Identifying Optimal Sustainable Cooling Strategies For The Most Vulnerable During Heatwaves
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,115,640.00
Summary
Current guidance warns against electric fan use in heatwaves without any supporting evidence. This Project aims to identify how fans and other parallel low-resource strategies can reduce the risk of heat-related illness in the most vulnerable during simulated hot/humid and very hot/dry heat wave conditions. This information will be used to develop simple heat adaptation strategies that also mitigate unsustainable energy demands and the destructive environmental impact of air conditioning.
How The Lateral Habenula Integrates Behavioral And Autonomic Functions: The VTA Dopamine Connection
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$819,904.00
Summary
When adverse events occur, the lateral habenula, an old brain nucleus, helps calculate the wisest corrective action by contributing to the “brake” that controls the brain’s dopamine reward system. Our research will show how the lateral habenula links corrective changes in behavior with coordinated changes in temperature. Understanding this link will greatly contribute to understanding the brain mechanisms that regulate our physiology during stressful situations and as part of mental illness.
This project aims to discover the nervous pathways and mechanisms in the brain that control body temperature. We hope to identify the nerve cells in the brain that detect increases in the core temperature of the body and determine the nervous pathways that project from them to increase blood flow to the skin when we become hot. This research may lead to a better understanding of heat exhaustion which is especially dangerous to the elderly.
I am a Neuroscientist-Neurologist investigating brain pathways and neurotransmitters controlling body temperature. My research is highly relevant to human physical and mental health.
Investigations Of Neural Pathways For Heat Loss And Heat Gain In Thermoregulation And Fever
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$349,486.00
Summary
This project aims to map the nerve pathways in the brain that participate in the regulation of body temperature in the laboratory rat. The area of the brain that will be studied is the hypothalamic region. We will determine how this region influences the constriction of blood vessels in the skin to reduce heat loss when an animal is exposed to a cool environment, or when it exhibits a fever in response to a bacterial infection. As well, we will compare the nervous pathway that controls the gener ....This project aims to map the nerve pathways in the brain that participate in the regulation of body temperature in the laboratory rat. The area of the brain that will be studied is the hypothalamic region. We will determine how this region influences the constriction of blood vessels in the skin to reduce heat loss when an animal is exposed to a cool environment, or when it exhibits a fever in response to a bacterial infection. As well, we will compare the nervous pathway that controls the generation of heat from fat tissue in response to cold or fever with those controlling blood flow to the skin. These nervous pathways may be critical for maintaining correct body temperature during general anaesthesia, infections or in the aged subjected to temperature extremes. Thus, they are of importance in the health and well-being of much of the population.Read moreRead less
Brain Control Of The Thermoregulatory Cutaneous Circulation: A Window To The Mind, And To The Neurobiology Of Clozapine
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$561,396.00
Summary
Patients suffering from schizophrenia benefit from medication. Discovering the brain mechanisms whereby the medications work is most important. Action of many important drugs have been established in experimental animals. This is a difficult task for anti-schizophrenia drugs because it is difficult to establish what animals are thinking or feeling, and it is doubtful whether animals ever suffer from schizophrenia. Thus it would be very advantageous to discover a physiological response, measurabl ....Patients suffering from schizophrenia benefit from medication. Discovering the brain mechanisms whereby the medications work is most important. Action of many important drugs have been established in experimental animals. This is a difficult task for anti-schizophrenia drugs because it is difficult to establish what animals are thinking or feeling, and it is doubtful whether animals ever suffer from schizophrenia. Thus it would be very advantageous to discover a physiological response, measurable in, for example, rats, that can serve as a marker of the animal s emotional responses to situations that would normally prove anxiety-provoking. The present grant is based on the discovery, in my laboratory, that stressful stimuli cause sudden falls in blood flow to the tail in rats. My laboratory is the first in the world to measure pulsatile blood flow to the tail in conscious rats, and this is why we made our discovery. My laboratory also discovered that clozapine, a drug of major theoretical and practical importance for the treatment of schizophrenia inhibits fright-induced constriction of the tail artery. Clozapine interacts with many potential neurotransmitters in the brain. Some very complex combinations of these interactions are presumably responsible for the drug s unique psychotherapeutic action in schizophrenia. Our discovery that clozapine inhibits fright-induced constriction of the tail artery means that we will be able to investigate clozapine s mechanisms of action. Results of our findings are genuinely likely to increase our understanding of how clozapine works in schizophrenia. This information should also provide clues as to the nature of the presently mysterious brain malfunctions that result in schizophrenia.Read moreRead less
Our lives depend upon maintaining the correct body temperature. Failure to regulate it properly may be lethal. This is particularly true in the elderly, who are more susceptible on the one hand to heat stroke and on the other to hypothermia. Many die each year from both these causes. Body temperature is regulated by the brain, yet our understanding of how and where in the brain this happens is poor. This proposal aims to work out the 'wiring diagram' of brain temperature control pathways in rats ....Our lives depend upon maintaining the correct body temperature. Failure to regulate it properly may be lethal. This is particularly true in the elderly, who are more susceptible on the one hand to heat stroke and on the other to hypothermia. Many die each year from both these causes. Body temperature is regulated by the brain, yet our understanding of how and where in the brain this happens is poor. This proposal aims to work out the 'wiring diagram' of brain temperature control pathways in rats and to begin to extend this knowledge to humans. This work will generate new knowledge about a vital function. The insights obtained will inform and guide future strategies in aged care, intensive care and perioperative care.Read moreRead less