Topography of visual and somatosensory inputs to the pontine nuclei in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata)

Birds have a comprehensive network of sensorimotor projections extending from the forebrain and midbrain to the cerebellum via the pontine nuclei, but the organization of these circuits in the pons is not thoroughly described. Inputs to the pontine nuclei include two retinorecipient areas, nucleus lentiformis mesencephali (LM) and nucleus of the basal optic root (nBOR), which are important structures for analyzing optic flow. Other crucial regions for visuomotor control include the retinorecipient ventral lateral geniculate nucleus (GLv), and optic tectum (TeO). These visual areas, together with the somatosensory area of the anterior (rostral) Wulst, which is homologous to the primary somatosensory cortex in mammals, project to the medial and lateral pontine nuclei (PM, PL). In this study, we used injections of fluorescent tracers to study the organization of these visual and somatosensory inputs to the pontine nuclei in zebra finches. We found a topographic organization of inputs to PM and PL. The PM has a lateral subdivision that predominantly receives projections from the ipsilateral anterior Wulst. The medial PM receives bands of inputs from the ipsilateral GLv and the nucleus laminaris precommisulis, located medial to LM. We also found that the lateral PL receives a strong ipsilateral projection from TeO, while the medial PL and region between the PM and PL receive less prominent projections from nBOR, bilaterally. We discuss these results in the context of the organization of pontine inputs to the cerebellum and possible functional implications of diverse somato-motor and visuomotor inputs and parcellation in the pontine nuclei

The Physics of the B Factories

This work is on the Physics of the B Factories. Part A of this book contains a brief description of the SLAC and KEK B Factories as well as their detectors, BaBar and Belle, and data taking related issues. Part B discusses tools and methods used by the experiments in order to obtain results. The results themselves can be found in Part C

Cardiovascular risk assessment scores for people with diabetes: a systematic review

People with type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Multivariate cardiovascular risk scores have been used in many countries to identify individuals who are at high risk of CVD. These risk scores include those originally developed in individuals with diabetes and those developed in a general population. This article reviews the published evidence for the performance of CVD risk scores in diabetic patients by: (1) examining the overall rationale for using risk scores; (2) systematically reviewing the literature on available scores; and (3) exploring methodological issues surrounding the development, validation and comparison of risk scores. The predictive performance of cardiovascular risk scores varies substantially between different populations. There is little evidence to suggest that risk scores developed in individuals with diabetes estimate cardiovascular risk more accurately than those developed in the general population. The inconsistency in the methods used in evaluation studies makes it difficult to compare and summarise the predictive ability of risk scores. Overall, CVD risk scores rank individuals reasonably accurately and are therefore useful in the management of diabetes with regard to targeting therapy to patients at highest risk. However, due to the uncertainty in estimation of true risk, care is needed when using scores to communicate absolute CVD risk to individuals