Frontoparietal Hubs Leverage Probabilistic Representations and Integrated Uncertainty to Guide Cognitive Flexibility.

Unlabelled: Adaptive behavior requires integrating information from multiple sources. These sources can originate from distinct channels, such as internally maintained latent cognitive representations or externally presented sensory cues. Because these signals are often stochastic and carry inherent uncertainty, integration is challenging.

Association between Life's Crucial 9 and psoriatic arthritis in U.S. adults: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) has been closely associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Nevertheless, the connection between Life's Crucial 9 (LC9), which serves as a holistic measure of cardiovascular health (CVH), and PsA remains insufficiently studied. This research aims to explore the potential relationship between LC9 and the prevalence of PsA.

Adaptive behavior is guided by integrated representations of controlled and non-controlled information.

Understanding how task knowledge is encoded neurally is crucial for uncovering the mechanisms underlying adaptive behavior. Here, we test the theory that all task information is integrated into a conjunctive task representation by investigating whether this representation simultaneously includes two types of associations that can guide behavior: stimulus-response (non-controlled) associations and stimulus-control (controlled) associations that inform how task focus should be adjusted to achieve goal-directed behavior. We extended the classic item-specific proportion congruency paradigm to dissociate the electroencephalographic (EEG) representations of controlled and non-controlled associations.

Reward masks the learning of cognitive control demand.

Unlabelled: Cognitive control refers to a set of cognitive functions that modulate other cognitive processes to align with internal goals. Recent research has shown that cognitive control can flexibly adapt to internal and external factors such as reward, effort, and environmental demands. This suggests that learning processes track changes in these factors and drive an optimization process to determine how cognitive control should be applied in changing situations.

Decoding task representations that support generalization in hierarchical task.

Task knowledge can be encoded hierarchically such that complex tasks can be built by associating simpler tasks. This associative organization supports generalization to facilitate learning of related but novel complex tasks. To study how the brain implements generalization in hierarchical task learning, we trained human participants on two complex tasks that shared a simple task and tested them on novel complex tasks whose association could be inferred via the shared simple task.

Temporal Dynamics and Representational Consequences of the Control of Processing Conflict between Visual Working Memory and Visual Perception.

Visual working memory (WM) extensively interacts with visual perception. When information between the two processes is in conflict, cognitive control can be recruited to effectively mitigate the resultant interference. The current study investigated the neural bases of the control of conflict between visual WM and visual perception.

Cost-benefit tradeoff mediates the transition from rule-based to memory-based processing during practice.

Practice not only improves task performance but also changes task execution from rule- to memory-based processing by incorporating experiences from practice. However, how and when this change occurs is unclear. We test the hypothesis that strategy transitions in task learning can result from decision-making guided by cost-benefit analysis.

Generation of Two-Line Restorer Line with Low Chalkiness Using Knockout of through CRISPR/Cas9 Editing.

Chalkiness is an important grain quality trait in rice. , encoding a vacuolar H-translocating pyrophosphatase, is a major gene affecting both the percentage of grains with chalkiness (PGWC) and chalkiness degree (DEC) in rice. Reducing its expression can decrease both PGEC and DEC.

Task switch costs scale with dissimilarity between task rules.

Cognitive flexibility enables humans to voluntarily switch tasks. Task switching requires replacing the previously active task representation with a new one, an operation that typically results in a switch cost. Thus, understanding cognitive flexibility requires understanding how tasks are represented in the brain.

Nickel oxide nanoparticles: A new generation nanoparticles to combat bacteria Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and enhance rice plant growth.

Recently, nanotechnology is among the most promising technologies used in all areas of research. The production of metal nanoparticles using plant parts has received significant attention for its environmental friendliness and effectiveness. Therefore, we investigated the possible applications of biological synthesized nickel oxide nanoparticles (NiONPs).

Dorsolateral prefrontal activity supports a cognitive space organization of cognitive control.

Cognitive control resolves conflicts between task-relevant and -irrelevant information to enable goal-directed behavior. As conflicts can arise from different sources (e.g.

Cost-benefit Tradeoff Mediates the Rule- to Memory-based Processing Transition during Practice.

Practice not only improves task performance but also changes task execution from rule- to memory-based processing by incorporating experiences from practice. However, and this change occurs is unclear. We test the hypothesis that strategy transitions in task learning can result from decision-making guided by cost-benefit analysis.

The efficacy of wound edge protectors in reducing the post-operative surgical site infections after abdominal surgery: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical studies.

Introduction: Following abdominal surgery, surgical site infections (SSIs) are a common complication. The effectiveness of wound edge protectors in preventing SSI remains uncertain.

Aim: To determine the clinical effectiveness of a wound edge protector (WEP) in preventing surgical site infections (SSIs) after abdominal surgery.

Comparison of heavy metal pollution and ecological risk assessment in ballast tank sediments based on two applicable reference standards.

The potential risks of ballast tank sediments have garnered global attention. This study collected sediment samples from ballast tanks of four transoceanic ships and determined 27 metal(loid) s by GB 5085.6-2007 and 9 metal(loid)s by GB 18668-2002.

White matter disconnection of left multiple demand network is associated with post-lesion deficits in cognitive control.

Cognitive control modulates other cognitive functions to achieve internal goals and is important for adaptive behavior. Cognitive control is enabled by the neural computations distributed over cortical and subcortical areas. However, due to technical challenges in recording neural activity from the white matter, little is known about the anatomy of white matter tracts that coordinate the distributed neural computations that support cognitive control.

Representational integration and differentiation in the human hippocampus following goal-directed navigation.

As we learn, dynamic memory processes build structured knowledge across our experiences. Such knowledge enables the formation of internal models of the world that we use to plan, make decisions, and act. Recent theorizing posits that mnemonic mechanisms of differentiation and integration - which at one level may seem to be at odds - both contribute to the emergence of structured knowledge.

Flexible top-down control in the interaction between working memory and perception.

Successful goal-directed behavior often requires continuous sensory processing while simultaneously maintaining task-related information in working memory (WM). Although WM and perception are known to interact, little is known about how their interactions are controlled. Here, we tested the hypothesis that WM perception interactions engage two distinct modes of control - proactive and reactive - in a manner similar to classic conflict-adaptation tasks (e.

Interference and integration in hierarchical task learning.

A key feature of human task learning is shared task representation: Simple, subordinate tasks can be learned and then shared by multiple complex superordinate tasks as building blocks to facilitate task learning. An important yet unanswered question is how superordinate tasks sharing the same subordinate task affects the learning and memory of each other. Leveraging theories of associative memory, we hypothesize that shared subordinate tasks can cause both interference and facilitation between superordinate tasks.

Role of Sp1 in atherosclerosis.

Specificity protein (Sp) is a famous family of transcription factors including Sp1, Sp2 and Sp3. Sp1 is the first one of Sp family proteins to be characterized and cloned in mammalian. It has been proposed that Sp1 acts as a modulator of the expression of target gene through interacting with a series of proteins, especially with transcriptional factors, and thereby contributes to the regulation of diverse biological processes.

Action errors impair active working memory maintenance.

The ability to detect and correct action errors is paramount to safe and efficient behavior. Its underlying processes are subject of intense scientific debate. The recent adaptive orienting theory of error processing (AOT) proposes that errors trigger a cascade of processes that purportedly begins with a broad suppression of active motoric and-crucially-cognitive processes.

Encoding contexts are incidentally reinstated during competitive retrieval and track the temporal dynamics of memory interference.

The ability to remember an episode from our past is often hindered by competition from similar events. For example, if we want to remember the article a colleague recommended during the last lab meeting, we may need to resolve interference from other article recommendations from the same colleague. This study investigates if the contextual features specifying the encoding episodes are incidentally reinstated during competitive memory retrieval.

Irisin in atherosclerosis.

Irisin, a novel exercise-induced myokine, has been shown to play important roles in increasing white adipose tissue browning, regulating energy metabolism and improving insulin resistance. Growing evidence suggests a direct role for irisin in preventing atherosclerosis (AS) by inhibiting oxidative stress, improving dyslipidemia, facilitating anti-inflammation, reducing cellular damage and recovering endothelial function. In addition, some studies have noted that serum irisin levels play an essential role in cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) risk prediction, highlighting that irisin has the potential to be a useful predictive marker and therapeutic target of AS, especially in monitoring therapeutic efficacy.

Angiopoietin-like proteins in atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis, as a chronic inflammatory disease within the arterial wall, is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide due to its role in myocardial infarction, stroke and peripheral artery disease. Additional evidence is emerging that the angiopoietin-like (ANGPTL) family of proteins participate in the pathology of this disease process via endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, dyslipidemia, calcification, foam cell formation and platelet activation. This review summarizes current knowledge on the ANGPTL family of proteins in atherosclerosis related pathological processes.

Chemerin in atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis (AS), a chronic arterial disease, is characterized by endothelial dysfunction, inflammatory reactions and lipid accumulation in parallel with aberrant angiogenesis and vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation. Adipose tissue has been suggested to have an integral influence on metabolism and endocrine secretion, while there have been increasing concerns about the possible involvement of adipokines in cardiovascular diseases, including AS. Here, we focused on chemerin, an adipokine highly expressed in adipose tissue, with strong evidence of an association with inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, metabolic disorder, aberrant angiogenesis, VSMC proliferation and calcification.