EEG and Eye-Tracking Error-Related Responses During Predictive Text Interactions: A BCI Case Study.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) employ various paradigms which afford intuitive, augmented control for users to navigate digital technologies. In this study we explore the application of these BCI concepts to predictive text systems: commonplace interactive and assistive tools with variable usage contexts and user behaviors. We conducted an experiment to analyze user neurophysiological responses under these different usage scenarios and evaluate the feasibility of a closed-loop, adaptive BCI for use with such technologies.

Impact of tumor histology on resectability and neurological outcome in primary intramedullary spinal cord tumors: a single-center experience with 102 patients.

Background: Surgical outcomes for intramedullary spinal cord tumors are affected by many variables including tumor histology and preoperative neurological function.

Objective: To analyze the impact of tumor histology on neurological outcome in primary intramedullary spinal cord tumors.

Methods: A retrospective review of 102 consecutive patients with intramedullary spinal cord tumors treated at a single institution between January 1998 and March 2009.

The "voice" has it: screen reader adoption and switching behavior among vision impaired persons in India.

We present results from a mixed methods study of screen reader use and switching behavior among people with vision impairments in India. We examine loyalty and experimentation with screen readers and find that the main drivers of adoption for early users differ significantly from the factors that drive continued use by advanced users. We discuss the factor that emerges as one of the strongest stated drivers of early adoption, text-to-speech "voice" quality, particularly a "human-sounding voice" as one of the key features differentiating free/open source products from more expensive proprietary products.

Pharmaceutical speakers' bureaus, academic freedom, and the management of promotional speaking at academic medical centers.

Pharmaceutical companies routinely engage physicians, particularly those with prestigious academic credentials, to deliver "educational" talks to groups of physicians in the community to help market the company's brand-name drugs. Although presented as educational, and even though they provide educational content, these events are intended to influence decisions about drug selection in ways that are not based on the suitability and effectiveness of the product, but on the prestige and persuasiveness of the speaker. A number of state legislatures and most academic medical centers have attempted to restrict physician participation in pharmaceutical marketing activities, though most restrictions are not absolute and have proven difficult to enforce.

Impact of tumor histology on resectability and neurological outcome in primary intramedullary spinal cord tumors: a single-center experience with 102 patients.

Background: Surgical outcomes for intramedullary spinal cord tumors are affected by many variables including tumor histology and preoperative neurological function.

Objective: To analyze the impact of tumor histology on neurological outcome in primary intramedullary spinal cord tumors.

Methods: A retrospective review of 102 consecutive patients with intramedullary spinal cord tumors treated at a single institution between January 1998 and March 2009.

Persistent low-level viremia in HIV-1 elite controllers and relationship to immunologic parameters.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) elite controllers are able to control virus replication to levels below the limits of detection by commercial assays, but the actual level of viremia in these individuals is not well defined. Here, we quantify plasma HIV-1 RNA in elite controllers and correlate this with specific immunologic parameters.

Methods: Plasma HIV-1 RNA levels were quantified in 90 elite controllers with use of a real time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay with a sensitivity of 0.

HLA-B57/B*5801 human immunodeficiency virus type 1 elite controllers select for rare gag variants associated with reduced viral replication capacity and strong cytotoxic T-lymphocyte [corrected] recognition.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) elite controllers (EC) maintain viremia below the limit of commercial assay detection (<50 RNA copies/ml) in the absence of antiviral therapy, but the mechanisms of control remain unclear. HLA-B57 and the closely related allele B*5801 are particularly associated with enhanced control and recognize the same Gag(240-249) TW10 epitope. The typical escape mutation (T242N) within this epitope diminishes viral replication capacity in chronically infected persons; however, little is known about TW10 epitope sequences in residual replicating viruses in B57/B*5801 EC and the extent to which mutations within this epitope may influence steady-state viremia.

A method for identification of HIV gp140 binding memory B cells in human blood.

Antibodies to HIV are potentially important reagents for basic and clinical studies. Historically, these reagents have been produced by random cloning of heavy and light chains in phage display libraries [Burton, D.R.

Electrical microstimulation of primate posterior parietal cortex initiates orienting and alerting components of covert attention.

The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is implicated in the control of visuospatial orienting, including both overt saccadic eye movements and covert shifts of attention (i.e., attention to a location other than at visual fixation).

Scopolamine slows the orienting of attention in primates to cued visual targets.

The cholinergic agonist nicotine facilitates visuospatial attention shifting, but the role of muscarinic cholinergic drugs in this behavior is unclear. In order to establish the generality of cholinergic action in attention shifting, we administered the muscarinic antagonist scopolamine to two rhesus monkeys trained to perform a cued target detection (Posner) task. In this task, monkeys signaled the detection of a peripheral visual target by releasing a switch and their reaction times were measured.

Concurrent pentobarbital- and saccharin-maintained responding: effects of saccharin concentration and schedule conditions.

Responses of rhesus monkeys were reinforced by delivery of either a pentobarbital (4.0 mg/ml) solution or a vehicle (water) or saccharin solution under a concurrent signaled differential reinforcement of low rates 30-s schedule. After 30 s of no responding, the first response on the pentobarbital or saccharin spout resulted in the delivery of the appropriate solution and reset the timing on both spouts (i.

Oral self-administration of pentobarbital by rhesus monkeys: relative reinforcing effects under concurrent signalled differential-reinforcement-of-low-rates schedules.

During daily 3-h sessions two separate pentobarbital solutions were concurrently available to rhesus monkeys under signalled differential-reinforcement-of-low-rates (signalled DRL) schedules of mouth contacts with spouts. The schedules were synchronized so that each time the 30-s DRL interval expired, lights above both spouts were illuminated and a liquid delivery could be obtained either from the left or right spout, but not both. First water and then each of four 'comparison-concentration' pentobarbital solutions (0.