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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (11 results)

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UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2024)

This dissertation characterizes the composition and functional relevance of selected extended amygdala transition regions involved in valence behaviors. Chapter 1 introduces the basis of innately valenced behaviors and its relationship to the cortical amygdala and explores possible implications of observed innate valence behaviors. Chapter 2 uses electrophysiology, calcium imaging, optogenetics, and single-nucleus RNA-sequencing to characterize the molecular and electrophysiological composition of the amygdalostriatal transition region and the adjacent central amygdala and striatal regions and identify distinct features of each in either domain. These approaches find that the amygdalostriatal transition area is enriched for Drd2-expressing MSNs compared to surrounding regions, and the activity of the region’s Drd2+ neurons, which is necessary for conditioned fear responses, encodes learned negative valence for stimuli, identifying a critical role for the amygdalostriatal transition area in motivated behaviors, especially with regard to negative valence. Chapter 3 uses optogenetics, chemogenetics, single-nucleus RNA-sequencing, and long-range projection tracing to identify a functional topography for valence in the posterolateral cortical amygdala, characterize its molecular cell types and downstream outputs, and examine the relationship between these three modalities. This work shows that plCoA contains dissociable, topographically biased pathways projecting to either the medial amygdala or the nucleus accumbens, and these circuits respectively control innate olfactory attraction and aversion. Overall, these findings add to our understanding of the composition of these extended amygdala subregions, their function, and the unique features of each necessary to exert their behavioral effects.

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Recent Work (2016)

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) hosted the Southern California Clean Energy Innovation Ecosystem Roundtable discussion on May 10, 2016 on the UCLA campus in Kerckhoff Hall. This roundtable discussion brought together 28 leaders from academia, local and state government, a national laboratory, non-profit groups, and industry to discuss Southern California’s clean energy needs as the state and region transition to meet their ambitious climate and energy goals.

The purpose of this report is to provide the United States Department of Energy (DOE) a comprehensive summary of the roundtable event, and to identify some broad conclusions and next steps for the Southern California region with regard to a clean energy pathway. All of this is being considered within the context of Mission Innovation (http://mission-innovation.net), whose goal is to accelerate innovation in clean energy and to make clean energy affordable around the globe.

    Cover page: Southern California Clean Energy Innovation Ecosystem Roundtable ReportCreative Commons 'BY-NC' version 4.0 license
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    • Peer Reviewed
    UCLA Previously Published Works (2018)
    Much has been written about the validity of mice as a preclinical model for brain disorders. Critics cite numerous examples of apparently effective treatments in mouse models that failed in human clinical trials, raising the possibility that the two species' neurobiological differences could explain the high translational failure rate in psychiatry and neurology (neuropsychiatry). However, every stage of translation is plagued by complex problems unrelated to neurobiological conservation. Therefore, although these case studies are intriguing, they cannot alone determine whether these differences observed account for translation failures. Our analysis of the literature indicates that most neuropsychiatric treatments used in humans are at least partially effective in mouse models, suggesting that neurobiological differences are unlikely to be the main cause of neuropsychiatric translation failures.
      Cover page: The mouse as a model for neuropsychiatric drug development
      • Article
      Policy Briefs (2016)
      To better understand the relationship between bicycle crash risk, roadway design and operational characteristics, researchers from UCLA compiled data from nearly 500 sites in Los Angeles County. By associating these sites with bicycle count volumes, researchers were able to differentiate between high incidence and high risk sites from high incidence and low risk sites. These findings can help inform planners and policymakers as they prioritize bicycle improvements in their communities.
        Cover page: Bicycle Crash Risk: How Does it Vary, and Why?
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        • Peer Reviewed
        UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2022)
        Neuroendocrine neoplasia (NENs) are a complex and heterogeneous group of cancers that can arise from neuroendocrine tissues throughout the body and differentiate them from other tumors. Their low incidence and high diversity make many of them orphan conditions characterized by a low incidence and few dedicated clinical trials. Study of the molecular and genetic nature of these diseases is limited in comparison to more common cancers and more dependent on preclinical models, including both in vitro models (such as cell lines and 3D models) and in vivo models (such as patient derived xenografts (PDXs) and genetically-engineered mouse models (GEMMs)). While preclinical models do not fully recapitulate the nature of these cancers in patients, they are useful tools in investigation of the basic biology and early-stage investigation for evaluation of treatments for these cancers. We review available preclinical models for each type of NEN and discuss their history as well as their current use and translation.
          Cover page: Preclinical Models of Neuroendocrine Neoplasia.
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          UC San Diego Previously Published Works (2024)
          Experience-dependent gene expression reshapes neural circuits, permitting the learning of knowledge and skills. Most learning involves repetitive experiences during which neurons undergo multiple stages of functional and structural plasticity. Currently, the diversity of transcriptional responses underlying dynamic plasticity during repetition-based learning is poorly understood. To close this gap, we analyzed single-nucleus transcriptomes of L2/3 glutamatergic neurons of the primary motor cortex after 3 d motor skill training or home cage control in water-restricted male mice. Train and control neurons could be discriminated with high accuracy based on expression patterns of many genes, indicating that recent experience leaves a widespread transcriptional signature across L2/3 neurons. These discriminating genes exhibited divergent modes of coregulation, differentiating neurons into discrete clusters of transcriptional states. Several states showed gene expressions associated with activity-dependent plasticity. Some of these states were also prominent in the previously published reference, suggesting that they represent both spontaneous and task-related plasticity events. Markedly, however, two states were unique to our dataset. The first state, further enriched by motor training, showed gene expression suggestive of late-stage plasticity with repeated activation, which is suitable for expected emergent neuronal ensembles that stably retain motor learning. The second state, equally found in both train and control mice, showed elevated levels of metabolic pathways and norepinephrine sensitivity, suggesting a response to common experiences specific to our experimental conditions, such as water restriction or circadian rhythm. Together, we uncovered divergent transcriptional responses across L2/3 neurons, each potentially linked with distinct features of repetition-based motor learning such as plasticity, memory, and motivation.
            Cover page: Divergent Learning-Related Transcriptional States of Cortical Glutamatergic Neurons.
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            UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2020)
              Cover page: North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society Guide for Neuroendocrine Tumor Patient Health Care Providers During COVID-19
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              UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2020)
              This manuscript is the result of the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society consensus conference on the surgical management of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors from July 19 to 20, 2018. The group reviewed a series of questions of specific interest to surgeons taking care of patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, and for each, the available literature was reviewed. What follows are these reviews for each question followed by recommendations of the panel.
                Cover page: The North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society Consensus Paper on the Surgical Management of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors.
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                • Peer Reviewed
                UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2022)
                Materials with tunable thermal properties enable on-demand control of temperature and heat flow, which is an integral component in the development of solid-state refrigeration, energy scavenging, and thermal circuits. Although gap-based and liquid-based thermal switches that work on the basis of mechanical movements have been an effective approach to control the flow of heat in the devices, their complex mechanisms impose considerable costs in latency, expense, and power consumption. As a consequence, materials that have multiple solid-state phases with distinct thermal properties are appealing for thermal management due to their simplicity, fast switching, and compactness. Thus, an ideal thermal switch should operate near or above room temperature, have a simple trigger mechanism, and offer a quick and large on/off switching ratio. In this study, we experimentally demonstrate that manipulating phonon scattering rates can switch the thermal conductivity of antiferroelectric PbZrO3 bidirectionally by -10% and +25% upon applying electrical and thermal excitation, respectively. Our approach takes advantage of two separate phase transformations in PbZrO3 that alter the phonon scattering rate in different manners. In this study, we demonstrate that PbZrO3 can serve as a fast (<1 second), repeatable, simple trigger, and reliable thermal switch with a net switching ratio of nearly 38% from ~1.20 to ~1.65 W m-1 K-1.
                  Cover page: Observation of solid-state bidirectional thermal conductivity switching in antiferroelectric lead zirconate (PbZrO3)
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                  • Peer Reviewed
                  UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2017)
                  Small bowel neuroendocrine tumors (SBNETs) have been increasing in frequency over the past decades, and are now the most common type of small bowel tumor. Consequently, general surgeons and surgical oncologists are seeing more patients with SBNETs in their practices than ever before. The management of these patients is often complex, owing to their secretion of hormones, frequent presentation with advanced disease, and difficulties with making the diagnosis of SBNETs. Despite these issues, even patients with advanced disease can have long-term survival. There are a number of scenarios which commonly arise in SBNET patients where it is difficult to determine the optimal management from the published data. To address these challenges for clinicians, a consensus conference was held assembling experts in the field to review and discuss the available literature and patterns of practice pertaining to specific management issues. This paper summarizes the important elements from these studies and the recommendations of the group for these questions regarding the management of SBNET patients.
                    Cover page: The Surgical Management of Small Bowel Neuroendocrine Tumors
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