Effects of prism adaptation on reference systems for extrapersonal space in neglect patients

Up to now, rehabilitation of unilateral spatial neglect has focused on egocentric forms of neglect, whereas less is known about the possibility to improve allocentric deficits. The present study aimed to examine the efficacy of prism adaptation (PA) training on patients with different forms of neglect: egocentric, allocentric, or mixed. Twenty-eight patients were assessed with specific neglect tests before (T0) and after (T1) 10 sessions of PA training. Performance in the Apples Cancellation test was used to identify patients with egocentric (n = 6), allocentric (n = 5), or mixed (n = 17) forms of neglect. In the overall group of patients, PA training produced significant improvements in performance across different neglect tests. In terms of the egocentric–allocentric distinction, the training was effective in reducing omissions in the left part of space in the Apples Cancellation test both for patients with egocentric neglect and mixed neglect. By contrast, errors of commissions (marking the inability to detect the left part of the target stimulus, i.e., allocentric neglect) remained unchanged after PA in patients with allocentric neglect and actually increased marginally in patients with mixed neglect. The PA training is effective in improving egocentric neglect, while it is ineffective on the allocentric form of the disturbance. Notably, the allocentric component of neglect is frequently impaired, although this is most often in conjunction with the egocentric impairment, yielding the mixed form of neglect. This stresses the importance of developing exercises tuned to improving allocentric neglect

Genetic diversity and phylogenetic reconstruction of grouper (Serranidae) from Sunda Land, Indonesia

Groupers are coral reefs associated and favored in the aquaculture industry. Aquaculture system has been successfully carried out with a floating cage system as well as in an aquaculture system in a pond. Lately, breeding activities in groupers have produced hybrid species that are expected to increase production and fulfillment of the demand of groupers in the live fish market in Singapore, Taiwan, and China. The study of biology has supported the success of many of groupers, but information on genetic variation in commercial groupers is still very limited. This report is a preliminary study of genetic diversity in commercial groups from Java, Bali, and Aceh, which is the Sunda land region in western Indonesia. Eleven specimens have been identified with the barcode region (Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I gene region). As a result, two species were identified as Indonesian haplotypes, namely Epinephelus merra and Cephalopholis cyanostigma. Phylogenetic tree analysis produces two large clades, namely Clade I (Epinephelus) and Clade II (Cephalopholis and Variola), which are clearly separated in the subfamily Epinephelinae. However, in-depth studies of genetic variation need to be more accurate by increasing the number of specimens from various regions in Indonesia to describe genetic diversity comprehensively

Diversity of commercially important grouper (Family: Epinephelidae) in Simeulue and Banyak Islands, Aceh, Indonesia

Grouper is one of the economically important fish groups in the Simeulue and Banyak Islands. However, data on the diversity of the grouper in this region is still limited. This study aimed to inventory the commercially important grouper in Simeulue and Banyak Islands. Sampling was carried out in April - September 2021 at sixteen locations around Simeulue and Banyak Islands. In total, 20 species of commercial grouper consisting of 6 genera were recorded during the study. Epinephelus was the most dominant genus with ten species, followed by Cephalopholis with four species. In addition, seventeen species (85%) were included in the Least Concern (LC), two species (10%) were categorized as Vulnerable (VU), and one species (5%) was Data Deficient (DD). This study provides a database of commercially important grouper in Simeulue and Banyak Islands that can be used to manage the fish group

Grouper DNA barcoding studies in Indonesia: A short review

Indonesia is recognized as one of the territories that have the highest reef fish biodiversity in the world. One of the commercially valuable fish in this area is the groupers (locally name "kerapu"). At least 76 grouper species have been reported in Indonesian waters, with three species were categorized into "vulnerable", five species "Data Deficient", and 68 species under the "Least Concern" category based on IUCN classification. The increasing exploitations rate had been reported caused the grouper stocks in Indonesia to decrease and threatened extinction. However, only limited scientific data is available regarding the grouper in Indonesia, including their identification. In most fish landing sites across Indonesia, the groupers are morphologically identified and recorded as "kerapu" to replace their scientific species names. Accurate species identification is essential in designing appropriate and sustainable management of fisheries resources. One of the tools that have been used in fish identification is DNA barcoding. In the last two decades, this molecular method has been applied to identify many fish groups globally, including grouper fish. This study reviewed the DNA barcoding approach in grouper identification in Indonesia based on the available literature.Keywords:DNA barcodingGrouperMolecular TaxonomyFisheriesIndonesia

DNA Barcoding of Six Commercially Important Groupers (Epinephelidae) from Langsa, Aceh, Indonesia

Groupers are among the fish groups that are difficult to recognize due to their high morphological similarities. Therefore, molecular techniques, particularly DNA barcoding, are extensively utilized to differentiate this fish group. This study aimed to analyze and validate six grouper species belonging to the Epinephelidae family that were harvested from Langsa district waters in Aceh province, Indonesia, based on DNA barcode data. It was conducted from June to December 2021, with the fish specimens collected from fishers at fish landing sites and the fish market in Langsa City, Aceh province. A total of 22 grouper sequences belonging to six species were generated, namely Epinephelus coioides, E. bleekeri, E. malabaricus, E. erythrurus, E. sexfasciatus and Mycteroperca poecilonotus (formerly Epinephelus poecilonotus). Genetic distance within these species ranged from 0.10 to 0.73% (average: 0.40%). Notably, E. malabaricus and E. coioides exhibited the closest genetic kinship (4.07%), while E. sexfasciatus and M. poecilonotus displayed the greatest genetic distance (19.33%). This study provides the first DNA reference for grouper in Langsa district, Indonesia, with significant implications for future sustainable grouper management

Using the Oxford Cognitive Screen to detect cognitive impairment in stroke patients: a comparison with the Mini-Mental State Examination

Background: The Oxford Cognitive Screen (OCS) was recently developed with the aim of describing the cognitive deficits after stroke. The scale consists of 10 tasks encompassing five cognitive domains: attention and executive function, language, memory, number processing, and praxis. OCS was devised to be inclusive and un-confounded by aphasia and neglect. As such, it may have a greater potential to be informative on stroke cognitive deficits of widely used instruments, such as the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which were originally devised for demented patients. Objective: The present study compared the OCS with the MMSE with regards to their ability to detect cognitive impairments post-stroke. We further aimed to examine performance on the OCS as a function of subtypes of cerebral infarction and clinical severity. Methods: 325 first stroke patients were consecutively enrolled in the study over a 9-month period. The OCS and MMSE, as well as the Bamford classification and NIHSS, were given according to standard procedures. Results: About a third of patients (35.3%) had a performance lower than the cutoff (<22) on the MMSE, whereas 91.6% were impaired in at least one OCS domain, indicating higher incidences of impairment for the OCS. More than 80% of patients showed an impairment in two or more cognitive domains of the OCS. Using the MMSE as a standard of clinical practice, the comparative sensitivity of OCS was 100%. Out of the 208 patients with normal MMSE performance 180 showed impaired performance in at least one domain of the OCS. The discrepancy between OCS and MMSE was particularly strong for patients with milder strokes. As for subtypes of cerebral infarction, fewer patients demonstrated widespread impairments in the OCS in the Posterior Circulation Infarcts category than in the other categories. Conclusion: Overall, the results showed a much higher incidence of cognitive impairment with the OCS than with the MMSE and demonstrated no false negatives for OCS vs MMSE. It is concluded that OCS is a sensitive screen tool for cognitive deficits after stroke. In particular, the OCS detects high incidences of stroke-specific cognitive impairments, not detected by the MMSE, demonstrating the importance of cognitive profiling

Computational and Experimental Study of Heat Transfer on the heat sink with an impinging synthetic jet under Various Excitation Wave

This work presents an investigation of an impinging synthetic jet produced by a continuous movement of an oscillating piezoelectric membrane in a synthetic jet actuator (SJA). The jet stream blows from the top of the heat sink attached to an electrically heated mat, and is used to enhance heat transfer to simulate a microelectronic component cooling system. Experimental measurements and numerical simulation were conducted to elucidate the distribution of forced convective heat transfer. The membrane's movement was set to produce a synthetic jet for a complete cycle to investigate flow dynamics in suction and blowing streams. The purpose of this research is to characterize synthetic jet membrane vibrations using sinusoidal, square, and triangular wave excitation modes to find which mode is best for vibrating the synthetic jet membrane. The membrane was excited with various functions, including sinusoidal, triangular, and square waveforms with frequency of 80 Hz, 120 Hz, and 160 Hz. The synthetic jet flow simulation utilized a commercial CFD software, FLUENT and DesignModeler to generate an element meshing with total mesh volume of 537.422. The amplitude for all membrane waves is assumed to be 2 mm/s. A k-ω Shear Stress Transport turbulence model was used to complete the simulation. A user-defined function model was developed to drive the piezoelectric membrane using various sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal excitation waves. Measurements were conducted using thermocouples with an automated data acquisition system to obtain temperature data and derive heat transfer coefficients.The conclusion from this research is that the 120 Hz square wave excitation mode produces the best heat transfer value. This research can contribute to the development of synthetic jet models for the microelectronic component cooling system industry