The Role of Transient Target Stimuli in a Steady-State Somatosensory Evoked Potential-Based Brain-Computer Interface Setup.

In earlier literature, so-called twitches were used to support a user in a steady-state somatosensory evoked potential (SSSEP) based brain-computer interface (BCI) to focus attention on the requested targets. Within this work, we investigate the impact of these transient target stimuli on SSSEPs in a real-life BCI setup. A hybrid BCI was designed which combines SSSEPs and P300 potentials evoked by twitches randomly embedded into the streams of tactile stimuli.

Solving Constraint Satisfaction Problems with Networks of Spiking Neurons.

Network of neurons in the brain apply-unlike processors in our current generation of computer hardware-an event-based processing strategy, where short pulses (spikes) are emitted sparsely by neurons to signal the occurrence of an event at a particular point in time. Such spike-based computations promise to be substantially more power-efficient than traditional clocked processing schemes. However, it turns out to be surprisingly difficult to design networks of spiking neurons that can solve difficult computational problems on the level of single spikes, rather than rates of spikes.

Biochar Treatment Resulted in a Combined Effect on Soybean Growth Promotion and a Shift in Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria.

The application of biochar to soil is considered to have the potential for long-term soil carbon sequestration, as well as for improving plant growth and suppressing soil pathogens. In our study we evaluated the effect of biochar on the plant growth of soybeans, as well as on the community composition of root-associated bacteria with plant growth promoting traits. Two types of biochar, namely, maize biochar (MBC), wood biochar (WBC), and hydrochar (HTC) were used for pot experiments to monitor plant growth.

Corrigendum: EEG beta suppression and low gamma modulation are different elements of human upright walking.

[This corrects the article on p. 485 in vol. 8, PMID: 25071515.

Microglia mechanics: immune activation alters traction forces and durotaxis.

Microglial cells are key players in the primary immune response of the central nervous system. They are highly active and motile cells that chemically and mechanically interact with their environment. While the impact of chemical signaling on microglia function has been studied in much detail, the current understanding of mechanical signaling is very limited.

Microbiome interplay: plants alter microbial abundance and diversity within the built environment.

The built indoor microbiome has importance for human health. Residents leave their microbial fingerprint but nothing is known about the transfer from plants. Our hypothesis that indoor plants contribute substantially to the microbial abundance and diversity in the built environment was experimentally confirmed as proof of principle by analyzing the microbiome of the spider plant Chlorophytum comosum in relation to their surroundings.

Applications of hydrogen deuterium exchange (HDX) for the characterization of conformational dynamics in light-activated photoreceptors.

Rational design of optogenetic tools is inherently linked to the understanding of photoreceptor function. Structural analysis of elements involved in signal integration in individual sensor domains provides an initial idea of their mode of operation, but understanding how local structural rearrangements eventually affect signal transmission to output domains requires inclusion of the effector regions in the characterization. However, the dynamic nature of these assemblies renders their structural analysis challenging and therefore a combination of high- and low-resolution techniques is required to appreciate functional aspects of photoreceptors.

Analyzing the antagonistic potential of the lichen microbiome against pathogens by bridging metagenomic with culture studies.

Naturally occurring antagonists toward pathogens play an important role to avoid pathogen outbreaks in ecosystems, and they can be applied as biocontrol agents for crops. Lichens present long-living symbiotic systems continuously exposed to pathogens. To analyze the antagonistic potential in lichens, we studied the bacterial community active against model bacteria and fungi by an integrative approach combining isolate screening, omics techniques, and high resolution mass spectrometry.

A novel assay for the detection of bioactive volatiles evaluated by screening of lichen-associated bacteria.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by microorganisms are known both for their effect on pathogens and their role as mediators in various interactions and communications. Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of VOCs for ecosystem functioning as well as their biotechnological potential, but screening for bioactive volatiles remained difficult. We have developed an efficient testing assay that is based on two multi-well plates, separated by a sealing silicone membrane, two tightening clamps, and variable growth media, or indicators.

Plant genotype-specific archaeal and bacterial endophytes but similar Bacillus antagonists colonize Mediterranean olive trees.

Endophytes have an intimate and often symbiotic interaction with their hosts. Less is known about the composition and function of endophytes in trees. In order to evaluate our hypothesis that plant genotype and origin have a strong impact on both, endophytes of leaves from 10 Olea europaea L.

Probabilistic inference in discrete spaces can be implemented into networks of LIF neurons.

The means by which cortical neural networks are able to efficiently solve inference problems remains an open question in computational neuroscience. Recently, abstract models of Bayesian computation in neural circuits have been proposed, but they lack a mechanistic interpretation at the single-cell level. In this article, we describe a complete theoretical framework for building networks of leaky integrate-and-fire neurons that can sample from arbitrary probability distributions over binary random variables.

Agroforestry leads to shifts within the gammaproteobacterial microbiome of banana plants cultivated in Central America.

Bananas (Musa spp.) belong to the most important global food commodities, and their cultivation represents the world's largest monoculture. Although the plant-associated microbiome has substantial influence on plant growth and health, there is a lack of knowledge of the banana microbiome and its influencing factors.

Rhizobiales as functional and endosymbiontic members in the lichen symbiosis of Lobaria pulmonaria L.

Rhizobiales (Alphaproteobacteria) are well-known beneficial partners in plant-microbe interactions. Less is known about the occurrence and function of Rhizobiales in the lichen symbiosis, although it has previously been shown that Alphaproteobacteria are the dominating group in growing lichen thalli. We have analyzed the taxonomic structure and assigned functions to Rhizobiales within a metagenomic dataset of the lung lichen Lobaria pulmonaria L.

Detection of mental imagery and attempted movements in patients with disorders of consciousness using EEG.

Further development of an EEG based communication device for patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC) could benefit from addressing the following gaps in knowledge-first, an evaluation of different types of motor imagery; second, an evaluation of passive feet movement as a mean of an initial classifier setup; and third, rapid delivery of biased feedback. To that end we investigated whether complex and/or familiar mental imagery, passive, and attempted feet movement can be reliably detected in patients with DoC using EEG recordings, aiming to provide them with a means of communication. Six patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS) took part in this study.

Initiation of voluntary movements at free will and ongoing 0.1-Hz BOLD oscillations in the insula-a pilot study.

Recently we hypothesized that the intention to initiate a voluntary movement at free will may be related to the dynamics of hemodynamic variables, which may be supported by the intertwining of networks for the timing of voluntary movements and the control of cardiovascular variables in the insula. In the present study voluntary movements of 3 healthy subjects were analyzed using fMRI scans at 1.83-s intervals along with the time course of slow hemodynamic changes in sensorimotor networks.

Effects of sample handling and cultivation bias on the specificity of bacterial communities in keratose marine sponges.

Complex and distinct bacterial communities inhabit marine sponges and are believed to be essential to host survival, but our present-day inability to domesticate sponge symbionts in the laboratory hinders our access to the full metabolic breadth of these microbial consortia. We address bacterial cultivation bias in marine sponges using a procedure that enables direct comparison between cultivated and uncultivated symbiont community structures. Bacterial community profiling of the sympatric keratose species Sarcotragus spinosulus and Ircinia variabilis (Dictyoceratida, Irciniidae) was performed by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and 454-pyrosequecing of 16S rRNA gene fragments.

Non-motor tasks improve adaptive brain-computer interface performance in users with severe motor impairment.

Individuals with severe motor impairment can use event-related desynchronization (ERD) based BCIs as assistive technology. Auto-calibrating and adaptive ERD-based BCIs that users control with motor imagery tasks ("SMR-AdBCI") have proven effective for healthy users. We aim to find an improved configuration of such an adaptive ERD-based BCI for individuals with severe motor impairment as a result of spinal cord injury (SCI) or stroke.

Differences between the rhizosphere microbiome of Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima-ancestor of all beet crops-and modern sugar beets.

The structure and function of the plant microbiome is driven by plant species and prevailing environmental conditions. Effectuated by breeding efforts, modern crops diverge genetically and phenotypically from their wild relatives but little is known about consequences for the associated microbiota. Therefore, we studied bacterial rhizosphere communities associated with the wild beet B.

NEVESIM: event-driven neural simulation framework with a Python interface.

NEVESIM is a software package for event-driven simulation of networks of spiking neurons with a fast simulation core in C++, and a scripting user interface in the Python programming language. It supports simulation of heterogeneous networks with different types of neurons and synapses, and can be easily extended by the user with new neuron and synapse types. To enable heterogeneous networks and extensibility, NEVESIM is designed to decouple the simulation logic of communicating events (spikes) between the neurons at a network level from the implementation of the internal dynamics of individual neurons.

Exploration of the neural correlates of cerebral palsy for sensorimotor BCI control.

Cerebral palsy (CP) includes a broad range of disorders, which can result in impairment of posture and movement control. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have been proposed as assistive devices for individuals with CP. Better understanding of the neural processing underlying motor control in affected individuals could lead to more targeted BCI rehabilitation and treatment options.

EEG beta suppression and low gamma modulation are different elements of human upright walking.

Cortical involvement during upright walking is not well-studied in humans. We analyzed non-invasive electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings from able-bodied volunteers who participated in a robot-assisted gait-training experiment. To enable functional neuroimaging during walking, we applied source modeling to high-density (120 channels) EEG recordings using individual anatomy reconstructed from structural magnetic resonance imaging scans.

Short time sports exercise boosts motor imagery patterns: implications of mental practice in rehabilitation programs.

Motor imagery (MI) is a commonly used paradigm for the study of motor learning or cognitive aspects of action control. The rationale for using MI training to promote the relearning of motor function arises from research on the functional correlates that MI shares with the execution of physical movements. While most of the previous studies investigating MI were based on simple movements in the present study a more attractive mental practice was used to investigate cortical activation during MI.

A comparison of manual neuronal reconstruction from biocytin histology or 2-photon imaging: morphometry and computer modeling.

Accurate 3D reconstruction of neurons is vital for applications linking anatomy and physiology. Reconstructions are typically created using Neurolucida after biocytin histology (BH). An alternative inexpensive and fast method is to use freeware such as Neuromantic to reconstruct from fluorescence imaging (FI) stacks acquired using 2-photon laser-scanning microscopy during physiological recording.

Unraveling the plant microbiome: looking back and future perspectives.

Most eukaryotes develop close interactions with microorganisms that are essential for their performance and survival. Thus, eukaryotes and prokaryotes in nature can be considered as meta-organisms or holobionts. Consequently, microorganisms that colonize different plant compartments contain the plant's second genome.