Divergent Cortical Generators of MEG and EEG during Human Sleep Spindles Suggested by Distributed Source Modeling

Background: Sleep spindles are,1-second bursts of 10–15 Hz activity, occurring during normal stage 2 sleep. In animals, sleep spindles can be synchronous across multiple cortical and thalamic locations, suggesting a distributed stable phaselocked generating system. The high synchrony of spindles across scalp EEG sites suggests that this may also be true in humans. However, prior MEG studies suggest multiple and varying generators. Methodology/Principal Findings: We recorded 306 channels of MEG simultaneously with 60 channels of EEG during naturally occurring spindles of stage 2 sleep in 7 healthy subjects. High-resolution structural MRI was obtained in each subject, to define the shells for a boundary element forward solution and to reconstruct the cortex providing the solution space for a noise-normalized minimum norm source estimation procedure. Integrated across the entire duration of all spindles, sources estimated from EEG and MEG are similar, diffuse and widespread, including all lobes from both hemispheres. However, the locations, phase and amplitude of sources simultaneously estimated from MEG versus EEG are highly distinct during the same spindles. Specifically, the sources estimated from EEG are highly synchronous across the cortex, whereas those from MEG rapidly shift in phase, hemisphere, and the location within the hemisphere. Conclusions/Significance: The heterogeneity of MEG sources implies that multiple generators are active during huma

Candida dubliniensis: An Appraisal of Its Clinical Significance as a Bloodstream Pathogen

A nine-year prospective study (2002–2010) on the prevalence of Candida dubliniensis among Candida bloodstream isolates is presented. The germ tube positive isolates were provisionally identified as C. dubliniensis by presence of fringed and rough colonies on sunflower seed agar. Subsequently, their identity was confirmed by Vitek2 Yeast identification system and/or by amplification and sequencing of the ITS region of rDNA. In all, 368 isolates were identified as C. dubliniensis; 67.1% came from respiratory specimens, 11.7% from oral swabs, 9.2% from urine, 3.8% from blood, 2.7% from vaginal swabs and 5.4% from other sources. All C. dubliniensis isolates tested by Etest were susceptible to voriconazole and amphotericin B. Resistance to fluconazole (≥8 µg/ml) was observed in 2.5% of C. dubliniensis isolates, 7 of which occurred between 2008–2010. Of note was the diagnosis of C. dubliniensis candidemia in 14 patients, 11 of them occurring between 2008–2010. None of the bloodstream isolate was resistant to fluconazole, while a solitary isolate showed increased MIC to 5-flucytosine (>32 µg/ml) and belonged to genotype 4. A review of literature since 1999 revealed 28 additional cases of C. dubliniensis candidemia, and 167 isolates identified from blood cultures since 1982. In conclusion, this study highlights a greater role of C. dubliniensis in bloodstream infections than hitherto recognized

Circuit-based interrogation of sleep control.

Sleep is a fundamental biological process observed widely in the animal kingdom, but the neural circuits generating sleep remain poorly understood. Understanding the brain mechanisms controlling sleep requires the identification of key neurons in the control circuits and mapping of their synaptic connections. Technical innovations over the past decade have greatly facilitated dissection of the sleep circuits. This has set the stage for understanding how a variety of environmental and physiological factors influence sleep. The ability to initiate and terminate sleep on command will also help us to elucidate its functions within and beyond the brain

Effect of magnetic field on the decay kinetics of triplet luminescence of the self-trapped exciton perturbed by Tl+ ion in thallium-doped cesium halides.

Decay kinetics of visible emission of thallium centre in CsCl:Tl, CsBr:Tl and CsI:TI crystals is studied in the magnetic field B // [001] at 0.35-0.45 K. Our previous interpretation of this emission as the triplet luminescence of the self-trapped exciton perturbed by Tl+ ion is confirmed. However, the detailed structure of the corresponding relaxed excited state is found to be much more complicated than that concluded before

A new model for the visible emission of the CsI: Tl crystal.

Four emission bands, all belonging to the main thallium centre, are detected in a CsI:Tl crystal and their spectral, polarization and kinetic characteristics are studied at 1.7 to 320 K. Two weak ultraviolet bands (3.31 and 3.09 eV) are ascribed to electronic transitions from trigonal and tetragonal Jahn-Teller minima of the triplet relaxed excited state of Tl+. Two intense visible bands (2.55 and 2.25 eV) are assumed to arise from two different off-centre configurations of a self-trapped exciton perturbed by the Tl+ ion

Relaxed excited state structure and luminescence of thallium-doped caesium chloride and bromide.

Four bands, all belonging to the main thallium centres, have been detected in the emission spectra of CsCl:Tl and CsBr:Tl crystals. Their spectral, polarization and kinetic characteristics have been studied from 0.45 up to 360 K. It has been shown that the new model proposed by us recently for the relaxed excited state (RES) structure of the luminescence centre in CsI:Tl crystals is valid for CsCl:Tl and CsBr:Tl crystals as well. Two ultraviolet emission bands excited mainly in the A absorption band of Tl+ centres are ascribed to electronic transitions from trigonal and tetragonal Jahn-Teller minima of the tripler RES of Tl+. Two visible bands excitable mainly in the higher energy absorption bands of CsCl:Tl and CsBr:Tl are connected with two different off-centre configurations of self-trapped exciton perturbed by the Tl+ ion. The parameters of the corresponding excited state minima have been calculated. The mixing of the impurity and halogen excited states has been shown to decrease markedly in the sequence of anions I- --> Br- --> Cl-

Peculiarities of the triplet relaxed excited state structure in thallium-doped cesium halide crystals.

Four bands, all belonging to the main thallium centre, are detected in the tripler luminescence spectrum of thallium-doped cesium halides under excitation in impurity absorption bands. Their spectral, polarization and kinetics characteristics are studied at 0.35 to 360 K. The parameters of the corresponding relaxed excited states (RES) minima are calculated. Two ultraviolet emission bands are ascribed to electronic transitions from trigonal and tetragonal Jahn-Teller minima of the triplet RES of Tl+ ion. Two visible bands are assumed to arise from two different off-centre configurations of a self-trapped exciton perturbed by Tl+ ion