Temporo-parietal cortex encodes location of the self: joining fMRI with neuroscience robotics to study bodily self-consciousness

Neuroimaging of the self has focused on high-level mechanisms such as language, memory or imagery of the self and implicated widely distributed brain networks. Yet recent evidence suggests that low-level mechanisms such as multisensory and sensorimotor integration may play a fundamental role in self-related processing. In the present study we used visuotactile multisensory conflict, robotics, virtual reality, and fMRI to study such low-level mechanisms by experimentally inducing changes in self-location. Participants saw a video of a person's back (body) or an empty room (no-body) being stroked while a MR-compatible robotic device stroked their back. The latter tactile input was synchronous or asynchronous with respect to the seen stroking. Self-location was estimated behaviorally confirming previous data that self-location only differed between the two body conditions. fMRI results showed a bilateral activation of the temporo-parietal cortex with a significantly higher BOLD signal increase in the synchronous/body condition with respect to the other conditions. Sensorimotor cortex and extrastriate-body-area were also activated. We argue that temporo-parietal activity reflects the experience of the conscious 'I' as embodied and localized within bodily space, compatible with clinical data in neurological patients with out-of-body experiences.

Self-potential investigations of a gravel bar in a restored river corridor

Self-potentials (SP) are sensitive to water fluxes and concentration gradients in both saturated and unsaturated geological media, but quantitative interpretations of SP field data may often be hindered by the superposition of different source contributions and time-varying electrode potentials. Self-potential mapping and close to two months of SP monitoring on a gravel bar were performed to investigate the origins of SP signals at a restored river section of the Thur River in northeastern Switzerland. The SP mapping and subsequent inversion of the data indicate that the SP sources are mainly located in the upper few meters in regions of soil cover rather than bare gravel. Wavelet analyses of the time-series indicate a strong, but non-linear influence of water table and water content variations, as well as rainfall intensity on the recorded SP signals. Modeling of the SP response with respect to an increase in the water table elevation and precipitation indicate that the distribution of soil properties in the vadose zone has a very strong influence. We conclude that the observed SP responses on the gravel bar are more complicated than previously proposed semi-empiric relationships between SP signals and hydraulic head or the thickness of the vadose zone. We suggest that future SP monitoring in restored river corridors should either focus on quantifying vadose zone processes by installing vertical profiles of closely spaced SP electrodes or by installing the electrodes within the river to avoid signals arising from vadose zone processes and time-varying electrochemical conditions in the vicinity of the electrodes.

Use of a short hPDE6b promoter for rod gene transfer in a model of severe retinal cystrophy, the Rd10 mouse

Purpose: Gene therapy of severe retinal dystrophies directly affecting photoreceptor is still a challenge in terms of clinical application. One of the main hurdles is to generate high transgene expression specifically in rods or cones. In the present study, we are investigating the possibility to drive hPDE6b expression in the Rd10 mouse retina using a specific sequence of the human PDE6b promoter. Methods: Two 5' flanking fragments of the human PDE6b gene: (-93 to +53 (146 bp) and -297 to +53 (350 bp, see Di Polo and Farber, 1995) were cloned in different plasmids in order to check their expression in vitro and in vivo. These elements drove the activity of either luciferase (pGL3 plasmids) or EGFP (AAV2/8 backbone). Then, an AAV2/8 vector carrying the PDE6b cDNA was tested with subretinal injections at P9 in the Rd10 eyes. Eye fundus, OCT, ERG recordings and histological investigations were performed to assess the efficacy of the gene transfer. Results: The short PDE6b promoter containing 146bp (-93 to +53) showed the highest activity in the Y-79 cells, as described previously (Di Polo and Farber, 1995). Subretinal administrations of AAV2/8-PDE6bpromoter-EGFP allowed a rapid expression specifically in rods and not in cones. The expression is faster than a vector containing the CMV promoter. The AAV2/8-PDE6bpromoter-PDE6b and the control vector were injected at P9 in the Rd10 mouse retina and investigated 5 weeks post-injection. Out of 14 eyes, 6 presented an increased rod sensitivity of about 300 fold, and increased a- and b-wave responses in ERG recordings. Flicker stimulations revealed that cones are also functional. OCT images and histological analyses revealed an increased ONL size in the injected area. The retina treated with the therapeutic vector presented 4-6 rows of photoreceptors with outersegments containing PDE6b. In the control eyes, only 2-4 rows of photoreceptors with almost no OS were observed . Conclusions: The 146 bp promoter sequence (-93 to + 53) is the shortest regulatory element described to date which allows to obtain efficient rod-specific expression in the context of somatic gene transfer. This first result is of great interest for AAV vector design in general allowing more space for the accommodation of transgenes of interest and good expression in rods. Moreover we showed the proof of principle of the efficacy of AAV2/8-PDE6bp-PDE6b vector in the Rd10 mouse model of severe photoreceptor degeneration without using neither AAV mutated capsids, nor self-complementary vectors.

Concise reviews: in vitro-produced pancreas organogenesis models in three dimensions: self-organization from few stem cells or progenitors.

Three-dimensional models of organ biogenesis have recently flourished. They promote a balance between stem/progenitor cell expansion and differentiation without the constraints of flat tissue culture vessels, allowing for autonomous self-organization of cells. Such models allow the formation of miniature organs in a dish and are emerging for the pancreas, starting from embryonic progenitors and adult cells. This review focuses on the currently available systems and how these allow new types of questions to be addressed. We discuss the expected advancements including their potential to study human pancreas development and function as well as to develop diabetes models and therapeutic cells.

A longitudinal study of environmental tobacco smoke exposure in children: parental self reports versus age dependent biomarkers

Background: Awareness of the negative effects of smoking on children's health prompted a decrease in the self-reporting of parental tobacco use in periodic surveys from most industrialized countries. Our aim is to assess changes between ETS exposure at the end of pregnancy and at 4 years of age determined by the parents' self-report and measurement of cotinine in age related biological matrices.Methods: The prospective birth cohort included 487 infants from Barcelona city (Spain). Mothers were asked about maternal and household smoking habit. Cord serum and children's urinary cotinine were analyzed in duplicate using a double antibody radioimmunoassay. Results: At 4 years of age, the median urinary cotinine level in children increased 1.4 or 3.5 times when father or mother smoked, respectively. Cotinine levels in children's urine statistically differentiated children from smoking mothers (Geometric Mean (GM) 19.7 ng/ml; 95% CI 16.83–23.01) and exposed homes (GM 7.1 ng/ml; 95% CI 5.61–8.99) compared with non-exposed homes (GM 4.5 ng/ml; 95% CI 3.71–5.48). Maternal self-reported ETS exposure in homes declined in the four year span between the two time periods from 42.2% to 31.0% (p < 0.01). Nevertheless, most of the children considered non-exposed by their mothers had detectable levels of cotinine above 1 ng/mL in their urine.Conclusion: We concluded that cotinine levels determined in cord blood and urine, respectively, were useful for categorizing the children exposed to smoking and showed that a certain increase in ETS exposure during the 4-year follow-up period occurred.

Self-reported social class in adolescents: validity and relationship with gradients in self-reported health

Background: Analyzing social differences in the health of adolescents is a challenge. The accuracy of adolescent's report on familial socio-economic position is unknown. The aims of the study were to examine the validity of measuring occupational social class and family level of education reported by adolescents aged 12 to 18, and the relationship between social position and self-reported health.Methods: A sample of 1453 Spanish adolescents 12 to 18 years old from urban and rural areas completed a self-administered questionnaire including the Child Health and Illness Profile-Adolescent Edition (CHIP-AE), and data on parental occupational social class (OSC) and level of education (LE). The responsible person for a sub-sample of teenagers (n = 91) were interviewed by phone. Kappa coefficients were estimated to analyze agreement between adolescents and proxy-respondents, and logistic regression models were adjusted to analyze factors associated with missing answers and disagreements. Effect size (ES) was calculated to analyze the relationship between OSC, LE and the CHIP-AE domain scores.Results: Missing answers were higher for father's (24.2%) and mother's (45.7%) occupational status than for parental education (8.4%, and 8.1% respectively), and belonging to a non-standard family was associated with more incomplete reporting of social position (OR = 4,98; 95%CI = 1,3–18,8) as was agreement between a parent and the adolescent. There were significant social class gradients, most notably for aspects of health related to resilience to threats to illness.ConclusionAdolescents can acceptably self-report on family occupation and level of education. Social class gradients are present in important aspects of health in adolescents.

Self-Development of Competences for Social Inclusion Using the TENCompetence Infrastructure

This paper describes a pilot study centred on the technology-enhanced self-development of competences in lifelong learning education carried out in the challenging context of the Association of Participants Àgora. The pilot study shows that the use of the TENCompetence infrastructure, i.e. in this case the Personal Development Planner tool, provides various kinds of benefits for adult participants with low educational profiles and who are traditionally excluded from the use of innovative learning technologies and the knowledge society. The selforganized training supported by the PDP tool aims at allowing the learners to create and control their own learning plans based on their interests and educational background including informal and non-formal experiences. In this sense, the pilot participants had the opportunity to develop and improve their competences in English language (basic and advanced levels) and ICT competence profiles which are mostly related to functional and communicative skills. Besides, the use of the PDP functionalities, such as the self-assessment, the planning and the self-regulating elements allowed the participants to develop reflective skills. Pilot results also provide indications for future developments in the field of technology support for self-organized learners. The paper introduces the context and the pilot scenario, indicates the evaluation methodology applied and discusses the most significant findings derived from the pilot study.

Deployment of self-expandable stents in aneurysmatic cerebral vessels: comparison of different computational approaches for interventional planning

In the last few years, there has been a growing focus on faster computational methods to support clinicians in planning stenting procedures. This study investigates the possibility of introducing computational approximations in modelling stent deployment in aneurysmatic cerebral vessels to achieve simulations compatible with the constraints of real clinical workflows. The release of a self-expandable stent in a simplified aneurysmatic vessel was modelled in four different initial positions. Six progressively simplified modelling approaches (based on Finite Element method and Fast Virtual Stenting – FVS) have been used. Comparing accuracy of the results, the final configuration of the stent is more affected by neglecting mechanical properties of materials (FVS) than by adopting 1D instead of 3D stent models. Nevertheless, the differencesshowed are acceptable compared to those achieved by considering different stent initial positions. Regarding computationalcosts, simulations involving 1D stent features are the only ones feasible in clinical context.

Finding a suitable job: the effect of the institutional context on self-perceived over-education

The current research compares the perception of over-education in four different European countries, resorting to European Household Panel Data. The results confirm that the type of educational system accounts for some of the cross-national differences in self-perceived over-education. In qualificational spaces, like Denmark, where vocational training receives more importance, self-perceived over-education is not associated as much with educational attainment as in the so-called’ organisational spaces’, like Spain, France and Italy. Yet, the results confirm that, controlling for the system of education, the traits and regulation of the labour market also have an effect on over-education. Thus, in Spain, where temporary employment has soared in recent decades, this type of contract is clearly associated with the perception of over-education, to a much higher extent than in Italy or France. Temporary contracts in Spain may not work as a steppig stone for attaining a job suitable to the training received by the individual, as they may in the case of France or Italy. In sum, not only institutions offering skills and human capital, but labour market regulation as well, have a clear impact on the incidence of over-education.

Study of protein complexes

Summary : A lot of information can be obtained on proteins when proteomics methods are used. In our study, we aimed to characterize complexes containing pro-apoptotic proteins by different proteomics methods and finally focused on PIDD (p53-induced protein with a death domain), for which the most interesting results were obtained. PIDD has been shown to function as a molecular switch between genotoxic stress-induced apoptotis and genotoxic stress-induced cell survival through NF-κB activation. To exert these two functions, PIDD forms alternate complexes respectively with caspase2 and CRADD on one hand and RIP 1 and NEMO on the other hand. The first part of our study focuses on the processing of PIDD. PIDD full length (FL) is constitutively cleaved into three fragments, an N-terminal one (PIDD-N) and two fragments containing the C-terminus (PIDD-C and PIDD-CC). Localization of the two PIDD cleavage sites by mass spectrometry (MS) allowed to understand that PIDD is probably not cleaved by proteases but is subject to protein (self-)splicing and also to map the PIDD-N, PIDD-C and PIDD-CC fragments exactly. Further characterization of these three fragments by Tinel et al. (Tinel et al., 2007) showed that PIDD-C is involved in activation of an apoptotic pathway while PIDD-CC is involved in NF-κB activation. We also found that PIDD is subject to proline-directed phosphorylation at two serine residues in PIDD-N, the regulatory fragment of PIDD. The second part of the study aimed at identifying by proteomics techniques proteins that co-purify with PIDD and therefore are putative cellular interaction partners. In this respect we analyzed samples obtained in different conditions or with different PIDD constructs corresponding to processed fragments. This allowed us to identify a large number of potential interactors for PIDD. For example, by comparing data obtained from PIDD-C and PIDD-FL affinity purifications, we found that the Hsp90 chaperone system interacts strongly with PIDD-N. In the third part of this study, we developed methods to selectively and rapidly quantify by MS proteins of interest in PIDD affinity purifications or negative controls. Using these tools we detected significant changes in PIDD-FL-copurifying proteins treated by heat shock. Overall, our studies provide informative data on the processing of PIDD and its possible involvement in several molecular pathways.

Vuorovaikutuskouluttajana työyhteisöissä

This thesis concerns organizing a workshop about interaction in the various communities represented by Helsinki city's social welfare department. There were seventeen workshops altogether and they were organized in different communities; for example, in a children's daycare centre. The aim was to gain experience in the planning and organizing of these kinds of workshop. The workshops focused on dealing with interactive quetions arising out of the very community which was taking part in the workshop. These questions were discussed and handled using a technique called forum-statues. This means that the problems arising from the community were presented as living pictures to the group. There was also a short theoretical element concerning interactions between people, self-esteem, the different phases in developing a group, and the effects of conflicts in groups. There was a high degree of interest in the research and places were soon filled. The workshops consisted of a warming part with a lot of playing, a deepening part with questions arising out of the group, and a relaxation and feedback part at the end. The basis of the workshop was similar for all seventeen workshops. The athmosphere in workshops was discussive and open. The participants were engouraged to express there opinions and point of views. Feedback from the participantswas very positive. The participants obtained new points of view, according there fellow workers, and the community spirit improved. Shortage of time was, unfortunately, a problem. With more time, it would have been possible to go deeper into the problems of interaction within the community. Ceratinly, the research proved that there would be great demand for this kind of workshop in future.