In vivo structural connectome of arousal and motor brainstem nuclei by 7 Tesla and 3 Tesla MRI

Brainstem nuclei are key participants in the generation and maintenance of arousal, which is a basic function that modulates wakefulness/sleep, autonomic responses, affect, attention, and consciousness. Their mechanism is based on diffuse pathways ascending from the brainstem to the thalamus, hypothalamus, basal forebrain and cortex. Several arousal brainstem nuclei also participate in motor functions that allow humans to respond and interact with the surrounding through a multipathway motor network. Yet, little is known about the structural connectivity of arousal and motor brainstem nuclei in living humans. This is due to the lack of appropriate tools able to accurately visualize brainstem nuclei in conventional imaging. Using a recently developed in vivo probabilistic brainstem nuclei atlas and 7 Tesla diffusion-weighted images (DWI), we built the structural connectome of 18 arousal and motor brainstem nuclei in living humans (n = 19). Furthermore, to investigate the translatability of our findings to standard clinical MRI, we acquired 3 Tesla DWI on the same subjects, and measured the association of the connectome across scanners. For both arousal and motor circuits, our results showed high connectivity within brainstem nuclei, and with expected subcortical and cortical structures based on animal studies. The association between 3 Tesla and 7 Tesla connectivity values was good, especially within the brainstem. The resulting structural connectome might be used as a baseline to better understand arousal and motor functions in health and disease in humans

Structural connectivity of autonomic, pain, limbic, and sensory brainstem nuclei in living humans based on 7 Tesla and 3 Tesla MRI

Autonomic, pain, limbic, and sensory processes are mainly governed by the central nervous system, with brainstem nuclei as relay centers for these crucial functions. Yet, the structural connectivity of brainstem nuclei in living humans remains understudied. These tiny structures are difficult to locate using conventional in vivo MRI, and ex vivo brainstem nuclei atlases lack precise and automatic transformability to in vivo images. To fill this gap, we mapped our recently developed probabilistic brainstem nuclei atlas developed in living humans to high-spatial resolution (1.7 mm isotropic) and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) at 7 Tesla in 20 healthy participants. To demonstrate clinical translatability, we also acquired 3 Tesla DWI with conventional resolution (2.5 mm isotropic) in the same participants. Results showed the structural connectome of 15 autonomic, pain, limbic, and sensory (including vestibular) brainstem nuclei/nuclei complex (superior/inferior colliculi, ventral tegmental area-parabrachial pigmented, microcellular tegmental-parabigeminal, lateral/medial parabrachial, vestibular, superior olivary, superior/inferior medullary reticular formation, viscerosensory motor, raphe magnus/pallidus/obscurus, parvicellular reticular nucleus-alpha part), derived from probabilistic tractography computation. Through graph measure analysis, we identified network hubs and demonstrated high intercommunity communication in these nuclei. We found good (r = .5) translational capability of the 7 Tesla connectome to clinical (i.e., 3 Tesla) datasets. Furthermore, we validated the structural connectome by building diagrams of autonomic/pain/limbic connectivity, vestibular connectivity, and their interactions, and by inspecting the presence of specific links based on human and animal literature. These findings offer a baseline for studies of these brainstem nuclei and their functions in health and disease, including autonomic dysfunction, chronic pain, psychiatric, and vestibular disorders

La motivación de los estudiantes a participar en el Concurso Estatal de Aparatos y Experimentos de Física en Coahuila

We carried out in this work a brief survey to the high school students of the Coahuila’s state. The main goal of such survey was figuring out the motivation of the students to participate in science competition fairs related with theoretical and experimental physics. The survey was achieved during the 7th science competition fair of the state of Coahuila. This competition was carried out using the on-line and the face to face modes. According to the results in the survey, the students are motivated to participate in such event because they can increase their knowledge in physics and they also promote their creativity. Most of the students believe that the covid pandemic has affected their performance in the school to learn about physics. Despite this situation, they are considering a career in the field of physics or physics engineering. Finally, the students recommend that the award for the science fair should be cash, scientific travels or acceptance letters from prestigious universities to study physics.En este trabajo se realiza una breve encuesta dirigida a estudiantes de bachillerato del estado de Coahuila de Zaragoza para saber su motivación de participar en competiciones y/o Concurso de Física Experimental y Teórica. Esto en el marco de la realización del 7 Concurso Estatal de Aparatos de Experimentos de Física del estado de Coahuila el cual se llevó a cabo el pasado 23 de abril de 2021 en modalidad hibrida: presencial y en línea. Los resultados de la breve encuesta, indican que los estudiantes se motivan en este tipo de concursos debido al desarrollo de habilidades en la física, fomento de creatividad, y competitividad. Así mismo, manifiestan que la pandemia de Covid-19 si les ha afectado en el estudio de la Física, aunque una gran cantidad de estudiantes tiene pensado estudiar carreras relacionadas con la Ingeniería que involucran la Física como una de sus materias básicas. Finalmente, los estudiantes sugieren que los premios a este tipo de Concursos de Física debieran ser recomendaciones para ingresar en Universidades prestigiosas, dinero en efectivo o viajes científicos