Comparing ICA-based and Single-Trial Topographic ERP Analyses

Single-trial analysis of human electroencephalography (EEG) has been recently proposed for better understanding the contribution of individual subjects to a group-analyis effect as well as for investigating single-subject mechanisms. Independent Component Analysis (ICA) has been repeatedly applied to concatenated single-trial responses and at a single-subject level in order to extract those components that resemble activities of interest. More recently we have proposed a single-trial method based on topographic maps that determines which voltage configurations are reliably observed at the event-related potential (ERP) level taking advantage of repetitions across trials. Here, we investigated the correspondence between the maps obtained by ICA versus the topographies that we obtained by the single-trial clustering algorithm that best explained the variance of the ERP. To do this, we used exemplar data provided from the EEGLAB website that are based on a dataset from a visual target detection task. We show there to be robust correpondence both at the level of the activation time courses and at the level of voltage configurations of a subset of relevant maps. We additionally show the estimated inverse solution (based on low-resolution electromagnetic tomography) of two corresponding maps occurring at approximately 300ms post-stimulus onset, as estimated by the two aforementioned approaches. The spatial distribution of the estimated sources significantly correlated and had in common a right parietal activation within Brodmann's Area (BA) 40. Despite their differences in terms of theoretical bases, the consistency between the results of these two approaches shows that their underlying assumptions are indeed compatibl

Single cell oils of the cold-adapted oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula glacialis DBVPG 4785

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The production of microbial lipids has attracted considerable interest during the past decade since they can be successfully used to produce biodiesel by catalyzed transesterification with short chain alcohols. Certain yeast species, including several psychrophilic isolates, are oleaginous and accumulate lipids from 20 to 70% of biomass under appropriate cultivation conditions. Among them, <it>Rhodotorula glacialis </it>is a psychrophilic basidiomycetous species capable to accumulate intracellular lipids.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>Rhodotorula glacialis </it>DBVPG 4785 is an oleaginous psychrophilic yeast isolated from a glacial environment. Despite its origin, the strain abundantly grew and accumulated lipids between -3 to 20°C. The temperature did not influence the yield coefficients of both biomass and lipids production, but had positive effect on the growth rate and thus on volumetric productivity of lipid. In glucose-based media, cellular multiplication occurred first, while the lipogenic phase followed whenever the culture was limited by a nutrient other than glucose. The extent of the carbon excess had positive effects on triacylglycerols production, that was maximum with 120 g L^-1glucose, in terms of lipid concentration (19 g L^-1), lipid/biomass (68%) and lipid/glucose yields (16%). Both glucose concentration and growth temperature influenced the composition of fatty acids, whose unsaturation degree decreased when the temperature or glucose excess increased.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study is the first proposed biotechnological application for <it>Rhodotorula glacialis </it>species, whose oleaginous biomass accumulates high amounts of lipids within a wide range of temperatures through appropriate cultivation C:N ratio. Although <it>R. glacialis </it>DBVPG 4785 is a cold adapted yeast, lipid production occurs over a broad range of temperatures and it can be considered an interesting microorganism for the production of single cell oils.</p

Progetti di alternanza scuola-lavoro inclusivi nella scuola secondaria di II grado

From a pedagogical perspective, school-work alternation (SWA) represents an important opportunity to create synergies between the educational and the professional field. Moreover, SWA may allow to value individual learning styles, interests and vocations, to promote flexible teaching/learning strategies and to stimulate the development of the key competences in view of the life project.In order to fully exploit the potential of SWA, teacher education and training is a crucial aspect. In this respect, the course for Special Education Teachers (Ministerial Decree 30 September 2011) provides the laboratory of “Orientation, Life Project and School-Work Alternation” addressed to upper secondary school teachers. On the basis of the analysis of the projects works developed by the prospective teachers who attended the course at University of Rome Foro Italico (A.Y. 2013/2014 and A.Y. 2014/2015), the present research aims to identify a set of indicators that may be helpful to design inclusive SWA projects, taking into account all students’ needs, school curriculum and opportunities offered bythe local area

Perceptual and Semantic Contributions to Repetition Priming of Environmental Sounds

Repetition of environmental sounds, like their visual counterparts, can facilitate behavior and modulate neural responses, exemplifying plasticity in how auditory objects are represented or accessed. It remains controversial whether such repetition priming/suppression involves solely plasticity based on acoustic features and/or also access to semantic features. To evaluate contributions of physical and semantic features in eliciting repetition-induced plasticity, the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study repeated either identical or different exemplars of the initially presented object; reasoning that identical exemplars share both physical and semantic features, whereas different exemplars share only semantic features. Participants performed a living/man-made categorization task while being scanned at 3T. Repeated stimuli of both types significantly facilitated reaction times versus initial presentations, demonstrating perceptual and semantic repetition priming. There was also repetition suppression of fMRI activity within overlapping temporal, premotor, and prefrontal regions of the auditory "what” pathway. Importantly, the magnitude of suppression effects was equivalent for both physically identical and semantically related exemplars. That the degree of repetition suppression was irrespective of whether or not both perceptual and semantic information was repeated is suggestive of a degree of acoustically independent semantic analysis in how object representations are maintained and retrieve

Progression of auditory discrimination based on neural decoding predicts awakening from coma

Auditory evoked potentials are informative of intact cortical functions of comatose patients. The integrity of auditory functions evaluated using mismatch negativity paradigms has been associated with their chances of survival. However, because auditory discrimination is assessed at various delays after coma onset, it is still unclear whether this impairment depends on the time of the recording. We hypothesized that impairment in auditory discrimination capabilities is indicative of coma progression, rather than of the comatose state itself and that rudimentary auditory discrimination remains intact during acute stages of coma. We studied 30 post-anoxic comatose patients resuscitated from cardiac arrest and five healthy, age-matched controls. Using a mismatch negativity paradigm, we performed two electroencephalography recordings with a standard 19-channel clinical montage: the first within 24 h after coma onset and under mild therapeutic hypothermia, and the second after 1 day and under normothermic conditions. We analysed electroencephalography responses based on a multivariate decoding algorithm that automatically quantifies neural discrimination at the single patient level. Results showed high average decoding accuracy in discriminating sounds both for control subjects and comatose patients. Importantly, accurate decoding was largely independent of patients' chance of survival. However, the progression of auditory discrimination between the first and second recordings was informative of a patient's chance of survival. A deterioration of auditory discrimination was observed in all non-survivors (equivalent to 100% positive predictive value for survivors). We show, for the first time, evidence of intact auditory processing even in comatose patients who do not survive and that progression of sound discrimination over time is informative of a patient's chance of survival. Tracking auditory discrimination in comatose patients could provide new insight to the chance of awakening in a quantitative and automatic fashion during early stages of com

La formazione degli insegnanti di sostegno sulle TIC. Analisi dei prodotti multimediali del corso di specializzazione per le attività di sostegno

ICT has been introduced in the Italian school system for more than 20 years (National Informatics Plan, 1985; 1991, National Digital School Plan, 2007; 2015) in order to facilitate teaching-learning processes for all. Researches show that besides access to technology, ICT-related educational innovation success depends above all on teacher training.In Italy, specialized teaching courses (Ministerial Decree 30/09/2011) prepare prospective teachers for working in inclusive classroom. Within these courses, a 75-hours class provides training for using ICT in the educational processes. The creation of a multimedia product is one of the demands of the final assessment.On the basis of the analysis of multimedia products presented by the prospective teachers who attended the course at University of Rome “Foro Italico” (2014/2015), the present work aims to highlight good practices but also critical aspects in SEN teachers training on ICT in order to reflect on how to improve training efficacy and impact

Pronounced structural and functional damage in early adult pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis with no or minimal clinical disability

Pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (POMS) may represent a model of vulnerability to damage occurring during a period of active maturation of the human brain. Whereas adaptive mechanisms seem to take place in the POMS brain in the short-medium term, natural history studies have shown that these patients reach irreversible disability, despite slower progression, at a significantly younger age than adult-onset MS (AOMS) patients. We tested for the first time whether significant brain alterations already occurred in POMS patients in their early adulthood and with no or minimal disability (n = 15) in comparison with age- and disability-matched AOMS patients (n = 14) and to normal controls (NC, n = 20). We used a multimodal MRI approach by modeling, using FSL, voxelwise measures of microstructural integrity of white matter tracts and gray matter volumes with those of intra- and internetwork functional connectivity (FC) (analysis of variance, p â\u89¤ 0.01, corrected for multiple comparisons across space). POMS patients showed, when compared with both NC and AOMS patients, altered measures of diffusion tensor imaging (reduced fractional anisotropy and/or increased diffusivities) and higher probability of lesion occurrence in a clinically eloquent region for physical disability such as the posterior corona radiata. In addition, POMS patients showed, compared with the other two groups, reduced long-range FC, assessed from resting functional MRI, between default mode network and secondary visual network, whose interaction subserves important cognitive functions such as spatial attention and visual learning. Overall, this pattern of structural damage and brain connectivity disruption in early adult POMS patients with no or minimal clinical disability might explain their unfavorable clinical outcome in the long term

Neural signatures of visuo-motor integration during human-robot interactions

Visuo-motor integration shapes our daily experience and underpins the sense of feeling in control over our actions. The last decade has seen a surge in robotically and virtually mediated interactions, whereby bodily actions ultimately result in an artificial movement. But despite the growing number of applications, the neurophysiological correlates of visuo-motor processing during human-machine interactions under dynamic conditions remain scarce. Here we address this issue by employing a bimanual robotic interface able to track voluntary hands movement, rendered in real-time into the motion of two virtual hands. We experimentally manipulated the visual feedback in the virtual reality with spatial and temporal conflicts and investigated their impact on (1) visuo-motor integration and (2) the subjective experience of being the author of one's action (i.e., sense of agency). Using somatosensory evoked responses measured with electroencephalography, we investigated neural differences occurring when the integration between motor commands and visual feedback is disrupted. Our results show that the right posterior parietal cortex encodes for differences between congruent and spatially-incongruent interactions. The experimental manipulations also induced a decrease in the sense of agency over the robotically-mediated actions. These findings offer solid neurophysiological grounds that can be used in the future to monitor integration mechanisms during movements and ultimately enhance subjective experience during human-machine interactions