Hormone-mediated neural remodeling orchestrates parenting onset during pregnancy.

During pregnancy, physiological adaptations prepare the female body for the challenges of motherhood. Becoming a parent also requires behavioral adaptations. Such adaptations can occur as early as during pregnancy, but how pregnancy hormones remodel parenting circuits to instruct preparatory behavioral changes remains unknown. We found that action of estradiol and progesterone on galanin (Gal)-expressing neurons in the mouse medial preoptic area (MPOA) is critical for pregnancy-induced parental behavior. Whereas estradiol silences MPOAGal neurons and paradoxically increases their excitability, progesterone permanently rewires this circuit node by promoting dendritic spine formation and recruitment of excitatory synaptic inputs. This MPOAGal-specific neural remodeling sparsens population activity in vivo and results in persistently stronger, more selective responses to pup stimuli. Pregnancy hormones thus remodel parenting circuits in anticipation of future behavioral need.

Ultrasound of the Biceps Muscle in Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease with Deep Brain Stimulation: Rigidity Can Be Quantified by Shear Wave Elastography.

Rigidity in Parkinson's disease (PD) is assessed by clinical scales, mostly the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale of the Movement Disorders Society (MDS-UPDRS). While the MDS-UPDRS-III ranges on an integer from 0 to 4, we investigated whether muscle ultrasound shear wave elastography (SWE) offers a refined assessment. Ten PD patients (five treated with deep brain stimulation (DBS) and levodopa, five with levodopa only) and ten healthy controls were included. Over a period of 80 min, both the SWE value and the item 22b-c of the MDS-UPDRS-III were measured at 5 min intervals. The measurements were performed bilaterally at the biceps brachii muscle (BB) and flexor digitorum profundus muscle in flexion and passive extension. Rigidity was modified and tracked under various therapeutic conditions (with and without medication/DBS). The feasibility of SWE for objective quantification was evaluated by correlation with the UPDRS-III: considering all positions and muscles, there was already a weak correlation (r = 0.01, p < 0.001)­in a targeted analysis, the BB in passive extension showed a markedly higher correlation (r = 0.494, p < 0.001). The application of dopaminergic medication and DBS resulted in statistically significant short-term changes in both clinical rigidity and SWE measurements in the BB (p < 0.001). We conclude that rigidity is reflected in the SWE measurements, indicating that SWE is a potential non-invasive quantitative assessment tool for PD.

Ratcave: A 3D graphics python package for cognitive psychology experiments.

We present here a free, open source Python 3D graphics library called Ratcave that extends existing Python psychology stimulus software by allowing scientists to load, display, and transform 3D stimuli created in 3D modeling software. This library makes 3D programming intuitive to new users by providing 3D graphics engine concepts (Mesh, Scene, Light, and Camera classes) that can be manipulated using an interface similar to existing 2D stimulus libraries. In addition, the use of modern OpenGL constructs by Ratcave helps scientists create fast, hardware-accelerated dynamic stimuli using the same intuitive high-level, lightweight interface. Because Ratcave supplements, rather than replaces, existing Python stimulus libraries, scientists can continue to use their preferred libraries by simply adding Ratcave graphics to their existing experiments. We hope this tool will be useful both as a stimulus library and as an example of how tightly-focused libraries can add quality to the existing scientific open-source software ecosystem.

A new hand assessment instrument for severely affected stroke patients.

BACKGROUND: Standard assessment instruments cannot differentiate patients with minimal residual hand function after stroke. As a result, changes in motor recovery are difficult to document using currently-available tests. In a controlled study with chronic stroke patients without residual finger extension, a new hand function test has been developed. This instrument, called Broetz Hand Test (BzH), allows to assess small variations in hand function in severely paralyzed stoke patients. The instrument is easy to use, and was developed using principles of motor learning and behavioral assessment. METHODS: The instrument consists of seven daily life-oriented tasks, each of which asks for movement of the paralyzed hand. BzH of 20 patients after stroke was evaluated before and after a behavioral physiotherapy treatment. Sensitivity, inter-observer reliability, test-retest reliability and construct validity was calculated. RESULTS: Two-tailed paired-samples t-test before and after treatment demonstrated sufficient sensitivity. Mean agreement between the raters resulted in an excellent interrater-reliability. Test-retest reliability between the pre- and post-treatment scores was 0.9. The correlation between BzH and standard test scores was statistically significant and demonstrated sufficient validity. CONCLUSION: The BzH is a valid and reliable tool to assess changes in hand function in severely paralyzed patients after stroke.

Resistance to dehydration between bouts of blood feeding in the bed bug, Cimex lectularius, is enhanced by water conservation, aggregation, and quiescence.

To determine how the bed bug, Cimex lectularius, survives in a dry environment for many months without feeding, water-balance characteristics were compared for all stages from first-instar nymphs to adults. This species is characterized by a low net transpiration rate averaging < 0.2%/h, high tolerance for dehydration (30-40% loss in body water), and an impermeable cuticle as indicated by a high critical transition temperature (CTT) in the 35-40 degrees C range, implying that this insect is adapted for desiccation-hardiness. The capacity of adults to survive for 2 weeks at 0.00a(v) (a(v) = % RH/100) with no access to food or water exemplifies this trait. In contrast to more mature stages, first-instar nymphs contain more water, lose water at a faster rate, experience abrupt water loss at a lower temperature, and survive less time in dry air, suggesting that this stage is the most sensitive to water stress. This insect relies on blood to replenish water stores; none of the stages examined have the capacity to absorb water vapor (critical equilibrium activity, CEA > or = 0.99a(v)), and they drank only sparingly when offered free water. As the bed bugs progress through their development, they gradually reduce their water requirements while increasing their desiccation resistance. Surviving water stress is considerably enhanced behaviorally by quiescence, characterized by prolonged periods of inactivity, and by the formation of clusters that generate a water-conserving group effect.