Mining Time-Resolved Functional Brain Graphs to an EEG-Based Chronnectomic Brain Aged Index (CBAI).

The brain at rest consists of spatially and temporal distributed but functionally connected regions that called intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs). Resting state electroencephalography (rs-EEG) is a way to characterize brain networks without confounds associated with task EEG such as task difficulty and performance. A novel framework of how to study dynamic functional connectivity under the notion of functional connectivity microstates (FCμstates) and symbolic dynamics is further discussed.

PEG Induces High Expression of the Cell Cycle Checkpoint Gene in Embryogenic Callus of : Potential Link between Cell Cycle Checkpoint Regulation and Osmotic Stress.

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) can be used to mimic osmotic stress in plant tissue cultures to study mechanisms of tolerance. The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effects of PEG (M.W.

Altered Rich-Club and Frequency-Dependent Subnetwork Organization in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A MEG Resting-State Study.

Functional brain connectivity networks exhibit "small-world" characteristics and some of these networks follow a "rich-club" organization, whereby a few nodes of high connectivity (hubs) tend to connect more densely among themselves than to nodes of lower connectivity. The Current study followed an "attack strategy" to compare the rich-club and small-world network organization models using Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings from mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) patients and neurologically healthy controls to identify the topology that describes the underlying intrinsic brain network organization. We hypothesized that the reduction in global efficiency caused by an attack targeting a model's hubs would reveal the "true" underlying topological organization.

Rocking the Boat: Damage to Eelgrass by Swinging Boat Moorings.

Seagrass meadows commonly reside in shallow sheltered embayments typical of the locations that provide an attractive option for mooring boats. Given the potential for boat moorings to result in disturbance to the seabed due to repeated physical impact, these moorings may present a significant threat to seagrass meadows. The seagrass (known as eelgrass) is extensive across the northern hemisphere, forming critical fisheries habitat and creating efficient long-term stores of carbon in sediments.

Predictors of Citation Rate in Psychology: Inconclusive Influence of Effect and Sample Size.

In the present article, we investigate predictors of how often a scientific article is cited. Specifically, we focus on the influence of two often neglected predictors of citation rate: effect size and sample size, using samples from two psychological topical areas. Both can be considered as indicators of the importance of an article and (or observed) statistical power, and should, especially in applied fields, predict citation rates.

A Comparison of Reimbursement Recommendations by European HTA Agencies: Is There Opportunity for Further Alignment?

In Europe and beyond, the rising costs of healthcare and limited healthcare resources have resulted in the implementation of health technology assessment (HTA) to inform health policy and reimbursement decision-making. European legislation has provided a harmonized route for the regulatory process with the European Medicines Agency, but reimbursement decision-making still remains the responsibility of each country. There is a recognized need to move toward a more objective and collaborative reimbursement environment for new medicines in Europe.

Graded Hypercapnia-Calibrated BOLD: Beyond the Iso-metabolic Hypercapnic Assumption.

Calibrated BOLD is a promising technique that overcomes the sensitivity of conventional fMRI to the cerebrovascular state; measuring either the basal level, or the task-induced response of cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen consumption (CMRO). The calibrated BOLD method is susceptible to errors in the measurement of the calibration parameter , the theoretical BOLD signal change that would occur if all deoxygenated hemoglobin were removed. The original and most popular method for measuring uses hypercapnia (an increase in arterial CO), making the assumption that it does not affect CMRO.

Direct Binding of the pH-Regulated Protein 1 (Pra1) from Inhibits Cytokine Secretion by Mouse CD4 T Cells.

Opportunistic infections with the saprophytic yeast are a major cause of morbidity in immunocompromised patients. While the interaction of cells and molecules of innate immunity with has been studied to great depth, comparatively little is known about the modulation of adaptive immunity by . In particular, direct interaction of proteins secreted by with CD4 T cells has not been studied in detail.

Topological Filtering of Dynamic Functional Brain Networks Unfolds Informative Chronnectomics: A Novel Data-Driven Thresholding Scheme Based on Orthogonal Minimal Spanning Trees (OMSTs).

The human brain is a large-scale system of functionally connected brain regions. This system can be modeled as a network, or graph, by dividing the brain into a set of regions, or "nodes," and quantifying the strength of the connections between nodes, or "edges," as the temporal correlation in their patterns of activity. Network analysis, a part of graph theory, provides a set of summary statistics that can be used to describe complex brain networks in a meaningful way.

Effects of Promotion and Compunction Interventions on Real Intergroup Interactions: Promotion Helps but High Compunction Hurts.

  We show the promotion intervention has positive effects during intergroup contact, but that high levels of compunction can have negative effects. Intergroup contact is probably the longest standing and most comprehensively researched intervention to reduce discrimination. It is also part of ordinary social experience, and a key context in which discrimination is played out.

The Role of Indian Caste Identity and Caste Inconsistent Norms on Status Representation.

The Indian caste system is a complex social structure wherein social roles like one's profession became 'hereditary,' resulting in restricted social mobility and fixed status hierarchies. Furthermore, we argue that the inherent property of caste heightens group identification with one's caste. Highly identified group members would protect the identity of the group in situations when group norms are violated.

Global Efficiency of Structural Networks Mediates Cognitive Control in Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Cognitive control has been linked to both the microstructure of individual tracts and the structure of whole-brain networks, but their relative contributions in health and disease remain unclear. To determine the contribution of both localized white matter tract damage and disruption of global network architecture to cognitive control, in older age and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Twenty-five patients with MCI and 20 age, sex, and intelligence-matched healthy volunteers were investigated with 3 Tesla structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Altered Precipitation Impacts on Above- and Below-Ground Grassland Invertebrates: Summer Drought Leads to Outbreaks in Spring.

Climate change is predicted to result in altered precipitation patterns, which may reshape many grassland ecosystems. Rainfall is expected to change in a number of different ways, ranging from periods of prolonged drought to extreme precipitation events, yet there are few community wide studies to accurately simulate future changes. We aimed to test how above- and below-ground grassland invertebrate populations were affected by contrasting future rainfall scenarios.

DRI-Grass: A New Experimental Platform for Addressing Grassland Ecosystem Responses to Future Precipitation Scenarios in South-East Australia.

Climate models predict shifts in the amount, frequency and seasonality of rainfall. Given close links between grassland productivity and rainfall, such changes are likely to have profound effects on the functioning of grassland ecosystems and modify species interactions. Here, we introduce a unique, new experimental platform - DRI-Grass (rought and oot Herbivore nteractions in a land) - that exposes a south-eastern Australian grassland to five rainfall regimes [Ambient (AMB), increased amount (IA, +50%), reduced amount (RA, -50%), reduced frequency (RF, single rainfall event every 21 days, with total amount unchanged) and summer drought (SD, 12-14 weeks without water, December-March)], and contrasting levels of root herbivory.

Causal Interactions between Frontal(θ) - Parieto-Occipital(α2) Predict Performance on a Mental Arithmetic Task.

Many neuroimaging studies have demonstrated the different functional contributions of spatially distinct brain areas to working memory (WM) subsystems in cognitive tasks that demand both local information processing and interregional coordination. In WM cognitive task paradigms employing electroencephalography (EEG), brain rhythms such as θ and α have been linked to specific functional roles over given brain areas, but their functional coupling has not been extensively studied. Here we analyzed an arithmetic task with five cognitive workload levels (CWLs) and demonstrated functional/effective coupling between the two WM subsystems: the central executive located over frontal (F) brain areas that oscillates on the dominant θ rhythm (Frontal(θ)/F(θ)) and the storage buffer located over parieto-occipital (PO) brain areas that operates on the α2 dominant brain rhythm (Parieto-Occipital(α2)/PO(α2)).

Is HELICS the Right Way? Lack of Chest Radiography Limits Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Surveillance in Wales.

Introduction: The reported incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in Wales is low compared with surveillance data from other European regions. It is unclear whether this reflects success of the Welsh healthcare-associated infection prevention measures or limitations in the application of European VAP surveillance methods. Our primary aim was to investigate episodes of ventilator-associated respiratory tract infection (VARTI), to identify episodes that met established criteria for VAP, and to explore reasons why others did not, according to the Hospitals in Europe Link for Infection Control through Surveillance (HELICS) definitions.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Neurofeedback-guided Motor Imagery Training and Motor Training for Parkinson's Disease: Randomized Trial.

Objective: Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) neurofeedback (NF) uses feedback of the patient's own brain activity to self-regulate brain networks which in turn could lead to a change in behavior and clinical symptoms. The objective was to determine the effect of NF and motor training (MOT) alone on motor and non-motor functions in Parkinson's Disease (PD) in a 10-week small Phase I randomized controlled trial.

Methods: Thirty patients with Parkinson's disease (PD; Hoehn and Yahr I-III) and no significant comorbidity took part in the trial with random allocation to two groups.

Segregation of the Anodic Microbial Communities in a Microbial Fuel Cell Cascade.

Metabolic interactions within microbial communities are essential for the efficient degradation of complex organic compounds, and underpin natural phenomena driven by microorganisms, such as the recycling of carbon-, nitrogen-, and sulfur-containing molecules. These metabolic interactions ultimately determine the function, activity and stability of the community, and therefore their understanding would be essential to steer processes where microbial communities are involved. This is exploited in the design of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), bioelectrochemical devices that convert the chemical energy present in substrates into electrical energy through the metabolic activity of microorganisms, either single species or communities.

Sepsis Patients with First and Second-Hit Infections Show Different Outcomes Depending on the Causative Organism.

Objective: With improving rates of initial survival in severe sepsis, second-hit infections that occur following resolution of the primary insult carry an increasing burden of morbidity. However, despite the clinical relevance of these infections, no data are available on differential outcomes in patients with first and second-hit infections depending on the nature of the causative organism. This study aims to explore any differences in these subgroups.

Dynamic Analysis of the Conditional Oscillator Underlying Slow Waves in Thalamocortical Neurons.

During non-REM sleep the EEG shows characteristics waves that are generated by the dynamic interactions between cortical and thalamic oscillators. In thalamic neurons, low-threshold T-type Ca(2+) channels play a pivotal role in almost every type of neuronal oscillations, including slow (< 1 Hz) waves, sleep spindles and delta waves. The transient opening of T channels gives rise to the low threshold spikes (LTSs), and associated high frequency bursts of action potentials, that are characteristically present during sleep spindles and delta waves, whereas the persistent opening of a small fraction of T channels, (i.

The Thalamus as a Low Pass Filter: Filtering at the Cellular Level does Not Equate with Filtering at the Network Level.

In the mammalian central nervous system, most sensory information passes through primary sensory thalamic nuclei, however the consequence of this remains unclear. Various propositions exist, likening the thalamus to a gate, or a high pass filter. Here, using a simple leaky integrate and fire model based on physiological parameters, we show that the thalamus behaves akin to a low pass filter.

Impact of enhanced resolution, speed and penetration on three-dimensional retinal optical coherence tomography.

: Recent substantial developments in light source and detector technology have initiated a paradigm shift in retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) performance. Broad bandwidth light sources in the 800 nm and 1060 nm wavelength region enable axial OCT resolutions of 2-3 mum and 5-7 mum, respectively. Novel high speed silicon based CMOS cameras at 800 nm and InGaAs based CCD cameras in combination with frequency domain OCT technology enable data acquisition speeds of up to 47,000 A-scans/s at 1060 nm and up to 312,500 A-scans/s at 800 nm.