Brain Potentials Highlight Stronger Implicit Food Memory for Taste than Health and Context Associations

Increasingly consumption of healthy foods is advised to improve population health. Reasons people give for choosing one food over another suggest that non-sensory features like health aspects are appreciated as of lower importance than taste. However, many food choices are made in the absence of the actual perception of a food's sensory properties, and therefore highly rely on previous experiences of similar consumptions stored in memory. In this study we assessed the differential strength of food associations implicitly stored in memory, using an associative priming paradigm. Participants (N = 30) were exposed to a forced-choice picture-categorization task, in which the food or non-food target images were primed with either non-sensory or sensory related words. We observed a smaller N400 amplitude at the parietal electrodes when categorizing food as compared to non-food images. While this effect was enhanced by the presentation of a food-related word prime during food trials, the primes had no effect in the non-food trials. More specifically, we found that sensory associations are stronger implicitly represented in memory as compared to non-sensory associations. Thus, this study highlights the neuronal mechanisms underlying previous observations that sensory associations are important features of food memory, and therefore a primary motive in food choice.</p

Men and Women Exhibit a Differential Bias for Processing Movement versus Objects

Sex differences in many spatial and verbal tasks appear to reflect an inherent low-level processing bias for movement in males and objects in females. We explored this potential movement/object bias in men and women using a computer task that measured targeting performance and/or color recognition. The targeting task showed a ball moving vertically towards a horizontal line. Before reaching the line, the ball disappeared behind a masking screen, requiring the participant to imagine the movement vector and identify the intersection point. For the color recognition task, the ball briefly changed color before disappearing beneath the mask and participants were required only to identify the color shade. Results showed that targeting accuracy for slow and fast moving balls was significantly better in males compared to females. No sex difference was observed for color shade recognition. We also studied a third, dual attention task comprised of the first two, where the moving ball briefly changed color randomly just before passing beneath the masking screen. When the ball changed color, participants were required only to identify the color shade. If the ball didn't change color, participants estimated the intersection point. Participants in this dual attention condition were first tested with the targeting and color tasks alone and showed results that were similar to the previous groups tested on a single task. However, under the dual attention condition, male accuracy in targeting, as well as color shade recognition, declined significantly compared to their performance when the tasks were tested alone. No significant changes were found in female performance. Finally, reaction times for targeting and color choices in both sexes correlated highly with ball speed, but not accuracy. Overall, these results provide evidence of a sex-related bias in processing objects versus movement, which may reflect sex differences in bottom up versus top-down analytical strategies

Different Origins of Gamma Rhythm and High-Gamma Activity in Macaque Visual Cortex

High-gamma (80–200 Hz) activity can be dissociated from gamma rhythms in the monkey cortex, and appears largely to reflect spiking activity in the vicinity of the electrode

Metabolic Regulation of Invadopodia and Invasion by Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase 1 and De novo Lipogenesis

Invadopodia are membrane protrusions that facilitate matrix degradation and cellular invasion. Although lipids have been implicated in several aspects of invadopodia formation, the contributions of de novo fatty acid synthesis and lipogenesis have not been defined. Inhibition of acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1), the committed step of fatty acid synthesis, reduced invadopodia formation in Src-transformed 3T3 (3T3-Src) cells, and also decreased the ability to degrade gelatin. Inhibition of fatty acid synthesis through AMP-activated kinase (AMPK) activation and ACC phosphorylation also decreased invadopodia incidence. The addition of exogenous 16∶0 and 18∶1 fatty acid, products of de novo fatty acid synthesis, restored invadopodia and gelatin degradation to cells with decreased ACC1 activity. Pharmacological inhibition of ACC also altered the phospholipid profile of 3T3-Src cells, with the majority of changes occurring in the phosphatidylcholine (PC) species. Exogenous supplementation with the most abundant PC species, 34∶1 PC, restored invadopodia incidence, the ability to degrade gelatin and the ability to invade through matrigel to cells deficient in ACC1 activity. On the other hand, 30∶0 PC did not restore invadopodia and 36∶2 PC only restored invadopodia incidence and gelatin degradation, but not cellular invasion through matrigel. Pharmacological inhibition of ACC also reduced the ability of MDA-MB-231 breast, Snb19 glioblastoma, and PC-3 prostate cancer cells to invade through matrigel. Invasion of PC-3 cells through matrigel was also restored by 34∶1 PC supplementation. Collectively, the data elucidate the novel metabolic regulation of invadopodia and the invasive process by de novo fatty acid synthesis and lipogenesis

Identification of a Novel Aminopeptidase P-Like Gene (OnAPP) Possibly Involved in Bt Toxicity and Resistance in a Major Corn Pest (Ostrinia nubilalis)

Studies to understand the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) resistance mechanism in European corn borer (ECB, Ostrinia nubilalis) suggest that resistance may be due to changes in the midgut-specific Bt toxin receptor. In this study, we identified 10 aminopeptidase-like genes, which have previously been identified as putative Bt toxin receptors in other insects and examined their expression in relation to Cry1Ab toxicity and resistance. Expression analysis for the 10 aminopeptidase-like genes revealed that most of these genes were expressed predominantly in the larval midgut, but there was no difference in the expression of these genes in Cry1Ab resistant and susceptible strains. This suggested that altered expression of these genes was unlikely to be responsible for resistance in these ECB strains. However, we found that there were changes in two amino acid residues of the aminopeptidase-P like gene (OnAPP) involving Glu305 to Lys305 and Arg307 to Leu307 in the two Cry1Ab-resistant strains as compared with three Cry1Ab-susceptible strains. The mature OnAPP contains 682 amino acid residues and has a putative signal peptide at the N-terminus, a predicted glycosylphosphatidyl-inositol (GPI)-anchor signal at the C-terminal, three predicted N-glycosylation sites at residues N178, N278 and N417, and an O-glycosylation site at residue T653. We used a feeding based-RNA interference assay to examine the role of the OnAPP gene in Cry1Ab toxicity and resistance. Bioassays of Cry1Ab in larvae fed diet containing OnAPP dsRNA resulted in a 38% reduction in the transcript level of OnAPP and a 25% reduction in the susceptibility to Cry1Ab as compared with larvae fed GFP dsRNA or water. These results strongly suggest that the OnAPP gene could be involved in binding the Cry1Ab toxin in the ECB larval midgut and that mutations in this gene may be associated with Bt resistance in these two ECB strains

Atypical Balance between Occipital and Fronto-Parietal Activation for Visual Shape Extraction in Dyslexia

Reading requires the extraction of letter shapes from a complex background of text, and an impairment in visual shape extraction would cause difficulty in reading. To investigate the neural mechanisms of visual shape extraction in dyslexia, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain activation while adults with or without dyslexia responded to the change of an arrow’s direction in a complex, relative to a simple, visual background. In comparison to adults with typical reading ability, adults with dyslexia exhibited opposite patterns of atypical activation: decreased activation in occipital visual areas associated with visual perception, and increased activation in frontal and parietal regions associated with visual attention. These findings indicate that dyslexia involves atypical brain organization for fundamental processes of visual shape extraction even when reading is not involved. Overengagement in higher-order association cortices, required to compensate for underengagment in lower-order visual cortices, may result in competition for top-down attentional resources helpful for fluent reading.Ellison Medical FoundationMartin Richmond Memorial FundNational Institutes of Health (U.S.). (Grant UL1RR025758)National Institutes of Health (U.S.). (Grant F32EY014750-01)MIT Class of 1976 (Funds for Dyslexia Research

Pacing and Decision Making in Sport and Exercise: The Roles of Perception and Action in the Regulation of Exercise Intensity

In pursuit of optimal performance, athletes and physical exercisers alike have to make decisions about how and when to invest their energy. The process of pacing has been associated with the goal-directed regulation of exercise intensity across an exercise bout. The current review explores divergent views on understanding underlying mechanisms of decision making in pacing. Current pacing literature provides a wide range of aspects that might be involved in the determination of an athlete's pacing strategy, but lacks in explaining how perception and action are coupled in establishing behaviour. In contrast, decision-making literature rooted in the understanding that perception and action are coupled provides refreshing perspectives on explaining the mechanisms that underlie natural interactive behaviour. Contrary to the assumption of behaviour that is managed by a higher-order governor that passively constructs internal representations of the world, an ecological approach is considered. According to this approach, knowledge is rooted in the direct experience of meaningful environmental objects and events in individual environmental processes. To assist a neuropsychological explanation of decision making in exercise regulation, the relevance of the affordance competition hypothesis is explored. By considering pacing as a behavioural expression of continuous decision making, new insights on underlying mechanisms in pacing and optimal performance can be developed. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

A thalamic reticular networking model of consciousness

<p>Abstract</p> <p>[Background]</p> <p>It is reasonable to consider the thalamus a primary candidate for the location of consciousness, given that the thalamus has been referred to as the gateway of nearly all sensory inputs to the corresponding cortical areas. Interestingly, in an early stage of brain development, communicative innervations between the dorsal thalamus and telencephalon must pass through the ventral thalamus, the major derivative of which is the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). The TRN occupies a striking control position in the brain, sending inhibitory axons back to the thalamus, roughly to the same region where they receive afferents.</p> <p>[Hypotheses]</p> <p>The present study hypothesizes that the TRN plays a pivotal role in dynamic attention by controlling thalamocortical synchronization. The TRN is thus viewed as a functional networking filter to regulate conscious perception, which is possibly embedded in thalamocortical networks. Based on the anatomical structures and connections, modality-specific sectors of the TRN and the thalamus appear to be responsible for modality-specific perceptual representation. Furthermore, the coarsely overlapped topographic maps of the TRN appear to be associated with cross-modal or unitary conscious awareness. Throughout the latticework structure of the TRN, conscious perception could be accomplished and elaborated through accumulating intercommunicative processing across the first-order input signal and the higher-order signals from its functionally associated cortices. As the higher-order relay signals run cumulatively through the relevant thalamocortical loops, conscious awareness becomes more refined and sophisticated.</p> <p>[Conclusions]</p> <p>I propose that the thalamocortical integrative communication across first- and higher-order information circuits and repeated feedback looping may account for our conscious awareness. This TRN-modulation hypothesis for conscious awareness provides a comprehensive rationale regarding previously reported psychological phenomena and neurological symptoms such as blindsight, neglect, the priming effect, the threshold/duration problem, and TRN-impairment resembling coma. This hypothesis can be tested by neurosurgical investigations of thalamocortical loops via the TRN, while simultaneously evaluating the degree to which conscious perception depends on the severity of impairment in a TRN-modulated network.</p

Midwifery continuity of care versus standard maternity care for women at increased risk of preterm birth: A hybrid implementation–effectiveness, randomised controlled pilot trial in the UK

Background Midwifery continuity of care is the only health system intervention shown to reduce preterm birth (PTB) and improve perinatal survival, but no trial evidence exists for women with identified risk factors for PTB. We aimed to assess feasibility, fidelity, and clinical outcomes of a model of midwifery continuity of care linked with a specialist obstetric clinic for women considered at increased risk for PTB. Methods and findings We conducted a hybrid implementation–effectiveness, randomised, controlled, unblinded, parallel-group pilot trial at an inner-city maternity service in London (UK), in which pregnant women identified at increased risk of PTB were randomly assigned (1:1) to either midwifery continuity of antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care (Pilot study Of midwifery Practice in Preterm birth Including women’s Experiences [POPPIE] group) or standard care group (maternity care by different midwives working in designated clinical areas). Pregnant women attending for antenatal care at less than 24 weeks’ gestation were eligible if they fulfilled one or more of the following criteria: previous cervical surgery, cerclage, premature rupture of membranes, PTB, or late miscarriage; previous short cervix or short cervix this pregnancy; or uterine abnormality and/or current smoker of tobacco. Feasibility outcomes included eligibility, recruitment and attrition rates, and fidelity of the model. The primary outcome was a composite of appropriate and timely interventions for the prevention and/or management of preterm labour and birth. We analysed by intention to treat. Between 9 May 2017 and 30 September 2018, 334 women were recruited; 169 women were allocated to the POPPIE group and 165 to the standard group. Mean maternal age was 31 years; 32% of the women were from Black, Asian, and ethnic minority groups; 70% were in employment; and 46% had a university degree. Nearly 70% of women lived in areas of social deprivation. More than a quarter of women had at least one pre-existing medical condition and multiple risk factors for PTB. More than 75% of antenatal and postnatal visits were provided by a named/partner midwife, and a midwife from the POPPIE team was present at 80% of births. The incidence of the primary composite outcome showed no statistically significant difference between groups (POPPIE group 83.3% versus standard group 84.7%; risk ratio 0.98 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.90 to 1.08]; p = 0.742). Infants in the POPPIE group were significantly more likely to have skin-to-skin contact after birth, to have it for a longer time, and to breastfeed immediately after birth and at hospital discharge. There were no differences in other secondary outcomes. The number of serious adverse events was similar in both groups and unrelated to the intervention (POPPIE group 6 versus standard group 5). Limitations of this study included the limited power and the nonmasking of group allocation; however, study assignment was masked to the statistician and researchers who analysed the data. Conclusions In this study, we found that it is feasible to set up and achieve fidelity of a model of midwifery continuity of care linked with specialist obstetric care for women at increased risk of PTB in an inner-city maternity service in London (UK), but there is no impact on most outcomes for this population group. Larger appropriately powered trials are needed, including in other settings, to evaluate the impact of relational continuity and hypothesised mechanisms of effect based on increased trust and engagement, improved care coordination, and earlier referral on disadvantaged communities, including women with complex social factors and social vulnerability. Trial registration We prospectively registered the pilot trial on the UK Clinical Research Network Portfolio Database (ID number: 31951, 24 April 2017). We registered the trial on the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) (Number: 37733900, 21 August 2017) and before trial recruitment was completed (30 September 2018) when informed that prospective registration for a pilot trial was also required in a primary clinical trial registry recognised by WHO and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The protocol as registered and published has remained unchanged, and the analysis conforms to the original plan