Ca-based neural activity recording for rapidly screening behavioral correlates of the claustrum in freely behaving mice.

The claustrum has been hypothesized to participate in high-order brain functions, but experimental studies to demonstrate these functions are currently lacking. Neural activity recording of the claustrum in freely-behaving animals allows for correlating claustral activities with specific behaviors. However, previously utilized methods for studying the claustrum make it difficult to monitor neural activity patterns of freely-behaving animals in real time.

Characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma in a high arsenicism area in Taiwan: a case-control study.

Arsenic contamination of drinking water is noticeably linked to the occurrence of skin, bladder, lung cancers, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Blackfoot disease (BFD) caused by arsenicosis is endemic in southwestern Taiwan, where artesian well water contains high concentrations of arsenic, and mortality from HCC shows a dose-response increase by concentration of arsenic in the well water. This case-control study was conducted to examine the clinical characteristics of HCC patients of BFD-endemic area.