Dissociable human perirhinal, hippocampal, and parahippocampal roles during verbal encoding

The precise contribution of perirhinal cortex to human episodic memory is uncertain. Human intracranial recordings highlight a role in successful episodic memory encoding, but encoding-related perirhinal activation has not been observed with functional imaging. By adapting functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning parameters to maximize sensitivity to medial temporal lobe activity, we demonstrate that left perirhinal and hippocampal responses during word list encoding are greater for subsequently recalled than forgotten words. Although perirhinal responses predict memory for all words, successful encoding of initial words in a list, demonstrating a primacy effect, is associated with parahippocampal and anterior hippocampal activation. We conclude that perirhinal cortex and hippocampus participate in successful memory encoding. Encoding-related parahippocampal and anterior hippocampal responses for initial, remembered words most likely reflects enhanced attentional orienting to these positionally distinctive items

Ictal asystole secondary to suspected herpes simplex encephalitis: a case report

Herpes simplex virus is a leading cause of sporadic encephalitis. While seizures are a common feature of Herpes simplex virus encephalitis, and periods of asystole have been reported in Herpes simplex virus patients, there have been no prior reports of ictal asystole secondary to such an infection

Cognitive tests used in chronic adult human randomised controlled trial micronutrient and phytochemical intervention studies

In recent years there has been a rapid growth of interest in exploring the relationship between nutritional therapies and the maintenance of cognitive function in adulthood. Emerging evidence reveals an increasingly complex picture with respect to the benefits of various food constituents on learning, memory and psychomotor function in adults. However, to date, there has been little consensus in human studies on the range of cognitive domains to be tested or the particular tests to be employed. To illustrate the potential difficulties that this poses, we conducted a systematic review of existing human adult randomised controlled trial (RCT) studies that have investigated the effects of 24 d to 36 months of supplementation with flavonoids and micronutrients on cognitive performance. There were thirty-nine studies employing a total of 121 different cognitive tasks that met the criteria for inclusion. Results showed that less than half of these studies reported positive effects of treatment, with some important cognitive domains either under-represented or not explored at all. Although there was some evidence of sensitivity to nutritional supplementation in a number of domains (for example, executive function, spatial working memory), interpretation is currently difficult given the prevailing 'scattergun approach' for selecting cognitive tests. Specifically, the practice means that it is often difficult to distinguish between a boundary condition for a particular nutrient and a lack of task sensitivity. We argue that for significant future progress to be made, researchers need to pay much closer attention to existing human RCT and animal data, as well as to more basic issues surrounding task sensitivity, statistical power and type I error

How children eat may contribute to rising levels of obesity children's eating behaviours: An intergenerational study of family influences

The term ‘obesogenic environment’ is rapidly becoming part of common phraseology. However, the influence of the family and the home environment on children's eating behaviours is little understood. Research that explores the impact of this micro environment and intergenerational influences affecting children's eating behaviours is long overdue. A qualitative, grounded theory approach, incorporating focus groups and semi-structured interviews, was used to investigate the family environment and specifically, the food culture of different generations within families. What emerged was a substantive theory based on ‘ordering of eating’ that explains differences in eating behaviours within and between families. Whereas at one time family eating was highly ordered and structured, typified by the grandparent generation, nowadays family eating behaviours are more haphazard and less ordered, evidenced by the way the current generation of children eat. Most importantly, in families with an obese child eating is less ordered compared with those families with a normal weight child. Ordering of eating' is a unique concept to emerge. It shows that an understanding of the eating process is crucial to the development and improvement of interventions targeted at addressing childhood obesity within the family context

Update and harmonisation of guidance for the management of diabetic ketoacidosis in children and young people in the UK

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a life-threatening complication of type 1 diabetes mellitus. Careful and timely intervention is required to optimise glycaemic control and reduce the risk of mortality and devastating complications. Of these, cerebral oedema is the leading cause of death, with a mortality rate of approximately 25%. This article highlights the recent updates to UK fluid therapy guidelines for DKA and provides clinical context for the benefit of paediatricians and junior doctors in light of this new guidance

The use of simultaneous stereo-electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography in localizing the epileptogenic focus in refractory focal epilepsy

Both magnetoencephalography and stereo-electroencephalography are used in presurgical epilepsy assessment, with contrasting advantages and limitations. It is not known whether simultaneous stereo-electroencephalography–magnetoencephalography recording confers an advantage over both individual modalities, in particular whether magnetoencephalography can provide spatial context to epileptiform activity seen on stereo-electroencephalography. Twenty-four adult and paediatric patients who underwent stereo-electroencephalography study for pre-surgical evaluation of drug-resistant focal epilepsy, were recorded using simultaneous stereo-electroencephalography–magnetoencephalography, of which 14 had abnormal interictal activity during recording. The 14 patients were divided into two groups; those with detected superficial (n = 7) and deep (n = 7) brain interictal activity. Interictal spikes were independently identified in stereo-electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography. Magnetoencephalography dipoles were derived using a distributed inverse method. There was no significant difference between stereo-electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography in detecting superficial spikes (P = 0.135) and stereo-electroencephalography was significantly better at detecting deep spikes (P = 0.002). Mean distance across patients between stereo-electroencephalography channel with highest average spike amplitude and magnetoencephalography dipole was 20.7 ± 4.4 mm. for superficial sources, and 17.8 ± 3.7 mm. for deep sources, even though for some of the latter (n = 4) no magnetoencephalography spikes were detected and magnetoencephalography dipole was fitted to a stereo-electroencephalography interictal activity triggered average. Removal of magnetoencephalography dipole was associated with 1 year seizure freedom in 6/7 patients with superficial source, and 5/6 patients with deep source. Although stereo-electroencephalography has greater sensitivity in identifying interictal activity from deeper sources, a magnetoencephalography source can be localized using stereo-electroencephalography information, thereby providing useful whole brain context to stereo-electroencephalography and potential role in epilepsy surgery planning

Electrophysiological Dissociation of Picture Versus Word Encoding: The Distinctiveness Heuristic as a Retrieval Orientation

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate the neural processes underlying the distinctiveness heuristic— a response mode in which participants expect to remember vivid details of an experience and make recognition decisions based on this metacognitive expectation. One group of participants studied pictures and auditory words; another group studied visual and auditory words. Studied and novel items were presented at test as words only, with all novel items repeating after varying lags. ERP differences were seen between the word and picture groups for both studied and novel items. For the novel items, ERP differences were largest in frontal and central midline electrodes. In separate analyses, the picture group showed the greatest ERP differences between item types in a parietally based component from 550 to 1000 msec, whereas the word group showed the greatest differences in a frontally based component from 1000 to 2000 msec. The authors suggest that the distinctiveness heuristic is a retrieval orientation that facilitates reliance upon recollection to differentiate between item types. Although the picture group can use this heuristic and its retrieval orientation on the basis of recollection, the word group must engage additional postretrieval processes to distinguish between item types, reflecting the use of a different retrieval orientation.Psycholog

Genome-Scale Oscillations in DNA Methylation during Exit from Pluripotency

Pluripotency is accompanied by the erasure of parental epigenetic memory, with naive pluripotent cells exhibiting global DNA hypomethylation both in vitro and in vivo. Exit from pluripotency and priming for differentiation into somatic lineages is associated with genome-wide de novo DNA methylation. We show that during this phase, co-expression of enzymes required for DNA methylation turnover, DNMT3s and TETs, promotes cell-to-cell variability in this epigenetic mark. Using a combination of single- cell sequencing and quantitative biophysical modeling, we show that this variability is associated with coherent, genome-scale oscillations in DNA methylation with an amplitude dependent on CpG density. Analysis of parallel single-cell transcriptional and epigenetic profiling provides evidence for oscillatory dynamics both in vitro and in vivo. These observations provide insights into the emergence of epigenetic heterogeneity during early embryo development, indicating that dynamic changes in DNA methylation might influence early cell fate decisions

Characterizing solute hydrogen and hydrides in pure and alloyed titanium at the atomic scale

Ti has a high affinity for hydrogen and are typical hydride formers . Ti -hydride are brittle phases which probably cause premature failure of Ti -alloys. Here, we used atom probe tomography and electron microscopy to investigate the hydrogen di stribution in a set of specimens of commercially pure Ti , model and commercial Ti -alloys. Although likely partly introduced during specimen preparation with the focused- ion beam, we show formation of Ti-hydrides along α grain boundaries and α / β phase boundaries in commercial pure Ti and α + β binary model alloys . No hydrides are observed in the α phase in alloys with Al addition or quenched-in Mo supersaturation

What is traditional acupuncture - exploring goals and processes of treatment in the context of women with early breast cancer

Background: Despite the increasing popularity of acupuncture, there remains uncertainty as to its effectiveness and how it brings about change. Particular questions are posed over whether acupuncture research has sufficient model validity and reflects acupuncture as practised. Exploring traditional acupuncture (TA) in practice should help to expose processes essential to the theory of TA. The aim of this study was to examine what TA practitioners aim to achieve, their rationale and how they follow this through in their practice. Methods: A longitudinal study of TA for women with early breast cancer (EBC) was performed. Study participants comprised 14 women with EBC and two experienced TA practitioners, all taking part in in-depth interviews, conducted before and after receipt of up to 10 treatment sessions, and analysed using grounded theory methods. Additional data came from practitioner treatment logs and diaries. Results: Practitioners sought long-term goals of increasing strength and enabling coping as well as immediate relief of symptoms. They achieved this through a continuous process of treatment, following through the recursive and individualized nature of TA and adjusted, via differential diagnosis, to the rapidly fluctuating circumstances of individual women. Establishing trust and good rapport with the women aided disclosure which was seen as essential in order to clarify goals during chemotherapy. This process was carefully managed by the practitioners and the resultant therapeutic relationship was highly valued by the women. Conclusion: This study provided insight into the interdependent components of TA helping to demonstrate the multiple causal pathways to change through the continuous process of new information, insights and treatment changes. A good therapeutic relationship was not simply something valued by patients but explicitly used by practitioners to aid disclosure which in turn affected details of the treatment. The therapeutic relationship was therefore a vital and integral part of the treatment process