Community-based Research and Technoscience Activism: A Report on the Living Knowledge 3 Conference

New medical imaging technologies enable the production of photos of human cells that are magnified to make them visible to the eye. Such cellular images have gained aesthetic as well as dramatic appeal, as they have moved out of the laboratories and become available for the public. At this stage, they are refashioned to reveal matters more clearly and pedagogically. Organic matter that might be confusing to the audience is removed and colours added to distinguish various aspects—but despite such manipulations, the result appears as images of real human cells, making them different from drawings and models. One example of this is the website of a Norwegian governmental organization for information on biotechnology and bioethics which displays images of egg and sperm cells related to techniques of assisted reproduction. These images represent cells as autonomous and independent of human gendered bodies. The process whereby cells culturally become detached and disassociated from human bodies is here referred to as a process of entification whereby the cells reappear as detachable, usable entities.     

Functional cerebral changes in multiple sclerosis patients during an autobiographical memory test

Our aim was to investigate the functional underpinnings of autobiographical memory (AM) impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. To that end, 18 patients and 18 controls underwent the autobiographical interview (AI). Subsequently, the 36 participants underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session designed to assess the construction and elaboration of AMs. A categorical control task was also presented. Patients were trained in the fMRI procedure to optimise the procedural aspects accompanying the task itself. Although the patients obtained significantly poorer AI scores (p < .001), their performance on the easier AM fMRI task was efficiently carried out, allowing relevant comparisons with healthy controls. Relatively to healthy controls, the patients showed increased and bilateral cerebral activations (p < .005) during the construction and elaboration phases. The prefrontal, temporal and posterior cerebral region activations were located within the core network sustaining AM, with the bilateral prefrontal region being centrally involved. The parametric neural responses to the difficulty of access and amount of details of memories were also significantly different for the two groups, with the right hippocampal region showing a particularly increased recruitment (p < .005). The findings suggested the presence of functional cerebral changes during AM performance and supported the presence of AM retrieval deficit in MS patients.     

Ab initio study of Heusler alloys Co2XY (X = Cr,Mn, Fe; Y = Al,Ga) under high pressure

The structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of ferromagnetic Heusler alloys Co₂XY (X?=?Cr, Mn, Fe; Y?=?Al, Ga) have been investigated by means of the all-electron full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method within the generalized gradient approximation for the exchange and correlation potential. The main focus of this study is to elaborate the changes brought about in the electronic and the magnetic properties by applied pressure. The calculated total spin magnetic moments of all the compounds are found to be in good agreement with experiments. Out of these compounds, Co₂CrAl is found to be perfectly half-metallic (HM) and the other compounds are found to be nearly HM. Thus the HM to metal transition was observed at 75?GPa pressure for Co₂CrAl and the nearly half-metal to half-metal transition was observed at 40?GPa and 18?GPa for Co₂CrGa and Co₂MnAl, respectively, while no transition is observed in other compounds under investigation. It can be clearly seen that pressure affects the minority spin states rather than the majority states, leading to a slight reconstruction of the minority spin states with a shift in the Fermi level driving the above-mentioned transition.     

诺贝尔生理学或医学奖中的“四大利器”

生物医学原理与高科技结合诞生了心电图仪、CT扫描仪、核磁共振成像及膜片钳等四个仪器,它们还登上了诺贝尔生理学或医学奖的宝座.这些仪器将科学技术通过发明的途径物化成生产工具,对人类进步做出了巨大贡献,犹如开路“利器”,对人类文明的历史产生了深远的影响.挖掘四大“利器”研发历程中的重大进展,对未来相关研究在科学思维层面提供了极好的哲学理念和探索启示.仪器获奖的意义在于将科学仪器赋予人类的强大力量在一定程度上转化为能够按照人类自己的目的和方式去设计和建设自己的未来.     

fMRI responses to Jung's Word Association Test: implications for theory,treatment and research

Jung's Word Association Test was performed under fMRI conditions by 12 normal subjects. Pooled complexed responses were contrasted against pooled neutral ones. The fMRI activation pattern of this generic ‘complexed response’ was very strong (corrected Z scores ranging from 4.90 to 5.69). The activation pattern in each hemisphere includes mirror neurone areas that track ‘otherness’ (perspectival empathy), anterior insula (both self‐awareness and emotional empathy), and cingulated gyrus (self‐awareness and conflict‐monitoring). These are the sites described by Siegel and colleagues as the ‘resonance circuitry’ in the brain which is central to mindfulness (awareness of self) and empathy (sense of the other), negotiations between self awareness and the ‘internal other’. But there is also an interhemispheric dialogue. Within 3 seconds, the left hemisphere over‐rides the right (at least in our normal subjects). Mindfulness and empathy are central to good psychotherapy, and complexes can be windows of opportunity if left‐brain hegemony is resisted. This study sets foundations for further research: (i) QEEG studies (with their finer temporal resolution) of complexed responses in normal subjects (ii) QEEG and fMRI studies of complexed responses in other conditions, like schizophrenia, PTSD, disorders of self organization.     

Neuronal correlates of decisions to speak and act: Spontaneous emergence and dynamic topographies in a computational model of frontal and temporal areas

The neural mechanisms underlying the spontaneous, stimulus-independent emergence of intentions and decisions to act are poorly understood. Using a neurobiologically realistic model of frontal and temporal areas of the brain, we simulated the learning of perception–action circuits for speech and hand-related actions and subsequently observed their spontaneous behaviour. Noise-driven accumulation of reverberant activity in these circuits leads to their spontaneous ignition and partial-to-full activation, which we interpret, respectively, as model correlates of action intention emergence and action decision-and-execution. Importantly, activity emerged first in higher-association prefrontal and temporal cortices, subsequently spreading to secondary and finally primary sensorimotor model-areas, hence reproducing the dynamics of cortical correlates of voluntary action revealed by readiness-potential and verb-generation experiments. This model for the first time explains the cortical origins and topography of endogenous action decisions, and the natural emergence of functional specialisation in the cortex, as mechanistic consequences of neurobiological principles, anatomical structure and sensorimotor experience.     

浅谈现代医学模式在影像诊断实践中的应用

医学模式由传统的生物型向生物心理社会医学模式转变需要全社会共同努力,影像诊断虽然＂见病不见病人＂,但通过影像诊断报告同样会向患者传递出对他们健康、疾病诊疗的指导和人文关怀,并能在化解医疗纠纷改善医患关系方面起到关键作用.因此影像诊断同样需要现代医学模式的指导,达到这一目标的必要途径,就要树立＂以人为中心＂的医学理念,把病人作为一个统一整体来考虑疾病的诊断,同时影像与临床资料相联系;加强影像报告的书写,描述既要客观,又要有目的性,结论尽量明晰,措词准确,通过字里行间的表达增加医患之间的信任.     

基于坐标的脑成像元分析方法:激活似然性评估

随着脑成像研究数量的增长,研究者迫切需要一种能够将众多研究进行整合的元分析方法。本文在简单回顾了以往脑成像元分析方法的基础上,介绍了激活似然性评估法(ALE)的操作实施、优势特征、更新完善,以及其发展与应用。该元分析方法将每一个激活的坐标看作一种分布的可能性,通过特定的算法与拟合获得激活似然值,最后,将不同文献汇聚计算而来的ALE值与虚无分布获得的ALE值进行对比,以确定激活的可能性分布。近十年来,激活似然性评估法几经修正,已被广泛运用于各领域元分析的研究中。     

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation induced slow wave activity modification: A possible role in disorder of consciousness differential diagnosis?

Slow wave activity (SWA) generation depends on cortico–thalamo-cortical loops that are disrupted in patients with chronic Disorders of Consciousness (DOC), including the Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS) and the Minimally Conscious State (MCS). We hypothesized that the modulation of SWA by means of a repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) could reveal residual patterns of connectivity, thus supporting the DOC clinical differential diagnosis. We enrolled 10 DOC individuals who underwent a 24 hh polysomnography followed by a real or sham 5 Hz-rTMS over left primary motor area, and a second polysomnographic recording. A preserved sleep-wake cycle, a standard temporal progression of sleep stages, and a SWA perturbation were found in all of the MCS patients and in none of the UWS individuals, only following the real-rTMS. In conclusion, our combined approach may improve the differential diagnosis between MCS patients, who show a partial preservation of cortical plasticity, and UWS individuals, who lack such properties.     

脑成像技术在脑卒中临床应用中的伦理问题探讨

脑成像技术作为神经科学技术的前沿,为临床诊治评价提供新的视角,其带来的伦理问题涉及到生命伦理学、哲学、认知科学、认知心理学、生理学和神经生物学等多学科交叉融合的问题。阐述脑成像技术在脑卒中的临床应用,从医学伦理学角度探讨神经影像学及神经电生理学等脑成像技术在脑卒中患者临床应用中面临的知情同意、隐私信息、临床数据安全等系列伦理学问题及其解决举措,以期为后续研究提供借鉴与参考。