From Behavioral Facilitation to Inhibition: The Neuronal Correlates of the Orienting and Reorienting of Auditory Attention

Successful adaptive behavior relies on the ability to automatically (bottom-up) orient attention to different locations in the environment. This results in a biphasic pattern in which reaction times (RT) are faster for stimuli that occur in the same spatial location (valid) for the first few hundred milliseconds, which is termed facilitation. This is followed by faster RT for stimuli that appear in novel locations (invalid) after longer delays, termed inhibition of return. The neuronal areas and networks involved in the transition between states of facilitation and inhibition remain poorly understood, especially for auditory stimuli. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were therefore collected in a large sample of healthy volunteers (N = 52) at four separate auditory stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs; 200, 400, 600, and 800 ms). Behavioral results indicated that facilitation (valid RT < invalid RT) occurred at the 200 ms SOA, with inhibition of return (valid RT > invalid RT) present at the three longer SOAs. fMRI results showed several brain areas varying their activation as a function of SOA, including bilateral superior temporal gyrus, anterior thalamus, cuneus, dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus, and right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC)/anterior insula. Right VLPFC was active during a behavioral state of facilitation, and its activation (invalid – valid trials) further correlated with behavioral reorienting at the 200 ms delay. These results suggest that right VLPFC plays a critical role when auditory attention must be quickly deployed or redeployed, demanding heightened cognitive and inhibitory control. In contrast to previous work, the ventral and dorsal frontoparietal attention networks were both active during valid and invalid trials across SOAs. These results suggest that the dorsal and ventral networks may not be as specialized during bottom-up auditory orienting as has been previously reported during visual orienting

Lifelongα-tocopherol supplementation increases the median life span of C57BL/6 mice in the cold but has only minor effects on oxidative damage

The effects of dietary antioxidant supplementation on oxidative stress and life span are confused. We maintained C57BL/6 mice at 7 ± 2°C and supplemented their diet with α-tocopherol from 4 months of age. Supplementation significantly increased (p = 0.042) median life span by 15% (785 days, n = 44) relative to unsupplemented controls (682 days, n = 43) and also increased maximum life span (oldest 10%, p = 0.028). No sex or sex by treatment interaction effects were observed on life span, with treatment having no effect on resting or daily metabolic rate. Lymphocyte and hepatocyte oxidative DNA damage and hepatic lipid peroxidation were unaffected by supplementation, but hepatic oxidative DNA damage increased with age. Using a cDNA macroarray, genes associated with xenobiotic metabolism were significantly upregulated in the livers of female mice at 6 months of age (2 months supplementation). At 22 months of age (18 months supplementation) this response had largely abated, but various genes linked to the p21 signaling pathway were upregulated at this time. We suggest that α-tocopherol may initially be metabolized as a xenobiotic, potentially explaining why previous studies observe a life span extension generally when lifelong supplementation is initiated early in life. The absence of any significant effect on oxidative damage suggests that the life span extension observed was not mediated via any antioxidant properties of α-tocopherol. We propose that the life span extension observed following α-tocopherol supplementation may be mediated via upregulation of cytochrome p450 genes after 2 months of supplementation and/or upregulation of p21 signaling genes after 18 months of supplementation. However, these signaling pathways now require further investigation to establish their exact role in life span extension following α-tocopherol supplementation

The ACS LCID project. X. The Star Formation History of IC 1613: Revisiting the Over-Cooling Problem

We present an analysis of the star formation history (SFH) of a field near the half light radius in the Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy IC 1613 based on deep Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys imaging. Our observations reach the oldest main sequence turn-off, allowing a time resolution at the oldest ages of ~1 Gyr. Our analysis shows that the SFH of the observed field in IC 1613 is consistent with being constant over the entire lifetime of the galaxy. These observations rule out an early dominant episode of star formation in IC 1613. We compare the SFH of IC 1613 with expectations from cosmological models. Since most of the mass is in place at early times for low mass halos, a naive expectation is that most of the star formation should have taken place at early times. Models in which star formation follows mass accretion result in too many stars formed early and gas mass fractions which are too low today (the "over-cooling problem"). The depth of the present photometry of IC 1613 shows that, at a resolution of ~1 Gyr, the star formation rate is consistent with being constant, at even the earliest times, which is difficult to achieve in models where star formation follows mass assembly.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in the Ap

The ISLANDS project I: Andromeda XVI, An Extremely Low Mass Galaxy not Quenched by Reionization

Based on data aquired in 13 orbits of HST time, we present a detailed evolutionary history of the M31 dSph satellite Andromeda XVI, including its life-time star formation history, the spatial distribution of its stellar populations, and the properties of its variable stars. And XVI is characterized by prolonged star formation activity from the oldest epochs until star formation was quenched ~6 Gyr ago, and, notably, only half of the mass in stars of And XVI was in place 10 Gyr ago. And XVI appears to be a low mass galaxy for which the early quenching by either reionization or starburst feedback seems highly unlikely, and thus, is most likely due to an environmental effect (e.g., an interaction), possibly connected to a late infall in the densest regions of the Local Group. Studying the star formation history as a function of galactocentric radius, we detect a mild gradient in the star formation history: the star formation activity between 6 and 8 Gyr ago is significantly stronger in the central regions than in the external regions, although the quenching age appears to be the same, within 1 Gyr. We also report the discovery of 9 RR Lyrae stars, 8 of which belong to And XVI. The RR Lyrae stars allow a new estimate of the distance, (m-M)0= 23.72+/-0.09 mag, which is marginally larger than previous estimates based on the tip of the red giant branch.Comment: Accepted for publication on Ap

The ISLAndS project II: The Lifetime Star Formation Histories of Six Andromeda dSphs

The Initial Star formation and Lifetimes of Andromeda Satellites (ISLAndS) project uses Hubble Space Telescope imaging to study a representative sample of six Andromeda dSph satellite companion galaxies. The main goal of the program is to determine whether the star formation histories (SFHs) of the Andromeda dSph satellites demonstrate significant statistical differences from those of the Milky Way, which may be attributable to the different properties of their local environments. Our observations reach the oldest main sequence turn-offs, allowing a time resolution at the oldest ages of ~ 1 Gyr, which is comparable to the best achievable resolution in the MW satellites. We find that the six dSphs present a variety of SFHs that are not strictly correlated with luminosity or present distance from M31. Specifically, we find a significant range in quenching times (lookback times from 9 to 6 Gyr), but with all quenching times more than ~ 6 Gyr ago. In agreement with observations of Milky Way companions of similar mass, there is no evidence of complete quenching of star formation by the cosmic UV background responsible for reionization, but the possibility of a degree of quenching at reionization cannot be ruled out. We do not find significant differences between the SFHs of the three members of the vast, thin plane of satellites and the three off-plane dSphs. The primary difference between the SFHs of the ISLAndS dSphs and Milky Way dSph companions of similar luminosities and host distances is the absence of very late quenching (< 5 Gyr ago) dSphs in the ISLAndS sample. Thus, models that can reproduce satellite populations with and without late quenching satellites will be of extreme interest.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables, submitted to the Ap

Reproducibility and Characterization of Head Kinematics During a Large Animal Acceleration Model of Traumatic Brain Injury

Acceleration parameters have been utilized for the last six decades to investigate pathology in both human and animal models of traumatic brain injury (TBI), design safety equipment, and develop injury thresholds. Previous large animal models have quantified acceleration from impulsive loading forces (i.e., machine/object kinematics) rather than directly measuring head kinematics. No study has evaluated the reproducibility of head kinematics in large animal models. Nine (five males) sexually mature Yucatan swine were exposed to head rotation at a targeted peak angular velocity of 250 rad/s in the coronal plane. The results indicated that the measured peak angular velocity of the skull was 51% of the impulsive load, was experienced over 91% longer duration, and was multi- rather than uni-planar. These findings were replicated in a second experiment with a smaller cohort (N = 4). The reproducibility of skull kinematics data was mostly within acceptable ranges based on published industry standards, although the coefficients of variation (8.9% for peak angular velocity or 12.3% for duration) were higher than the impulsive loading parameters produced by the machine (1.1 vs. 2.5%, respectively). Immunohistochemical markers of diffuse axonal injury and blood–brain barrier breach were not associated with variation in either skull or machine kinematics, suggesting that the observed levels of variance in skull kinematics may not be biologically meaningful with the current sample sizes. The findings highlight the reproducibility of a large animal acceleration model of TBI and the importance of direct measurements of skull kinematics to determine the magnitude of angular velocity, refine injury criteria, and determine critical thresholds

Melt Property Variation In GeSe2-As2Se3-PbSe Glass Ceramics For Infrared Gradient Refractive Index (GRIN) Applications

Melt size-dependent physical property variation is examined in a multicomponent GeSe2-As2Se3-PbSe chalcogenide glass developed for gradient refractive index applications. The impact of melting conditions on small (40 g) prototype laboratory-scale melts extended to commercially relevant melt sizes (1.325 kg) have been studied and the role of thermal history variation on physical and optical property evolution in parent glass, the glass\u27 crystallization behavior and post heat-treated glass ceramics, is quantified. As-melted glass morphology, optical homogeneity and heat treatment-induced microstructure following a fixed, two-step nucleation and growth protocol exhibit marked variation with melt size. These attributes are shown to impact crystallization behavior (growth rates, resulting crystalline phase formation) and induced effective refractive index change, neff, in the resulting optical nanocomposite. The magnitude of these changes is discussed based on thermal history related melt conditions

Reduced Left Executive Control Network Functional Connectivity Is Associated with Alcohol Use Disorders

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108693/1/acer12505.pd

Scientific challenges and present capabilities in underwater robotic vehicle design and navigation for oceanographic exploration under-ice.

This paper reviews the scientific motivation and challenges, development, and use of underwater robotic vehicles designed for use in ice-covered waters, with special attention paid to the navigation systems employed for under-ice deployments. Scientific needs for routine access under fixed and moving ice by underwater robotic vehicles are reviewed in the contexts of geology and geophysics, biology, sea ice and climate, ice shelves, and seafloor mapping. The challenges of under-ice vehicle design and navigation are summarized. The paper reviews all known under-ice robotic vehicles and their associated navigation systems, categorizing them by vehicle type (tethered, untethered, hybrid, and glider) and by the type of ice they were designed for (fixed glacial or sea ice and moving sea ice). © 2020 by the authors