Relationships between human auditory cortical structure and function

The human auditory cortex comprises multiple areas, largely distributed across the supratemporal plane, but the precise number and configuration of auditory areas and their functional significance have not yet been clearly established. In this paper, we discuss recent research concerning architectonic and functional organisation within the human auditory cortex, as well as architectonic and neurophysiological studies in non-human species, which can provide a broad conceptual framework for interpreting functional specialisation in humans. We review the pattern in human auditory cortex of the functional responses to various acoustic cues, such as frequency, pitch, sound level, temporal variation, motion and spatial location, and we discuss their correspondence to what is known about the organisation of the auditory cortex in other primates. There is some neuroimaging evidence of multiple tonotopically organised fields in humans and of functional specialisations of the fields in the processing of different sound features. It is thought that the primary area, on Heschl's gyrus, may have a larger involvement in processing basic sound features, such as frequency and level, and that posterior non-primary areas on the planum temporale may play a larger role in processing more spectrotemporally complex sounds. Ways in which current knowledge of auditory cortical organisation and different data analysis approaches may benefit future functional neuroimaging studies which seek to link auditory cortical structure and function are discussed

Physiological and transcriptomic evidence for a close coupling between chloroplast ontogeny and cell cycle progression in the pennate diatom Seminavis robusta

Despite the growing interest in diatom genomics, detailed time series of gene expression in relation to key cellular processes are still lacking. Here, we investigated the relationships between the cell cycle and chloroplast development in the pennate diatom Seminavis robusta. This diatom possesses two chloroplasts with a well-orchestrated developmental cycle, common to many pennate diatoms. By assessing the effects of induced cell cycle arrest with microscopy and flow cytometry, we found that division and reorganization of the chloroplasts are initiated only after S-phase progression. Next, we quantified the expression of the S. robusta FtsZ homolog to address the division status of chloroplasts during synchronized growth and monitored microscopically their dynamics in relation to nuclear division and silicon deposition. We show that chloroplasts divide and relocate during the S/G2 phase, after which a girdle band is deposited to accommodate cell growth. Synchronized cultures of two genotypes were subsequently used for a cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism-based genome-wide transcript profiling, in which 917 reproducibly modulated transcripts were identified. We observed that genes involved in pigment biosynthesis and coding for light-harvesting proteins were up-regulated during G2/M phase and cell separation. Light and cell cycle progression were both found to affect fucoxanthin-chlorophyll a/c-binding protein expression and accumulation of fucoxanthin cell content. Because chloroplasts elongate at the stage of cytokinesis, cell cycle-modulated photosynthetic gene expression and synthesis of pigments in concert with cell division might balance chloroplast growth, which confirms that chloroplast biogenesis in S. robusta is tightly regulated

How Can Network-Pharmacology Contribute to Antiepileptic Drug Development?

Network-pharmacology is a field of pharmacology emerging from the observation that most clinical drugs have multiple targets, contrasting with the previously dominant magic bullet paradigm which proposed the search of exquisitely selective drugs. What is more, drug targets are often involved in multiple diseases and frequently present co-expression patterns. Therefore, useful therapeutic information can be drawn from network representations of drug targets. Here, we discuss potential applications of drug-target networks in the field of antiepileptic drug development.Fil: Di Ianni, Mauricio Emiliano. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Cátedra de Química Medicinal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Talevi, Alan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Cátedra de Química Medicinal; Argentin

The role of microRNAs in thyroid carcinomas

Thyroid cancers (TCs) are the most common malignancies of endocrine organs. They originate from cells of different origin within the thyroid gland, which is located at the base of the neck. Several forms of TCs have been classified and great variability is observed in molecular, cellular and clinical features. The most common forms have favorable prognosis but a number of very aggressive TCs, which are characterized by a less differentiated cellular phenotype, have no effective treatment at the moment. While TC causes are not completely understood, many genetic factors involved in their onset have been discovered. In particular, activating mutations of BRAF, RET or RAS genes are known to be specifically associated with TC initiation, progression and outcome. The involvement of microRNAs in thyroid neoplasms has recently changed the paradigm for biomarker discovery in TC, suggesting that these small non-coding RNAs could be used to develop, refine or strengthen strategies for diagnosis and management of TCs. In this review, the importance of microRNA profiling in TC is explored suggesting that these molecules can be included in procedures that can perform better than any known clinical index in the identification of adverse outcomes

Radar and RGB-depth sensors for fall detection: a review

This paper reviews recent works in the literature on the use of systems based on radar and RGB-Depth (RGB-D) sensors for fall detection, and discusses outstanding research challenges and trends related to this research field. Systems to detect reliably fall events and promptly alert carers and first responders have gained significant interest in the past few years in order to address the societal issue of an increasing number of elderly people living alone, with the associated risk of them falling and the consequences in terms of health treatments, reduced well-being, and costs. The interest in radar and RGB-D sensors is related to their capability to enable contactless and non-intrusive monitoring, which is an advantage for practical deployment and users’ acceptance and compliance, compared with other sensor technologies, such as video-cameras, or wearables. Furthermore, the possibility of combining and fusing information from The heterogeneous types of sensors is expected to improve the overall performance of practical fall detection systems. Researchers from different fields can benefit from multidisciplinary knowledge and awareness of the latest developments in radar and RGB-D sensors that this paper is discussing