Cannabis Use and the Course of Schizophrenia: 10-year Follow-Up After First Hospitalization

Thumyat Noe ’23 The relationship between cannabis use and course of schizophrenia have been extensively studied by researchers, as increased consumption of cannabis is often observed in individuals with schizophrenia. For the most part, results of these studies have been inconclusive. Some studies have reported that cannabis use is associated with less severe negative symptoms of schizophrenia, while other studies have suggested that cannabis users … Continue reading Cannabis Use and the Course of Schizophrenia: 10-year Follow-Up After First Hospitalization

Anatomical Etiology of AR Subtype of Parkinson’s Disease Linked to Altered Functional Connectivity

Vignesh Subramanian ’24 Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative movement disorder causing progressive loss of motor control that afflicts over ten million people worldwide. The disease is characterized by a loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra region of the brain, contributing to widespread network alterations that disrupt communication with the body’s muscles. PD patients are classified by their most prominent resulting clinical symptoms, … Continue reading Anatomical Etiology of AR Subtype of Parkinson’s Disease Linked to Altered Functional Connectivity

The Effects of Racial Discrimination in Health Care

Ayesha Azeem ‘23 Doctors take an oath to treat all patients, regardless of their identity, equally. Unfortunately, this oath is often broken. While this may not be intentional, it still affects a large number of people who put their faith in the healthcare system. Psychologists have attributed this phenomenon to implicit bias, or our subconscious beliefs about other people, which can affect the way healthcare … Continue reading The Effects of Racial Discrimination in Health Care

Effect of Radiation Exposure on Trabecular Bone

Aditi Kaveti ‘23 Radiation exposure is extremely harmful because it results in stem cell depletion and compromised bone marrow. These effects contribute to long-term deterioration of many physiological systems and cause the degradation of skeletal systems, which can lead to many fractures.   In a study done in part by Dr. Mei Lin Chan, an assistant professor at Stony Brook University, the interrelationship between the damaged … Continue reading Effect of Radiation Exposure on Trabecular Bone

Bilinguals’ Ease of Lexical Access Related to the Switching of Languages

Sooraj Shah ’24 Over 43% of the United States population is bilingual and speaks more than one language. A skill fostered at a young age, bilingual speakers can converse and switch freely between multiple languages, but the root cause of why and when this occurs is not clear. A study conducted in Spain in collaboration with Stony Brook University’s Psychology Department explored the relationship between … Continue reading Bilinguals’ Ease of Lexical Access Related to the Switching of Languages

Odor Tracking in Aquatic Animals

Panayiota Siskos ’23 Animals use intermittent chemical cues to help avoid predators, find mates, and find food. The speed at which some animals forage shows that more instantaneous sensory feedback is also used. Lobsters have multiple sensors to gather information, including sensilla on antennules with chemosensory cells that detect chemical concentrations and mechanosensory cells that find flow and direction. Several are conditionally rhythmically active and … Continue reading Odor Tracking in Aquatic Animals

Effects of Huntington’s Disease Pathology Observable in Retinal Function

Vignesh Subramanian ’24 Huntington’s disease (HD) is a genetic neurodegenerative disorder that causes progressive development of involuntary movements and decline of memory and cognitive abilities. The disease is characterized by the aggregation of abnormally long huntingtin protein (mHtt), a product of mutations in the HTT gene that cause excessive ‘CAG’ nucleotide sequence repeats within the protein’s coding DNA sequence. Such mHtt aggregation triggers cell death … Continue reading Effects of Huntington’s Disease Pathology Observable in Retinal Function

Population decoding highlights functional organization of mouse brain

Vignesh Subramanian ’24 Neural coding is the study of how neurons conduct information processing, with the aim of identifying relationships between stimuli and neuronal responses by examining electrical activity. One particular coding scheme, commonly known as population coding, involves generating spatiotemporal representations of activity in clusters of cells as opposed to individual cells. When such representations are mapped onto global topographic organization of an organism’s … Continue reading Population decoding highlights functional organization of mouse brain

What’s the Temperature Like Down There?

Wendy Wu ’22 Marine mammals are highly sensitive to temperature, often witnessed migrating to warmer/colder waters depending on their preferences. Research into the thermal habitats of marine mammals has so far been based on surface water temperatures. Stephanie Adamczak, a graduate student at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, sought to investigate the impact of deeper water temperatures on habitat … Continue reading What’s the Temperature Like Down There?

Response Inhibition Control in Migraineurs

Wendy Wu ’22 Migraine is a neurological disorder characterized by frequent headaches, particularly prevalent in women. Much research has gone into identifying the causes of migraines with the hope of increasing preventative measures and developing treatment. Although evidence suggests that migraines are caused by an imbalance of cortical excitatory and inhibitory processes, there is little empirical data of actual pathophysiological features underlying response inhibition in … Continue reading Response Inhibition Control in Migraineurs

Visual cues aid in perceiving accented speech

Priyanshi Patel ’22 Previous research has shown that lip reading helps understand difficult speech. However, little research has been conducted on the role of visual information in perceiving accented speech, a type of difficult speech. Communication between native and nonnative English speakers is very common, especially on university campuses. There often exists a language barrier between native students and international students or instructors or teaching … Continue reading Visual cues aid in perceiving accented speech

Lower reaction levels in mothers to their child result in insensitive parenting

Joyce Chen ’23 A mother’s greatest task is to provide a nurturing environment for her child to grow, blossom, and thrive in. The absence of maternal love in a child’s life will cause a strain on the bond between the mother and her child. These neglectful mothers, also known as high-risk mothers, have insensitive reactions to their children’s needs. They rarely respond to their children’s … Continue reading Lower reaction levels in mothers to their child result in insensitive parenting