Beyond fingerprinting: Choosing predictive connectomes over reliable connectomes

Recent years have seen a surge of research on variability in functional brain connectivity within and between individuals, with encouraging progress toward understanding the consequences of this variability for cognition and behavior. At the same time, well-founded concerns over rigor and reproducibility in psychology and neuroscience have led many to question whether functional connectivity is sufficiently reliable, and call for methods to improve its reliability. The thesis of this opinion piece is that when studying variability in functional connectivity—both across individuals and within individuals over time—we should use behavior prediction as our benchmark rather than optimize reliability for its own sake. We discuss theoretical and empirical evidence to compel this perspective, both when the goal is to study stable, trait-level differences between people, as well as when the goal is to study state-related changes within individuals. We hope that this piece will be useful to the neuroimaging community as we continue efforts to characterize inter- and intra-subject variability in brain function and build predictive models with an eye toward eventual real-world applications

The impact of COVID-19 on A-Levels since 2020, and what it means for higher education in 2022/23

Students due to finish A-levels in 2022/23 had their GCSE exams cancelled and have suffered COVID-related disruption spread across the last three academic years. Peter Finn, Radu Cinpoes, and Emily Hill offer an overview of changes made to A-Levels since the start of the pandemic and discuss some of the key challenges that lie ahead for UK Higher Education

Pharmacotherapy for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in youth with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder: a case series of patients prescribed stimulant medication in a partial hospitalization program for eating disorders.

BACKGROUND: Appetite suppression and weight loss are established potential side effects of most medications for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These side effects may be especially problematic when using stimulants to treat ADHD in the context of a restrictive eating disorder, such as avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), although these diagnoses are often comorbid in children. This paper presents a combined approach to treating ADHD comorbid with ARFID using stimulant medication and behavior management within a partial hospitalization program (PHP) and intensive outpatient program (IOP)for eating disorders. The aim of this paper is to determine if the continued or new use of stimulant medication allows for adequate weight restoration by reviewing a series of cases receiving the combined treatment. CASE PRESENTATIONS: Consecutive patients with a historical or new diagnosis of ADHD when presenting for treatment for ARFID were included in this case series. This series included 10 patients (8 male, 2 female) who received pharmacotherapy using stimulants and behavior management interventions involving structured mealtimes and contingency management. All treatment occurred within the context of a PHP/IOP for childhood eating disorders. All youth were able to effectively continue on stimulant medication, show clinical benefit in core ADHD symptoms, and able to gradually restore weight. In all cases, stimulant medications were not discontinued, but in some cases, doses were optimized (increased or decreased), switched to a different stimulant, or augmented with non-ADHD medication, such as mirtazapine, to support the management of ADHD while concurrently assisting in weight gain as necessary for the treatment of ARFID. Only one patient was newly started on a stimulant medication; as this was near the end of her treatment stay, limited conclusions can be drawn from this case. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the use of pharmacotherapy, including continuing stimulant medication, when combined with behavior management strategies as a potentially effective treatment approach for ADHD in youth with ARFID in the PHP/IOP setting. Future studies using more rigorous methodology, longer follow-up times, and within other treatment settings are needed

Comparing Two Species: Historical Phylogeography and Species Delimitation of Myiarchus Flycatchers in the West Indies.

In a recent expedition to the Bahamas, the morphological observations of many of the individuals captured bore plumage with coloration that was characteristic of M. stolidus. A species that has up to this point, been considered allopatric. Documented distributions in the West Indies for Myiarchus flycatchers are indicative that while the M. stolidus inhabits Hispaniola and Jamaica, the Bahamas are the native habitat of M. sagrae. In a report from Joseph et al., questionable boundaries were discussed between the two species by highlighting that within a comprehensive Myiarchus phylogeny, M. sagrae is shown as paraphyletic, yet M. stolidus forms a polyphyletic grouping by sharing the most recent common ancestor with M. sagrae. Preliminary analyses here further support these questionable boundaries between M. stolidus and M. sagrae, both genetically and morphologically. Our objective is resolving this taxonomic discrepancy and in doing so, allowing for a better understanding of the demographic history and distributions of these species to assess comprehensively, the avian phylogeography in the West Indies. Morphological variation found among specimens from the same region measured and sampled at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, along with sequence data at one mitochondrial marker procured from recent field work form the basis for the preliminary analyses. Proposed analyses include sequence capture of ultra-conserved elements (UCEs) both of contemporary and historical specimens, along with results in data from many loci across the genome. Furthermore, recordings acquired from the Macaulay audio library at Cornell University will be included as well so as to provide an assessment of vocal variation

The Covid-19 pandemic, A Levels, and transitions to UK Higher Education

A Levels sit within the broader further education environment in the UK. Other further education routes include Scottish Highers, BTECs and apprenticeships, T-Levels, and the International Baccalaureate. This e-briefing focuses on the impact of the pandemic on the administration of A Levels and the experience of A Level students. It does so chronologically, with sections on 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22. The final section considers three themes those due to teach and support students finishing their A Levels in summer 2022 in higher education (HE) settings in the forthcoming 2022-23 academic year may want to factor into their preparation. These factors are academic support, mental health, and inequality

An Unknown Poetic Manuscript in the Library of the Hispanic Society of America

El artículo pretende describir un manuscrito poético singular, conservado sin catalogación en la Biblioteca de la Hispanic Society of America y desconocido hasta hace muy poco tiempo. Se trata de una colección muy variada de poemas entre los que destaca un conjunto de coplas musicadas, de naturaleza amorosa, y algunas composiciones satírico burlescas relativas a la situación política de finales del reinado de Carlos II y comienzos de la dinastía borbónica.The article tries to describe a singular poetic manuscript, kept uncatalogued in the Library of Hispanic Society of America, remained unknown to this date. It is a very varied collection of poems: among them stands out a group of sung love verses and some burlesque and satirical compositions about the political situation of Spain at the end of the kingdom of Carlos II and the beginning of the Bourbon dinasty

A Synthesis of the Effects of Cheatgrass Invasion on US Great Basin Carbon Storage

Non-native, invasive Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass) is pervasive in sagebrush ecosystems in the Great Basin ecoregion of the western United States, competing with native plants and promoting more frequent fires. As a result, cheatgrass invasion likely alters carbon (C) storage in the region. Many studies have measured C pools in one or more common vegetation types: native sagebrush, invaded sagebrush and cheatgrass-dominated (often burned) sites, but these results have yet to be synthesized. We performed a literature review to identify studies assessing the consequences of invasion on C storage in above-ground biomass (AGB), below-ground biomass (BGB), litter, organic soil and total soil. We identified 41 articles containing 386 unique studies and estimated C storage across pools and vegetation types. We used linear mixed models to identify the main predictors of C storage. We found consistent declines in biomass C with invasion: AGB C was 55% lower in cheatgrass (40 ± 4 g C/m2) than native sagebrush (89 ± 27 g C/m2) and BGB C was 62% lower in cheatgrass (90 ± 17 g C/m2) than native sagebrush (238 ± 60 g C/m2). In contrast, litter C was \u3e4× higher in cheatgrass (154 ± 12 g C/m2) than native sagebrush (32 ± 12 g C/m2). Soil organic C (SOC) in the top 10 cm was significantly higher in cheatgrass than in native or invaded sagebrush. SOC below 20 cm was significantly related to the time since most recent fire and losses were observed in deep SOC in cheatgrass \u3e5 years after a fire. There were no significant changes in total soil C across vegetation types. Synthesis and applications. Cheatgrass invasion decreases biodiversity and rangeland productivity and alters fire regimes. Our findings indicate cheatgrass invasion also results in persistent biomass carbon (C) losses that occur with sagebrush replacement. We estimate that conversion from native sagebrush to cheatgrass leads to a net reduction of C storage in biomass and litter of 76 g C/m2, or 16 Tg C across the Great Basin without management practices like native sagebrush restoration or cheatgrass removal

Sub-millimeter fMRI reveals multiple topographical digit representations that form action maps in human motor cortex

The human brain coordinates a wide variety of motor activities. On a large scale, the cortical motor system is topographically organized such that neighboring body parts are represented by neighboring brain areas. This homunculus-like somatotopic organization along the central sulcus has been observed using neuroimaging for large body parts such as the face, hands and feet. However, on a finer scale, invasive electrical stimulation studies show deviations from this somatotopic organization that suggest an organizing principle based on motor actions rather than body part moved. It has not been clear how the action-map organization principle of the motor cortex in the mesoscopic (sub-millimeter) regime integrates into a body map organization principle on a macroscopic scale (cm). Here we developed and applied advanced mesoscopic (sub-millimeter) fMRI and analysis methodology to non-invasively investigate the functional organization topography across columnar and laminar structures in humans. Compared to previous methods, in this study, we could capture locally specific blood volume changes across entire brain regions along the cortical curvature. We find that individual fingers have multiple mirrored representations in the primary motor cortex depending on the movements they are involved in. We find that individual digits have cortical representations up to 3 ​mm apart from each other arranged in a column-like fashion. These representations are differentially engaged depending on whether the digits’ muscles are used for different motor actions such as flexion movements, like grasping a ball or retraction movements like releasing a ball. This research provides a starting point for non-invasive investigation of mesoscale topography across layers and columns of the human cortex and bridges the gap between invasive electrophysiological investigations and large coverage non-invasive neuroimaging

High COVID-19 transmission potential associated with re-opening universities can be mitigated with layered interventions

Reopening of universities to students following COVID-19 restrictions risks increased transmission due to high numbers of social contacts and the potential for asymptomatic transmission. Here, the authors use a mathematical model with social contact data to estimate the impacts of reopening a typical non-campus based university in the UK