Visual area V5/hMT+ contributes to perception of tactile motion direction: a TMS study

Human imaging studies have reported activations associated with tactile motion perception in visual motion area V5/hMT+, primary somatosensory cortex (SI) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC; Brodmann areas 7/40). However, such studies cannot establish whether these areas are causally involved in tactile motion perception. We delivered double-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) while moving a single tactile point across the fingertip, and used signal detection theory to quantify perceptual sensitivity to motion direction. TMS over both SI and V5/hMT+, but not the PPC site, significantly reduced tactile direction discrimination. Our results show that V5/hMT+ plays a causal role in tactile direction processing, and strengthen the case for V5/hMT+ serving multimodal motion perception. Further, our findings are consistent with a serial model of cortical tactile processing, in which higher-order perceptual processing depends upon information received from SI. By contrast, our results do not provide clear evidence that the PPC site we targeted (Brodmann areas 7/40) contributes to tactile direction perception

SCAI Expert Consensus Statement on Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Without On-Site Surgical Backup

Elective PCI in settings without SOS has increased in volume and complexity (extending beyond the simple lesion recommendations in the 2014 document). In addition, PCI is now being performed outside the hospital setting, in OBLs and ASCs.Several new studies in the United States and abroad have demonstrated that PCIs performed at non-SOS centers have very low rates of complications and similar outcomes to PCIs performed at surgical centers.Despite increases in age, comorbidities, and lesion complexity, the rate of periprocedural complications has remained constant, or declined, with rates of emergency surgery as low as 0.1% in many series.Complex PCI, including unprotected left main, is being performed at some non-SOS centers, with no increase in MACE or emergency CABG surgery compared with PCI at surgical centers. There have been no comparative studies in other complex PCI subgroups, such as CTO and atherectomy, but observational studies demonstrate reasonable outcomes and suggest feasibility with experienced interventional cardiologists.The authors propose a new PCI treatment algorithm that expands the type of cases that can be performed without SOS compared with the 2014 document, with consideration of patients’ clinical and lesion risk, operator experience (both recent and accumulated), and the experience and rescue capabilities of the site.In the United States, there are considerable financial savings (to insurers and Medicare) for PCI to be performed at ASCs and OBLs, so out-migration of procedures from hospitals should be anticipated

Impact of biocatalyst and moisture content on toluene/xylene mixture biofiltration

The objective of this work was to determine the influence of microbial inoculation on degradation efficiency. Three biofilters were used for the treatment of waste gas. A mixture of compost and perlite (8:2) served as the packing material. One biofilter was inoculated with a constructed microbial population. The second remained uninoculated, having the natural population present in the compost. The third biofilter was uninoculated and the packing material was sterilized. The degradation ability of the uninoculated biofilter started to drop after 18 days, while the removal efficiency of inoculated biofilter was stable. The sterile biofilter proved to have no removal efficiency. Moisture content of the packing and ability of the packing to keep moisture was tested. The results showed a significant dependence of the degradation efficiency on the packing moisture content, with highest removal efficiency observed at 70 % moisture content