Interaction between stimulus intensity and perceptual load in the attentional control of pain.

The interaction between intensity of nociceptive stimuli and cognitive load in a concomitant task is still a challenging and complex topic. Here, we investigated the interaction between top-down factors (i.e.

A method for the estimation of functional brain connectivity from time-series data.

A central issue in cognitive neuroscience is which cortical areas are involved in managing information processing in a cognitive task and to understand their temporal interactions. Since the transfer of information in the form of electrical activity from one cortical region will in turn evoke electrical activity in other regions, the analysis of temporal synchronization provides a tool to understand neuronal information processing between cortical regions. We adopt a method for revealing time-dependent functional connectivity.

The spatial distribution of receptive field changes in a model of peri-saccadic perception: predictive remapping and shifts towards the saccade target.

At the time of an impending saccade receptive fields (RFs) undergo dynamic changes, that is, their spatial profile is altered. This phenomenon has been observed in several monkey visual areas. Although their link to eye movements is obvious, neither the exact pattern nor their function is fully clear.

Visual estimation of travel distance during walking.

The optic flow generated in the eyes during self-motion provides an important control signal for direction and speed of self-motion, and can be used to track the distance that has been traveled. The use of vision for these behavioral tasks can be studied in isolation in virtual reality setups, in which self-motion is merely simulated, and in which the visual motion can be controlled independently of other sensory cues. In such experiments it was found that the estimation of the travel distance of a simulated movement shows characteristic errors, sometimes overestimating and sometimes underestimating the true travel distance.

Local statistics of retinal optic flow for self-motion through natural sceneries.

Image analysis in the visual system is well adapted to the statistics of natural scenes. Investigations of natural image statistics have so far mainly focused on static features. The present study is dedicated to the measurement and the analysis of the statistics of optic flow generated on the retina during locomotion through natural environments.

Travel distance estimation from visual motion by leaky path integration.

Visual motion can be a cue to travel distance when the motion signals are integrated. Distance estimates from visually simulated self-motion are imprecise, however. Previous work in our labs has given conflicting results on the imprecision: experiments by Frenz and Lappe had suggested a general underestimation of travel distance, while results from Redlick, Jenkin and Harris had shown an overestimation of travel distance.

Visual perception of biological motion by form: a template-matching analysis.

Biological motion perception is referred to as the ability to recognize a moving human figure from no more than a few moving point lights. Such point-light stimuli contain limited form information about the shape of the body and local image motion signals from the moving points. The contributions of form and motion to the vivid perception of point-light displays are subject to controversy in the discussion.

Biologically motivated space-variant filtering for robust optic flow processing.

We describe and test a biologically motivated space-variant filtering method for decreasing the noise in optic flow fields. Our filter model adopts certain properties of a particular motion-sensitive area of the brain (area MT), which averages the incoming motion signals over receptive fields, the sizes of which increase with the distance from the center of the projection. We use heading estimation from optic flow as a criterion to evaluate the improvement of the filtered flow field.

Comparative methodological analysis of erbB-2/HER-2 gene dosage, chromosomal copy number and protein overexpression in breast carcinoma tissues for diagnostic use.

Aims: This study was performed to test the validity of different methods for determining the status of the erbB-2/HER-2 oncogene in breast cancer tissues for diagnostic use.

Methods And Results: Forty formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded breast carcinomas were investigated by fluorescence in situ and comparative genomic hybridization (FISH, CGH) as well as by immunohistochemistry (IHC) using Dako-HercepTest and CB11 antibody (Ventana). Additionally, competitive-differential polymerase chain reaction (cdPCR) was performed on frozen samples to estimate gene dosage alterations of erbB-2/HER-2.

A transcoronoidal approach of fractures of the condylar neck.

Open reduction of condylar neck fractures is a contentious issue. The majority of these fractures can be treated conservatively. There are, however, specific situations, where open reduction is indicated.

Treatment of impetigo and ecthyma. A comparison of sulconazole with miconazole.

In a randomized, double-blind, parallel comparative study of 80 patients, impetigo and ecthyma were treated effectively by sulconazole nitrate 1% cream and miconazole nitrate 2% cream applied to lesions twice daily for 14 days. When treatment began, bacterial cultures from all pyodermal lesions yielded Group A beta-hemolytic streptococci or pathogenic staphylococci. Among the 32 sulconazole-treated impetigo patients, bacterial cultures from 26 (69%) were negative by treatment day 4, and those from all 32 (100%) were negative by treatment day 7; among the 34 miconazole-treated impetigo patients, cultures from 17 (50%) were negative by treatment day 4, cultures from 32 (94.

Chorionic villi sampling with an echogenic catheter: experiences of the first 500 cases.

Using a newly developed CVS catheter with enhanced echogenicity we performed CVS in 501 consecutive cases. The abortion rate of 4.3% prior to 28 weeks of gestation in this series is within the background rate of controls matched for maternal age.

Changes in cortical evoked potentials as correlates of the efficacy of weak analgesics.

The relationship between subjective measurements of pain (pain report and threshold of sensation) and evoked potentials following painful electrical stimulation of tooth pulp was evaluated after intake of different weak analgesics. These time-response curves for the dolorimetric parameters were correlated to the in vivo drug levels obtained in corresponding experiments by analyzing saliva. Based on the comparison between the drug levels of analgesics in saliva on the one hand and the threshold of sensation, the pain rating and changes in the amplitude of the cortical EP on the other hand, the sensitivity of the EP to changes in drug concentration was superior than to subjective pain judgement.