Today, August 31, 2022 , according to information from his University, the neuroscientist Eric Kandel, born in 1929 in Vienna, Austria retires at the age of 92. A great writer and teacher, Professor Kandel is considered a "titan" of Neuroscience.

Shortly after his birth, as every child's dream, his father would found a toy store. But, though deeply accustomed there, they had to leave the country after the annexation by Germany of 1938. As a result of Aryanization (Arisierung), attacks on Jews had increased, and goods were confiscated. At 9 years old, he and his 14-year-old brother embarked in 1939 through Belgium, to live with his uncle in New York . They went alone, and later were accompanied by their parents.

Eric Kandel at TEDxMet

In this video, Kandel talks at TEDxMet. He has been concerned with the molecular mechanisms of memory storage for many years. More recently, he has studied animal models in mice with memory disorders and mental illness. In 2012, Kandel wrote books such as "The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain", and "Vienna 1900 to the Present", which won the Bruno-Kreisky Prize for Literature, the highest Austrian Literary Prize.

He majored first in History and Literature, and at age 33 began at New York University School of Medicine, where he studied how memories are stored. The main discovery came in 1970, when he was studying molluscs of the genus Aplysia, which have an easier nervous system to study. Using this animal model, Kandel discovered how he learned and how chemical signals change the structure of the connections between cells - the synapses - where signals are sent and received.In this way, he studied a lot the hippocampus, an area of ​​the brain related to memory. 

When Kandel went on to be awarded he was told in Vienna that he was an "Austrian" Nobel, something he found "typically Viennese: very opportunistic, very dishonest, somewhat hypocritical". "I'm an American," said neurobiologist Eric Kandel after his talk at the Jewish Museum during a conversation held at the Hotel Regina. Instead of being honored, Kandel expressed his desire for a symposium to elucidate the expulsion of "scientists" from Austria in 1938. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

The studies also indicated that different signals form short-term and long-term memories, which would occur in all animals that learn, even in man. Kandel is also known for books like the Principles of Neural Science. First published in 1981, it is widely used as a reference in medical schools and undergraduate and graduate programs. Kandel is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and is also at Columbia University. He lives in New York and has worked with memory mechanisms to treat disorders as diverse as Alzheimer's disease. In 2000, he won a Nobel Prize. 🏆

Written and revised by Alan Cronemberger Andrade. Published 8/31/2022 at 20:00 (UTC-3 BRT), and updated 8/31/2022. Cover: @huyphan2602

Neuroscientist Eric Kandel retires celebrating a great scientific career

The story begins in the "NOVA" classification

What types of foods can be linked to cognitive problems and dementia? This is a very difficult question to answer, but new chapters of this story have one foot - two, in fact - in Brazil. In 2009, Brazilian researchers evolved the a classification of foods, something is now accepted in the health literature.

In the so-called "NOVA classification", more than just calories, foods were separated into those that undergo no, or little industrial manipulation, from those that have a formulation exclusively based on extensive industrial manipulation: these are the ultra-processed foods . 🏭 In the video below, the author of many of the studies on this classification, Carlos Monteiro, details the problem (interview in Portuguese).

miniserio-da-saude-2016-brazil-escolha-dos-alimentos-guia-alimentar-para-a-populacao-brasileira-editora-ms-0207-processados-ultraprocessados.pdf

What are the ultraprocessed foods? According to the "Food Guide for the Brazilian Population" (PDF document download, available in Portuguese), the list of ultra-processed foods includes: cookies, ice cream, and treats; cakes; breakfast cereals; cereal bars; soups, "instant" noodles/seasonings; snacks; soft drinks/refreshments; chocolate drinks; yogurts and sweetened milk drinks; energy drinks; flavored broths; mayonnaise/ready-made sauces; frozen ready-to-eat foods (pasta, hamburgers, nuggets, sausages); flatbreads; sweet breads (with hydrogenated vegetable fat, sugar, and chemical additives). These are some examples of these foods that we should avoid.

The understanding on the issue really seems to have changed in 2009, from the publication of this comment published by the author, entitled Nutrition and Health. The issue is not food, nor nutrients, so much as processing . As of July 2022, the text has more than 600 scientific citations. In a 2019 article , the group details how they suggest these ultra-processed foods be identified, primarily by looking at characteristics, but they write:

Generally, the practical way to identify whether a product is ultra-processed is to check whether its ingredient list contains at least one characteristic of the ultra-processed food group, i.e. food substances that are never or rarely used in kitchens, or classes of additives whose function is to make the end product palatable or more appealing ("cosmetic additives"). - Carlos Monteiro, Geoffrey Cannon , Renata Levy and collaborators, Public Health Nutrition 2019

NOVA: Entenda a classificação feita por Carlos Monteiro

The NOVA classification explained by its own author, the researcher at NUPENS-USP, Carlos Monteiro. I suggest following their Instagram account if you are also interested in the subject.

What's wrong with them? They are associated with diabetes, obesity, hypertension, cancer risk, and now: dementia and cognitive decline. According to a FAO document, the NOVA classification is the most used in the literature for this type of classification. The evidence over the last decade on the correlation between the two has been quite relevant. In the podcast below there is more information (speaks in English) on the topic.

It is important to mention that correlation of related factors does not imply causality, that is, not everything that is related in a statistically relevant way, as in these studies, has a "cause and effect" relationship. You can read more about correlation and causality at this link. However, even without establishing cause and effect relationships, these so-called longitudinal observational studies, and with good methodological quality, can be a source of good scientific evidence. Apart from being used and accepted, some problems with the NOVA classification need to be evaluated. When trained individuals are asked to evaluate these 'types' of food in real life, and classify them into each of the classification groups, there appear to be some flaws.

It is also worth mentioning that before these studies, there seemed to be a protective effect of another type of diet, the Mediterranean diet, as a protective factor for Alzheimer's disease and dementia in general, which is not the same story as in the processed foods one. We will try to address this type of diet information at some point, but the fact is that more recent studies, such as this Spanish study, show that there may be a 20% lower risk of conversion to dementia in people who adhere to this type of diet in about than 16,000 participants, followed over 10 years of the EPIC-Spain Dementia Cohort study. 

A study published by The BMJ today reports a possible association between intake of highly processed (“ultra-processed”) food in the diet and cancer. 

Ultra-processed foods include packaged baked goods and snacks, fizzy drinks, sugary cereals, ready meals and reconstituted meat products - often containing high levels of sugar, fat, and salt, but lacking in vitamins and fibre. They are thought to account for up to 50% of total daily energy intake in several developed countries.

Mathilde Touvier, senior researcher in nutritional epidemiology and Bernard Srour, pharmacist and PhD Candidate, both at INSERM, join us to discuss what ultra processed foods actually are, why it is they could be leading to cancer, and what their cohort study tells us about that potential risk.

Read the full open access research:
http://www.bmj.com/content/360/bmj.k322

"We don't really know the impact of these products on our health": Ultraprocessed food & cancer risk by BMJ talk medicine

In this BMJ podcast, in English, authors comment on the impact of ultraprocessed foods (UPF) on our health, and in particular, they comment on a 2018 French study, the NutriNet-Santé.

Two large studies published between July and August 2022 are on the correlations between serious cognitive problems and ultra-processed foods. One with data from the UK was published in the leading neurology journal Neurology, by Chinese researchers who analyzed the data.

In the end, more than 70,000 people, who did not have dementia were included, and the researches followed who developed the problem over the course of the prospective study. What they ate was recorded: 206 types of food and 30 types of drinks. The result showed that people who consumed 10% more ultra-processed foods were 25% more likely to develop dementia from any cause. 😵‍

The other study, this one from Brazil, and released at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2022 (AAIC), was carried out with a study sample of 8,000 people, revealed that there is a chance of cognitive decline and consumption of ultraprocessed foods. Cognitive decline was relevant for task execution function and memory in the tests performed, for the 9 years of the study, and showed that even excluding other demographic, social, and life factors, it is possible to affirm that the association could be due to this consumption.

The data can be worrying as these foods tend to have a high caloric value and eventually have a more affordable price, in addition to more incisive advertising. Talking about food access and prices is challenging in times of variations and market issues. However, as Brazil has always been a major producer of "natural" or in natura foods, prices for "better" foods may be lower, at least for some groups and places in the country according to this 2016 study. It remains to be seen whether healthy food will remain in the pocket, on the table, and in the health of all of us, here in Brazil, or anywhere else.

Written and revised by Alan Cronemberger Andrade. Initially available here. Published on 07/08/2022 at 12:40h (UTC-3 BRT), and updated on 07/08/2022. Read more at: Natalia NG et al. AAIC 2022; Li Het al. Neurology, 2022. Images credited:@enginakyurt and @luiscortestamez.

Research links cognitive problems and dementia to processed foods

The news is encouraging and brings a very new perspective to the approach of some neurological deficits. The entire scientific community dealing with human-machine interfaces has echoed the news.

On July 15, 2021, a study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine by a team of neurosurgeons from the University of California at San Francisco, in which the researchers implanted a prosthesis - or rather a "neuroprosthesis" - capable of decoding neuronal activities. The feat is unprecedented.

But, what is a neuroprothesis? Basically, they are devices that could decode sensory signals (from our vision, motor activities, sensory inputs, or even cognitive signals for language tasks in this case) - of single or a bunch of neurons at the same time - and then, based on computer signals processing (you can call this a decoding stuff) and then return that information for an individual to perform a functional they lost or would like do "enhance".

What caught my attention in this case was the fact that this device could be an interesting solution for some specific cognitive problems, where other areas of the brain are relatively intact, but there is a potential benefit for a function that is assigned to an anatomically delimited area. Watch the following video on the scientific journal's Instagram.

In the illustration, it is possible to see a representation of the patient with the neuroprosthesis.


Unfortunately, from a medical point of view, individuals who have lesions in extensive areas or that have more severe repercussions, tend to be poor candidates for these therapies, since as in the possible case of this patient, although the motor area of speech could be compromised, apparently there is a preservation in the brain area responsible for language, a function located in areas relatively well studied and mapped.

The implantation, therefore, took place in areas related to human speech and language, and through advanced computer algorithms, captured by a sensor and specially designed decoders, it was possible to decipher the brain activity from computational decoding, using technologies related to machine learning. The patient in question had suffered a stroke" in an area of the spinal cord - a region that is not usually related to language problems - and had suffered the injury 15 years earlier.

Post from the official account of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), about the research results.

This type of technique shows that people who have had lesions in certain parts of the brain that are still preserved can gain advantages when this decoding is possible to be translated into clear signals, understood by other people who do not have the disease, bringing an improvement in the functional capacity of individuals with these conditions.

Other types of devices, as we mentioned, had already been developed using prostheses related to motor activities, but this is one of the few times - possibly the first - in which cognitive activities could be decoded using more advanced algorithms.

For this, as I said, the encoded neuronal region was most likely still fully functional (i.e., with neuronal activity intact or very close to normal), which would be very difficult to occur in people who have lesions in these areas and who no longer produce these neuronal stimuli.

“Neuroprosthesis” Restores Words to Man with Paralysis

Video produced by the University of California at San Francisco.

There is undoubtedly a great recent advance in computer machine interfaces capable of decoding neuronal activity. These technologies usually called human machine or brain machine interfaces are still in very restricted use in research, but there have been very consistent advances and this is certainly encouraging news. In this video, you can get an idea of some of the things that have been emerging in this area of research.

Originally published on the blog on July 18, 2021, 10:45 AM (UTC-3 BRT). Last updated on July 18, 2021, at 11:05 AM (UTC-3 BRT). Cover photo credit to Daniel Fazio.

"Neuroprosthesis" is able to restore communication to man who had not spoken for 15 years

Many scientific tools have emerged to make the researcher's life easier. One of them, which I end up using almost daily these days, is Zotero. Some time ago I did a post on Twitter about it. This tool has already saved me from some situations such as loss of documents and notes and whenever possible I recommend it to acquaintances and friends. The use for doctors and (health) professionals who need to check scientific information very often is fantastic. Healthcare professionals should also use it as tool for indexing papers to study. The message on Twitter was this:

According to Wikipedia, Zotero (in phonetic alphabet: zoʊˈtɛroʊ) is nothing more than a reference manager software. Such software is widely used in a variety of settings, in many different academic niches, and scalably manages relatively complex databases of articles, separated by dates, article type, and many more configurable details. The first program of this type that I had access to was EndNote, which is very nice to use but expensive in some ways. For the end user, or the sporadic one, the cost for use ends up being a setback, and it costs something around 99 to 249 US dollars in April 2021. The program is really useful and very well built, but I prefer other options.

Zotero is free and open source software for managing bibliographic data and research-related materials (such as PDF files). Its main features are browser integration, online synchronization, generation of in-text citations, footnotes and bibliographies, and integration with word processors (Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, OpenOffice.org Writer, and NeoOffice). It is produced by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

According to the changelog of the program, the first public beta was on October 5, 2006. On its own website, you can download the older versions and see how the program has evolved over time. When I first started using it, the features were more limited, and the program often crashed, and had bugs in general. It has improved a lot. The use is very fluid and the updates are frequent and automatic. From time to time (every two weeks?) a new version appears in the operating system notifications as a suggestion for installation and the process is done without major problems.

Learn how to use Zotero in 30 minutes

Paul V. Galvin Library" YouTube channel video on how to use Zotero, starting from the basics

There are basically two good ways to use it on a day-to-day basis, to get it set up properly and streamline your scientific (or article in general) writing. The program can be installed in your browser, such as Google Chrome or Firefox, through an extension, a "connector" as they call it. From there you can integrate it with Google Documents and use it online while navigating your browser, something very useful for remote jobs or when you are not with your personal computer. There are already connectors for Apple's Safari, and even for Microsoft's Edge (!).

Another way to do it is through the program on your operating system for a form they call a "standalone" usage. I use it on Windows, but you can install it for Linux and Mac as well. After that, you just plug the program into your text editor. In the documentation on Zotero's website:

"These plug-ins, available for Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs, create dynamic bibliographies: insert a new in-text citation into your manuscript, and the bibliography will automatically update to include the cited item. Correct the title of an item in your Zotero library and with a click of a button the change will be incorporated into your documents."

In summary, some important and useful features:

1. Integration with Google Documents. If you write papers in a group, in the cloud, referencing the papers in shared writing works great. You need to install Zotero on your PC first.

2. Editing citation styles. You can edit the styles of different citations in Zotero. Editing the "style" of formats is very useful, because some publications ask researchers to write texts that are of one type or another, such as APA or Vancouver rules, for example.

3. Save to your personal library. Saving the documents you see on a website is very important, whether you are citing scientific articles from databases such as Pubmed, or citing papers from the Scielo latin american database, or even web pages you need to cite.

4. Hundreds of new possibilities. Do you want more functions? There are several. It is well worth checking their documentation and forum.  There is a good chance that a specific feature you have in mind is included on their site. This text has some more information about advanced features of the program. If you know programming or want to venture into the code of the program, as it is very open to new ideas, it is possible to help with the implementation.

In the upper right corner of the screen - here in this case via Google Chrome - you can "add articles to your Zotero article base. It is important that the program is open on your desktop.

In the table in the section below I detail a bit more about other important features and the difference of Zotero to another famous reference manager, Mendeley.

I haven't subscribed to the paid version yet, but I think it's a very good option, even more if you calculate the benefit of the tool for your academic life. The paid version has 300mb of storage space, a size that I think is pretty easy to manage references for a project, or an undergraduate final paper. You can upgrade relatively easily and I advise you to do it with Zotero's own people, both for the support they give and to help you with your project.

Home screen of Zotero's main site, clear and very straightforward information

Perhaps the most famous question in the world of reference managers is probably whether we prefer Mendeley, or whether we prefer Zotero. Everyone has his or her own "twist. As a fan of Zotero, I'm suspect to speak, but here are a few things a few points that I think are key to considering both options.

Here is a summary of the basic characteristics:

Table 1 - Grid view

Adapted from University of Toronto and University of Wisconsin at Madison

The evolution of Zotero will not stop soon!

There are some very "hot" topics about advanced uses of Zotero. The new writing, annotation and reference handling platforms with great features promise a revolution in scientific writing. We have the integration of writing texts in Markdown - using embedded R or Python code - and also the news of the recent integration for using R Markdown with native support included in RStudio. I have also seen proposals to adapt the Notion annotation application so that it can integrate with Zotero. Also, the use of LaTeX formatting with reference sharing is very promising as many journals are using LaTeX formatting to create "templates" for their article formats. On this page you will find a Zotero plugin that provides some solutions on how to make the necessary integrations for using LaTeX and BibTeX formats.

It is also worth mentioning that because it is open source, Zotero has the advantage of not having, in the long run, the question of (private) business risk of bankruptcy, insolvency or economic problems that companies have in some way. Something very good about open source software, curated by a large community, is that the risk of you not "getting" the service or not having access to the site is very small. Zotero will be there for a long time...

Finally, it is worth remembering that using free software does not mean that the community that makes it available, hosts it, and maintains it has no fixed costs. There are several costs involved and it is very worthwhile to donate to projects like this. Consider paying for the service to help the community. Help and use Zotero and suggest modifications if possible. Will you download? You can start traveling to Zotero here.

Updated post, on 3/26/2021 and 10/01/2021. Originally published on 9/29/2020 at 10:15 pm.

Zotero is a great manager of scientific references

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Neuroscientist Eric Kandel retires celebrating a great scientific career

Neuroscientist Eric Kandel retires celebrating a great scientific career

More Posts

Research links cognitive problems and dementia to processed foods

Research links cognitive problems and dementia to processed foods

"Neuroprosthesis" is able to restore communication to man who had not spoken for 15 years

"Neuroprosthesis" is able to restore communication to man who had not spoken for 15 years

Zotero is a great manager of scientific references

Zotero is a great manager of scientific references