The effects of stimulus complexity on the preattentive processing of self-generated and nonself voices: an ERP study

The ability to differentiate one's own voice from the voice of somebody else plays a critical role in successful verbal self-monitoring processes and in communication. However, most of the existing studies have only focused on the sensory correlates of self-generated voice processing, whereas the effects of attentional demands and stimulus complexity on self-generated voice processing remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of stimulus complexity on the preattentive processing of self and nonself voice stimuli. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 17 healthy males who watched a silent movie while ignoring prerecorded self-generated (SGV) and nonself (NSV) voice stimuli, consisting of a vocalization (vocalization category condition: VCC) or of a disyllabic word (word category condition: WCC). All voice stimuli were presented as standard and deviant events in four distinct oddball sequences. The mismatch negativity (MMN) ERP component peaked earlier for NSV than for SGV stimuli. Moreover, when compared with SGV stimuli, the P3a amplitude was increased for NSV stimuli in the VCC only, whereas in the WCC no significant differences were found between the two voice types. These findings suggest differences in the time course of automatic detection of a change in voice identity. In addition, they suggest that stimulus complexity modulates the magnitude of the orienting response to SGV and NSV stimuli, extending previous findings on self-voice processing.This work was supported by Grant Numbers IF/00334/2012, PTDC/PSI-PCL/116626/2010, and PTDC/MHN-PCN/3606/2012, funded by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) and the Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional through the European programs Quadro de Referencia Estrategico Nacional and Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade, awarded to A.P.P., and by FCT Doctoral Grant Number SFRH/BD/77681/2011, awarded to T.C.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

The Multi-Level Action of Fatty Acids on Adiponectin Production by Fat Cells

Current epidemics of diabetes mellitus is largely caused by wide spread obesity. The best-established connection between obesity and insulin resistance is the elevated and/or dysregulated levels of circulating free fatty acids that cause and aggravate insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other hazardous metabolic conditions. Here, we investigated the effect of a major dietary saturated fatty acid, palmitate, on the insulin-sensitizing adipokine adiponectin produced by cultured adipocytes. We have found that palmitate rapidly inhibits transcription of the adiponectin gene and the release of adiponectin from adipocytes. Adiponectin gene expression is controlled primarily by PPARγ and C/EBPα. Using mouse embryonic fibroblasts from C/EBPα-null mice, we have determined that the latter transcription factor may not solely mediate the inhibitory effect of palmitate on adiponectin transcription leaving PPARγ as a likely target of palmitate. In agreement with this model, palmitate increases phosphorylation of PPARγ on Ser273, and substitution of PPARγ for the unphosphorylated mutant Ser273Ala blocks the effect of palmitate on adiponectin transcription. The inhibitory effect of palmitate on adiponectin gene expression requires its intracellular metabolism via the acyl-CoA synthetase 1-mediated pathway. In addition, we found that palmitate stimulates degradation of intracellular adiponectin by lysosomes, and the lysosomal inhibitor, chloroquine, suppressed the effect of palmitate on adiponectin release from adipocytes. We present evidence suggesting that the intracellular sorting receptor, sortilin, plays an important role in targeting of adiponectin to lysosomes. Thus, palmitate not only decreases adiponectin expression at the level of transcription but may also stimulate lysosomal degradation of newly synthesized adiponectin

Timing of surgery for hip fracture and in-hospital mortality: a retrospective population-based cohort study in the Spanish National Health System

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>While the benefits or otherwise of early hip fracture repair is a long-running controversy with studies showing contradictory results, this practice is being adopted as a quality indicator in several health care organizations. The aim of this study is to analyze the association between early hip fracture repair and in-hospital mortality in elderly people attending public hospitals in the Spanish National Health System and, additionally, to explore factors associated with the decision to perform early hip fracture repair.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cohort of 56,500 patients of 60-years-old and over, hospitalized for hip fracture during the period 2002 to 2005 in all the public hospitals in 8 Spanish regions, were followed up using administrative databases to identify the time to surgical repair and in-hospital mortality. We used a multivariate logistic regression model to analyze the relationship between the timing of surgery (< 2 days from admission) and in-hospital mortality, controlling for several confounding factors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Early surgery was performed on 25% of the patients. In the unadjusted analysis early surgery showed an absolute difference in risk of mortality of 0.57 (from 4.42% to 3.85%). However, patients undergoing delayed surgery were older and had higher comorbidity and severity of illness. Timeliness for surgery was not found to be related to in-hospital mortality once confounding factors such as age, sex, chronic comorbidities as well as the severity of illness were controlled for in the multivariate analysis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Older age, male gender, higher chronic comorbidity and higher severity measured by the Risk Mortality Index were associated with higher mortality, but the time to surgery was not.</p

Translational toxicology in setting occupational exposure limits for dusts and hazard classification – a critical evaluation of a recent approach to translate dust overload findings from rats to humans

Background We analyze the scientific basis and methodology used by the German MAK Commission in their recommendations for exposure limits and carcinogen classification of “granular biopersistent particles without known specific toxicity” (GBS). These recommendations are under review at the European Union level. We examine the scientific assumptions in an attempt to reproduce the results. MAK’s human equivalent concentrations (HECs) are based on a particle mass and on a volumetric model in which results from rat inhalation studies are translated to derive occupational exposure limits (OELs) and a carcinogen classification. Methods We followed the methods as proposed by the MAK Commission and Pauluhn 2011. We also examined key assumptions in the metrics, such as surface area of the human lung, deposition fractions of inhaled dusts, human clearance rates; and risk of lung cancer among workers, presumed to have some potential for lung overload, the physiological condition in rats associated with an increase in lung cancer risk. Results The MAK recommendations on exposure limits for GBS have numerous incorrect assumptions that adversely affect the final results. The procedures to derive the respirable occupational exposure limit (OEL) could not be reproduced, a finding raising considerable scientific uncertainty about the reliability of the recommendations. Moreover, the scientific basis of using the rat model is confounded by the fact that rats and humans show different cellular responses to inhaled particles as demonstrated by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) studies in both species. Conclusion Classifying all GBS as carcinogenic to humans based on rat inhalation studies in which lung overload leads to chronic inflammation and cancer is inappropriate. Studies of workers, who have been exposed to relevant levels of dust, have not indicated an increase in lung cancer risk. Using the methods proposed by the MAK, we were unable to reproduce the OEL for GBS recommended by the Commission, but identified substantial errors in the models. Considerable shortcomings in the use of lung surface area, clearance rates, deposition fractions; as well as using the mass and volumetric metrics as opposed to the particle surface area metric limit the scientific reliability of the proposed GBS OEL and carcinogen classification.International Carbon Black Associatio

Hypoxia-enhanced Blood-Brain Barrier Chip recapitulates human barrier function and shuttling of drugs and antibodies

The high selectivity of the human blood-brain barrier (BBB) restricts delivery of many pharmaceuticals and therapeutic antibodies to the central nervous system. Here, we describe an in vitro microfluidic organ-on-a-chip BBB model lined by induced pluripotent stem cell-derived human brain microvascular endothelium interfaced with primary human brain astrocytes and pericytes that recapitulates the high level of barrier function of the in vivo human BBB for at least one week in culture. The endothelium expresses high levels of tight junction proteins and functional efflux pumps, and it displays selective transcytosis of peptides and antibodies previously observed in vivo. Increased barrier functionality was accomplished using a developmentally-inspired induction protocol that includes a period of differentiation under hypoxic conditions. This enhanced BBB Chip may therefore represent a new in vitro tool for development and validation of delivery systems that transport drugs and therapeutic antibodies across the human BBB

Coarse graining ππ scattering

We carry out an analysis of ππ scattering in the I J = 00, 11 and 20 channels in configuration space up to a maximal center-of-mass energy √ s = 1.4 GeV. We separate the interaction into two regions marked by an elementarity radius of the system; namely, a long distance region above which pions can be assumed to interact as elementary particles and a short distance region where many physical effects cannot be disentangled. The long distance interaction is described by chiral dynamics, where a two-pionexchange potential is identified, computed and compared to lattice calculations. The short distance piece corresponds to a coarse grained description exemplified by a superposition of delta-shell potentials sampling the interaction with the minimal wavelength. We show how the so constructed nonperturbative scattering amplitude complies with the proper analytic structure, allowing for an explicit N/D type decomposition in terms of the corresponding Jost functions and fulfilling dispersion relations without subtractions. We also address renormalization issues in coordinate space and investigate the role of crossing when fitting the scattering amplitudes above and below threshold to Roy-equation results. At higher energies, we show how inelasticities can be described by one single complex and energy dependent parameter. A successful description of the data can be achieved with a minimal number of fitting parameters, suggesting that coarse graining is a viable approach to analyze hadronic processes.Work partially supported by Spanish MINEICO and European FEDER funds (grants FIS2014-59386-P, FIS2017-85053-C2-1-P and FPA2015- 64041-C2-1-P), Junta de Andalucía (grant FQM-225) and the Swiss National Science Foundation

Exponential Barycenters of the Canonical Cartan Connection and Invariant Means on Lie Groups

International audienceWhen performing statistics on elements of sets that possess a particular geometric structure, it is desirable to respect this structure. For instance in a Lie group, it would be judicious to have a notion of a mean which is stable by the group operations (composition and inversion). Such a property is ensured for Riemannian center of mass in Lie groups endowed with a bi-invariant Riemannian metric, like compact Lie groups (e.g. rotations). However, bi-invariant Riemannian metrics do not exist for most non compact and non-commutative Lie groups. This is the case in particular for rigid-body transformations in any dimension greater than one, which form the most simple Lie group involved in biomedical image registration. In this paper, we propose to replace the Riemannian metric by an affine connection structure on the group. We show that the canonical Cartan connections of a connected Lie group provides group geodesics which are completely consistent with the composition and inversion. With such a non-metric structure, the mean cannot be defined by minimizing the variance as in Riemannian Manifolds. However, the characterization of the mean as an exponential barycenter gives us an implicit definition of the mean using a general barycentric equation. Thanks to the properties of the canonical Cartan connection, this mean is naturally bi-invariant. We show the local existence and uniqueness of the invariant mean when the dispersion of the data is small enough. We also propose an iterative fixed point algorithm and demonstrate that the convergence to the invariant mean is at least linear. In the case of rigid-body transformations, we give a simple criterion for the global existence and uniqueness of the bi-invariant mean, which happens to be the same as for rotations. We also give closed forms for the bi-invariant mean in a number of simple but instructive cases, including 2D rigid transformations. For general linear transformations, we show that the bi-invariant mean is a generalization of the (scalar) geometric mean, since the determinant of the bi-invariant mean is the geometric mean of the determinants of the data. Finally, we extend the theory to higher order moments, in particular with the covariance which can be used to define a local bi-invariant Mahalanobis distance