Decreasing predictability of visual motion enhances feed-forward processing in visual cortex when stimuli are behaviorally relevant

Recent views of information processing in the (human) brain emphasize the hierarchical structure of the central nervous system, which is assumed to form the basis of a functional hierarchy. Hierarchical predictive processing refers to the notion that higher levels try to predict activity in lower areas, while lower levels transmit a prediction error up the hierarchy whenever the predictions fail. The present study aims at testing hypothetical modulatory effects of unpredictable visual motion on forward connectivities within the visual cortex. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was acquired from 35 healthy volunteers while viewing a moving ball under three different levels of predictability. In two different runs subjects were asked to attend to direction changes in the ball’s motion, where a button-press was required in one of these runs only. Dynamic causal modeling was applied to a network comprising V1, V5 and posterior parietal cortex in the right hemisphere. The winning model of a Bayesian model selection indicated an enhanced strength in the forward connection from V1 to V5 with decreasing predictability for the run requiring motor response. These results support the notion of hierarchical predictive processing in the sense of an augmented bottom-up transmission of prediction error with increasing uncertainty about motion direction. This finding may be of importance for promoting our understanding of trait characteristics in psychiatric disorders, as an increased forward propagation of prediction error is assumed to underlie schizophrenia and may be observable at early stages of the disease

Disorder-specific characteristics of borderline personality disorder with co-occurring depression and its comparison with major depression: An fMRI study with emotional interference task

AbstractBorderline personality disorder (BPD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) are both associated with abnormalities in the regulation of emotion, with BPD being highly comorbid with MDD. Disorder-specific dysfunctions in BPD, however, have hardly been addressed, hence the lack of knowledge pertaining to the specificity of emotion processing deficits and their commonality with MDD.24 healthy comparison subjects, 21 patients with MDD, and 13 patients with comorbid BPD and MDD (BPD+MDD group) were studied using functional MRI. The subjects were required to perform an emotional interference task that entailed categorizing facial affect while ignoring words that labeled the emotional contents of the external stimuli.Collapsing across emotional face types, we observed that participants with BPD+MDD uniquely displayed a greater involvement of the visual areas and the cerebellum. During emotional conflict processing, on the other hand, the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) appeared to be affected in both patient groups. In comparison to the HC, the MDD group showed differences also in the posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC) and the inferior parietal lobule (IPL).Thus, our data indicate dysfunctionality in the neural circuitry responsible for emotional conflict control in both disorders. The enhanced visual cortex activation in BPD+MDD suggests the visual system's hyperresponsiveness to faces at an early perceptual level. Not being associated with co-occurring depression, this effect in BPD+MDD appears to represent specific personality traits such as disturbed reactivity toward emotionally expressive facial stimuli

A message emerging from development: the repression of mitochondrial β-F1-ATPase expression in cancer

The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10863-007-9087-9Mitochondrial research has experienced a considerable boost during the last decade because organelle malfunctioning is in the genesis and/or progression of a vast array of human pathologies including cancer. The renaissance of mitochondria in the cancer field has been promoted by two main facts: (1) the molecular and functional integration of mitochondrial bioenergetics with the execution of cell death and (2) the implementation of 18FDG-PET for imaging and staging of tumors in clinical practice. The latter, represents the bed-side translational development of the metabolic hallmark that describes the bioenergetic phenotype of most cancer cells as originally predicted at the beginning of previous century by Otto Warburg. In this minireview we will briefly summarize how the study of energy metabolism during liver development forced our encounter with Warburg’s postulates and prompted us to study the mechanisms that regulate the biogenesis of mitochondria in the cancer cellThis review article was written while the research activity in the authors’ laboratory was supported by grants from the Ministerio de Sanidad (PI041255), Educación y Ciencia (SAF2005-4001) and Fundación Mutua Madrileña. The CBMSO is the recipient of an institutional grant from Fundación Ramón ArecesPeer reviewe

Entwicklung von Phytophthora-resistentem Zuchtmaterial für den ökologischen Landbau

Die Ansprüche des ökologischen Landbaus an Kartoffelsorten unterscheiden sich zum Teil erheblich von denen des konventionellen Anbaus. Dies ist bedingt durch den alternativen Pflanzenschutz mit mechanischer Unkrautbekämpfung sowie durch eine in der Regel geringere Stickstoffversorgung der Pflanzen. Darum benötigt der ökologische Landbau spezielle Sorten, die neben den vom Verbraucher gewünschten Qualitätsmerkmalen auch eine hohe Widerstandsfähigkeit gegenüber Krankheiten und Schädlingen besitzen, durch schnelle Jugendentwicklung das Unkrautwachstum unterdrücken und eine hohe Nährstoffeffizienz aufweisen. Um neue Zuchtstämme zu schaffen, in denen die im Biolandbau gewünschten Eigenschaften kombiniert vorliegen, etablierte das seit 2012 im „Bundesprogramm Ökologischer Landbau und andere Formen nachhaltiger Landwirtschaft“ geförderte Projekt „Entwicklung von Phytophthora-resistentem Zuchtmaterial für den ökologischen Landbau“ ein Zuchtprogramm speziell für den ökologischen Kartoffelanbau. Für die Züchtung auf geringe Anfälligkeit gegenüber der Kraut- und Knollenfäule, die durch den Oomyceten Phytophthora infestans hervorgerufen wird, wurde auf resistente Kartoffelklone aus der Vorzüchtung des Julius-Kühn Institutes zurückgegriffen. Die untersuchten Zuchtstämme und Vergleichssorten wurden parallel in einem Beobachtungsanbau hinsichtlich weiterer agronomischer und qualitativer Eigenschaften wie Ertragsleistung, Wuchsform, Stärkegehalt, Speise- und Veredelungseignung und Abreifeverhalten untersucht. Weitere Resistenzen sowie gewünschte Qualitätsmerkmale wurden aus modernen Hochleistungssorten deutscher Züchtungsunternehmen und historischen Sorten der IPK Genbank während des Projektverlaufs ins Zuchtmaterial eingebracht. Neben der Evaluierung der Prüfglieder hinsichtlich der Resistenzeigenschaften wurden zur Erweiterung des Basiszuchtmaterials zahlreiche Kreuzungen durchgeführt. Hierbei wurden die Kreuzungseltern gezielt aus den im Projekt geprüften Sorten und Zuchtstämmen ausgewählt. Für die Bewertung und die Selektion der Klone wurde ein partizipativer Züchtungsansatz gewählt und dafür drei ökologisch wirtschaftende, landwirtschaftliche Betriebe ins Projekt eingebunden. Die Betriebsleiter wurden intensiv geschult und führten die Bewertung der Klone und die Selektion der Knollen in enger Zusammenarbeit mit den wissenschaftlichen Mitarbeitern der Institute durch. Ein solches Modell ist bislang in der der deutschen Kartoffelzüchtung einzigartig. Wissenschaftlich begleitet wurden die Züchtungsarbeiten durch eine phänotypische und genotypische Charakterisierung des Ausgangsmaterials und der Zuchtklone. Ziel hierbei war es, Grundlagen für eine molekulare Selektion KF-resistenter Nachkommen zu schaffen. Hierzu wurden an einem Prüfgliedsortiment Assoziationsstudien mit DArT- und SNP-Markern durchgeführt und ausgewertet. Im Projekt wurden am IPK erstmalig zwei Sortimente umfassend genetisch mittels zwei verschiedener Markersysteme zu charakterisiert. Mit den erzielten Ergebnisse konnten Duplikatgruppen innerhalb der Genbankakzessionen aufgedeckt sowie Unstimmigkeiten erkannt und bereinigt werden. Damit wurde das Genbankmanagement verbessert und nutzerorientiert gestaltet. Somit hat das Projekt eine nachhaltigere und intensivere Nutzung pflanzengenetischer Ressourcen ermöglicht. Dadurch ist es Züchtern wie auch Forschungsinstitutionen zukünftig möglich, zielgerichteter auf genetische Ressourcen der Kartoffel zuzugreifen und diese in die eigenen Zuchtprogramme und Forschungsprojekte einzubringen

Закономерности изменения максимальных оседаний и наклонов земной поверхности на стадии формирования мульды сдвижения

Приведены результаты исследований мульды оседания на стадии формирования. Установлены зависимости положения и величин максимальных оседаний и наклонив земной поверхности от подвигания очистного забоя.The findings of investigation of a subsidence trough at a formation stage are explained. Dependences of position and value of maximum subsidence and tilt from the size of mined-out space are determined

The effects of a DTNBP1 gene variant on attention networks: an fMRI study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Attention deficits belong to the main cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia and come along with altered neural activity in previously described cerebral networks. Given the high heritability of schizophrenia the question arises if impaired function of these networks is modulated by susceptibility genes and detectable in healthy risk allele carriers.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The present event-related fMRI study investigated the effect of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1018381 of the <it>DTNBP1 </it>(dystrobrevin-binding protein 1) gene on brain activity in 80 subjects while performing the attention network test (ANT). In this reaction time task three domains of attention are probed simultaneously: alerting, orienting and executive control of attention.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Risk allele carriers showed impaired performance in the executive control condition associated with reduced neural activity in the left superior frontal gyrus [Brodmann area (BA) 9]. Risk allele carriers did not show alterations in the alerting and orienting networks.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>BA 9 is a key region of schizophrenia pathology and belongs to a network that has been shown previously to be involved in impaired executive control mechanisms in schizophrenia. Our results identified the impact of <it>DTNBP1 </it>on the development of a specific attention deficit via modulation of a left prefrontal network.</p

Прецеденты снижения распространенности немецкого языка в Бразилии во второй половине XX вв. (на примере опроса учащихся школ штата Санта-Катарина)

Although functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has gained increasing importance in investigating neural substrates of anxiety disorders, less is known about the stress eliciting properties of the scanner environment itself. The aim of the study was to investigate feasibility, self-reported distress and anxiety management strategies during an fMRI experiment in a comprehensive sample of patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia (PD/AG). Within the national research network PANIC-NET, n = 89 patients and n = 90 controls participated in a multicenter fMRI study. Subjects completed a retrospective questionnaire on self-reported distress, including a habituation profile and exploratory questions about helpful strategies. Drop-out rates and fMRI quality parameters were employed as markers of study feasibility. Different anxiety measures were used to identify patients particularly vulnerable to increased scanner anxiety and impaired data quality. Three (3.5%) patients terminated the session prematurely. While drop-out rates were comparable for patients and controls, data quality was moderately impaired in patients. Distress was significantly elevated in patients compared to controls; claustrophobic anxiety was furthermore associated with pronounced distress and lower fMRI data quality in patients. Patients reported helpful strategies, including motivational factors and cognitive coping strategies. The feasibility of large-scale fMRI studies on PD/AG patients could be proved. Study designs should nevertheless acknowledge that the MRI setting may enhance stress reactions. Future studies are needed to investigate the relationship between self-reported distress and fMRI data in patient groups that are subject to neuroimaging research

Brain Circuitries Involved in Semantic Interference by Demands of Emotional and Non-Emotional Distractors

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have indicated that the processes leading to the resolution of emotional and non-emotional interference conflicts are unrelated, involving separate networks. It is also known that conflict resolution itself suggests a considerable overlap of the networks. Our study is an attempt to examine how these findings may be related. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study neural responses of 24 healthy subjects to emotional and non-emotional conflict paradigms involving the presentation of congruent and incongruent word-face pairs based on semantic incompatibility between targets and distractors. In the emotional task, the behavioral interference conflict was greater (compared to the non-emotional task) and was paralleled by involvement of the extrastriate visual and posterodorsal medial frontal cortices. In both tasks, we also observed a common network including the dorsal anterior cingulate, the supplemental motor area, the anterior insula and the inferior prefrontal cortex, indicating that these brain structures are markers of experienced conflict. However, the emotional task involved conflict-triggered networks to a considerably higher degree. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings indicate that responses to emotional and non-emotional distractors involve the same systems, which are capable of flexible adjustments based on conflict demands. The function of systems related to conflict resolution is likely to be adjusted on the basis of an evaluation process that primarily involves the extrastriate visual cortex, with target playing a significant role