Effect of Ph on the Physicochemical Properties of a Cassava Peel Starch Biopolymer.

Background/aims: This study investigates how pH levels affect the characteristics of biopolymer films manufactured from cassava peel starch. Cassava peel starch's abundance and biodegradability make it a promising candidate for sustainable packaging. The study seeks to improve film qualities such as thickness, density, moisture content, solubility, and optical properties by altering pH levels.

Analysis of recent land management initiatives in Nicaragua from the perspective of the "ecosystem approach".

In the world there are approximately 608 million farms, of which 84% are small farms and produce 35% of the food of the world population. Training programs have been promoted by different organizations to achieve a more sustainable and efficient agricultural practice. Within this context, this article has classified a set of smallholders located in central Nicaragua with regard to how they apply Land Use Management Initiatives (LUMI).

Single-neuronal elements of speech production in humans.

Humans are capable of generating extraordinarily diverse articulatory movement combinations to produce meaningful speech. This ability to orchestrate specific phonetic sequences, and their syllabification and inflection over subsecond timescales allows us to produce thousands of word sounds and is a core component of language. The fundamental cellular units and constructs by which we plan and produce words during speech, however, remain largely unknown.

Specific afterdischarge properties can enhance the clinical utility of electrical stimulation mapping during intracranial monitoring.

Objective: Extraoperative electrical cortical stimulation (ECS) facilitates defining the seizure onset zone (SOZ) and eloquent cortex. The clinical relevance of stimulation-induced afterdischarges (ADs) is not well defined.

Methods: Fifty-five patients who underwent intracranial electroencephalogram evaluations with ECS were retrospectively identified.

DREDge: robust motion correction for high-density extracellular recordings across species.

High-density microelectrode arrays (MEAs) have opened new possibilities for systems neuroscience in human and non-human animals, but brain tissue motion relative to the array poses a challenge for downstream analyses, particularly in human recordings. We introduce DREDge (Decentralized Registration of Electrophysiology Data), a robust algorithm which is well suited for the registration of noisy, nonstationary extracellular electrophysiology recordings. In addition to estimating motion from spikes in the action potential (AP) frequency band, DREDge enables automated tracking of motion at high temporal resolution in the local field potential (LFP) frequency band.

Human genetics and molecular genomics of Chiari malformation type 1.

Chiari malformation type 1 (CM1) is the most common structural brain disorder involving the craniocervical junction, characterized by caudal displacement of the cerebellar tonsils below the foramen magnum into the spinal canal. Despite the heterogeneity of CM1, its poorly understood patho-etiology has led to a 'one-size-fits-all' surgical approach, with predictably high rates of morbidity and treatment failure. In this review we present multiplex CM1 families, associated Mendelian syndromes, and candidate genes from recent whole exome sequencing (WES) and other genetic studies that suggest a significant genetic contribution from inherited and de novo germline variants impacting transcription regulation, craniovertebral osteogenesis, and embryonic developmental signaling.

Modified Neuropixels probes for recording human neurophysiology in the operating room.

Neuropixels are silicon-based electrophysiology-recording probes with high channel count and recording-site density. These probes offer a turnkey platform for measuring neural activity with single-cell resolution and at a scale that is beyond the capabilities of current clinically approved devices. Our team demonstrated the first-in-human use of these probes during resection surgery for epilepsy or tumors and deep brain stimulation electrode placement in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Atlantoaxial instability associated with ALDH18A1 mutation.

We report a 10-year-old boy with a de novo pathogenic variant in ALDH18A1, a rare form of metabolic cutis laxa, which was complicated by atlantoaxial instability and spinal cord compression following a fall from standing height. The patient required emergent cervical spine fusion and decompression followed by a 2-month hospitalization and rehabilitation. In addition to the core clinical features of joint and skin laxity, hypotonia, and developmental delays, we expand the connective tissue phenotype by adding a new potential feature of cervical spine instability.

ROBUST ONLINE MULTIBAND DRIFT ESTIMATION IN ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY DATA.

High-density electrophysiology probes have opened new possibilities for systems neuroscience in human and non-human animals, but probe motion poses a challenge for downstream analyses, particularly in human recordings. We improve on the state of the art for tracking this motion with four major contributions. First, we extend previous decentralized methods to use information, leveraging the local field potential (LFP) in addition to spikes.

5-ALA fluorescence-guided resection of a recurrent anaplastic pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma: illustrative case.

Background: 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA)-induced fluorescence of neoplastic tissue is known to occur in a number of high-grade gliomas. This fluorescence helps surgeons maximize safe resection by distinguishing previously indiscernible neoplastic tissue from brain parenchyma. Still, the effectiveness of 5-ALA has not been fully explored for all central nervous system tumors.

Local insulin application has a dose-dependent effect on lumbar fusion in a rabbit model.

The purpose of this study was to determine if locally applied insulin has a dose-responsive effect on posterolateral lumbar fusion. Adult male New Zealand White rabbits underwent posterolateral intertransverse spinal fusions (PLFs) at L5-L6 using suboptimal amounts of autograft. Fusion sites were treated with collagen sponge soaked in saline (control, n = 11), or with insulin at low (5 or 10 units, n = 13), mid (20 units, n = 11), and high (40 units, n = 11) doses.

Cellular birthdate predicts laminar and regional cholinergic projection topography in the forebrain.

The basal forebrain cholinergic system projects broadly throughout the cortex and constitutes a critical source of neuromodulation for arousal and attention. Traditionally, this system was thought to function diffusely. However, recent studies have revealed a high degree of spatiotemporal specificity in cholinergic signaling.

Mouse Embryo Culture for the Study of Neural Crest Cells.

Mammalian development occurs in utero, which makes it difficult to study the diverse morphogenetic events of neural crest cell development in vivo. Analyses of fixed samples in conjunction with histological methods to evaluate the spatiotemporal roles of specific genes of interest only provide snapshots of mammalian neural crest cell development. This chapter describes methods for isolating and culturing mouse embryos and their organs in vitro, outside the mother, to facilitate real-time imaging and functional analyses of the dynamics of neural crest cell development.

Acetazolamide promotes decreased consumption of carbonated drinks and weight loss.

Excessive consumption of carbonated drinks contributes to the dietary surplus of carbohydrates, and is a main driver of the obesity epidemic in the USA. From a public health standpoint, it is therefore crucial to develop strategies that enable individuals to regulate this calorie-rich, but nutrient-poor food intake. However, conservative medical approaches to this end have met with limited success.

Understanding the Impact of Film Disorder and Local Surface Potential in Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy of PEDOT.

The spectra of conducting polymers obtained using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) exhibit a typical broadening of the tail σ ≈ 1 eV, which by an order of magnitude exceeds a commonly accepted value of the broadening of the tail of the density of states σ ≈ 0.1 eV obtained using transport measurements. In this work, an origin of this anomalous broadening of the tail of the UPS spectra in a doped conducting polymer, PEDOT (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)), is discussed.

Prevalence and risk factors associated with peripheral arterial disease in an adult population from Colombia.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the most important cause of mortality in Latin America, while peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is the third leading cause of atherosclerotic cardiovascular morbidity.

Objective: To establish the prevalence of PAD and the distribution of traditional CVD risk factors in a population from the Department of Cauca, Colombia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of 10,000 subjects aged ≥40 years, from 36 municipalities.

Layer-specific modulation of neocortical dendritic inhibition during active wakefulness.

γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic inputs are strategically positioned to gate synaptic integration along the dendritic arbor of pyramidal cells. However, their spatiotemporal dynamics during behavior are poorly understood. Using an optical-tagging electrophysiological approach to record and label somatostatin-expressing (Sst) interneurons (GABAergic neurons specialized for dendritic inhibition), we discovered a layer-specific modulation of their activity in behaving mice.

Epidemiological overview, advances in diagnosis, prevention, treatment and management of epithelial ovarian cancer in Mexico.

The epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) has been underdiagnosed because it does not have a specific clinical presentation, and the signs and symptoms are similar to the irritable bowel syndrome and pelvic inflammatory disease. EOC is less common than breast and cervical cancer, but it is more lethal. On the whole, EOC has an early dissemination to peritoneal cavity, which delays a timely diagnosis and increases the rate of advanced diagnosed disease.

Neural crest cell evolution: how and when did a neural crest cell become a neural crest cell.

As vertebrates evolved from protochordates, they shifted to a more predatory lifestyle, and radiated and adapted to most niches of the planet. This process was largely facilitated by the generation of novel vertebrate head structures, which were derived from neural crest cells (NCC). The neural crest is a unique vertebrate cell population that is frequently termed the "fourth germ layer" because it forms in conjunction with the other germ layers and contributes to a diverse array of cell types and tissues including the craniofacial skeleton, the peripheral nervous system, and pigment cells among many other tissues and cell types.

Channelrhodopsin-assisted patching: in vivo recording of genetically and morphologically identified neurons throughout the brain.

Brain networks contain a large diversity of functionally distinct neuronal elements, each with unique properties, enabling computational capacities and supporting brain functions. Understanding their functional implications for behavior requires the precise identification of the cell types of a network and in vivo monitoring of their activity profiles. Here, we developed a channelrhodopsin-assisted patching method allowing the efficient in vivo targeted recording of neurons identified by their molecular, electrophysiological, and morphological features.

Spatiotemporal specificity in cholinergic control of neocortical function.

Cholinergic actions are critical for normal cortical cognitive functions. The release of acetylcholine (ACh) in neocortex and the impact of this neuromodulator on cortical computations exhibit remarkable spatiotemporal precision, as required for the regulation of behavioral processes underlying attention and learning. We discuss how the organization of the cholinergic projections to the cortex and their release properties might contribute to this specificity.

Plakophilin-3 catenin associates with the ETV1/ER81 transcription factor to positively modulate gene activity.

Members of the plakophilin-catenin sub-family (Pkp-1, -2, and -3) facilitate the linkage of desmosome junctional components to each other (e.g. desmosomal cadherins to desmoplakin) and the intermediate-filament cytoskeleton.

Carbon dioxide emitted from live stems of tropical trees is several years old.

Storage carbon (C) pools are often assumed to contribute to respiration and growth when assimilation is insufficient to meet the current C demand. However, little is known of the age of stored C and the degree to which it supports respiration in general. We used bomb radiocarbon ((14)C) measurements to determine the mean age of carbon in CO2 emitted from and within stems of three tropical tree species in Peru.