Musical training intensity yields opposite effects on grey matter density in cognitive versus sensorimotor networks.

Using optimized voxel-based morphometry, we performed grey matter density analyses on 59 age-, sex- and intelligence-matched young adults with three distinct, progressive levels of musical training intensity or expertise. Structural brain adaptations in musicians have been repeatedly demonstrated in areas involved in auditory perception and motor skills. However, musical activities are not confined to auditory perception and motor performance, but are entangled with higher-order cognitive processes. In consequence, neuronal systems involved in such higher-order processing may also be shaped by experience-driven plasticity. We modelled expertise as a three-level regressor to study possible linear relationships of expertise with grey matter density. The key finding of this study resides in a functional dissimilarity between areas exhibiting increase versus decrease of grey matter as a function of musical expertise. Grey matter density increased with expertise in areas known for their involvement in higher-order cognitive processing: right fusiform gyrus (visual pattern recognition), right mid orbital gyrus (tonal sensitivity), left inferior frontal gyrus (syntactic processing, executive function, working memory), left intraparietal sulcus (visuo-motor coordination) and bilateral posterior cerebellar Crus II (executive function, working memory) and in auditory processing: left Heschl's gyrus. Conversely, grey matter density decreased with expertise in bilateral perirolandic and striatal areas that are related to sensorimotor function, possibly reflecting high automation of motor skills. Moreover, a multiple regression analysis evidenced that grey matter density in the right mid orbital area and the inferior frontal gyrus predicted accuracy in detecting fine-grained incongruities in tonal music.

Preserved capillary density of dorsal finger skin in treated hypertensive patients with or without type 2 diabetes

RESUME : La raréfaction des vaisseaux capillaires est une caractéristique de l'hypertension artérielle non traitée. Des données récentes indiquent que cette raréfaction peut être renversée par un traitement antihypertenseur chez les patients hypertendus non diabétiques. Malgré la fréquente association du diabète et de l'hypertension, on ne sait rien de la densité capillaire de patients diabétiques traités, souffrant d'hypertension artérielle. Nous avons dès lors recruté 21 patients normotendus (groupe contrôle), 25 patients souffrant uniquement d'hypertension artérielle , et 21 patients diabétiques (Diabète de type 2) souffrant également d'hypertension artérielle. Tous les patients hypertendus ont été traités avec un inhibiteur du système rénine-angiotensine, et une majorité présentait une tension artérielle moyenne en auto-contrôle à domicile de 135/85 mmHg ou moins. La densité capillaire a été évaluée par vidéomicroscopie sur la peau du dos des doigts et avec laser Doppler sur la peau de l'avant-bras (vasodilatation maximale induite par le chauffage local). Au final, il n'y avait pas de différence entre les groupes de l'étude, que ce soit lors des mesures de la densité capillaire sur le dos du doigt (groupe contrôle 101 ±11 capillaires, groupe des patients non- diabétiques hypertendus 99 ± 16, groupe des patients hypertendus et diabétiques 96 ± 18, p>0,5) ou lors des mesures de débit sanguin maximal sur la peau de l'avant-bras, un témoin indirect de la densité capillaire dans ce territoire (contrôles 666 ±114 unités de perfusion, non diabétique hypertendu 612 ± 126, hypertendus diabétiques 620 ±103, p> 0,5). En conclusion, notre étude est la première à démontrer que indépendamment de la présence ou non d'un diabète de type 2, la densité capillaire est normale chez les patients hypertendus présentant un contrôle raisonnable de la pression artérielle obtenue avec un bloqueur du système rénine-angiotensine.

The potential of the European network of congenital anomaly registers (EUROCAT) for drug safety surveillance: a descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies (EUROCAT) is a network of population-based congenital anomaly registries in Europe surveying more than 1 million births per year, or 25% of the births in the European Union. This paper describes the potential of the EUROCAT collaboration for pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety surveillance. METHODS: The 34 full members and 6 associate members of the EUROCAT network were sent a questionnaire about their data sources on drug exposure and on drug coding. Available data on drug exposure during the first trimester available in the central EUROCAT database for the years 1996-2000 was summarised for 15 out of 25 responding full members. RESULTS: Of the 40 registries, 29 returned questionnaires (25 full and 4 associate members). Four of these registries do not collect data on maternal drug use. Of the full members, 15 registries use the EUROCAT drug code, 4 use the international ATC drug code, 3 registries use another coding system and 7 use a combination of these coding systems. Obstetric records are the most frequently used sources of drug information for the registries, followed by interviews with the mother. Only one registry uses pharmacy data. Percentages of cases with drug exposure (excluding vitamins/minerals) varied from 4.4% to 26.0% among different registries. The categories of drugs recorded varied widely between registries. CONCLUSIONS: Practices vary widely between registries regarding recording drug exposure information. EUROCAT has the potential to be an effective collaborative framework to contribute to post-marketing drug surveillance in relation to teratogenic effects, but work is needed to implement ATC drug coding more widely, and to diversify the sources of information used to determine drug exposure in each registry.

Chaos and order in the contemporary city. The impact of urban spatial structure on population density and commuting distance in Barcelona, 1986-2001.

One of the criticisms leveled at the model of dispersed city found all over the world is its unarticulated, random, and undifferentiated nature. To check this idea in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region, we estimated the impact of the urban spatial structure (CBD, subcenters and transportation infrastructures) over the population density and commuting distance. The results are unfavorable to the hypothesis of the increasing destructuring of cities given that the explanatory capacity of both functions improves over time, both when other control variables are not included and when they are included.

Prospective multicenter study of the impact of carbapenem resistance on mortality in Pseudomonas aeruginosa bloodstream infections.

The impact of antimicrobial resistance on clinical outcomes is the subject of ongoing investigations, although uncertainty remains about its contribution to mortality. We investigated the impact of carbapenem resistance on mortality in Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia in a prospective multicenter (10 teaching hospitals) observational study of patients with monomicrobial bacteremia followed up for 30 days after the onset of bacteremia. The adjusted influence of carbapenem resistance on mortality was studied by using Cox regression analysis. Of 632 episodes, 487 (77%) were caused by carbapenem-susceptible P. aeruginosa (CSPA) isolates, and 145 (23%) were caused by carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa (CRPA) isolates. The median incidence density of nosocomial CRPA bacteremia was 2.3 episodes per 100,000 patient-days (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.9 to 2.8). The regression demonstrated a time-dependent effect of carbapenem resistance on mortality as well as a significant interaction with the Charlson index: the deleterious effect of carbapenem resistance on mortality decreased with higher Charlson index scores. The impact of resistance on mortality was statistically significant only from the fifth day after the onset of the bacteremia, reaching its peak values at day 30 (adjusted hazard ratio for a Charlson score of 0 at day 30, 9.9 [95% CI, 3.3 to 29.4]; adjusted hazard ratio for a Charlson score of 5 at day 30, 2.6 [95% CI, 0.8 to 8]). This study clarifies the relationship between carbapenem resistance and mortality in patients with P. aeruginosa bacteremia. Although resistance was associated with a higher risk of mortality, the study suggested that this deleterious effect may not be as great during the first days of the bacteremia or in the presence of comorbidities.

A hybrid method for sag source location in power network

The work presented in this paper belongs to the power quality knowledge area and deals with the voltage sags in power transmission and distribution systems. Propagating throughout the power network, voltage sags can cause plenty of problems for domestic and industrial loads that can financially cost a lot. To impose penalties to responsible party and to improve monitoring and mitigation strategies, sags must be located in the power network. With such a worthwhile objective, this paper comes up with a new method for associating a sag waveform with its origin in transmission and distribution networks. It solves this problem through developing hybrid methods which hire multiway principal component analysis (MPCA) as a dimension reduction tool. MPCA reexpresses sag waveforms in a new subspace just in a few scores. We train some well-known classifiers with these scores and exploit them for classification of future sags. The capabilities of the proposed method for dimension reduction and classification are examined using the real data gathered from three substations in Catalonia, Spain. The obtained classification rates certify the goodness and powerfulness of the developed hybrid methods as brand-new tools for sag classification

Retest reliability of individual p3 topography assessed by high density electroencephalography.

BACKGROUND Some controversy remains about the potential applicability of cognitive potentials for evaluating the cerebral activity associated with cognitive capacity. A fundamental requirement is that these neurophysiological parameters show a high level of stability over time. Previous studies have shown that the reliability of diverse parameters of the P3 component (latency and amplitude) ranges between moderate and high. However, few studies have paid attention to the retest reliability of the P3 topography in groups or individuals. Considering that changes in P3 topography have been related to different pathologies and healthy aging, the main objective of this article was to evaluate in a longitudinal study (two sessions) the reliability of P3 topography in a group and at the individual level. RESULTS The correlation between sessions for P3 topography in the grand average of groups was high (r = 0.977, p<0.001). The within-subject correlation values ranged from 0.626 to 0.981 (mean: 0.888). In the between-subjects topography comparisons, the correlation was always lower for comparisons between different subjects than for within-subjects correlations in the first session but not in the second session. CONCLUSIONS The present study shows that P3 topography is highly reliable for group analysis (comprising the same subjects) in different sessions. The results also confirmed that retest reliability for individual P3 maps is suitable for follow-up studies for a particular subject. Moreover, P3 topography appears to be a specific marker considering that the between-subjects correlations were lower than the within-subject correlations. However, P3 topography appears more similar between subjects in the second session, demonstrating that is modulated by experience. Possible clinical applications of all these results are discussed.

Disentangling the attention network test: behavioral, event related potentials, and neural source analyses.

BACKGROUND The study of the attentional system remains a challenge for current neuroscience. The "Attention Network Test" (ANT) was designed to study simultaneously three different attentional networks (alerting, orienting, and executive) based in subtraction of different experimental conditions. However, some studies recommend caution with these calculations due to the interactions between the attentional networks. In particular, it is highly relevant that several interpretations about attentional impairment have arisen from these calculations in diverse pathologies. Event related potentials (ERPs) and neural source analysis can be applied to disentangle the relationships between these attentional networks not specifically shown by behavioral measures. RESULTS This study shows that there is a basic level of alerting (tonic alerting) in the no cue (NC) condition, represented by a slow negative trend in the ERP trace prior to the onset of the target stimuli. A progressive increase in the CNV amplitude related to the amount of information provided by the cue conditions is also shown. Neural source analysis reveals specific modulations of the CNV related to a task-related expectancy presented in the NC condition; a late modulation triggered by the central cue (CC) condition and probably representing a generic motor preparation; and an early and late modulation for spatial cue (SC) condition suggesting specific motor and sensory preactivation. Finally, the first component in the information processing of the target stimuli modulated by the interaction between orienting network and the executive system can be represented by N1. CONCLUSIONS The ANT is useful as a paradigm to study specific attentional mechanisms and their interactions. However, calculation of network effects is based in subtractions with non-comparable experimental conditions, as evidenced by the present data, which can induce misinterpretations in the study of the attentional capacity in human subjects.

Prospective multicenter study of the impact of carbapenem resistance on mortality in Pseudomonas aeruginosa bloodstream infections.

The impact of antimicrobial resistance on clinical outcomes is the subject of ongoing investigations, although uncertainty remains about its contribution to mortality. We investigated the impact of carbapenem resistance on mortality in Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia in a prospective multicenter (10 teaching hospitals) observational study of patients with monomicrobial bacteremia followed up for 30 days after the onset of bacteremia. The adjusted influence of carbapenem resistance on mortality was studied by using Cox regression analysis. Of 632 episodes, 487 (77%) were caused by carbapenem-susceptible P. aeruginosa (CSPA) isolates, and 145 (23%) were caused by carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa (CRPA) isolates. The median incidence density of nosocomial CRPA bacteremia was 2.3 episodes per 100,000 patient-days (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.9 to 2.8). The regression demonstrated a time-dependent effect of carbapenem resistance on mortality as well as a significant interaction with the Charlson index: the deleterious effect of carbapenem resistance on mortality decreased with higher Charlson index scores. The impact of resistance on mortality was statistically significant only from the fifth day after the onset of the bacteremia, reaching its peak values at day 30 (adjusted hazard ratio for a Charlson score of 0 at day 30, 9.9 [95% CI, 3.3 to 29.4]; adjusted hazard ratio for a Charlson score of 5 at day 30, 2.6 [95% CI, 0.8 to 8]). This study clarifies the relationship between carbapenem resistance and mortality in patients with P. aeruginosa bacteremia. Although resistance was associated with a higher risk of mortality, the study suggested that this deleterious effect may not be as great during the first days of the bacteremia or in the presence of comorbidities.

Volatility smile extrapolation with an artificial neural network

I use a multi-layer feedforward perceptron, with backpropagation learning implemented via stochastic gradient descent, to extrapolate the volatility smile of Euribor derivatives over low-strikes by training the network on parametric prices.

A Novel Breast Tissue Density Classification Methodology

It has been shown that the accuracy of mammographic abnormality detection methods is strongly dependent on the breast tissue characteristics, where a dense breast drastically reduces detection sensitivity. In addition, breast tissue density is widely accepted to be an important risk indicator for the development of breast cancer. Here, we describe the development of an automatic breast tissue classification methodology, which can be summarized in a number of distinct steps: 1) the segmentation of the breast area into fatty versus dense mammographic tissue; 2) the extraction of morphological and texture features from the segmented breast areas; and 3) the use of a Bayesian combination of a number of classifiers. The evaluation, based on a large number of cases from two different mammographic data sets, shows a strong correlation ( and 0.67 for the two data sets) between automatic and expert-based Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System mammographic density assessment

Global and local connectivity changes in schizophrenia investigated by diffusion connectome

Background: New ways of representing diffusion data emerged recently and achieved to create structural connectivitymaps in healthy brains (Hagmann P et al. (2008)). These maps have the capacity to study alterations over the entire brain at the connection and network level. This is of high interest in complex disconnection diseases like schizophrenia. In this Pathology where multiple lines of evidence suggest the association of the pathology with abnormalities in neural circuitry and impaired structural connectivity, the diffusion imaging has been widely applied. Despite the large findings, most of the research using the diffusion just uses some scalar map derived from diffusion to show that some markers of white matter integrity are diminished in several areas of the brain (Kyriakopoulos M et al (2008)). Thanks to the structural connectionmatrix constructed by the whole brain tractography, we report in this work the network connectivity alterations in the schizophrenic patients. Methods: We investigated 13 schizophrenic patients as assessed by the DIGS (Diagnostic Interview for genetic studies, DSM IV criteria) and 13 healthy controls. We have got from each volunteer a DT-MRI as well as Qball imaging dataset and a high resolution anatomic T1 performed during the same session; with a 3 T clinical MRI scanner. The controls were matched on age, gender, handedness, and parental social economic-status. For all the subjects, a low resolution connection matrix is obtained by dividing the cortex into 66 gyral based ROIs. A higher resolution matrix is constructed using 250 ROIs as described in Hagmann P et al. (2008). These ROIs are respectively used jointly with the diffusion tractography to construct the high and low resolution densities connection matrices for each subject. In a first step the matrices of the groups are compared in term of connectivity, and not in term of density to check if the pathological group shows a loss of global connectivity. In this context the density connection matrices were binarized. As some local connectivity changes were also suspected, especially in frontal and temporal areas, we have also looked for the areas where the connectivity showed significant changes. Results: The statistical analysis revealed a significant loss of global connectivity in the schizophrenic's brains at level 5%. Furthermore, by constructing specific statistics which represent local connectivity within the anatomical regions (66 ROIs) using the data obtained by the finest resolution (250 ROIs) to improve the robustness, we found the regions that cause this significant loss of connectivity. The significance is observed after multiple testing corrections by the False Discovery Rate. Discussion: The detected regions are almost the same as those reported in the literature as the involved regions in schizophrenia. Most of the connectivity decreases are noted in both hemispheres in the fronto-frontal and temporo-temporal regions as well as some temporal ROIs with their adjacent ROIs in parietal and occipital lobes.

Iowa Department of Transportation Fiscal Year 2002 Report of Savings by Using Videoconferencing through Iowa Communications Network to the Iowa General Assembly, 2002

ICN Videoconferencing by the Iowa Department of Transportation

Outcome and Prognostic Factors in Adenosquamous Carcinoma of the Head and Neck - a Multicenter Rare Cancer Network Study

Background: Adenosquamous carcinoma (AC) of the head and neck is a distinct entity first described in 1968. Its natural history is more aggressive than squamous-cell carcinoma. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical profile, patterns of failure, and prognostic factors in patients with AC of the head and neck treated by radiation therapy (RT) with or without chemotherapy (CT).Materials and Methods: Data from 19 patients with stage I (n = 3), II (n = 1), III (n = 4), or IVa (n = 11) AC, treated between 1989 and 2009, were collected in a retrospective multicenter Rare Cancer Network study. Median age was 60 years (range, 48−73). Fifteen patients were male, and 4 female. Risk factors, including perineural invasion, lymphangitis, vascular invasion, positive margins were present in the majority (83%) of the patients. Tumour sites included oral cavity in 4, oropharynx in 4, hypopharynx in 2, larynx in 2, salivary glands in 2, nasal vestibule in 2, maxillary sinus in 2, and nasopharynx in 1 patient. Surgery (S) was performed in all but 5 patients. S alone was performed in only 1 patient, and definitive RT alone in 3 patients. Fifteen patients received combined modality treatment (S+RT in 11, RT+CT in 2, and all of the three modalities in 2 patients). Median RT dose to the primary and to the nodes was 66 Gy (range, 50−72) and 53 Gy (range, 44−66), respectively (1.8−2.0 Gy/fr., 5 fr./week). In 4 patients, the planning treatment volume included the primary tumour site only. Eight patients were treated with 2D RT, 7 with 3D conformal RT, and 2 with intensity-modulated RT.Results: After a median follow-up period of 39 months (range, 9−62), 9 patients developed distant metastases (lung, bone, mediastinum, and liver), 7 presented nodal recurrences, and only 4 had a local relapse at the primary site (all in-field recurrences). At last follow-up, 7 patients were alive without disease, 1 alive with disease, 9 died from progressive disease, and 2 died from intercurrent disease. The 3-year and median overall survival, disease-free survival (DFS), and locoregional control rates were 55% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 32−78%) and 39 months, 34% (95% CI: 12−56%) and 22 months, and 50% (95% CI: 22−78%) and 33 months, respectively. In multivariate analysis (Cox model), DFS was negatively influenced by the presence of extracapsular extension (p = 0.01) and advanced stage (IV versus I−III, p = 0.002).Conclusions: Overall prognosis of locoregionally advanced AC remains poor, and distant metastases and nodal relapse occur in almost half of the cases. However, local control is relatively better, and early stage AC patients had prolonged DFS when treated with combined-modality treatment.

The HVEM network: new directions in targeting novel costimulatory/co-inhibitory molecules for cancer therapy.

The regulation of the immune system is controlled by many cell surface receptors. A prominent representative is the 'molecular switch' HVEM (herpes virus entry mediator) that can activate either proinflammatory or inhibitory signaling pathways. HVEM ligands belong to two distinct families: the TNF-related cytokines LIGHT and lymphotoxin-α, and the Ig-related membrane proteins BTLA and CD160. HVEM and its ligands have been involved in the pathogenesis of various autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, but recent reports indicate that this network may also be involved in tumor progression and resistance to immune response. Here we summarize the recent advances made regarding the knowledge on HVEM and its ligands in cancer cells, and their potential roles in tumor progression and escape to immune responses. Blockade or enhancement of these pathways may help improving cancer therapy.