Odor coding and memory traces in the antennal lobe of honeybee

In dieser Arbeit werden zwei wesentliche neue Ergebnisse vorgestellt. Das erste bezieht sich auf die olfaktorische Kodierung und das zweite auf das sensorische Gedaechtnis. Beide Phaenomene werden am Beispiel des Gehirns der Honigbiene untersucht. In Bezug auf die olfaktorische Kodierung zeige ich, dass die neuronale Dynamik waehrend der Stimulation im Antennallobus duftspezifische Trajektorien beschreibt, die in duftspezifischen Attraktoren enden. Das Zeitinterval, in dem diese Attraktoren erreicht werden, betraegt unabhaengig von der Identitaet und der Konzentration des Duftes ungefaehr 800 ms. Darueber hinaus zeige ich, dass Support-Vektor Maschinen, und insbesondere Perzeptronen, ein realistisches und biologisches Model der Wechselwirkung zwischen dem Antennallobus (dem kodierenden Netwerk) und dem Pilzkoerper (dem dekodierenden Netzwerk) darstellen. Dieses Model kann sowohl Reaktionszeiten von ca. 300 ms als auch die Invarianz der Duftwahrnehmung gegenueber der Duftkonzentration erklaeren. In Bezug auf das sensorische Gedaechtnis zeige ich, dass eine einzige Stimulation ohne Belohnung dem Hebbschen Postulat folgend Veraenderungen der paarweisen Korrelationen zwischen Glomeruli induziert. Ich zeige, dass diese Veranderungen der Korrelationen bei 2/3 der Bienen ausreichen, um den letzten Stimulus zu bestimmen. In der zweiten Minute nach der Stimulation ist eine erfolgreiche Bestimmung des Stimulus nur bei 1/3 der Bienen moeglich. Eine Hauptkomponentenanalyse der spontanen Aktivitaet laesst erkennen, dass das dominante Muster des Netzwerks waehrend der spontanen Aktivitaet nach, aber nicht vor der Stimulation das duftinduzierte Aktivitaetsmuster bei 2/3 der Bienen nachbildet. Man kann deshalb die duftinduzierten (Veraenderungen der) Korrelationen als Spuren eines Kurzzeitgedaechtnisses bzw. als Hebbsche "Reverberationen" betrachtet werden.Two major novel results are reported in this work. The first concerns olfactory coding and the second concerns sensory memory. Both phenomena are investigated in the brain of the honeybee as a model system. Considering olfactory coding I demonstrate that the neural dynamics in the antennal lobe describe odor-specific trajectories during stimulation that converge to odor-specific attractors. The time interval to reach these attractors is, regardless of odor identity and concentration, approximately 800 ms. I show that support-vector machines and, in particular perceptrons provide a realistic and biological model of the interaction between the antennal lobe (coding network) and the mushroom body (decoding network). This model can also account for reaction-times of about 300 ms and for concentration invariance of odor perception. Regarding sensory memory I show that a single stimulation without reward induces changes of pairwise correlation between glomeruli in a Hebbian-like manner. I demonstrate that those changes of correlation suffice to retrieve the last stimulus presented in 2/3 of the bees studied. Succesful retrieval decays to 1/3 of the bees within the second minute after stimulation. In addition, a principal-component analysis of the spontaneous activity reveals that the dominant pattern of the network during the spontaneous activity after, but not before stimulation, reproduces the odor-induced activity pattern in 2/3 of the bees studied. One can therefore consider the odor-induced (changes of) correlation as traces of a short-term memory or as Hebbian reverberations

Digital Innovation Through Partnership Between Nature Conservation Organisations and Academia : A Qualitative Impact Assessment

We would like to thank all interviewees for sharing their experiences of working with academics, and the guest editor and three anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on earlier versions of the work. The research in this paper is supported by the RCUK dot.rural Digital economy Research Hub, University of Aberdeen (Grant reference: EP/G066051/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Responses to representations of the built environment: the influence of emotion, attention and perspective-taking.

The main aim of this thesis is to investigate how environmental preference for the built environment, either in-situ or based on visual representations (e.g. visualisations of final architectural design), may be affected by three distinct variables. One of them is emotion, operationalised as the mood people are in at the time of the evaluation and the way people feel with regards to the environment. A second variable considers the participants' attention and how they may be influenced by task instructions. The third variable, intrinsically related to the second one, is how environmental preference may be influenced depending on the perspective taken at the time of the evaluation. The main research questions in this thesis are: a) How does emotion influence environmental preference' b) What is the impact of perspective-taking on environmental preference' c) What are the benefits of using emotional reactions to the environment as predictors of preference? These main research questions are addressed using both quantitative and qualitative methods, mainly quantitative, underpinned by a pragmatic approach. The unit of analysis in this thesis is the person who evaluates or judges an environment or a representation of it. Five studies are presented in this thesis. Study 1 (n=10) reports the results from interviews with practising architects in the city of Aberdeen. These results show that when designing architects take two distinct perspectives: a prescriptive inferential perspective and a self, referential perspective. These interviews are used to set the context within which this thesis operates: the presentation of design to people with no expertise in architecture and built environment disciplines. The remaining four studies directly address this thesis' main research questions. In Study 2 (n=133), Study 3 (n=146) and Study 5 (n=64) the effects of perspective-taking on different dependent variables are experimentally tested. The dependent variables are: perceived restorativeness (Study 2), environmental preference as measured via informational variables (Study 3), and the emotional reactions people have to representations of the environment (Study 5). Results of these studies show that perspective-taking carries an interpersonal perception bias whereby taking a perspective other than the self results in different environmental evaluation outcomes, but that this process can also be affected by formal training. The influences of emotion on environmental preference are directly explored in Studies 4 (n=32) and 5 (n=64). The results show that mood can have an influence on environmental preference by influencing the emotional reactions people have to the environment, but that these influences vary over time. Overall the thesis shows that perspective-taking and emotion have a range of influences on environmental preference in a built environment context, that these are important at the point at which architecture and built environment professionals design environments, and that timing of environmental evaluations in longitudinal assessments can make the difference between positive and less positive evaluations. This thesis' results are discussed in light of existing knowledge and some recommendations are made for future research and practitioners in architecture and built environment disciplines

Clustering of unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, self-rated health and disability

The main objective was to identify sociodemographic characteristics of the population at risk for a greater clustering of unhealthy behaviors and to evaluate the association of such clustering with self-rated health status and disability. Data come from the 2017 Spanish National Health Survey with a sample of 21,947 participants of 15 years of age or older. Based on tobacco consumption, risk drinking, unbalanced diet, sedentarism, and body mass index <18.5/≥25 we created two indicators of risk factor clustering: 1) Number of unhealthy behaviors (0-5); and 2) Unhealthy lifestyle index (score: 0-15). Self-rated health was dichotomized into "optimal" and "suboptimal," and disability was classified as "no disability," "mild," and "severe" based on the Global Activity Limitation Index (GALI). We estimated prevalence ratios (PR) adjusted for covariates using generalized linear models using the clustering count variable, and dose-response curves using the unhealthy lifestyle index. Most participants (77.4%) reported 2 or more risk factors, with men, middle-age individuals, and those with low socioeconomic status being more likely to do so. Compared to those with 0-1 risk factors, the PR for suboptimal health was 1.26 (95% CI:1.18-1.34) for those reporting 2-3 factors, reaching 1.43 (95% CI:1.31-1.55) for 4-5 factors. The PR for severe activity limitation was 1.66 (95% CI:1.35-2.03) for those reporting 2-3 factors and 2.06 (95% CI:1.59-2.67) for 4-5 factors. The prevalence of both health indicators increased in a non-linear fashion as the unhealthy lifestyle index score increased, increasing rapidly up to 5 points, slowing down between 5 and 10 points, and plateauing afterwards.This work was supported by the Institute of Health Carlos III, Ministry of Science and Innovation [grant number PI19CIII/00021.N

Avaliação da satisfação dos usuários de fisioterapia em atendimento ambulatorial

Satisfaction is determined by the patient’s reaction to the service received, acting as a sensitive indicator of quality in medical care. The goal of this study was to compare the satisfaction of patients receiving outpatient physical therapy treatment in public clinics (PC), private healthcare clinics (PHC) and school clinics (SC). A total of 382 patients aged over 18 years old who had been to at least five appointments were divided into three groups. A questionnaire containing questions about sociodemographic data and overall satisfaction as well as satisfaction with the patienttherapist relationship, access to and support offered by the team, convenience and the environment was used. The majority of the patients was female (68.6%), their mean age being 52.0 years old. In the comparison of the services, the school clinic showed greater satisfaction rates than the public clinics in relation to the support team, convenience and physical environment; and greater satisfaction rates than the private healthcare clinics in relation the therapistpatient relationship and overall satisfaction. The private healthcare clinics were better evaluated than the public clinics in relation to convenience and physical environment. The correlation analysis between overall satisfaction and each variable showed good and moderate values for the therapist-patient relationship variable and the lowest values for the convenience variable. The questionnaire had good internal consistency and coherence for the three services (α≥0.94). These results represent an important indicator of the patients’ perception about the services investigated, allowing the proper implementation of public, private and academic policies aimed at the improvement of the quality of physical therapy care.Determinada por la reacción al servicio recibido, la satisfacción del paciente es un indicador sensible de la calidad de la atención. El objetivo de este estudio fue comparar la satisfacción de los usuarios que realizan tratamiento fisioterapéutico ambulatorio en clínicas públicas (CP), en clínicas privadas de convenio (CC) y en clínica-escuela (CE). Se evaluaron 382 pacientes, con edad mínima de 18 años, sometidos a por lo menos cinco atendimientos. Los pacientes fueron divididos en tres grupos y se utilizó un cuestionario con preguntas sobre datos sociodemográficos y satisfacción en los dominios interacción paciente-terapeuta, acceso y atención de la recepción, conveniencia, ambiente y satisfacción general. La mayoría de los pacientes eran mujeres (68,60%), con edad media de 51,96 años. En la comparación entre los servicios, la CE presentó mayor satisfacción que la CP en equipo de apoyo, conveniencia y ambiente físico, y la CC en la relación terapeuta-paciente y satisfacción general. La CC fue mejor evaluada que la CP en conveniencia y ambiente físico. El análisis de correlación entre la satisfacción general y cada uno de los dominios mostró valores de bueno a moderado para relación terapeuta-paciente, y los menores valores para el dominio conveniencia. El cuestionario mostró buena consistencia interna y coherencia en los tres servicios (α≥0,94). Estos resultados representan un importante indicador de la impresión de los usuarios en los servicios investigados, permitiendo un mejor direccionamiento en la implementación de políticas públicas, privadas y académicas, buscando la mejora de la calidad de las atenciones de fisioterapia.A satisfação é determinada pela reação do paciente ao serviço recebido, sendo, portanto, um indicador sensível da qualidade do atendimento. O objetivo deste estudo foi comparar a satisfação dos usuários que realizam tratamento fisioterapêutico ambulatorial em clínicas públicas (CP), em clínicas privadas de convênio (CC) e em clínica-escola (CE). Foram avaliados 382 pacientes, com idade mínima de 18 anos, que haviam sido submetidos a, no mínimo, cinco atendimentos. Os pacientes foram divididos em três grupos e utilizouse um questionário com perguntas sobre dados sociodemográficos e satisfação nos domínios interação paciente-terapeuta, acesso e atendimento da recepção, conveniência, ambiente e satisfação geral. A maior parte dos pacientes eram do sexo feminino (68,60%), com média de 51,96 anos de idade. Na comparação entre os serviços, a CE apresentou maior satisfação que a CP em equipe de apoio, conveniência e ambiente físico, e a CC em relação terapeuta-paciente e satisfação geral. A CC foi mais bem avaliada que a CP em conveniência e ambiente físico. A análise de correlação entre a satisfação geral e cada um dos domínios mostrou valores de bom a moderado para relação terapeuta-paciente, e os menores valores para o domínio conveniência. O questionário mostrou boa consistência interna e coerência nos três serviços (α≥0,94). Esses resultados representam um importante indicador da impressão dos usuários nos serviços investigados, permitindo melhor direcionamento na implementação de políticas públicas, privadas e acadêmicas, visando a melhora da qualidade dos atendimentos de fisioterapia

Immobilization of Proteins in Poly-Styrene-Divinylbenzene Matrices: Functional Properties and Applications

Supports based on poly-styrene-divinylbenzene (PSD) are commercially available since a long time ago. However, they are not commonly used as enzyme immobilization matrices. The main reason for this lies in the negative effect of the very hydrophobic surface on enzyme stability that produces the instantaneous enzyme inactivation in many instances. However, they have recently regained some impact in enzyme immobilization. They are easy to modify, and have been prepared with different modifiers. We will pay special attention to the coating of these supports with ionic liquids, which permits to have the ionic liquid phase anchored to the solid and modulate the enzyme properties without risk of losing these expensive and potentially toxic compounds. Thus, this review will present the covalent or physical immobilization of enzymes on PSD supports, submitted to different modifications. Moreover, lipases immobilized via interfacial activation on some naked PSD supports have shown some unexpected improvement in their catalytic properties, with uses in reactions like hydrolysis, esterification or transesterification.We gratefully recognize the support from the Spanish Government, CTQ2013-41507-R and CNPq (Brazil). The predoctoral fellowships for Ms. García-Galán (Spanish Government), Mr K. Hernandez (I3P-CSIC) and Mr dos Santos (CNPq, Brazil) are also recognized. ). Á. Berenguer-Murcia thanks the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion for a Ramon y Cajal fellowship (RyC-2009-03813)

Long-Term Outcomes of Patients With Cocaine Use Disorder : A 18-years Addiction Cohort Study

Altres ajuts: National Plan on Drugs (PNSD), Spain (grant number 2018/020 and 2020/024); the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants, Government of Catalonia (grant numberObjective: Cocaine Use Disorder (CUD) has been associated with multiple complications and premature death. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the relationship between baseline medical comorbidity and long-term medical outcomes (i.e., hospitalization, death) in a cohort of patients primarily admitted for detoxification. In addition, we aimed to analyze cause-specific mortality. Methods: longitudinal study in CUD patients admitted for detoxification between 2001 and 2018. Substance use characteristics, laboratory parameters and medical comorbidity by VACS Index were assessed at admission. Follow-up and health-related outcomes were ascertained through visits and e-health records. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression models were used to analyze survival and predictors of hospitalization and death. Results: 175 patients (77.7% men) were included. Age at admission was 35 years [IQR: 30-41 years], 59.4% of the patients being intranasal users, 33.5% injectors, and 7.1% smokers. Almost 23% of patients had concomitant alcohol use disorder, 39% were cannabis users and 9% opiate users. The median VACS Index score on admission was 10 points [IQR: 0-22]. After 12 years [IQR: 8.6-15 years] of follow-up there were 1,292 (80.7%) ED admissions and 308 (19.3%) hospitalizations. The incidence rate of ED admission and hospitalization was 18.6 × 100 p-y (95% CI: 15.8-21.8 × 100 p-y). Mortality rate was 1.4 × 100 p-y (95% CI: 0.9-2.0 × 100 p-y) and, baseline comorbidity predicted hospitalization and mortality: those with VACS Index >40 were 3.5 times (HR:3.52, 95% CI: 1.19-10.4) more likely to dye with respect to patients with VACS < 20. Conclusion: addiction care warrants optimal stratification of medical comorbidity to improve health outcomes and survival of CUD patients seeking treatment of the disorder

Release of Bet v 1 from birch pollen from 5 European countries. Results from the HIALINE study

Exposure to allergens is pivotal in determining sensitization and allergic symptoms in individuals. Pollen grain counts in ambient air have traditionally been assessed to estimate airborne allergen exposure. However, the exact allergen content of ambient air is unknown. We therefore monitored atmospheric concentrations of birch pollen grains and the matched major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1 simultaneously across Europe within the EU-funded project HIALINE (Health Impacts of Airborne Allergen Information Network). Pollen count was assessed with Hirst type pollen traps at 10 l min 1 at sites in France, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Finland. Allergen concentrations in ambient air were sampled at 800 l min 1 with a Chemvol high-volume cascade impactor equipped with stages PM > 10 mm, 10 mm > PM > 2.5 mm, and in Germany also 2.5 mm > PM > 0.12 mm. The major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1 was determined with an allergen specific ELISA. Bet v 1 isoform patterns were analyzed by 2D-SDS-PAGE blots and mass spectrometric identification. Basophil activation was tested in an Fc 3R1-humanized rat basophil cell line passively sensitized with serum of a birch pollen symptomatic patient. Compared to 10 previous years, 2009 was a representative birch pollen season for all stations. About 90% of the allergen was found in the PM > 10 mm fraction at all stations. Bet v 1 isoforms pattern did not vary substantially neither during ripening of pollen nor between different geographical locations. The average European allergen release from birch pollen was 3.2 pg Bet v 1/pollen and did not vary much between the European countries. However, in all countries a >10-fold difference in daily allergen release per pollen was measured which could be explained by long-range transport of pollen with a deviating allergen release. Basophil activation by ambient air extracts correlated better with airborne allergen than with pollen concentration. Although Bet v 1 is a mixture of different isoforms, its fingerprint is constant across Europe. Bet v 1 was also exclusively linked to pollen. Pollen from different days varied >10-fold in allergen release. Thus exposure to allergen is inaccurately monitored by only monitoring birch pollen grains. Indeed, a humanized basophil activation test correlated much better with allergen concentrations in ambient air than with pollen count. Monitoring the allergens themselves together with pollen in ambient air might be an improvement in allergen exposure assessmen

NMR Model of PrgI-SipD Interaction and its Implications in the Needle-Tip Assembly of the Salmonella Type III Secretion System

Salmonella and other pathogenic bacteria use the type III secretion system (T3SS) to inject virulence proteins into human cells to initiate infections. The structural component of the T3SS contains a needle and a needle tip. The needle is assembled from PrgI needle protomers and the needle tip is capped with several copies of the SipD tip protein. How a tip protein docks on the needle is unclear. A crystal structure of a PrgI-SipD fusion protein docked on the PrgI needle results in steric clash of SipD at the needle tip when modeled on the recent atomic structure of the needle. Thus, there is currently no good model of how SipD is docked on the PrgI needle tip. Previously, we showed by NMR paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (PRE) methods that a specific region in the SipD coiled-coil is the binding site for PrgI. Others have hypothesized that a domain of the tip protein – the N-terminal α-helical hairpin, has to swing away during the assembly of the needle apparatus. Here, we show by PRE methods that a truncated form of SipD lacking the α-helical hairpin domain binds more tightly to PrgI. Further, PRE-based structure calculations revealed multiple PrgI binding sites on the SipD coiled-coil. Our PRE results together with the recent NMR-derived atomic structure of the Salmonella needle suggest a possible model of how SipD might dock at the PrgI needle tip. SipD and PrgI are conserved in other bacterial T3SSs, thus our results have wider implication in understanding other needle-tip complexes

Docking and Molecular Dynamic of Microalgae Compounds as Potential Inhibitors of Beta-Lactamase

Bacterial resistance is responsible for a wide variety of health problems, both in children and adults. The persistence of symptoms and infections are mainly treated with beta-lactam antibiotics. The increasing resistance to those antibiotics by bacterial pathogens generated the emergence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs), an actual public health problem. This is due to rapid mutations of bacteria when exposed to antibiotics. In this case, beta-lactamases are enzymes used by bacteria to hydrolyze the beta-lactam rings present in the antibiotics. Therefore, it was necessary to explore novel molecules as potential beta-lactamases inhibitors to find antibacterial compounds against infection caused by ESBLs. A computational methodology based on molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulations was used to find new microalgae metabolites inhibitors of beta-lactamase. Six 3D beta-lactamase proteins were selected, and the molecular docking revealed that the metabolites belonging to the same structural families, such as phenylacridine (4-Ph), quercetin (Qn), and cryptophycin (Cryp), exhibit a better binding score and binding energy than commercial clinical medicine beta-lactamase inhibitors, such as clavulanic acid, sulbactam, and tazobactam. These results indicate that 4-Ph, Qn, and Cryp molecules, homologous from microalgae metabolites, could be used, likely as novel beta-lactamase inhibitors or as structural templates for new in-silico pharmaceutical designs, with the possibility of combatting beta-lactam resistanc