Lexical olfaction recruits olfactory orbitofrontal cortex in metaphorical and literal contexts

The investigation of specific lexical categories has substantially contributed to advancing our knowledge on how meaning is neurally represented. One sensory domain that has received particularly little attention is olfaction. This study aims to investigate the neural representation of lexical olfaction. In an fMRI experiment, participants read olfactory metaphors, their literal paraphrases, and literal olfactory sentences. Regions of interest were defined by a functional localizer run of odor processing. We observed activation in secondary olfactory areas during metaphorical and literal olfactory processing, thus extending previous findings to the novel source domain of olfaction. Previously reported enhanced activation in emotion-related areas due to metaphoricity could not be replicated. Finally, no primary olfactory cortex was found active during lexical olfaction processing. We suggest that this absence is due to olfactory hedonicity being crucial to understand the meaning of the current olfactory expressions. Consequently, the processing of olfactory hedonicity recruits secondary olfactory areas

An engineering perspective of vacuum assisted delivery devices in obstetrics: A review

Complications during childbirth result in the need for clinicians to use ‘assisted delivery’ in over 12% of cases (UK). After more than 50 years in clinical practice, vacuum assisted delivery (VAD) devices remain a mainstay in physically assisting child delivery; sometimes preferred over forceps due to their ease of use and reduced maternal morbidity. Despite their popularity and enduring track-record, VAD devices have shown little evidence of innovation or design change since their inception. In addition, evidence on the safety and functionality of VAD devices remains limited but does present opportunities for improvements to reduce adverse clinical outcomes. Consequently in this review we examine the literature and patent landscape surrounding VAD biomechanics, design evolution and performance from an engineering perspective, aiming to collate the limited but valuable information from a disparate field and provide a series of recommendations to inform future research into improved, safer, VAD systems

Université catholique de Louvain

Can emotional valence in stories be determined from words?

Evaluation of depleted uranium in the environment at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland and Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona. Final report

This report represents an evaluation of depleted uranium (DU) introduced into the environment at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds (APG), Maryland and Yuma Proving Grounds (YPG) Arizona. This was a cooperative project between the Environmental Sciences and Statistical Analyses Groups at LANL and with the Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology at Colorado State University. The project represents a unique approach to assessing the environmental impact of DU in two dissimilar ecosystems. Ecological exposure models were created for each ecosystem and sensitivity/uncertainty analyses were conducted to identify exposure pathways which were most influential in the fate and transport of DU in the environment. Research included field sampling, field exposure experiment, and laboratory experiments. The first section addresses DU at the APG site. Chapter topics include bioenergetics-based food web model; field exposure experiments; bioconcentration by phytoplankton and the toxicity of U to zooplankton; physical processes governing the desorption of uranium from sediment to water; transfer of uranium from sediment to benthic invertebrates; spead of adsorpion by benthic invertebrates; uptake of uranium by fish. The final section of the report addresses DU at the YPG site. Chapters include the following information: Du transport processes and pathway model; field studies of performance of exposure model; uptake and elimination rates for kangaroo rates; chemical toxicity in kangaroo rat kidneys

Swimming performance and fishway model passage success of Rio Grande Silvery Minnow

We used a swim chamber, flume, and large-scale fishway models to assess the swimming performance, behaviour, and passage success of endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow (Hybognathus amarus). Field-captured silvery minnow (53-88 mm total length) swam114-118 cm/s (i.e., up to 20.9 body lengths/s) in a swim chamber in water temperatures of 15, 19,and 23°C. The relationship between time to fatigue and water velocity showed that endurance declined sharply at velocities above 60 cm/s, a threshold that is consistent with critical swimming speed estimates and may represent a transition from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism. Water temperature and fish length were positively correlated with swimming performance. At water velocities of 60 cm/s and less, silvery minnow routinely swam the equivalent of 50 km (125 km maximum) in a swim chamber in less than 72 h. The proportions of silvery minnow that successfully ascended a flume over sand, gravel, or cobble substrate declined as water velocity increased to 53 cm/s. Passage times increased at higher water velocities and at a faster rate over sand substrate because fish were stationary for longer periods over the lower-velocity boundary layers created by gravel and cobble at all velocities. Dual-vertical-slot fishway passage was 52%in a less turbulent flow of 78 cm/s; passage was 8% at a faster, more turbulent flow of 87 cm/s.Conversely, 75% of silvery minnow ascended a rock channel fishway with a holding pool present and a 1% hydraulic gradient in low (58-cm/s) and high (83-cm/s) mean flow velocities. Differences in willingness to swim, longer test duration, and the mosaic of water velocities created by the bed roughness elements may explain the higher silvery minnow passage success in the rock channel.Predictive swimming fatigue relationships, together with fish length and water temperature, may guide decisions regarding fishway lengths and velocities so as to permit passage of Rio Grande silvery minnow