Functional mapping of the somatosensory cortex using noninvasive fMRI and touch in awake dogs.

Dogs are increasingly used as a model for neuroscience due to their ability to undergo functional MRI fully awake and unrestrained, after extensive behavioral training. Still, we know rather little about dogs' basic functional neuroanatomy, including how basic perceptual and motor functions are localized in their brains. This is a major shortcoming in interpreting activations obtained in dog fMRI. The aim of this preregistered study was to localize areas associated with somatosensory processing. To this end, we touched N = 22 dogs undergoing fMRI scanning on their left and right flanks using a wooden rod. We identified activation in anatomically defined primary and secondary somatosensory areas (SI and SII), lateralized to the contralateral hemisphere depending on the side of touch, and importantly also activation beyond SI and SII, in the cingulate cortex, right cerebellum and vermis, and the sylvian gyri. These activations may partly relate to motor control (cerebellum, cingulate), but also potentially to higher-order cognitive processing of somatosensory stimuli (rostral sylvian gyri), and the affective aspects of the stimulation (cingulate). We also found evidence for individual side biases in a vast majority of dogs in our sample, pointing at functional lateralization of somatosensory processing. These findings not only provide further evidence that fMRI is suited to localize neuro-cognitive processing in dogs, but also expand our understanding of in vivo touch processing in mammals, beyond classically defined primary and secondary somatosensory cortices.

Investigating belief understanding in children in a nonverbal ambiguous displacement and communication setting.

Finding ways to investigate false belief understanding nonverbally is not just important for preverbal children but also is the only way to assess theory of mind (ToM)-like abilities in nonhuman animals. In this preregistered study, we adapted the design from a previous study on pet dogs to investigate false belief understanding in children and to compare it with belief understanding of those previously tested dogs. A total of 32 preschool children (aged 5-6 years) saw the displacement of a reward and obtained nonverbal cueing of the empty container from an adult communicator holding either a true or false belief. In the false belief condition, when the communicator did not know the location of the reward, children picked the baited container, but not the cued container, more often than the empty one. In the true belief condition, when the communicator witnessed the displacement yet still cued the wrong container, children performed randomly. The children's behavior pattern was at odds with that of the dogs tested in a previous study, which picked the cued container more often when the human communicator held a false belief. In addition to species comparisons, because our task does not require verbal responses or relational sentence understanding, it can also be used in preverbal children. The children in our study behaved in line with the existing ToM literature, whereas most (but not all) dogs from the previously collected sample, although sensitive to differences between the belief conditions, deviated from the children. This difference suggests that using closely matched paradigms and experimental procedures can reveal decisive differences in belief processing between species. It also demonstrates the need for a more comprehensive exploration and direct comparison of the various aspects of false belief processing and ToM in different species to understand the evolution of social cognition.

A mind-brain-body dataset of MRI, EEG, cognition, emotion, and peripheral physiology in young and old adults.

We present a publicly available dataset of 227 healthy participants comprising a young (N=153, 25.1±3.1 years, range 20-35 years, 45 female) and an elderly group (N=74, 67.6±4.7 years, range 59-77 years, 37 female) acquired cross-sectionally in Leipzig, Germany, between 2013 and 2015 to study mind-body-emotion interactions. During a two-day assessment, participants completed MRI at 3 Tesla (resting-state fMRI, quantitative T1 (MP2RAGE), T2-weighted, FLAIR, SWI/QSM, DWI) and a 62-channel EEG experiment at rest. During task-free resting-state fMRI, cardiovascular measures (blood pressure, heart rate, pulse, respiration) were continuously acquired. Anthropometrics, blood samples, and urine drug tests were obtained. Psychiatric symptoms were identified with Standardized Clinical Interview for DSM IV (SCID-I), Hamilton Depression Scale, and Borderline Symptoms List. Psychological assessment comprised 6 cognitive tests as well as 21 questionnaires related to emotional behavior, personality traits and tendencies, eating behavior, and addictive behavior. We provide information on study design, methods, and details of the data. This dataset is part of the larger MPI Leipzig Mind-Brain-Body database.

Functionalized Derivatives of Benzo-Crown Ethers. Part 4. Antifungal Macrocyclic Supramolecular Complexes of Transition Metal Ions Acting as Lanosterol-14-alpha-Demethylase Ihibitors.

Poly- and mononuclear metal complexes of 2,3,11,12-bis[4-(10-aminodecylcarbonyl)]benzo-18- crown-6 (L) and Cu(II); Ni(II); Co(II) and Cr(III) have been synthesized and characterized by standard physico-chemical procedures. In the newly prepared complexes the crown moiety oxygen atoms of the macrocyclic host did not generally interact with metal ions, whereas the two amino groups of the ligand always did. Several of the newly synthesized compounds act as effective antifungal agents against Aspergillus and Candida spp., some of them showing activities comparable to ketoconazole, with minimum inhibitory concentrations in the range of 0.3-0.5 mug/mL. The mechanism of antifungal action of these coordination compounds is probably connected to an inhibition of lanosterol-14-alpha-demethylase, a metallo-enzyme playing a key role in sterol biosynthesis in fungi, bacteria and eukariotes.

Synthesis and antifungal activity of metal complexes containing dichloro-tetramorpholino-cyclophosphazatriene.

Metal complexes of dichloro-tetramorpholino-cyclophosphazatriene containing divalent cations such as Ni(II), Co(II), and Mn(II) have been prepared and characterised by standard physico-chemical procedures (elemental chemical analysis, IR and UV-VIS spectra, conductimetric measurement). The newly synthesised compounds possessed antifungal activity against Aspergillus and Candida spp., some of them showing effects comparable to ketoconazole (with minimum inhibitory concentrations in the range of 2- 30 mug/mL) but being generally less active as compared to the azole. Best activity was detected against C. albicans, and worst activity against A. niger. The mechanism of action of these compounds probably involves inhibition of ergosterol biosynthesis, and interaction with lanosterol-14-alpha-demethylase (CYP51A1), since reduced amounts of ergosterol were evidenced by means of HPLC in cultures of the sensitive strain A. niger treated with some of these inhibitors.

1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives. Part 9. Synthesis and biological activity of metal complexes of 5-(2-aminoethyl)-2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole.

Metal complexes of the title ligand (L) containing Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) were prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, electronic spectroscopy and conductimetry. The new derivatives, possessing the following formulae, CuL(2)(OH)(2), NiL(2)Cl(2), and [Co(2)LCl(4)](n) showed in vitro antifungal activity against Aspergillus and Candida spp.

Complexes With Biologically Active Ligands. Part 7 Synthesis and Fungitoxic Activity of Metal Complexes Containing 1,3,5-tris-(8-Hydroxyquinolino)- Trichlorocyclo-Triphosphazatriene.

Complexes containing 1,3,5-tris-(8-hydroxyquinolino)-trichlorocyclotriphosphazatriene, a new cyclophosphazene ligand, and Co(II), Cu(II) and Ni(II) were prepared. The new complexes, having the general formula [MLCl(2)], [ML(2)]Cl(2), (M=Cu, Co, Ni); [NiLAc], [NiL(2)Ac]Ac and [ML(3)]X(3) (M=Ni, Co, X=Cl, Ac) were characterised by elemental analysis, electronic-, IR spectroscopy, and electrical conductivity measurements. Some of them inhibited the growth of several fungi species (Aspergillus and Candida spp.).