Contextual novelty changes reward representations in the striatum

Reward representation in ventral striatum is boosted by perceptual novelty, although the mechanism of this effect remains elusive. Animal studies indicate a functional loop (Lisman and Grace, 2005) that includes hippocampus, ventral striatum, and midbrain as being important in regulating salience attribution within the context of novel stimuli. According to this model, reward responses in ventral striatum or midbrain should be enhanced in the context of novelty even if reward and novelty constitute unrelated, independent events. Using fMRI, we show that trials with reward-predictive cues and subsequent outcomes elicit higher responses in the striatum if preceded by an unrelated novel picture, indicating that reward representation is enhanced in the context of novelty. Notably, this effect was observed solely when reward occurrence, and hence reward-related salience, was low. These findings support a view that contextual novelty enhances neural responses underlying reward representation in the striatum and concur with the effects of novelty processing as predicted by the model of Lisman and Grace (2005)

Leptophobic Z' from superstring derived models

It was recently suggested that the reported anomalies in R_b and R_c can be interpreted as the effect of a heavy vector boson that couples to quarks and is universally decoupled from leptons. We examine how an extra gauge boson with this property can arise from superstring derived models. In a specific three generation model we show that the U(1)_{B-L} symmetry combines with the horizontal flavor symmetries to form a universal leptophobic U(1) symmetry. In our model there is an enhancement of the color gauge group from twisted sectors. The enhancement occurs after the breaking of the unifying gauge symmetry by ``Wilson lines''. The leptophobic U(1) symmetry then becomes a generator of the color SU(4) gauge group. We examine how similar symmetries may appear in other string models without the enhancement. We propose that if the current LEP anomalies persist it may be evidence for a certain class of un--unified superstring models

Dopamine restores reward prediction errors in old age.

Senescence affects the ability to utilize information about the likelihood of rewards for optimal decision-making. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in humans, we found that healthy older adults had an abnormal signature of expected value, resulting in an incomplete reward prediction error (RPE) signal in the nucleus accumbens, a brain region that receives rich input projections from substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area (SN/VTA) dopaminergic neurons. Structural connectivity between SN/VTA and striatum, measured by diffusion tensor imaging, was tightly coupled to inter-individual differences in the expression of this expected reward value signal. The dopamine precursor levodopa (L-DOPA) increased the task-based learning rate and task performance in some older adults to the level of young adults. This drug effect was linked to restoration of a canonical neural RPE. Our results identify a neurochemical signature underlying abnormal reward processing in older adults and indicate that this can be modulated by L-DOPA

Contextual novelty modulates the neural dynamics of reward anticipation

We investigated how rapidly the reward-predicting properties of visual cues are signaled in the human brain and the extent these reward prediction signals are contextually modifiable. In a magnetoencephalography study, we presented participants with fractal visual cues that predicted monetary rewards with different probabilities. These cues were presented in the temporal context of a preceding novel or familiar image of a natural scene. Starting at similar to 100 ms after cue onset, reward probability was signaled in the event-related fields (ERFs) over temporo-occipital sensors and in the power of theta (5-8 Hz) and beta (20-30 Hz) band oscillations over frontal sensors. While theta decreased with reward probability beta power showed the opposite effect. Thus, in humans anticipatory reward responses are generated rapidly, within 100 ms after the onset of reward-predicting cues, which is similar to the timing established in non-human primates. Contextual novelty enhanced the reward anticipation responses in both ERFs and in beta oscillations starting at similar to 100 ms after cue onset. This very early context effect is compatible with a physiological model that invokes the mediation of a hippocampal-VTA loop according to which novelty modulates neural response properties within the reward circuitry. We conclude that the neural processing of cues that predict future rewards is temporally highly efficient and contextually modifiable

A multidimensional control architecture for combined fog-to-cloud systems

The fog/edge computing concept has set the foundations for the deployment of new services leveraging resources deployed at the edge paving the way for an innovative collaborative model, where end-users may collaborate with service providers by sharing idle resources at the edge of the network. Combined Fog-to-Cloud (F2C) systems have been recently proposed as a control strategy for managing fog and cloud resources in a coordinated way, aimed at optimally allocating resources within the fog-to-cloud resources stack for an optimal service execution. In this work, we discuss the unfeasibility of the deployment of a single control topology able to optimally manage a plethora of edge devices in future networks, respecting established SLAs according to distinct service requirements and end-user profiles. Instead, a multidimensional architecture, where distinct control plane instances coexist, is then introduced. By means of distinct scenarios, we describe the benefits of the proposed architecture including how users may collaborate with the deployment of novel services by selectively sharing resources according to their profile, as well as how distinct service providers may benefit from shared resources reducing deployment costs. The novel architecture proposed in this paper opens several opportunities for research, which are presented and discussed at the final section.This work was supported by the H2020 EU mF2C project, ref. 730929 and for UPC authors, also by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund under contract RTI2018-094532-B-I00.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

High-speed tunable photonic crystal fiber-based femtosecond soliton source without dispersion pre-compensation

We present a high-speed wavelength tunable photonic crystal fiber-based source capable of generating tunable femtosecond solitons in the infrared region. Through measurements and numerical simulation, we show that both the pulsewidth and the spectral width of the output pulses remain nearly constant over the entire tuning range from 860 to 1160 nm. This remarkable behavior is observed even when pump pulses are heavily chirped (7400 fs^2), which allows to avoid bulky compensation optics, or the use of another fiber, for dispersion compensation usually required by the tuning device.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure

Structural integrity of the substantia nigra and subthalamic nucleus predicts flexibility of instrumental learning in older-age individuals

Flexible instrumental learning is required to harness the appropriate behaviors to obtain rewards and to avoid punishments. The precise contribution of dopaminergic midbrain regions (substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area [SN/VTA]) to this form of behavioral adaptation remains unclear. Normal aging is associated with a variable loss of dopamine neurons in the SN/VTA. We therefore tested the relationship between flexible instrumental learning and midbrain structural integrity. We compared task performance on a probabilistic monetary go/no-go task, involving trial and error learning of: "go to win," "no-go to win," "go to avoid losing," and "no-go to avoid losing" in 42 healthy older adults to previous behavioral data from 47 younger adults. Quantitative structural magnetization transfer images were obtained to index regional structural integrity. On average, both some younger and some older participants demonstrated a behavioral asymmetry whereby they were better at learning to act for reward ("go to win" > "no-go to win"), but better at learning not to act to avoid punishment ("no-go to avoid losing" > "go to avoid losing"). Older, but not younger, participants with greater structural integrity of the SN/VTA and the adjacent subthalamic nucleus could overcome this asymmetry. We show that interindividual variability among healthy older adults of the structural integrity within the SN/VTA and subthalamic nucleus relates to effective acquisition of competing instrumental responses

Microscopía combinada de alta resolucióm. Aplicaciones a la plasmónica y la biofísica

En este trabajo se presenta el diseño y construcción de un microscopio multipropósito, que combina un cabezal AFM y un microscopio óptico espectral. Con la plataforma construida se logró la fabricación y caracterización de sondas plasmónicas, y la visualización óptica y topográfica simultánea de sistemas celulares. Diversas fuentes de luz están disponibles para este microscopio, entre las que se destaca una fuente de luz de pulsos sintonizables en longitud de onda basada en una fibra de cristal fotónico desarrollada especialmente para este trabajo. El microscopio, construido en su totalidad durante esta Tesis, presenta características de estabilidad, resolución lateral y resolución espectral, que permitieron el abordaje de problemas en los que es relevante la combinación de dos escalas, la micrométrica y la nanométrica, así como el estudio de distintas propiedades fisicoquímicas o biológicas simultaneamente.In this work, entitled High resolution combined microscopy. Applications to plas- monics and biophysics”, the design and construction of a multipurpose microscope that combines both an AFM terminal and an optical spectral microscope is pre- sented. The platform already built allows the fabrication and characterization of plasmonic probes and the simultaneous optical and topographic observation of cel- lular systems. Different light sources are availble for this microscope. Among the most remark- able, we find a light source of wavelength tunable pulses based on a photonic crystal fiber developed specifically for this project. The microscope, completely built during this thesis project, presents stability characteristics, lateral resolution and spectral resolution that made possible the approach to problems where the combination of two different scales are relevant, the micrometric and the nanometric, likewise the study of different physicochemical or biological properties.Fil:Masip, Martín E.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina

Osteoquimionecrosis de los maxilares asociada a la administración de bifosfonatos por vía endovenosa: a propósito de seis casos

La osteonecrosis de los maxilares en pacientes con cáncer se asociaba, hasta ahora, con la radioterapia, aunque recientemente se han reportado numerosos casos de osteoquimionecrosis de los maxilares (OQNM) relacionada con la quimioterapia, y más concretamente con el uso de los bifosfonatos (agentes inhibidores de la actividad osteoclástica), utilizados para el tratamiento de las metástasis óseas. Los bifosfonatos inhiben la actividad osteoclástica dando lugar a una disminución de la reabsorción y la remodelación del hueso, comprometiendo su irrigación. Si bien la disminución del aporte vascular en el hueso podría presentarse en cualquier localización, parece lógico que en la mayoría de los casos afecte a los huesos maxilares debido a que su vascularización es de tipo terminal, y al hecho de que es un hueso expuesto a agresiones del medio exterior, ya sea a través del periodonto o del conducto radicular. Se presentan las complicaciones observadas en 6 casos de OQNM desencadenadas tras la ejecución de diversas terapias quirúrgicas bucales en pacientes sometidos a un tratamiento con bifosfonatos por diferentes patologías y su manejo terapéutico. El tratamiento de este tipo de OQNM suele ser insatisfactorio, ya que ninguna de las opciones terapéuticas descritas en la literatura ha obtenido buenos resultados. Todos los pacientes que van a recibir o han recibido tratamiento con bifosfonatos deben ser considerados como pacientes de riesgo de OQNM, y deben someterse a las mismas medidas profilácticas descritas para la prevención de la osteorradionecrosis

Synchronization of medial temporal lobe and prefrontal rhythms in human decision-making

Optimal decision making requires that we integrate mnemonic information regarding previous decisions with value signals that entail likely rewards and punishments. The fact that memory and value signals appear to be coded by segregated brain regions, the hippocampus in the case of memory and sectors of prefrontal cortex in the case of value, raises the question as to how they are integrated during human decision making. Using magnetoencephalography to study healthy human participants, we show increased theta oscillations over frontal and temporal sensors during nonspatial decisions based on memories from previous trials. Using source reconstruction we found that the medial temporal lobe (MTL), in a location compatible with the anterior hippocampus, and the anterior cingulate cortex in the medial wall of the frontal lobe are the source of this increased theta power. Moreover, we observed a correlation between theta power in the MTL source and behavioral performance in decision making, supporting a role for MTL theta oscillations in decision-making performance. These MTL theta oscillations were synchronized with several prefrontal sources, including lateral superior frontal gyrus, dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus, and medial frontopolar cortex. There was no relationship between the strength of synchronization and the expected value of choices. Our results indicate a mnemonic guidance of human decision making, beyond anticipation of expected reward, is supported by hippocampal–prefrontal theta synchronization