Defining and quantifying users' mental imagery-based BCI skills: a first step.

Objective: While promising for many applications, electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are still scarcely used outside laboratories, due to a poor reliability. It is thus necessary to study and fix this reliability issue. Doing so requires the use of appropriate reliability metrics to quantify both the classification algorithm and the BCI user's performances.

A Combinatorial Lipid Code Shapes the Electrostatic Landscape of Plant Endomembranes.

Membrane surface charge is critical for the transient, yet specific recruitment of proteins with polybasic regions to certain organelles. In eukaryotes, the plasma membrane (PM) is the most electronegative compartment of the cell, which specifies its identity. As such, membrane electrostatics is a central parameter in signaling, intracellular trafficking, and polarity.

Immunological memory: What's in a name?

Immunological memory is one of the core topics of contemporary immunology. Yet there are many discussions about what this concept precisely means, which components of the immune system display it, and in which phyla it exists. Recent years have seen the multiplication of claims that immunological memory can be found in "innate" immune cells and in many phyla beyond vertebrates (including invertebrates, plants, but also bacteria and archaea), as well as the multiplication of concepts to account for these phenomena, such as "innate immune memory" or "trained immunity".

How Dark Are Radial Breathing Modes in Plasmonic Nanodisks?

Due to a vanishing dipole moment, radial breathing modes in small flat plasmonic nanoparticles do not couple to light and have to be probed with a near-field source, as in electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). With increasing particle size, retardation gives rise to light coupling, enabling probing breathing modes optically or by cathodoluminescence (CL). Here, we investigate single silver nanodisks with diameters of 150-500 nm by EELS and CL in an electron microscope and quantify the EELS/CL ratio, which corresponds to the ratio of full to radiative damping of the breathing mode.

Lipids at the crossroad: Shaping biological membranes heterogeneity defines trafficking pathways.

Lipids are essential components of biological membranes that present a wide diversity in eukaryotic cells. Recent impressive advances in lipid biochemistry and biophysics have enabled a refocus of our view of lipids as functional units for cellular activity. However, the gap between molecular and cellular processes remains to be bridged.

Modulation of the functional association between the HIV-1 intasome and the nucleosome by histone amino-terminal tails.

Background: Stable insertion of the retroviral DNA genome into host chromatin requires the functional association between the intasome (integrase·viral DNA complex) and the nucleosome. The data from the literature suggest that direct protein-protein contacts between integrase and histones may be involved in anchoring the intasome to the nucleosome. Since histone tails are candidates for interactions with the incoming intasomes we have investigated whether they could participate in modulating the nucleosomal integration process.

Photodegradation of novel oral anticoagulants under sunlight irradiation in aqueous matrices.

Kinetics of photodegradation of novel oral anticoagulants dabigatran, rivaroxaban, and apixaban were studied under simulated solar light irradiation in purified, mineral, and river waters. Dabigatran and rivaroxaban underwent direct photolysis with polychromatic quantum yields of 2.2 × 10 and 4.

ER Membrane Lipid Composition and Metabolism: Lipidomic Analysis.

Plant ER membranes are the major site of biosynthesis of several lipid families (phospholipids, sphingolipids, neutral lipids such as sterols and triacylglycerols). The structural diversity of lipids presents considerable challenges to comprehensive lipid analysis. This chapter will briefly review the various biosynthetic pathways and will detail several aspects of the lipid analysis: lipid extraction, handling, separation, detection, identification, and data presentation.

EV-Associated MMP9 in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer Is Preferentially Localized to Annexin V-Binding EVs.

High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) is the most aggressive type of ovarian cancer and is responsible for most deaths caused by gynecological cancers. Numerous candidate biomarkers were identified for this disease in the last decades, but most were not sensitive or specific enough for clinical applications. Hence, new biomarkers for HGSOC are urgently required.

Respiratory motion model based on the noise covariance matrix of a receive array.

Purpose: Tracking of the internal anatomy by means of a motion model that uses the MR-derived motion fields and noise covariance matrix (NCM) dynamic as a surrogate signal.

Methods: A 2D respiratory motion model was developed based on the MR-derived motion fields and the NCM of a receive array used in MRI. Temporal dynamics of the NCM were used as a motion surrogate for a linear correspondence motion model.

Hexakis [60]Fullerene Adduct-Mediated Covalent Assembly of Ruthenium Nanoparticles and Their Catalytic Properties.

The C (COOH) hexa-adduct has been successfully used as a building block to construct carboxylate bridged 3D networks with very homogeneous sub-1.8 nm ruthenium nanoparticles. The obtained nanostructures are active in nitrobenzene selective hydrogenation.

Ethylene Regulates Differential Growth via BIG ARF-GEF-Dependent Post-Golgi Secretory Trafficking in Arabidopsis.

During early seedling development, the shoot apical meristem is protected from damage as the seedling emerges from soil by the formation of apical hook. Hook formation requires differential growth across the epidermis below the meristem in the hypocotyl. The plant hormones ethylene and auxin play key roles during apical hook development by controlling differential growth.

The discontinuity theory of immunity.

Some biological systems detect the rate of change in a stimulus rather than the stimulus itself only. We suggest that the immune system works in this way. According to the discontinuity theory of immunity, the immune system responds to sudden changes in antigenic stimulation and is rendered tolerant by slow or continuous stimulation.

Extracellular vesicles from activated platelets: a semiquantitative cryo-electron microscopy and immuno-gold labeling study.

Cells release membrane vesicles in their surrounding medium either constitutively or in response to activating signals. Two main types of extracellular vesicles (EVs) are commonly distinguished based on their mechanism of formation, membrane composition and size. According to the current model, EVs shed from the plasma membrane, often called microvesicles, expose phosphatidylserine (PS) and range in size from 100 nm to 1 µm, while EVs originating from endosomal multi-vesicular bodies, called exosomes, contain tetraspanin proteins, including CD63, and range in size from 50 to 100 nm.

Rescue of Hearing by Gene Delivery to Inner-Ear Hair Cells Using Exosome-Associated AAV.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a safe and effective vector for gene therapy for retinal disorders. Gene therapy for hearing disorders is not as advanced, in part because gene delivery to sensory hair cells of the inner ear is inefficient. Although AAV transduces the inner hair cells of the mouse cochlea, outer hair cells remain refractory to transduction.

Imaging and Quantification of Extracellular Vesicles by Transmission Electron Microscopy.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are cell-derived vesicles that are present in blood and other body fluids. EVs raise major interest for their diverse physiopathological roles and their potential biomedical applications. However, the characterization and quantification of EVs constitute major challenges, mainly due to their small size and the lack of methods adapted for their study.

Fiber Bragg gratings-based sensing for real-time needle tracking during MR-guided brachytherapy.

Purpose: The development of MR-guided high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy is under investigation due to the excellent tumor and organs at risk visualization of MRI. However, MR-based localization of needles (including catheters or tubes) has inherently a low update rate and the required image interpretation can be hampered by signal voids arising from blood vessels or calcifications limiting the precision of the needle guidance and reconstruction. In this paper, a new needle tracking prototype is investigated using fiber Bragg gratings (FBG)-based sensing: this prototype involves a MR-compatible stylet composed of three optic fibers with nine sets of embedded FBG sensors each.

Early Evidence for the Extensive Heat Treatment of Silcrete in the Howiesons Poort at Klipdrift Shelter (Layer PBD, 65 ka), South Africa.

Heating stone to enhance its flaking qualities is among the multiple innovative adaptations introduced by early modern human groups in southern Africa, in particular during the Middle Stone Age Still Bay and Howiesons Poort traditions. Comparatively little is known about the role and impact of this technology on early modern human behaviors and cultural expressions, due, in part, to the lack of comprehensive studies of archaeological assemblages documenting the heat treatment of stone. We address this issue through an analysis of the procedure used for heating and a technological analysis of a lithic assemblage recovered from one Howiesons Poort assemblage at Klipdrift Shelter (southern Cape, South Africa).

Enrichment of hydroxylated C24- and C26-acyl-chain sphingolipids mediates PIN2 apical sorting at trans-Golgi network subdomains.

The post-Golgi compartment trans-Golgi Network (TGN) is a central hub divided into multiple subdomains hosting distinct trafficking pathways, including polar delivery to apical membrane. Lipids such as sphingolipids and sterols have been implicated in polar trafficking from the TGN but the underlying mechanisms linking lipid composition to functional polar sorting at TGN subdomains remain unknown. Here we demonstrate that sphingolipids with α-hydroxylated acyl-chains of at least 24 carbon atoms are enriched in secretory vesicle subdomains of the TGN and are critical for de novo polar secretory sorting of the auxin carrier PIN2 to apical membrane of Arabidopsis root epithelial cells.

GIPC: Glycosyl Inositol Phospho Ceramides, the major sphingolipids on earth.

What are the most abundant sphingolipids on earth? The answer is Glycosyl Inositol Phosphoryl Ceramides (GIPCs) present in fungi and the green lineage. In this review, we discuss the putative role of plant GIPCs in the lipid bilayer asymmetry, in the lateral organization of membrane rafts and in the very long chain fatty acid inter-leaflet coupling of lipids in the plant plasma membrane (PM). A special focus on the structural similarities -and putative functions- of GIPCs is discussed by comparison with animal gangliosides, structural homologs of plant GIPCs.

Understanding viruses: Philosophical investigations.

Viruses have been virtually absent from philosophy of biology. In this editorial introduction, we explain why we think viruses are philosophically important. We focus on six issues (the definition of viruses, the individuality and diachronic identity of a virus, the possibility to classify viruses into species, the question of whether viruses are living, the question of whether viruses are organisms, and finally the biological roles of viruses in ecology and evolution), and we show how they relate to classic questions of philosophy of biology and even general philosophy.

Subcellular localization and trafficking of phytolongins (non-SNARE longins) in the plant secretory pathway.

SNARE proteins are central elements of the machinery involved in membrane fusion of eukaryotic cells. In animals and plants, SNAREs have diversified to sustain a variety of specific functions. In animals, R-SNARE proteins called brevins have diversified; in contrast, in plants, the R-SNARE proteins named longins have diversified.

Exosome-associated AAV vector as a robust and convenient neuroscience tool.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors are showing promise in gene therapy trials and have proven to be extremely efficient biological tools in basic neuroscience research. One major limitation to their widespread use in the neuroscience laboratory is the cost, labor, skill and time-intense purification process of AAV. We have recently shown that AAV can associate with exosomes (exo-AAV) when the vector is isolated from conditioned media of producer cells, and the exo-AAV is more resistant to neutralizing anti-AAV antibodies compared with standard AAV.

Quantitative analysis of Bordeaux red wine precipitates by solid-state NMR: Role of tartrates and polyphenols.

Stability of wines is of great importance in oenology matters. Quantitative estimation of dark red precipitates formed in Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon wine from Bordeaux region for vintages 2012 and 2013 was performed during the oak barrel ageing process. Precipitates were obtained by placing wine at -4°C or 4°C for 2-6 days and monitored by periodic sampling during a one-year period.

Computational Modelling of Metastasis Development in Renal Cell Carcinoma.

The biology of the metastatic colonization process remains a poorly understood phenomenon. To improve our knowledge of its dynamics, we conducted a modelling study based on multi-modal data from an orthotopic murine experimental system of metastatic renal cell carcinoma. The standard theory of metastatic colonization usually assumes that secondary tumours, once established at a distant site, grow independently from each other and from the primary tumour.