Increased sensitivity to strong perturbations in a whole-brain model of LSD.

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a potent psychedelic drug, which has seen a revival in clinical and pharmacological research within recent years. Human neuroimaging studies have shown fundamental changes in brain-wide functional connectivity and an expansion of dynamical brain states, thus raising the question about a mechanistic explanation of the dynamics underlying these alterations. Here, we applied a novel perturbational approach based on a whole-brain computational model, which opens up the possibility to externally perturb different brain regions in silico and investigate differences in dynamical stability of different brain states, i.e. the dynamical response of a certain brain region to an external perturbation. After adjusting the whole-brain model parameters to reflect the dynamics of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) BOLD signals recorded under the influence of LSD or placebo, perturbations of different brain areas were simulated by either promoting or disrupting synchronization in the regarding brain region. After perturbation offset, we quantified the recovery characteristics of the brain area to its basal dynamical state with the Perturbational Integration Latency Index (PILI) and used this measure to distinguish between the two brain states. We found significant changes in dynamical complexity with consistently higher PILI values after LSD intake on a global level, which indicates a shift of the brain's global working point further away from a stable equilibrium as compared to normal conditions. On a local level, we found that the largest differences were measured within the limbic network, the visual network and the default mode network. Additionally, we found a higher variability of PILI values across different brain regions after LSD intake, indicating higher response diversity under LSD after an external perturbation. Our results provide important new insights into the brain-wide dynamical changes underlying the psychedelic state - here provoked by LSD intake - and underline possible future clinical applications of psychedelic drugs in particular psychiatric disorders.

Friends or foes? A compatibility assessment of bioeconomy-related Sustainable Development Goals for European policy coherence.

In October 2018, the European Union (EU) launched an updated bioeconomy strategy with the aim of encouraging the substitution of fossil carbon with biomass feedstock in the industry and in energy production while preserving ecosystem services. The objective of the paper is to analyse the links between the EU bioeconomy strategy and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to assess what could be the main points of synergies and tensions between bioeconomy-related SDG targets. By semantically mapping the action plan of the 2018 EU bioeconomy strategy with the SDG targets, the paper finds that the bioeconomy strategy is aligned with 53 targets distributed in 12 of the 17 SDGs. Ex-post correlation analysis on bioeconomy-related SDGs indicators for 28 EU Member States (1990-2018) shows a predominance of synergies over trade-offs. More intense synergetic past developments (positive correlations) are found among clean energies (SDG 7), recycling (SDG 11), ecosystem preservation (SDG 15) and most of all other bioeconomy-related SDGs. Negative correlations are observed between agro-biodiversity (SDG 2), domestic material consumption of biomass (SDG 8 and 12), agriculture and industrial developments (SDG 2 and SDG 9) and a wide array of bioeconomy-related SDG indicators. The hotspots of strong correlations identified might be useful in further enrichment of ex-ante simulation models. From a policy coherence perspective, a wide range of policy instruments are already in place in the EU to foster synergies and may bring co-benefits. Policies oriented at preventing trade-offs are already in place but they have not overcome the antagonisms observed in this study yet. Change in practices, technical and technological innovations and the application of circular and 'cascading principles' are the most common fields of action.

Extracting orthogonal subject- and condition-specific signatures from fMRI data using whole-brain effective connectivity.

The study of brain communication based on fMRI data is often limited because such measurements are a mixture of session-to-session variability with subject- and condition-related information. Disentangling these contributions is crucial for real-life applications, in particular when only a few recording sessions are available. The present study aims to define a reliable standard for the extraction of multiple signatures from fMRI data, while verifying that they do not mix information about the different modalities (e.g., subjects and conditions such as tasks performed by them). In particular, condition-specific signatures should not be contaminated by subject-related information, since they aim to generalize over subjects. Practically, signatures correspond to subnetworks of directed interactions between brain regions (typically 100 covering the whole brain) supporting the subject and condition identification for single fMRI sessions. The key for robust prediction is using effective connectivity instead of functional connectivity. Our method demonstrates excellent generalization capabilities for subject identification in two datasets, using only a few sessions per subject as reference. Using another dataset with resting state and movie viewing, we show that the two signatures related to subjects and tasks correspond to distinct subnetworks, which are thus topologically orthogonal. Our results set solid foundations for applications tailored to individual subjects, such as clinical diagnostic.

The dynamic imprint of word learning on the dorsal language pathway.

According to Hickok and Poeppel (2007), the acquisition of new vocabulary rests on the dorsal language pathway connecting auditory and motor areas. The present study tested this hypothesis longitudinally by measuring BOLD signal changes during a verbal repetition task and modulation of resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC) in the dorsal stream. Thirty-five healthy participants, divided into trained and control groups, completed fMRI sessions on days 1, 10, and 24. Between days 1 and 10, the trained group learned 84 new pseudowords associated with 84 native words. Task-related fMRI results showed a reduced activity in the IFG and STG while processing the learned vocabulary after training, returning to initial values two weeks later. Moreover, rs-fMRI analysis showed stronger rs-FC between the IFG and STG in the trained group than in the control group after learning, especially on day 24. These neural changes were more evident in participants with a larger vocabulary. Discussion focuses on the prominent role of the dorsal stream in vocabulary acquisition. Even when their meaning was known, newly learned words were again processed through the dorsal stream two weeks after learning, with the increase in rs-FC between auditory and motor areas being a relevant long-term imprint of vocabulary learning.

Synthesis of Functionalized 1H-Indenes and Benzofulvenes through Iodocyclization of o-(Alkynyl)styrenes.

A convenient method for the preparation of synthetically useful 3-iodoindene derivatives has been developed. This protocol, based on the 5-endo iodocyclization reaction of o-(alkynyl)styrenes, represents one of the scarce examples of halocyclizations using olefins as nucleophilic counterparts and allows the synthesis of both 3-iodo-1H-indenes (from ß-alkyl-ß-alkyl/aryl-o-(alkynyl)styrenes) and 3-iodobenzofulvenes (from ß,ß-diaryl-o-(alkynyl)styrenes) in good yields under mild reaction conditions. In addition, related alkoxyiodocyclization processes are described, which are particularly interesting in their intramolecular version because they allow the synthesis of heteropolycyclic structures containing the indene core. Finally, the usefulness of the prepared 3-iodoindenes has been demonstrated by the synthesis of several polysubstituted indene derivatives through conventional palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions and iodine-lithium exchange processes.

Bilingualism at the core of the brain. Structural differences between bilinguals and monolinguals revealed by subcortical shape analysis.

Naturally acquiring a language shapes the human brain through a long-lasting learning and practice process. This is supported by previous studies showing that managing more than one language from early childhood has an impact on brain structure and function. However, to what extent bilingual individuals present neuroanatomical peculiarities at the subcortical level with respect to monolinguals is yet not well understood, despite the key role of subcortical gray matter for a number of language functions, including monitoring of speech production and language control - two processes especially solicited by bilinguals. Here we addressed this issue by performing a subcortical surface-based analysis in a sample of monolinguals and simultaneous bilinguals (N=88) that only differed in their language experience from birth. This analysis allowed us to study with great anatomical precision the potential differences in morphology of key subcortical structures, namely, the caudate, accumbens, putamen, globus pallidus and thalamus. Vertexwise analyses revealed significantly expanded subcortical structures for bilinguals compared to monolinguals, localized in bilateral putamen and thalamus, as well as in the left globus pallidus and right caudate nucleus. A topographical interpretation of our results suggests that a more complex phonological system in bilinguals may lead to a greater development of a subcortical brain network involved in monitoring articulatory processes.

Gold(I)-catalyzed cycloisomerizations and alkoxycyclizations of ortho-(alkynyl)styrenes.

Indenes and related polycyclic structures have been efficiently synthesized by gold(I)-catalyzed cycloisomerizations of appropriate ortho-(alkynyl)styrenes. Disubstitution at the terminal position of the olefin was demonstrated to be essential to obtain products originating from a formal 5-endo-dig cyclization. Interestingly, a complete switch in the selectivity of the cyclization of o-(alkynyl)-α-methylstyrenes from 6-endo to 5-endo was observed by adding an alcohol to the reaction media. This allowed the synthesis of interesting indenes bearing an all-carbon quaternary center at C1. Moreover, dihydrobenzo[a]fluorenes can be obtained from substrates bearing a secondary alkyl group at the ß-position of the styrene moiety by a tandem cycloisomerization/1,2-hydride migration process. In addition, diverse polycyclic compounds were obtained by an intramolecular gold-catalyzed alkoxycyclization of o-(alkynyl)styrenes bearing a nucleophile in their structure. Finally, the use of a chiral gold complex allowed access to elusive chiral 1H-indenes in good enantioselectivities.

Spontaneous brain activity predicts learning ability of foreign sounds.

Can learning capacity of the human brain be predicted from initial spontaneous functional connectivity (FC) between brain areas involved in a task? We combined task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) before and after training with a Hindi dental-retroflex nonnative contrast. Previous fMRI results were replicated, demonstrating that this learning recruited the left insula/frontal operculum and the left superior parietal lobe, among other areas of the brain. Crucially, resting-state FC (rs-FC) between these two areas at pretraining predicted individual differences in learning outcomes after distributed (Experiment 1) and intensive training (Experiment 2). Furthermore, this rs-FC was reduced at posttraining, a change that may also account for learning. Finally, resting-state network analyses showed that the mechanism underlying this reduction of rs-FC was mainly a transfer in intrinsic activity of the left frontal operculum/anterior insula from the left frontoparietal network to the salience network. Thus, rs-FC may contribute to predict learning ability and to understand how learning modifies the functioning of the brain. The discovery of this correspondence between initial spontaneous brain activity in task-related areas and posttraining performance opens new avenues to find predictors of learning capacities in the brain using task-related fMRI and rs-fMRI combined.

Gold(I)-catalyzed 6-endo hydroxycyclization of 7-substituted-1,6-enynes.

The cyclization of o-(alkynyl)-3-(methylbut-2-enyl)benzenes, 1,6-enynes having a condensed aromatic ring at C3-C4 positions, has been studied under the catalysis of cationic gold(I) complexes. The selective 6-endo-dig mode of cyclization observed for the 7-substituted substrates in the presence of water or methanol giving rise to hydroxy(methoxy)-functionalized dihydronaphthalene derivatives is highly remarkable in the context of the observed reaction pathways for the cycloisomerizations of 1,6-enynes bearing a trisubstituted olefin.

Live and let live: understanding the temporal drivers and spillovers of life expectancy in Europe for public planning.

The European continent has one of the longest life expectancies in the world, but still faces a significant challenge to meet the health targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations for 2030. To improve the understanding of the rationale that guides health outcomes in Europe, this study assesses the direction and magnitude effects of the drivers that contribute to explain life expectancy at birth across 30 European countries for the period 2008-2018 at macro-level. For this purpose, an aggregated health production function is used allowing for spatial effects. The results indicate that an increase in the income level, health expenditure, trade openness, education attainment, or urbanisation might lead to an increase in life expectancy at birth, whereas calories intake or quantity of air pollutants have a negative impact on this health indicator. This implies that health policies should look beyond economic factors and focus also on social and environmental drivers. The results also indicate the existence of significant spillover effects, highlighting the need for coordinated European policies that account for the synergies between countries. Finally, a foresight analysis is conducted to obtain projections for 2030 under different socioeconomic pathways. Results reveal significant differences on longevity projections depending on the adoption, or not, of a more sustainable model of human development and provides valuable insight on the need for anticipatory planning measures to make longer life-spans compatible with the maintenance of the welfare state.

Two different brain networks underlying picture naming with familiar pre-existing native words and new vocabulary.

The present research used fMRI to longitudinally investigate the impact of learning new vocabulary on the activation pattern of the language control network by measuring BOLD signal changes during picture naming tasks with familiar pre-existing native words (old words) and new vocabulary. Nineteen healthy participants successfully learned new synonyms for already known Spanish words, and they performed a picture naming task using the old words and the new words immediately after learning and two weeks after learning. The results showed that naming with old words, compared to naming with newly learned words, produced activations in a cortical network involving frontal and parietal regions, whereas the opposite contrast showed activation in a broader cortical/subcortical network, including the SMA/ACC, the hippocampus, and the midbrain. These two networks are maintained two weeks after learning. These results suggest that the language control network can be separated into two functional circuits for diverse cognitive purposes.

Consumers' willingness to pay for beef direct sales. A regional comparison across the Pyrenees.

Willingness to pay (WTP) for direct market of beef is investigated in two Spanish and two French regions located on both sides of the Pyrenees. Given the novelty of this distribution system, especially in Spain, a contingent valuation approach is undertaken, and a double-bounded model is estimated. Different patterns of awareness, use and WTP are found across regions. Likewise, the profile of current and potential users of direct sale chains is investigated. Experience in the different stages involved from choice to final consumption of beef, intensity of varied beef consumption, familiarity with direct market of food in general, and beef in particular, are some of the relevant factors to explain WTP and the probability of getting engaged into a direct distribution system of beef.

The Effect of Right Temporal Lobe Gliomas on Left and Right Hemisphere Neural Processing During Speech Perception and Production Tasks.

Using fMRI, we investigated how right temporal lobe gliomas affecting the posterior superior temporal sulcus alter neural processing observed during speech perception and production tasks. Behavioural language testing showed that three pre-operative neurosurgical patients with grade 2, grade 3 or grade 4 tumours had the same pattern of mild language impairment in the domains of object naming and written word comprehension. When matching heard words for semantic relatedness (a speech perception task), these patients showed under-activation in the tumour infiltrated right superior temporal lobe compared to 61 neurotypical participants and 16 patients with tumours that preserved the right postero-superior temporal lobe, with enhanced activation within the (tumour-free) contralateral left superior temporal lobe. In contrast, when correctly naming objects (a speech production task), the patients with right postero-superior temporal lobe tumours showed higher activation than both control groups in the same right postero-superior temporal lobe region that was under-activated during auditory semantic matching. The task dependent pattern of under-activation during the auditory speech task and over-activation during object naming was also observed in eight stroke patients with right hemisphere infarcts that affected the right postero-superior temporal lobe compared to eight stroke patients with right hemisphere infarcts that spared it. These task-specific and site-specific cross-pathology effects highlight the importance of the right temporal lobe for language processing and motivate further study of how right temporal lobe tumours affect language performance and neural reorganisation. These findings may have important implications for surgical management of these patients, as knowledge of the regions showing functional reorganisation may help to avoid their inadvertent damage during neurosurgery.

Influence of ethnocentrism and neo-phobia on ethnic food consumption in Spain.

Over the last decade, a strong upsurge in Spanish immigration has fostered a thriving ethnic food market. To examine indigenous consumer predilections toward ethnic foods, a carefully designed choice experiment is employed, with particular focus on ethnocentricity and food neo-phobia traits on potential purchase decisions. Employing a two level nested logit model, consumers choose to accept/reject ethnic foods, with a positive response met by a further series of different ethnic cuisine and consumption scenario alternatives. Bivariate tests reveal that higher ethnocentric and neo-phobic segments possess common socio-demographic characteristics, whilst neo-phobia plays a significantly stronger role in determining the probability of rejection. Further tests reveal culturally similar Mexican food as the preferred ethnic food across all consumption scenarios. Moreover, the 'restaurant' is the favoured format of consumption, whilst there is evidence of a strong association between specific ethnic food types and consumption formats. The implications of our research suggest that in the short to medium turn, price is a strong strategic variable, whilst marketing strategies must successfully isolate and exploit specific 'ethnic food/consumption scenario' mixes. Finally, stronger messages emphasizing quality and convenience factors are seen as key to bolstering the underrepresented 'home preparation' ethnic food market in Spain.

The sentence verification task: a reliable fMRI protocol for mapping receptive language in individual subjects.

OBJECTIVE: To test the capacity of a sentence verification (SV) task to reliably activate receptive language areas. Presurgical evaluation of language is useful in predicting postsurgical deficits in patients who are candidates for neurosurgery. Productive language tasks have been successfully elaborated, but more conflicting results have been found in receptive language mapping. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-two right-handed healthy controls made true-false semantic judgements of brief sentences presented auditorily. RESULTS: Group maps showed reliable functional activations in the frontal and temporoparietal language areas. At the individual level, the SV task showed activation located in receptive language areas in 100% of the participants with strong left-sided distributions (mean lateralisation index of 69.27). CONCLUSION: The SV task can be considered a useful tool in evaluating receptive language function in individual subjects. This study is a first step towards designing the fMRI task which may serve to presurgically map receptive language functions.

Synthesis of regioselectively functionalized benzo[b]thiophenes by combined ortho-lithiation-halocyclization strategies.

An efficient synthesis of 3-halo-7-oxygen-functionalized benzo[b]thiophenes bearing different substituents at C-2 has been developed from N,N-diethyl O-3-halophenylcarbamates. The key steps are an ortho-lithiation reaction, which gives rise to 3-halo-2-sulfanylphenol derivatives, and a electrophilic cyclization. The subsequent functionalization of the prepared halobenzothiophenes allows the access of a wide variety of 2,3,7-regioselectively functionalized benzo[b]thiophenes in good overall yields.

Comparison of two fMRI tasks for the evaluation of the expressive language function.

INTRODUCTION: Presurgical evaluation of language is important in patients who are candidates for neurosurgery since language decline is a frequent complication after an operation. Different functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tasks, such as the verb generation task (VGT) and the verbal fluency task (VFT) have been employed. Our objective was to compare how effective these tasks are at evaluating language functioning in controls (study 1) and patients (study 2). METHODS: Eighteen controls and 58 patient candidates for neurosurgery (16 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and 42 patients with brain lesions: 11 astrocytomas, six cavernomas, 14 gliomas, four AVM and seven meningiomas) were recruited in order to compare the activation patterns of language areas as determined by the VGT and VFT. RESULTS: In both samples, the VGT produced a more specific activation of left Broca's area. In contrast, the VFT yielded a wider and more intense activation of the left Broca's area in controls, as well as other activations in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the striatum. Additionally, both studies showed good agreement on language dominance derived from the tasks, although there was some variability in laterality index scores. CONCLUSIONS: Both language tasks are useful in evaluation of expressive language. The VGT is a more specific task, while the VFT is more unspecific but activates language-related areas that are not found with the VGT owing to its phonological component. Therefore, each task contributes to the lateralisation and localisation of expressive language areas with complementary information. The advisability of combining tasks to improve fMRI presurgical evaluation is confirmed.

Heteroaromatic Polyamides with Improved Thermal and Mechanical Properties.

We prepared high-performance aromatic copolyamides, containing bithiazole and thiazolo-thiazole groups in their main chain, from aromatic diamines and isophthaloyl chloride, to further improve the prominent thermal behavior and exceptional mechanical properties of commercial aramid fibers. The introduction of these groups leads to aramids with improved strength and moduli compared to commercial meta-oriented aromatic polyamides, together with an increase of their thermal performance. Moreover, their solubility, water uptake, and optical properties were evaluated in this work.

Characterizing the Dynamical Complexity Underlying Meditation.

Over the past 2,500 years, contemplative traditions have explored the nature of the mind using meditation. More recently, neuroimaging research on meditation has revealed differences in brain function and structure in meditators. Nevertheless, the underlying neural mechanisms are still unclear. In order to understand how meditation shapes global activity through the brain, we investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics across the whole-brain functional network using the Intrinsic Ignition Framework. Recent neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that different states of consciousness differ in their underlying dynamical complexity, i.e., how the broadness of communication is elicited and distributed through the brain over time and space. In this work, controls and experienced meditators were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during resting-state and meditation (focused attention on breathing). Our results evidenced that the dynamical complexity underlying meditation shows less complexity than during resting-state in the meditator group but not in the control group. Furthermore, we report that during resting-state, the brain activity of experienced meditators showed higher metastability (i.e., a wider dynamical regime over time) than the one observed in the control group. Overall, these results indicate that the meditation state operates in a different dynamical regime compared to the resting-state.

Traces of statistical learning in the brain's functional connectivity after artificial language exposure.

Our environment is full of statistical regularities, and we are attuned to learn about these regularities by employing Statistical Learning (SL), a domain-general ability that enables the implicit detection of probabilistic regularities in our surrounding environment. The role of brain connectivity on SL has been previously explored, highlighting the relevance of structural and functional connections between frontal, parietal, and temporal cortices. However, whether SL can induce changes in the functional connections of the resting state brain has yet to be investigated. To address this question, we applied a pre-post design where participants (n = 38) were submitted to resting-state fMRI acquisition before and after in-scanner exposure to either an artificial language stream (formed by 4 concatenated words) or a random audio stream. Our results showed that exposure to an artificial language stream significantly changed (corrected p < 0.05) the functional connectivity between Right Posterior Cingulum and Left Superior Parietal Lobule. This suggests that functional connectivity between brain networks supporting attentional and working memory processes may play an important role in statistical learning.