Terra incognita—cerebellar contributions to neuropsychiatric and cognitive dysfunction in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia

Although converging evidence has positioned the human cerebellum as an important relay for intact cognitive and neuropsychiatric processing, changes in this large structure remain mostly overlooked in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), a disease which is characterized by cognitive and neuropsychiatric deficits. The present study assessed whether degeneration in specific cerebellar subregions associate with indices of cognition and neuropsychiatric performance in bvFTD. Our results demonstrate a relationship between cognitive and neuropsychiatric decline across various domains of memory, language, emotion, executive, visuospatial function, and motivation and the degree of gray matter degeneration in cerebellar lobules V–VII. Most notably, bilateral cerebellar lobule VII and the posterior vermis emerged as distinct for memory processes, the right cerebellar hemisphere underpinned emotion, and the posterior vermis was highlighted in language dysfunction in bvFTD. Based on cortico-cerebellar connectivity maps, these findings in the cerebellum are consistent with the neural connections with the cortices involved in these domains in patients with bvFTD. Overall, the present study underscores the significance of cortical-cerebellar networks associated with cognition and neuropsychiatric dysfunction in bvFTD

Braneworld inflation from an effective field theory after WMAP three-year data

In light of the results from the WMAP three-year sky survey, we study an inflationary model based on a single-field polynomial potential, with up to quartic terms in the inflaton field. Our analysis is performed in the context of the Randall-Sundrum II braneworld theory, and we consider both the high-energy and low-energy (i.e. the standard cosmology case) limits of the theory. We examine the parameter space of the model, which leads to both large-field and small-field inflationary type solutions. We conclude that small field inflation, for a potential with a negative mass square term, is in general favored by current bounds on the tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio rs.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; references updated and a few comments added; final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

H - T phase diagram of YbCo2Si2 with H // [100]

We report on the first high-resolution dc-magnetisation ($M$) measurements on a single crystal of \ycs. $M$ was measured down to 0.05 K and in fields up to 12 T, with the magnetic field $H$ parallel to the crystallographic direction [100]. Two antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase transitions have been detected in a field $\mu_{0}H = 0.1$ T at $T_{N} = 1.75$ K and $T_{L} = 0.9$ K, in form of a sharp cusp and a sudden drop in $\chi = M/H$, respectively. These signatures suggest that the phase transitions are $2^{nd}$ order at $T_{N}$ and $1^{st}$ order at $T_{L}$. The upper transition is suppressed by a critical field $\mu_{0}H_{N} = 1.9$ T. The field-dependent magnetisation shows two hysteretic metamagnetic-like steps at the lowest temperature, followed by a sharp kink, which separates the AFM region from the paramagnetic one. The magnetic $H - T$ phase diagram of \ycs has been deduced from the isothermal and isofield curves. Four AFM regions were identified which are separated by $1^{st}$ and $2^{nd}$ order phase-transition lines.Comment: 5 Pages, 3 figure

Laboratory measurements and theoretical calculations of O_2 A band electric quadrupole transitions

Frequency-stabilized cavity ring-down spectroscopy was utilized to measure electric quadrupole transitions within the ^(16)O_2 A band, b^1Σ^+_g ← X^3Σ^-_g(0,0). We report quantitative measurements (relative uncertainties in intensity measurements from 4.4% to 11%) of nine ultraweak transitions in the ^NO, ^PO, ^RS, and ^TS branches with line intensities ranging from 3×10^(−30) to 2×10^(−29) cm molec.^(−1). A thorough discussion of relevant noise sources and uncertainties in this experiment and other cw-cavity ring-down spectrometers is given. For short-term averaging (t<100 s), we estimate a noise-equivalent absorption of 2.5×10^(−10) cm^(−1) Hz^(−1/2). The detection limit was reduced further by co-adding up to 100 spectra to yield a minimum detectable absorption coefficient equal to 1.8×10^(−11) cm^(−1), corresponding to a line intensity of ~2.5×10^(−31) cm molec.^(−1). We discuss calculations of electric quadrupole line positions based on a simultaneous fit of the ground and upper electronic state energies which have uncertainties <3 MHz, and we present calculations of electric quadrupole matrix elements and line intensities. The electric quadrupole line intensity calculations and measurements agreed on average to 5%, which is comparable to our average experimental uncertainty. The calculated electric quadrupole band intensity was 1.8(1)×10^(−27) cm molec.−1 which is equal to only ~8×10^(−6) of the magnetic dipole band intensity

Preliminary evaluation of spectral, normal and meteorological crop stage estimation approaches

Several of the projects in the AgRISTARS program require crop phenology information, including classification, acreage and yield estimation, and detection of episodal events. This study evaluates several crop calendar estimation techniques for their potential use in the program. The techniques, although generic in approach, were developed and tested on spring wheat data collected in 1978. There are three basic approaches to crop stage estimation: historical averages for an area (normal crop calendars), agrometeorological modeling of known crop-weather relationships agrometeorological (agromet) crop calendars, and interpretation of spectral signatures (spectral crop calendars). In all, 10 combinations of planting and biostage estimation models were evaluated. Dates of stage occurrence are estimated with biases between -4 and +4 days while root mean square errors range from 10 to 15 days. Results are inconclusive as to the superiority of any of the models and further evaluation of the models with the 1979 data set is recommended

Storyline description of Southern Hemisphere midlatitude circulation and precipitation response to greenhouse gas forcing

As evidence of climate change strengthens, knowledge of its regional implications becomes an urgent need for decision making. Current understanding of regional precipitation changes is substantially limited by our understanding of the atmospheric circulation response to climate change, which to a high degree remains uncertain. This uncertainty is reflected in the wide spread in atmospheric circulation changes projected in multimodel ensembles, which cannot be directly interpreted in a probabilistic sense. The uncertainty can instead be represented by studying a discrete set of physically plausible storylines of atmospheric circulation changes. By mining CMIP5 model output, here we take this broader perspective and develop storylines for Southern Hemisphere (SH) midlatitude circulation changes, conditioned on the degree of global-mean warming, based on the climate responses of two remote drivers: the enhanced warming of the tropical upper troposphere and the strengthening of the stratospheric polar vortex. For the three continental domains in the SH, we analyse the precipitation changes under each storyline. To allow comparison with previous studies, we also link both circulation and precipitation changes with those of the Southern Annular Mode. Our results show that the response to tropical warming leads to a strengthening of the midlatitude westerly winds, whilst the response to a delayed breakdown (for DJF) or strengthening (for JJA) of the stratospheric vortex leads to a poleward shift of the westerly winds and the storm tracks. However, the circulation response is not zonally symmetric and the regional precipitation storylines for South America, South Africa, South Australia and New Zealand exhibit quite specific dependencies on the two remote drivers, which are not well represented by changes in the Southern Annular Mode

Beyond deficiency:Potential benefits of increased intakesof vitamin K for bone and vascular health

Vitamin K is wellknown for its role in the synthesisof a number of blood coagulationfactors.During recent years vitaminK-dependent proteins werediscovered to be of vital importancefor bone and vascular health.Recommendations for dietary vitaminK intake have been made onthe basis of the hepatic requirementsfor the synthesis of bloodcoagulation factors.Accumulatingevidence suggests that the requirementsfor other functions thanblood coagulation may be higher.This paper is the result of a closedworkshop (Paris,November 2002)in which a number of Europeanvitamin K experts reviewed theavailable data and formulated theirstandpoint with respect to recommendeddietary vitamin K intakeand the use of vitamin K-containingsupplements