Characterizing three Pseudomonas milk isolates and interrogating specific similarities to cystic fibrosis clinical isolate, P. lundensis AU1044

HonorsUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162684/1/ansenkow.pd

Long-Range Temporal Correlations in Resting State Beta Oscillations are Reduced in Schizophrenia

Symptoms of schizophrenia (SCZ) are likely to be generated by genetically mediated synaptic dysfunction, which contribute to large-scale functional neural dysconnectivity. Recent electrophysiological studies suggest that this dysconnectivity is present not only at a spatial level but also at a temporal level, operationalized as long-range temporal correlations (LRTCs). Previous research suggests that alpha and beta frequency bands have weaker temporal stability in people with SCZ. This study sought to replicate these findings with high-density electroencephalography (EEG), enabling a spatially more accurate analysis of LRTC differences, and to test associations with characteristic SCZ symptoms and cognitive deficits. A 128-channel EEG was used to record eyes-open resting state brain activity of 23 people with SCZ and 24 matched healthy controls (HCs). LRTCs were derived for alpha (8–12 Hz) and beta (13–25 Hz) frequency bands. As an exploratory analysis, LRTC was source projected using sLoreta. People with SCZ showed an area of significantly reduced beta-band LRTC compared with HCs over bilateral posterior regions. There were no between-group differences in alpha-band activity. Individual symptoms of SCZ were not related to LRTC values nor were cognitive deficits. The study confirms that people with SCZ have reduced temporal stability in the beta frequency band. The absence of group differences in the alpha band may be attributed to the fact that people had, in contrast to previous studies, their eyes open in the current study. Taken together, our study confirms the utility of LRTC as a marker of network instability in people with SCZ and provides a novel empirical perspective for future examinations of network dysfunction salience in SCZ research

Effects of task difficulty on evoked gamma activity and ERPs in a visual discrimination task

Objective: The present study examined oscillatory brain activity of the EEG gamma band and event-related potentials (ERPs) with relation to the difficulty of a visual discrimination task. Methods: Three tasks with identical stimulus material were performed by 9 healthy subjects. The tasks comprised a passive control task, and an easy and a hard visual discrimination task, requiring discrimination of the color of circles. EEG was recorded from 26 electrodes. A wavelet transform based on Morlet wavelets was employed for the analysis of gamma activity. Results: Evoked EEG gamma activity was enhanced by both discrimination tasks as compared to the passive control task. Within the two discrimination tasks, the latency of the evoked gamma peak was delayed for the harder task. Higher amplitudes of the ERP components N170 and P300 were found in both discrimination tasks as compared to the passive task. The N2b, which showed a maximum activation at about 260 ms, was increased in the hard discrimination task as compared to the easy discrimination task. Conclusions: Our results indicate that early evoked gamma activity and N2b are related to the difficulty of visual discrimination processes. A delayed gamma activity in the hard task indicated a longer duration of stimulus processing, whereas the amplitude of the N2b directly indicates the level of task difficulty

USING THE INTEGRATIVE MODEL TO PREDICT VEGETABLE SUBGROUP CONSUMPTION AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS

Although eating the recommended amount of vegetables is associated with many health benefits, vegetable consumption is low among college students in the United States. “Vegetable consumption” is a behavioral category, consisting of consuming a wide range of foods, which the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) has further divided into 5 vegetable subgroups: dark green vegetables, red and orange vegetables, beans and peas, starchy vegetables, and other vegetables. While vegetable consumption is typically studied as a single behavior, understanding the behavioral determinants for consuming defined vegetable subgroups, such as those developed by the USDA, may be more beneficial, as it would provide targeted information about these foods, from which theory based interventions can be developed. Therefore, this purpose of this study was to utilize the Integrative Model (IM) to predict the intentions and behaviors of consuming each vegetable subgroup among college students

Cathodic protection for reinforced concrete bridge decks (83-08-1)

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation contracted the installation of two cathodic protection systems as part of the Federal Highway Administration's Demonstration Project No. 34, "Cathodic Protection for Reinforced Concrete Bridge Decks". Two different types of cathodic protection systems were installed under this contract. The first system known as a "slotted" or non-overlay system consists of anodes which are installed in slots that have been sawed in the bridge deck. The second system is an overlay system in which the anodes are installed on top of the deck and then a 2 inch high density concrete overlay is piaced. Both systems were of the impressed current type using the local utility company for power. This is the second year evaluation of the project.Interim Report 8-86 to 3-88N

Cathodic protection for reinforced concrete bridge decks volume II - supplemental report (83-08-1)

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation contracted the installation of two cathodic protection systems as part of the Federal Highway Administration's Demonstration Project No. 34, "Cathodic Protection for Reinforced Concrete Bridge Decks". Two different types of cathodic protection systems were installed under this contract. The first system known as a "slotted" or non-overlay system consists of anodes which are installed in slots that have been sawed in the bridge deck. The second system is an overlay system in which the anodes are installed on top of the deck and then a 2 inch high density concrete overlay is piaced. Both systems were of the impressed current type using the local utility company for power. This is the second year evaluation of the project.Supplemental ReportN

Taking a Call Is Facilitated by the Multisensory Processing of Smartphone Vibrations, Sounds, and Flashes

Many electronic devices that we use in our daily lives provide inputs that need to be processed and integrated by our senses. For instance, ringing, vibrating, and flashing indicate incoming calls and messages in smartphones. Whether the presentation of multiple smartphone stimuli simultaneously provides an advantage over the processing of the same stimuli presented in isolation has not yet been investigated. In this behavioral study we examined multisensory processing between visual (V), tactile (T), and auditory (A) stimuli produced by a smartphone. Unisensory V, T, and A stimuli as well as VA, AT, VT, and trisensory VAT stimuli were presented in random order. Participants responded to any stimulus appearance by touching the smartphone screen using the stimulated hand (Experiment 1), or the non-stimulated hand (Experiment 2). We examined violations of the race model to test whether shorter response times to multisensory stimuli exceed probability summations of unisensory stimuli. Significant violations of the race model, indicative of multisensory processing, were found for VA stimuli in both experiments and for VT stimuli in Experiment 1. Across participants, the strength of this effect was not associated with prior learning experience and daily use of smartphones. This indicates that this integration effect, similar to what has been previously reported for the integration of semantically meaningless stimuli, could involve bottom-up driven multisensory processes. Our study demonstrates for the first time that multisensory processing of smartphone stimuli facilitates taking a call. Thus, research on multisensory integration should be taken into consideration when designing electronic devices such as smartphones

Positive and Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia Relate to Distinct Oscillatory Signatures of Sensory Gating

Oscillatory activity in neural populations and temporal synchronization within these populations are important mechanisms contributing to perception and cognition. In schizophrenia, perception and cognition are impaired. Aberrant gating of irrelevant sensory information, which has been related to altered oscillatory neural activity, presumably contributes to these impairments. However, the link between schizophrenia symptoms and sensory gating deficits, as reflected in oscillatory activity, is not clear. In this electroencephalography study, we used a paired-stimulus paradigm to investigate frequency-resolved oscillatory activity in 22 schizophrenia patients and 22 healthy controls. We found sensory gating deficits in patients compared to controls, as reflected in reduced gamma-band power and alpha-band phase synchrony difference between the first and the second auditory stimulus. We correlated these markers of neural activity with a five-factor model of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Gamma-band power sensory gating was positively correlated with positive symptoms. Moreover, alpha-band phase synchrony sensory gating was negatively correlated with negative symptoms. A cluster analysis revealed three schizophrenia phenotypes, characterized by (i) aberrant gamma-band power and high positive symptoms, (ii) aberrant alpha-band phase synchrony, low positive, and low negative symptom scores or (iii) by intact sensory gating and high negative symptoms.Our study demonstrates that aberrant neural synchronization, as reflected in gamma-band power and alpha-band phase synchrony, relates to the schizophrenia psychopathology. Different schizophrenia phenotypes express distinct levels of positive and negative symptoms as well as varying degrees of aberrant oscillatory neural activity. Identifying the individual phenotype might improve therapeutic interventions