Contrasting walking styles map to discrete neural substrates in the mouse brainstem.

Walking is a slow gait which is particularly adaptable to meet internal or external needs and is prone to maladaptive alterations that lead to gait disorders. Alterations can affect speed, but also style (the way one walks). While slowed speed may signify the presence of a problem, style represents the hallmark essential for clinical classification of gait disorders.

Quantitative susceptibility mapping improves cerebral microbleed detection relative to susceptibility-weighted images.

Background And Purpose: Cerebral microbleed (CMB) detection impacts disease diagnosis and management. Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) MRI depictions of CMBs are used with phase images (SWIP) to distinguish blood from calcification, via qualitative intensity evaluation (bright/dark). However, the intensities depicted for a single lesion can vary within and across consecutive SWIP image planes, impairing the classification of findings as a CMB.

A translational approach to capture gait signatures of neurological disorders in mice and humans.

A method for capturing gait signatures in neurological conditions that allows comparison of human gait with animal models would be of great value in translational research. However, the velocity dependence of gait parameters and differences between quadruped and biped gait have made this comparison challenging. Here we present an approach that accounts for changes in velocity during walking and allows for translation across species.

A novel approach for assigning levels to monkey and human lumbosacral spinal cord based on ventral horn morphology.

Proper identification of spinal cord levels is crucial for clinical-pathological and imaging studies in humans, but can be a challenge given technical limitations. We have previously demonstrated in non-primate models that the contours of the spinal ventral horn are determined by the position of motoneuron pools. These positions are preserved within and among individuals and can be used to identify lumbosacral spinal levels.

Multi-octave metamaterial reflective half-wave plate for millimeter and sub-millimeter wave applications.

The quasi-optical modulation of linear polarization at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths can be achieved by using rotating half-wave plates (HWPs) in front of polarization-sensitive detectors. Large operational bandwidths are required when the same device is meant to work simultaneously across different frequency bands. Previous realizations of half-wave plates, ranging from birefringent multi-plates to mesh-based devices, have achieved bandwidths of the order of 100%.

Disrupted Sleep in Narcolepsy: Exploring the Integrity of Galanin Neurons in the Ventrolateral Preoptic Area.

Study Objectives: To examine the integrity of sleep-promoting neurons of the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO) in postmortem brains of narcolepsy type 1 patients.

Methods: Postmortem examination of five narcolepsy and eight control brains.

Results: VLPO galanin neuron count did not differ between narcolepsy patients (11,151 ± 3,656) and controls (13,526 ± 9,544).

Sleep is related to neuron numbers in the ventrolateral preoptic/intermediate nucleus in older adults with and without Alzheimer's disease.

Fragmented sleep is a common and troubling symptom in ageing and Alzheimer's disease; however, its neurobiological basis in many patients is unknown. In rodents, lesions of the hypothalamic ventrolateral preoptic nucleus cause fragmented sleep. We previously proposed that the intermediate nucleus in the human hypothalamus, which has a similar location and neurotransmitter profile, is the homologue of the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus, but physiological data in humans were lacking.

Experimental investigation of high-frequency noise and optical feedback effects using a 9.7 microm continuous-wave distributed-feedback quantum-cascade laser.

An experimental investigation of high-frequency noise, i.e., up to 3 GHz, exhibited by a 9.