Brain Responses to Faces and Facial Expressions in 5-Month-Olds: An fNIRS Study

Processing faces and understanding facial expressions are crucial skills for social communication. In adults, basic face processing and facial emotion processing rely on specific interacting brain networks. In infancy, however, little is known about when and how these networks develop. The current study uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure differences in 5-month-olds’ brain activity in response to fearful and happy facial expressions. Our results show that the right occipital region responds to faces, indicating that the face processing network is activated at 5 months. Yet sensitivity to facial emotions appears to be still immature at this age: explorative analyses suggest that if the facial emotion processing network was active this would be mainly visible in the temporal cortex. Together these results indicate that at 5 months, occipital areas already show sensitivity to face processing, while the facial emotion processing network seems not fully developed

Waterschappen klaar voor de 'Waterharmonica'

Meer dan 15 jaar praktijkervaring met de Waterharmonica kwam aan bod tijdens een goed bezochte bijeenkomst in de Efteling. De Waterharmonica is een speciaal ingerichte verbindingszone tussen een rwzi en het oppervlaktewater, waarin het effluent een meer natuurlijk karakter krijgt. Belangrijk voor waterbeheerders, omdat de Kaderrichtlijn Water expliciet om een goede ecologische kwaliteit van het oppervlaktewater vraagt. Waterharmonicasystemen zijn de afgelopen jaren op verschillende locaties in Nederland aangelegd. Op basis van de (positieve) ervaringen zijn er momenteel meerdere in ontwikkeling. De werking van de systemen is in die jaren onderzocht met aandacht voor onder andere nutriëntenverwijdering, desinfectie, zwevend materiaal, buffercapaciteit, ecotoxicologie, beheer en onderhoud, kosten en vergunningen. Tijdens het symposium werden de laatste ontwikkelingen op dit gebied gepresenteerd en werd een veldbezoek gebracht aan het Waterharmonicasysteem van de Efteling

Temporal proteomic analysis of HIV infection reveals remodelling of the host phosphoproteome by lentiviral Vif variants

Viruses manipulate host factors to enhance their replication and evade cellular restriction. We used multiplex tandem mass tag (TMT)-based whole cell proteomics to perform a comprehensive time course analysis of >6500 viral and cellular proteins during HIV infection. To enable specific functional predictions, we categorized cellular proteins regulated by HIV according to their patterns of temporal expression. We focussed on proteins depleted with similar kinetics to APOBEC3C, and found the viral accessory protein Vif to be necessary and sufficient for CUL5-dependent proteasomal degradation of all members of the B56 family of regulatory subunits of the key cellular phosphatase PP2A (PPP2R5A-E). Quantitative phosphoproteomic analysis of HIV-infected cells confirmed Vif-dependent hyperphosphorylation of >200 cellular proteins, particularly substrates of the aurora kinases. The ability of Vif to target PPP2R5 subunits is found in primate and non-primate lentiviral lineages, and remodeling of the cellular phosphoproteome is therefore a second ancient and conserved Vif function.This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust PRF (101835/Z/13/Z) to PJL and RTF to NJM (093964/Z/10/Z), NHSBT and the NIHR Cambridge BRC, a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award to CIMR, and the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust

Benefits of ecological engineering practices

With the intention to further promote the field of ecological engineering and the solutions it provides, a workshop on “Benefits of Ecological Engineering Practices” was held 3 December 2009. It was conducted by the International Ecological Engineering Society in Paris at the conference “Ecological Engineering: from Concepts to Application” organized by the Ecological Engineering Applications Group GAIE. This paper presents the results of the workshop related to three key questions: (1) what are the benefits of ecological engineering practices to human and ecosystem well-being, (2) which concepts are used or useful to identify, reference, and measure the benefits of ecological engineering practices, and (3) how and to whom shall benefits of ecological engineering practices be promoted. While benefits of ecological engineering practices are diverse, general conclusions can be derived to facilitate communication. Identifying benefits requires valuation frameworks reaching beyond the scope of ecology and engineering. A distinction between human and ecosystem well-being in this regard may not be easy or useful, but instead humans embedded in ecosystems should be addressed as a whole. The concepts of resource efficiency, ecosystem services, ecosystem health, and multifunctional land use could serve as suitable references to frame ecological engineering benefits, as well as referring to international political goals such as biodiversity protection, climate change mitigation and poverty reduction. Sector and application specific criteria of good practice could be worked out. Regional, area specific reference systems for sustainable development could provide comparative advantages for ecologically engineered solutions. Besides people with high decision making power and people with high motivation for change are good target groups to be addressed

Is It Fear?: Similar brain responses to fearful and neutral faces in infants with a heightened likelihood for autism spectrum disorder

Education and Child Studie

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance native T-2 and T-2* quantitative values for cardiomyopathies and heart transplantations:a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The clinical application of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) T2 and T2* mapping is currently limited as ranges for healthy and cardiac diseases are poorly defined. In this meta-analysis we aimed to determine the weighted mean of T2 and T2* mapping values in patients with myocardial infarction (MI), heart transplantation, non-ischemic cardiomyopathies (NICM) and hypertension, and the standardized mean difference (SMD) of each population with healthy controls. Additionally, the variation of mapping outcomes between studies was investigated. Methods: The PRISMA guidelines were followed after literature searches on PubMed and Embase. Studies reporting CMR T2 or T2* values measured in patients were included. The SMD was calculated using a random effects model and a meta-regression analysis was performed for populations with sufficient published data. Results: One hundred fifty-four studies, including 13,804 patient and 4392 control measurements, were included. T2 values were higher in patients with MI, heart transplantation, sarcoidosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, amyloidosis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and myocarditis (SMD of 2.17, 1.05, 0.87, 1.39, 1.62, 1.95, 1.90 and 1.33, respectively, P < 0.01) compared with controls. T2 values in iron overload patients (SMD =-0.54, P = 0.30) and Anderson-Fabry disease patients (SMD = 0.52, P = 0.17) did both not differ from controls. T2* values were lower in patients with MI and iron overload (SMD of-1.99 and-2.39, respectively, P < 0.01) compared with controls. T2* values in HCM patients (SMD =-0.61, P = 0.22), DCM patients (SMD =-0.54, P = 0.06) and hypertension patients (SMD =-1.46, P = 0.10) did not differ from controls. Multiple CMR acquisition and patient demographic factors were assessed as significant covariates, thereby influencing the mapping outcomes and causing variation between studies. Conclusions: The clinical utility of T2 and T2* mapping to distinguish affected myocardium in patients with cardiomyopathies or heart transplantation from healthy myocardium seemed to be confirmed based on this meta-analysis. Nevertheless, variation of mapping values between studies complicates comparison with external values and therefore require local healthy reference values to clinically interpret quantitative values. Furthermore, disease differentiation seems limited, since changes in T2 and T2* values of most cardiomyopathies are similar

Comparison of two arthroscopic pump systems based on image quality

The effectiveness of arthroscopic pump systems has been investigated with either subjective measures or measures that were unrelated to the image quality. The goal of this study is to determine the performance of an automated pump in comparison to a gravity pump based on objective assessment of the quality of the arthroscopic view. Ten arthroscopic operations performed with a gravity pump and ten performed with an automated pump (FMS Duo system) were matched on duration of the surgery and shaver usage, type of operation, and surgical experience. Quality of the view was defined by means of the presence or absence of previously described definitions of disturbances (bleeding, turbidity, air bubbles, and loose fibrous tissue). The percentage of disturbances for all operations was assessed with a time-disturbance analysis of the recorded operations. The Mann–Whitney U test shows a significant difference in favor of the automated pump for the presence of turbidity only (Exact Sig. [2*(1-tailed Sig.)] = 0.015). Otherwise, no differences were determined (Exact Sig. [2*(1-tailed Sig.)] > 0.436). A new objective method is successfully applied to assess efficiency of pump systems based on the quality of the arthroscopic view. Important disturbances (bleeding, air bubbles, and loose fibrous tissue) are not reduced by an automated pump used in combination with a tourniquet. The most frequent disturbance turbidity is reduced by around 50%. It is questionable if this result justifies the use of an automated pump for straightforward arthroscopic knee surgeries using a tourniquet