Epigenetics and the power of art

This review presents an epigenetic view on complex factors leading to development and perception of “genius.” There is increasing evidence which indicates that artistic creativity is influenced by epigenetic processes that act both as targets and mediators of neurotransmitters as well as steroid hormones. Thus, perception and production of art appear to be closely associated with epigenetic contributions to physical and mental health

Laboratory prediction of the requirement for renal replacement in acute falciparum malaria

BACKGROUND: Acute renal failure is a common complication of severe malaria in adults, and without renal replacement therapy (RRT), it carries a poor prognosis. Even when RRT is available, delaying its initiation may increase mortality. Earlier identification of patients who will need RRT may improve outcomes. METHOD: Prospectively collected data from two intervention studies in adults with severe malaria were analysed focusing on laboratory features on presentation and their association with a later requirement for RRT. In particular, laboratory indices of acute tubular necrosis (ATN) and acute kidney injury (AKI) that are used in other settings were examined. RESULTS: Data from 163 patients were available for analysis. Whether or not the patients should have received RRT (a retrospective assessment determined by three independent reviewers) was used as the reference. Forty-three (26.4%) patients met criteria for dialysis, but only 19 (44.2%) were able to receive this intervention due to the limited availability of RRT. Patients with impaired renal function on admission (creatinine clearance < 60 ml/min) (n = 84) had their laboratory indices of ATN/AKI analysed. The plasma creatinine level had the greatest area under the ROC curve (AUC): 0.83 (95% confidence interval 0.74-0.92), significantly better than the AUCs for, urinary sodium level, the urea to creatinine ratio (UCR), the fractional excretion of urea (FeUN) and the urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalcin (NGAL) level. The AUC for plasma creatinine was also greater than the AUC for blood urea nitrogen level, the fractional excretion of sodium (FeNa), the renal failure index (RFI), the urinary osmolality, the urine to plasma creatinine ratio (UPCR) and the creatinine clearance, although the difference for these variables did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: In adult patients with severe malaria and impaired renal function on admission, none of the evaluated laboratory indices was superior to the plasma creatinine level when used to predict a later requirement for renal replacement therapy

Increase of universality in human brain during mental imagery from visual perception

BACKGROUND: Different complex systems behave in a similar way near their critical points of phase transitions which leads to an emergence of a universal scaling behaviour. Universality indirectly implies a long-range correlation between constituent subsystems. As the distributed correlated processing is a hallmark of higher complex cognition, I investigated a measure of universality in human brain during perception and mental imagery of complex real-life visual object like visual art. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A new method was presented to estimate the strength of hidden universal structure in a multivariate data set. In this study, I investigated this method in the electrical activities (electroencephalogram signals) of human brain during complex cognition. Two broad groups--artists and non-artists--were studied during the encoding (perception) and retrieval (mental imagery) phases of actual paintings. Universal structure was found to be stronger in visual imagery than in visual perception, and this difference was stronger in artists than in non-artists. Further, this effect was found to be largest in the theta band oscillations and over the prefrontal regions bilaterally. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Phase transition like dynamics was observed in the electrical activities of human brain during complex cognitive processing, and closeness to phase transition was higher in mental imagery than in real perception. Further, the effect of long-term training on the universal scaling was also demonstrated

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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