Attention rhythmically shapes sensory tuning.

Attention is key to perception and human behavior, and evidence shows that it periodically samples sensory information (<20Hz). However, this view has been recently challenged due to methodological concerns and gaps in our understanding of the function and mechanism of rhythmic attention. Here we used an intensive ∼22-hour psychophysical protocol combined with reverse correlation analyses to infer the neural representation underlying these rhythms.

Assessment of human expertise and movement kinematics in first-person shooter games.

In contrast to traditional professional sports, there are few standardized metrics in professional esports (competitive multiplayer video games) for assessing a player's skill and ability. We assessed the performance of professional-level players in Aim Lab, a first-person shooter training and assessment game, with two target-shooting tasks. These tasks differed primarily in target size: the task with large targets provided an incentive to be fast but imprecise and the task with large targets provided an incentive to be precise but slow.

Using telemedicine on an acute care surgery service: improving clinic efficiency and access to care.

Background: Telemedicine has been shown to improve patient access to medical care while potentially improving overall healthcare efficiency. It has not been consistently explored on an acute care surgery service as a method of increasing clinic availability and efficiency within a safety-net hospital system. Socioeconomic hardships associated with an in-person clinic visit can deter patients with limited resources.

Exogenous attention facilitates perceptual learning in visual acuity to untrained stimulus locations and features.

Visual perceptual learning (VPL) refers to the improvement in performance on a visual task due to practice. A hallmark of VPL is specificity, as improvements are often confined to the trained retinal locations or stimulus features. We have previously found that exogenous (involuntary, stimulus-driven) and endogenous (voluntary, goal-driven) spatial attention can facilitate the transfer of VPL across locations in orientation discrimination tasks mediated by contrast sensitivity.

In search of exogenous feature-based attention.

Visual attention prioritizes the processing of sensory information at specific spatial locations (spatial attention; SA) or with specific feature values (feature-based attention; FBA). SA is well characterized in terms of behavior, brain activity, and temporal dynamics-for both top-down (endogenous) and bottom-up (exogenous) spatial orienting. FBA has been thoroughly studied in terms of top-down endogenous orienting, but much less is known about the potential of bottom-up exogenous influences of FBA.

Adjacent Features for High-Density EMG Pattern Recognition.

In the infancy of electromyography (EMG) based pattern recognition (PR) limited numbers of electrode channels were anatomically placed over muscles of interest. Modern methods have shown that regularly spaced electrodes around the circumference of a limb are equally effective and have been demonstrated in consumer-ready myoelectric control systems such as Thalmic Labs' Myo armband. In addition to linear arrays, grid arrays have also been applied in this field of research.

Endogenous spatial attention during perceptual learning facilitates location transfer.

Covert attention and perceptual learning enhance perceptual performance. The relation between these two mechanisms is largely unknown. Previously, we showed that manipulating involuntary, exogenous spatial attention during training improved performance at trained and untrained locations, thus overcoming the typical location specificity.

Simple space-domain features for low-resolution sEMG pattern recognition.

In recent years, low-cost, low-power myoelectric control systems such as the Myo armband from Thalmic Labs have become available and unlocked tremendous possibilities for myoelectric controlled applications. However, due to the embedded system constraints, such sEMG control devices typically samples sEMG signals at a lower frequency. It is in doubt whether existing sEMG feature extraction methods are still valid on such low-resolution sEMG data.

Spatial attention is necessary for object-based attention: Evidence from temporal-order judgments.

Attentional selection is a dynamic process that relies on multiple types of representations. That object representations contribute to attentional selection has been known for decades; however, most evidence for this contribution has been gleaned from studies that have relied on various forms of spatial cueing (some endogenous and some exogenous). It has thus remained unclear whether object-based attentional selection is a direct result of spatial cuing, or whether it still emerges without any spatial marker.

Exogenous attention facilitates location transfer of perceptual learning.

Perceptual skills can be improved through practice on a perceptual task, even in adulthood. Visual perceptual learning is known to be mostly specific to the trained retinal location, which is considered as evidence of neural plasticity in retinotopic early visual cortex. Recent findings demonstrate that transfer of learning to untrained locations can occur under some specific training procedures.

Serum levels of insulin-like growth factors (IGF-I and IGF-II) and their binding protein (IGFBP-3) are not elevated in pancreatic cancer.

Conclusion: Serum levels of IGF-I, IGF-II, and IGFBP-3 are not elevated in pancreatic cancer and do not appear to have a significant role in glucose homeostasis in this group of patients.

Background: The insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and their binding proteins (IGFBPs) have been implicated recently in the pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer, and increased serum levels of IGF-I or IGF-II have been reported previously in a number of other gastrointestinal malignancies.

Methods: Serum levels of IGF-I, IGF-II, and IGFBP-3 were measured by RIA in 20 patients with pancreatic cancer and 20 age-matched healthy control subjects and correlated with serum glucose, C-peptide, and glucose tolerance.

Demand on primary health care after day surgery.

We have audited the frequency and nature of demands made on general practitioners, and the rate of surgical and anaesthetic complications within the first 7 days after day surgery. Semi-structured questionnaires were posted to the general practitioners of patients who attended the hospital's day care ward for a surgical procedure over a 6 month period. In all, 1798 questionnaires were sent, of which 1533 (85.

Activities of phospholipase A2 and diacylglycerol lipase are increased in human colorectal cancer.

Experimental, clinical and epidemiological studies have implicated arachidonic acid and its metabolites as important mediators in colorectal carcinogenesis. Although arachidonic acid levels are increased in tumour membrane lipids, its availability for metabolic processes is not known. The activities of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) and diacylglycerol lipase therefore were assessed in tumour and normal mucosal specimens from 20 patients with colorectal cancer using 14C-radiolabelled substrates.

Lipid peroxidation and prostaglandins in colorectal cancer.

Dietary fat, arachidonic acid metabolism and lipid peroxidation have all been implicated in colorectal carcinogenesis. Fatty acids, prostaglandins (PGE2, PGF2 alpha) and malondialdehyde (MDA), the stable end-product of lipid peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), were studied in paired tumour and normal mucosa of 20 patients with colorectal cancer. Levels of arachidonic acid and total PUFAs were increased in the phospholipid fraction of tumours (P < 0.

Unconjugated faecal bile acids in familial adenomatous polyposis analysed by gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Previous studies have suggested reduced formation of secondary bile acids in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). Developments in the collection, extraction and analysis of faecal bile acids as well as in the accurate diagnosis of FAP by DNA markers prompted reinvestigation of this hypothesis. The median (interquartile range (i.

Mucosal concentration and excretion of clindamycin by the human stomach.

Each of 12 patients undergoing routine diagnostic upper gastrointestinal endoscopy received a single iv infusion of clindamycin phosphate 300 mg over 10 min. During the endoscopy, mucosal biopsies of the gastric antrum and fundus were obtained at varying times following the infusion. The clindamycin concentrations in the biopsies and in serum samples also taken after the infusion were determined.

Cholesterolosis in patients with chronic acalculous biliary pain.

The outcome of patients with cholesterolosis was compared with that of those with chronic cholecystitis operated on for chronic acalculous biliary pain. A total of 55 patients with acalculous biliary pain with a median symptom duration of 24 (range 6-120) months were investigated by dynamic cholescintigraphy and followed for a median of 24 (range 12-60) months. Thirty-five patients underwent cholecystectomy, of whom 22 had a low gallbladder ejection fraction (under 35 per cent), with symptomatic improvement in 21 of these (P < 0.

Analysis of faecal neutral sterols in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Previous studies have suggested that patients with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) have increased faecal excretion of cholesterol but a reduction in cholesterol metabolites. It was consequently proposed that the degree of faecal cholesterol degradation could be used as a means of diagnosis. Developments in the extraction and analysis of faecal neutral sterols as well as the accurate means of diagnosing FAP by DNA analysis and indirect ophthalmoscopy has necessitated a re-examination of this proposal.

Spontaneous rupture of the spleen in association with idiopathic thrombocytopaenic purpura.

Spontaneous rupture of the spleen is rare and has not been previously reported in association with idiopathic thrombocytopaenic purpura. Its rarity makes familiarity with its presentation difficult and may result in a potentially fatal delay in diagnosis and treatment.

Radioimmunoscintigraphy of recurrent colorectal carcinoma using 111In-labelled murine monoclonal antibody B72.3: a comparison with contrast-enhanced computed tomography.

Ten patients underwent contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomographic (CT) carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) measurement and murine 111In-B72.3 monoclonal antibody radioimmunoscintigraphy for recurrent or residual colorectal carcinoma. All patients had undergone primary colorectal tumour resection at a median of 3 (range 1-18) months previously.

Oestrogen and progesterone receptors in colorectal cancer and human colonic cancer cell lines.

Receptors for oestrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) were assayed in tissue from 17 patients with colorectal cancer and five colonic cancer cell lines using enzyme immunoassays. ERs and PRs were detected in 15 and 17 cancers respectively, although the levels detected were low: median (range) ER 1.3 (0-11.

Faecal unconjugated bile acids in patients with colorectal cancer or polyps.

The unconjugated faecal bile acid profiles of 14 patients with colorectal cancer, nine patients with polyps and 10 controls were compared using gas liquid chromatography, controlling for such confounding variables as cholecystectomy, gall stones and hepatic function. Patients with adenomatous polyps had a higher concentration of faecal bile acids (5.23 mumol/g, 2.

Reduction of mucosal crypt cell proliferation in patients with colorectal adenomatous polyps by dietary calcium supplementation.

The crypt cell production rate was measured in 14 patients with adenomatous colorectal polyps, 17 patients with colorectal cancer and 12 control subjects. The median (interquartile range) rate (cells per crypt per hour) was found to be significantly higher (P less than 0.001) in the polyp (2.