Functional and structural connectivity of reading networks in the adult brain

Language processing draws upon many distributed regions in the brain. Reading in particular is a skill that emerges from the interaction between brain regions involved in phonological and orthographical processing. This project examined the reading network in adults (18-35 years old) with and without developmental dyslexia. Each participant was assessed on a comprehensive battery of standardised neuropsychological tests, which assessed IQ, reading accuracy and comprehension, spelling, phonological processing, working memory, grammatical understanding, motor coordination, and expressive and receptive language skills. In addition, each participant underwent a non-invasive MRI scan, during which structural and functional images were acquired. More specifically, T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted images were acquired to assess structural networks in the brain, whereas a simple reading task and resting-state fMRI were acquired to assess the functional networks involved in reading. Individuals with dyslexia were found to show reduced activation and reduced connectivity in regions typically associated with skilled reading. Moreover, results suggested that they rely on more effortful processing and attentional mechanisms instead to compensate for their reading difficulties. All in all, results indicated that individuals with developmental dyslexia had abnormal functional and structural brain networks related to reading performance, as well as other functions, such as working memory. These findings suggest that for successful reading remediation, it is important to focus on the integration of phonology with orthography, as well as with working memory. Literacy problems such as developmental dyslexia are thus better characterised as a complex disorder with multiple deficits rather than by a single phonological deficit

Secondary structure in the core of amyloid fibrils formed from human βm and its truncated variant Δn6

Amyloid fibrils formed from initially soluble proteins with diverse sequences are associated with an array of human diseases. In the human disorder, dialysis-related amyloidosis (DRA), fibrils contain two major constituents, full-length human β-microglobulin (hβm) and a truncation variant, ΔN6 which lacks the N-terminal six amino acids. These fibrils are assembled from initially natively folded proteins with an all antiparallel β-stranded structure. Here, backbone conformations of wild-type hβm and ΔN6 in their amyloid forms have been determined using a combination of dilute isotopic labeling strategies and multidimensional magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR techniques at high magnetic fields, providing valuable structural information at the atomic-level about the fibril architecture. The secondary structures of both fibril types, determined by the assignment of ∼80% of the backbone resonances of these 100- and 94-residue proteins, respectively, reveal substantial backbone rearrangement compared with the location of β-strands in their native immunoglobulin folds. The identification of seven β-strands in hβm fibrils indicates that approximately 70 residues are in a β-strand conformation in the fibril core. By contrast, nine β-strands comprise the fibrils formed from ΔN6, indicating a more extensive core. The precise location and length of β-strands in the two fibril forms also differ. The results indicate fibrils of ΔN6 and hβm have an extensive core architecture involving the majority of residues in the polypeptide sequence. The common elements of the backbone structure of the two proteins likely facilitates their ability to copolymerize during amyloid fibril assembly

Swimming using surface acoustic waves

Microactuation of free standing objects in fluids is currently dominated by the rotary propeller, giving rise to a range of potential applications in the military, aeronautic and biomedical fields. Previously, surface acoustic waves (SAWs) have been shown to be of increasing interest in the field of microfluidics, where the refraction of a SAW into a drop of fluid creates a convective flow, a phenomenon generally known as SAW streaming. We now show how SAWs, generated at microelectronic devices, can be used as an efficient method of propulsion actuated by localised fluid streaming. The direction of the force arising from such streaming is optimal when the devices are maintained at the Rayleigh angle. The technique provides propulsion without any moving parts, and, due to the inherent design of the SAW transducer, enables simple control of the direction of travel

Systematic image-driven analysis of the spatial Drosophila embryonic expression landscape

We created innovative virtual representation for our large scale Drosophila insitu expression dataset. We aligned an elliptically shaped mesh comprised of small triangular regions to the outline of each embryo. Each triangle defines a unique location in the embryo and comparing corresponding triangles allows easy identification of similar expression patterns.The virtual representation was used to organize the expression landscape at stage 4-6. We identified regions with similar expression in the embryo and clustered genes with similar expression patterns.We created algorithms to mine the dataset for adjacent non-overlapping patterns and anti-correlated patterns. We were able to mine the dataset to identify co-expressed and putative interacting genes.Using co-expression we were able to assign putative functions to unknown genes

A Hybrid Approach for the Recommendation of Scholarly Journals

© 2020 IEEE. The increasing number of scholarlyjournals have made it difficult for authors to select the most suitable journal that publishes their research. Existing search systems that recommend journals for manuscript submission are either based on author 's profile, bibliographic data or the copublication network. These approaches are not useful for beginner researchers who have no publication records or for those who are interested in new research domains. The present work proposes a hybrid approach that combines clustering and document similarity for the recommendation of scholarly venues. The proposal was evaluated both objectively and subjectively using domain experts. The results of mean average precision (0.84) and normalized discounted cumulative gain (0.89) shows positive recommendations made by the proposed approach

Novel scheelite‐type [Ca0.55(Nd1‐xBix)0.3]MoO4 (0.2 ≤ x ≤ 0.95) microwave dielectric ceramics with low sintering temperature

Novel scheelite‐type [Ca0.55(Nd1‐xBix)0.3]MoO4 (0.2 ≤ x ≤ 0.95) ceramics were prepared using the solid‐state reaction method. According to the X‐ray diffraction data, a solid solution was formed in 0.2 ≤ x ≤ 0.95 and all the samples belong to pure scheelite phase with the tetragonal structure. As revealed by Raman spectroscopy, the number of vibrational modes decreased with the increase in x value, which further indicated that Bi3+ ions occupied A‐site of scheelite structure. As the x value increased, the sintering temperature decreased from 740°C to 660°C; the permittivity increased from 12.6 to 20.3; the Qf value first decreased slightly and gradually remained stable. Based on the infrared reflectivity spectrum analysis, the calculated permittivity derived from the fitted data shared the same trend with the measured value. The [Ca0.55(Nd0.05Bi0.95)0.3]MoO4 ceramic sintered at 660 °C attained a near‐zero value temperature coefficient ~τf (−7.1 ppm/°C) and showed excellent microwave dielectric properties with a ɛr ~ 20.3 and a Qf ~ 33 860 GHz, making this system a promising candidate in the ultralow temperature cofired ceramic (ULTCC) technology

A major genetic locus in <i>Trypanosoma brucei</i> is a determinant of host pathology

The progression and variation of pathology during infections can be due to components from both host or pathogen, and/or the interaction between them. The influence of host genetic variation on disease pathology during infections with trypanosomes has been well studied in recent years, but the role of parasite genetic variation has not been extensively studied. We have shown that there is parasite strain-specific variation in the level of splenomegaly and hepatomegaly in infected mice and used a forward genetic approach to identify the parasite loci that determine this variation. This approach allowed us to dissect and identify the parasite loci that determine the complex phenotypes induced by infection. Using the available trypanosome genetic map, a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) was identified on T. brucei chromosome 3 (LOD = 7.2) that accounted for approximately two thirds of the variance observed in each of two correlated phenotypes, splenomegaly and hepatomegaly, in the infected mice (named &lt;i&gt;TbOrg1&lt;/i&gt;). In addition, a second locus was identified that contributed to splenomegaly, hepatomegaly and reticulocytosis (&lt;i&gt;TbOrg2&lt;/i&gt;). This is the first use of quantitative trait locus mapping in a diploid protozoan and shows that there are trypanosome genes that directly contribute to the progression of pathology during infections and, therefore, that parasite genetic variation can be a critical factor in disease outcome. The identification of parasite loci is a first step towards identifying the genes that are responsible for these important traits and shows the power of genetic analysis as a tool for dissecting complex quantitative phenotypic traits

Design principles for riboswitch function

Scientific and technological advances that enable the tuning of integrated regulatory components to match network and system requirements are critical to reliably control the function of biological systems. RNA provides a promising building block for the construction of tunable regulatory components based on its rich regulatory capacity and our current understanding of the sequence–function relationship. One prominent example of RNA-based regulatory components is riboswitches, genetic elements that mediate ligand control of gene expression through diverse regulatory mechanisms. While characterization of natural and synthetic riboswitches has revealed that riboswitch function can be modulated through sequence alteration, no quantitative frameworks exist to investigate or guide riboswitch tuning. Here, we combined mathematical modeling and experimental approaches to investigate the relationship between riboswitch function and performance. Model results demonstrated that the competition between reversible and irreversible rate constants dictates performance for different regulatory mechanisms. We also found that practical system restrictions, such as an upper limit on ligand concentration, can significantly alter the requirements for riboswitch performance, necessitating alternative tuning strategies. Previous experimental data for natural and synthetic riboswitches as well as experiments conducted in this work support model predictions. From our results, we developed a set of general design principles for synthetic riboswitches. Our results also provide a foundation from which to investigate how natural riboswitches are tuned to meet systems-level regulatory demands

Amyand's Hernia – Case Report and Review of the Literature

Amyand's hernia is an extremely rare condition in which the appendix is positioned in the inguinal hernia sac. Acute appendicitis is much less common in this situation and few reports are found in the literature. We report a case of acute appendicitis with the tip of the appendix incarcerated outside the external ring of the right groin. A mobilized cecum and ascending colon were noticed during surgery. We conducted a review of the literature, emphasizing possible causes and suggesting a predisposing factor for the condition

Bioassay design and length of time in the laboratory affect intercolonial interactions of the Formosan subterranean termite (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae)

This study examined the effect of diet, experimental design, and length of time in the laboratory on intercolonial agonism among Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, colonies. In pairings of 12 C. formosanus Shiraki colonies collected in an urban forest, there was no significant reduction in survival of termites in 30 out of 59 colony pairs compared to colony controls, but there was <50% survival in 18 colony pairs and <10% survival in six colony pairs. There was no correlation between the level of aggressive behavior and the laboratory diet of the termites. Effect of bioassay design and length of time in the laboratory was evaluated in three colony pairs where tests were first conducted on the day of field collection, then colony pairs were retested every 7 days. Aggressive behavior decreased over time in both bioassays, but it tended to decrease more rapidly in the Petri dish tests. The rapid loss of agonism in groups of termites kept in the laboratory demonstrates that changes in environmental factors affect intercolonial agonism