AI-guided identification of risk variants for adrenocortical tumours in p.R337H carrier children: a genetic association study.

Background: Adrenocortical tumours (ACT) in children are part of the Li-Fraumeni cancer spectrum and are frequently associated with a germline pathogenic variant. p.R337H is highly prevalent in the south and southeast of Brazil and predisposes to ACT with low penetrance.

Flexible Virtual Reality System for Neurorehabilitation and Quality of Life Improvement.

As life expectancy is mostly increasing, the incidence of many neurological disorders is also constantly growing. For improving the physical functions affected by a neurological disorder, rehabilitation procedures are mandatory, and they must be performed regularly. Unfortunately, neurorehabilitation procedures have disadvantages in terms of costs, accessibility and a lack of therapists.

PRANAS: A New Platform for Retinal Analysis and Simulation.

The retina encodes visual scenes by trains of action potentials that are sent to the brain via the optic nerve. In this paper, we describe a new free access user-end software allowing to better understand this coding. It is called PRANAS (https://pranas.

Altitude control in honeybees: joint vision-based learning and guidance.

Studies on insects' visual guidance systems have shed little light on how learning contributes to insects' altitude control system. In this study, honeybees were trained to fly along a double-roofed tunnel after entering it near either the ceiling or the floor of the tunnel. The honeybees trained to hug the ceiling therefore encountered a sudden change in the tunnel configuration midways: i.

Rank Order Coding: a Retinal Information Decoding Strategy Revealed by Large-Scale Multielectrode Array Retinal Recordings.

How a population of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) encodes the visual scene remains an open question. Going beyond individual RGC coding strategies, results in salamander suggest that the relative latencies of a RGC pair encode spatial information. Thus, a population code based on this concerted spiking could be a powerful mechanism to transmit visual information rapidly and efficiently.

Microsaccades enable efficient synchrony-based coding in the retina: a simulation study.

It is now reasonably well established that microsaccades (MS) enhance visual perception, although the underlying neuronal mechanisms are unclear. Here, using numerical simulations, we show that MSs enable efficient synchrony-based coding among the primate retinal ganglion cells (RGC). First, using a jerking contrast edge as stimulus, we demonstrate a qualitative change in the RGC responses: synchronous firing, with a precision in the 10 ms range, only occurs at high speed and high contrast.

Honeybees' speed depends on dorsal as well as lateral, ventral and frontal optic flows.

Flying insects use the optic flow to navigate safely in unfamiliar environments, especially by adjusting their speed and their clearance from surrounding objects. It has not yet been established, however, which specific parts of the optical flow field insects use to control their speed. With a view to answering this question, freely flying honeybees were trained to fly along a specially designed tunnel including two successive tapering parts: the first part was tapered in the vertical plane and the second one, in the horizontal plane.

Honeybees change their height to restore their optic flow.

To further elucidate the mechanisms underlying insects' height and speed control, we trained outdoor honeybees to fly along a high-roofed tunnel, part of which was equipped with a moving floor. Honeybees followed the stationary part of the floor at a given height. On encountering the moving part of the floor, which moved in the same direction as their flight, honeybees descended and flew at a lower height, thus gradually restoring their ventral optic flow (OF) to a similar value to that they had percieved when flying over the stationary part of the floor.

Configural processing enables discrimination and categorization of face-like stimuli in honeybees.

We studied whether honeybees can distinguish face-like configurations by using standardized stimuli commonly employed in primate and human visual research. Furthermore, we studied whether, irrespective of their capacity to distinguish between face-like stimuli, bees learn to classify visual stimuli built up of the same elements in face-like versus non-face-like categories. We showed that bees succeeded in discriminating both face-like and non-face-like stimuli and categorized appropriately novel stimuli in these two classes.

Modelling honeybee visual guidance in a 3-D environment.

In view of the behavioral findings published on bees during the last two decades, it was proposed to decipher the principles underlying bees' autopilot system, focusing in particular on these insects' use of the optic flow (OF). Based on computer-simulated experiments, we developed a vision-based autopilot that enables a "simulated bee" to travel along a tunnel, controlling both its speed and its clearance from the right wall, left wall, ground, and roof. The flying agent thus equipped enjoys three translational degrees of freedom on the surge (x), sway (y), and heave (z) axes, which are uncoupled.

Further characterization of an aversive learning task in Drosophila melanogaster: intensity of the stimulus, relearning, and use of rutabaga mutants.

Various learning tasks have been described in Drosophila melanogaster, flies being either tested in groups or at the individual level. Le Bourg and Buecher (Anim Learn Behav 33:330-341, 2002) have designed a task at the individual level: photopositive flies crossing a T-maze learn to prefer the dark exit when the lighted one is associated with the presence of aversive stimuli (humidity and quinine). Previous studies have reported various results (e.

Measurement of gas holes and mechanical openness in cheese by image analysis.

A method to measure the amount of the surface area of cheese slices occupied by gas holes was developed to reflect the relative gas production among different cheeses. A digital camera mounted on a copy stand with lighting was used to make digital images of each slice of cheese. A commercial digital image analysis software program was used and an algorithm was written to measure the area of the image of the cheese slice occupied by holes.

Influence of the temperature of salt brine on salt uptake by Ragusano cheese.

The influence of temperature (12, 15, 18, 21, and 24 degrees C) of saturated brine on salt uptake by 3.8-kg experimental blocks of Ragusano cheese during 24 d of brining was determined. Twenty-six 3.

Composition of Ragusano cheese during aging.

Ragusano cheese is a brine-salted pasta filata cheese. Composition changes during 12 mo of aging were determined. Historically, Ragusano cheese has been aged in caves at 14 to 16 degrees C with about 80 to 90% relative humidity.