Global and regional brain metabolic scaling and its functional consequences

Background: Information processing in the brain requires large amounts of metabolic energy, the spatial distribution of which is highly heterogeneous reflecting complex activity patterns in the mammalian brain. Results: Here, it is found based on empirical data that, despite this heterogeneity, the volume-specific cerebral glucose metabolic rate of many different brain structures scales with brain volume with almost the same exponent around -0.15. The exception is white matter, the metabolism of which seems to scale with a standard specific exponent -1/4. The scaling exponents for the total oxygen and glucose consumptions in the brain in relation to its volume are identical and equal to $0.86\pm 0.03$, which is significantly larger than the exponents 3/4 and 2/3 suggested for whole body basal metabolism on body mass. Conclusions: These findings show explicitly that in mammals (i) volume-specific scaling exponents of the cerebral energy expenditure in different brain parts are approximately constant (except brain stem structures), and (ii) the total cerebral metabolic exponent against brain volume is greater than the much-cited Kleiber's 3/4 exponent. The neurophysiological factors that might account for the regional uniformity of the exponents and for the excessive scaling of the total brain metabolism are discussed, along with the relationship between brain metabolic scaling and computation.Comment: Brain metabolism scales with its mass well above 3/4 exponen

The PARAChute project: remote monitoring of posture and gait for fall prevention

Falls in the elderly are a major public health problem due to both their frequency and their medical and social consequences. In France alone, more than two million people aged over 65 years old fall each year, leading to more than 9 000 deaths, in particular in those over 75 years old (more than 8 000 deaths). This paper describes the PARAChute project, which aims to develop a methodology that will enable the detection of an increased risk of falling in community-dwelling elderly. The methods used for a remote noninvasive assessment for static and dynamic balance assessments and gait analysis are described. The final result of the project has been the development of an algorithm for movement detection during gait and a balance signature extracted from a force plate. A multicentre longitudinal evaluation of balance has commenced in order to validate the methodologies and technologies developed in the project

Intervenir sobre la cultura organizacional: ¿qué aspectos se pueden considerar?

La cultura organizacional (co) es un macroconstructo que involucra una gran variedad de componentes y funciones organizacionales (Warner, 2014). Reyes y Moros (2018) señalan que tiene su origen en el estudio realizado en Hawthorne por Elton Mayo y otros investigadores de la Escuela de las Relaciones Humanas de la Administración, en el que buscaban identificar la influencia de las condiciones físicas y ambientales en el desempeño individual. Para Reyes y Moros (2018), la co se siguió desarrollando en los años setenta con Pettigrew, para ser entendida como un sistema de significados que tanto pública como colectivamente es aceptado para operar en un tiempo y por un grupo determinado. Los autores la definen como “… un sistema de significados compartidos por los miembros de la organización, los cuales son el resultado de una construcción social constituida a través de símbolos y como tal deben ser interpretados”1a edició

Influence of severe hypoglycemia on mitochondrial and plasma membrane function in rat brain

Abstract: Previous experiments have shown that severe hypoglycemia disrupts cerebral energy state in spite of a maintained cerebral oxygen consumption, suggesting uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation. Other studies have demonstrated that hypoglycemia leads to loss of cerebral cortical phospholipids and phospholipid-bound fatty acids. The objective of the present study was, therefore, to study respiratory characteristics of brain mitochondria during severe hypoglycemia and to correlate respiratory activity to mitochondrial phospholipid composition. Mitochondria were isolated after 30 or 60 min of hypoglycemia with ceased EEG activity, and after a 90-min recovery period, and their resting (state 4) and ADP-stimulated (state 3) oxygen consumption rates and phospholipids and phospholipid-bound fatty acid content were measured. After 30 min of hypoglycemia, state 3 respiration decreased without any increase in state 4 respiration or change in ADP/O ratio. This decrease, which occurred with glutamate plus malate—but not with succinate—as substrates, was partly reversed by addition of bovine serum albumin and KCI. Chemical analyses of isolated mitochondria did not reveal changes in their phospholipid or fatty acid content. The results thus failed to account for the dissociation of cerebral energy state and oxygen consumption. It is emphasized, though, that uncoupling may well occur in vivo due to accumulation of free fatty acids and "futile cycling" of K+ and Ca2+. After 60 min of hypoglycemia, a moderate decrease in state 3 respiration was observed also with succinate as substrate, and there was some decrease in ADP/O ratios in KCI-containing media. However, the changes in ADP/O ratios were more conspicuous during recovery; in addition, state 4 respiration increased significantly. It is concluded that changes in mitochondrial function after 30 min of hypoglycemia are potentially reversible but that true mitochondrial failure develops in the recovery period following 60 min of hypoglycemia. This conclusion was corroborated by results demonstrating incomplete recovery of cerebral energy state. Since EEG and sensory evoked potentials return after 30 min but not after 60 min of hypoglycemia it seemed difficult to explain failure of return of electrophysiological function after 60 min of hypoglycemia solely by mitochondrial dysfunction; plasma membrane function was therefore assessed by measurements of extracellular potassium activity ([K+]e). The results showed that whereas [K+]e remained close to control in the recovery period following 30 min of hypoglycemia it rose progressively during recovery following 60 min of hypoglycemia. Possibly, inhibition of Na+ K+–activated ATPase could contribute to the permanent loss of spontaneous or evoked electrical activity