Throughout evolution, organisms have developed unique strategies to become more competitive in their environment. One unique adaptation is the ability to sense magnetic fields, i.e., magnetoreception. While animals like salmonids, pigeons, eels and sea turtles use magnetoreception to migrate over thousands of kilometers [1-10], non-migratory fish species have also shown evidence of magnetoreception [11, 12]. The freshwater fish, Kryptopterus bicirrhis is known to be sensitive to the Earth's magnetic field [13-15]. Recently, we have discovered a gene (electromagnetic perceptive gene (EPG)) that is expressed in K. bicirrhis's ampullary organ and is specifically activated in response to magnetic stimuli. This genetic-based magnetoreception has a great potential as a neuromodulation technology and as a valuable tool to study neural behavior from the molecular to network levels [15-17]. However, the mechanism by which magnetoreception manifests and functions is not well understood [18-24]. This work was designed to understand the natural behavior of K. bicirrhis in response to magnetic fields. We capitalized on new concepts of artificial intelligence as well as traditional video tracking algorithms to quantify how K. bicirrhis responds to magnetic stimulation with high spatial and temporal resolution. The results demonstrate that K. bicirrhis placed in a radial maze, consistently swim away from magnetic fields over 20 μT and show adaptability to changing magnetic field directions and locations. This work will be invaluable to further understand the mechanisms and possible cellular interactions of EPG once a knock-out EPG in K. bicirrhis is achieved.

We investigated the functional classes of genomic regions containing SNPS contributing most to the SNP-heritability of important psychiatric and neurological disorders and behavioral traits, as determined from recent genome-wide association studies. We employed linkage-disequilibrium score regression with several brain-specific genomic annotations not previously used. The classes of genomic annotations conferring substantial SNP-heritability for the psychiatric disorders and behavioral traits differed systematically from the classes associated with neurological disorders, and both differed from the classes enriched for height, a biometric trait used here as a control outgroup. The SNPs implicated in these psychiatric disorders and behavioral traits were highly enriched in CTCF binding sites, in conserved regions likely to be enhancers, and in brain-specific promoters, regulatory sites likely to affect dynamic responses. The SNPs relevant for neurological disorders were highly enriched in constitutive coding regions and splice regulatory sites. We suggest that our results provide a bridge between genetics and the well-known effects of life history and recent stressful experiences on risk of psychiatric illness.

As research efforts in the field of pediatrics are oriented toward a better understanding of the synergistic relationship between different facets of early relational health (ERH) and child development and wellbeing, it is essential to focus on the quality of research instruments available for measuring different components of ERH. This study investigates the measurement characteristics of a widely used parent/caregiver-reported measure of bonding, the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (PBQ), in a US-based sample (n=610) of English-speaking biological mothers who completed the PBQ at 4 months postpartum. To evaluate the factor structure of the PBQ, confirmatory and exploratory statistical techniques were employed. The current study failed to replicate the PBQ′s original 4-factor structure. Exploratory factor analysis results supported the creation of a 14-item abbreviated measure, the PBQ-14. The PBQ-14 showed evidence of good psychometric properties, including high internal consistency (ω=.87) and correlation with depression (r=.44, p<.001) assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), as would be expected. The new unidimensional PBQ-14 is suitable for use in the US as a measure of general postnatal parent/caregiver-to-infant bonding.