Large-Scale Networks for Auditory Sensory Gating in the Awake Mouse

The amplitude of the brain response to a repeated auditory stimulus is diminished as compared to the response to the first tone (T1) for interstimulus intervals (ISI) lasting up to hundreds of milliseconds. This adaptation process, called auditory sensory gating (ASG), is altered in various psychiatric diseases including schizophrenia and is classically studied by focusing on early evoked cortical responses to the second tone (T2) using 500-ms ISI. However, mechanisms underlying ASG are still not well-understood. We investigated ASG in awake mice from the brainstem to cortex at variable ISIs (125-2000 ms) using high-density EEG and intracerebral recordings. While ASG decreases at longer ISIs, it is still present at durations (500-2000 ms) far beyond the time during which brain responses to T1 could still be detected. T1 induces a sequence of specific stable scalp EEG topographies that correspond to the successive activation of distinct neural networks lasting about 350 ms. These brain states remain unaltered if T2 is presented during this period, although T2 is processed by the brain, suggesting that ongoing networks of brain activity are active for longer than early evoked-potentials and are not overwritten by an upcoming new stimulus. Intracerebral recordings demonstrate that ASG is already present at the level of ventral cochlear nucleus (vCN) and inferior colliculus and is amplified across the hierarchy in bottom-up direction. This study uncovers the extended stability of sensory-evoked brain states and long duration of ASG, and sheds light on generators of ASG and possible interactions between bottom-up and top-down mechanisms

Outcome of the First wwPDB Hybrid / Integrative Methods Task Force Workshop

Structures of biomolecular systems are increasingly computed by integrative modeling that relies on varied types of experimental data and theoretical information. We describe here the proceedings and conclusions from the first wwPDB Hybrid/Integrative Methods Task Force Workshop held at the European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton, UK, on October 6 and 7, 2014. At the workshop, experts in various experimental fields of structural biology, experts in integrative modeling and visualization, and experts in data archiving addressed a series of questions central to the future of structural biology. How should integrative models be represented? How should the data and integrative models be validated? What data should be archived? How should the data and models be archived? What information should accompany the publication of integrative models

Doxycycline Reduces Mortality and Injury to the Brain and Cochlea in Experimental Pneumococcal Meningitis

Bacterial meningitis is characterized by an inflammatory reaction to the invading pathogens that can ultimately lead to sensorineural hearing loss, permanent brain injury, or death. The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tumor necrosis factor alpha-converting enzyme (TACE) are key mediators that promote inflammation, blood-brain barrier disruption, and brain injury in bacterial meningitis. Doxycycline is a clinically used antibiotic with anti-inflammatory effects that lead to reduced cytokine release and the inhibition of MMPs. Here, doxycycline inhibited TACE with a 50% inhibitory dose of 74 μM in vitro and reduced the amount of tumor necrosis factor alpha released into the cerebrospinal fluid by 90% in vivo. In an infant rat model of pneumococcal meningitis, a single dose of doxycycline (30 mg/kg) given as adjuvant therapy in addition to ceftriaxone 18 h after infection significantly reduced the mortality, the blood-brain barrier disruption, and the extent of cortical brain injury. Adjuvant doxycycline (30 mg/kg given subcutaneously once daily for 4 days) also attenuated hearing loss, as assessed by auditory brainstem response audiometry, and neuronal death in the cochlear spiral ganglion at 3 weeks after infection. Thus, doxycycline, probably as a result of its anti-inflammatory properties, had broad beneficial effects in the brain and the cochlea and improved survival in this model of pneumococcal meningitis in infant rats

Guide Ecophyto Fruits - Guide pour la conception de systèmes de production fruitière économes en produits phytopharmaceutiques

Le Guide Ecophyto Fruits a pour objectif d’aider à la réflexion lors d’ateliers de re-conception des stratégies de protection des vergers. Ce travail doit pouvoir se dérouler sur une ½ à une journée par le binôme producteur et son conseiller. Le guide a aussi vocation à servir de support pédagogique pour les formations initiales et continues.Sous la coordination de l’Inra, une vingtaine d’experts scientifiques et techniques représentant différents organismes pour la plupart membres du GIS Fruits (APCA, BIP, CTIFL, Educagri, GRCETA, IFPC, INRA, ITAB/GRAB, MAAF-DGAL, OP Blue Whale, OP Pom Anjou, OP Unicoque) ont participé à son élaboration. Les compétences et savoirs de nombreux expérimentateurs et conseillers ont été également mobilisés pour prendre en considération les spécificités des espèces fruitières cultivées en France métropolitaine.Le guide est constitué de quatre types de ressources : (1) une partie méthodologique présente les enjeux et les concepts de la production intégrée privilégiant des actions préventives pour réduire la sensibilité des vergers aux attaques des bioagresseurs. Elle propose aussi une démarche itérative combinant un diagnostic de la situation initiale, la conception de systèmes de culture innovants et leur évaluation, (2) des fiches « Supports » pour aider à la mise en œuvre de la démarche, (3) des fiches « Aides » analysant pour chaque espèce fruitière les leviers d’action disponibles pour contrôler leurs principaux bioagresseurs, ainsi que pour décrire des indicateurs rapidement mobilisables pour évaluer la performance des systèmes, (4) des fiches « Techniques » décrivant les méthodes alternatives actuellement disponibles en productions fruitière