A new cryptic species of Nyctibatrachus (Amphibia, Anura, Nyctibatrachidae) with description of its tadpole from the central Western Ghats, India.

We describe a new species of night frog belonging to the genus Nyctibatrachus from the central Western Ghats, India. Nyctibatrachus tunga sp. nov. is distinguished from all congeners by a combination of (1) body size medium (SVL 37.0-40.2 mm ♂, 42.4-47.4 mm ♀), (2) head wider than long (HW 16.0-17.6 mm ♂, 17.4-20.3 mm ♀, HL 11.7-13.6 mm ♂, 13.4-15.5 mm ♀), (3) skin on dorsal and lateral surfaces with glandular folds and throat with dense glandular longitudinal folds, belly white, (4) webbing on toes medium, reaching the third subarticular tubercle on either side of fourth toe (5) presence of nuptial pad and femoral glands in adult males, (6) dorsal body color dark brown, ventrally buff colored except belly, (7) finger disc weakly developed (fd3 0.8±0.1 mm ♂, 1.0±0.1 mm ♀; fw3 0.5±0.1 mm ♂, 0.8±0.1 mm ♀), (8) toe disc moderately developed (td4 1.2±0.2 mm ♂, 1.6±0.1 mm ♀; tw4 0.8±0.1 mm ♂, 0.7±0.0 mm ♀), (9) third finger disc without dorso-terminal groove, fourth toe disc with dorso-terminal groove cover bifurcate distally. Further, molecular phylogeny based on two mitochondrial genes (16S rRNA and ND1), reveals that the new species is sister taxon to N. vrijeuni and N. shiradi. Based on the analysis of 16S rRNA, the new species is genetically divergent by 2.0% and 2.6% from N. vrijeuni and N. shiradi respectively indicating weak but consistent differences to these two species. The bioacoustic analysis also indicated that the new species differed from one of its closest congeners, N. vrijeuni by a higher dominant frequency in advertisement calls. At present, Nyctibatrachus tunga sp. nov. is known from streams within evergreen forests and coffee estates of the upper catchment areas of river Tunga in central Western Ghats.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation in schizophrenia: the contribution of neuroimaging.

At the most basic level, the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation(TMS) is a neuro-scientific tool that exerts its action by influencing the neo-cortical functions. However, in-spite of so many well-evidenced roles of TMS in neuropsychiatric conditions, its exact mechanism of action remains to be known. More intriguing are its therapeutic effects in Schizophrenia at the Cerebral-level. In this review, we adopt a neuro-imaging approach for this exploration. We review the present literature for the studies in Schizophrenia which have used a combination of rTMS with 1) Electroenchephalogram (EEG) 2)The functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and the 3) Positron Emission Tomography (PET)/ Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography. The TMS-EEG combination provides direct effects of TMS on the electro- magnetic field (EMF) of brain. The TMS-fMRI/PET/SPECT combinations are very effective in exploring the functional connectivity in brains of Schizophrenia patients as well as in performing rTMS guided neuro-navigation. Our review suggests that TMS combined with other neuroimaging modalities are needed for a better clarification of its neural actions.

A comparative study of brainstem auditory evoked potentials in preterm and full-term infants.

BACKGROUND: Preterm infants can have many neurological problems. An enormous amount of fetal brain development occurs during the last trimester of pregnancy. They include myelination, glial cell migration and the development of a complex gyral pattern. The brain doesn't show the normal growth after birth in preterm infants. Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) are a noninvasive neurophysiologic assessment of brainstem maturation in babies. METHODS: BAEPs in 25 preterm and 25 full-term infants were considered for the study. Infants having history of birth trauma, metabolic disorders or intracranial infection were excluded. BAEP waveforms (absolute and interpeak latencies) were recorded and analyzed. Student t test was used to analyze the data thus acquired. RESULTS: Analysis of data revealed a significant increase in latency of BAEP waveform V (P<0.05). Other latencies and interpeak latencies of BAEP waveforms were comparable. CONCLUSION: The preterm infants have a prolonged latency of BAEP waveform V suggestive of a retarded myelination of the central auditory pathway. Thus BAEP could be a useful electrophysiological test to assess neuronal myelination and maturation in preterm infants.

A comparative study of median nerve somatosensory evoked potential in the totally blind and normal subjects.

The totally blind individuals are often considered to be compensated for their visual loss by augmentation in the auditory and tactile perceptions as against the normal sighted individuals. The objective of the present work was to study the somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) after median nerve stimulation in the wrist of totally blind and normal sighted individuals. SEPs were recorded after median nerve stimulation in the wrist of 15 Braille reading totally blind females and compared with 15 age matched normal sighted females. Latency and amplitudes of SEPs (N9, N13, and N20) were measured and analyzed statistically. Amplitude of N20 SEP was significantly larger in the totally blind than in normal sighted individuals (P < 0.05). The amplitudes of N9 and N13 SEPs and the latencies of all SEPs showed no significant differences. The congenitally blind individuals have larger N20 amplitude, suggestive of greater somatosensory cortical representation than normal sighted individuals.