Electrophysiological correlates of stimulus-driven reorienting deficits after interference with right parietal cortex during a spatial attention task: A TMS-EEG study

TMS interference over right intraparietal sulcus (IPS) causally disrupts behaviorally and EEG rhythmic correlates of endogenous spatial orienting before visual target presentation [Capotosto, P., Babiloni, C., Romani, G. L., & Corbetta, M. Differential contribution of right and left parietal cortex to the control of spatial attention: A simultaneous EEG-rTMS study. Cerebral Cortex, 22, 446-454, 2012; Capotosto, P., Babiloni, C., Romani, G. L., & Corbetta, M. Fronto-parietal cortex controls spatial attention through modulation of anticipatory alpha rhythms. Journal of Neuroscience, 29, 5863-5872, 2009]. Here we combine data from our previous studies to examine whether right parietal TMS during spatial orienting also impairs stimulus-driven reorienting or the ability to efficiently process unattended stimuli, that is, stimuli outside the current focus of attention. Healthy volunteers (n = 24) performed a Posner spatial cueing task while their EEG activity was being monitored. Repetitive TMS (rTMS) was applied for 150 msec simultaneously to the presentation of a central arrow directing spatial attention to the location of an upcoming visual target. Right IPS-rTMS impaired target detection, especially for stimuli presented at unattended locations; it also caused a modulation of the amplitude of parieto-occipital positive ERPs peaking at about 480 msec (P3) post-target. The P3 significantly decreased for unattended targets and significantly increased for attended targets after right IPS-rTMS as compared with sham stimulation. Similar effects were obtained for left IPS stimulation albeit in a smaller group of volunteers. We conclude that disruption of anticipatory processes in right IPS has prolonged effects that persist during target processing. The P3 decrement may reflect interference with postdecision processes that are part of stimulus-driven reorienting. Right IPS is a node of functional interaction between endogenous spatial orienting and stimulus-driven reorienting processes in human vision

Resting-state modulation of alpha rhythms by interference with angular gyrus activity

The default mode network is active during restful wakefulness and suppressed during goal-driven behavior. We hypothesize that inhibitory interference with spontaneous ongoing, that is, not task-driven, activity in the angular gyrus (AG), one of the core regions of the default mode network, will enhance the dominant idling EEG alpha rhythms observed in the resting state. Fifteen right-handed healthy adult volunteers underwent to this study. Compared with sham stimulation, magnetic stimulation (1 Hz for 1 min) over both left and right AG, but not over FEF or intraparietal sulcus, core regions of the dorsal attention network, enhanced the dominant alpha power density (8-10 Hz) in occipitoparietal cortex. Furthermore, right AG-rTMS enhanced intrahemispheric alpha coherence (8-10 Hz). These results suggest that AG plays a causal role in the modulation of dominant low-frequency alpha rhythms in the resting-state condition

Monitoring water fluxes in rice plots under three different cultivation methods

Italy is the leading producer of rice in Europe with over half of total production, almost totally concentrated in a large traditional paddy rice area between the Lombardy and Piedmont regions, in the north-western part of the country. In this area irrigation of rice has been traditionally carried out by flooding. The introduction of new combined irrigation and agronomic management practices (dry seeding followed by field flooding and in a full aerobic cultivation with intermittent irrigations), aiming to reduce the water consumption, can determine considerable effect on the landscape and the water cycle. With the aim to study in depth the water fluxes during the whole crop season, three experimental plots at the Ente Nazionale Risi-Rice Research Centre’s Experimental Station of Castello d’Agogna (PV) were instrumented. In each plot the following instruments have been installed: 1) a long throated flume and a double shaped (V-notch and rectangular) thin plate for superficial inputs and outputs, 3) a set of piezometers for groundwater levels, 4) one stage level gauge in each submerged field, 5) four tensiometers and moisture sensors clusters, 6) one eddy covariance station for vapour fluxes estimation. Most of the instruments were equipped with electrical sensors connected by cables to a wireless data logger that, in turn, send the data to a PC placed within ENR offices and web-connected by a LAN. In this way, besides the automatic download of data, it was possible to remotely control the devices, to quickly fix troubles, and to better plan the field trips. The management of the whole framework was done by a specifically developed software. In this paper the whole system, which presents some degree of innovation, is described in detail

Toward an Epigenetic View of Our Musical Mind

We are transient beings, in a world of constantly changing culture. At home in the fields of Art and Science, seemingly capable of magnificent abstractions, humans have an intense need to externalize their insights. Music is an art and a highly transmissible cultural product, but we still have an incomplete understanding of how our musical experience shapes and is vividly retained within our brain, and how it affects our behavior. However, the developing field of social epigenetics is now helping us to describe how communication and emotion, prime hallmarks of music, can be linked to a transmissible, biochemical change

Human alpha rhythms during visual delayed choice reaction time tasks: A magnetoencephalography study, Human Brain Mapping 2005;24(3):184–192

The original article to which this Erratum refers was published in the March 2005 issue of Human Brain MappingHuman Brain Mapping (2005) 24(3) 184–192

Pyridoxal 5′-Phosphate-Dependent Enzymes at the Crossroads of Host–Microbe Tryptophan Metabolism

The chemical processes taking place in humans intersects the myriad of metabolic pathways occurring in commensal microorganisms that colonize the body to generate a complex biochemical network that regulates multiple aspects of human life. The role of tryptophan (Trp) metabolism at the intersection between the host and microbes is increasingly being recognized, and multiple pathways of Trp utilization in either direction have been identified with the production of a wide range of bioactive products. It comes that a dysregulation of Trp metabolism in either the host or the microbes may unbalance the production of metabolites with potential pathological consequences. The ability to redirect the Trp flux to restore a homeostatic production of Trp metabolites may represent a valid therapeutic strategy for a variety of pathological conditions, but identifying metabolic checkpoints that could be exploited to manipulate the Trp metabolic network is still an unmet need. In this review, we put forward the hypothesis that pyridoxal 5\u27-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzymes, which regulate multiple pathways of Trp metabolism in both the host and in microbes, might represent critical nodes and that modulating the levels of vitamin B6, from which PLP is derived, might represent a metabolic checkpoint to re-orienteer Trp flux for therapeutic purposes