Graded Memory: A Cognitive Category to Replace Spatial Sustained Attention and Working Memory .

In this opinion article we challenge the commonly-held notion that visuospatial working memory and visuospatial sustained selective attention are two ontologically different cognitive categories. We start by discussing the general idea of cognitive categories, and then review some of the key behavioral and neural evidence both in favor of and against the separability of these processes. We then discuss a theoretical framework that could be useful for understanding the neural implementations of cognitive categories.

Dynamic mode decomposition of resting-state and task fMRI.

Component analysis is a powerful tool to identify dominant patterns of interactions in multivariate datasets. In the context of fMRI data, methods such as principal component analysis or independent component analysis have been used to identify the brain networks shaping functional connectivity (FC). Importantly, these approaches are static in the sense that they ignore the temporal information contained in fMRI time series.

Self-Powered Direct Muscle Stimulation Using a Triboelectric Nanogenerator (TENG) Integrated with a Flexible Multiple-Channel Intramuscular Electrode.

Muscle function loss can result from multiple nervous system diseases including spinal cord injury (SCI), stroke, and multiple sclerosis (MS). Electrical muscle stimulation is clinically employed for rehabilitative and therapeutic purpose and typically requires mA-level stimulation current. Here, we report electrical muscle stimulation, which is directly powered by a stacked-layer triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) through a flexible multiple-channel intramuscular electrode.

Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Crest Cells for Tissue Regeneration and Disease Modeling.

Neural crest cells (NCCs) are a multipotent and migratory cell population in the developing embryo that contribute to the formation of a wide range of tissues. Defects in the development, differentiation and migration of NCCs give rise to a class of syndromes and diseases that are known as neurocristopathies. NCC development has historically been studied in a variety of animal models, including xenopus, chick and mouse.

Multimodal neuroimaging study reveals dissociable processes between structural and functional networks in patients with subacute intracerebral hemorrhage.

Emerging evidence has revealed widespread stroke-induced brain dysconnectivity, which leads to abnormal network organization. However, there are apparent discrepancies in dysconnectivity between structural connectivity and functional connectivity studies. In this work, resting-state fMRI and structural diffusion tensor imaging were obtained from 26 patients with subacute (10-14 days) intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and 20 matched healthy participants (patients/controls = 21/18 after head motion rejection).

Are we mis-estimating chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy? Analysis of assessment methodologies from a prospective, multinational, longitudinal cohort study of patients receiving neurotoxic chemotherapy.

Background: There are inconsistencies in the literature regarding the prevalence and assessment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). This study explored CIPN natural history and its characteristics in patients receiving taxane- and platinum-based chemotherapy.

Patients And Methods: Multi-country multisite prospective longitudinal observational study.

Individual-specific fMRI-Subspaces improve functional connectivity prediction of behavior.

There is significant interest in using resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) to predict human behavior. Good behavioral prediction should in theory require RSFC to be sufficiently distinct across participants; if RSFC were the same across participants, then behavioral prediction would obviously be poor. Therefore, we hypothesize that removing common resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) signals that are shared across participants would improve behavioral prediction.

Inversion of a large-scale circuit model reveals a cortical hierarchy in the dynamic resting human brain.

We considered a large-scale dynamical circuit model of human cerebral cortex with region-specific microscale properties. The model was inverted using a stochastic optimization approach, yielding markedly better fit to new, out-of-sample resting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Without assuming the existence of a hierarchy, the estimated model parameters revealed a large-scale cortical gradient.

A mechanistic model of connector hubs, modularity and cognition.

The human brain network is modular-comprised of communities of tightly interconnected nodes. This network contains local hubs, which have many connections within their own communities, and connector hubs, which have connections diversely distributed across communities. A mechanistic understanding of these hubs and how they support cognition has not been demonstrated.

Determination of critical shear stress for maturation of human pluripotent stem cell-derived endothelial cells towards an arterial subtype.

Human pluripotent stem cell-derived endothelial cells (hPSC-ECs) present an attractive alternative to primary EC sources for vascular grafting. However, there is a need to mature them towards either an arterial or venous subtype. A vital environmental factor involved in the arteriovenous specification of ECs during early embryonic development is fluid shear stress; therefore, there have been attempts to employ adult arterial shear stress conditions to mature hPSC-ECs.

Repetition priming effects for famous faces through dynamic causal modelling of latency-corrected event-related brain potentials.

Repetition priming, that is, the repeated processing of a stimulus, facilitates performance. However, the neural underpinnings of repetition priming for famous faces in terms of effective connectivity are not known. Here we investigated this problem using dynamic causal modelling of latency-corrected event-related brain potentials (RERPs).

A Handheld Real-Time Photoacoustic Imaging System for Animal Neurological Disease Models: From Simulation to Realization.

This article provides a guide to design and build a handheld, real-time photoacoustic (PA) imaging system from simulation to realization for animal neurological disease models. A pulsed laser and array-based ultrasound (US) platform were utilized to develop the system for evaluating vascular functions in rats with focal ischemia or subcutaneous tumors. To optimize the laser light delivery, finite element (FE)-based simulation models were developed to provide information regarding light propagation and PA wave generation in soft tissues.

Subspecialization within default mode nodes characterized in 10,000 UK Biobank participants.

The human default mode network (DMN) is implicated in several unique mental capacities. In this study, we tested whether brain-wide interregional communication in the DMN can be derived from population variability in intrinsic activity fluctuations, gray-matter morphology, and fiber tract anatomy. In a sample of 10,000 UK Biobank participants, pattern-learning algorithms revealed functional coupling states in the DMN that are linked to connectivity profiles between other macroscopical brain networks.

Frequency-induced morphology alterations in microconfined biological cells.

Low-intensity therapeutic ultrasound has demonstrated an impetus in bone signaling and tissue healing for decades now. Though this technology is clinically well proven, still there are breaches in studies to understand the fundamental principle of how osteoblast tissue regenerates physiologically at the cellular level with ultrasound interaction as a form of acoustic wave stimuli. Through this article, we illustrate an analysis for cytomechanical changes of cell membrane periphery as a basic first physical principle for facilitating late downstream biochemical pathways.

Electrospun nanofibers facilitate better alignment, differentiation, and long-term culture in an in vitro model of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ).

The neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is a specialized synapse between motor neurons and the muscle fibers they innervate. Due to the complexity of various signalling molecules and pathways, in vivo NMJs are difficult to study. Therefore, in vitro motor neuron-muscle co-culture plays a pivotal role in studying the mechanisms of NMJ formation associated with neurodegenerative diseases.

Ultrafast Single-Cell Level Enzymatic Tumor Profiling.

In the context of tumor analysis, the implementation of precision medicine requires on-time clinical measurements, which requires rapid large-scale single-cell screening that obtains cell population distributions and functions in tumors to determine disease progression for therapeutics. In this study, a high-throughput screening (HTS) platform integrating optical fluorescence detectors and a computational method was developed as a droplet-based microfluidic flow cytometer (Droplet-μFC) to comprehensively analyze multiple proteolytic activities of a patient-derived tumor (with ∼0.5-2 M cells) at single-cell resolution within 2 h.

Social defeat-induced Cingulate gyrus immediate-early gene expression and anxiolytic-like effect depend upon social rank.

Social hierarchy is considered to impart an adaptive advantage to the species by reducing long-term conflict between conspecifics. While social stratification is frequently established via stress-inducing stimuli, the subsequent integration of individuals into the hierarchy may attenuate anxiety. Presently, we hypothesized that repeated reinforcement of murine social hierarchy in the dominant-submissive relationship (DSR) food-competition test would engender divergent neuroplastic changes mediating both social and anxiety-like behavior among selectively-bred Dominant (Dom) and Submissive (Sub) mice.

Smart Hydrogel Microfluidics for Single-Cell Multiplexed Secretomic Analysis with High Sensitivity.

Secreted proteins determine a range of cellular functionalities correlated with human health and disease progression. Because of cell heterogeneity, it is essential to measure low abundant protein secretions from individual cells to determine single-cell activities. In this study, an integrated platform consisting of smart hydrogel immunosensors for the sensitive detection of single-cell secretions is developed.

Imaging-based parcellations of the human brain.

A defining aspect of brain organization is its spatial heterogeneity, which gives rise to multiple topographies at different scales. Brain parcellation - defining distinct partitions in the brain, be they areas or networks that comprise multiple discontinuous but closely interacting regions - is thus fundamental for understanding brain organization and function. The past decade has seen an explosion of in vivo MRI-based approaches to identify and parcellate the brain on the basis of a wealth of different features, ranging from local properties of brain tissue to long-range connectivity patterns, in addition to structural and functional markers.

Predictive trajectory estimation during rehabilitative tasks in augmented reality using inertial sensors.

This paper presents a wireless kinematic tracking framework used for biomechanical analysis during rehabilitative tasks in augmented and virtual reality. The framework uses low-cost inertial measurement units and exploits the rigid connections of the human skeletal system to provide egocentric position estimates of joints to centimeter accuracy. On-board sensor fusion combines information from three-axis accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers to provide robust estimates in real-time.

Unilateral Exoskeleton Imposes Significantly Different Hemispherical Effect in Parietooccipital Region, but Not in Other Regions.

In modern society, increasing people suffering from locomotor disabilities need an assistive exoskeleton to help them improve or restore ambulation. When walking is assisted by an exoskeleton, brain activities are altered as the closed-loop between brain and lower limbs is affected by the exoskeleton. Intuitively, a unilateral exoskeleton imposes differential effect on brain hemispheres (i.

Closed-loop stimulation of the pelvic nerve for optimal micturition.

Objective: Neural stimulation to restore bladder function has traditionally relied on open-loop approaches that used pre-set parameters, which do not adapt to suboptimal outcomes. The goal of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a novel closed-loop stimulation paradigm for improving micturition or bladder voiding.

Approach: We compared the voiding efficiency obtained with this closed-loop framework against open-loop stimulation paradigms in anesthetized rats.

Machine learning technique reveals intrinsic characteristics of schizophrenia: an alternative method.

Machine learning technique has long been utilized to assist disease diagnosis, increasing clinical physicians' confidence in their decision and expediting the process of diagnosis. In this case, machine learning technique serves as a tool for distinguishing patients from healthy people. Additionally, it can also serve as an exploratory method to reveal intrinsic characteristics of a disease based on discriminative features, which was demonstrated in this study.

All-inorganic perovskite nanocrystal scintillators.

The rising demand for radiation detection materials in many applications has led to extensive research on scintillators. The ability of a scintillator to absorb high-energy (kiloelectronvolt-scale) X-ray photons and convert the absorbed energy into low-energy visible photons is critical for applications in radiation exposure monitoring, security inspection, X-ray astronomy and medical radiography. However, conventional scintillators are generally synthesized by crystallization at a high temperature and their radioluminescence is difficult to tune across the visible spectrum.