The Role of the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex during Sequence Learning is Specific for Spatial Information

Many studies have implicated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the acquisition of skill, including procedural sequence learning. However, the specific role it performs in sequence learning has remained uncertain. This type of skill has been intensively studied using the serial reaction time task. We used three versions of this task: a standard task where the position of the stimulus cued the response; a non-standard task where the color of the stimulus was related to the correct response; and a combined task where both the color and position simultaneously cued the response. We refer to each of these tasks based upon the cues available for guiding learning as position, color and combined tasks. The combined task usually shows an enhancement of skill acquisition, a result of being driven by two simultaneous and congruent cues. Prior to the performance of each of these tasks the function of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was disrupted using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. This completely prevented learning within the position task, while sequence learning occurred to a similar extent in both the color and combined tasks. So, following prefrontal stimulation the expected learning enhancement in the combined task was lost, consistent with only a color cue being available to guide sequence learning in the combined task. Neither of these effects was observed following stimulation at the parietal cortex. Hence the critical role played by the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in sequence learning is related exclusively to spatial cues. We suggest that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex operates over the short term to retain and manipulate spatial information to allow cortical and subcortical structures to learn a predictable sequence of actions. Such functions may emerge from the broader role the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex has in spatial working memory. These results argue against the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex constituting part of the neuronal substrate responsible for general aspects of implicit or explicit sequence learning.Medicin

Hadronic Charmed Meson Decays Involving Tensor Mesons

Charmed meson decays into a pseudoscalar meson P and a tensor meson T are studied. The charm to tensor meson transition form factors are evaluated in the Isgur-Scora-Grinstein-Wise (ISGW) quark model. It is shown that the Cabibbo-allowed decay $D_s^+\to f_2(1270)\pi^+$ is dominated by the W-annihilation contribution and has the largest branching ratio in $D\to TP$ decays. We argue that the Cabibbo-suppressed mode $D^+\to f_2(1270)\pi^+$ should be suppressed by one order of magnitude relative to $D_s^+\to f_2(1270)\pi^+$. When the finite width effect of the tensor resonances is taken into account, the decay rate of $D\to TP$ is generally enhanced by a factor of $2\sim 3$. Except for $D_s^+\to f_2(1270)\pi^+$, the predicted branching ratios of $D\to TP$ decays are in general too small by one to two orders of magnitude compared to experiment. However, it is very unlikely that the $D\to T$ transition form factors can be enhanced by a factor of $3\sim 5$ within the ISGW quark model to account for the discrepancy between theory and experiment. As many of the current data are still preliminary and lack sufficient statistic significance, more accurate measurements are needed to pin down the issue.Comment: 11 page

La inclusión de los estudiantes universitarios con discapacidad en las universidades presenciales: actitudes e intención de apoyo por parte de sus compañeros

La inclusión de estudiantes con discapacidad en educación superior favorece a las personas con discapacidad y al conjunto de la comunidad universitaria. Este trabajo analiza la intención de apoyo a la inclusión de estudiantes con discapacidad en la universidad presencial, en el marco teórico de Teoría del Comportamiento Planeado (TPB), mediante un estudio empírico realizado entre 629 estudiantes de CC. de la Educación en la Universidad de A Coruña. Los resultados indican que tanto las actitudes como la norma social y el control percibido son variables significativas para explicar la intención de apoyar a las personas con discapacidad

Dietary intake of trans fatty acids in children aged 4–5 in Spain: The INMA cohort study

Trans fatty acid (TFA) intake has been identified as a health hazard in adults, but data on preschool children are scarce. We analyzed the data from the Spanish INMA Project to determine the intake of total, industrial and natural TFA, their main sources and the associated socio-demographic and lifestyle factors in children aged 4–5 (n = 1793). TFA intake was estimated using a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire, and multiple linear regression was used to explore associated factors. The mean daily intakes of total, industrial and natural TFA were 1.36, 0.60, and 0.71 g/day, respectively. Ten percent of the children obtained >1% of their energy intake from TFA. The main sources of industrial TFA were fast food, white bread and processed baked goods. Milk, red and processed meat and processed baked goods were the main sources of natural TFA. Having parents from countries other than Spain was significantly associated with higher natural TFA (in mg/day) intake (β 45.5) and television viewing was significantly associated with higher industrial TFA intake (β 18.3). Higher fruits and vegetables intake was significantly associated with lower intakes of all TFAs, whereas higher sweetened beverages intake was significantly associated with lower total and natural TFA intake. Thus, total and industrial TFA intake was associated with less healthy food patterns and lifestyles in Spanish preschool children

Vortex dynamics controlled by local superconducting enhancement

status: publishe

Determinants of the current and future distribution of the West Nile virus mosquito vector Culex pipiens in Spain

Changes in environmental conditions, whether related or not to human activities, are continuously modifying the geographic distribution of vectors, which in turn affects the dynamics and distribution of vector-borne infectious diseases. Determining the main ecological drivers of vector distribution and how predicted changes in these drivers may alter their future distributions is therefore of major importance. However, the drivers of vector populations are largely specific to each vector species and region. Here, we identify the most important human-activity-related and bioclimatic predictors affecting the current distribution and habitat suitability of the mosquito Culex pipiens and potential future changes in its distribution in Spain. We determined the niche of occurrence (NOO) of the species, which considers only those areas lying within the range of suitable environmental conditions using presence data. Although almost ubiquitous, the distribution of Cx. pipiens is mostly explained by elevation and the degree of urbanization but also, to a lesser extent, by mean temperatures during the wettest season and temperature seasonality. The combination of these predictors highlights the existence of a heterogeneous pattern of habitat suitability, with most suitable areas located in the southern and northeastern coastal areas of Spain, and unsuitable areas located at higher altitude and in colder regions. Future climatic predictions indicate a net decrease in distribution of up to 29.55%, probably due to warming and greater temperature oscillations. Despite these predicted changes in vector distribution, their effects on the incidence of infectious diseases are, however, difficult to forecast since different processes such as local adaptation to temperature, vector-pathogen interactions, and human-derived changes in landscape may play important roles in shaping the future dynamics of pathogen transmission.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio