The compound eye of has long been a model for studying genetics, development, neurodegeneration, and heterochromatin. Imaging and morphometry of adult and other insects is hampered by the low throughput, narrow focal plane, and small image sensors typical of stereomicroscope cameras. When data collection is distributed among many individuals or extended time periods, these limitations are compounded by inter-operator variability in lighting, sample positioning, focus, and post-acquisition processing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe insectivorous Northern Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia purpurea, recruits a dynamic biotic community in the rainwater collected by its pitcher-shaped leaves. Insect capture and degradation within the pitcher fluid (phytotelma) has been well documented as a mechanism for supplementing the plant's nitrogen, phosphorous, and micronutrient requirements. Metagenomic studies have shown a diverse microbiome in this phytotelm environment, including taxa that contribute metabolically to prey digestion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeuroinflammation is associated with several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), and multiple sclerosis (MS). Neuroinflammation provides protection in acute situations but results in significant damage to the nervous system if chronic. Overexpression of chemokines within the brain results in the recruitment and activation of glial and peripheral immune cells which can propagate a cascading inflammatory response, resulting in neurodegeneration and the onset of neurodegenerative disorders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are integral to the solid tumor microenvironment. CAFs were once thought to be a relatively uniform population of matrix-producing cells, but single-cell RNA sequencing has revealed diverse CAF phenotypes. Here, we further probed CAF heterogeneity with a comprehensive multiomics approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHumans appear to represent many forms of knowledge in associative networks whose nodes are multiply connected, including sensory, spatial, and semantic. Recent work has shown that explicitly augmenting artificial agents with such graph-structured representations endows them with more human-like capabilities of compositionality and transfer learning. An open question is how humans acquire these representations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancers (Basel)
October 2021
Biliary tract carcinomas (BTCs) account for less than 1% of all cancers but are increasing in incidence. Prognosis is poor for BTC patients, with 5-year survival rates of less than 10%. While chemotherapy has been the mainstay treatment for patients with advanced BTC, immunotherapy and targeted therapies are being evaluated in numerous clinical trials and rapidly incorporated into clinical practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA goal of computational psychiatry is to ground symptoms in basic mechanisms. Theory suggests that avoidance in anxiety disorders may reflect dysregulated mental simulation, a process for evaluating candidate actions. If so, these covert processes should have observable consequences: choices reflecting increased and biased deliberation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA variety of behavioral and neural phenomena suggest that organisms evaluate outcomes not on an absolute utility scale, but relative to some dynamic and context-sensitive reference or scale. Sometimes, as in foraging tasks, this results in sensible choices; in other situations, like choosing between options learned in different contexts, irrational choices can result. We argue that what unites and demystifies these various phenomena is that the brain's goal is not assessing utility as an end in itself, but rather comparing different options to choose the better one.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Smoking cessation counseling is a central part of the Medicare guidelines for lung cancer screening. With increasing age, many heavy smokers eventually stop smoking, however, factors influencing the decision to stop smoking are poorly understood. We postulated that declining health or physician-diagnosis of a medical condition may be associated with successful smoking cessation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To determine the incidence, demography and prognosis of vitamin D deficiency dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in Scotland over the last decade.
Study Design: A retrospective review of cases of vitamin D deficiency DCM presenting to a national paediatric cardiac centre between 1 January 2008 and 1 January 2018. The departmental database and electronic and paper case notes were used to identify patients and extract data.
Background: Plasmacytoid urothelial carcinoma (PUC) is a rare but aggressive variant of transitional cell carcinoma. In patients with unresectable disease, cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy is the most commonly used treatment. However, many patients are cisplatin-ineligible due to poor performance status or other comorbidities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
February 2018
How do humans learn to trust unfamiliar others? Decisions in the absence of direct knowledge rely on our ability to generalize from past experiences and are often shaped by the degree of similarity between prior experience and novel situations. Here, we leverage a stimulus generalization framework to examine how perceptual similarity between known individuals and unfamiliar strangers shapes social learning. In a behavioral study, subjects play an iterative trust game with three partners who exhibit highly trustworthy, somewhat trustworthy, or highly untrustworthy behavior.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground Autonomic dysfunction and light sensitivity are core features of the migraine attack. Growing evidence also suggests changes in these parameters between attacks. Though sensory and autonomic responses likely interact, they have not been studied together across the spectrum of disease in migraine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrior research illustrates that memory can guide value-based decision-making. For example, previous work has implicated both working memory and procedural memory (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntracoronal resorption of the permanent dentition in cases of amelogenesis imperfecta (AI) is a rare finding which poses an added complication to the already complex management of this condition. This paper presents three cases of AI associated with delayed eruption of permanent teeth in which asymptomatic intracoronal resorption occurred. CPD/Clinical Relevance: This paper highlights the fact that teeth affected with amelogenesis imperfecta may undergo asymptomatic intracoronal resorption which is only identifiable radiographically.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a key role in energy balance. In population studies, SNPs of the BDNF locus have been linked to obesity, but the mechanism by which these variants cause weight gain is unknown. Here, we examined human hypothalamic BDNF expression in association with 44 BDNF SNPs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe the physical context of the Dinaledi Chamber within the Rising Star cave, South Africa, which contains the fossils of Homo naledi. Approximately 1550 specimens of hominin remains have been recovered from at least 15 individuals, representing a small portion of the total fossil content. Macro-vertebrate fossils are exclusively H.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The purpose of our study was to compare the clinical utility of administering 2 recommended developmental screening instruments, the Infant Developmental Inventory (IDI) and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ), at 9-month well-child visits in paper format.
Methods: Outcomes of the 2 screens, including correct completion and interpretation by clinician, time of visit, and screen outcome were compared.
Results: Out of 33 children administered the ASQ and with documented scores, 12 (36.
Purpose: The purposes of this study were to determine the frequency of acute and subacute complications (within 6 months) of arthroscopic knee procedures in patients aged 17 years or younger and to determine associated risk factors.
Methods: We identified all patients aged 17 years or younger who underwent arthroscopic knee procedures at our institution from 1997 to 2009. Patient demographic and surgical data were collected from the medical and surgical records, with specific focus on intraoperative and postoperative complications.
Context: Iliotibial-band syndrome (ITBS) is a common overuse running injury. There is inconclusive evidence to support current management strategies, and few advances have been made in the past few years. New management approaches should thus be developed and evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Neglect of a child's oral health can lead to pain, poor growth and impaired quality of life. In populations where there is a high prevalence of dental caries, the determination of which children are experiencing dental neglect is challenging. This systematic review aims to identify the features of oral neglect in children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Prim Care Community Health
January 2014
Background: Early recognition and treatment of social and emotional disorders in children is significant for school preparation. These disorders are frequently underdetected without the use of standardized screening instruments. The purpose of our study is to describe the implementation of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE) in primary care practice by mail when children are 30 months old.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Novelty sweets resemble or can be used as toys, are brightly coloured, with striking imagery, and sold at pocket money prices. They encourage regular consumption as packaging can be resealed, leading to prolonged exposure of these high-sugar and low pH products to the oral tissues, risk factors for dental caries and erosion, respectively.
Aim: To determine how children conceptualise novelty sweets and their motivations for buying and consuming them.