Electrocorticography reveals spatiotemporal neuronal activation patterns of verbal fluency in patients with epilepsy

Contains fulltext : 216835pub.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access)Verbal fluency is commonly used to evaluate cognitive dysfunction in a variety of neuropsychiatric diseases, yet the neurobiology underlying performance of this task is incompletely understood. Electrocorticography (ECoG) provides a unique opportunity to investigate temporal activation patterns during cognitive tasks with high spatial and temporal precision. We used ECoG to study high gamma activity (HGA) patterns in patients undergoing presurgical evaluation for intractable epilepsy as they completed an overt, free-recall verbal fluency task. We examined regions demonstrating changes in HGA during specific timeframes relative to speech onset. Early pre-speech high gamma activity was present in left frontal regions during letter fluency and in bifrontal regions during category fluency. During timeframes typically associated with word planning, a distributed network was engaged including left inferior frontal, orbitofrontal and posterior temporal regions. Peri-Rolandic activation was observed during speech onset, and there was post-speech activation in the bilateral posterior superior temporal regions. Based on these observations in the context of prior studies, we propose a model of neocortical activity patterns underlying verbal fluency.13 p

Regulation of apoptosis through cysteine oxidation: implications for fibrotic lung disease

Tissue fibrosis is believed to be a manifestation of dysregulated repair following injury, in association with impaired reepithelialization, and aberrant myofibroblast activation and proliferation. Numerous pathways have been linked to the pathogenesis of fibrotic lung disease, including the death receptor Fas, which contributes to apoptosis of lung epithelial cells. A redox imbalance also has been implicated in disease pathogenesis, although mechanistic details whereby oxidative changes intersect with profibrotic signaling pathways remain elusive. Oxidation of cysteines in proteins, such as S-glutathionylation (PSSG), is known to act as a regulatory event that affects protein function. This manuscript will discuss evidence that S-glutathionylation regulates death receptor induced apoptosis, and the potential implications for cysteine oxidations in the pathogenesis of in fibrotic lung disease

Desiccation Resistance of Bacteria Isolated From An Air-Handling System Biofilm Determined Using a Simple Quantitative Membrane-Filter Method

Twelve strains of bacteria recovered from a biofilm growing on cooling coil fins in an air-handling system, representing recognized members of the coil fin biofilm community, were assessed for their desiccation resistance. A quantitative membrane filter method was used to assess desiccation resistance over a 24 h period. The method proved to be a reliable and inexpensive means of quantitatively assessing desiccation resistance in bacterial isolates. Five pink-pigmented budding rod (PPBR) isolates, related to Methylobacterium, were resistant to desiccation over the test period (47-100% of original viable cfu were recoverable on R3A agar after 24 h desiccation). Methylobacterium-like PPBRs represented the dominant culturable members of the coil fin biofilm community. An unidentified Gram-negative filamentous rod was also somewhat desiccation-resistant (45% of original viable cfu were recoverable or, R3A agar after 24 h desiccation). The remaining six strains tested, three Gram-negative isolates and three Gram-positive isolates, were sensitive to desiccation with only 0-11% of the original viable cfu being recoverable on R3A agar after 24 h desiccation. Since the coil fin biofilm is subjected to extended periods of desiccation, the results suggest that desiccation resistance is at least partly responsible for the dominance of the coil fin biofilm community by the Methylobacterium-like PPBR

Avaliação da sensibilidade da cultura de leite do tanque para isolamento de agentes contagiosos da mastite bovina Evaluation of the sensitivity of bulk tank milk cultures for the isolation of contagious bovine mastitis pathogens

Amostras de leite total (leite do tanque) de 33 rebanhos foram coletadas na plataforma de recepção da indústria laticinista e cultivadas para detectar patógenos específicos (contagiosos) da mastite. Foi feita a contagem de células somáticas (CCS) das amostras utilizando o equipamento Fossomatic 90. Em 13 e 12 rebanhos avaliaram-se duas e três amostras semanais consecutivas, respectivamente, e em oito avaliou-se apenas uma. Foram também examinadas três amostras diárias consecutivas do leite do tanque e amostras dos quartos mamários individuais, coletadas na própria fazenda, de todas as vacas em lactação de quatro rebanhos (A, B, C e D). As amostras de leite dos quartos mamários individuais foram cultivadas em ágar sangue e as amostras do tanque, em placas de TKT, Sal Manitol, MacConkey e Sabouraud contendo cloranfenicol. Dos 33 rebanhos cujas amostras foram obtidas na plataforma de recepção da indústria, isolou-se Staphylococcus aureus de 26, nove desses em associação com Streptococcus agalactiae e em três rebanhos isolou-se somente S. agalactiae. Nove rebanhos tiveram CCS acima de 500.000 ml-1 e 21, abaixo de 400.000 ml-1. Em cinco dos nove rebanhos com CCS acima de 500.000 ml-1 foram isolados S. aureus e S. agalactiae, em três, apenas S. aureus e em um, apenas S. agalactiae. Seis rebanhos apresentaram CCS abaixo de 200.000 ml-1; de um deles foram isolados S. aureus e S. agalactiae, de três, S. aureus e os outros dois foram negativos para estes dois patógenos. Os resultados encontrados nos quatro rebanhos cujas amostras foram coletadas na própria fazenda mostraram que S. aureus foi isolado nas seguintes porcentagens dos animais: 1,8%, 19,2%, 17,0% e 8,4% e dos quartos mamários: 0,9%, 5,9%, 5,4% e 2,2%, respectivamente, para os rebanhos A, B, C e D. S. agalactiae foi isolado dos rebanhos A, C e D. Nestes três rebanhos, as porcentagens de isolamento foram, respectivamente, 1,8%, 10,6% e 8,4% para as vacas e 0,46%, 3,8% e 3,7% para os quartos mamários. S. aureus foi isolado de todas três amostras do tanque dos rebanhos A, B e D. Somente a terceira amostra do rebanho C foi positiva para S. aureus. S agalactiae foi recuperado de todas as amostras do rebanho D, duas do rebanho C e de uma do rebanho A. Todas as amostras do tanque dos rebanhos A, B, C e D apresentaram contaminação com coliformes e somente uma das amostras coletadas na plataforma de recepção da indústria foi negativa para coliformes. Leveduras foram isoladas de 16 amostras coletadas na indústria e de todas amostras do tanque dos rebanhos A, B, C e D. Não foram isolados coliformes ou leveduras dos quartos mamários dos animais destes rebanhos, sugerindo que ocorreu contaminação do leite durante ou após a ordenha, provavelmente devido a deficiências nos processos de limpeza e higienização. A análise dos resultados das culturas do leite do tanque mostrou que o exame foi específico para detectar os patógenos contagiosos da mastite. A sensibilidade do teste aumentou quando se examinaram mais de duas amostras consecutivas.<br>Samples of bulk tank milk from 33 herds were collected at the dairy processing plant and cultured, as a means of detecting specific (contagious) bovine mastitis pathogens. Somatic cell counts (SCC) were made on a Fossomatic 90. Two and three weekly consecutive samples were obtained from 13 and 12 herds, respectively. Only one sample was examined from eight herds. Three daily consecutive samples of bulk milk and individual quarter samples from all lactating cows from four herds (A, B, C and D) were also examined. Milk from individual quarters were cultured on blood agar, while tank milk samples were cultured on TKT, Mannitol Salt, MacConkey agars and Sabouraud containing chloramphenicol. Staphylococcus aureus was recovered from 26 of the 33 herds sampled in the dairy processing plant. Nine of these samples also contained Streptococcus agalactiae. Nine herds had SCC above 500,000 ml-1. The remaining 23 herds had SCC levels below 400,000 ml-1. S. aureus and S. agalactiae were isolated from five of the nine herds with high SCC, S. agalactiae from one and S. aureus from three. Six herds had SSC below 200,000 ml-1. S. aureus and S. agalactiae were isolated from one, S. aureus from three, while the other two were negative for both pathogens. The results of herds A, B, C and D sampled at the farms showed that S. aureus was isolated from 1.8%, 19.2%, 17.0% and 8.4% of the animals and 0.9%, 5.9%, 5.4% and 2.2% of the mammary quarters, respectively. S. agalactiae was isolated from herds A, C and D. Within these herds the percentages of isolation were, respectively, 1.8%, 10.6% and 8.4% for the cows and 0.46%, 3.8% and 3.7% for the mammary quarters. S. aureus was recovered from all three bulk tank cultures from herds A, B and D. Only the third sample from herd C was positive for S. aureus. S. agalactiae was recovered from all samples collected from herd D, two samples from herd C and one sample from herd A. Coliforms were isolated from all tank samples from herds A, B, C and D and from all but one sample collected in the processing plant. Yeasts were recovered from 16 herds sampled at the processing plant and from all tank samples from herds A, B, C, and D. Neither coliforms or yeasts were isolated from the individual animals of herds A, B, C and D. These findings indicate that the milk was contaminated during or after milking, probably due to deficient hygiene and cleaning procedures. The analysis of the bulk tank milk cultures showed that the test was sensitive enough to detect contagious mastitis pathogens. The sensitivity of the test increased when more than two consecutive samples were examined

SPT Clusters with DES and HST Weak Lensing. I. Cluster Lensing and Bayesian Population Modeling of Multi-Wavelength Cluster Datasets

International audienceWe present a Bayesian population modeling method to analyze the abundance of galaxy clusters identified by the South Pole Telescope (SPT) with a simultaneous mass calibration using weak gravitational lensing data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We discuss and validate the modeling choices with a particular focus on a robust, weak-lensing-based mass calibration using DES data. For the DES Year 3 data, we report a systematic uncertainty in weak-lensing mass calibration that increases from 1% at $z=0.25$ to 10% at $z=0.95$, to which we add 2% in quadrature to account for uncertainties in the impact of baryonic effects. We implement an analysis pipeline that joins the cluster abundance likelihood with a multi-observable likelihood for the SZ, optical richness, and weak-lensing measurements for each individual cluster. We validate that our analysis pipeline can recover unbiased cosmological constraints by analyzing mocks that closely resemble the cluster sample extracted from the SPT-SZ, SPTpol~ECS, and SPTpol~500d surveys and the DES Year~3 and HST-39 weak-lensing datasets. This work represents a crucial prerequisite for the subsequent cosmological analysis of the real dataset