Brain fingerprinting field study on major, terrorist crimes supports the brain fingerprinting scientific standards hypothesis: classification concealed information test with P300 and P300-MERMER succeeds; comparison CIT fails.

We conducted (I) 18 event-related potential (ERP) field tests to detect concealed information regarding major terrorist crimes and other real-world crimes and (II) 5 ERP tests regarding participation in a classified counterterrorism operation. This study is a test of the brain fingerprinting scientific standards hypothesis: that a specific set of methods for event-related potential (ERP) concealed information tests (CIT) known as the brain fingerprinting scientific standards provide the sufficient conditions to produce less than 1% error rate and greater than 95% median statistical confidence for individual determinations of whether the tested information is stored in each subject's brain. All previous published results in all laboratories are compatible with this hypothesis. We recorded P300 and P300-MERMER ERP responses to visual text stimuli of three types: targets contain known information, irrelevants contain unknown/irrelevant information, and probes contain the situation-relevant information to be tested, known only to the perpetrator and investigators. Classification CIT produced significantly better results than comparison CIT, independent of classification criteria. Classification CIT had 0% error rate; comparison CIT had 6% error rate. As in previous studies, classification-CIT median statistical confidences were approximately 99%, whereas comparison CIT statistical confidences were no better than chance for information-absent (IA) subjects (who did not know the tested information). Over half of the comparison-CIT IA determinations were invalid due to a less-than-chance computed probability of being correct. Experiment (I) results for median statistical confidence: Classification CIT, IA subjects: 98.6%; information-present (IP) subjects (who know the tested information): 99.9%; comparison CIT, IA subjects: 48.7%; IP subjects: 99.5%. Experiment (II) results (Classification CIT): error rate 0%, median statistical confidence 96.6%. Countermeasures had no effect on the classification CIT. These results, like all previous results in our laboratory and all others, support the brain fingerprinting scientific standards hypothesis and indicate that the classification CIT is a necessary condition for a reliable, accurate, and valid brainwave-based CIT. The comparison CIT, by contrast, produces high error rates and IA statistical confidences no better than chance. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11571-022-09795-1.

Unpredictable movement as an anti-predator strategy.

Prey animals have evolved a wide variety of behaviours to combat the threat of predation, and these have been generally well studied. However, one of the most common and taxonomically widespread antipredator behaviours of all has, remarkably, received almost no experimental attention: so-called 'protean' behaviour. This is behaviour that is sufficiently unpredictable to prevent a predator anticipating in detail the future position or actions of its prey. In this study, we used human 'predators' participating in 3D virtual reality simulations to test how protean (i.e. unpredictable) variation in prey movement affects participants' ability to visually target them as they move (a key determinant of successful predation). We found that targeting accuracy was significantly predicted by prey movement path complexity, although, surprisingly, there was little evidence that high levels of unpredictability in the underlying movement rules equated directly to decreased predator performance. Instead, the specific movement rules differed in how they impacted on targeting accuracy, with the efficacy of protean variation in one element depending on the values of the remaining elements. These findings provide important insights into the understudied phenomenon of protean antipredator behaviour, which are directly applicable to predator-prey dynamics within a broad range of taxa.

Investigating Head Movements Induced by 'Riloid' Patterns in Migraine and Control Groups Using a Virtual Reality Display.

Certain striped patterns can induce illusory motion, such as those used in op-art. The visual system and the vestibular system work together closely, and so it is possible that illusory motion from a visual stimulus can result in uncertainty in the vestibular system. This increased uncertainty may be measureable in terms of the magnitude of head movements. Head movements were measured using a head-mounted visual display. Results showed that stimuli associated with illusory motion also seem to induce greater head movements when compared to similar stimuli. Individuals with migraine are more susceptible to visual discomfort, and this includes illusory motion from striped stimuli. However, there was no evidence of increased effect of illusory motion on those with migraine compared to those without, suggesting that while motion illusions may affect discomfort judgements, this is not limited to only those with migraine.

Does FACS perturb gene expression?

Fluorescence activated cell sorting is the technique most commonly used to separate primary mammary epithelial sub-populations. Many studies incorporate this technique before analyzing gene expression within specific cellular lineages. However, to our knowledge, no one has examined the effects of fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) separation on short-term transcriptional profiles. In this study, we isolated a heterogeneous mixture of cells from the mouse mammary gland. To determine the effects of the isolation and separation process on gene expression, we harvested RNA from the cells before enzymatic digestion, following enzymatic digestion, and following a mock FACS sort where the entire cohort of cells was retained. A strict protocol was followed to minimize disruption to the cells, and to ensure that no subpopulations were enriched or lost. Microarray analysis demonstrated that FACS causes minimal disruptions to gene expression patterns, but prior steps in the mammary cell isolation process are followed by upregulation of 18 miRNA's and rapid decreases in their predicted target transcripts. © 2015 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Epithelial homeostasis.

Epithelia form intelligent, dynamic barriers between the external environment and an organism's interior. Intercellular cadherin-based adhesions adapt and respond to mechanical forces and cell density, while tight junctions flexibly control diffusion both within the plasma membrane and between adjacent cells. Epithelial integrity and homeostasis are of central importance to survival, and mechanisms have evolved to ensure these processes are maintained during growth and in response to damage. For instance, cell competition surveys the fitness of cells within epithelia and removes the less fit; extrusion or delamination can remove apoptotic or defective cells from the epithelial sheet and can restore homeostasis when an epithelial layer becomes too crowded; spindle orientation ensures two-dimensional growth in simple epithelia and controls stratification in complex epithelia; and transition to a mesenchymal phenotype enables active escape from an epithelial layer. This review will discuss these various mechanisms and consider how they are subverted in disease.

Brain fingerprinting classification concealed information test detects US Navy military medical information with P300.

A classification concealed information test (CIT) used the "brain fingerprinting" method of applying P300 event-related potential (ERP) in detecting information that is (1) acquired in real life and (2) unique to US Navy experts in military medicine. Military medicine experts and non-experts were asked to push buttons in response to three types of text stimuli. Targets contain known information relevant to military medicine, are identified to subjects as relevant, and require pushing one button. Subjects are told to push another button to all other stimuli. Probes contain concealed information relevant to military medicine, and are not identified to subjects. Irrelevants contain equally plausible, but incorrect/irrelevant information. Error rate was 0%. Median and mean statistical confidences for individual determinations were 99.9% with no indeterminates (results lacking sufficiently high statistical confidence to be classified). We compared error rate and statistical confidence for determinations of both information present and information absent produced by classification CIT (Is a probe ERP more similar to a target or to an irrelevant ERP?) vs. comparison CIT (Does a probe produce a larger ERP than an irrelevant?) using P300 plus the late negative component (LNP; together, P300-MERMER). Comparison CIT produced a significantly higher error rate (20%) and lower statistical confidences: mean 67%; information-absent mean was 28.9%, less than chance (50%). We compared analysis using P300 alone with the P300 + LNP. P300 alone produced the same 0% error rate but significantly lower statistical confidences. These findings add to the evidence that the brain fingerprinting methods as described here provide sufficient conditions to produce less than 1% error rate and greater than 95% median statistical confidence in a CIT on information obtained in the course of real life that is characteristic of individuals with specific training, expertise, or organizational affiliation.

Brain fingerprinting field studies comparing P300-MERMER and P300 brainwave responses in the detection of concealed information.

Brain fingerprinting detects concealed information stored in the brain by measuring brainwave responses. We compared P300 and P300-MERMER event-related brain potentials for error rate/accuracy and statistical confidence in four field/real-life studies. 76 tests detected presence or absence of information regarding (1) real-life events including felony crimes; (2) real crimes with substantial consequences (either a judicial outcome, i.e., evidence admitted in court, or a $100,000 reward for beating the test); (3) knowledge unique to FBI agents; and (4) knowledge unique to explosives (EOD/IED) experts. With both P300 and P300-MERMER, error rate was 0 %: determinations were 100 % accurate, no false negatives or false positives; also no indeterminates. Countermeasures had no effect. Median statistical confidence for determinations was 99.9 % with P300-MERMER and 99.6 % with P300. Brain fingerprinting methods and scientific standards for laboratory and field applications are discussed. Major differences in methods that produce different results are identified. Markedly different methods in other studies have produced over 10 times higher error rates and markedly lower statistical confidences than those of these, our previous studies, and independent replications. Data support the hypothesis that accuracy, reliability, and validity depend on following the brain fingerprinting scientific standards outlined herein.

Influenza-infected neutrophils within the infected lungs act as antigen presenting cells for anti-viral CD8(+) T cells.

Influenza A virus (IAV) is a leading cause of respiratory tract disease worldwide. Anti-viral CD8(+) T lymphocytes responding to IAV infection are believed to eliminate virally infected cells by direct cytolysis but may also contribute to pulmonary inflammation and tissue damage via the release of pro-inflammatory mediators following recognition of viral antigen displaying cells. We have previously demonstrated that IAV antigen expressing inflammatory cells of hematopoietic origin within the infected lung interstitium serve as antigen presenting cells (APC) for infiltrating effector CD8(+) T lymphocytes; however, the spectrum of inflammatory cell types capable of serving as APC was not determined. Here, we demonstrate that viral antigen displaying neutrophils infiltrating the IAV infected lungs are an important cell type capable of acting as APC for effector CD8(+) T lymphocytes in the infected lungs and that neutrophils expressing viral antigen as a result of direct infection by IAV exhibit the most potent APC activity. Our findings suggest that in addition to their suggested role in induction of the innate immune responses to IAV, virus clearance, and the development of pulmonary injury, neutrophils can serve as APCs to anti-viral effector CD8(+) T cells within the infected lung interstitium.

An examination of aspartate decarboxylase and glutamate decarboxylase activity in mosquitoes.

A major pathway of beta-alanine synthesis in insects is through the alpha-decarboxylation of aspartate, but the enzyme involved in the decarboxylation of aspartate has not been clearly defined in mosquitoes and characterized in any insect species. In this study, we expressed two putative mosquito glutamate decarboxylase-like enzymes of mosquitoes and critically analyzed their substrate specificity and biochemical properties. Our results provide clear biochemical evidence establishing that one of them is an aspartate decarboxylase and the other is a glutamate decarboxylase. The mosquito aspartate decarboxylase functions exclusively on the production of beta-alanine with no activity with glutamate. Likewise the mosquito glutamate decarboxylase is highly specific to glutamate with essentially no activity with aspartate. Although insect aspartate decarboxylase shares high sequence identity with glutamate decarboxylase, we are able to closely predict aspartate decarboxylase from glutamate decarboxylase based on the difference of their active site residues.