A vast network of cellular circadian clocks regulates 24‐hour rhythms of behavior and physiology in mammals. Complex environments are characterized by multiple, and often conflicting time signals demanding flexible mechanisms of adaptation of endogenous rhythms to external time. Traditionally this process of circadian entrainment has been conceptualized in a hierarchical scheme with a light‐reset master pacemaker residing in the hypothalamus that subsequently aligns subordinate peripheral clocks with each other and with external time. Here we review new experiments using conditional mouse (...) genetics suggesting that resetting of the circadian system occurs in a more “federated” and tissue‐specific fashion, which allows for increased noise resistance and plasticity of circadian timekeeping under natural conditions. (shrink)

Many neuroanatomical alterations have been detected in patients with tinnitus in previous studies. However, little is known about the morphological and structural covariance network changes before and after long-term sound therapy. This study aimed to explore alterations in brain anatomical and SCN changes in patients with idiopathic tinnitus using voxel-based morphometry analysis 24 weeks before and after sound therapy. Thirty-three tinnitus patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging scans at baseline and after 24 weeks of sound therapy. Twenty-six age- and sex-matched healthy (...) control individuals also underwent two scans over a 24-week interval; 3.0T MRI and high-resolution 3D structural images were acquired with a 3D-BRAVO pulse sequence. Structural image data preprocessing was performed using the VBM8 toolbox. The Tinnitus Handicap Inventory score was assessed for the severity of tinnitus before and after treatment. Two-way mixed model analysis of variance and post hoc analyses were performed to determine differences between the two groups and between the two scans. Student-Newman-Keuls tests were used in the post hoc analysis. Interaction effects between the two groups and the two scans demonstrated significantly different gray matter volume in the right parahippocampus gyrus, right caudate, left superior temporal gyrus, left cuneus gyrus, and right calcarine gyrus; we found significantly decreased GM volume in the above five brain regions among the tinnitus patients before sound therapy compared to that in the HC group. The 24-week sound therapy group demonstrated significantly greater brain volume compared with the baseline group among these brain regions. We did not find significant differences in brain regions between the 24-week sound therapy and HC groups. The SCN results showed that the left superior temporal gyrus and left rolandic operculum were significantly different in nodal efficiency, nodal degree centrality, and nodal betweenness centrality after FDR correction. This study characterized the effect of sound therapy on brain GM volume, especially in the left superior temporal lobe. Notably, sound therapy had a normalizing effect on tinnitus patients. (shrink)

MVi is actively engaged with the Bounorng, Kouy, Stieng, Kreung, Prov, Laak, and Kavet communities in the provinces of Mondulkiri, Stung Treng, and Kratie. Over the years, MVi has implemented three strategic plans since 2006, focusing on supporting indigenous and rural communities in these three provinces. The strategic plan for the period 2023–2027 is designed to enhance the livelihoods and economic conditions of indigenous and vulnerable communities. This plan prioritizes four key areas: climate change, natural resource management, modern agriculture production (...) and market, and social accountability. Supporting the establishment and functionality of sub-national networks is not only a core value of MVi but also a strategic approach. MVi actively facilitates the formation of sub-national networks, including the indigenous youth network, indigenous women's network on NRM, and youth/child network on CEFM. These networks are crucial in promoting self-reliance and addressing specific issues. The performances of indigenous youths and women are evaluated based on their understanding of roles and responsibilities, dissemination of youth's roles in natural resource management, participation in trainings and seminars, organization of regular meetings, coordination with community leaders for various meetings and events, mobilization of youth members to address NRM issues, implementation of plans to protect natural resources, integration of NRM plans into commune investment plans, advocacy for NRM issues with networks and decision-makers, and collaboration with other communities for NRM discussions and actions. This paper aims to guide NGO staff on how to assess the performance of sub-national community networks focusing on natural resource management. (shrink)

Coordinated daily rhythms are evident in most aspects of our physiology, driven by internal timing systems known as circadian clocks. Our understanding of how biological clocks are built and function has grown exponentially over the past 20 years. With this has come an appreciation that disruption of the clock contributes to the pathophysiology of numerous diseases, from metabolic disease to neurological disorders to cancer. However, it remains to be determined whether it is the disruption of our rhythmic physiology per se (...) (loss of timing itself), or altered functioning of individual clock components that drive pathology. Here, we review the importance of circadian rhythms in terms of how we (and other organisms) relate to the external environment, but also in relation to how internal physiological processes are coordinated and synchronized. These issues are of increasing importance as many aspects of modern life put us in conflict with our internal clockwork. (shrink)

In mammals, a network of cellular circadian clocks organizes physiology and behavior along the 24‐h day cycle. The traditional hierarchical model of circadian clock organization with a central pacemaker and peripheral slave oscillators has recently been challenged by studies combining tissue‐specific mouse mutants with transcriptome analyses. First, a surprisingly small number of tissue rhythms are lost when only local clocks are ablated and, second, transcriptional circadian rhythms appear to be regulated by a complex mix of local and systemic factors. As (...) reviewed here, these findings suggest a more integrated model of clock network interaction with the central pacemaker as the main source of behavioral and systemic–physiological rhythms and peripheral clocks controlling some local rhythms while at the same time acting as gatekeepers that temporally adjust cellular responses to external stimuli. (shrink)

Daily rhythms are a ubiquitous feature of living systems. Generally, these rhythms are not just passive consequences of cyclic fluctuations in the environment, but instead originate within the organism. In mammals, including humans, the master pacemaker controlling 24‐hour rhythms is localized in the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus. This circadian clock is responsible for the temporal organization of a wide variety of functions, ranging from sleep and food intake, to physiological measures such as body temperature, heart rate and hormone release. (...) The retinal circadian clock was the first extra‐SCN circadian oscillator to be discovered in mammals and several studies have now demonstrated that many of the physiological, cellular and molecular rhythms that are present within the retina are under the control of a retinal circadian clock, or more likely a network of hierarchically organized circadian clocks that are present within this tissue. BioEssays 30:624–633, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Brain structural covariance network can delineate the brain synchronized alterations in a long-range time period. It has been used in the research of cognition or neuropsychiatric disorders. Recently, causal analysis of structural covariance network, winner-take-all and cortex–subcortex covariance network, and modulation analysis of structural covariance network have expended the technology breadth of SCN. However, the lack of user-friendly software limited the further application of SCN for the research. In this work, we developed the graphical user interface toolkit of brain structural (...) covariance connectivity based on MATLAB platform. The software contained the analysis of SCN, CaSCN, MOD-SCN, and WTA-CSSCN. Also, the group comparison and result-showing modules were included in the software. Furthermore, a simple showing of demo dataset was presented in the work. We hope that the toolkit could help the researchers, especially clinical researchers, to do the brain covariance connectivity analysis in further work more easily. (shrink)

The case of Twin B involves the decision to send a newborn to a less intensive Level 2 special care nursery (SCN) than to the Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) that is considered optimal by the physician. The physician’s acceptance of the transfer is against the child’s best interest and is due to parental convenience. In analyzing the case, we reject the best interest standard. Our rejection is partly supported by the views of Douglas Diekema, John Hardwig, and (...) Lannie Ross. Instead of the best interest standard, we offer and defend an approach we base on a microeconomic analysis of externalities, such as those involved with automobile emissions. This extends our previously presented general microeconomic approach to patient decision-making. It provides a clearer way to evaluate situations, like those of Twin B, in which burdens faced by family members may be used to determine the appropriate level of treatment for a decisionally incapable patient. (shrink)