoan postsynaptic terminal. Multiplicative increases in the complexity of this protosynapse machinery secondary to genome duplications drove synaptic, neuronal, and behavioral novelty in vertebrates. Natural selection has constrained diversification in mammalian postsynaptic mechanisms and the repertoire of adaptive and innate behaviors. The evolution and organization of synapse proteomes underlie the origins and complexity of nervous systems and behavior.

Richard D. Emes1 and Seth G.N. Grant2
Annual Review of Neuroscience
Vol. 35: 111-131 (Volume publication date July 2012)
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-062111-150433

Motor Circuits in Action: Specification, Connectivity, and Function

Mammalian motor behavior is enabled by a hierarchy of interleaved circuit modules constructed by interneurons in the spinal cord, sensory feedback loops, and bilateral communication with supraspinal centers. Neuronal subpopulations are specified through a process of precisely timed neurogenesis, acquisition of transcriptional programs, and migration to spatially confined domains. Developmental and genetic programs instruct stereotyped and highly specific connectivity patterns, binding functionally distinct neuronal subpopulations into motor circuit modules at all hierarchical levels. Recent work demonstrates that spatial organization of motor circuits relates to precise connectivity patterns and that these patterns frequently correlate with specific behavioral functions of motor output. This Review highlights key examples of how developmental specification dictates organization of motor circuit connectivity and thereby controls movement.

Silvia Arber
Neuron, Volume 74, Issue 6, 21 June 2012, Pages 975–989

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627312004771

Bit by Bit: The Darwinian Basis of Life

All known examples of life belong to the same biology, but there is increasing enthusiasm among astronomers, astrobiologists, and synthetic biologists that other forms of life may soon be discovered or synthesized. This enthusiasm should be tempered by the fact that the probability for life to originate is not known. As a guiding principle in parsing potential examples of alternative life, one should ask: How many heritable “bits” of information are involved, and where did they come from? A genetic system that contains more bits than the number that were required to initiate its operation might reasonably be considered a new form of life.

Science Daily, May 8, 2012

Joyce GF (2012) Bit by Bit: The Darwinian Basis of Life. 

PLoS Biol 10(5): e1001323. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001323

Rats Recall Past to Make Daily Decisions

 UCSF scientists have identified patterns of brain activity in the rat brain that play a role in the formation and recall of memories and decision-making. The discovery, which builds on the team's previous findings, offers a path for studying learning, decision-making and post-traumatic stress syndrome.  In the journal Science this week (online May 3, 2012), the UCSF researchers demonstrated that the brain activity is critical for memory formation and recall. Moreover, they showed that the brain patterns through which the rats see rapid replays of past experiences are fundamental to their ability to make decisions. Disturbing those particular brain patterns impaired the animals' ability to learn rules based on memories of things that had happened in the past.
Science Daily, May 3, 2012

Shantanu P. Jadhav, Caleb Kemere, P. Walter German and Loren M. Frank.

Awake Hippocampal Sharp-Wave Ripples Support Spatial Memory.

Science, May 4, 2012 DOI: 10.1126/science.1217230

Timing to Perfection: The Biology of Central and Peripheral Circadian Clocks

The mammalian circadian system, which is comprised of multiple cellular clocks located in the organs and tissues, orchestrates their regulation in a hierarchical manner throughout the 24 hr of the day. At the top of the hierarchy are the suprachiasmatic nuclei, which synchronize subordinate organ and tissue clocks using electrical, endocrine, and metabolic signaling pathways that impact the molecular mechanisms of cellular clocks. The interplay between the central neural and peripheral tissue clocks is not fully understood and remains a major challenge in determining how neurological and metabolic homeostasis is achieved across the sleep-wake cycle. Disturbances in the communication between the plethora of body clocks can desynchronize the circadian system, which is believed to contribute to the development of diseases such as obesity and neuropsychiatric disorders. This review will highlight the relationship between clocks and metabolism, and describe how cues such as light, food, and reward mediate entrainment of the circadian system.

Urs Albrecht
Neuron Volume 74, Issue 2, 26 April 2012, Pages 246–260
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627312003327

Rats Match Humans in Decision-Making That Involves Combining Different Sensory Cues

The next time you set a trap for that rat running around in your basement, here's something to consider: you are going up against an opponent whose ability to assess the situation and make decisions is statistically just as good as yours.   A Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) study that compared the ability of humans and rodents to make perceptual decisions based on combining different modes of sensory stimuli -- visual and auditory cues, for instance -- has found that just like humans, rodents also combine multisensory information and exploit it in a "statistically optimal" way -- or the most efficient and unbiased way possible.
Science Daily, Mar. 13, 2012

David Raposo, et al.

Multisensory decision-making in rats and humans. Journal of Neuroscience, March 14, 2012 DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4998-11.2012

Rethinking the Emotional Brain

The author, LeDoux, proposes a reconceptualization of key phenomena important in the study of emotion—those phenomena that reflect functions and circuits related to survival, and that are shared by humans and other animals. The approach shifts the focus from questions about whether emotions that humans consciously feel are also present in other animals, and toward questions about the extent to which circuits and corresponding functions that are present in other animals (survival circuits and functions) are also present in humans. Survival circuit functions are not causally related to emotional feelings but obviously contribute to these, at least indirectly. The survival circuit concept integrates ideas about emotion, motivation, reinforcement, and arousal in the effort to understand how organisms survive and thrive by detecting and responding to challenges and opportunities in daily life.

Joseph LeDoux
Rethinking the Emotional Brain
Neuron, Volume 73, Issue 5, 8 March 2012, Page 1052

Neural development: Epigenetic regulation of asymmetry

The brains of many species demonstrate structural and functional bilateral asymmetry, yet the underlying molecular mechanisms are mostly unknown. In the Caenorhabditis elegans nervous system, the lineages arising from the two daughter cells of a particular blastomere known as ABarap produce a different cell on each side of the body: a motor neuron on the right and an epithelial cell on the left. Here, the authors show that the CAF-1 (chromatin assembly factor-1) protein complex, a histone chaperone that deposits histone H3 and H4 proteins onto replicating DNA, is required to establish this asymmetry, suggesting a role for epigenetic regulation in the generation of nervous system asymmetry.

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 13, 72 (February 2012) | doi:10.1038/nrn3183
IN BRIEF:Neural development: Epigenetic regulation of asymmetry
Katherine Whalley

Nakano, S. et al. 

Replication-coupled chromatin assembly generates a neuronal bilateral asymmetry in C. elegans. 

Cell 147, 1525–1536 (2011)