Moving Just Like You: Motor Interference Depends on Similar Motility of Agent and Observer

Recent findings in neuroscience suggest an overlap between brain regions involved in the execution of movement and perception of another’s movement. This so-called “action-perception coupling” is supposed to serve our ability to automatically infer the goals and intentions of others by internal simulation of their actions. A consequence of this coupling is motor interference (MI), the effect of movement observation on the trajectory of one’s own movement. Previous studies emphasized that various features of the observed agent determine the degree of MI, but could not clarify how human-like an agent has to be for its movements to elicit MI and, more importantly, what ‘human-like’ means in the context of MI. Thus, we investigated in several experiments how different aspects of appearance and motility of the observed agent influence motor interference (MI). Participants performed arm movements in horizontal and vertical directions while observing videos of a human, a humanoid robot, or an industrial robot arm with either artificial (industrial) or human-like joint configurations. Our results show that, given a human-like joint configuration, MI was elicited by observing arm movements of both humanoid and industrial robots. However, if the joint configuration of the robot did not resemble that of the human arm, MI could longer be demonstrated. Our findings present evidence for the importance of human-like joint configuration rather than other human-like features for perception-action coupling when observing inanimate agents

Ability of online drug databases to assist in clinical decision-making with infectious disease therapies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Infectious disease (ID) is a dynamic field with new guidelines being adopted at a rapid rate. Clinical decision support tools (CDSTs) have proven beneficial in selecting treatment options to improve outcomes. However, there is a dearth of information on the abilities of CDSTs, such as drug information databases. This study evaluated online drug information databases when answering infectious disease-specific queries.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eight subscription drug information databases: American Hospital Formulary Service Drug Information (AHFS), Clinical Pharmacology (CP), Epocrates Online Premium (EOP), Facts & Comparisons 4.0 Online (FC), Lexi-Comp (LC), Lexi-Comp with AHFS (LC-AHFS), Micromedex (MM), and PEPID PDC (PPDC) and six freely accessible: DailyMed (DM), DIOne (DIO), Epocrates Online Free (EOF), Internet Drug Index (IDI), Johns Hopkins ABX Guide (JHAG), and Medscape Drug Reference (MDR) were evaluated for their scope (presence of an answer) and completeness (on a 3-point scale) in answering 147 infectious disease-specific questions. Questions were divided among five classifications: antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, antiparasitic, and vaccination/immunization. Classifications were further divided into categories (e.g., dosage, administration, emerging resistance, synergy, and spectrum of activity). Databases were ranked based on scope and completeness scores. ANOVA and Chi-square were used to determine differences between individual databases and between subscription and free databases.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Scope scores revealed three discrete tiers of database performance: Tier 1 (82-77%), Tier 2 (73-65%) and Tier 3 (56-41%) which were significantly different from each other (p < 0.05). The top tier performers: MM (82%), MDR (81%), LC-AHFS (81%), AHFS (78%), and CP (77%) answered significantly more questions compared to other databases (p < 0.05). Top databases for completeness were: MM (97%), DM (96%), IDI (95%), and MDR (95%). Subscription databases performed better than free databases in all categories (p = 0.03). Databases suffered from 37 erroneous answers for an overall error rate of 1.8%.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Drug information databases used in ID practice as CDSTs can be valuable resources. MM, MDR, LC-AHFS, AHFS, and CP were shown to be superior in their scope and completeness of information, and MM, AHFS, and MDR provided no erroneous answers. There is room for improvement in all evaluated databases.</p

Allergic fungal sinusitis: CT findings.

PURPOSE : To determine the computed tomographic (CT) findings in patients with allergic fungal sinusitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors retrospectively reviewed CT scans and surgical and histopathologic reports in 45 patients (27 male, 18 female; age range, 8-68 years) with allergic fungal sinusitis from multiple institutions. The median age (25 years) and demographics of the patients were determined. Two head and neck radiologists together evaluated the CT scans for the presence of intrasinus high-attenuation areas, extent of sinus involvement, bone expansion and thinning, bone erosion, and extension of disease into the adjacent soft tissues. RESULTS: Allergic fungal sinusitis was more common in male patients and in patients aged 20-30 years. All patients had increased intrasinus attenuation at non-contrast material-enhanced CT. Multiple sinus involvement occurred in 43 patients. Bilateral involvement was more common than unilateral disease. Forty-four patients had complete opacification of at least one of the involved sinuses; 43 of these patients had expansion of an involved sinus, 42 had remodeling and thinning of the bony sinus walls, and 41 had erosion of the sinus wall. CONCLUSION: Allergic fungal sinusitis is a distinct clinical entity with nonspecific symptoms that may be initially suggested by the CT findings. These findings should alert the clinician to the possibility of allergic fungal sinusitis and prompt other diagnostic studies to establish the diagnosis and treatment plan

Different Prey Resources Suggest Little Competition Between Non-Native Frogs and Insectivorous Birds Despite Isotopic Niche Overlap

Non-native amphibians often compete with native amphibians in their introduced range, but their competitive effects on other vertebrates are less well known. The Puerto Rican coqui frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) has colonized the island of Hawaii, and has been hypothesized to compete with insectivorous birds and bats. To address if the coqui could compete with these vertebrates, we used stable isotope analyses to compare the trophic position and isotopic niche overlap between the coqui, three insectivorous bird species, and the Hawaiian hoary bat. Coquis shared similar trophic position to Hawaii amakihi, Japanese white-eye, and red-billed leiothrix. Coquis were about 3 ‰ less enriched in δ15N than the Hawaiian hoary bat, suggesting the bats feed at a higher trophic level than coquis. Analyses of potential diet sources between coquis and each of the three bird species indicate that there was more dietary overlap between bird species than any of the birds and the coqui. Results suggest that Acari, Amphipoda, and Blattodea made up \u3e90% of coqui diet, while Araneae made up only 2% of coqui diet, but approximately 25% of amakihi and white-eye diet. The three bird species shared similar proportions of Lepidoptera larvae, which were ~25% of their diet. Results suggest that coquis share few food resources with insectivorous birds, but occupy a similar trophic position, which could indicate weak competition. However, resource competition may not be the only way coquis impact insectivorous birds, and future research should examine whether coqui invasions are associated with changes in bird abundance

Positive Shifts in Emotion Evaluation Following Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in Remitted Depressed Participants

Objectives: A combination of negatively biased information processing and a reduced ability to experience positive emotions can persist into remission from major depression (rMDD). Studies have shown that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) can increase self-reported positive emotions in rMDD participants; similar changes using neuropsychological tasks have not been shown. In this study, we investigated neuropsychological change in emotional processing following MBCT in rMDD participants. Methods: Seventy-three rMDD participants, 40 of whom received MBCT and 33 of whom continued with treatment as usual (TAU), and 42 never depressed participants took part; neither the TAU nor never depressed participants received MBCT. All were assessed at baseline and immediately following MBCT or after an 8-week gap for those without active intervention. Participants completed emotion evaluation and face emotion recognition tasks with self-report measures (mood, mindfulness) at each session. Results: Results showed an MBCT-specific shift in ratings from less negative to more positive emotion evaluations, which correlated with mindfulness practice and self-report mindfulness change. Both the MBCT and TAU groups showed a small increase in overall face emotion recognition accuracy compared with no change in never depressed participants. Conclusions: These findings support a specific role for MBCT in encouraging more positive evaluations of life situations in those with previous depression rather than influencing lower-level processing of emotions. Results should be interpreted cautiously given that this was a non-randomised, preference choice trial. Trial Registration: NCT0222604

Hydrologic Variability Affects Invertebrate Grazing on Phototrophic Biofilms in Stream Microcosms

The temporal variability of streamflow is known to be a key feature structuring and controlling fluvial ecological communities and ecosystem processes. Although alterations of streamflow regime due to habitat fragmentation or other anthropogenic factors are ubiquitous, a quantitative understanding of their implications on ecosystem structure and function is far from complete. Here, by experimenting with two contrasting flow regimes in stream microcosms, we provide a novel mechanistic explanation for how fluctuating flow regimes may affect grazing of phototrophic biofilms (i.e., periphyton) by an invertebrate species (Ecdyonurus sp.). In both flow regimes light availability was manipulated as a control on autotroph biofilm productivity and grazer activity, thereby allowing the test of flow regime effects across various ratios of biofilm biomass to grazing activity. Average grazing rates were significantly enhanced under variable flow conditions and this effect was highest at intermediate light availability. Our results suggest that stochastic flow regimes, characterised by suitable fluctuations and temporal persistence, may offer increased windows of opportunity for grazing under favourable shear stress conditions. This bears important implications for the development of comprehensive schemes for water resources management and for the understanding of trophic carbon transfer in stream food webs