TLÜ käitumis- ja neuroteaduste tippkeskuse II konverents

Konverentsi modereerib Aleksander Pulver

9.30 Registreerimine

10.00 Konverentsi avasõnad: Ruth Shimmo ja Aleksander Pulver

10.10 Jaanus Harro, TÜ ja TLÜ, "Mis on keskkond? Ülestähendusi ajuteaduste,
molekulaargeneetika ja sotsioloogia kohtumiselt ning uusi küsimusi".

11.15 Talis Bachmann, TÜ, "Teadvuse (t)ajumehhanismide eksperimentaalne uurimine".

12.15 Lõunapaus

13.15 Kristjan Port, TLÜ, „Kehaline intelligentsus ja keha roll vaimses suutlikkuses“

14.20 Helene Tigro, TLÜ, analüütilise biokeemia doktoriõpe, "Trüptofaani kinureniini
metabolismiraja metaboliidid ehk kinureniinid ning nende seos depressiooni ja füüsilise
aktiivsusega".

15.00 Elina Malleus, TLÜ, psühholoogia doktoriõpe, "Loodusalaste teadmiste areng ning
seda toetavad tegurid".

15.30 Paus

15.45 Indrek Rannama, TLÜ, tervisekäitumise ja heaolu doktoriõpe, "Jalgratturite lihaskonna
seisund ja selle seos erialase võimekusega".

16.15 Diskussioon ja konverentsi lõpetamine

17.00 Konverentsi lõpp

Lae alla ajakava (PDF)

Konverentsi korraldavad TLÜ käitumis- ja neuroteaduste tippkeskus, TLÜ Loodus- ja terviseteaduste instituut ning Käitumis-, sotsiaal- ja terviseteaduste doktorikool.

Projekti nimetus: TLÜ TEE ehk Tallinna Ülikool kui targa eluviisi eestvedaja nr 2014-2020.4.01.16-0033
 

What is the environment? Notes from the meeting of neurosciences, molecular genetics and sociology, and new issues.

Jaanus Harro

Obstacles met in search for specific genes for behavioural traits and psychiatric disorders have made it mandatory to pay attention to environmental factors. But what is salient in the environment? This presentation will examine a few standard approaches to gene-environment interaction and will draw attention to novel findings that suggest need for change in mainstream psychiatric genetics.

Experimental studies of the brain mechanisms of conscious experience

Talis Bachmann

In this talk current conceptual and methodological approaches to consciousness research are introduced, with main emphasis put on the topic of neural correlates of consciousness. Pertinent experimental research is reviewed, including studies from the lab of the presenter and featuring electroencephalography combined with MRI-based neuronavigation and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Implications of this research for future applications by no means remain unnoticed.

Physical intelligence and the role of the body cognitive abilities

Kristjan Port

We own a vastly bigger volume of knowledge how to perform various movements compared to explanatory or propositional knowledge about world around us. Intuitively, the later demands a greater degree of intellectual sophistication on the part of the knower than the former. We may be mistaken as it is easy to preform walking compared to the efforts of explaining its’ fundamental processes. But it is easier to explain the theory of relativity than the formation of walking. We take some knowledge as trivial without considering it’s domain in the context of intellectual performance. However, it is never too late to change. Perhaps it is easy to start from the question of the role of physical activity in the general cognitive functioning.

Kynurenines - Metabolites of Kynurenine Pathway of Tryptophan, and their connection to depression and physical activity

Helene Tigro

Essential amino acid Tryptophan (Trp) is predominantly metabolized in the kynurenine pathway (KP) in mammalian tissue, accounting for the catabolism of approximately 99% of ingested Trp not used for protein synthesis. KP yields in nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) which is an important cofactor in cellular reactions linked to energy metabolism and functioning of many mammalian enzymes. KP itself is a sophisticated pathway which generates a range of metabolites with either neurotoxic or neuroprotective properties, depending on which enzyme tips the conversion scales.

KP metabolites are collectively known as kynurenines – kynurenine (Kyn), kynurenic acid (Kyna), 3-hydroxykynurenine (3-HK), 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid (3-HAA), quinolinic acid (QUIN), anthranilic acid (AA), xanthurenic acid (XA), cinnabarinic acid (CA), picolinic acid (PA) and N-formylkynurenine (NFK). Kynurenines have pharmacologically active properties on neurons, for example neuroprotective Kyna, which is a N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, and neurotoxic QUIN, which is a NMDA receptor agonist. It has been shown that kynurenines are involved in the pathogenesis of several neurological disorders and psychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia and depression.

In depressed patients, increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines induce indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) gene expression. Increased levels of IDO enzyme convert Trp into Kyn in the KP, leading to reduced availability of Trp for serotonin biosynthesis. In addition, kynurenine-3-monooxygenase (KMO) is enhanced by pro-inflammatory cytokines, which enhances the formation of QUIN over Kyna. QUIN induces astrocyte apoptosis and certain neuronal apoptosis and cause a reduction in the syntheses of neurotrophic factors. In depressed patients, increased plasma Kyn/Trp and QUIN/Kyna ratios are observed. 

Physical exercise can be considered as a potential strategy for intervention in patients with depressive symptoms. Physical exercise increases peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha/delta (PPAR-α/δ) levels in skeletel muscle, which in turn increases kynurenine aminotransferase (KAT) gene expression. KAT enzymes turn Kyn to Kyna, leading to the neuroprotective pathway of the KP. Endurance training decreases the QUIN/Kyna ratio. 

Students´ weather-related knowledge development in relations to cognitive and motivational factors

Elina Malleus

Studying knowledge development is important in order to understand better how to support learning process. Recently more emphasis has been paid on understanding the development of knowledge about overall climate change and sustainability. Moreover, studying formation of knowledge in context of abstract weather-related concepts is interesting as it allows to describe how perceptual-based knowledge is combined with more theoretical scientific knowledge during learning process. Thus, the aim of the presentation is to describe different studies that are related to students´ weather-related knowledge development in relation to cognitive (prior knowledge and reasoning ability) and motivational factors (expectancy beliefs and interest).  The data was collected from students in age ranges from 6 till 15 years from three kindergartens and 16 schools in Estonia with Estonian as study language. In all studies, students´ answers were coded using schema that categorizes students´ answers to everyday, synthetic and scientific answer. The results of the studies showed that some students have synthetic knowledge about weather-related phenomena already in kindergarten and a large number of students in eight grade also give synthetic descriptions about different sub-processes of water-cycle. Moreover, some students in eight grade gave different synthetic answers when describing water cycle after being taught in regular classroom. Regular 45 minute lesson was shown to have an effect on changes in students´ knowledge towards more scientific understanding if they were in a group of student who had high prior synthetic knowledge, higher reasoning ability and expectancy beliefs combined with average interest.

The musculoskeletal state of road cyclists and its relationship with cycling performance

Indrek Rannama

The road cycling is a time and energy consuming sport where the effective use of strength and energy are important factors for the successful performance. During cycling the cyclist body is rigidly fixed to the bicycle and movements are done mainly by legs and in sagittal plane, this has specific impact on musculoskeletal system and can lead to the number of overuse injuries and reduce the performance. 

The general topic of presentation is to give an overview of research results made in the frame of doctoral studies that analyse the road cyclist’s musculoskeletal state in relation with cycling biomechanics and performance characteristics. The following topics are discussed during presentation:  the cyclists leg muscles local strength characteristics and relationships between strength properties of different muscle groups and cycling performance characteristics; The overall state of cyclists musculoskeletal system and  ability to perform functional movements (evaluated by FMS-test) and relationships with cycling performance (in sprinting), postural stability, pedalling technique and to metabolic economy; The bilateral symmetry related factors in cycling performance.

Lisainfo: Aleksander Pulver, aleksander.pulver@tlu.ee 

Korralduslik lisainfo: Signe Pikk, signe.pikk@tlu.ee