scholarly journals Delineating the macroscale areal organization of the macaque cortex in vivo

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting Xu ◽  
Arnaud Falchier ◽  
Elinor L. Sullivan ◽  
Gary Linn ◽  
Julian Ramirez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Translational Research ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Data Requirements ◽  
Human Primate

SUMMARYComplementing longstanding traditions centered around histology, fMRI approaches are rapidly maturing in delineating brain areal organization at the macroscale. The non-human primate (NHP) provides the opportunity to overcome critical barriers in translational research. Here, we establish the data and scanning conditions for achieving reproducible, stable and internally valid areal parcellations in individuals. We demonstrate that these functional boundaries serve as a functional fingerprint of the individual animals, and can be achieved under anesthesia or awake conditions (rest, naturalistic viewing), though differences between awake and anesthetized states precluded the detection of individual differences across states. Comparison of awake and anesthetized states suggested a more nuanced picture of changes in connectivity for higher order association areas, as well as visual and motor cortex. These results establish feasibility and data requirements for the generation of reproducible individual-specific parcellations in NHP, as well as provide insights into the impact of scan state and motivate efforts toward harmonizing protocols.

Predictors of Positive Psychological Capital: An Attempt Among the Teacher Communities in Rural Jharkhand, India

2021 ◽  
pp. 0258042X2199101
Author(s):  
Mukti Clarence ◽  
Viju P. D. ◽  
Lalatendu Kesari Jena ◽  
Tony Sam George
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Organizational Support ◽  
Psychological Capital ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Meaningful Work ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Positive Psychological Capital ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

In the recent times, researchers have shown an increased interest in positive psychological capital (PsyCap). However, it is acknowledged that due to the limited number of studies conducted on the antecedents of psychological capital, there is a lack of sufficient data for conclusively proving the antecedents of PsyCap. Consequently, this article aims to explore the potential antecedents of PsyCap as a reliable source of data in the context of rural school teachers. The focus is to investigate both the individual differences and the contextual factors as desirable variables that constitute PsyCap among the school teachers of rural Jharkhand, India. Samples of 1,120 respondents from different rural schools were collected and analysed with Structural Equation Modeling (AMOS 20.0). The findings of the study explained that both the individual differences ( proactive personality and emotional intelligence) and the contextual factors ( perceived organizational support, servant leadership and meaningful work) have a positive relationship with PsyCap. The impact of PsyCap on teacher performance can form the basis for further research on the subject. JEL Codes: M12, M53

Synthetic Riboswitches for the Analysis of tRNA Processing by eukaryotic RNase P Enzymes

RNA ◽  
2022 ◽  
pp. rna.078814.121
Author(s):  
Anna Ender ◽  
Nadine Grafl ◽  
Tim Kolberg ◽  
Sven Findeiss ◽  
Peter F. Stadler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Rnase P ◽  
Single Stranded Region ◽  
Domains Of Life ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Individual Enzyme ◽  
Trna Precursor

Removal of the 5' leader region is an essential step in the maturation of tRNA molecules in all domains of life. This reaction is catalyzed by various RNase P activities, ranging from ribonucleoproteins with ribozyme activity to protein-only forms. In Escherichia coli, the efficiency of RNase P mediated cleavage can be controlled by computationally designed riboswitch elements in a ligand-dependent way, where the 5' leader sequence of a tRNA precursor is either sequestered in a hairpin structure or presented as a single-stranded region accessible for maturation. In the presented work, the regulatory potential of such artificial constructs is tested on different forms of eukaryotic RNase P enzymes – two protein-only RNase P enzymes (PRORP1 and PRORP2) from Arabidopsis thaliana and the ribonucleoprotein of Homo sapiens. The PRORP enzymes were analyzed in vitro as well as in vivo in a bacterial RNase P complementation system. We also tested in HEK293T cells whether the riboswitches remain functional with human nuclear RNase P. While the regulatory principle of the synthetic riboswitches applies for all tested RNase P enzymes, the results also show differences in the substrate requirements of the individual enzyme versions. Hence, such designed RNase P riboswitches represent a novel tool to investigate the impact of the structural composition of the 5'-leader on substrate recognition by different types of RNase P enzymes.

scholarly journals Individual Differences in Learning Social and Non-Social Network Structures

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Tompson ◽  
Ari E Kahn ◽  
Emily B. Falk ◽  
Jean M Vettel ◽  
Danielle S Bassett
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Social Orientation ◽  
Order Structure ◽  
Network Learning ◽  
Social Traits ◽  
The Impact

Learning about complex associations between pieces of information enables individuals to quickly adjust their expectations and develop mental models. Yet, the degree to which humans can learn higher-order information about complex associations is not well understood; nor is it known whether the learning process differs for social and non-social information. Here, we employ a paradigm in which the order of stimulus presentation forms temporal associations between the stimuli, collectively constituting a complex network structure. We examined individual differences in the ability to learn network topology for which stimuli were social versus non-social. Although participants were able to learn both social and non-social networks, their performance in social network learning was uncorrelated with their performance in non-social network learning. Importantly, social traits, including social orientation and perspective-taking, uniquely predicted the learning of social networks but not the learning of non-social networks. Taken together, our results suggest that the process of learning higher-order structure in social networks is independent from the process of learning higher-order structure in non-social networks. Our study design provides a promising approach to identify neurophysiological drivers of social network versus non-social network learning, extending our knowledge about the impact of individual differences on these learning processes. Implications for how people learn and adapt to new social contexts that require integration into a new social network are discussed.

scholarly journals Scaling of optogenetically evoked signaling in a higher-order corticocortical pathway in the anesthetized mouse

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaojian Li ◽  
Naoki Yamawaki ◽  
John M. Barrett ◽  
Konrad P. Körding ◽  
Gordon M. G. Shepherd
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Retrosplenial Cortex ◽  
Complex Activity ◽  
Dynamic Activity ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Awake State ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Stimulus Parameters

ABSTRACTQuantitative analysis of corticocortical signaling is needed to understand and model information processing in cerebral networks. However, higher-order pathways, hodologically remote from sensory input, are not amenable to spatiotemporally precise activation by sensory stimuli. Here, we combined parametric channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) photostimulation with multi-unit electrophysiology to study corticocortical driving in a parietofrontal pathway from retrosplenial cortex (RSC) to posterior secondary motor cortex (M2) in mice in vivo. Ketamine anesthesia was used both to eliminate complex activity associated with the awake state and to enable stable recordings of responses over a wide range of stimulus parameters. Photostimulation of ChR2-expressing neurons in RSC, the upstream area, produced local activity that decayed quickly. This activity in turn drove downstream activity in M2 that arrived rapidly (5-10 ms latencies), and scaled in amplitude across a wide range of stimulus parameters as an approximately constant fraction (~0.2) of the upstream activity. A model-based analysis could explain the corticocortically driven activity with exponentially decaying kernels (~20 ms time constant) and small delay. Reverse (antidromic) driving was similarly robust. The results show that corticocortical signaling in this pathway drives downstream activity rapidly and scalably, in a mostly linear manner. These properties, identified in anesthetized mice and represented in a simple model, suggest a robust basis for supporting complex non-linear dynamic activity in corticocortical circuits in the awake state.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThe signaling properties of corticocortical connections are not well understood, particularly for higher-order inter-areal pathways. Here, we developed a paradigm based on parametric optogenetic photostimulation, linear-array electrophysiology, and mathematical modeling to characterize signaling along corticortical connections linking retrosplenial cortex to posterior secondary motor cortex (M2) in anesthetized mice. The results indicate that corticocortically driven activity in the downstream area followed the optogenetically evoked upstream activity in a rapid and scalable manner, and could be described with a simple linear integrator model. These findings suggest that this pathway, when activated selectively in the unconscious state, supports intrinsically linear inter-areal communication.

Understanding the Dark Side of Costly Punishment: The Impact of Individual Differences in Everyday Sadism and Existential Threat

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 498-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Pfattheicher ◽  
Simon Schindler
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Costly Punishment ◽  
Basic Characteristics ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

In public goods situations, a specific destructive behaviour reliably emerges when individuals face the possibility of costly punishing others: antisocial punishment, that is, costly punishing cooperative individuals. So far, however, little is known about the individual differences and situational factors that are associated with the dark side of costly punishment. This research deals with this shortcoming. We argue that antisocial punishment reflects the basic characteristics of sadism, namely, aggressive behaviour to dominate and to harm other individuals. We further argue that antisocial punishment may reflect a type of behaviour that allows for the maintenance of self–esteem (through aggressively dominating others). Therefore, we expect that individuals who report a disposition for everyday sadism are particularly likely to engage in antisocial punishment when their self has been threatened (by thinking about one's own death). In a study ( N = 99), we found empirical support for this assumption. The present research contributes to a better understanding of antisocial punishment and suggests that sadistic tendencies play a crucial role, especially when the self is (existentially) threatened. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Group characterization of impact-induced, in vivo human brain kinematics

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (179) ◽  
pp. 20210251
Author(s):  
Arnold D. Gomez ◽  
Philip V. Bayly ◽  
John A. Butman ◽  
Dzung L. Pham ◽  
Jerry L. Prince ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Size ◽  
Strain Tensor ◽  
Fluid Motion ◽  
Brain Response ◽  
Maximum Shear Strain ◽  
Neck Extension ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

Brain movement during an impact can elicit a traumatic brain injury, but tissue kinematics vary from person to person and knowledge regarding this variability is limited. This study examines spatio-temporal brain–skull displacement and brain tissue deformation across groups of subjects during a mild impact in vivo . The heads of two groups of participants were imaged while subjected to a mild (less than 350 rad s −2 ) impact during neck extension (NE, n = 10) and neck rotation (NR, n = 9). A kinematic atlas of displacement and strain fields averaged across all participants was constructed and compared against individual participant data. The atlas-derived mean displacement magnitude was 0.26 ± 0.13 mm for NE and 0.40 ± 0.26 mm for NR, which is comparable to the displacement magnitudes from individual participants. The strain tensor from the atlas displacement field exhibited maximum shear strain (MSS) of 0.011 ± 0.006 for NE and 0.017 ± 0.009 for NR and was lower than the individual MSS averaged across participants. The atlas illustrates common patterns, containing some blurring but visible relationships between anatomy and kinematics. Conversely, the direction of the impact, brain size, and fluid motion appear to underlie kinematic variability. These findings demonstrate the biomechanical roles of key anatomical features and illustrate common features of brain response for model evaluation.

scholarly journals Voluntary Behavior and Training Conditions Modulate in vivo Extracellular Glucose and Lactate in the Mouse Primary Motor Cortex

2022 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandria Béland-Millar ◽  
Claude Messier
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Wheel Running ◽  
Aerobic Glycolysis ◽  
Metabolic Cost ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Extracellular Glucose ◽  
Extracellular Lactate ◽  
The Impact

Learning or performing new behaviors requires significant neuronal signaling and is metabolically demanding. The metabolic cost of performing a behavior is mitigated by exposure and practice which result in diminished signaling and metabolic requirements. We examined the impact of novel and habituated wheel running, as well as effortful behaviors on the modulation of extracellular glucose and lactate using biosensors inserted in the primary motor cortex of mice. We found that motor behaviors produce increases in extracellular lactate and decreases in extracellular glucose in the primary motor cortex. These effects were modulated by experience, novelty and intensity of the behavior. The increase in extracellular lactate appears to be strongly associated with novelty of a behavior as well as the difficulty of performing a behavior. Our observations are consistent with the view that a main function of aerobic glycolysis is not to fuel the current neuronal activity but to sustain new bio-infrastructure as learning changes neural networks, chiefly through the shuttling of glucose derived carbons into the pentose phosphate pathway for the biosynthesis of nucleotides.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Operation Process of Medical Equipment to Enhance Ergonomic Reliability Based on FRAM–Moran’s I and CREAM

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 200
Author(s):  
Xin Liu ◽  
Zheng Liu ◽  
Kang-Chao Lin ◽  
Zhi-Lin Huang ◽  
Ming-Yu Ling ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Medical Equipment ◽  
Evaluation Method ◽  
Moran’S I ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Moran's I ◽  
Operation Process ◽  
Order Preference ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

To improve the ergonomic reliability of medical equipment design during the operation process, a method for evaluating the operating procedure of a medical equipment interface according to functional resonance analysis method (FRAM)-Moran’s I and cognitive reliability and error analysis method (CREAM) is proposed in this study. The novelty of this research is to analyze the ergonomic reliability of medical equipment in a more systematic manner and to minimize the impact of human subjectivity and individual differences on the evaluation results of the operation process. To solve the calculation problem of functional resonance in FRAM and to make the evaluation results more objective, Moran’s I was introduced to quantify the deviation degree caused by the individual differences of the subjects. By giving weights based on Moran’s I, the influence of individual differences and subjectivity on the evaluation results can be minimized, to a certain extent. Considering the importance of a special environment, which is not fully considered by the conventional CREAM, the weighting values based on Moran’s I, Delphi survey, and technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) were adopted to assign weights to common performance conditions (CPCs) in CREAM. The optimal design scheme was selected more objectively than in the conventional method. The validity and practicability of this operation process evaluation method was verified by a statistical method based on ergonomic reliability experiments.

scholarly journals Focal Loss of the Paranodal Domain Protein Neurofascin155 in the Internal Capsule Impairs Cortically Induced Muscle Activity in Vivo.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuo Kunisawa ◽  
Nobuhiko Hatanaka ◽  
Takeshi Shimizu ◽  
Kenta Kobayashi ◽  
Yasuyuki Osanai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Internal Capsule ◽  
Triceps Brachii ◽  
Myelinated Axons ◽  
Electrophysiological Properties ◽  
Motor Behaviors ◽  
Paranodal Junctions ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Paranodal axoglial junctions are essential for rapid nerve conduction and the organization of axonal domains in myelinated axons. Neurofascin155 (Nfasc155) is a glial cell adhesion molecule that is also required for the assembly of these domains. Previous studies have demonstrated that general ablation of Nfasc155 disorganizes these domains, reduces conduction velocity, and disrupts motor behaviors. Multiple sclerosis (MS), a typical disorder of demyelination in the central nervous system, is reported to have autoantibody to Nfasc155. However, the impact of focal loss of Nfasc155, which may occur in MS patients, remains unclear. Here, we examined whether restricted focal loss of Nfasc155 affects the electrophysiological properties of the motor system in vivo. Adeno-associated virus type5 (AAV5) harboring EGFP-2A-Cre was injected into the glial-enriched internal capsule of floxed-Neurofascin (NfascFlox/Flox) mice to focally disrupt paranodal junctions in the cortico-fugal fibers from the motor cortex to the spinal cord. Electromyograms (EMGs) of the triceps brachii muscles in response to electrical stimulation of the motor cortex were successively examined in these awake mice. EMG analysis showed significant delay in the onset and peak latencies after AAV injection compared to control (Nfasc+/+) mice. Moreover, EMG half-widths were increased, and EMG amplitudes were gradually decreased by 13 weeks. Similar EMG changes have been reported in MS patients. These findings provide physiological evidence that motor outputs are obstructed by focal ablation of paranodal junctions in myelinated axons. Our findings may open a new path toward development of a novel biomarker for an early phase of human MS, as Nfasc155 detects microstructural changes in the paranodal junction.

scholarly journals Focal loss of the paranodal domain protein Neurofascin155 in the internal capsule impairs cortically induced muscle activity in vivo

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuo Kunisawa ◽  
Nobuhiko Hatanaka ◽  
Takeshi Shimizu ◽  
Kenta Kobayashi ◽  
Yasuyuki Osanai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Internal Capsule ◽  
Triceps Brachii ◽  
Myelinated Axons ◽  
Electrophysiological Properties ◽  
Motor Behaviors ◽  
Paranodal Junctions ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
The Impact

AbstractParanodal axoglial junctions are essential for rapid nerve conduction and the organization of axonal domains in myelinated axons. Neurofascin155 (Nfasc155) is a glial cell adhesion molecule that is also required for the assembly of these domains. Previous studies have demonstrated that general ablation of Nfasc155 disorganizes these domains, reduces conduction velocity, and disrupts motor behaviors. Multiple sclerosis (MS), a typical disorder of demyelination in the central nervous system, is reported to have autoantibody to Nfasc. However, the impact of focal loss of Nfasc155, which may occur in MS patients, remains unclear. Here, we examined whether restricted focal loss of Nfasc155 affects the electrophysiological properties of the motor system in vivo. Adeno-associated virus type5 (AAV5) harboring EGFP-2A-Cre was injected into the glial-enriched internal capsule of floxed-Neurofascin (NfascFlox/Flox) mice to focally disrupt paranodal junctions in the cortico-fugal fibers from the motor cortex to the spinal cord. Electromyograms (EMGs) of the triceps brachii muscles in response to electrical stimulation of the motor cortex were successively examined in these awake mice. EMG analysis showed significant delay in the onset and peak latencies after AAV injection compared to control (Nfasc+/+) mice. Moreover, EMG half-widths were increased, and EMG amplitudes were gradually decreased by 13 weeks. Similar EMG changes have been reported in MS patients. These findings provide physiological evidence that motor outputs are obstructed by focal ablation of paranodal junctions in myelinated axons. Our findings may open a new path toward development of a novel biomarker for an early phase of human MS, as Nfasc155 detects microstructural changes in the paranodal junction.

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