Motor signatures of emotional reactivity in frontotemporal dementia

Automatic motor mimicry is essential to the normal processing of perceived emotion, and disrupted automatic imitation might underpin socio-emotional deficits in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly the frontotemporal dementias. However, the pathophysiology of emotional reactivity in these diseases has not been elucidated. We studied facial electromyographic responses during emotion identification on viewing videos of dynamic facial expressions in 37 patients representing canonical frontotemporal dementia syndromes versus 21 healthy older individuals. Neuroanatomical associations of emotional expression identification accuracy and facial muscle reactivity were assessed using voxel-based morphometry. Controls showed characteristic profiles of automatic imitation, and this response predicted correct emotion identification. Automatic imitation was reduced in the behavioural and right temporal variant groups, while the normal coupling between imitation and correct identification was lost in the right temporal and semantic variant groups. Grey matter correlates of emotion identification and imitation were delineated within a distributed network including primary visual and motor, prefrontal, insular, anterior temporal and temporo-occipital junctional areas, with common involvement of supplementary motor cortex across syndromes. Impaired emotional mimesis may be a core mechanism of disordered emotional signal understanding and reactivity in frontotemporal dementia, with implications for the development of novel physiological biomarkers of socio-emotional dysfunction in these diseases

Feasibility study on a mud block with straw

When, trying to establish “Sustainability” within local built environment, it is important to understand prevailing methods that are using. As a result, concentrating on “methods of wall construction”, it was found that, “mud”, was used over many centuries in traditional architecture. Therefore, concentrating on “mud wall construction”, the goal was set to be developed, a “mud block”, which has more structural durability, less weight, low cost, together with high performance with respect to indoor air quality. However, as an initial attempt of the ultimate invent of “mud block”, this research was carried out to analyse, the correct proportions to invent such block. During the research mainly two types of mud blocks were casted; partially compacted mud block and poured mud block. During the casting process soil, cement, straw were mixed with water in different proportions to understand the best particle mix for the proposed block and compared the compressive strengths of each sample. From the analysis it was found that, there is a high possibility of inventing a effective mud block which has required strength for a load bearing dwellings, while minimizing the structural cast with less weight and low cost with simple manufacturing process

Regional functional connectivity predicts distinct cognitive impairments in Alzheimer's disease spectrum

Understanding neural network dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease is imperative to effectively develop network-modulating therapies. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), cognitive decline associates with deficits in resting-state functional connectivity of di