The Music of Your Emotions: Neural Substrates Involved in Detection of Emotional Correspondence between Auditory and Visual Music Actions

In humans, emotions from music serve important communicative roles. Despite a growing interest in the neural basis of music perception, action and emotion, the majority of previous studies in this area have focused on the auditory aspects of music performances. Here we investigate how the brain processes the emotions elicited by audiovisual music performances. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, and in Experiment 1 we defined the areas responding to audiovisual (musician's movements with music), visual (musician's movements only), and auditory emotional (music only) displays. Subsequently a region of interest analysis was performed to examine if any of the areas detected in Experiment 1 showed greater activation for emotionally mismatching performances (combining the musician's movements with mismatching emotional sound) than for emotionally matching music performances (combining the musician's movements with matching emotional sound) as presented in Experiment 2 to the same participants. The insula and the left thalamus were found to respond consistently to visual, auditory and audiovisual emotional information and to have increased activation for emotionally mismatching displays in comparison with emotionally matching displays. In contrast, the right thalamus was found to respond to audiovisual emotional displays and to have similar activation for emotionally matching and mismatching displays. These results suggest that the insula and left thalamus have an active role in detecting emotional correspondence between auditory and visual information during music performances, whereas the right thalamus has a different role

Evaluating the environmental impact of crude glycerol purification derived from biodiesel production: A comparative life cycle assessment study

In recent decades, surplus crude glycerol has been generated in large amounts as a waste product of biodiesel production, leading to bottlenecks in the supply chain of the biodiesel industry. This waste glycerol represents an important potential renewable feedstock and platform chemical; however, its purification is often needed for further processing. Advancements towards glycerol purification are being made using sustainable purification techniques aimed at improving the biodiesel industry's environmental footprint. Many studies focussing on various techniques to purify glycerol can be found in the literature; however, very few studies to evaluate the environmental impacts of the purification processes have been reported. This paper provides a critical investigation on the cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) of three different processes for purifying crude glycerol, namely, physicochemical treatment and membrane purification (PMP) processes, vacuum distillation purification (VDP) processes and ion exchange purification (IEP) processes having a functional unit (FU) of 1000 kg of purified glycerol. These purification processes were modelled using Aspen plus software v12.1 in combination with Super Pro Designer v13. CCaLC2 (Carbon Calculations over the Life Cycle of Industrial Activities) was used to measure the environmental impacts associated with each process. By following the ISO 14044:2006 methodology and utilising the CCaLC2 tool, seven different types of potential environmental impacts have been investigated, which include carbon footprint, water footprint, acidification, eutrophication, ozone layer depletion, photochemical smog and human toxicity. Sensitivity analysis of the LCA was carried out using the response surface method (RSM) to determine the most effective parameter within the LCA. The total carbon footprint of the PMP, VDP and IEP processes are 3466.82, 1745.72 and 2239.71 kg CO2 eq. FU−1 respectively. The LCA study determined that waste generated as a result of crude glycerol impurities from the three processes had one of the highest environmental impacts on the overall process. For the PMP and IEP processes, the raw materials used in the physicochemical treatment also contribute significantly to the carbon footprint and other environmental impacts. Lastly, aspects concerning the environmental impacts from the PMP glycerol purification process have been addressed by analysing the raw materials from different sources accompanied by altered waste disposal methods (i.e. the incineration of generated wastes as opposed to landfilling) in an attempt to reduce the overall environmental impacts. For the PMP process, which has the highest carbon footprint, usage of differently sourced raw materials and altered waste disposal treatments resulted in 39% reduction in total carbon footprint and 54% reduction in the total ozone layer depletion. Sensitivity analysis of the LCA shows that the glycerol content within the crude glycerol was the most significant parameter

Acting on incidental findings in research imaging

No abstract available

Quantitative trait loci for sensitivity to ethanol intoxication in a C57BL/6J × 129S1/SvImJ inbred mouse cross

Individual variation in sensitivity to acute ethanol (EtOH) challenge is associated with alcohol drinking and is a predictor of alcohol abuse. Previous studies have shown that the C57BL/6J (B6) and 129S1/SvImJ (S1) inbred mouse strains differ in responses on certain measures of acute EtOH intoxication. To gain insight into genetic factors contributing to these differences, we performed quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis of measures of EtOH-induced ataxia (accelerating rotarod), hypothermia, and loss of righting reflex (LORR) duration in a B6 × S1 F2 population. We confirmed that S1 showed greater EtOH-induced hypothermia (specifically at a high dose) and longer LORR compared to B6. QTL analysis revealed several additive and interacting loci for various phenotypes, as well as examples of genotype interactions with sex. QTLs for different EtOH phenotypes were largely non-overlapping, suggesting separable genetic influences on these behaviors. The most compelling main-effect QTLs were for hypothermia on chromosome 16 and for LORR on chromosomes 4 and 6. Several QTLs overlapped with loci repeatedly linked to EtOH drinking in previous mouse studies. The architecture of the traits we examined was complex but clearly amenable to dissection in future studies. Using integrative genomics strategies, plausible functional and positional candidates may be found. Uncovering candidate genes associated with variation in these phenotypes in this population could ultimately shed light on genetic factors underlying sensitivity to EtOH intoxication and risk for alcoholism in humans

Reviewing research evidence and the case of participation in sport and physical recreation by black and minority ethnic communities

The paper addresses the implications of using the process of systematic review in the many areas of leisure where there is a dearth of material that would be admitted into conventional Cochrane Reviews. This raises important questions about what constitutes legitimate knowledge, questions that are of critical import not just to leisure scholars, but to the formulation of policy. The search for certainty in an area that lacks conceptual consensus results in an epistemological imperialism that takes a geocentric form. While clearly, there is a need for good research design whatever the style of research, we contend that the wholesale rejection of insightful research is profligate and foolhardy. A mechanism has to be found to capitalise on good quality research of whatever form. In that search, we draw upon our experience of conducting a review of the material available on participation in sport and physical recreation by people from Black and minority ethnic groups. The paper concludes with a proposal for a more productive review process that makes better use of the full panoply of good quality research available. © 2012 © 2012 Taylor & Francis

An Economic–Business Approach to Clinical Risk Management

This paper introduces risk factors in the field of healthcare and discusses the clinical risks, identification, risk management methods, and tools as well as the analysis of specific situations. Based on documentary analysis, an efficient and coherent methodological choice of an informative and non-interpretative approach, it relies on “unobtrusive” and “non-reactive” information sources, such that the research results are not influenced by the research process itself. To ensure objective and systematical analysis, our research involved three macro-phases: (a) the first involved a skimming (a superficial examination) of the documents collected; (b) the second reading (a thorough examination) allowed a selection of useful information; (c) the third phase involved classification and evaluation of the collected data. This iterative process combined the elements of content and thematic analysis that categorised the information into different categories which were related to the central issues for research purposes. Finally, from the perspective of safety analysis and risk management, we suggest that comprehensive control and operation should be conducted in a holistic way, including patient safety, cost consumption, and organizational responsibility. An organizational strategy that revolves around a constant and gradual risk management process is an important factor in clinical governance which focuses on the safety of patients, operators, and organizations.</jats:p

Altered immunoglobulins (A and G) in Ghanaian patients with type 2 diabetes.

Elevated immunoglobulin levels have been strongly linked to the development and progression of inflammatory disorders such as type 2 diabetes and obesity. This study aimed to evaluate circulating immunoglobulin levels and to identify other metabolic factors that influence humoral immune response among Ghanaian subjects with type 2 diabetes. A comparative cross-sectional study conducted at the National Diabetes Management and Research Center, Accra. Eighty persons with type 2 diabetes were age-matched with 78 controls. Immunoglobulin A, immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin M; interleukin 6; fasting blood glucose; glycated hemoglobin; and lipid parameter concentrations were measured. Blood pressure, anthropometry and body composition indices were also assessed. Median immunoglobulin A and immunoglobulin G (g/L) levels were higher in the case group compared with controls (0.89 vs 0.74, p = 0.043; 7.58 vs 7.29, p &lt; 0.001). Immunoglobulin G, immunoglobulin A and interleukin 6 levels in the case cohort, respectively, associated weakly with fasting blood glucose (r = 0.252, p = 0.001; r = 0.170, p = 0.031; r = 0.296, p = 0.001). There were positive correlations within the control group for immunoglobulin A versus interleukin 6 (r = 0.366, p = 0.001) and within the case group for glycated hemoglobin versus interleukin 6 (r = 0.190, p = 0.020). Our data suggest that humoral immune response is altered in subjects with type 2 diabetes and that serum immunoglobulin levels could serve as useful biomarkers in the investigation and management of diabetes mellitus

Cmr1/WDR76 defines a nuclear genotoxic stress body linking genome integrity and protein quality control

DNA replication stress is a source of genomic instability. Here we identify ​changed mutation rate 1 (​Cmr1) as a factor involved in the response to DNA replication stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and show that ​Cmr1—together with ​Mrc1/​Claspin, ​Pph3, the chaperonin containing ​TCP1 (CCT) and 25 other proteins—define a novel intranuclear quality control compartment (INQ) that sequesters misfolded, ubiquitylated and sumoylated proteins in response to genotoxic stress. The diversity of proteins that localize to INQ indicates that other biological processes such as cell cycle progression, chromatin and mitotic spindle organization may also be regulated through INQ. Similar to ​Cmr1, its human orthologue ​WDR76 responds to proteasome inhibition and DNA damage by relocalizing to nuclear foci and physically associating with CCT, suggesting an evolutionarily conserved biological function. We propose that ​Cmr1/​WDR76 plays a role in the recovery from genotoxic stress through regulation of the turnover of sumoylated and phosphorylated proteins

Complete chloroplast genome sequence of Holoparasite Cistanche Deserticola (Orobanchaceae) reveals gene loss and horizontal gene transfer from Its host Haloxylon Ammodendron (Chenopodiaceae)

The central function of chloroplasts is to carry out photosynthesis, and its gene content and structure are highly conserved across land plants. Parasitic plants, which have reduced photosynthetic ability, suffer gene losses from the chloroplast (cp) genome accompanied by the relaxation of selective constraints. Compared with the rapid rise in the number of cp genome sequences of photosynthetic organisms, there are limited data sets from parasitic plants. The authors report the complete sequence of the cp genome of Cistanche deserticola, a holoparasitic desert species belonging to the family Orobanchaceae