Previous studies have evidenced cognitive difficulties across various domains in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) children, but the implicit memory system has not yet been systematically explored.
...Taking into account that the interplay between memory and perception may be modulated by the semantic category of the stimuli and their salience, we explored explicit and implicit memory using both object and food stimuli to verify whether for T1DM children there is a feebleness in performing the function of memory as a function of the stimuli used.
Eighteen T1DM children and 47 healthy children performed an explicit recognition task in which they were requested to judge whether the presented image had already been shown ("old") or not ("new") and an identification priming task in which they were asked to name new and old pictures presented at nine ascending levels of spatial filtering.
Results did not reveal any differences between controls and T1DM children in the explicit memory recognition task, whereas some differences between the two groups were found in the identification priming task. In T1DM children, the priming effect was observed only for food images.
The dissociation between implicit and explicit memory observed in children with diabetes seems to be modulated by the category of the stimuli, and these results underscore the relevance of taking into account this variable when exploring cognitive functions.
DCC is the receptor for netrin, a protein that guides axon migration of developing neurons across the body's midline. Mutations in the DCC gene were recently identified in 2 families with congenital ...mirror movements (MM). The objective was to study clinical and genetic characteristics of 3 European families with MM and to test whether this disorder is genetically homogeneous.
We studied 3 MM families with a total of 13 affected subjects. Each patient had a standardized interview and neurologic examination, focusing on the phenomenology and course of the MM. The severity of MM was also assessed. Molecular analysis of DCC was performed in the index cases. In addition, linkage analysis of the DCC locus was performed in a large French family.
The clinical expression and course of MM were very similar in all the affected subjects, regardless of DCC mutational status. However, slight intersubject variability in the severity of MM was noted within each family. Onset always occurred in infancy or early childhood, and MM did not deteriorate over time. Motor disability due to MM was mild and restricted to activities that require independent movements of the 2 hands. We found a novel mutation in the DCC gene in an Italian family with MM associated with abnormal ipsilateral corticospinal projection. The DCC locus was excluded in the French family.
DCC has a crucial role in the development of corticospinal tracts in humans. Congenital MM is genetically heterogeneous, despite its clinical homogeneity.
This paper is focused on a new route to synthesize Mn3O4 nanoparticles by alkalisation by sodium hydroxide on a manganeous solution at room temperature. The precipitates obtained at different pH ...values have been characterized by XRD and TEM. Since the first addition of sodium hydroxide, a white Mn(OH)2 precipitate appears. At pH=7, γ-MnOOH phase is predominant with needle like shaped particles. At pH=10, hausmanite nanoparticles, which exhibits well defined cubic shape in the range 50–120nm are obtained. This new precipitation route is a fast and easy environmentally friendly process to obtain well crystallized hausmanite nanoparticles.
TEM image showing Mn3O4 particles after a precipitation at pH=10 Display omitted .
► A new route to synthesize Mn3O4 nanoparticles has been demonstrated. ► Synthesis has been performed by precipitation at room temperature. ► The size of the Mn3O4 nanoparticles is between 50 and 120nm.
This paper proposes a non-Gaussian Markov field with a special feature: an explicit partition function. To the best of our knowledge, this is an original contribution. Moreover, the explicit ...expression of the partition function enables the development of an unsupervised edge-preserving convex deconvolution method. The method is fully Bayesian, and produces an estimate in the sense of the posterior mean, numerically calculated by means of a Monte-Carlo Markov chain technique. The approach is particularly effective and the computational practicability of the method is shown on a simple simulated example.
We investigate super-resolution methods for image reconstruction from data provided by a family of scanning instruments like the Herschel observatory. To do this, we constructed a model of the ...instrument that faithfully reflects the physical reality, accurately taking the acquisition process into account to explain the data in a reliable manner. The inversion, \ie the image reconstruction process, is based on a linear approach resulting from a quadratic regularized criterion and numerical optimization tools. The application concerns the reconstruction of maps for the SPIRE instrument of the Herschel observatory. The numerical evaluation uses simulated and real data to compare the standard tool (coaddition) and the proposed method. The inversion approach is capable to restore spatial frequencies over a bandwidth four times that possible with coaddition and thus to correctly show details invisible on standard maps. The approach is also applied to real data with significant improvement in spatial resolution.
TeV \gamma-ray emission has recently been discovered by Cherenkov telescopes from two microquasars, LS 5039 and LS I +61\rm o}303. This emission is likely to be produced inside the binary system ...since in both cases variability with the orbital period of the binary has been discovered. In fact, such emission features have recently been predicted by the inverse Compton (IC) e logical or pm pair cascade model. In this model, electrons accelerated in the jet develop a cascade in the anisotropic radiation of the massive star. The \gamma-ray spectra emerging from the cascade strongly depends on the location of the observer with respect to the orbital plane of the binary. Here we apply this model to investigate the possible \gamma-ray emission features from another compact massive binary of the microquasar type, Cyg X- 1. We conclude that the observational constraints at lower energies (from MeV to GeV) suggest that the spectrum of electrons injected in the jet is likely steeper than in other TeV \gamma-ray microquasars. The cascade \gamma-ray spectrum produced by electrons with such a spectrum in Cyg X-1 should be below the sensitivities of the MAGIC and VERITAS class Cherenkov telescopes. However, if the electron spectrum is flatter, then the highest TeV \gamma-ray fluxes are predicted at similar to 7 h before and after the phase when the compact object is in front of the massive star. We suggest that Cherenkov telescopes should concentrate on these ranges of phases since the TeV flux can vary by a factor of similar to 20 with the period of the Cyg X-1 binary system. Moreover, the model predicts clear anticorrelation of the GeV and TeV \gamma-ray emission. This feature can be tested by the future multiwavelength observations with the AGILE and GLAST telescopes in the GeV energy range and the MAGIC and VERITAS telescopes in the TeV energy range.
Deficient voluntary control of behaviour and impulsivity are key aspects of impulse control disorders. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between behavioural measures ...of impulsivity and awareness of voluntary action. Seventy-four healthy volunteers completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS), a questionnaire used to measure impulsive personality traits, and a go/no-go task. Moreover, all participants performed a task in which, using the Libet’s clock, they were requested to report the time of a self-initiated movement (M-judgment) or the time they first felt intention to move (W-judgment). A positive relationship between W-judgment and impulsivity measures emerged. Namely, high scores in the attentional and motor impulsivity subscales of BIS and in the number of inhibitory failure responses in the go/no-go task, were related to a low difference between the W-judgment and the actual movement (i.e. the awareness of intention to move was closer to the voluntary movement execution). In contrast no relationship emerged with M-judgment. Findings suggest that impulsivity may be related to a delayed awareness of voluntary action. We hypothesize that in impulse control disorders the interval between conscious intention and actual movement could be insufficient to allow a conscious ‘veto’ of the impending action.
Neurophysiological studies suggest that reading sheet music facilitates sensorimotor cortex in musicians. The aim of the present study was twofold: to evaluate (1) whether in piano players, reading ...notes in the bass clef (usually played with the left hand) and in the treble clef (usually played with the right hand) selectively enhances right and left M1 excitability, respectively (inter-hemispheric effect); and (2) whether reading notes played with the thumb or with the little finger selectively modulate the excitability of the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) and abductor digitorum minimi (ADM) muscles, respectively (intra-hemispheric effect). Seven pianists participated to the study. Single pulse TMS was applied to either M1 while subjects alternatively read the bass or the treble clef of five sheets music without any movements. As a baseline condition TMS was delivered during the observation of a blank pentagram. When subjects read the treble clef, the excitability of the left M1 was significantly higher compared to that recorded in the right M1. No significant differences emerged during reading of the bass clef. Moreover, motor-evoked potentials were higher in the ADM muscle regardless the note. These preliminary data support the view that music reading may induce specific inter-hemispheric modulation of the motor cortex excitability.
Super-resolution (SR) techniques make use of subpixel shifts between frames in an image sequence to yield higher resolution images. We propose an original observation model devoted to the case of ...nonisometric inter-frame motion as required, for instance, in the context of airborne imaging sensors. First, we describe how the main observation models used in the SR literature deal with motion, and we explain why they are not suited for nonisometric motion. Then, we propose an extension of the observation model by Elad and Feuer adapted to affine motion. This model is based on a decomposition of affine transforms into successive shear transforms, each one efficiently implemented by row-by-row or column-by-column one-dimensional affine transforms. We demonstrate on synthetic and real sequences that our observation model incorporated in a SR reconstruction technique leads to better results in the case of variable scale motions and it provides equivalent results in the case of isometric motions
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