Redefining ALS: Large-scale proteomic profiling reveals a prolonged pre-diagnostic phase with immune, muscular, metabolic, and brain involvement.

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder with a largely unknown duration and pathophysiology of the pre-diagnostic phase, especially for the common non-monogenic form.

Methods: We leveraged the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort with up to 30 years of follow-up to identify incident ALS cases across five European countries. Pre-diagnostic plasma samples from initially healthy participants underwent high-throughput proteomic profiling (7,285 protein markers, SomaScan).

Cortical responses to tactile imagery: a high-density EEG study of the μ-rhythm event-related desynchronization and somatosensory evoked potentials.

Tactile imagery (TI) engages somatosensory cortices in both hemispheres, along with widespread brain regions associated with the imagery process itself. Actively simulating touch can influence the processing of actual tactile stimuli, as reflected by modulations in somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) components. This study uses high-density electroencephalography (EEG) and sLORETA-based source localization to analyse cortical sources of SEPs components susceptible to active skin sensations imagery.

Anillin mediates unilateral furrowing during cytokinesis by limiting RhoA binding to its effectors.

During unilateral furrow ingression, one side of the cytokinetic ring (leading edge) ingresses before the opposite side (lagging edge). Anillin mediates unilateral furrowing during cytokinesis in the one-cell C. elegans zygote by limiting myosin II accumulation in the ring.

Deep Visual Proteomics maps proteotoxicity in a genetic liver disease.

Protein misfolding diseases, including α1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), pose substantial health challenges, with their cellular progression still poorly understood. We use spatial proteomics by mass spectrometry and machine learning to map AATD in human liver tissue. Combining Deep Visual Proteomics (DVP) with single-cell analysis, we probe intact patient biopsies to resolve molecular events during hepatocyte stress in pseudotime across fibrosis stages.

From Bones to Bugs: Structure-Based Development of Raloxifene-Derived Pathoblockers That Inhibit Pyocyanin Production in .

The human pathogen is particularly notorious for its multiple resistance mechanisms. A new concept for anti-infectives is the "pathoblocker" approach, which targets virulence factors to disarm rather than kill pathogens and thus attenuates the development of resistance. Based on the estrogen receptor modulator raloxifene, which had previously been identified as a potential biosynthesis inhibitor of the virulence factor pyocyanin screening, analogues have been developed as pathoblockers against .

Corrigendum: Dazzled by the mystery of mentalism: the cognitive neuroscience of mental athletes.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.

The Effect of Biocontamination on Mechanical Strength and Moisture Transfer Performance of Epoxy Basalt Fiber Reinforcement Bar Exposed to Arctic Conditions.

This study involved the exposure of epoxy-coated basalt-plastic rebars, with diameters of 6 and 8 mm, to the open climate conditions of Yakutsk and Tiksi, located in the Arctic region of Russia. The exposure duration was 54 months. Basalt-plastic rebars were tested both untreated and after contamination with a set of neutral microorganisms resilient to cold climates, including spore-forming bacteria from the genus , and mold fungi from the genera .

Features of the interaction of 5-[4'-(6″-aminopurin-2″-yl)phenyl]-10,15,20-tri(N-methylpyridin-3'-yl)-porphyrin with nucleic acids.

Directed synthesis of novel water-soluble asymmetric porphyrins containing in a molecule three cationic fragments and residues of adenine (PorAD) was performed, using metal-complex catalysis method. The interaction of the synthesized porphyrin with the oligonucleotides poly[d(AT)2] and poly[d(GC)2] and double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid of the calf thymus (ctDNA) was studied by means of spectral and hydrodynamic methods. It was established that PorAD intercalated not only into GC-enriched regions, but also into AT regions.

Tactile imagery affects cortical responses to vibrotactile stimulation of the fingertip.

Mental imagery is a crucial cognitive process, yet its underlying neural mechanisms remain less understood compared to perception. Furthermore, within the realm of mental imagery, the somatosensory domain is particularly underexplored compared to other sensory modalities. This study aims to investigate the influence of tactile imagery (TI) on cortical somatosensory processing.

Olfactory neurofeedback: current state and possibilities for further development.

This perspective considers the novel concept of olfactory neurofeedback (O-NFB) within the framework of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), where olfactory stimuli are integrated in various BCI control loops. In particular, electroencephalography (EEG)-based O-NFB systems are capable of incorporating different components of complex olfactory processing - from simple discrimination tasks to using olfactory stimuli for rehabilitation of neurological disorders. In our own work, EEG theta and alpha rhythms were probed as control variables for O-NFB.

Restoration of natural somatic sensations to the amputees: finding the right combination of neurostimulation methods.

Unlabelled: Limb amputation results in such devastating consequences as loss of motor and sensory functions and phantom limb pain (PLP). Neurostimulation-based approaches have been developed to treat this condition, which provide artificial somatosensory feedback such as peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS), spinal cord stimulation (SCS), and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). Yet, the effectiveness of different neurostimulation methods has been rarely tested in the same participants.

Size Effects in Climatic Aging of Epoxy Basalt Fiber Reinforcement Bar.

The purpose of this study was to obtain information on the influence of the size factor on the climatic aging of circular fiber plastics produced by pultrusion. The kinetics of moisture transfer was obtained in humidification and drying modes at 60 °C in samples of epoxy basalt fiber reinforcement bars: after 28 months of exposure in the extremely cold climate of Yakutsk and 30 months of exposure in the moderately warm climate of Gelendzhik. It was shown that the 2D Langmuir model adequately describes the kinetics.

Tactile versus motor imagery: differences in corticospinal excitability assessed with single-pulse TMS.

Tactile Imagery (TI) remains a fairly understudied phenomenon despite growing attention to this topic in recent years. Here, we investigated the effects of TI on corticospinal excitability by measuring motor evoked potentials (MEPs) induced by single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The effects of TI were compared with those of tactile stimulation (TS) and kinesthetic motor imagery (kMI).

The Initial Stage of Climatic Aging of Basalt-Reinforced and Glass-Reinforced Plastics in Extremely Cold Climates: Regularities.

Detailed analyses of the reasons for changes in the mechanical parameters of fiberglass exposed to different climatic zones have been made available in the literature; however, such detailed studies of basalt plastic do not yet exist. It is possible to make reasonable conclusions on the climatic resistance of reinforced plastics by monitoring the deformation-strength characteristics in combination with fractographic and DMA analyses of the solar- and shadow-exposed parts of the plastics; additionally, one can conduct analyses of the IR spectrum and the moisture sorbtion kinetics. As a starting point for the climatic aging of polymer composite materials, it is necessary to accept the time of exposure in which the maximum values of the elastic strength properties of polymeric materials are achieved.

Efficacy of federated learning on genomic data: a study on the UK Biobank and the 1000 Genomes Project.

Combining training data from multiple sources increases sample size and reduces confounding, leading to more accurate and less biased machine learning models. In healthcare, however, direct pooling of data is often not allowed by data custodians who are accountable for minimizing the exposure of sensitive information. Federated learning offers a promising solution to this problem by training a model in a decentralized manner thus reducing the risks of data leakage.

Resting-state EEG recorded with gel-based vs. consumer dry electrodes: spectral characteristics and across-device correlations.

Introduction: Recordings of electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms and their analyses have been instrumental in basic neuroscience, clinical diagnostics, and the field of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). While in the past such measurements have been conducted mostly in laboratory settings, recent advancements in dry electrode technology pave way to a broader range of consumer and medical application because of their greater convenience compared to gel-based electrodes.

Methods: Here we conducted resting-state EEG recordings in two groups of healthy participants using three dry-electrode devices, the PSBD Headband, the PSBD Headphones and the Muse Headband, and one standard gel electrode-based system, the NVX.

Neuronal travelling waves explain rotational dynamics in experimental datasets and modelling.

Spatiotemporal properties of neuronal population activity in cortical motor areas have been subjects of experimental and theoretical investigations, generating numerous interpretations regarding mechanisms for preparing and executing limb movements. Two competing models, representational and dynamical, strive to explain the relationship between movement parameters and neuronal activity. A dynamical model uses the jPCA method that holistically characterizes oscillatory activity in neuron populations by maximizing the data rotational dynamics.

Modulations in high-density EEG during the suppression of phantom-limb pain with neurostimulation in upper limb amputees.

Phantom limb pain (PLP) is a distressing and persistent sensation that occurs after the amputation of a limb. While medication-based treatments have limitations and adverse effects, neurostimulation is a promising alternative approach whose mechanism of action needs research, including electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings for the assessment of cortical manifestation of PLP relieving effects. Here we collected and analyzed high-density EEG data in 3 patients (P01, P02, and P03).

Communities in C. elegans connectome through the prism of non-backtracking walks.

The fundamental relationship between the mesoscopic structure of neuronal circuits and organismic functions they subserve is one of the major challenges in contemporary neuroscience. Formation of structurally connected modules of neurons enacts the conversion from single-cell firing to large-scale behaviour of an organism, highlighting the importance of their accurate profiling in the data. While connectomes are typically characterized by significant sparsity of neuronal connections, recent advances in network theory and machine learning have revealed fundamental limitations of traditionally used community detection approaches in cases where the network is sparse.

Motor cortex activation during visuomotor transformations: evoked potentials during overt and imagined movements.

Despite the prevalence of visuomotor transformations in our motor skills, their mechanisms remain incompletely understood, especially when imagery actions are considered such as mentally picking up a cup or pressing a button. Here, we used a stimulus-response task to directly compare the visuomotor transformation underlying overt and imagined button presses. Electroencephalographic activity was recorded while participants responded to highlights of the target button while ignoring the second, non-target button.

An olfactory-based Brain-Computer Interface: electroencephalography changes during odor perception and discrimination.

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) are devices designed for establishing communication between the central nervous system and a computer. The communication can occur through different sensory modalities, and most commonly visual and auditory modalities are used. Here we propose that BCIs can be expanded by the incorporation of olfaction and discuss the potential applications of such olfactory BCIs.