Audio-Tactile Integration in Congenitally and Late Deaf Cochlear Implant Users

Several studies conducted in mammals and humans have shown that multisensory processing may be impaired following congenital sensory loss and in particular if no experience is achieved within specific early developmental time windows known as sensitive periods. In this study we investigated whether basic multisensory abilities are impaired in hearing-restored individuals with deafness acquired at different stages of development. To this aim, we tested congenitally and late deaf cochlear implant (CI) recipients, age-matched with two groups of hearing controls, on an audio-tactile redundancy paradigm, in which reaction times to unimodal and crossmodal redundant signals were measured. Our results showed that both congenitally and late deaf CI recipients were able to integrate audio-tactile stimuli, suggesting that congenital and acquired deafness does not prevent the development and recovery of basic multisensory processing. However, we found that congenitally deaf CI recipients had a lower multisensory gain compared to their matched controls, which may be explained by their faster responses to tactile stimuli. We discuss this finding in the context of reorganisation of the sensory systems following sensory loss and the possibility that these changes cannot be "rewired" through auditory reafferentation

Expanding the Chemical Space of Tetracyanobuta-1,3-diene (TCBD) through a Cyano-Diels-Alder Reaction: Synthesis, Structure, and Physicochemical Properties of an Anthryl-fused-TCBD Derivative

Tetracyanobuta-1,3-diene (TCBD) is a powerful and versatile electron-acceptor moiety widely used for the preparation of electroactive conjugates. While many reports addressing its electron-accepting capability have appeared in the literature, significantly scarcer are those dealing with its chemical modification, a relevant topic which allows to broaden the chemical space of this interesting functional unit. Here, we report on the first example of a high-yielding cyano-Diels-Alder (CDA) reaction between TCBD, that is, where a nitrile group acts as a dienophile, and an anthryl moiety, that is, acting as a diene. The resulting anthryl-fused-TCBD derivative, which structure was unambiguously identified by X-ray diffraction, shows high thermal stability, remarkable electron-accepting capability, and interesting electronic ground- and excited-state features, as characterized by a thorough theoretical, electrochemical, and photophysical investigation. Moreover, a detailed kinetic analysis of the intramolecular CDA reaction transforming the anthryl-TCBD-based reactant into the anthryl-fused-TCBD product was carried out at different temperatures

Interacting Preformed Cooper Pairs in Resonant Fermi Gases

We consider the normal phase of a strongly interacting Fermi gas, which can have either an equal or an unequal number of atoms in its two accessible spin states. Due to the unitarity-limited attractive interaction between particles with different spin, noncondensed Cooper pairs are formed. The starting point in treating preformed pairs is the Nozi\`{e}res-Schmitt-Rink (NSR) theory, which approximates the pairs as being noninteracting. Here, we consider the effects of the interactions between the Cooper pairs in a Wilsonian renormalization-group scheme. Starting from the exact bosonic action for the pairs, we calculate the Cooper-pair self-energy by combining the NSR formalism with the Wilsonian approach. We compare our findings with the recent experiments by Harikoshi {\it et al.} [Science {\bf 327}, 442 (2010)] and Nascimb\`{e}ne {\it et al.} [Nature {\bf 463}, 1057 (2010)], and find very good agreement. We also make predictions for the population-imbalanced case, that can be tested in experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted version for PRA, discussion of the imbalanced Fermi gas added, new figure and references adde

Positive Clinical Neuroscience: Explorations in Positive Neurology

Disorders of the brain and its sensory organs have traditionally been associated with deficits in movement, perception, cognition, emotion, and behavior. It is increasingly evident, however, that positive phenomena may also occur in such conditions, with implications for the individual, science, medicine, and for society. This article provides a selective review of such positive phenomena – enhanced function after brain lesions, better-than-normal performance in people with sensory loss, creativity associated with neurological disease, and enhanced performance associated with aging. We propose that, akin to the well-established field of positive psychology and the emerging field of positive clinical psychology, the nascent fields of positive neurology and positive neuropsychology offer new avenues to understand brain-behavior relationships, with both theoretical and therapeutic implications