Towards cot-side mapping of the sensorimotor cortex in preterm and term infants with wearable high-density diffuse optical tomography

We are translating wearable HD-DOT to the neonatal clinic to investigate healthy and brain-injured infants and establish a model of the developmental trajectory of the infant sensorimotor system

The degeneration of locus coeruleus occurring during Alzheimer’s disease clinical progression: a neuroimaging follow-up investigation

\ua9 The Author(s) 2024.The noradrenergic nucleus Locus Coeruleus (LC) is precociously involved in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) pathology, and its degeneration progresses during the course of the disease. Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), researchers showed also in vivo in patients the disruption of LC, which can be observed both in Mild Cognitively Impaired individuals and AD demented patients. In this study, we report the results of a follow-up neuroradiological assessment, in which we evaluated the LC degeneration overtime in a group of cognitively impaired patients, submitted to MRI both at baseline and at the end of a 2.5-year follow-up. We found that a progressive LC disruption can be observed also in vivo, involving the entire nucleus and associated with clinical diagnosis. Our findings parallel neuropathological ones, which showed a continuous increase of neuronal death and volumetric atrophy within the LC with the progression of Braak’s stages for neurofibrillary pathology. This supports the reliability of MRI as a tool for exploring the integrity of the central noradrenergic system in neurodegenerative disorders

Chronostratigraphy of the Barremian-Early Albian of the Maestrat Basin (E Iberian Peninsula): integrating strontium-isotope stratigraphy and ammonoid biostratigraphy

A revised chronostratigraphy of the Barremian - Early Albian sedimentary record of the Maestrat Basin (E Iberian Peninsula) is provided based on a comprehensive synthesis of previous biostratigrahic data, a new ammonoid finding and numerical ages derived from 87Sr/86Sr values measured on shells of rudists, oysters and brachiopods. The succession, which comprises eight lithostratigraphic formations, is arranged into six major transgressive-regressive sequences and plotted against numerical ages, geomagnetic polarity chrons, ammonoid zones and the stratigraphic distribution of age-diagnostic ammonoids, orbitolinid fora- minifera and rudist bivalves. The oldest lithostratigraphic unit sampled, the marine Artoles Formation, is Early to Late Barremian. Above, the dinosaur-bearing deposits of the Morella Formation and its coastal to shallow-marine equivalent, the Cervera del Maestrat Formation, are of Late Barremian age and span at least part of the Imerites giraudi ammonoid zone. 87Sr/ 86Sr ratios from oyster shells in the upper part of the overlying marine Xert Formation are consistent with a latest Barremian-earliest Aptian age, while an ammonite belonging to the Late Barremian Martelites sarasini Zone was collected within the lowermost part of this lat- ter formation. The Barremian-Aptian boundary is tentatively placed close above the base of the succeeding transgressive marls of the Forcall Formation by analogy with nearby Tethyan basins, where major transgres- sive records contain latest Barremian ammonoids in their basal parts. The rest of the Forcall Formation and the platform carbonates of the Villarroya de los Pinares Formation are of Early Aptian age. The transition from the Barremian into the Aptian occurred in the course of a wide transgression, which was accompanied by the proliferation of Palorbitolina lenticularis. This transgressive event drowned Late Barremian carbonate platforms (Xert Formation) throughout the basin. Extensive carbonate platforms (Villarroya de los Pinares Formation) recovered coevally with a post-OAE 1a late Early Aptian major regression of relative sea level. The last lithostratigraphic unit analyzed, the marine Benassal Formation, spans the terminal Early Aptian- Late Aptian interval. Based on ammonite distributions, the lower part of the overlying coastal to continental coal-bearing Escucha Formation is Early Albian in age. This improved chronostratigraphic knowledge allows a more precise correlation of the sedimentary record studied with other coeval successions worldwide

Proliferation of \u3cem\u3eChondrodonta\u3c/em\u3e as a Proxy of Environmental Instability at the Onset of OAE1a: Insights from Shallow-Water Limestones of the Apulia Carbonate Platform

Chondrodonta is an opportunistic, oyster-like bivalve, common in shallow-water carbonates of the Cretaceous Tethyan Realm. Despite its high abundance and widespread geographic distribution, the precise relationship between the early Aptian proliferation and environmental perturbations resulting from the Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE1a), has not been investigated. Stratigraphic and geochemical analyses of the lower Aptian Chondrodonta bedsets within the inner platform limestones of the Apulia Carbonate Platform (Gargano Promontory, southern Italy) are conducted to assess the environmental controls on the Chondrodonta proliferation and its timing and causal relationship to OAE1a. Chondrodonta occurs with sparse to common individuals within requieniid rudist floatstone–rudstones, forms monospecific biostromes during the early phase of stressed environmental conditions and then rapidly disappears at the peak of OAE1a. It proliferates in dysoxic seawater with relatively increased trophic sources, which correlate to increasing nutrient levels in the nearby pelagic realm. Chondrodonta-rich beds are associated worldwide with the onset of OAE1a and occur in a transitional context between a stable and a strongly stressed environment, where the opportunistic behaviour of Chondrodonta is rather efficient. Increasing nutrient load and unstable environmental conditions right below the peak of OAE1a created an environmental ‘window’ favourable for Chondrodonta to proliferate, outplaying the less tolerant benthos (for example, rudists). The occurrence, duration and position of the environmental window were controlled by local palaeogeographic and hydrodynamic settings (i.e. low energy, decreased seawater oxygenation and circulation). Further increase in inhospitable conditions, leading to OAE1a, constituted an upper threshold for Chondrodonta and allowed mesotrophic taxa like Bacinella–Lithocodium and orbitolinids to dominate the benthic communities. The present study suggests that the proliferation of Chondrodonta in shallow-water platform carbonates can be used as proxy for the initial phase of ecological stress related to OAE1a

Simulation and comparison of coils for Hyperpolarized 13C MRS cardiac metabolism studies in pigs

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Functional imaging of the developing brain with wearable high-density diffuse optical tomography: a new benchmark for infant neuroimaging outside the scanner environment

Studies of cortical function in the awake infant are extremely challenging to undertake with traditional neuroimaging approaches. Partly in response to this challenge, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has become increasingly common in developmental neuroscience, but has significant limitations including resolution, spatial specificity and ergonomics. In adults, high-density arrays of near-infrared sources and detectors have recently been shown to yield dramatic improvements in spatial resolution and specificity when compared to typical fNIRS approaches. However, most existing fNIRS devices only permit the acquisition of ∼20-100 sparsely distributed fNIRS channels, and increasing the number of optodes presents significant mechanical challenges, particularly for infant applications. A new generation of wearable, modular, high-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT) technologies has recently emerged that overcomes many of the limitations of traditional, fibre-based and low-density fNIRS measurements. Driven by the development of this new technology, we have undertaken the first study of the infant brain using wearable HD-DOT. Using a well-established social stimulus paradigm, and combining this new imaging technology with advances in cap design and spatial registration, we show that it is now possible to obtain high-quality, functional images of the infant brain with minimal constraints on either the environment or on the infant participants. Our results are consistent with prior low-density fNIRS measures based on similar paradigms, but demonstrate superior spatial localization, improved depth specificity, higher SNR and a dramatic improvement in the consistency of the responses across participants. Our data retention rates also demonstrate that this new generation of wearable technology is well tolerated by the infant population

Rainwater harvesting systems reduce detergent use

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552Purpose: Due to population growth, urban water demand is expected to increase significantly, as well as the environmental and economic costs required to supply it. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems can play a key role in helping cities meet part of their water demand as an alternative to conventional water abstraction and treatment. This paper presents an environmental and economic analysis of RWH systems providing households with water for laundry purposes in a life cycle thinking perspective. Conclusions: LCA and LCC present better results for high-density scenarios. Overall, avoided environmental and economic impacts from detergent reduction clearly surpass environmental impacts (in all categories except terrestrial acidification) and economic cost of the RWHsystem in most cases (except two scenarios). Another important finding is that 80%of the savings are achieved by minimizing detergent and fabric softener by using soft rainwater; and the remaining 20% comes from replacing the use of tap water

Strontium isotope stratigraphy in the upper Cenomanian shallow-water carbonates of southern Apennines: Short-term perturbations of marine 87Sr/86Sr during the oceanic anoxic event 2

Strontium isotope stratigraphy of shallow-water carbonates from the southern Apennines (Italy) indicates that the late Cenomanian−early Turonian evolution of marine 87Sr/86Sr is not accurately depicted by the marine reference curve. Using the low-Mg biotic calcite of well-preserved rudist shells as a study material and carbon isotope stratigraphy for correlation to the standard ammonite biozonal scheme of Northern Europe, new 87Sr/86Sr values are proposed for four different stratigraphic levels: the middle and uppermost part of the guerangeri zone, the lower and upper part of the geslinianum zone. The southern Apennines data suggest that a sharp positive shift at the onset of oceanic anoxic event 2 precedes the well-known Sr isotope negative shift. The positive shift is interpreted in terms of enhanced rates of chemical weathering, driven by global warming forced by volcanogenic CO2 outgassing. A stratified ocean is invoked to reconcile the high gradient and the short lag time of the perturbation with estimates of present-day total mass and residence time of strontium in the ocean. The sharp switch to the negative shift is related to the collapse of water-column density gradient, driven by thermal instability during a late Cenomanian cool event. More active ocean circulation suddenly delivered to surface waters the signal of increased submarine volcanism that had accumulated in deep waters

Reticulinella kaeveri CHERCHI, RADOIČIĆ & SCHROEDER: a marker for the middle-upper Turonian in the shallow-water carbonate facies of the peri-adriatic area.

Reticulinella kaeveri CHERCHI, RADOICˇIC´ & SCHROEDER is recorded for the first time in the Upper Cretaceous shallow-water carbonates of the southern Apennines. The narrow stratigraphical range and the wide geographical distribution of this species makes it a very valuable biostratigraphic marker in the Turonian of the periadriatic carbonate platforms. Strontium isotope stratigraphy of well preserved rudist shells from levels containing Reticulinella kaeveri, or immediately above its last occurrence, allows the chronostratigraphic age of this species to be defined more precisely. However, owing to the presence of a distinct late Turonian minimum in the marine reference curve, the strontium isotope ratios of the studied samples are compatible both with a late middle Turonian (upper part of the deverianum zone) and with a late Turonian age (neptuni zone)

Thermal maturity of the Southern Apenninic Platform Unit (Southern Italy): constraints from Rock-Eval Pyrolysis Tmax data

A short account on the available data on the thermal evolution of the Mesozoic carbonate apenninic succession