Passive Wireless Porous Biopolymer Sensors for At-Home Monitoring of Oil and Fatty Acid Nutrition.

Dietary oils─rich in omega-3, -6, and -9 fatty acids─exhibit critical impacts on health parameters such as cardiovascular function, bodily inflammation, and neurological development. There has emerged a need for low-cost, accessible method to assess dietary oil consumption and its health implications. Existing methods typically require specialized, complex equipment and extensive sample preparation steps, rendering them unsuitable for home use. Addressing this gap, herein, we study passive wireless, biocompatible biosensors that can be used to monitor dietary oils directly from foods either prepared or cooked in oil. This design uses broad-coupled split ring resonators interceded with porous silk fibroin biopolymer (requiring only food-safe materials, such as aluminum foil and biopolymer). These porous biopolymer films absorb oils at rates proportional to their viscosity/fatty acid composition and whose response can be measured wirelessly without any microelectronic components touching food. The engineering and mechanism of such sensors are explored, alongside their ability to measure the oil presence and fatty acid content directly from foods. Its simplicity, portability, and inexpensiveness are ideal for emerging needs in precision nutrition─such sensors may empower individuals to make informed dietary decisions based on direct-from-food measurements.

Effect of fermented soy beverage in aged female mice model.

Soy beverage is a rich source of phytoestrogens isoflavones, with potential benefits on health. The effect of those compounds depends greatly on their bacterial metabolization into their aglycone forms. This study evaluated the health effects of two soy beverages, non-fermented (SB) and fermented with Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum INIA P815 (FSB), in acyclic and cyclic C57BL/6J aged female mice as a model of menopause and premenopause, respectively. SB and FSB treatments were administrated for 36 days and, subsequently, body weight, lipid and inflammatory profile and fertility were analyzed and compared. In addition, hepatic gene expression and faecal microbiota composition were also assessed. After fermentation, FSB presented a high content in the aglycones daidzein and genistein and a higher antioxidant activity. FSB treated cyclic mice showed a significant increase in the number of retrieved oocytes and zigotes. Differences in serum lipids were observed in triglycerides, which were lower in FSB than in SB groups. None of the treatments influenced the inflammatory profile or caused a dramatic change in the intestinal microbiota profile or hepatic gene expression in any of the groups. Our data showed that FSB provided greater health benefits than SB in lipid profile and fertility in cyclic mice. These beneficial effects could be attributed to the fermentation process, which produces more bioavailable and bioactive compounds, achieving a greater impact on health.

Feature Augmented Hybrid CNN for Stress Recognition Using Wrist-based Photoplethysmography Sensor.

Stress is a physiological state that hampers mental health and has serious consequences to physical health. More-over, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased stress levels among people across the globe. Therefore, continuous monitoring and detection of stress are necessary. The recent advances in wearable devices have allowed the monitoring of several physiological signals related to stress. Among them, wrist-worn wearable devices like smartwatches are most popular due to their convenient usage. And the photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor is the most prevalent sensor in almost all consumer-grade wrist-worn smartwatches. Therefore, this paper focuses on using a wrist-based PPG sensor that collects Blood Volume Pulse (BVP) signals to detect stress which may be applicable for consumer-grade wristwatches. Moreover, state-of-the-art works have used either classical machine learning algorithms to detect stress using hand-crafted features or have used deep learning algorithms like Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) which automatically extracts features. This paper proposes a novel hybrid CNN (H-CNN) classifier that uses both the hand-crafted features and the automatically extracted features by CNN to detect stress using the BVP signal. Evaluation on the benchmark WESAD dataset shows that, for 3-class classification (Baseline vs. Stress vs. Amusement), our proposed H-CNN outperforms traditional classifiers and normal CNN by ≈5% and ≈7% accuracy, and ≈10% and ≈7% macro F1 score, respectively. Also for 2-class classification (Stress vs. Non-stress), our proposed H-CNN outperforms traditional classifiers and normal CNN by ≈3% and ≈5% accuracy, and ≈3% and ≈7% macro F1score, respectively.

Benchmarking of tools for axon length measurement in individually-labeled projection neurons.

Projection neurons are the commonest neuronal type in the mammalian forebrain and their individual characterization is a crucial step to understand how neural circuitry operates. These cells have an axon whose arborizations extend over long distances, branching in complex patterns and/or in multiple brain regions. Axon length is a principal estimate of the functional impact of the neuron, as it directly correlates with the number of synapses formed by the axon in its target regions; however, its measurement by direct 3D axonal tracing is a slow and labor-intensive method. On the contrary, axon length estimations have been recently proposed as an effective and accessible alternative, allowing a fast approach to the functional significance of the single neuron. Here, we analyze the accuracy and efficiency of the most used length estimation tools-design-based stereology by virtual planes or spheres, and mathematical correction of the 2D projected-axon length-in contrast with direct measurement, to quantify individual axon length. To this end, we computationally simulated each tool, applied them over a dataset of 951 3D-reconstructed axons (from NeuroMorpho.org), and compared the generated length values with their 3D reconstruction counterparts. The evaluated reliability of each axon length estimation method was then balanced with the required human effort, experience and know-how, and economic affordability. Subsequently, computational results were contrasted with measurements performed on actual brain tissue sections. We show that the plane-based stereological method balances acceptable errors (~5%) with robustness to biases, whereas the projection-based method, despite its accuracy, is prone to inherent biases when implemented in the laboratory. This work, therefore, aims to provide a constructive benchmark to help guide the selection of the most efficient method for measuring specific axonal morphologies according to the particular circumstances of the conducted research.

Feature Augmented Hybrid CNN for Stress Recognition Using Wrist-based Photoplethysmography Sensor.

Stress is a physiological state that hampers mental health and has serious consequences to physical health. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased stress levels among people across the globe. Therefore, continuous monitoring and detection of stress are necessary. The recent advances in wearable devices have allowed the monitoring of several physiological signals related to stress. Among them, wrist-worn wearable devices like smartwatches are most popular due to their convenient usage. And the photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor is the most prevalent sensor in almost all consumer-grade wrist-worn smartwatches. Therefore, this paper focuses on using a wrist-based PPG sensor that collects Blood Volume Pulse (BVP) signals to detect stress which may be applicable for consumer-grade wristwatches. Moreover, state-of-the-art works have used either classical machine learning algorithms to detect stress using hand-crafted features or have used deep learning algorithms like Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) which automatically extracts features. This paper proposes a novel hybrid CNN (H-CNN) classifier that uses both the hand-crafted features and the automatically extracted features by CNN to detect stress using the BVP signal. Evaluation on the benchmark WESAD dataset shows that, for 3-class classification (Baseline vs. Stress vs. Amusement), our proposed H-CNN outperforms traditional classifiers and normal CNN by 5% and 7% accuracy, and 10% and 7% macro F1 score, respectively. Also for 2-class classification (Stress vs. Non-stress), our proposed H-CNN outperforms traditional classifiers and normal CNN by 3% and ~5% accuracy, and ~3% and ~7% macro F1 score, respectively.

Wireless Qi-powered, Multinodal and Multisensory Body Area Network for Mobile Health.

Wireless, battery-free Body Area Networks (BAN) enable reliable long-term health monitoring with minimal intervention, and have the potential to transform patient care via mobile health monitoring. Current approaches for achieving such battery-free networks are limited in the number, capability, and positioning of sensing nodes-this is related to constraints in power supply, data rate, and working distance requirements between the wireless power source and sensing nodes. Here, we investigate a Qi-based, near-field power transfer scheme that can effectively drive wireless, battery-free, multi-node and multi-sensor BAN over long distances. This consists of a single Qi power source (such as a cellphone), a detached/untethered Passive Intermediate Relay (PIR) (facilitates power transfer from a central Qi source to multiple nodes on the body), and finally individual/detached sensing nodes placed throughout the body. Alongside this power scheme we implement the star network topology of a Gazell protocol to enable the continuous connection of one host to many sensing nodes while minimizing data loss over long temporal periods. The high-power transmission capabilities of Qi enables wireless support for a multitude of sensors (up to 12), and sensing nodes (up to 6) with a single transmitter at long distances (60 cm) and a sample rate of 20 Hz. This scheme is studied both in-vitro and in-vivo on the body.

Corrigendum: Consistent phosphenes generated by electrical microstimulation of the visual thalamus. An experimental approach for thalamic visual neuroprostheses.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2011.00084.].

Static internal representation of dynamic situations reveals time compaction in human cognition.

INTRODUCTION: The human brain has evolved under the constraint of survival in complex dynamic situations. It makes fast and reliable decisions based on internal representations of the environment. Whereas neural mechanisms involved in the internal representation of space are becoming known, entire spatiotemporal cognition remains a challenge. Growing experimental evidence suggests that brain mechanisms devoted to spatial cognition may also participate in spatiotemporal information processing. OBJECTIVES: The time compaction hypothesis postulates that the brain represents both static and dynamic situations as purely static maps. Such an internal reduction of the external complexity allows humans to process time-changing situations in real-time efficiently. According to time compaction, there may be a deep inner similarity between the representation of conventional static and dynamic visual stimuli. Here, we test the hypothesis and report the first experimental evidence of time compaction in humans. METHODS: We engaged human subjects in a discrimination-learning task consisting in the classification of static and dynamic visual stimuli. When there was a hidden correspondence between static and dynamic stimuli due to time compaction, the learning performance was expected to be modulated. We studied such a modulation experimentally and by a computational model. RESULTS: The collected data validated the predicted learning modulation and confirmed that time compaction is a salient cognitive strategy adopted by the human brain to process time-changing situations. Mathematical modelling supported the finding. We also revealed that men are more prone to exploit time compaction in accordance with the context of the hypothesis as a cognitive basis for survival. CONCLUSIONS: The static internal representation of dynamic situations is a human cognitive mechanism involved in decision-making and strategy planning to cope with time-changing environments. The finding opens a new venue to understand how humans efficiently interact with our dynamic world and thrive in nature.

Semantic Knowledge Representation for Strategic Interactions in Dynamic Situations.

Evolved living beings can anticipate the consequences of their actions in complex multilevel dynamic situations. This ability relies on abstracting the meaning of an action. The underlying brain mechanisms of such semantic processing of information are poorly understood. Here we show how our novel concept, known as time compaction, provides a natural way of representing semantic knowledge of actions in time-changing situations. As a testbed, we model a fencing scenario with a subject deciding between attack and defense strategies. The semantic content of each action in terms of lethality, versatility, and imminence is then structured as a spatial (static) map representing a particular fencing (dynamic) situation. The model allows deploying a variety of cognitive strategies in a fast and reliable way. We validate the approach in virtual reality and by using a real humanoid robot.

Correction to: Rain-Fed Granite Rock Basins Accumulate a High Diversity of Dormant Microbial Eukaryotes.

The original version of this article contained an erratum of omission in the Acknowledgments section.

Rain-Fed Granite Rock Basins Accumulate a High Diversity of Dormant Microbial Eukaryotes.

Rain fed granite rock basins are ancient geological landforms of worldwide distribution and structural simplicity. They support habitats that can switch quickly from terrestrial to aquatic along the year. Diversity of animals and plants, and the connexion between communities in different basins have been widely explored in these habitats, but hardly any research has been carried out on microorganisms. The aim of this study is to provide the first insights on the diversity of eukaryotic microbial communities from these environments. Due to the ephemeral nature of these aquatic environments, we predict that the granitic basins should host a high proportion of dormant microeukaryotes. Based on an environmental DNA diversity survey, we reveal diverse communities with representatives of all major eukaryotic taxonomic supergroups, mainly composed of a diverse pool of low abundance OTUs. Basin communities were very distinctive, with alpha and beta diversity patterns non-related to basin size or spatial distance respectively. Dissimilarity between basins was mainly characterised by turnover of OTUs. The strong microbial eukaryotic heterogeneity observed among the basins may be explained by a complex combination of deterministic factors (diverging environment in the basins), spatial constraints, and randomness including founder effects. Most interestingly, communities contain organisms that cannot coexist at the same time because of incompatible metabolic requirements, thus suggesting the existence of a pool of dormant organisms whose activity varies along with the changing environment. These organisms accumulate in the pools, which turns granitic rock into high biodiversity microbial islands whose conservation and study deserve further attention.

Obturator nerve injury and repair during laparoscopic lymphadenectomy. Case report and review of the literature / Lesión y reparación laparoscópica de nervio obturador en linfadenectomía laparoscópica. Reporte de un caso y revisión de la literatura

Objective: To report a case of obturator nerve injury during laparoscopic lymphadenectomy and repair through the same approach during the same surgical procedure; and to present a review of the literature on this type of injury, techniques used, timing of the repair, and rehabilitation outcomes. Materials and Methods: Case presentation of a 29-year-old woman seen at the National Cancer Institute (Instituto Nacional de Cancerología) in Bogotá, Colombia. The patient had a clinical diagnosis of stage Ib1 squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix and was taken to radical trachelectomy plus bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy because of her wish to preserve fertility. During the procedure, a complete dissection of the obturator nerve was recognized and repaired immediately through the laparoscopic approach. A literature search was conducted in the Medline database via PubMed. The terms used for the search were "Obturator Nerve," "Lymph Node Excision," "Trauma," "Nervous System". The search was limited to publications in Spanish and English and included case series and reports, cohorts and review articles published between 1968 and September 2018. Results: Eight studies were included, all of them case reports. In six cases, complete sectioning of the nerve was recognized during surgery. In four cases, end-to-end anastomosis was used for repair; three cases were reconstructed using sural nerve grafting; and one case was managed with neurolysis and end-to-end anastomosis. All cases were approached laparoscopically. Over a nine-month follow-up period, three patients recovered full nerve function. Conclusion: The studies retrieved were all case reports, the most frequent injury being complete nerve sectioning. Several nerve repair techniques were used. Recovery after one year was not complete in a significant number of the cases reported.

TITULO: LESIÓN Y REPARACIÓN LAPAROSCÓPICA DE NERVIO OBTURADOR EN LINFADENECTOMÍA LAPAROSCÓPICA. REPORTE DE CASO Y REVISIÓN DE LA LITERATURA. Objetivo: presentar el caso de una lesión del nervio obturador durante linfadenectomía laparoscópica y su reparación por la misma vía en el mismo tiempo quirúrgico, y realizar una revisión de la literatura de la presentación de este tipo de lesiones, así como de la técnica utilizada, el momento de su reparación y los resultados de la rehabilitación. Materiales y métodos: se presenta el caso de una mujer de 29 años atendida en el Instituto Nacional de Cancerología en Bogotá, Colombia, con diagnóstico clínico de carcinoma escamocelular de cérvix estadio Ib1, a quien se le practicó traquelectomía radical más linfadenectomía pélvica bilateral por el deseo de preservar la fertilidad. Durante el procedimiento se advirtió una sección completa del nervio obturador, la cual se reparó inmediatamente por vía laparoscópica. Se realizó una búsqueda de la literatura en la base de datos Medline vía PubMed. Los términos utilizados para la búsqueda fueron: "Obturator Nerve", "Lymph Node Excision", "Trauma", "Nervous System". Se buscaron series y reportes de caso, cohortes y artículos de revisión desde 1968 hasta septiembre 2018. La búsqueda se limitó a idiomas español e inglés. Resultados: se incluyeron ocho estudios, todos reportes de caso. Un total de seis de los casos presentaron sección completa del nervio advertida intraquirúrgicamente. En cuatro casos se realizó la reparación por medio de anastomosis términoterminal, tres casos con reconstrucción utilizando injerto de nervio sural y un caso con neurolisis y anastomosis término-terminal, todos por vía laparoscópica. En el seguimiento a nueve meses, tres pacientes recuperaron totalmente la función. Conclusión: los estudios encontrados fueron reportes de caso, la lesión más frecuente es la sección completa del nervio; se encuentran varia técnicas de reparación del nervio. La recuperación al año no es total en un importante número de casos reportados.

Obturator nerve injury and repair during laparoscopic lymphadenectomy. Case report and review of the literature / Lesión y reparación laparoscópica de nervio obturador en linfadenectomía laparoscópica. reporte de caso y revisión de la literatura

RESUMEN Objetivo: presentar el caso de una lesión del nervio obturador durante linfadenectomía laparoscópica y su reparación por la misma vía en el mismo tiempo quirúrgico, y realizar una revisión de la literatura de la presentación de este tipo de lesiones, así como de la técnica utilizada, el momento de su reparación y los resultados de la rehabilitación. Materiales y métodos: se presenta el caso de una mujer de 29 años atendida en el Instituto Nacional de Cancerología en Bogotá, Colombia, con diagnóstico clínico de carcinoma escamocelular de cérvix estadio Ib1, a quien se le practicó traquelectomía radical más linfadenectomía pélvica bilateral por el deseo de preservar la fertilidad. Durante el procedimiento se advirtió una sección completa del nervio obturador, la cual se reparó inmediatamente por vía laparoscópica. Se realizó una búsqueda de la literatura en la base de datos Medline vía PubMed. Los términos utilizados para la búsqueda fueron: "Obturator Nerve", "Lymph Node Excision", "Trauma", "Nervous System". Se buscaron series y reportes de caso, cohortes y artículos de revisión desde 1968 hasta septiembre 2018. La búsqueda se limitó a idiomas español e inglés. Resultados: se incluyeron ocho estudios, todos reportes de caso. Un total de seis de los casos presentaron sección completa del nervio advertida intraquirúrgicamente. En cuatro casos se realizó la reparación por medio de anastomosis términoterminal, tres casos con reconstrucción utilizando injerto de nervio sural y un caso con neurolisis y anastomosis término-terminal, todos por vía laparoscópica. En el seguimiento a nueve meses, tres pacientes recuperaron totalmente la función. Conclusión: los estudios encontrados fueron reportes de caso, la lesión más frecuente es la sección completa del nervio; se encuentran varias técnicas de reparación del nervio. La recuperación al año no es total en un importante número de casos reportados

ABSTRACT Objective: To report a case of obturator nerve injury during laparoscopic lymphadenectomy and repair through the same approach during the same surgical procedure; and to present a review of the literature on this type of injury, techniques used, timing of the repair, and rehabilitation outcomes. Materials and Methods: Case presentation of a 29-year-old woman seen at the National Cancer Institute (Instituto Nacional de Cancerología) in Bogotá, Colombia. The patient had a clinical diagnosis of stage Ib1 squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix and was taken to radical trachelectomy plus bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy because of her wish to preserve fertility. During the procedure, a complete dissection of the obturator nerve was recognized and repaired immediately through the laparoscopic approach. A literature search was conducted in the Medline database via PubMed. The terms used for the search were "Obturator Nerve," "Lymph Node Excision," "Trauma," "Nervous System". The search was limited to publications in Spanish and English and included case series and reports, cohorts and review articles published between 1968 and September 2018. Results: Eight studies were included, all of them case reports. In six cases, complete sectioning of the nerve was recognized during surgery. In four cases, end-to-end anastomosis was used for repair; three cases were reconstructed using sural nerve grafting; and one case was managed with neurolysis and end-to-end anastomosis. All cases were approached laparoscopically. Over a nine-month follow-up period, three patients recovered full nerve function. Conclusion: The studies retrieved were all case reports, the most frequent injury being complete nerve sectioning. Several nerve repair techniques were used. Recovery after one year was not complete in a significant number of the cases reported.

Incomplete metabolism of phytoestrogens by gut microbiota from children under the age of three.

Phytoestrogens are plant-derived polyphenols with structural and functional similarities to mammalian oestrogens. The aim of this work was to study the metabolism of phytoestrogens by children's intestinal microbiota and to compare it with previous results in adults. Faecal samples of 24 healthy children were subjected to phytoestrogen fermentation assay. Only one child produced equol, while O-desmethylangolensin was found in all. Urolithin production was detected in 14 children and enterolactone in 10. Further comparison with the metabolism of phytoestrogens by adult intestinal microbiota reflected that glycitein, dihydrogenistein, urolithins D and E, enterolactone, secoisolariciresinol and arctigenin were the most important metabolites differentiating between adult and child microbial gut metabolism. Although the child intestinal microbiota showed the ability to metabolise isoflavones, ellagitannins and lignans to a certain extent, it generally showed a reduced metabolism of phytoestrogens, with a lack of 5-hydroxy equol and enterodiol, and less urolithins and enterolactone producers.

Phytoestrogen Metabolism by Adult Human Gut Microbiota.

Phytoestrogens are plant-derived polyphenols with a structure similar to human estrogens. The three main groups of phytoestrogens, isoflavones, ellagitannins, and lignans, are transformed into equol, urolithins, and enterolignans, respectively, by bacteria. These metabolites have more estrogenic/antiestrogenic and antioxidant activities than their precursors, and they are more bioavailable. The aim of this study was to analyze the metabolism of isoflavones, lignans and ellagitannins by gut microbiota, and to study the possible correlation in the metabolism of these three groups of phytoestrogens. In vitro fermentation experiments were performed with feces samples from 14 healthy adult volunteers, and metabolite formation was measured by HPLC-PAD and HPLC-ESI/MS. Only the microbiota of one subject produced equol, while most of them showed production of O-desmethylangolensin (O-DMA). Significant inter-subject differences were observed in the metabolism of dihydrodaidzein and dihydrogenistein, while the glucoside isoflavones and their aglycones showed less variability, except for glycitin. Most subjects produced urolithins M-5 and E. Urolithin D was not detected, while uroltithin B was found in half of the individuals analyzed, and urolithins A and C were detected in two and four subjects, respectively. Enterolactone was found in all subjects, while enterodiol only appeared in five. Isoflavone metabolism could be correlated with the metabolism of lignans and ellagitannins. However, the metabolism of ellagitannins and lignans could not be correlated. This the first study where the metabolism of the three groups together of phytoestrogen, isoflavones, lignans, and ellagitannins by gut microbiota is analyzed.

Effects of Spike Anticipation on the Spiking Dynamics of Neural Networks.

Synchronization is one of the central phenomena involved in information processing in living systems. It is known that the nervous system requires the coordinated activity of both local and distant neural populations. Such an interplay allows to merge different information modalities in a whole processing supporting high-level mental skills as understanding, memory, abstraction, etc. Though, the biological processes underlying synchronization in the brain are not fully understood there have been reported a variety of mechanisms supporting different types of synchronization both at theoretical and experimental level. One of the more intriguing of these phenomena is the anticipating synchronization, which has been recently reported in a pair of unidirectionally coupled artificial neurons under simple conditions (Pyragiene and Pyragas, 2013), where the slave neuron is able to anticipate in time the behavior of the master one. In this paper, we explore the effect of spike anticipation over the information processing performed by a neural network at functional and structural level. We show that the introduction of intermediary neurons in the network enhances spike anticipation and analyse how these variations in spike anticipation can significantly change the firing regime of the neural network according to its functional and structural properties. In addition we show that the interspike interval (ISI), one of the main features of the neural response associated with the information coding, can be closely related to spike anticipation by each spike, and how synaptic plasticity can be modulated through that relationship. This study has been performed through numerical simulation of a coupled system of Hindmarsh-Rose neurons.

Analysis of gene expression of bifidobacteria using as the reporter an anaerobic fluorescent protein.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of evoglow-Pp1 as a reporter to study gene expression in bifidobacteria. To choose a strong and constitutive promoter to track fluorescently labelled bifidobacteria in environments under anaerobic conditions. RESULTS: The elongation factor P (EF-P) promoter from Bifidobacterium longum CECT 4551 produced the highest emission of fluorescence signal and was therefore able to produce the highest gene expression of the promoters studied. The promoters from B. longum CECT 4551 showed different fluorescence signal intensities which, in descending order, were: EF-P, initiation factor IF-2, elongation factor G, elongation factor Tu, elongation factor Nus A, elongation factor Ts and 30S ribosomal protein S12. CONCLUSIONS: The consistency of the methods employed (fluorescence imaging system, fluorescence microscopy, fluorimetry and flow cytometry) showed that the construction pNZ:Prom.GFPana contained the anaerobic fluorescent protein evoglow-Pp1 could be exploited as a tool for analysing the gene expression in bifidobacteria strains.

Starmerella neotropicalis f. a., sp. nov., a yeast species found in bees and pollen.

A novel yeast species was found repeatedly and in high cell densities in underground-nesting stingless bees of the species Melipona quinquefasciata and their provisions in northern Minas Gerais (Brazil). One additional strain was isolated from bee-collected pollen in Cuba. Phylogenetic analyses based on rRNA gene sequences (D1/D2 large subunit gene and internal transcribed spacer) indicated that the novel species belongs to the Starmerella clade and is most closely related to Candida (iter. nom. Starmerella) apicola. Growth reactions on carbon and nitrogen sources were typical of those observed in related species of the Starmerella clade. PCR-fingerprinting with mini- and microsatellite specific primers allowed the distinction of the novel species from Candida apicola, Candida bombi and a yet undescribed species represented by strain CBS 4353. On the basis of phylogenetic relationships, the novel species is assigned to the genus Starmerella despite the failure to observe sexual reproduction after extensive mating tests. We propose the name Starmerella neotropicalis f. a., sp. nov. (Mycobank MB 804285) and designate UFMG PST 09(T) ( = MUCL 53320(T) = CBS 12811(T)) as the type strain.

Complementary processing of haptic information by slowly and rapidly adapting neurons in the trigeminothalamic pathway. Electrophysiology, mathematical modeling and simulations of vibrissae-related neurons.

TONIC (SLOWLY ADAPTING) AND PHASIC (RAPIDLY ADAPTING) PRIMARY AFFERENTS CONVEY COMPLEMENTARY ASPECTS OF HAPTIC INFORMATION TO THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM: object location and texture the former, shape the latter. Tonic and phasic neural responses are also recorded in all relay stations of the somatosensory pathway, yet it is unknown their role in both, information processing and information transmission to the cortex: we don't know if tonic and phasic neurons process complementary aspects of haptic information and/or if these two types constitute two separate channels that convey complementary aspects of tactile information to the cortex. Here we propose to elucidate these two questions in the fast trigeminal pathway of the rat (PrV-VPM: principal trigeminal nucleus-ventroposteromedial thalamic nucleus). We analyze early and global behavior, latencies and stability of the responses of individual cells in PrV and medial lemniscus under 1-40 Hz stimulation of the whiskers in control and decorticated animals and we use stochastic spiking models and extensive simulations. Our results strongly suggest that in the first relay station of the somatosensory system (PrV): (1) tonic and phasic neurons process complementary aspects of whisker-related tactile information (2) tonic and phasic responses are not originated from two different types of neurons (3) the two responses are generated by the differential action of the somatosensory cortex on a unique type of PrV cell (4) tonic and phasic neurons do not belong to two different channels for the transmission of tactile information to the thalamus (5) trigeminothalamic transmission is exclusively performed by tonically firing neurons and (6) all aspects of haptic information are coded into low-pass, band-pass, and high-pass filtering profiles of tonically firing neurons. Our results are important for both, basic research on neural circuits and information processing, and development of sensory neuroprostheses.

Chronic electrical stimulation of transected peripheral nerves preserves anatomy and function in the primary somatosensory cortex.

The structure and function of the central nervous system strongly depend on the organization and efficacy of the incoming sensory input. A disruption of somesthetic input severely alters the metabolic activity, electrophysiological properties and even gross anatomical features of the primary somatosensory cortex. Here we examined, in the rat somatosensory cortex, the neuroprotective and therapeutic effects of artificial sensory stimulation after irreversible unilateral transection of a peripheral sensory nerve (the infraorbital branch of the trigeminal nerve). The proximal stump of the nerve was inserted into a silicon tube with stimulating electrodes, through which continuous electrical stimulation was applied for 12 h/day (square pulses of 100 µs, 3.0 V, at 20 Hz) for 4 weeks. Deafferented animals showed significant decreases in cortical evoked potentials, cytochrome oxidase staining intensity (layers II-IV), cortical volume (layer IV) and number of parvalbumin-expressing (layers II-IV) and calbindin-D28k-expressing (layers II/III) interneurons. These deafferentation-dependent effects were largely absent in the nerve-stimulated animals. Together, these results provide evidence that chronic electrical stimulation has a neuroprotective and preservative effect on the sensory cortex, and raise the possibility that, by controlling the physical parameters of an artificial sensory input to a sectioned peripheral nerve, chronically deafferented brain regions could be maintained at near-'normal' conditions. Our findings could be important for the design of sensory neuroprostheses and for therapeutic purposes in brain lesions or neural degenerative processes.