Mapping grip force to motor networks.

There is ongoing debate about the role of cortical and subcortical brain areas in force modulation. In a whole-brain approach, we sought to investigate the anatomical basis of grip force whilst acknowledging interindividual differences in connectivity patterns. We tested if brain lesion mapping in patients with unilateral motor deficits can inform whole-brain structural connectivity analysis in healthy controls to uncover the networks underlying grip force. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and whole-brain voxel-based morphometry in chronic stroke patients (n=55) and healthy controls (n=67), we identified the brain regions in both grey and white matter significantly associated with grip force strength. The resulting statistical parametric maps (SPMs) provided seed areas for whole-brain structural covariance analysis in a large-scale community dwelling cohort (n=977) that included beyond volume estimates, parameter maps sensitive to myelin, iron and tissue water content. The SPMs showed symmetrical bilateral clusters of correlation between upper limb motor performance, basal ganglia, posterior insula and cortico-spinal tract. The covariance analysis with the seed areas derived from the SPMs demonstrated a widespread anatomical pattern of brain volume and tissue properties, including both cortical, subcortical nodes of motor networks and sensorimotor areas projections. We interpret our covariance findings as a biological signature of brain networks implicated in grip force. The data-driven definition of seed areas obtained from chronic stroke patients showed overlapping structural covariance patterns within cortico-subcortical motor networks across different tissue property estimates. This cumulative evidence lends face validity of our findings and their biological plausibility

SPRING, an effective and reliable framework for image reconstruction in single-particle Coherent Diffraction Imaging

Coherent Diffraction Imaging (CDI) is an experimental technique to image isolated structures by recording the scattered light. The sample density can be recovered from the scattered field through a Fourier Transform operation. However, the phase of the field is lost during the measurement and has to be algorithmically retrieved. Here we present SPRING, an analysis framework tailored to X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) single-shot single-particle diffraction data that implements the Memetic Phase Retrieval method to mitigate the shortcomings of conventional algorithms. We benchmark the approach on data acquired in two experimental campaigns at SwissFEL and European XFEL. Results reveal unprecedented stability and resilience of the algorithm’s behavior on the input parameters, and the capability of identifying the solution in conditions hardly treatable with conventional methods. A user-friendly implementation of SPRING is released as open-source software, aiming at being a reference tool for the CDI community at XFEL and synchrotron facilities

Mining Social Interaction Data in Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds and massively multi-player online games are rich sources of information about large-scale teams and groups, offering the tantalizing possibility of harvesting data about group formation, social networks, and network evolution. However these environments lack many of the cues that facilitate natural language processing in other conversational settings and different types of social media. Public chat data often features players who speak simultaneously, use jargon and emoticons, and only erratically adhere to conversational norms. This chapter presents techniques for inferring the existence of social links from unstructured conversational data collected from groups of participants in the Second Life virtual world

Comparison of Microbiomes from Different Niches of Upper and Lower Airways in Children and Adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis

Changes in the airway microbiome may be important in the pathophysiology of chronic lung disease in patients with cystic fibrosis. However, little is known about the microbiome in early cystic fibrosis lung disease and the relationship between the microbiomes from different niches in the upper and lower airways. Therefore, in this cross-sectional study, we examined the relationship between the microbiome in the upper (nose and throat) and lower (sputum) airways from children with cystic fibrosis using next generation sequencing. Our results demonstrate a significant difference in both α and β-diversity between the nose and the two other sampling sites. The nasal microbiome was characterized by a polymicrobial community while the throat and sputum communities were less diverse and dominated by a few operational taxonomic units. Moreover, sputum and throat microbiomes were closely related especially in patients with clinically stable lung disease. There was a high inter-individual variability in sputum samples primarily due to a decrease in evenness linked to increased abundance of potential respiratory pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Patients with chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection exhibited a less diverse sputum microbiome. A high concordance was found between pediatric and adult sputum microbiomes except that Burkholderia was only observed in the adult cohort. These results indicate that an adult-like lower airways microbiome is established early in life and that throat swabs may be a good surrogate in clinically stable children with cystic fibrosis without chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in whom sputum sampling is often not feasible

Comparison of Microbiomes from Different Niches of Upper and Lower Airways in Children and Adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis

Changes in the airway microbiome may be important in the pathophysiology of chronic lung disease in patients with cystic fibrosis. However, little is known about the microbiome in early cystic fibrosis lung disease and the relationship between the microbiomes from different niches in the upper and lower airways. Therefore, in this cross-sectional study, we examined the relationship between the microbiome in the upper (nose and throat) and lower (sputum) airways from children with cystic fibrosis using next generation sequencing. Our results demonstrate a significant difference in both α and β-diversity between the nose and the two other sampling sites. The nasal microbiome was characterized by a polymicrobial community while the throat and sputum communities were less diverse and dominated by a few operational taxonomic units. Moreover, sputum and throat microbiomes were closely related especially in patients with clinically stable lung disease. There was a high inter-individual variability in sputum samples primarily due to a decrease in evenness linked to increased abundance of potential respiratory pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Patients with chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection exhibited a less diverse sputum microbiome. A high concordance was found between pediatric and adult sputum microbiomes except that Burkholderia was only observed in the adult cohort. These results indicate that an adult-like lower airways microbiome is established early in life and that throat swabs may be a good surrogate in clinically stable children with cystic fibrosis without chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in whom sputum sampling is often not feasible

Migration routes and strategies in a highly aerial migrant, the Common Swift Apus apus, revealed by light-level geolocators

The tracking of small avian migrants has only recently become possible by the use of small light-level geolocators, allowing the reconstruction of whole migration routes, as well as timing and speed of migration and identification of wintering areas. Such information is crucial for evaluating theories about migration strategies and pinpointing critical areas for migrants of potential conservation value. Here we report data about migration in the common swift, a highly aerial and long-distance migrating species for which only limited information based on ringing recoveries about migration routes and wintering areas is available. Six individuals were successfully tracked throughout a complete migration cycle from Sweden to Africa and back. The autumn migration followed a similar route in all individuals, with an initial southward movement through Europe followed by a more southwest-bound course through Western Sahara to Sub-Saharan stopovers, before a south-eastward approach to the final wintering areas in the Congo basin. After approximately six months at wintering sites, which shifted in three of the individuals, spring migration commenced in late April towards a restricted stopover area in West Africa in all but one individual that migrated directly towards north from the wintering area. The first part of spring migration involved a crossing of the Gulf of Guinea in those individuals that visited West Africa. Spring migration was generally wind assisted within Africa, while through Europe variable or head winds were encountered. The average detour at about 50% could be explained by the existence of key feeding sites and wind patterns. The common swift adopts a mixed fly-and-forage strategy, facilitated by its favourable aerodynamic design allowing for efficient use of fuel. This strategy allowed swifts to reach average migration speeds well above 300 km/day in spring, which is higher than possible for similar sized passerines. This study demonstrates that new technology may drastically change our views about migration routes and strategies in small birds, as well as showing the unexpected use of very limited geographical areas during migration that may have important consequences for conservation strategies for migrants

A TaqI RFLP in the locus D9S29 on human chromosome 9.

Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

The EU Project ORPHEUS: Object-based Broadcasting – for Next Generation Audio Experiences

Object-based media is a revolutionary approach for creating and deploying interactive, personalised, scalable and immersive content. This allows media objects to be assembled in novel ways to create new and enhanced user experiences. Orpheus will develop, implement and validate an object-based end-to-end media chain for audio content. The partners will lay the foundation for facilitating infinite combinations of audio objects in ways that are flexible and responsive to user, environmental and platform-specific factors. This includes innovative tools for capturing, mixing, monitoring, storing, archiving, distributing, playing out and rendering of object-based audio. To further foster the development of new capabilities in the European content creation industry, ORPHEUS is working on a reference architecture and guidelines on how to implement object-based audio chains. An overview of the project, the challenges and first results will be presented in this paper

A Hybrid 3D Audio Acquisition Approach forthe Recording of Spatial Audio Scenes

The present paper describes the conception and field trial of a recording system designed for three dimensional audio acquisition of complex acoustic scenes. In this regard, the pursued objective is to create audio signals which are generic enough in order to be used with highly diverse playback devices. Therefore, within the scope of the EU funded research project ROMEO, a hybrid audio recording system, based on familiar spatial recording techniques, was designed and implemented. The audio signals and metadata created by the system are versatile enough to be processed by and transmitted to various end user terminals, such as mobile devices, set-top boxes and tablet computers. A practical test recording at the bavarian broadcaster (BR) in Munich enabled a validation of the concept and at the same time provided audio testing material for the further ROMEO research work