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91
Neuroscience / How the Brain Judges Social Encounters
« Last post by smfadmin on May 02, 2025, 03:12:56 AM »
https://neurosciencenews.com/neuroscience-social-encounters-28790/

April 30, 2025

Summary:
Scientists have identified the neural circuitry responsible for assigning emotional value, positive or negative, to social encounters. Two key neuromodulators, serotonin and neurotensin, were found to control opposing emotional responses in a brain region responsible for learning and memory.

In a mouse model of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), activating serotonin receptors restored the ability to form positive impressions from social interactions. The findings could pave the way for therapies that target emotional imbalances in disorders like ASD and schizophrenia.

Key Facts:

● Emotional Tagging: Serotonin and neurotensin in the hippocampus determine whether a social interaction feels positive or negative.

● Reversing Deficits: Stimulating serotonin 1B receptors restored positive social impressions in a mouse model of ASD.

● Therapeutic Potential: The study reveals specific neuromodulatory targets that could inform future treatments for social cognitive deficits.

Mount Sinai researchers have identified for the first time the neural mechanisms in the brain that regulate both positive and negative impressions of a social encounter, as well as how an imbalance between the two could lead to common neuropsychiatric disorders like autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia.

The study, published April 30 in Nature, also describes how activating a serotonin receptor in the brain of a mouse model of ASD restored positive emotional value (also known as “valence”), with encouraging implications for the development of future therapies.

“The ability to recognize and distinguish unpleasant from pleasant interactions is essential for humans to navigate their social environment,” says Xiaoting Wu, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and senior author of the study.

“Until now, it has been unclear how the brain assigns positivity or negativity—‘valence’—to social experiences, and how that information can be flexibly updated in a constantly changing environment.”

At the center of this complex neural circuitry is the hippocampus, located deep in the temporal lobe of the brain and responsible for forming new memories, learning, and emotions.

The Mount Sinai researchers described how two neuromodulators—serotonin and neurotensin, which influence processes such as mood, arousal, and neural plasticity—are released into the hippocampal subregion known as ventral CA1, where they control opposing social valence assignment.

Both neurotransmitters impact distinct populations of ventral CA1 neurons through their respective receptors, serotonin 1B and neurotensin 1.

While deficits in social valence are known to be prevalent in many neuropsychiatric disorders, their underlying neural mechanisms and pathophysiology have remained elusive.

“Through our work we’ve provided the first foundational insights into the neural basis of social valence,” notes Dr. Wu.

“We have demonstrated that the neuromodulators serotonin and neurotensin signal opposing valence, revealing a fundamental principle of brain function in the form of a neuromodulatory switch that allows behavioral adaptation based on social history.”

Specifically, the team developed a novel social cognitive paradigm that involved exposing mice to negative and positive social encounters. In the negative social encounter, the test mouse was exposed to a mean/aggressive mouse; in the positive encounter, the mouse was exposed to a potential mate.

In both assays the mice had negative or neutral/positive or neutral interaction and then got to choose which mouse they would like to spend more time with.

Without prior experience, the mice did not have a preference, but with the experience, they associated a mouse with a positive or negative valence and then learned to avoid the “bad” mouse or approach the “good” mouse.”

Just as importantly, the team uncovered specific drug targets for positive and negative valence, knowledge that could potentially factor into future treatments.

Specifically, serotonin acting on the serotonin 1B receptor generates a positive impression of a social encounter, while neurotensin acting on the neurotensin 1 receptor creates a negative impression. Imbalanced emotional processing of those two social experiences is known to be a debilitating symptom of ASD.

Consequently, by activating the serotonin 1B receptor, researchers were able to restore a positive impression associated with rewarding social experiences.

“We identified a specific neuromodulator receptor which we then targeted to rescue social cognitive deficits in a mouse model of ASD,” Dr. Wu explains.

"On a broader scale, our work provides critical insights into complex social behaviors while revealing potential therapeutic targets that can be leveraged to improve social cognitive deficits in common neuropsychiatric disorders.”



While deficits in social valence are known to be prevalent in many neuropsychiatric disorders, their underlying neural mechanisms and pathophysiology have remained elusive. Credit: Neuroscience News
92
Funky69's



then two by "Chatty Pete" based on the funky69's but with futuristic DJ gear and upping the ante

93
Music / Re: A Robot Designed For War Did A 30-Minute DJ Set At A California Club
« Last post by Chip on May 01, 2025, 11:46:14 PM »
artwork from Funky69

Post Merged: May 01, 2025, 11:54:08 PM
a couple from AI that we just built (one animated, one "realistic" (what a struggle that was )) both playing funk and house (literally, lol!
94
General Discussion for Everybody / Re: sysconfig
« Last post by Chip on May 01, 2025, 06:34:34 AM »
 

another vCPU and double the vRAM

   forum <3 :PY2
95
Thanks Chip, it was in fact Duckfeet!  I have been absent from the community except for Poppycop's email chain, and am living a life of quiet maintenance.  I'm afraid to source anything from the street, and don't want to fuck up my medical lifeline, so gone are the days of excess.

Alpha
96
The old lovable biker was Duckfeet, IIRC -- but he passed away like Than and Paups, Chopstix, and quite a few others.

Don't be a stranger, the site will stay active for as long as I'm alive (and beyond as I have found a capable technician to keep the fires burning)
97
I remember you from the old phile Mr. P.

Love your recollection, and it makes me miss OP so much, such a shame it crashed and burned under Jonny.

Some of my favorite posters were Stugots, Count Zero, Paups & Than, and our very own dancing bear!  And who was the old biker with such great recollections?

Keep up the writing, and let us know about your book.  I'll be first in line!

Alpha
98
https://www.livescience.com/technology/computing/schrodingers-cat-inspired-quantum-computing-now-160-times-more-reliable-thanks-to-new-discovery?utm_term=032043BB-1CB4-4440-A845-2FF7DCCBD37B&lrh=1e7f7a9239bb44f191dc979b8fe5e634e587dfe020b84a653d2040468a8b342b&utm_campaign=368B3745-DDE0-4A69-A2E8-62503D85375D&utm_medium=email&utm_content=913B6A55-D211-4DEF-B603-480A44446FCD&utm_source=SmartBrief

Schrödinger's cat-inspired quantum computing now 160 times more reliable thanks to new discovery

April 21, 2025

A new technique improves the reliability of cat qubits by squeezing their probabilistic states. This could improve their reliability and lifetime, and pave the way for accurate quantum computing.

Quantum computing company Alice & Bob has improved the reliability of its cat qubits, which could make tomorrow's quantum computers far more accurate.

Fault tolerance is a major challenge in quantum computing. This is because the qubits in quantum computers are "noisy" and susceptible to decoherence — the loss of quantum information due to interference from the external environment. Improving qubits' reliability by implementing fault-tolerant technologies has therefore been a key research area.

There has been a particular drive to suppress the error rates associated with bit-flipping (when a qubit switches the probabilities of measuring 0 or 1). But previously, this had been found to lead to increased errors with phase-flipping (when a qubit switches its probabilities of being positive or negative).

Cat qubits are a type of qubit that mimics the superposition principle of Schrödinger’s cat — a thought experiment which postulates that a cat in a box with a randomly activated poison might be considered as both alive and dead until it is directly observed.

"Cat qubits" are designed to reduce bit-flips, thereby reducing the resources required for error correction. Cat qubits have been studied by multiple research teams, with qubits created by Alice & Bob scientists even incorporated into the Ocelot Chip, manufactured by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Previous Alice & Bob research has demonstrated that cat qubits could achieve a bit-flip lifetime of 138 milliseconds.

But in a new study uploaded Feb. 28 to the pre-print arXiv database, scientists outlined a new way to stabilize cat qubits, with better bit-flip protection of up to 160 times, equating to a cat qubit lifetime of 22 seconds. The effect on the phase-flip rate was minimal.

The team achieved this by compressing the quantum states of cat qubits such that there is a smaller overlap between the two states. For these squeezed cat qubits, they demonstrated a steep reduction in bit-flip error rate as photon numbers increased.

The technique demonstrated in this research is especially useful, as it does not require any modifications to the design of the circuit. "Squeezing" cat qubits will therefore make error correction less resource-intensive than previous methods.

The next stage in Alice & Bob’s research will aim to develop universal fault-tolerant quantum computing, where bit-flips and phase-flips can be efficiently managed. This could lead to practical applications in fields such as chemistry and materials science.



Image credit: VICTOR de SCHWANBERG/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images
99
https://www.livescience.com/health/lab-grown-teeth-could-offer-alternative-to-fillings-and-implants-scientists-say?utm_term=032043BB-1CB4-4440-A845-2FF7DCCBD37B&lrh=1e7f7a9239bb44f191dc979b8fe5e634e587dfe020b84a653d2040468a8b342b&utm_campaign=368B3745-DDE0-4A69-A2E8-62503D85375D&utm_medium=email&utm_content=7E6FA2F1-AFC1-41D9-9AA7-B56C97DD8049&utm_source=SmartBrief

April 25, 2025


Scientists in the U.K. have developed a new material that may allow them to grow teeth in the lab, which could provide an alternative to fillings and dental implants someday.

Scientists have gotten one step closer to growing replacement teeth in the lab — a development that could pave the way for new alternatives to unpleasant dental fillings and root canals.

The team developed a special material that allows cells to communicate with one another just as they would in the body, therefore enabling them to develop into tooth cells, the researchers reported in a study published in the journal ACS Macro Letters.

The process allows scientists to grow teeth from a patient's cells in the lab. Someday, it could enable damaged or infected teeth to be replaced by real teeth, rather than being repaired using fillings and other dental procedures.

Humans typically grow two sets of teeth in their lifetime: Around 20 baby teeth start coming in at around 6 months of age and are then gradually replaced by 32 adult teeth starting at about age 6.

Some animals, like sharks or crocodiles, can constantly replace missing teeth, but humans are limited to these two sets. This is because animals that can keep replacing their teeth never lose the tooth stem cells that allow them to constantly grow new teeth. Humans, by contrast, don't retain these active regenerative cells after adult teeth come through.

When our teeth are damaged, dentists mend cavities with fillings or replace teeth with artificial tooth implants. However, these solutions cannot repair themselves and may need to be replaced.

"Fillings aren't the best solution for repairing teeth," study co-author Xuechen Zhang, a researcher at King's College London, said in a statement. "Over time, they will weaken tooth structure, have a limited lifespan, and can lead to further decay or sensitivity."

Meanwhile, tooth implants require invasive surgery, usually across multiple appointments, and can risk infection and damage to surrounding teeth and gums.

"Both solutions are artificial and don't fully restore natural tooth function, potentially leading to long-term complications," Zhang said.

For years, scientists at King's College London have been working on a process for growing teeth, which involves mimicking how teeth grow within the body. Teeth begin growing from stem cells during early embryonic development, with stem cells from different types of embryonic tissue "talking" to each other using signaling molecules to trigger tooth formation. The stem cells differentiate into various forms of cells, which then secrete the materials that the tooth is eventually made from, such as enamel, dentin and cementum.

In the new study, the researchers described how they made a crucial breakthrough by developing a material that allowed the stem cells to communicate as they would in the body. The material was made from hydrogel — a soft, gel-like material that can absorb large amounts of water — and emulates the environment around the cells in the body, known as the matrix.

"This meant that when we introduced the cultured cells, they were able to send signals to each other to start the tooth formation process," Zhang said. "Previous attempts had failed, as all the signals were sent in one go. This new material releases signals slowly over time, replicating what happens in the body.

Such tooth replacements would be longer-lasting, stronger and much less likely to be rejected by the body, which occurs in between 5 and 10% of tooth implants.

"Lab-grown teeth would naturally regenerate, integrating into the jaw as real teeth," Zhang explained.

The researchers are still far from implanting a replacement tooth into a human patient. Right now, they're working to figure out the best way for a tooth to be introduced into the body.

"We have different ideas to put the teeth inside the mouth," Zhang said. "We could transplant the young tooth cells at the location of the missing tooth and let them grow inside [the] mouth. Alternatively, we could create the whole tooth in the lab before placing it in the patient’s mouth. For both options, we need to start the very early tooth development process in the lab."

Despite these challenges, the development could pave the way for new alternatives to fillings and implants.

"As the field progresses, the integration of such innovative techniques holds the potential to revolutionise dental care, offering sustainable and effective solutions for tooth repair and regeneration," study co-author Ana Angelova Volponi, a researcher at King's College London, said in the statement.



(Image credit: Hector Roqueta Rivero via Getty Images)

A researcher holding a normal tooth. (Image credit: King's College London)
100
That makes two of who are empaths and TBH, I use drugs to stop me being over-emotional ...

I have never lived on the street though, you are extremely resilient !

Don't forget to use AI tools to help you write and edit your biography

I agree with the using drugs to not be so overly emotional. I didnt realize till the first time i used drugs that i was actually in pain my entire life. And the drugs felt like my secret magic trick to take those pile of bricks i had been carrying painfully my entire life.making decisions based off emotions results in horrible life decisions ultimately, in a lot of situations. A gift and a curse.

It suppressed my violent intrusive thoughts.. I had a deep fascination with reading any lore, and stories about serial killers when i was in my younger teens. I HiGHLY recommend reading up on Albert fish, or H.H Holmes as far as some of the most deranged people ive ever read about. Mr. Holmes in particular owned a hotel that stretched a city block, and the entire top floor was filled with a maze of rooms that trapped you inside, and he used multiple construction companies to build the hotel so no one could know the master plan and layout. He had rooms that only opened from the outside and fitted with gas hoses that would knock people out. Also a “body laundry shoot” to dump the bodies from the top floor to the basement where he would torture and dissect people. It was said he would completely strip bodies and sell their skeletons to schools and science facilities for education, and made a decent living from this along with his hotel. It is estimated he killed hundreds of people in his life time. Many people would go missing from the hotel, and i believe he was a prime hotel for people during the worlds fare.

As for Albert fish. His autopsy showed giant needles shoved into his pelvis, legs, and groin area. He would get pleasure from pain. He abducted a 12 year old girl. Killed her and ate her body. Then years later wrote a letter to the parents describing how he killed the girl and ate her body IN DETAIL. And was quoted saying he enjoyed a child in every state.


On the subject of serial killer, supposedly Benjamin Franklin whom is on the USD $100 dollar bill, was apparently a vicious killer. Upon recently doing renovations on his old homes, they found a bunch of skeletons of kids underneath the wooden floor boards. Apparently he was a pedo, and child murderer. America was founded by some sick fucks.

Fun fact: George Washington used to pull the teeth of his slaves to make his dentures.

“Now that im “sober”, I dont need drugs. The only rush i need today, is the one you get from committing a murder.”-Gandhi

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