CIVILITY: Cloud based interactive visualization of tractography brain connectome

Cloud based Interactive Visualization of Tractography Brain Connectome (CIVILITY) is an interactive visualization tool of brain connectome in the cloud. This application submits tasks to remote computing grids were the CIVILITY-tractography pipeline is deployed. The application will list the running tasks for the user and once a task is completed the brain connectome is visualized using Hierarchical Edge Bundling. The analysis pipeline uses FSL tools (bedpostx and probtrackx2) to generate a triangular matrix indicating the connectivity strength between different regions in the brain. This work is motivated by medical applications in which expensive computational tasks such as brain connectivity is needed and to provide a state of the art visualization tool of Brain Connectome. This work does not contribute any novelty with respect to the visualization methodology, is rather a new resource for the neuroimaging community. This work is submitted to the SPIE Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging conference. The source code of this application is available in NITRC

A Residual Service Curve of Rate-Latency Server Used by Sporadic Flows Computable in Quadratic Time for Network Calculus

Computing response times for resources shared by periodic workloads (tasks or data flows) can be very time consuming as it depends on the least common multiple of the periods. In a previous study, a quadratic algorithm was provided to upper bound the response time of a set of periodic tasks with a fixed-priority scheduling. This paper generalises this result by considering a rate-latency server and sporadic workloads and gives a response time and residual curve that can be used in other contexts. It also provides a formal proof in the Coq language

A Residual Service Curve of Rate-Latency Server Used by Sporadic Flows Computable in Quadratic Time for Network Calculus (Artifact)

Computing response times for resources shared by periodic workloads (tasks or data flows) can be very time consuming as it depends on the least common multiple of the periods. In a previous study, a quadratic algorithm was provided to upper bound the response time of a set of periodic tasks with a fixed-priority scheduling. The related paper generalises this result by considering a rate-latency server and sporadic workloads and gives a response time and residual curve that can be used in other contexts. It also provides a formal proof in the Coq language. This artifact enables to reproduce this proof

Heterothermy and antifungal responses in bats

Hibernation, a period where bats have suppressed immunity and low body temperatures, provides the psychrophilic fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans the opportunity to colonise bat skin, leading to severe disease in susceptible species. Innate immunity, which requires less energy and may remain more active during torpor, can control infections with local inflammation in some bat species that are resistant to infection. If infection is not controlled before emergence from hibernation, ineffective adaptive immune mechanisms are activated, including incomplete Th1, ineffective Th2, and variable Th17 responses. The Th17 and neutrophil responses, normally beneficial antifungal mechanisms, appear to be sources of immunopathology for susceptible bat species, because they are hyperactivated after return to homeothermy. Non-susceptible species show both well-balanced and suppressed immune responses both during and after hibernation.Peer reviewe

White matter connectomes at birth accurately predict cognitive abilities at age 2

Cognitive ability is an important predictor of mental health outcomes that is influenced by neurodevelopment. Evidence suggests that the foundational wiring of the human brain is in place by birth, and that the white matter (WM) connectome supports developing brain function. It is unknown, however, how the WM connectome at birth supports emergent cognition. In this study, a deep learning model was trained using cross-validation to classify full-term infants (n = 75) as scoring above or below the median at age 2 using WM connectomes generated from diffusion weighted magnetic resonance images at birth. Results from this model were used to predict individual cognitive scores. We additionally identified WM connections important for classification. The model was also evaluated in a separate set of preterm infants (n = 37) scanned at term-age equivalent. Findings revealed that WM connectomes at birth predicted 2-year cognitive score group with high accuracy in both full-term (89.5%) and preterm (83.8%) infants. Scores predicted by the model were strongly correlated with actual scores (r = 0.98 for full-term and r = 0.96 for preterm). Connections within the frontal lobe, and between the frontal lobe and other brain areas were found to be important for classification. This work suggests that WM connectomes at birth can accurately predict a child's 2-year cognitive group and individual score in full-term and preterm infants. The WM connectome at birth appears to be a useful neuroimaging biomarker of subsequent cognitive development that deserves further study

REVIEW OF THE CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES ON PSEUDOGYMNOASCUS DESTRUCTANS STUDIES WITH REFERENCE TO SPECIES FINDINGS IN BULGARIA

Emerging infectious diseases are a well-known threat to the wildlife and require complex research. There is a rapidly accumulating knowledge on the infectious disease of bats, named firstly White Nose Syndrome (WNS) and afterwards – White Nose Disease (WND), and its causative agent – the pathogenic fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Although mass mortality of bats, known since a decade, is currently restricted to North America, the pathogen is of global concern as a potential threat to other hibernating bat populations. Therefore five years after the first comprehensive synthesis on the fungal ecology and relevant knowledge gaps (FOLEY ET AL. 2011), we decided to summarize the published information on the pathogen morphology, reproduction, ecological requirements, geographic distribution and systematic position. In addition, the present review compiles the available data on the affected bat species, mechanisms of WND, on the host response and on the effective treatment strategies with possible methods for fighting the pathogen to reduce the mortality in affected regions as well. Special attention is paid to the finding of the fungus in Bulgarian caves

Bat white-nose disease fungus diversity in time and space

White-nose disease (WND), caused by the psychrophilic fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, represents one of the greatest threats for North American hibernating bats. Research on molecular data has significantly advanced our knowledge of various aspects of the disease, yet more studies are needed regarding patterns of P. destructans genetic diversity distribution. In the present study, we investigate three sites within the native range of the fungus in detail: two natural hibernacula (karst caves) in Bulgaria, south-eastern Europe and one artificial hibernaculum (disused cellar) in Germany, northern Europe, where we conducted intensive surveys between 2014 and 2019. Using 18 microsatellite and two mating type markers, we describe how P. destructans genetic diversity is distributed between and within sites, the latter including differentiation across years and seasons of sampling; across sampling locations within the site; and between bats and hibernaculum walls. We found significant genetic differentiation between hibernacula, but we could not detect any significant differentiation within hibernacula, based on the variables examined. This indicates that most of the pathogen’s movement occurs within sites. Genotypic richness of P. destructans varied between sites within the same order of magnitude, being approximately two times higher in the natural caves (Bulgaria) compared to the disused cellar (Germany). Within all sites, the pathogen’s genotypic richness was higher in samples collected from hibernaculum walls than in samples collected from bats, which corresponds with the hypothesis that hibernacula walls represent the environmental reservoir of the fungus. Multiple pathogen genotypes were commonly isolated from a single bat (i.e. from the same swab sample) in all study sites, which might be important to consider when studying disease progression

Fukushima zum Trotz : Lateinamerika hält an seinen Nuklearprogrammen fest

Aim: A common pattern in biogeography is the scale-dependent effect of environmental variables on the spatial distribution of species. We tested the role of climatic and land cover variables in structuring the distribution of genetic variation in the grey long-eared bat, Plecotus austriacus, across spatial scales. Although landscape genetics has been widely used to describe spatial patterns of gene flow in a variety of taxa, volant animals have generally been neglected because of their perceived high dispersal potential.Location: England and Europe.Methods: We used a multiscale integrated approach, combining population genetics with species distribution modelling and geographical information under a causal modelling framework, to identify landscape barriers to gene flow and their effect on population structure and conservation status. Genotyping involved 23 polymorphic microsatellites and 259 samples from across the species' range.Results: We identified distinct population structure shaped by geographical barriers and evidence of population fragmentation at the northern edge of the range. Habitat suitability (as captured by species distribution models, SDMs) was the most important landscape variable affecting genetic connectivity at the broad spatial scale, while at the fine scale, lowland unimproved grasslands, the main foraging habitat of P. austriacus, played a pivotal role in promoting genetic connectivity.Main conclusions: The importance of lowland unimproved grasslands in determining the biogeography and genetic connectivity in P. austriacus highlights the importance of their conservation as part of a wider landscape management for fragmented edge populations. This study illustrates the value of using SDMs in landscape genetics and highlights the need for multiscale approaches when studying genetic connectivity in volant animals or taxa with similar dispersal abilities

Solid solution decomposition and Guinier-Preston zone formation in Al-Cu alloys: A kinetic theory with anisotropic interactions

Using methods of statistical kinetic theory parametrized with first-principles interatomic interactions that include chemical and strain contributions, we investigated the kinetics of decomposition and microstructure formation in Al-Cu alloys as a function of temperature and alloy concentration. We show that the decomposition of the solid solution forming platelets of copper, known as Guinier-Preston (GP) zones, includes several stages and that the transition from GP1 to GP2 zones is determined mainly by kinetic factors. With increasing temperature, the model predicts a gradual transition from platelet-like precipitates to equiaxial ones and at intermediate temperatures both precipitate morphologies may coexist.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure