Predicting mental imagery based BCI performance from personality, cognitive profile and neurophysiological patterns

Mental-Imagery based Brain-Computer Interfaces (MI-BCIs) allow their users to send commands to a computer using their brain-activity alone (typically measured by ElectroEncephaloGraphy— EEG), which is processed while they perform specific mental tasks. While very promising, MI-BCIs remain barely used outside laboratories because of the difficulty encountered by users to control them. Indeed, although some users obtain good control performances after training, a substantial proportion remains unable to reliably control an MI-BCI. This huge variability in user-performance led the community to look for predictors of MI-BCI control ability. However, these predictors were only explored for motor-imagery based BCIs, and mostly for a single training session per subject. In this study, 18 participants were instructed to learn to control an EEG-based MI-BCI by performing 3 MI-tasks, 2 of which were non-motor tasks, across 6 training sessions, on 6 different days. Relationships between the participants’ BCI control performances and their personality, cognitive profile and neurophysiological markers were explored. While no relevant relationships with neurophysiological markers were found, strong correlations between MI-BCI performances and mental-rotation scores (reflecting spatial abilities) were revealed. Also, a predictive model of MI-BCI performance based on psychometric questionnaire scores was proposed. A leave-one-subject-out cross validation process revealed the stability and reliability of this model: it enabled to predict participants’ performance with a mean error of less than 3 points. This study determined how users’ profiles impact their MI-BCI control ability and thus clears the way for designing novel MI-BCI training protocols, adapted to the profile of each user

Rapid Insulinotropic Action of Low Doses of Bisphenol-A on Mouse and Human Islets of Langerhans: Role of Estrogen Receptor β

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a widespread endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC) used as the base compound in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics. It alters pancreatic β-cell function and can be considered a risk factor for type 2 diabetes in rodents. Here we used ERβ−/− mice to study whether ERβ is involved in the rapid regulation of KATP channel activity, calcium signals and insulin release elicited by environmentally relevant doses of BPA (1 nM). We also investigated these effects of BPA in β-cells and whole islets of Langerhans from humans. 1 nM BPA rapidly decreased KATP channel activity, increased glucose-induced [Ca2+]i signals and insulin release in β-cells from WT mice but not in cells from ERβ−/− mice. The rapid reduction in the KATP channel activity and the insulinotropic effect was seen in human cells and islets. BPA actions were stronger in human islets compared to mouse islets when the same BPA concentration was used. Our findings suggest that BPA behaves as a strong estrogen via nuclear ERβ and indicate that results obtained with BPA in mouse β-cells may be extrapolated to humans. This supports that BPA should be considered as a risk factor for metabolic disorders in humans

A probable stellar solution to the cosmological lithium discrepancy

The measurement of the cosmic microwave background has strongly constrained the cosmological parameters of the Universe. When the measured density of baryons (ordinary matter) is combined with standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis calculations, the amounts of hydrogen, helium and lithium produced shortly after the Big Bang can be predicted with unprecedented precision. The predicted primordial lithium abundance is a factor of two to three higher than the value measured in the atmospheres of old stars. With estimated errors of 10 to 25%, this cosmological lithium discrepancy seriously challenges our understanding of stellar physics, Big Bang nucleosynthesis or both. Certain modifications to nucleosynthesis have been proposed, but found experimentally not to be viable. Diffusion theory, however, predicts atmospheric abundances of stars to vary with time, which offers a possible explanation of the discrepancy. Here we report spectroscopic observations of stars in the metalpoor globular cluster NGC 6397 that reveal trends of atmospheric abundance with evolutionary stage for various elements. These element-specific trends are reproduced by stellar-evolution models with diffusion and turbulent mixing. We thus conclude that diffusion is predominantly responsible for the low apparent stellar lithium abundance in the atmospheres of old stars by transporting the lithium deep into the star.Comment: 10 pages, 3 two-panel figures, 2 tables, includes all Supplementary Information otherwise accessible online via www.nature.co

A Survey on the Krein-von Neumann Extension, the corresponding Abstract Buckling Problem, and Weyl-Type Spectral Asymptotics for Perturbed Krein Laplacians in Nonsmooth Domains

In the first (and abstract) part of this survey we prove the unitary equivalence of the inverse of the Krein--von Neumann extension (on the orthogonal complement of its kernel) of a densely defined, closed, strictly positive operator, $S\geq \varepsilon I_{\mathcal{H}}$ for some $\varepsilon >0$ in a Hilbert space $\mathcal{H}$ to an abstract buckling problem operator. This establishes the Krein extension as a natural object in elasticity theory (in analogy to the Friedrichs extension, which found natural applications in quantum mechanics, elasticity, etc.). In the second, and principal part of this survey, we study spectral properties for $H_{K,\Omega}$, the Krein--von Neumann extension of the perturbed Laplacian $-\Delta+V$ (in short, the perturbed Krein Laplacian) defined on $C^\infty_0(\Omega)$, where $V$ is measurable, bounded and nonnegative, in a bounded open set $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^n$ belonging to a class of nonsmooth domains which contains all convex domains, along with all domains of class $C^{1,r}$, $r>1/2$.Comment: 68 pages. arXiv admin note: extreme text overlap with arXiv:0907.144

Tear fluid biomarkers in ocular and systemic disease: potential use for predictive, preventive and personalised medicine

In the field of predictive, preventive and personalised medicine, researchers are keen to identify novel and reliable ways to predict and diagnose disease, as well as to monitor patient response to therapeutic agents. In the last decade alone, the sensitivity of profiling technologies has undergone huge improvements in detection sensitivity, thus allowing quantification of minute samples, for example body fluids that were previously difficult to assay. As a consequence, there has been a huge increase in tear fluid investigation, predominantly in the field of ocular surface disease. As tears are a more accessible and less complex body fluid (than serum or plasma) and sampling is much less invasive, research is starting to focus on how disease processes affect the proteomic, lipidomic and metabolomic composition of the tear film. By determining compositional changes to tear profiles, crucial pathways in disease progression may be identified, allowing for more predictive and personalised therapy of the individual. This article will provide an overview of the various putative tear fluid biomarkers that have been identified to date, ranging from ocular surface disease and retinopathies to cancer and multiple sclerosis. Putative tear fluid biomarkers of ocular disorders, as well as the more recent field of systemic disease biomarkers, will be shown

Immunological mechanisms underlying protection mediated by RTS,S: a review of the available data

The RTS,S/AS candidate malaria vaccine has demonstrated efficacy against a variety of endpoints in Phase IIa and Phase IIb trials over more than a decade. A multi-country phase III trial of RTS,S/AS01 is now underway with submission as early as 2012, if vaccine safety and efficacy are confirmed. The immunologic basis for how the vaccine protects against both infection and disease remains uncertain. It is, therefore, timely to review the information currently available about the vaccine with regard to how it impacts the human-Plasmodium falciparum host-pathogen relationship. In this article, what is known about mechanisms involved in partial protection against malaria induced by RTS,S is reviewed

Lack of association between genetic polymorphisms within DUSP12 - ATF6 locus and glucose metabolism related traits in a Chinese population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genome-wide linkage studies in multiple ethnic populations found chromosome 1q21-q25 was the strongest and most replicable linkage signal in the human chromosome. Studies in Pima Indian, Caucasians and African Americans identified several SNPs in <it>DUSP12 </it>and <it>ATF6</it>, located in chromosome 1q21-q23, were associated with type 2 diabetes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We selected 19 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that could tag 98% of the SNPs with minor allele frequencies over 0.1 within <it>DUSP12-ATF6 </it>region. These SNPs were genotyped in a total of 3,700 Chinese Han subjects comprising 1,892 type 2 diabetes patients and 1,808 controls with normal glucose regulation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>None of the SNPs and haplotypes showed significant association to type 2 diabetes in our samples. No association between the SNPs and quantitative traits was observed either.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data suggests common SNPs within <it>DUSP12</it>-<it>ATF6 </it>locus may not play a major role in glucose metabolism in the Chinese.</p

Lateral variability of ichnological content in muddy contourites: Weak bottom currents affecting organisms’ behavior

Although bioturbation is commonly recognized in contourites, only a few studies have analyzed the ichnological content of these deposits in detail. These studies have mainly focused on meso-scale bigradational sequence (a coarsening upward followed by a fining-upward sequence resulting from variations in current velocity). Here we present data from gravitational cores collected along the NW Iberian Margin showing systematic variation in ichnological content across proximal to distal depocenters within a large-scale elongated contourite drift. Data demonstrate that tracemakers’ behavior varies depending on the distance relative to the bottom current core. Trace fossils are already known to be a useful tool for studying of contouritic deposits and are even used as criterion for differentiating associated facies (e.g., turbidites, debrites), though not without controversy. We propose a mechanism by which the distance to the bottom current core exerts tangible influence on specific macro-benthic tracemaker communities in contourite deposits. This parameter itself reflects other bottom current features, such as hydrodynamic energy, grain size, nutrient transport, etc. Ichnological analysis can thus resolve cryptic features of contourite drift depositional settings.The contribution and research by JD was funded through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 792314 (ICON-SE). The research of FJR-T was funded by project CGL2015-66835-P (Secretaría de Estado de Investigacion, Desarrollo e Innovacion, Spain), Research Group RNM-178 (Junta de Andalucía), and Scientific Excellence Unit UCE-2016- 05 (Universidad de Granada). AM’s research is funded by the I2C program of the Xunta de Galicia Postdoctoral programme (ED481B 2016/029-0). The research was conducted as part of “The Drifters Research Group” (RHUL) and “Ichnology and Palaeoenvironment Research Group” (UGR) programs