72 research outputs found
VCE-KONUS: Community Engine einer Gemeinschaft mit besonderen Anforderungen in den neuen Medien
Die wachsende Verbreitung, die das Internet bisher gefunden hat macht es zunehmend zum Informationspool Nummer Eins. In der heutigen Informationsgesellschaft ist die Nutzung dieses Mediums unumgänglich und bietet gerade für in der Mobilität eingeschränkte Menschen neue Ressourcen zur Informations- und Kontaktfindung sowie zur Integration in gesellschaftliche Prozesse (Bildung, Kultur, Arbeit). Der Zugang zu diesem neuen Medium wird allerdings durch eine Vielzahl von Barrieren besonders für behinderte Menschen erschwert bzw. unmöglich gemacht. Das Internet ist außerdem das ideale Medium für die Bildung und den Betrieb virtueller Gemeinschaften. Im weit verzweigten Internet ist die Suche nach potentiellen Partnern in der Fülle der verteilt angebotenen Informationen sehr zeitaufwendig und wenig effizient, was durch eine Behinderung noch potenziert wird. Es fehlt eine geeignete Plattform, die virtuelle Gemeinschaften im Internet barrierearm unterstützt. Im Rahmen des Projektes KONUS wird eine geeignet Plattform entwickelt. [... aus dem Text
Malignant astrocytoma-derived region of common amplification in chromosomal band 17p12 is frequently amplified in high-grade osteosarcomas
Non-verbal sound processing in the primary progressive aphasias
Little is known about the processing of non-verbal sounds in the primary progressive aphasias. Here, we investigated the processing of complex non-verbal sounds in detail, in a consecutive series of 20 patients with primary progressive aphasia [12 with progressive non-fluent aphasia; eight with semantic dementia]. We designed a novel experimental neuropsychological battery to probe complex sound processing at early perceptual, apperceptive and semantic levels, using within-modality response procedures that minimized other cognitive demands and matching tests in the visual modality. Patients with primary progressive aphasia had deficits of non-verbal sound analysis compared with healthy age-matched individuals. Deficits of auditory early perceptual analysis were more common in progressive non-fluent aphasia, deficits of apperceptive processing occurred in both progressive non-fluent aphasia and semantic dementia, and deficits of semantic processing also occurred in both syndromes, but were relatively modality specific in progressive non-fluent aphasia and part of a more severe generic semantic deficit in semantic dementia. Patients with progressive non-fluent aphasia were more likely to show severe auditory than visual deficits as compared to patients with semantic dementia. These findings argue for the existence of core disorders of complex non-verbal sound perception and recognition in primary progressive aphasia and specific disorders at perceptual and semantic levels of cortical auditory processing in progressive non-fluent aphasia and semantic dementia, respectively
Short and Intense Tailor-Made Notched Music Training against Tinnitus: The Tinnitus Frequency Matters
Tinnitus is one of the most common diseases in industrialized countries. Here, we developed and evaluated a short-term (5 subsequent days) and intensive (6 hours/day) tailor-made notched music training (TMNMT) for patients suffering from chronic, tonal tinnitus. We evaluated (i) the TMNMT efficacy in terms of behavioral and magnetoencephalographic outcome measures for two matched patient groups with either low (≤8 kHz, N = 10) or high (>8 kHz, N = 10) tinnitus frequencies, and the (ii) persistency of the TMNMT effects over the course of a four weeks post-training phase. The results indicated that the short-term intensive TMNMT took effect in patients with tinnitus frequencies ≤8 kHz: subjective tinnitus loudness, tinnitus-related distress, and tinnitus-related auditory cortex evoked activity were significantly reduced after TMNMT completion. However, in the patients with tinnitus frequencies >8 kHz, significant changes were not observed. Interpreted in their entirety, the results also indicated that the induced changes in auditory cortex evoked neuronal activity and tinnitus loudness were not persistent, encouraging the application of the TMNMT as a longer-term training. The findings are essential in guiding the intended transfer of this neuro-scientific treatment approach into routine clinical practice
Measurement of the proton and deuteron structure functions, F2p and F2d, and of the ratio sigma(L)/sigma(T)
The muon-proton and muon-deuteron inclusive deep inelastic scattering cross
sections were measured in the kinematic range 0.002 < x < 0.60 and 0.5 < Q2 <
75 GeV2 at incident muon energies of 90, 120, 200 and 280 GeV. These results
are based on the full data set collected by the New Muon Collaboration,
including the data taken with a small angle trigger. The extracted values of
the structure functions F2p and F2d are in good agreement with those from other
experiments. The data cover a sufficient range of y to allow the determination
of the ratio of the longitudinally to transversely polarised virtual photon
absorption cross sections, R= sigma(L)/sigma(T), for 0.002 < x < 0.12 . The
values of R are compatible with a perturbative QCD prediction; they agree with
earlier measurements and extend to smaller x.Comment: In this replacement the erroneously quoted R values in tables 3-6 for
x>0.12, and R1990 values in tables 5-6 for all x, have been corrected, and
the cross sections in tables 3-4 have been adapted. Everything else,
including the structure functions F2, remained unchanged. 22 pages, LateX,
including figures, with two .sty files, and three separate f2tab.tex files
for the F2-tables. Accepted for publication in Nucl.Phys.B 199
Selective Attention Increases Both Gain and Feature Selectivity of the Human Auditory Cortex
Background. An experienced car mechanic can often deduce what’s wrong with a car by carefully listening to the sound of the ailing engine, despite the presence of multiple sources of noise. Indeed, the ability to select task-relevant sounds for awareness, whilst ignoring irrelevant ones, constitutes one of the most fundamental of human faculties, but the underlying neural mechanisms have remained elusive. While most of the literature explains the neural basis of selective attention by means of an increase in neural gain, a number of papers propose enhancement in neural selectivity as an alternative or a complementary mechanism. Methodology/Principal Findings. Here, to address the question whether pure gain increase alone can explain auditory selective attention in humans, we quantified the auditory cortex frequency selectivity in 20 healthy subjects by masking 1000-Hz tones by continuous noise masker with parametrically varying frequency notches around the tone frequency (i.e., a notched-noise masker). The task of the subjects was, in different conditions, to selectively attend to either occasionally occurring slight increments in tone frequency (1020 Hz), tones of slightly longer duration, or ignore the sounds. In line with previous studies, in the ignore condition, the global field power (GFP) of event-related brain responses at 100 ms from the stimulus onset to the 1000-Hz tones was suppressed as a function of the narrowing of the notch width. During the selective attention conditions, the suppressant effect of the noise notch width on GFP was decreased, but as a function significantly different from a multiplicative one expected on the basis of simple gain model of selective attention. Conclusions/Significance. Our results suggest that auditory selective attention in humans cannot be explained by a gai
A Re-Evaluation of the nuclear Structure Function Ratios for D, He, Li, C and Ca
We present a re-evaluation of the structure function ratios F2(He)/F2(D),
F2(C)/F2(D) and F2(Ca)/F2(D) measured in deep inelastic muon-nucleus scattering
at an incident muon momentum of 200 GeV. We also present the ratios
F2(C)/F2(Li), F2(Ca)/F2(Li) and F2(Ca)/F2(C) measured at 90 GeV. The results
are based on data already published by NMC; the main difference in the analysis
is a correction for the masses of the deuterium targets and an improvement in
the radiative corrections. The kinematic range covered is 0.0035 < x < 0.65,
0.5 < Q^2 <90 GeV^2 for the He/D, C/D and Ca/D data and 0.0085 < x < 0.6, 0.84
< Q^2 < 17 GeV^2 for the Li/C/Ca ones.Comment: 6 pages, Latex, 3 figures as uuencoded compressed tar file included
at the end, in case of problems contact [email protected] (Antje
Bruell
The functional anatomy of semantic retrieval is influenced by gender, menstrual cycle, and sex hormones
This study examines the neurobiology of semantic retrieval and describes the influence of gender, menstrual cycle, and sex hormones on semantic networks. Healthy right-handed subjects (12 men, 12 women) were investigated with 3T-fMRI during synonym generation. Behavioral performance and sex hormone levels were assessed. Women were examined during the early follicular and midluteal cycle phase. The activation pattern in all groups involved left frontal and temporal as well as bilateral medial frontal, cingulate, occipital, basal ganglia, and cerebellar regions. Men showed greater left frontal activation than women in both menstrual cycle phases. Women yielded high correlations of left prefrontal activation with estradiol in the midluteal phase and with progesterone in both phases. Testosterone levels correlated highly with left prefrontal activation in all three groups. In all, we describe a cerebral network involved in semantic processing and demonstrate that it is significantly affected by gender and sex steroid hormones
Measurement of the proton and the deuteron structure functions F2p and F2d
The proton and deuteron structure functions F2p and F2d were measured in the
kinematic range 0.006<x<0.6 and 0.5<Q^2<75 GeV^2, by inclusive deep inelastic
muon scattering at 90, 120, 200 and 280 GeV. The measurements are in good
agreement with earlier high precision results. The present and earlier results
together have been parametrised to give descriptions of the proton and deuteron
structure functions F2 and their uncertainties over the range 0.006<x<0.9.Comment: 22 pages, using LATEX, 12pt, epsfig.sty, rotating.sty; 2 tables and 6
figures uuencoded compressed tar files in f2fig.uu (Corrected two values of
Table 3 into c3=-35.01 and c4=44.43 for "Upper F2p".
Accurate Measurement of F2d/F2p and Rd-Rp
Results are presented for F2d/F2p and Rd-Rp from simultaneous measurements of
deep inelastic muon scattering on hydrogen and deuterium targets, at 90, 120,
200 and 280 GeV. The difference Rd-Rp, determined in the range 0.002<x<0.4 at
an average Q^2 of 5 GeV^2, is compatible with zero. The x and Q^2 dependence of
F2d/F2p was measured in the kinematic range 0.001<x<0.8 and 0.1<Q^2<145 GeV^2
with small statistical and systematic errors. For x>0.1 the ratio decreases
with Q^2.Comment: 29 pages, LateX, including figures, prepared with uufiles, arriving
with .sty files as used, figures .eps files and a table .tex file. Accepted
for publication in Nucl.Phys.B 199
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