Temporo-Parietal Junction encodes the Embodied Self: Neuro-Robotics, fMRI, and Lesion mapping.

Introduction: Neuroimaging of the self focused on high-level mechanisms such as language, memory or imagery of the self. Recent evidence suggests that low-level mechanisms of multisensory and sensorimotor integration may play a fundamental role in encoding self-location and the first-person perspective (Blanke and Metzinger, 2009). Neurological patients with out-of body experiences (OBE) suffer from abnormal self-location and the first-person perspective due to a damage in the temporo-parietal junction (Blanke et al., 2004). Although self-location and the first-person perspective can be studied experimentally (Lenggenhager et al., 2009), the neural underpinnings of self-location have yet to be investigated. To investigate the brain network involved in self-location and first-person perspective we used visuo-tactile multisensory conflict, magnetic resonance (MR)-compatible robotics, and fMRI in study 1, and lesion analysis in a sample of 9 patients with OBE due to focal brain damage in study 2. Methods: Twenty-two participants saw a video showing either a person's back or an empty room being stroked (visual stimuli) while the MR-compatible robotic device stroked their back (tactile stimulation). Direction and speed of the seen stroking could either correspond (synchronous) or not (asynchronous) to those of the seen stroking. Each run comprised the four conditions according to a 2x2 factorial design with Object (Body, No-Body) and Synchrony (Synchronous, Asynchronous) as main factors. Self-location was estimated using the mental ball dropping (MBD; Lenggenhager et al., 2009). After the fMRI session participants completed a 6-item adapted from the original questionnaire created by Botvinick and Cohen (1998) and based on questions and data obtained by Lenggenhager et al. (2007, 2009). They were also asked to complete a questionnaire to disclose the perspective they adopted during the illusion. Response times (RTs) for the MBD and fMRI data were analyzed with a 3-way mixed model ANOVA with the in-between factor Perspective (up, down) and the two with-in factors Object (body, no-body) and Stroking (synchronous, asynchronous). Quantitative lesion analysis was performed using MRIcron (Rorden et al., 2007). We compared the distributions of brain lesions confirmed by multimodality imaging (Knowlton, 2004) in patients with OBE with those showing complex visual hallucinations involving people or faces, but without any disturbance of self-location and first person perspective. Nine patients with OBE were investigated. The control group comprised 8 patients. Structural imaging data were available for normalization and co-registration in all the patients. Normalization of each patient's lesion into the common MNI (Montreal Neurological Institute) reference space permitted simple, voxel-wise, algebraic comparisons to be made. Results: Even if in the scanner all participants were lying on their back and were facing upwards, analysis of perspective showed that half of the participants had the impression to be looking down at the virtual human body below them, despite any cues about their body position (Down-group). The other participants had the impression to be looking up at the virtual body above them (Up-group). Analysis of Q3 ("How strong was the feeling that the body you saw was you?") indicated stronger self-identification with the virtual body during the synchronous stroking. RTs in the MBD task confirmed these subjective data (significant 3-way interaction between perspective, object and stroking). fMRI results showed eight cortical regions where the BOLD signal was significantly different during at least one of the conditions resulting from the combination of Object and Stroking, relative to baseline: right and left temporo-parietal junction, right EBA, left middle occipito-temporal gyrus, left postcentral gyrus, right medial parietal lobe, bilateral medial occipital lobe (Fig 1). The activation patterns in right and left temporo-parietal junction and right EBA reflected changes in self-location and perspective as revealed by statistical analysis that was performed on the percentage of BOLD change with respect to the baseline. Statistical lesion overlap comparison (using nonparametric voxel based lesion symptom mapping) with respect to the control group revealed the right temporo-parietal junction, centered at the angular gyrus (Talairach coordinates x = 54, y =-52, z = 26; p>0.05, FDR corrected). Conclusions: The present questionnaire and behavioural results show that - despite the noisy and constraining MR environment) our participants had predictable changes in self-location, self-identification, and first-person perspective when robotic tactile stroking was applied synchronously with the robotic visual stroking. fMRI data in healthy participants and lesion data in patients with abnormal self-location and first-person perspective jointly revealed that the temporo-parietal cortex especially in the right hemisphere encodes these conscious experiences. We argue that temporo-parietal activity reflects the experience of the conscious "I" as embodied and localized within bodily space.

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.

A Musically aware system for browsing and interacting with audio music collections

In the context of the CompMusic project we are developing methods to automatically describe/annotate audio music recordings pertaining to various music cultures. As away to demonstrate the usefulness of the methods we are also developing a system to browse and interact with specific audio collections. The system is an online web application that interfaces with all the data gathered (audio, scores plus contextual information) and all the descriptions that are automatically generated with the developed methods. In this paper we present the basic architecture of the proposed system, the types of data sources that it includes,and we mention some of the culture specific issues that we are working on for its development. The system is in a preliminary stage but it shows the potential that MIR technologies can have in browsing and interacting with musiccollections of various cultures.

Apoplastic polyesters in Arabidopsis surface tissues--a typical suberin and a particular cutin.

Cutinized and suberized cell walls form physiological important plant-environment interfaces as they act as barriers limiting water and nutrient loss and protect from radiation and invasion by pathogens. Due to the lack of protocols for the isolation and analysis of cutin and suberin in Arabidopsis, the model plant for molecular biology, mutants and transgenic plants with a defined altered cutin or suberin composition are unavailable, causing that structure and function of these apoplastic barriers are still poorly understood. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that Arabidopsis leaf cuticle thickness ranges from only 22 nm in leaf blades to 45 nm on petioles, causing the difficulty in cuticular membrane isolation. We report the use of polysaccharide hydrolases to isolate Arabidopsis cuticular membranes, suitable for depolymerization and subsequent compositional analysis. Although cutin characteristic omega-hydroxy acids (7%) and mid-chain hydroxylated fatty acids (8%) were detected, the discovery of alpha,omega-diacids (40%) and 2-hydroxy acids (14%) as major depolymerization products reveals a so far novel monomer composition in Arabidopsis cutin, but with chemical analogy to root suberin. Histochemical and TEM analysis revealed that suberin depositions were localized to the cell walls in the endodermis of primary roots and the periderm of mature roots of Arabidopsis. Enzyme digested and solvent extracted root cell walls when subjected to suberin depolymerization conditions released omega-hydroxy acids (43%) and alpha,omega-diacids (24%) as major components together with carboxylic acids (9%), alcohols (6%) and 2-hydroxyacids (0.1%). This similarity to suberin of other species indicates that Arabidopsis roots can serve as a model for suberized tissue in general.

Desarrollo de Surrogates para la representación dinámica de la información digital

El volumen de información a la que un usuario tiene acceso en Internet esenorme. La representación de la misma ha ido evolucionando a lo largo del tiempo a lavez que se han establecido reglas, recomendaciones y directrices que conforman toda una ingeniería de diseño de interfaces con el propósito de mejorar la representación e interacción entre el usuario y el ordenador. Aún así, hay que ir evolucionando en la manera de tratar esta representación de la información ya que Internet es un espacio donde afloran, día tras día, nuevas tecnologías y servicios.De hecho, en este proyecto trataremos de mejorar la representación de lainformación mediante unos objetos que llamaremos surrogates o sustitutos. Como sunombre indica, estos sustitutos serán la representación de los elementos a reemplazar y cuya función podríamos calificar como de “puerta de enlace”. Dichos objetos estaránformados por elementos propios de la información a la que representan con el objetivo de que el usuario identifique de una manera más rápida y sencilla esta información.En definitiva, desarrollaremos unos surrogates que puedan ser usados endiferentes interfaces independientemente de la tecnología que se haya empleado para sudesarrollo y dotándolos de una serie de características y métodos con el fin de mejorar la interacción entre el usuario y la información.

Focused time-lapse inversion of radio and audio magnetotelluric data

Geoelectrical techniques are widely used to monitor groundwater processes, while surprisingly few studies have considered audio (AMT) and radio (RMT) magnetotellurics for such purposes. In this numerical investigation, we analyze to what extent inversion results based on AMT and RMT monitoring data can be improved by (1) time-lapse difference inversion; (2) incorporation of statistical information about the expected model update (i.e., the model regularization is based on a geostatistical model); (3) using alternative model norms to quantify temporal changes (i.e., approximations of l(1) and Cauchy norms using iteratively reweighted least-squares), (4) constraining model updates to predefined ranges (i.e., using Lagrange Multipliers to only allow either increases or decreases of electrical resistivity with respect to background conditions). To do so, we consider a simple illustrative model and a more realistic test case related to seawater intrusion. The results are encouraging and show significant improvements when using time-lapse difference inversion with non l(2) model norms. Artifacts that may arise when imposing compactness of regions with temporal changes can be suppressed through inequality constraints to yield models without oscillations outside the true region of temporal changes. Based on these results, we recommend approximate l(1)-norm solutions as they can resolve both sharp and smooth interfaces within the same model. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stoneley wave modeling in heterogeneous porous media with viscous pore fluids

We implemented Biot-type porous wave equations in a pseudo-spectral numerical modeling algorithm for the simulation of Stoneley waves in porous media. Fourier and Chebyshev methods are used to compute the spatial derivatives along the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. To prevent from overly short time steps due to the small grid spacing at the top and bottom of the model as a consequence of the Chebyshev operator, the mesh is stretched in the vertical direction. As a large benefit, the Chebyshev operator allows for an explicit treatment of interfaces. Boundary conditions can be implemented with a characteristics approach. The characteristic variables are evaluated at zero viscosity. We use this approach to model seismic wave propagation at the interface between a fluid and a porous medium. Each medium is represented by a different mesh and the two meshes are connected through the above described characteristics domain-decomposition method. We show an experiment for sealed pore boundary conditions, where we first compare the numerical solution to an analytical solution. We then show the influence of heterogeneity and viscosity of the pore fluid on the propagation of the Stoneley wave and surface waves in general.

Post-traumatic stimulus suppressible myoclonus of peripheral origin.

A patient is described who presented with myoclonus of the first dorsal interosseus muscle of the right foot. This myoclonus occurred 18 months after trauma of the cutaneous branch of the deep peroneal nerve on the dorsal aspect of the foot. Tactile stimulation in the dermatome of this nerve, or an anaesthetic block of the deep peroneal nerve stopped the myoclonus. The different innervation between the efferent motor activity responsible for the movements and the sensory afference suppressing it points firmly towards involvement of central connections. However, abolition of the movement by anaesthesia suggests the presence of a peripheral ectopic generator. This finding confirms that focal myoclonus can have its origin in the peripheral nervous system and may be modulated by sensory inputs.

The InterPro protein families database: the classification resource after 15 years.

The InterPro database (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/interpro/) is a freely available resource that can be used to classify sequences into protein families and to predict the presence of important domains and sites. Central to the InterPro database are predictive models, known as signatures, from a range of different protein family databases that have different biological focuses and use different methodological approaches to classify protein families and domains. InterPro integrates these signatures, capitalizing on the respective strengths of the individual databases, to produce a powerful protein classification resource. Here, we report on the status of InterPro as it enters its 15th year of operation, and give an overview of new developments with the database and its associated Web interfaces and software. In particular, the new domain architecture search tool is described and the process of mapping of Gene Ontology terms to InterPro is outlined. We also discuss the challenges faced by the resource given the explosive growth in sequence data in recent years. InterPro (version 48.0) contains 36 766 member database signatures integrated into 26 238 InterPro entries, an increase of over 3993 entries (5081 signatures), since 2012.

Family health nursing care: weaknesses and strengths in the Unified Health System

OBJECTIVETo analyze the weaknesses and strengths of nursing care in the Family Health Strategy and its interfaces with the Unified Health System network.METHODA qualitative study performed by means of semi-structured interviews and systematic observations, with the participation of a nursing team of 15 people from October of 2012 to January of 2013.RESULTSStrengths that were emphasized: the nurse's versatility in conducting users within the unit and the health system, therefore directly acting upon access to these services. The nurse is the main subject that participates in the care processes for the person, family and social groups. Weaknesses that were highlighted: fragile embracement and low resolution of users' and families' problems.CONCLUSIONThe nursing care process in health units still lacks collective articulation, involvement of the team, and decentralization of the decisions.

Desenvolvimento de um Sistema Integrado de Gestão de Clínica Odontologia – ODONTO

Este relatório tem como objectivo o desenvolvimento de um projecto “Sistema integrados de Gestão de Clínica Odontologia - ODONTO – módulo de gestão de marcação de Serviços” no âmbito do estágio curricular de fim de curso, em Licenciatura em Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação. O desenvolvimento do sistema foi realizado na empresa ADA Soluções de 27 de Maio a 30 de Outubro de 2009. Para o desenvolvimento do sistema foram utilizadas algumas técnicas e ferramentas do mundo computacional, que contribuíram para que os objectivos propostos fossem atingidos. As actividades foram divididas da seguinte forma: levantamento de dados sobre a sessão envolvida, análise dos dados recolhidos, modelagem do sistema, criação de base de dados e desenvolvimento do sistema. A modelação do sistema foi feita através da Linguagem Unificada de Modelagem (UML com a ferramenta Visual Paradigm For UML Enterprise Edition-64. Para implementação do mesmo utilizou-se a plataforma Oracle Express 10g e a linguagem de programação PL/SQL. A escolha de tais ferramentas se deu pelo facto de serem ferramentas modernas e serem utilizadas por diversos desenvolvedores e empresas de desenvolvimento. Este trabalho é composto por cinco capítulos. O capítulo 1 foi feito uma breve introdução apontando o enquadramento, os objectivos do estágio e as abordagens utilizadas. No segundo capítulo apresentamos a empresa que nos acolheu para o estágio. No capítulo 3 apresentamos alguns conceitos sobre sistema de informação, sistema de informação em saúde e as técnicas de modelação de sistema orientada, como diagrama de casos de uso, sequência, estado, classe,diagrama Entidade Relacionamento, dicionário de dados e as tecnologias e ferramentas utilizados para desenvolver o módulo da gestão de marcação de Serviços. O Capítulo 4 apresenta uma breve descrição do sistema integrado de gestão de clínica odontologia e seus módulos, a modelagem do sistema e as interfaces do sistema desenvolvidas.

Sistema Integrado de Gestão de Clínica de Odonto: Módulo de Gestão de Entidade Externa

Este relatório visa apresentar um estudo na área de desenvolvimento de Sistema, originando assim um aplicativo (SIGCO) para gestão de uma Clínica de Odontologia, Consultório Médicos ou Clínica Terapêutica. O objectivo principal deste projecto é desenvolver um sistema capaz de gerir as informações internas de uma clínica. O sistema devera contribuir, principalmente para a melhoria de atendimento oferecido por uma clínica aos seus pacientes, bem como possibilitar a gestão das informações com a finalidade de pesquisar e controlar a parte financeira da clínica. O projecto se justifica, uma vez que todas as necessidades da clínica de Odontologia serram atendidas. Para os devidos efeito, foram analisados vários documentos e sites relacionados com a Odontologia no sentido de desenvolver um sistema que atenda as necessidades das mesmas. Vários conceitos teóricos foram adoptados na realização deste sistema, mostrando os conhecimentos adquirido durante a formação académica designadamente nas áreas de Base de Dados, Consultoria Informática, Desenvolvimento de Aplicação Web, Programação e outros. A Modelação do sistema é uma das fases mais significativas deste projecto. Ela foi feita utilizando a ferramenta Visual Paradigm for UML 6.4 Enterprise Edition. Já no desenvolvimento das interfaces utilizou-se a linguagem de programação PLSQL e a plataforma Oracle 10g Application Express. Este relatório focaliza-se apenas a um dos módulos do sistema desenvolvido, visto que o trabalho foi desenvolvido em equipa. Neste caso o documento realizado, apenas ira ter conteúdos relacionado com a parte de gestão das entidades Externa que é também um dos objectivos esperado do sistema.

Projecto de Intervenção Socioeducativo:Criação de uma Mediateca Escolar

Actualmente, informação e comunicação são sinónimas de poder: ter a capacidade de comunicar significa poder aceder a informações, tratá-las e interagir para a obtenção de dados e conhecimento. O computador e os seus periféricos, designados por Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação são, sem dúvida, um meio essencial e privilegiado para aceder, trocar e disponibilizar informações, reunindo as condições do multimédia, para as quais o tempo e a distância deixam de constituir obstáculos, pela transmissão praticamente instantânea de dados. A crescente relevância das Tecnologias de Informação e da Informática transformou o computador numa ferramenta tão imprescindível quanto o papel e o lápis. Pretende-se assim proporcionar aos alunos conhecimentos básicos sobre a constituição, funcionamento e evolução dos computadores; utilização da Internet e os diversos serviços por ela proporcionados. A utilização das tecnologias da informação e comunicação, no sistema educativo visa um horizonte de actuação dos professores que não se limita à simples superação do ensino tradicional, ou à mera utilização das tecnologias informáticas na escola. As TIC desempenham um papel importante na educação, ao proporcionar: Novos objectivos para a educação, que emergem de uma sociedade de informação e da necessidade de exercer uma cidadania participativa e crítica; Novas concepções acerca da natureza dos saberes, valorizando o trabalho cooperativo; Novas vivências e práticas escolares, por meio do desenvolvimento de interfaces entre escolas e instituições, tais como bibliotecas, museus, associações de apoio à juventude, entre outros; Novas investigações científicas em desenvolvimento no ensino superior, entre outros. As Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação assumem um papel fundamental na construção de uma escola voltada para a formação e inclusão de indivíduos capazes de construir o seu próprio conhecimento, considerando não só as suas necessidades individuais mas também a forma como constroem as suas aprendizagens, permitindo uma compreensão profunda do mundo em que vivemos.

Logistics-production, logistics-marketing and external integration: Their impact on performance

Highly competitive environments are leading companies to implement SupplyChain Management (SCM) to improve performance and gain a competitiveadvantage. SCM involves integration, co-ordination and collaborationacross organisations and throughout the supply chain. It means that SCMrequires internal (intraorganisational) and external (interorganisational)integration. This paper examines the Logistics-Production and Logistics-Marketing interfaces and their relation with the external integrationprocess. The study also investigates the causal impact of these internaland external relationships on the company s logistical service performance.To analyse this, an empirical study was conducted in the Spanish Fast MovingConsumer Goods (FMCG) sector.

HTPSELEX--a database of high-throughput SELEX libraries for transcription factor binding sites.

HTPSELEX is a public database providing access to primary and derived data from high-throughput SELEX experiments aimed at characterizing the binding specificity of transcription factors. The resource is primarily intended to serve computational biologists interested in building models of transcription factor binding sites from large sets of binding sequences. The guiding principle is to make available all information that is relevant for this purpose. For each experiment, we try to provide accurate information about the protein material used, details of the wet lab protocol, an archive of sequencing trace files, assembled clone sequences (concatemers) and complete sets of in vitro selected protein-binding tags. In addition, we offer in-house derived binding sites models. HTPSELEX also offers reasonably large SELEX libraries obtained with conventional low-throughput protocols. The FTP site contains the trace archives and database flatfiles. The web server offers user-friendly interfaces for viewing individual entries and quality-controlled download of SELEX sequence libraries according to a user-defined sequencing quality threshold. HTPSELEX is available from ftp://ftp.isrec.isb-sib.ch/pub/databases/htpselex/ and http://www.isrec.isb-sib.ch/htpselex.