Innovation through collaboration: Identifying opportunities to improve congenital anomalies surveillance in Canada.

Setting: The burden of congenital anomalies is a significant public health concern. In response to the World Health Organization's recommendations, Canada developed and strengthened congenital anomalies surveillance to build capacity for prevention and optimal health outcomes. Historically, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) exclusively used hospital discharge data for the Canadian Congenital Anomalies Surveillance System (CCASS).

Amyloid-β deposition in basal frontotemporal cortex is associated with selective disruption of temporal mnemonic discrimination.

Cerebral amyloid-beta (Aβ) accumulation, a hallmark pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD), precedes clinical impairment by two to three decades. However, it is unclear whether Aβ contributes to subtle memory deficits observed during the preclinical stage. The heterogenous emergence of Aβ deposition may selectively impact certain memory domains, which rely on distinct underlying neural circuits.

Age-related constraints on the spatial geometry of the brain.

Age-related structural brain changes may be better captured by assessing complex spatial geometric differences rather than isolated changes to individual regions. We applied a novel analytic method to quantify age-related changes to the spatial anatomy of the brain by measuring expansion and compression of global brain shape and the distance between cross-hemisphere homologous regions. To test how global brain shape and regional distances are affected by aging, we analyzed 2,603 structural MRIs (range: 30-97 years).

Modulation of Motor Cortical Inhibition and Facilitation by Touch Sensation from the Glabrous Skin of the Human Hand.

Touch sensation from the glabrous skin of the hand is essential for precisely controlling dexterous movements, yet the neural mechanisms by which tactile inputs influence motor circuits remain largely unexplored. By pairing air-puff tactile stimulation on the hand's glabrous skin with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the primary motor cortex (M1), we examined the effects of tactile stimuli from single or multiple fingers on corticospinal excitability and M1's intracortical circuits. Our results showed that when we targeted the hand's first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle with TMS, homotopic (index finger) tactile stimulation, regardless of its point (fingertip or base), reduced corticospinal excitability.

Insights into motor memory interference among experts and competent individuals.

Memory interference can arise when multiple motor skill tasks are learned. A study by Nepotiuk and Brown (Nepotiuk AH, Brown LE. 128: 969-981, 2022) demonstrated that the susceptibility of motor memory to interference differs depending on expertise, using a vegetable-chopping task.