Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that has been linked to the incidence of repetitive mild traumatic brain injuries. As chronic traumatic encephalopathy has no formal diagnosis or treatment, current research is striving to better understand its neuropathology in order to develop effective diagnostic and treatment strategies. This review will outline recent research findings in the understanding of the neuropathological mechanisms of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and connect these findings to advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. With the emergence of more sophisticated technology, neuroimaging techniques have shown promise as prospective diagnostic tools.

We spend approximately 90% of our time within a built environment, whether it is in our homes, offices, schools, city parks, or public spaces. This bears significance, as we are equally shaped by both our genetic makeup as well as our environment, which brings into question of how we experience space, and in turn how these experiences impact our behaviour. To gain a greater understanding of these impacts, neuroscience seeks to root out the principles of biological mechanisms involved in consciousness, spatial navigation and environmental stressors. However, the use of these principles is not discussed extensively within the curriculum of undergraduate or graduate architecture programs in North America.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neuroautoimmune condition characterized by neurodegeneration and demyelination throughout the central nervous system. While the pathology of MS is largely unknown, its symptoms are well defined. Current MS therapies such as intravenous corticoid injection, disease modifying treatments (DMTs) and neuro-rehabilitation exist; however most are ineffective as they do not manage symptoms efficeiently, leading to many adverse side effects. Optogenetic stimulation of demyelinated regions may serve as the needed therapy to effectively treat symptoms given the advances achieved in its rapid mechanisms and accurate cell-type-specific delivery strategies. In fact, the hallmark of optogenetic technology is the fast and accurate activation of specific neurons. Current evidence supports optogenetics as a means of controlling or enhancing neural circuitry involved in specific symptoms.

In 2016, Ecuador and Italy both experienced deadly earthquakes, with death tolls of over 800 people even with a commonly used earthquake prediction system in place. The seismometer system, which is the current system used in earthquake prediction, provided no help or warning of the devastating earthquakes that occurred. This method only looks at patterns of previous earthquakes to give the probability of an aftershock once the first earthquake occurs. Newer methods currently being studied look at physical changes in the earth and atmosphere caused by tectonic plate shifting which begin before the main event of an earthquake. In this paper, we will review the use of ionosphere electron measurements, changes in water chemistry, pre-seismic tremors, magnetic field changes, and changes in air chemistry, in the field of earthquake prediction and discuss why combining multiple methods can create a more accurate way of making pre-disaster predictions.

This review outlines an unconventional but timely formulation of quantum dynamics of systems in contact with an environment. This alternative approach to traditional quantum mechanics is generic and is currently gaining attention in a number of fields as, for example, quantum scattering and transport, optical waveguides, devices embedded in an environment, oscillatory classical systems, RLC circuits and other open systems with loss and gain. Here we briefly outline this formulation in which the condition of space-time reflection (PT-symmetry) plays a central role. If PT-symmetry is broken upon parametric change, real energy levels generally turn complex. At the onset of such a symmetry breaking levels coalesce at “Exceptional Points” (EP).

Gastrointestinal dysfunction has a high prevalence in the preclinical phase of Parkinson’s Disease. This review analyzes recent reports that show abnormalities in the gastrointestinal tract of Parkinson’s patients compared to controls, suggesting that the disease originates in the gut. The enteric nervous system, which is composed of myenteric and submucosal plexuses, is susceptible to degeneration in Parkinson’s disease. Evidence regarding Parkinsonian-related loss of myenteric dopamine neurons in the outer plexus of the enteric
nervous system is currently controversial.