Decision-Making Time Analysis for Assessing Processing Speed in Athletes during Motor Reaction Tasks.

Reaction time (RT) is a widely used measure for testing physical performance in motor tasks. This study focused on assessing the processing speed in athletes. Twenty-five healthy volunteers were assigned to the control (n = 16) or athletes groups (n = 9).

Assessing Cognitive Workload in Motor Decision-Making through Functional Connectivity Analysis: Towards Early Detection and Monitoring of Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and frontotemporal dementia, among others, are increasingly prevalent in the global population. The clinical diagnosis of these NDs is based on the detection and characterization of motor and non-motor symptoms. However, when these diagnoses are made, the subjects are often in advanced stages where neuromuscular alterations are frequently irreversible.

Psychometric Properties of the Diener Satisfaction With Life Scale With Five Response Options Applied to the Colombian Population.

The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), developed by Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin in 1985, comprises five items with seven response options in terms of agreement-disagreement. Recently, there has been a suggestion to reduce the response options of the SWLS to optimize its applicability in different cultural contexts. The study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the SWLS with five response options in the Colombian population.

Muscle function alterations in a Parkinson's disease animal model: Electromyographic recordings dataset.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is currently diagnosed based on characteristic motor dysfunctions induced by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta [1], [2]. The animal model most commonly used to reproduce PD-related motor deficits in rats is the massive degeneration of nigrostriatal neurons by using intracerebral infusion of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) [3], [4]. This article presents data related to the research article "Quantifying muscle alterations in a Parkinson's disease animal model using electromyographic biomarkers" [5].

Cesarean rate in selected hospital network of private sector: A retrospective study.

Introduction: In Spain over the last two decades, cesarean section (CS) rates have increased from 15 to 25% in the Public Health Sector and from 28 to 38% in the private sector. There are multiples causes for this rise, which are often unclear. The aim of our study is to collect and analyze all the CS rates data from a hospital network of the 42 Quirónsalud Hospitals (private sector) and to assess its distribution regarding the different types of hospitals and patient characteristics.

Increase in serum prolactin levels in females improves the performance of spatial learning by promoting changes in the circuital dynamics of the hippocampus.

Beyond the direct physiological functions associated with motherhood in mammals, previous studies have suggested the potential role of prolactin (Prl) in distinct brain processes such as neuroprotection, neurogenesis, and stress responses. However, the cognitive influence of Prl remains unclear, particularly regarding the mechanisms of acquisition, consolidation and retrieval of information in the brain. Using chronic implanted electrodes in freely moving female mice combined with behavioral tests, we investigated the rhythmic activity changes induced by Prl in a model of hippocampus-dependent learning and memory.

Comparative study of extracellular recording methods for analysis of afferent sensory information: Empirical modeling, data analysis and interpretation.

Background: Physiological studies of sensorial systems often require the acquisition and processing of data extracted from their multiple components to evaluate how the neural information changes in relation to the environment changes. In this work, a comparative study about methodological aspects of two electrophysiological approaches is described.

New Method: Extracellular recordings from deep vibrissal nerves were obtained by using a customized microelectrode Utah array during passive mechanical stimulation of rat´s whiskers.

Toward an Improvement of the Analysis of Neural Coding.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence have strong roots on principles of neural computation. Some examples are the structure of the first perceptron, inspired in the retina, neuroprosthetics based on ganglion cell recordings or Hopfield networks. In addition, machine learning provides a powerful set of tools to analyze neural data, which has already proved its efficacy in so distant fields of research as speech recognition, behavioral states classification, or LFP recordings.

Identification of Functionally Interconnected Neurons Using Factor Analysis.

The advances in electrophysiological methods have allowed registering the joint activity of single neurons. Thus, studies on functional dynamics of complex-valued neural networks and its information processing mechanism have been conducted. Particularly, the methods for identifying neuronal interconnections are in increasing demand in the area of neurosciences.

Electrophysiology for biomedical engineering students: a practical and theoretical course in animal electrocorticography.

The major challenge in laboratory teaching is the application of abstract concepts in simple and direct practical lessons. However, students rarely have the opportunity to participate in a laboratory that combines practical learning with a realistic research experience. In the Biomedical Engineering career, we offer short and optional courses to complement studies for students as they initiate their Graduation Project.

Functional specificity of rat vibrissal primary afferents.

In this study, we propose to analyze the peripheral vibrissal system specificity through its neuronal responses. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analyses were used, which required the implementation of a binary classifier (artificial neural network) trained to identify the applied stimulus. The training phase consisted of the observation of a predetermined amount of vibrissal sweeps on two surfaces of different texture and similar roughness.

The mathematical whisker: A review of numerical models of the rat׳s vibrissa biomechanics.

The vibrissal system of the rat refers to specialized hairs the animal uses for tactile sensory perception. Rats actively move their whiskers in a characteristic way called "whisking". Interaction with the environment produces elastic deformation of the whiskers, generating mechanical signals in the whisker-follicle complex.

Time-frequency analysis of neuronal populations with instantaneous resolution based on noise-assisted multivariate empirical mode decomposition.

Background: Linear analysis has classically provided powerful tools for understanding the behavior of neural populations, but the neuron responses to real-world stimulation are nonlinear under some conditions, and many neuronal components demonstrate strong nonlinear behavior. In spite of this, temporal and frequency dynamics of neural populations to sensory stimulation have been usually analyzed with linear approaches.

New Method: In this paper, we propose the use of Noise-Assisted Multivariate Empirical Mode Decomposition (NA-MEMD), a data-driven template-free algorithm, plus the Hilbert transform as a suitable tool for analyzing population oscillatory dynamics in a multi-dimensional space with instantaneous frequency (IF) resolution.

Variable Temporal Integration of Stimulus Patterns in the Mouse Barrel Cortex.

Making sense of the world requires distinguishing temporal patterns and sequences lasting hundreds of milliseconds or more. How cortical circuits integrate over time to represent specific sensory sequences remains elusive. Here we assessed whether neurons in the barrel cortex (BC) integrate information about temporal patterns of whisker movements.

Discriminability measures and time-frequency features: an application to vibrissal tactile discrimination.

Background: Often, the first problem that the neuroscientist must face is to determine if a specific stimulus set applied to biological system produces specific, precise and well differentiated responses.

New Method: In the present study we have proposed four discriminability measures to evaluate the feasibility of differentiating experimental conditions: information measures based on information theory, percentage overlap based on Linacre method, Bhattacharyya distance and univariate standard distance. All discriminability measures were evaluated on experimental protocols related to vibrissal tactile discrimination.

Reducing major lower extremity amputations after the introduction of a multidisciplinary team for the diabetic foot.

We analyzed the incidence of lower extremity amputations (LEAs) in the 3rd Health Care Area of Madrid before and after the March 2008 introduction of a multidisciplinary team for managing diabetic foot disease. We compared the amputation rates in people with and without diabetes during 2 periods: before (2001-2007) and after (2008-2011) the introduction of a Multidisciplinary Diabetic Foot Unit (MDFU). We also analyzed the trend of the amputation rates by joinpoint regression analysis and measured the annual percentage change (APC).

Neural encoding schemes of tactile information in afferent activity of the vibrissal system.

When rats acquire sensory information by actively moving their vibrissae, a neural code is manifested at different levels of the sensory system. Behavioral studies in tactile discrimination agree that rats can distinguish different roughness surfaces by whisking their vibrissae. The present study explores the existence of neural encoding in the afferent activity of one vibrissal nerve.

Electrophysiological characterization of texture information slip-resistance dependent in the rat vibrissal nerve.

Background: Studies in tactile discrimination agree that rats are able to learn a rough-smooth discrimination task by actively touching (whisking) objects with their vibrissae. In particular, we focus on recent evidence of how neurons at different levels of the sensory pathway carry information about tactile stimuli. Here, we analyzed the multifiber afferent discharge of one vibrissal nerve during active whisking.

[Incidence of lower extremity amputations in Area 3 of Madrid. Retrospective study during the period 2001-2006].

Objective: To quantify the Lower Extremity Amputations (LEA) incidence in population with and without diabetes mellitus (DM).

Material And Methods: Retrospective cohort study of all the LEA carried out during 2001-2006 in area 3 of Madrid, from the codification of the reports of discharge reports.

Results: 310 LEA were carried out.

Laboratory experience for teaching sensory physiology.

The major challenge in laboratory teaching is the application of abstract concepts in simple and direct practical lessons. However, students rarely have the opportunity to participate in a laboratory that combines practical learning with a realistic research experience. In the Bioengineering Department, we started an experiential laboratory physiology to teach graduated students some aspects of sensorial physiology and exposes them to laboratory skills in instrumentation and physiological measurements.

Design and construction of a photoresistive sensor for monitoring the rat vibrissal displacement.

Rats sweep their vibrissae in a rhythmic and coordinated fashion in order to acquire tactile information from their environment. Measuring vibrissae movement has become a matter of increased attention, from several labs, over the last few years. We describe the design and construction of an inexpensive photoresistive sensor that registers horizontal vibrissae movement.

Effects of soy milk as a dietary complement during the natural aging process.

Introduction: Oxidative stress is one mechanism that could contribute to the acceleration of aging and age-related diseases. On the other hand, because of their antioxidative qualities soybean derived foods could have beneficial effects on the aging process.

Objectives: The aim of our work was to study the effects of a diet supplemented with soy milk on certain biological features of aging in rats.