Publications by authors named "Fraser Smith"

Whilst previous research has linked attenuation of the mu rhythm to the observation of specific visual categories, and even to a potential role in action observation via a putative mirror neuron system, much of this work has not considered what specific type of information might be coded in this oscillatory response when triggered via vision. Here, we sought to determine whether the mu rhythm contains content-specific information about the identity of familiar (and also unfamiliar) graspable objects. In the present study, right-handed participants (N = 27) viewed images of both familiar (apple, wine glass) and unfamiliar (cubie, smoothie) graspable objects, whilst performing an orthogonal task at fixation.

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Perceptual decisions are derived from the combination of priors and sensorial input. While priors are broadly understood to reflect experience/expertise developed over one's lifetime, the role of perceptual expertise at the individual level has seldom been directly explored. Here, we manipulate probabilistic information associated with a high and low expertise category (faces and cars respectively), while assessing individual level of expertise with each category.

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Article Synopsis
  • Microsampling is a cost-effective and easy method for collecting blood samples that doesn't require specialized medical training.
  • Analysis of dried blood spots (DBS) provides a better understanding of how per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are present in the body.
  • A study found that filtered protein precipitation was the best technique for extracting PFAS, successfully identifying 72 out of 75 PFAS and paving the way for more extensive human biomonitoring studies.
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Neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) receive sensory inputs that describe small, local regions of the visual scene and cortical feedback inputs from higher visual areas processing the global scene context. Investigating the spatial precision of this visual contextual modulation will contribute to our understanding of the functional role of cortical feedback inputs in perceptual computations. We used human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test the spatial precision of contextual feedback inputs to V1 during natural scene processing.

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Although humans are considered to be face experts, there is a well-established reliable variation in the degree to which neurotypical individuals are able to learn and recognise faces. While many behavioural studies have characterised these differences, studies that seek to relate the neuronal response to standardised behavioural measures of ability remain relatively scarce, particularly so for the time-resolved approaches and the early response to face stimuli. In the present study we make use of a relatively recent methodological advance, multi-variate pattern analysis (MVPA), to decode the time course of the neural response to faces compared to other object categories (inverted faces, objects).

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Context: Allopathic, osteopathic, and naturopathic medical education all prepare students to practice medicine yet diverge in certain respects. Despite the significant changes that have occurred in the education of each discipline, a more recent comparison and analysis of these three pathways hasn't been published.

Objective: The review intended to examine the five segments of the educational process common to all three pathways: admissions, preclinical education, clinical education, graduate medical education, and continuing medical education.

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Neurons, even in the earliest sensory regions of cortex, are subject to a great deal of contextual influences from both within and across modality connections. Recent work has shown that primary sensory areas can respond to and, in some cases, discriminate stimuli that are not of their target modality: for example, primary somatosensory cortex (SI) discriminates visual images of graspable objects. In the present work, we investigated whether SI would discriminate sounds depicting hand-object interactions (e.

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Intelligent manipulation of handheld tools marks a major discontinuity between humans and our closest ancestors. Here we identified neural representations about how tools are typically manipulated within left anterior temporal cortex, by shifting a searchlight classifier through whole-brain real action fMRI data when participants grasped 3D-printed tools in ways considered typical for use (i.e.

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Studies on low-level visual information underlying pain categorization have led to inconsistent findings. Some show an advantage for low spatial frequency information (SFs) and others a preponderance of mid SFs. This study aims to clarify this gap in knowledge since these results have different theoretical and practical implications, such as how far away an observer can be in order to categorize pain.

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Most neuroimaging experiments that investigate how tools and their actions are represented in the brain use visual paradigms where tools or hands are displayed as 2D images and no real movements are performed. These studies discovered selective visual responses in occipitotemporal and parietal cortices for viewing pictures of hands or tools, which are assumed to reflect action processing, but this has rarely been directly investigated. Here, we examined the responses of independently visually defined category-selective brain areas when participants grasped 3D tools ( = 20; 9 females).

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Influenza viruses harboring treatment-emergent I38F/M/N/T substitutions in the polymerase acidic (PA) endonuclease exhibited reduced susceptibility to baloxavir and were associated with virus rebound and variable clinical response in clinical trials. US regulatory review of registrational trial data also identified treatment-emergent PA substitutions E23K in A/H1N1 viruses and E23G/K, A37T, and E199G in A/H3N2 viruses, which conferred reduced susceptibility to baloxavir, although to a lesser degree than I38F/M/N/T substitutions, and were associated with virus rebound. Although these non-I38 substitutions emerged less frequently than substitutions at I38, they represent alternate pathways to baloxavir virologic resistance and should be monitored accordingly.

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Article Synopsis
  • Williams syndrome (WS) is often thought to provide individuals with a relative strength in face recognition, but recent research highlights complexities in this ability and its underlying mechanisms.
  • A study compared face recognition and neural processing between 18 individuals with WS and typical control groups, using both behavioral assessments and EEG tasks to analyze responses to faces and objects.
  • Findings indicated that while face recognition in WS isn't chronologically age-appropriate, it is still a notable strength, exhibiting distinct neural patterns for face processing, yet also revealing atypical mechanisms compared to typical individuals.
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Rapidly and accurately processing information from faces is a critical human function that is known to improve with developmental age. Understanding the underlying drivers of this improvement remains a contentious question, with debate continuing as to the presence of early vs. late maturation of face-processing mechanisms.

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Faces transmit a wealth of important social signals. While previous studies have elucidated the network of cortical regions important for perception of facial expression, and the associated temporal components such as the P100, N170 and EPN, it is still unclear how task constraints may shape the representation of facial expression (or other face categories) in these networks. In the present experiment, we used Multivariate Pattern Analysis (MVPA) with EEG to investigate the neural information available across time about two important face categories (expression and identity) when those categories are either perceived under explicit (e.

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Background: In patients with rectal cancer who achieve clinical complete response after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, watch and wait is a novel management strategy with potential to avoid major surgery. Study-level meta-analyses have reported wide variation in the proportion of patients with local regrowth. We did an individual participant data meta-analysis to investigate factors affecting occurrence of local regrowth.

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Objectives: In an innovative approach to improve the contribution of health psychology to public health we have analysed the presence and nature of affect within the visual materials deployed in antimicrobial stewardship interventions targeting the public identified through systematic review.

Design: A qualitative analysis focused on the affective content of visual materials garnered from a systematic review of antibiotic stewardship (k = 20).

Methods: A novel method was devised drawing on concepts from semiotics to analyse the affective elements within intervention materials.

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Facial expressions of emotion are signals of high biological value. Whilst recognition of facial expressions has been much studied in central vision, the ability to perceive these signals in peripheral vision has only seen limited research to date, despite the potential adaptive advantages of such perception. In the present experiment, we investigate facial expression recognition and detection performance for each of the basic emotions (plus neutral) at up to 30 degrees of eccentricity.

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Objectives: Changing public awareness of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) represents a global public health priority. A systematic review of interventions that targeted public AMR awareness and associated behaviour was previously conducted. Here, we focus on identifying the active content of these interventions and explore potential mechanisms of action.

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Global ventricular impairment is a frequent presentation in clinical practice, but dissection of causative mechanisms from clinical associations is challenging. We present the case of a 19-year-old man who presented with dilated cardiomyopathy as the first presentation of coeliac disease. The manifestation of iron deficiency anaemia prompted gastroenterology input and enabled accurate diagnosis.

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Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing public health problem across the world. As the negative consequences of AMR become apparent at local, national and international levels, more attention is being focussed on the variety of mechanisms by which AMR is potentiated. We explore how interactions between pet owners and veterinarians represent a key arena in which AMR-related behaviours can be shaped.

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Background: A global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) awareness intervention targeting the general public has been prioritized.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions that aim to change AMR awareness and subsequent stewardship behaviours amongst the public.

Methods: Five databases were searched between 2000 and 2016 for interventions to change the public's AMR awareness and/or antimicrobial stewardship behaviours.

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A network of cortical and sub-cortical regions is known to be important in the processing of facial expression. However, to date no study has investigated whether representations of facial expressions present in this network permit generalization across independent samples of face information (e.g.

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Purpose: To review the outcomes of rectal cancer patients treated with a nonsurgical approach using contact x-ray brachytherapy (CXB) when suspicious residual disease (≤3 cm) was present after external beam chemoradiation therapy/radiation therapy (EBCRT/EBRT).

Methods And Materials: Outcome data for rectal cancer patients referred to our institution from 2003 to 2012 were retrieved from an institutional database. These patients were referred after initial local multidisciplinary team discussion because they were not suitable for, or had refused, surgery.

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