Neurofeedback of visual food cue reactivity: a potential avenue to alter incentive sensitization and craving

FMRI-based neurofeedback transforms functional brain activation in real-time into sensory stimuli that participants can use to self-regulate brain responses, which can aid the modification of mental states and behavior. Emerging evidence supports the clinical utility of neurofeedback-guided up-regulation of hypoactive networks. In contrast, down-regulation of hyperactive neural circuits appears more difficult to achieve. There are conditions though, in which down-regulation would be clinically useful, including dysfunctional motivational states elicited by salient reward cues, such as food or drug craving. In this proof-of-concept study, 10 healthy females (mean age = 21.40 years, mean BMI = 23.53) who had fasted for 4 h underwent a novel ‘motivational neurofeedback’ training in which they learned to down-regulate brain activation during exposure to appetitive food pictures. FMRI feedback was given from individually determined target areas and through decreases/increases in food picture size, thus providing salient motivational consequences in terms of cue approach/avoidance. Our preliminary findings suggest that motivational neurofeedback is associated with functionally specific activation decreases in diverse cortical/subcortical regions, including key motivational areas. There was also preliminary evidence for a reduction of hunger after neurofeedback and an association between down-regulation success and the degree of hunger reduction. Decreasing neural cue responses by motivational neurofeedback may provide a useful extension of existing behavioral methods that aim to modulate cue reactivity. Our pilot findings indicate that reduction of neural cue reactivity is not achieved by top-down regulation but arises in a bottom-up manner, possibly through implicit operant shaping of target area activity

Cover crops improve ground cover in a very dry season

Take home messages • Previous trials have shown cover crops can increase stored fallow water and improve crop performance and returns in northern farming systems • A cover crop in a long fallow (14 months) in a dry season allowed improved ground cover with no net deficit in soil water. The extra ground cover improved the opportunity to deep plant wheat. • A cover crop in a short fallow had a water cost that translated to a yield penalty. • When the sorghum stopped growing in dry conditions it continued to use water, for no biomass (or cover) increase when it wasn’t sprayed out

Summer crops: relative water use efficiencies and legacy impacts in farming systems

Take home message • While summer crops offer rotational options in the farming system, choose the correct crop to match your available soil water and crop history • Sorghum is a reliable performer often exceeding other options in terms of $returned per mm used • Cotton and maize require higher water availability and produce less reliable WUE ($/mm). However, cotton has legacy impacts on water availability for subsequent crops that should be considered • Mungbean can produce higher $/mm in low water availability situations ( 150 mm of plant available water will maximise crop WUE and profitability. Every extra mm at sowing could be worth as much as$35-70 extra return/ha • Higher density sorghum crops may provide greater crop competition against weeds and potential upside yield benefits in good season. We have seen limited legacy benefits (e.g. improved ground cover) or costs (e.g. greater soil water/nutrient extraction) for soil water or nutrient availability

Size effects in ion-neutral complex-mediated alkane eliminations from ionized aliphatic ethers

AbstractThe effects of the size of the ionic and neutral partners on ion-neutral complex-mediated alkane eliminations from ionized aliphatic ethers were determined by obtaining metastable decomposition spectra and photoionization ionization efficiency curves. Increasing the size of the ionic partner decreases the competitiveness of alkane elimination with alkyl loss. This is attributed to decreasing attraction between the partners with increasing distance between the neutral partner and the center of charge in the associated ion. Increasing the size of the neutral partner lowers the threshold for alkane elimination relative to that for simple dissociation when the first threshold is above ΔHf(products). This is attributed to increasing attraction between the partners with increasing polarizability of the radical in the complex. Adding a CH2 to the radical in a complex seems to increase the attraction between the partners by about 24 kJ mol−1

Datos del subsuelo y su conocimiento para las Ciudades del Mañana: lecciones aprendidas de Glasgow y su aplicabilidad en otros lugares

El conocimiento del subsuelo es de vital importancia en la planificación y ejecución exitosa de proyectos de construcción y regeneración urbanas. Para abordar en el área de Glasgow éste y otros temas del subsuelo urbano (por ejemplo, la planificación, las inundaciones, la contaminación), el proyecto Clyde-Urban Super-Project (CUSP) del Servicio Geológico Británico (BGS, por sus siglas en inglés) ha desarrollado modelos 3D y 4D del subsuelo. Asimismo, se han producido otros conjuntos de datos de geociencias (geoquímica, agua subterránea, geología de ingeniería). Los modelos basados en información obtenida de decenas de miles de perforaciones y otras fuentes, proporcionan nuevos conocimientos sobre: la geología compleja de Glasgow, los impactos de su legado industrial, y las oportunidades para aprovechar el calor de las explotaciones mineras abandonadas. Para que los modelos y datos del proyecto CUSP fueran más accesibles, el BGS y el Ayuntamiento de Glasgow, socio clave, han establecido una red para acceder al conocimiento del subsuelo (ASK, por sus siglas en inglés). Esta red permite el intercambio de datos y conocimientos, implicando a socios de los sectores público y privado. ASK promueve el libre flujo digital de datos del subsuelo y el conocimiento entre sus socios. Las lecciones aprendidas en Glasgow se comparten a través de la Acción Europea COST (Sub-Urban), centrada en el uso sostenible del subsuelo urbano, y en la transformación de las relaciones entre los que desarrollan el conocimiento del subsuelo urbano y los que pueden beneficiarse más de él, los planificadores y promotores de las ciudades del futuro

Individual differences in the modulation of fear-related brain activation by attentional control

In this article, we consider the extent to which variations in the neural activation associated with fear-related stimuli are obligatory or optional. More specifically, we investigated modulation of activation according to type of encoding operation, and how this relates to individual differences in fearfulness and attentional control. In an fMRI study, fear-related (relative to neutral) pictures preferentially activated many of the regions involved in a hierarchical system responsible for organizing defensive behavior, and differential activation in some of these areas was related to self-reported individual variations in fearfulness. Preferential activation according to type of stimulus persisted to a limited extent even when attention was diverted from its emotional aspects. Importantly, however, encoding tasks involving attention to emotional versus nonemotional attributes of the same pictures revealed a pattern of greater activation during emotional encoding, similar to that differentiating fear-related from neutral stimuli. Again, the degree of modulation varied according to individual differences. We conclude that fear-related pictures can recruit activation in the defensive system even when attention is directed elsewhere, but that the extent of this activation is modulated by attentional control mechanisms. More critically, both differential activation and its modulation by attentional control are related to individual variations in emotional vulnerability, in a manner that conforms to predictions derived from existing theoretical accounts

Measurement of Surface Reactions in the Space Environment

Serious degradation is experienced by the external surfaces of spacecraft that operate in low earth orbits for extended periods of time, as a result of the ablative effects of atmospheric atomic oxygen, possibly catalyzed by solar ultraviolet radiation. Improved base materials and surface coatings are being developed by government, university and industry teams to combat the effects of this degradation. A small spacecraft and a suite of associated instruments, designed to measure the performance of improved, atomic-oxygen-resistant materials and coatings in orbit and to telemeter the resulting data and video images to earth at intervals during a one-year mission, have been described in a definition study sponsored by the Langley Research Center under NASA\u27s In-Space Technology Experiments Program. Instruments selected for use in this miniature orbiting laboratory include a radio frequency mass spectrometer, a set of quartz crystal microbalances, a set of osmium-based atomic oxygen sensors, a scatterometer, a set of osmium actinometers and a scanning optical microscope. The design of these instruments and their use in the overall experiment are summarized in this paper

Concurrent extrahepatic autoimmunity in autoimmune hepatitis: implications for diagnosis, clinical course and long term outcome

Concurrent extrahepatic autoimmune disease (CEHAID) associated with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) have been incorporated into the diagnostic criteria stipulated by the International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group (IAIHG). Large comprehensive cohort data on the extrahepatic autoimmunity in AIH remain scanty AIM: To systematically assess features and clinical impact of CEHAID on AIH METHODS: Clinical records of 562 patients with AIH from two tertiary centres in the United Kingdom were retrospectively reviewed RESULTS: Prevalence of CEHAID in patients with AIH were 42%. Autoimmune thyroid disease was the commonest CEHAID associated with AIH (101/562, 18%). Autoimmune skin diseases were more prevalent in AIH-2 than AIH-1 (21.9% vs.7%, p=0.009). Personal history of CEHAID was more commonly found in AIH patients with than without first degree family history of CEHAID [(48/86, 55.8% vs 169/446, 37.9%), p=0.002]. AIH patients with CEHAID were more often female [201/236 (85.2%), p=0.008], had higher post-treatment IAIHG score (22 vs. 20, p<0.001), less reactivity to smooth muscle antibodies (49.8% vs 65%, p<0.001), more likely to have mild fibrosis at diagnosis (20.9% vs. 6.5%, p<0.001), less often had ascites (6.3% vs. 13.6%, p=0.008) and coagulopathy (1.18 vs. 1.27, p=0.013) at presentation. Presence of CEHAID, however, did not significantly affect disease progression, prognosis and survival in AIH CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms the strong association of CEHAID with AIH. Association between personal and familial extrahepatic autoimmunity especially among first degree relatives was evident. Presence of CEHAID may influence clinical phenotype of AIH at presentation but without notable impact on the long term clinical outcome