Disentangling meaning in the brain: Left temporal involvement in agreement processing

Published online 18 November 2016Sentence comprehension is successfully accomplished by means of a form-to-meaning mapping procedure that relies on the extraction of morphosyntactic information from the input and its mapping to higher-level semantic–discourse representations. In this study, we sought to determine whether neuroanatomically distinct brain regions are involved in the processing of different types of information contained in the propositional meaning of a sentence, namely person and number. While person information indexes the role that an individual has in discourse (i.e., the speaker, the addressee or the entity being talked about by speaker and addressee), number indicates its cardinality (i.e., a single entity vs a multitude of entities). An event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment was run using agreement-Correct and Person- and Number-violated sentences in Spanish, to disentangle the processing mechanisms and neural substrates associated with the building of discourse and cardinality representations. The contrast between Person and Number Violations showed qualitative and quantitative differences. A greater response for person compared to number was found in the left middle temporal gyrus (LMTG). However, critically, a posterior-to-anterior functional gradient emerged within this region. While the posterior portion of the LMTG was sensitive to both Person and Number Violations, the anterior portion of this region showed selective response for Person Violations. These results confirm that the comprehension of the propositional meaning of a sentence results from a composite, feature-sensitive mechanism of form-to-meaning mapping in which the nodes of the language network are differentially involved.BCBL acknowledges funding from Ayuda Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa SEV-2015-0490. S.M. acknowledges funding from the Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundia Fellowship Program and from grant PI_2014_38 from the Basque Government. N.M. was funded by grant PSI2012- 32350 and PSI2015-65694-P from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. M.C was funded by grant PSI2012-31448 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and ERC-2011-ADG-295362 from the European Research Council

Easy as Pi:A Network Coding Raspberry Pi Testbed

In the near future, upcoming communications and storage networks are expected to tolerate major difficulties produced by huge amounts of data being generated from the Internet of Things (IoT). For these types of networks, strategies and mechanisms based on network coding have appeared as an alternative to overcome these difficulties in a holistic manner, e.g., without sacrificing the benefit of a given network metric when improving another. There has been recurrent issues on: (i) making large-scale deployments akin to the Internet of Things; (ii) assessing and (iii) replicating the obtained results in preliminary studies. Therefore, finding testbeds that can deal with large-scale deployments and not lose historic data in order to evaluate these mechanisms are greatly needed and desirable from a research perspective. However, this can be hard to manage, not only due to the inherent costs of the hardware, but also due to maintenance challenges. In this paper, we present the required key steps to design, setup and maintain an inexpensive testbed using Raspberry Pi devices for communications and storage networks with network coding capabilities. This testbed can be utilized for any applications requiring results replicability

Vitamin B12, folate, and homocysteine in metabolic syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background & aims: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with life-threatening conditions. Several studies have reported an association of vitamin B12, folic acid, or homocysteine (Hcy) levels with MetS. This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed the association of vitamin B12, folic acid, and Hcy levels with MetS. Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Ovid/Medline, and Web of Science were searched up to February 13, 2023. Cross-sectional, case-control, or cohort studies were included. A random-effects model was performed using the DerSimonian and Laird method to estimate the between-study variance. Effect measures were expressed as odds ratios (OR) with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Between-study heterogeneity was evaluated using Cochran’s Q test and the I2 statistic. Results: Sixty-six articles (n = 87,988 patients) were included. Higher vitamin B12 levels were inversely associated with MetS (OR = 0.87; 95% CI: 0.81–0.93; p < 0.01; I2 = 90%). Higher Hcy levels were associated with MetS (OR = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.14–1.24; p < 0.01; I2 = 90%). Folate levels were not associated with MetS (OR = 0.83; 95% CI: 0.66–1.03; p = 0.09; I2 = 90%). Conclusion: Higher vitamin B12 levels were inversely associated with MetS, whereas higher Hcy levels were associated with MetS. Studies assessing the pathways underlying this association are requiredRevisión por pare

Arecibon planetaarisen tutkan Maan lähiasteroidihavainnot: 2017 joulukuu - 2019 joulukuu

We successfully observed 191 near-Earth asteroids using the Arecibo Observatory's S-band planetary radar system from 2017 December through 2019 December. We present radar cross sections for 167 asteroids; circular-polarization ratios for 112 asteroids based on Doppler-echo-power spectra measurements; and radar albedos, constraints on size and spin periods, and surface-feature and shape evaluation for 37 selected asteroids using delay-Doppler radar images with a range resolution of 75 m or finer. Out of 33 asteroids with an estimated effective diameter of at least 200 m and sufficient image quality to give clues of the shape, at least 4 (∼12%) are binary asteroids, including 1 equal-mass binary asteroid, 2017 YE5, and at least 10 (∼30%) are contact-binary asteroids. For 5 out of 112 asteroids with reliable measurements in both circular polarizations, we measured circular-polarization ratios greater than 1.0, which could indicate that they are E-type asteroids, while the mean and the 1σ standard deviation were 0.37 ± 0.23. Further, we find a mean opposite-sense circular-polarization radar albedo of 0.21 ± 0.11 for 41 asteroids (0.19 ± 0.06 for 11 S-complex asteroids). We identified two asteroids, 2011 WN15 and (505657) 2014 SR339, as possible metal-rich objects based on their unusually high radar albedos, and discuss possible evidence of water ice in 2017 YE5.Peer reviewe

Single nucleotide polymorphisms in DNA repair genes as risk factors associated to prostate cancer progression

Background Besides serum levels of PSA, there is a lack of prostate cancer specific biomarkers. It is need to develop new biological markers associated with the tumor behavior which would be valuable to better individualize treatment. The aim of this study was to elucidate the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes involved in DNA repair and prostate cancer progression.Methods A total of 494 prostate cancer patients from a Spanish multicenter study were genotyped for 10 SNPs in XRCC1, ERCC2, ERCC1, LIG4, ATM and TP53 genes. The SNP genotyping was made in a Biotrove OpenArray® NT Cycler. Clinical tumor stage, diagnostic PSA serum levels, and Gleason score at diagnosis were obtained for all participants. Genotypic and allelic frequencies were determined using the web-based environment SNPator.Results SNPs rs11615 (ERCC1) and rs17503908 (ATM) appeared as risk factors for prostate cancer aggressiveness. Patients wild homozygous for these SNPs (AA and TT, respectively) were at higher risk for developing cT2b – cT4 (OR = 2.21 (confidence interval (CI) 95% 1.47 – 3.31), p < 0.001) and Gleason scores ≥ 7 (OR = 2.22 (CI 95% 1.38 – 3.57), p < 0.001), respectively. Moreover, those patients wild homozygous for both SNPs had the greatest risk of presenting D’Amico high-risk tumors (OR = 2.57 (CI 95% 1.28 – 5.16)).Conclusions Genetic variants at DNA repair genes are associated with prostate cancer progression, and would be taken into account when assessing the malignancy of prostate cancer.This work was subsidized by a grant from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad from Spain), ID: PI12/01867. Almudena Valenciano has a grant from the Instituto Canario de Investigación del Cáncer (ICIC)

International lower limb collaborative (INTELLECT) study: a multicentre, international retrospective audit of lower extremity open fractures

Trauma remains a major cause of mortality and disability across the world1, with a higher burden in developing nations2. Open lower extremity injuries are devastating events from a physical3, mental health4, and socioeconomic5 standpoint. The potential sequelae, including risk of chronic infection and amputation, can lead to delayed recovery and major disability6. This international study aimed to describe global disparities, timely intervention, guideline-directed care, and economic aspects of open lower limb injuries

Geographic patterns of tree dispersal modes in Amazonia and their ecological correlates

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MAim: To investigate the geographic patterns and ecological correlates in the geographic distribution of the most common tree dispersal modes in Amazonia (endozoochory, synzoochory, anemochory and hydrochory). We examined if the proportional abundance of these dispersal modes could be explained by the availability of dispersal agents (disperser-availability hypothesis) and/or the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits (resource-availability hypothesis). Time period: Tree-inventory plots established between 1934 and 2019. Major taxa studied: Trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 9.55 cm. Location: Amazonia, here defined as the lowland rain forests of the Amazon River basin and the Guiana Shield. Methods: We assigned dispersal modes to a total of 5433 species and morphospecies within 1877 tree-inventory plots across terra-firme, seasonally flooded, and permanently flooded forests. We investigated geographic patterns in the proportional abundance of dispersal modes. We performed an abundance-weighted mean pairwise distance (MPD) test and fit generalized linear models (GLMs) to explain the geographic distribution of dispersal modes. Results: Anemochory was significantly, positively associated with mean annual wind speed, and hydrochory was significantly higher in flooded forests. Dispersal modes did not consistently show significant associations with the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits. A lower dissimilarity in dispersal modes, resulting from a higher dominance of endozoochory, occurred in terra-firme forests (excluding podzols) compared to flooded forests. Main conclusions: The disperser-availability hypothesis was well supported for abiotic dispersal modes (anemochory and hydrochory). The availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits seems an unlikely explanation for the distribution of dispersal modes in Amazonia. The association between frugivores and the proportional abundance of zoochory requires further research, as tree recruitment not only depends on dispersal vectors but also on conditions that favour or limit seedling recruitment across forest types

Estimating the global conservation status of more than 15,000 Amazonian tree species

Estimates of extinction risk for Amazonian plant and animal species are rare and not often incorporated into land-use policy and conservation planning. We overlay spatial distribution models with historical and projected deforestation to show that at least 36% and up to 57% of all Amazonian tree species are likely to qualify as globally threatened under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. If confirmed, these results would increase the number of threatened plant species on Earth by 22%. We show that the trends observed in Amazonia apply to trees throughout the tropics, and we predict thatmost of the world’s >40,000 tropical tree species now qualify as globally threatened. A gap analysis suggests that existing Amazonian protected areas and indigenous territories will protect viable populations of most threatened species if these areas suffer no further degradation, highlighting the key roles that protected areas, indigenous peoples, and improved governance can play in preventing large-scale extinctions in the tropics in this century