Loss of consciousness is related to hyper-1 correlated gamma-band activity in anesthetized macaques and sleeping humans

Loss of consciousness can result from a wide range of causes, including natural sleep and pharmacologically induced anesthesia. Important insights might thus come from identifying neuronal mechanisms of loss and re-emergence of consciousness independent of a specific manipulation. Therefore, to seek neuronal signatures of loss of consciousness common to sleep and anesthesia we analyzed spontaneous electrophysiological activity recorded in two experiments. First, electrocorticography (ECoG) acquired from 4 macaque monkeys anesthetized with different anesthetic agents (ketamine, medetomidine, propofol) and, second, stereo-electroencephalography (sEEG) from 10 epilepsy patients in different wake-sleep stages (wakefulness, NREM, REM). Specifically, we investigated co-activation patterns among brain areas, defined as correlations between local amplitudes of gamma-band activity. We found that resting wakefulness was associated with intermediate levels of gamma-band coupling, indicating neither complete dependence, nor full independence among brain regions. In contrast, loss of consciousness during NREM sleep and propofol anesthesia was associated with excessively correlated brain activity, as indicated by a robust increase of number and strength of positive correlations. However, such excessively correlated brain signals were not observed during REM sleep, and were present only to a limited extent during ketamine anesthesia. This might be related to the fact that, despite suppression of behavioral responsiveness, REM sleep and ketamine anesthesia often involve presence of dream-like conscious experiences. We conclude that hyper-correlated gamma-band activity might be a signature of loss of consciousness common across various manipulations and independent of behavioral responsiveness

Venous malformations in children - a literature review

Introduction: Venous malformations are congenital, the most occurring subtype of vascular malformations. They are characterized by slow flow, tortuosity and lack of macular layer within the vessel. Venous malformations can be highly problematic to diagnose and treat, thus differentiation the venous malformations with other diseases in pediatric population is important.   Aim of the study: The aim of the study is to summarize the available knowledge about venous malformation in pediatric population. The options in diagnosis, treatment and potential new methods were summarized and described. Materials and methods The literature available in the PubMed database was reviewed using the following keywords: “Vascular malformations”, “Venous Malformations”, “Venous malformations treatment, “Children”. Conclusions: Venous malformations are an important problem in pediatric population, as a seldom affliction they can be easily misdiagnosed as other diseases and treated inadequately. Widening of awareness of venous malformations and possible methods of diagnosing and treating them is very important to raise quality of health care in children

Do emotions organize or disorganize action?

INTRODUCTION  Emotions companions us in our everyday life and are still difficult to define. Among many functions, such as inducing physiological changes, availability to specific behaviors, the organizing or disorganizing influence of emotions is also distinguished.  OBJECTIVE  The aim of the article is to show the theory of emotions and answer the question whether they organize our actions or, on the contrary, promote disorganization.  STATE OF THE ART. DESCRIPTION  Among the many functions attributed to emotions are that they can direct our actions towards a given goal and sustain it, or vice versa. Emotion is, among other things, an expression of the action of instincts, it mobilizes the body, organizes action and performs an energizing function. Nowadays, attention is paid to the mobilizing aspects of emotions - weak or moderate emotions organize our functioning. Only a strong emotional state ceases to motivate, makes our actions disoriented. On the other hand, it is necessary to distinguish between emotional states and motivation. Watson shows emotions as a disorder of homeostasis along with numerous disorders of mental regulation. Clore, Clark, and Watson argue that dysfunctional are persistent, troublesome states that may be manifestations of affective or temperamental disorders rather than transient emotions. Speaking of emotion and its impact on action, it is worth mentioning and stopping at the issue of inhibition and expressing emotional states.    CONCLUSION  It is not possible to unequivocally determine that emotions either organize or disorganize our behavior, because a lot depends on the intensity of the experienced emotion and its directio

Framework for Structural Health Monitoring of Steel Bridges by Computer Vision

The monitoring of a structural condition of steel bridges is an important issue. Good condition of infrastructure facilities ensures the safety and economic well-being of society. At the same time, due to the continuous development, rising wealth of the society and socio-economic integration of countries, the number of infrastructural objects is growing. Therefore, there is a need to introduce an easy-to-use and relatively low-cost method of bridge diagnostics. We can achieve these benefits by the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-Based Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing. In our study, we present a state-of-the-art framework for Structural Health Monitoring of steel bridges that involves literature review on steel bridges health monitoring, drone route planning, image acquisition, identification of visual markers that may indicate a poor condition of the structure and determining the scope of applicability. The presented framework of image processing procedure is suitable for diagnostics of steel truss riveted bridges. In our considerations, we used photographic documentation of the Fitzpatrick Bridge located in Tallassee, Alabama, USA