Individual, but not population asymmetries, are modulated by social environment and genotype in Drosophila melanogaster.

Theory predicts that social interactions can induce an alignment of behavioral asymmetries between individuals (i.e., population-level lateralization), but evidence for this effect is mixed. To understand how interaction with other individuals affects behavioral asymmetries, we systematically manipulated the social environment of Drosophila melanogaster, testing individual flies and dyads (female-male, female-female and male-male pairs). In these social contexts we measured individual and population asymmetries in individual behaviors (circling asymmetry, wing use) and dyadic behaviors (relative position and orientation between two flies) in five different genotypes. We reasoned that if coordination between individuals drives alignment of behavioral asymmetries, greater alignment at the population-level should be observed in social contexts compared to solitary individuals. We observed that the presence of other individuals influenced the behavior and position of flies but had unexpected effects on individual and population asymmetries: individual-level asymmetries were strong and modulated by the social context but population-level asymmetries were mild or absent. Moreover, the strength of individual-level asymmetries differed between strains, but this was not the case for population-level asymmetries. These findings suggest that the degree of social interaction found in Drosophila is insufficient to drive population-level behavioral asymmetries

Estudio preliminar de "Macrodontina", una nueva cisteinilproteinasa aislada de frutos de Pseudananas macrodontes (Morr.) Harms (Bromeliaceae)

From inmature fruits of Pseudananas macrodontes (Morr.) Harms, known as ihvirá in the northeast of Argentina, has been isolated and partially characterized a sulfhydril-protease highly active between pH 7 and 10. The acetonic precipitates are quite stable at temperatures below 45ºC and not affected by freezing or liophylization. Anionic exchange chromatography (DEAE-Sepharose Fast Flow) affords two active fractions, both well resolved by gel filtration (Sephadex G-75). The electrophoretic pattern (SDS-PAGE) of the acetonic precipitate shows six protein fractions, between 14 and 67 kDa, but the zymogram reveals the presente of three active fractions, of about 27,30, arid 54 kDa.De los frutos semimaduros del ihvirá (Pseudananas macrodontes (Morr.) Harms (Bromeliaceae) se ha logrado aislar y caracterizar parcialmente una proteasa sulfhidrílica ( macrodontina ) con actividad destacada entre pH 7 y 10. Las preparaciones parcialmente purificadas (precipitados acetónicos) son relativamente estables a temperaturas inferiores a 45ºC y no se alteran por congelamiento o liofilización. Una ulterior purificación por cromatografía de intercambio aniónico (DEAE-Sepharose Fast Flow) permite detectar dos fracciones activas, que son bien resueltas por cromatografía de exclusión molecular (Sephadex G-75). Por electroforesis (SDS-PAGE) del precipitado acetónico se detectan seis fracciones proteicas (entre 14 y 67 kDa), pero el zimograma revela que sólo tres de ellas tienen actividad caseinolítica, de pesos moleculares de alrededor de 27,30 y 54 kDa

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy and Diffuse Optical Tomography in Neuroscience

Diseases & disorder

Evaluation of macro and microminerals in crude drugs and infusions of five herbs widely used as sedatives

It has been determined the concentration of fourteen micro and macrominerals (Al, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Se, and Zn) in both crude drugs and infusions of Melissa officinalis L., Lamiaceae, Nepeta cataria L., Lamiaceae, Passiflora caerulea L., Passifloraceae, Tilia x moltkei Späth ex C.K. Schneid., Tiliaceae, and Valeriana officinalis L., Caprifoliaceae. These herbs are widely consumed by its sedative properties, either alone or in herb mixtures. All measurements were performed using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES). The products were obtained from regional markets, mainly in San Luis province (Argentina). The estimated daily intake was compared with current recommendations. All products and its infusions were included within the upper tolerable limits for minerals, in trace elements such as toxic elements present at low levels

VALIDATION OF AN AUTOMATIC HARD TISSUE SEGMENTATION ALGORITHM FOR CONE BEAM CT DATA

An automatic algorithm for hard tissue segmentation in CBCT data is presented and validated on 30 subjects. Bone segmentation threshold was set after voxel clustering through a sub-set of slices and the elimination of outliers with teeth and metal artifacts. Comparison with manual thresholding by experts gave no significant difference

Evaluation of different registration approaches in 3D cephalometric landmark estimation

Thanks to the development of dedicated CBCT scanners, 3D cephalometric analysis is become a widely used tool for the diagnosis and treatment of dentofacial disharmonies in maxillofacial surgery and dentistry [1]. Traditionally, an expert manually annotates a set of cephalometric landmarks on a CBCT scan. Accuracy and repeatability of this manual approach are limited because of intra- and inter-subject variability in landmarks identification [2]. To improve the manual annotation, we are developing a nearly-automatic method that estimates the positions of a set of landmarks registering a previously annotated reference subject to the patient skull. In this study, in order to reduce the estimation error, we compare different registration approaches by varying two registration parameters, such as elasticity (affine or elastic) and domain (local or global) of geometric transformation. The algorithms were tested on 21 CBCT scans of adult caucasian women. To evaluate the outcome of the registration process, Euclidean distances in the 3D space between automatically and manually annotated landmarks were computed. Finally, for each landmark, accuracy and precision of the annotation process were calculated as the mean and standard deviation of the distances of the analyzed sample. Results show that the combination of a global affine registration followed by a global elastic registration significantly reduces the annotation error (p<0.001), increasing both accuracy (p<0.001) and precision (p>0.05). Paired Student’s t tests were used for comparisons. The obtained results are promising, nevertheless the study should be continued in order to reduce further estimation error

Hemodynamic and EEG Time-Courses During Unilateral Hand Movement in Patients with Cortical Myoclonus. An EEG-fMRI and EEG-TD-fNIRS Study.

Multimodal human brain mapping has been proposed as an integrated approach capable of improving the recognition of the cortical correlates of specific neurological functions. We used simultaneous EEG-fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) and EEG-TD-fNIRS (time domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy) recordings to compare different hemodynamic methods with changes in EEG in ten patients with progressive myoclonic epilepsy and 12 healthy controls. We evaluated O(2)Hb, HHb and Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) changes and event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) in the alpha and beta bands of all of the subjects while they performed a simple motor task. The general linear model was used to obtain comparable fMRI and TD-fNIRS activation maps. We also analyzed cortical thickness in order to evaluate any structural changes. In the patients, the TD-NIRS and fMRI data significantly correlated and showed a significant lessening of the increase in O(2)Hb and the decrease in BOLD. The post-movement beta rebound was minimal or absent in patients. Cortical thickness was moderately reduced in the motor area of the patients and correlated with the reduction in the hemodynamic signals. The fMRI and TD-NIRS results were consistent, significantly correlated and showed smaller hemodynamic changes in the patients. This finding may be partially attributable to mild cortical thickening. However, cortical hyperexcitability, which is known to generate myoclonic jerks and probably accounts for the lack of EEG beta-ERS, did not reflect any increased energy requirement. We hypothesize that this is due to a loss of inhibitory neuronal components that typically fire at high frequencies

Evaluation of macro and microminerals in crude drugs and infusions of five herbs widely used as sedatives

It has been determined the concentration of fourteen micro and macrominerals (Al, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Se, and Zn) in both crude drugs and infusions of Melissa officinalis L., Lamiaceae, Nepeta cataria L., Lamiaceae, Passiflora caerulea L., Passifloraceae, Tilia x moltkei Späth ex C.K. Schneid., Tiliaceae, and Valeriana officinalis L., Caprifoliaceae. These herbs are widely consumed by its sedative properties, either alone or in herb mixtures. All measurements were performed using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES). The products were obtained from regional markets, mainly in San Luis province (Argentina). The estimated daily intake was compared with current recommendations. All products and its infusions were included within the upper tolerable limits for minerals, in trace elements such as toxic elements present at low levels.Facultad de Ciencias Exacta