Neuronal Response to Reward and Luminance in Macaque LIP During Saccadic Choice / 神经科学通报·英文版

Recent work in decision neuroscience suggests that visual saliency can interact with reward-based choice, and the lateral intraparietal cortex (LIP) is implicated in this process. In this study, we recorded from LIP neurons while monkeys performed a two alternative choice task in which the reward and luminance associated with each offer were varied independently. We discovered that the animal's choice was dictated by the reward amount while the luminance had a marginal effect. In the LIP, neuronal activity corresponded well with the animal's choice pattern, in that a majority of reward-modulated neurons encoded the reward amount in the neuron's preferred hemifield with a positive slope. In contrast, compared to their responses to low luminance, an approximately equal proportion of luminance-sensitive neurons responded to high luminance with increased or decreased activity, leading to a much weaker population-level response. Meanwhile, in the non-preferred hemifield, the strength of encoding for reward amount and luminance was positively correlated, suggesting the integration of these two factors in the LIP. Moreover, neurons encoding reward and luminance were homogeneously distributed along the anterior-posterior axis of the LIP. Overall, our study provides further evidence supporting the neural instantiation of a priority map in the LIP in reward-based decisions.

Vulnerabilidade de famílias de idosos assistidos pela Estratégia Saúde da Família / Vulnerabilidad de las familias de adultos mayores asistidas por la Estrategia Salud de la Familia / Vulnerability of families of elderly citizens cared for by the Family Health Strategy

RESUMO Objetivo: estudo descritivo, exploratório, de corte transversal, cujo objetivo foi identificar a vulnerabilidade de famílias de idosos assistidos pela Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF). Método: foi desenvolvido por meio de entrevistas domiciliárias realizadas com uma amostra de 500 famílias de idosos assistidas por 32 equipes da ESF da cidade de Dourados, MS. O Índice de Desenvolvimento da Família (IDF) foi adaptado para classificá-las em função da situação de vulnerabilidade. Resultados: os resultados revelaram a presença de famílias multigeracionais, com baixa escolaridade entre os indivíduos com idade superior a 20 anos e alta taxa de analfabetismo entre os idosos. Identificaram-se 403 famílias em situação de vulnerabilidade aceitável, 95 em vulnerabilidade grave e duas famílias em situação de vulnerabilidade muito grave. As dimensões mais críticas do IDF foram os acessos ao conhecimento e ao trabalho. Conclusão: conclui-se que há necessidade de mais investimentos no cuidado a esses idosos e suas famílias na Atenção Básica. .

RESUMEN Objetivo: estudio descriptivo, exploratorio, transversal, con el objetivo de identificar la vulnerabilidad de familias adultos mayores asistidas por la Estrategia Salud de la Familia (ESF). Método: fue desarrollado mediante entrevistas a una muestra de 500 familias de adultos mayores bajo la responsabilidad de 32 equipos de ESF en la ciudad de Dourados, MS, Brasil. El Índice de Desarrollo de la Familia (IDF) fue adaptado para clasificar las familias de acuerdo a la situación de vulnerabilidad. Resultados: los resultados revelaron la presencia de familias multigeneracionales con bajo nivel de educación entre las personas mayores de 20 años y las altas tasas de analfabetismo entre los adultos mayores. Se identificaron 403 familias en situación de vulnerabilidad aceptable, 95 con vulnerabilidad grave y dos familias en situación de vulnerabilidad muy grave. Las dimensiones más críticas en el IDF fueron el acceso al conocimiento y al trabajo. Conclusión: se concluye que existe la necesidad de una mayor inversión, con un enfoque en la atención primaria, con el fin de atender a las personas mayores y sus familias. .

ABSTRACT Objective: the present descriptive, exploratory, cross-sectional study aimed to identify the vulnerability of families of elderly citizens cared for by the Family Health Strategy (FHS). Method: the research employed home interviews and was developed with a sample of 500 families of aged people cared for by 32 FHS teams in the city of Dourados, MS, Brazil. The Family Development Index (FDI) was adapted in order to classify the families according to their degree of vulnerability. Results: the results revealed the presence of multigenerational families with low educational levels among individuals over the age of 20 and high illiteracy rates among elderly citizens. There were 403 families whose vulnerability was acceptable, 95 in severe vulnerability, and two families in a condition of very severe vulnerability. The most critical dimensions of the FDI were the access to knowledge and to work. Conclusion: the study identifi ed that there is still a need for further investments that can assist these aged people and their families in the Primary Health Care. .

The introduced free-ranging rhesus and patas monkey populations of southwestern Puerto Rico

Rhesus (Macaca mulatta) and patas (Erythrocebus patas) monkeys escaped to the mainland of southwestern Puerto Rico (SWPR) from research colonies on small offshore islands during the 1960s and through 1982. A three year study (1990-1993) combined radio-telemetry with visual observations to collect information on population sizes, the composition of social groups, their daily movements, and their home ranges. Two populations of rhesus monkeys were identified in SWPR: one within the study area in Sierra Bermeja and a second population located 10 km north of the study area. The size of the Sierra Bermeja rhesus population was derived from escapees from research colonies and at the time of the study was 65-85 individuals. Within their home range area (3.7 km2) the density of this population was >>18.9 individuals/km2. A second rhesus population was found in a mountainous region 10 km north of the study area. This population consisted of one (or two) heterosexual groups with a total of 40-45 individuals. Although a primary characteristic of this species in India is its ability to live as a commensal with humans, the rhesus monkey populations of SWPR are extremely shy and elusive, they avoid contact with humans. The patas monkey population consisted of >>120 individuals in four heterosexual groups and several all-male bands. There was no evidence of patas monkeys outside the study area. Within their home ranges (26.8 km2) the population density was 4.47 individuals/km2). Patas monkeys have not previously been considered a territorial species, their behavior in SWPR suggested territoriality. In contrast to studies in Africa, where the amount of home range overlap between patas monkey groups in high, in SWPR the amount of range overlap between groups is small and each group uses areas with clearly defined boundaries.

Response of cells in the superior colliculus during performance of a spatial attention task in the macaque

Previous studies have reported that superficial layer cells in the superior colliculus (SC) give an enhanced response to a stimulus when it is the target for an eye movement. However, in a peripheral detection paradigm, no such enhancement was found when a stimulus was attended, in the absence of an eye movement. Inasmuch as behavioral studies have found attention deficits in the absence of eye movements following SC lesions or deactivation, we investigated this issue in a paradigm that is very sensitive to effects of attention. In a matching-to-sample paradigm, a sample stimulus was presented at one location followed by a brief test stimulus at that (relevant) location and a distracter at another (irrelevant) location. While maintaining fixation, the monkey indicated whether the sample and the test stimulus matched, ignoring the distracter. The relevant and irrelevant locations were switched from trial to trial. SC cells in the superficial layers tended to give enhanced responses when the attended test stimulus was inside the receptive field compared to when the (pysically identical) distracter was inside the field. We found that responses to attended targets in the receptive field were larger than to physically identical, but ignored, distracter stimuli. These effects were found only in an "automatic" attentional cueing paradigm, in which a peripheral stimulus explicity cued the animal as to the relevant location in the receptive field. No attentional effects were found in a "central"or "cognitive"cueing paradigm, in which the monkey had to learn the relevant location in a given block of trials. The larger responses to attended targets in the automatic cueing paradigm appeared to be due to a sustained elevation of cells'baseline activity when attention was directed to the receptive field, as well as a transient enhancement of the target response. Thus, responses of SC cells appear to be modulated by directed attention, even in absence of eye movements, probably reflecting the properties of cortical cells projecting to the SC.