A roadmap for implanting microelectrode arrays to evoke tactile sensations through intracortical microstimulation.

Intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) is a method for restoring sensation to people with paralysis as part of a bidirectional brain-computer interface to restore upper limb function. Evoking tactile sensations of the hand through ICMS requires precise targeting of implanted electrodes. Here we describe the presurgical imaging procedures used to generate functional maps of the hand area of the somatosensory cortex and subsequent planning that guided the implantation of intracortical microelectrode arrays. In five participants with cervical spinal cord injury, across two study locations, this procedure successfully enabled ICMS-evoked sensations localized to at least the first four digits of the hand. The imaging and planning procedures developed through this clinical trial provide a roadmap for other brain-computer interface studies to ensure successful placement of stimulation electrodes.

Increased apathy post-interstitial laser capsulotomy for refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder.

BACKGROUND: MRI guided laser interstitial thermal therapy (M-LITT) capsulotomy has proven to be efficacious in decreasing refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) related symptomatology yet capsulotomy either via radiosurgery or radiofrequency ablation has in some patients led to increased apathy following surgery. The current case series aims to investigate objective patient-reported change in apathy, disinhibition, depression, and executive dysfunction following anterior capsulotomy via M-LITT for OCD. METHODS: Ten consecutive patients pre- and post-M-LITT completed measures of OCD, apathy, disinhibition, executive dysfunction, and depression (Mtime between = 1.3 years; 0.42-3.7 years). Reliable Change Index (RCI) was used to evaluate change in pre- and post-M-LITT. OCD symptom response was evaluated using percent change (Y-BOCS scores: 24-34 % reduction indicating partial response; ≥35% reduction indicating full response). RESULTS: Positive post-surgical change was noted in OCD symptomatology with >65% reporting a partial or full response. However, six patients endorsed increased apathy with half of the non-responders (e.g., less than <24% score reduction on Y-BOCS) reporting increases in apathy. Patients reported relatively stable disinhibition and executive dysfunction, while over half reported a decrease in depression symptoms. Two of the non-responders and one responder endorsed increased apathy despite stable or improved depression symptoms, disinhibition, and executive dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: Most patients in the current cohort achieved full-or-partial OCD recovery. Yet, 60% of patients also reported significant increases in apathy, despite experiencing a decrease in depression symptoms, with stable disinhibition and executive dysfunction. Despite these promising improvements in OCD symptomatology following M-LITT, further investigations of the impact of surgery and lesion location on apathy levels is clearly warranted using objective, quantifiable methods.

Emerging Adaptive Strategies Under Temperature Fluctuations in a Laboratory Evolution Experiment of Escherichia Coli.

Generalists and specialists are types of strategies individuals can employ that can evolve in fluctuating environments depending on the extremity and periodicity of the fluctuation. To evaluate whether the evolution of specialists or generalists occurs under environmental fluctuation regimes with different levels of periodicity, 24 populations of Escherichia coli underwent laboratory evolution with temperatures alternating between 15 and 43°C in three fluctuation regimes: two periodic regimes dependent on culture's cell density and one random (non-periodic) regime with no such dependency, serving as a control. To investigate contingencies on the genetic background, we seeded our experiment with two different strains. After the experiment, growth rate measurements at the two temperatures showed that the evolution of specialists was favored in the random regime, while generalists were favored in the periodic regimes. Whole genome sequencing demonstrated that several gene mutations were selected in parallel in the evolving populations with some dependency on the starting genetic background. Given the genes mutated, we hypothesized that the driving force behind the observed adaptations is the restoration of the internal physiology of the starting strains' unstressed states at 37°C, which may be a means of improving fitness in the new environments. Phenotypic array measurements supported our hypothesis by demonstrating a tendency of the phenotypic response of the evolved strains to move closer to the starting strains' response at the optimum of 37°C, especially for strains classified as generalists.

Grape Pomace Ingestion by Dry Cows Does Not Affect the Colostrum Nutrient and Fatty Acid Composition.

The utilisation of different by-products from the food industry as nutrient sources for farm animals is both possible and beneficial. Grape pomace is a by-product that contains polyphenols and fatty acids, both of which have the potential to improve the nutritional quality of cow colostrum. This study aimed to explore how the addition of grape pomace to the diet of dry cows affects the concentration of nutrients and fatty acids of colostrum. Sixteen Slovak spotted cows in late pregnancy were used in this study. From the seventh day before expected calving to the day of calving, cows in the grape pomace group received a diet supplemented with dried grape pomace, at 0.116 kg/cow/day. Colostrum samples were analysed for basal nutrients and fatty acid concentrations. Between the control and experimental groups, the nutrient and fatty acid concentrations of all the colostrum samples did not show significant differences. The nutrient levels in the colostrum from both groups of cows were typical, as related to the time from calving. The addition of the grape pomace into the diet of dry cows had no effect on nutrient concentrations and the fatty acid composition of the colostrum. The somatic cell score of the colostrum sampled at the 12th hour after calving (4.2 versus 2.6) was positively affected by grape pomace addition. The results of this study revealed that grape pomace (fed in an amount of 0.116 kg/cow/day) had no positive or negative effect on the base nutrients and fatty acids of cow colostrum, and, therefore, grape pomace can be used as a nutrient source for dry cows in small amounts.

The Effect of Coconut Oil Addition to Feed of Pigs on Rectal Microbial Diversity and Bacterial Abundance.

Coconut oil has a high content of lauric acid, which has selective antibacterial activity. This study aimed to explore the effect of coconut oil ingestion on the gastrointestinal microbiomes of pigs. A 14-day-long feeding experiment included 19 pigs in two groups (9 on a normal diet and 10 on a diet supplemented with coconut oil). At the start and end of the experiment, a rectal swab sample was taken from each pig in both groups, and total bacterial DNA was extracted. We used 16S rRNA high-throughput amplicon sequencing to evaluate the microbiome changes during the feeding experiment. A total of 446 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were detected in the whole sample set. Shannon's indices of bacterial diversity did not change significantly during the experiment. Changes in the bacterial community during the study period and in response to the coconut oil treatment were highly significant (p < 0.001). During the study, an increase in the abundance of Lactobacillus was detected in the group treated with coconut oil. An increase in Alloprevotella, Bifidobacteriales, and Lactobacillales and a decrease in Corynebacterium, Mitsuokella, Psychrobacter, and Pseudomonadales were attributed to the coconut oil treatment. Although the addition of coconut oil to pig feed did not affect Shannon's index of diversity, it had a positive effect on the abundance of bacterial groups that are considered to be commensal and/or probiotic.

Towards 3D-lithium ion microbatteries based on silicon/graphite blend anodes using a dispenser printing technique.

In this work we present for the first time high capacity silicon/carbon-graphite blend slurries designed for application in 3D-printed lithium ion microbatteries (3D-MLIBs). The correlation between electrochemical and rheological properties of the corresponding slurries was systematically investigated with the prospect of production by an automated dispensing process. A variation of the binder content (carboxymethyl cellulose/styrene-butadiene rubber, CMC/SBR) between 6 wt%, 12 wt%, 18 wt% and 24 wt% in the anode slurry proved to be crucial for the printing process. Regarding the rheological properties increasing binder content leads to increased viscosity and yield stress values promising printed structures with high aspect ratios. Consequently, interdigital 3D-printed micro anode structures with increasing aspect ratios were printed with increasing binder content. For printed 6-layer structures aspect ratios of 6.5 were achieved with anode slurries containing 24 wt% binder. Electrochemical results from planar coin cell measurements showed that anodes containing 12 wt% CMC/SBR binder content exhibited stable cycling at the highest charge capacities of 484 mA h g-1 at a current rate of C/4. Furthermore, at 4C the cells showed high capacity retention of 89% compared to cycling at C/4. Based on this study and the given material formulation we recommend 18 wt% CMC/SBR as the best trade-off between electrochemical and rheological properties for future work with fully 3D-printed MLIBs.

Fluorescent Reporter DS6A Mycobacteriophages Reveal Unique Variations in Infectibility and Phage Production in Mycobacteria.

Mycobacteriophage DS6A is unique among the more than 8,000 isolated mycobacteriophages due to its ability to form plaques exclusively on mycobacteria belonging to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC). Speculation surrounding this specificity has led to unsupported assertions in published studies and patents that nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are wholly resistant to DS6A infection. In this study, we identified two independent nonessential regions in the DS6A genome and replaced them with an mVenus-expressing plasmid to generate fluorescent reporter phages Φ2GFP12 and Φ2GFP13. We show that even though DS6A is able to form plaques only on MTBC bacteria, infection of various NTM results in mVenus expression in transduced cells. The efficiency of DS6A in delivering DNA varied between NTM species. Additionally, we saw a striking difference in the efficiency of DNA delivery between the closely related members of the Mycobacterium abscessus complex, M. abscessus and Mycobacterium massiliense We also demonstrated that TM4 and DS6A, two phages that do not form plaques on M. massiliense, differ in their ability to deliver DNA, suggesting that there is a phage-specific restriction between mycobacterial species. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that the DS6A genome has a characteristically mosaic structure but provided few insights into the basis for the specificity for MTBC hosts. This study demonstrates that the inability of the MTBC-specific phage DS6A to form plaques on NTM is more complex than previously thought. Moreover, the DS6A-derived fluorophages provide important new tools for the study of mycobacterial biology. IMPORTANCE: The coevolution of bacteria and their infecting phages involves a constant arms race for bacteria to prevent phage infection and phage to overcome these preventions. Although a diverse array of phage defense systems is well characterized in bacteria, very few phage restriction systems are known in mycobacteria. The DS6A mycobacteriophage is unique in the mycobacterial world in that it forms plaques only on members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. However, the novel DS6A reporter phages developed in this work demonstrate that DS6A can infect nontuberculous mycobacteria at various efficiencies. By comparing the abilities of DS6A and another phage, TM4, to infect and form plaques on various mycobacterial species, we can begin to discern new phage restriction systems employed within the genus.

Potential unsatisfiability of cyclic constraints on stochastic biological networks biases selection towards hierarchical architectures.

Constraints placed upon the phenotypes of organisms result from their interactions with the environment. Over evolutionary time scales, these constraints feed back onto smaller molecular subnetworks comprising the organism. The evolution of biological networks is studied by considering a network of a few nodes embedded in a larger context. Taking into account this fact that any network under study is actually embedded in a larger context, we define network architecture, not on the basis of physical interactions alone, but rather as a specification of the manner in which constraints are placed upon the states of its nodes. We show that such network architectures possessing cycles in their topology, in contrast to those that do not, may be subjected to unsatisfiable constraints. This may be a significant factor leading to selection biased against those network architectures where such inconsistent constraints are more likely to arise. We proceed to quantify the likelihood of inconsistency arising as a function of network architecture finding that, in the absence of sampling bias over the space of possible constraints and for a given network size, networks with a larger number of cycles are more likely to have unsatisfiable constraints placed upon them. Our results identify a constraint that, at least in isolation, would contribute to a bias in the evolutionary process towards more hierarchical -modular versus completely connected network architectures. Together, these results highlight the context dependence of the functionality of biological networks.

Inkjet technology for crystalline silicon photovoltaics.

The world's ever increasing demand for energy necessitates technologies that generate electricity from inexhaustible and easily accessible energy sources. Silicon photovoltaics is a technology that can harvest the energy of sunlight. Its great characteristics have fueled research and development activities in this exciting field for many years now. One of the most important activities in the solar cell community is the investigation of alternative fabrication and structuring technologies, ideally serving both of the two main goals: device optimization and reduction of fabrication costs. Inkjet technology is practically evaluated along the whole process chain. Research activities cover many processes, such as surface texturing, emitter formation, or metallization. Furthermore, the inkjet technology itself is manifold as well. It can be used to apply inks that serve as a functional structure, present in the final device, as mask for subsequent structuring steps, or even serve as a reactant source to activate chemical etch reactions. This article reviews investigations of inkjet-printing in the field of silicon photovoltaics. The focus is on the different inkjet processes for individual fabrication steps of a solar cell. A technological overview and suggestions about where future work will be focused on are also provided. The great variety of the investigated processes highlights the ability of the inkjet technology to find its way into many other areas of functional printing and printed electronics.

Occurrence of microscopic fungi and mycotoxins in conserved high moisture corn from Slovakia.

Contamination by microscopic fungi and mycotoxins in high moisture corn (HMC) silages conserved by chemical additives was investigated. The samples were examined for the concentration and identification of microscopic fungi able to grow on Malt and Czapek-Dox agar and for mycotoxins content (deoxynivalenol, T-2 toxin, zearalenone and total aflatoxins, fumonisins, ochratoxins) by direct competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The average fungal counts were 3.37 +- 2.52 log cfu/g in control HMC silages, 2.91 +- 0.51 log cfu/g in HMC silages treated by organic salts and inorganic salt, 3.62 +- 1.46 log cfu/g in HMC ensiled with organic acids and 3.49 +- 1.12 log cfu/g of HMC silages treated by organic acids along with organic salt. In this study, 740 isolates belonging to 10 fungal species representing 9 genera were recovered. The genera of microscopic fungi most frequently found in HMC were Penicillium (56.49 percentages) and Paecilomyces (32.16 percentages). T-2 toxin was the secondary metabolite with the highest concentration ranging from 179.13 +- 3.04 to 249.40 +- 24.69 micrograms/kg, followed by deoxynivalenol and total fumonisins. The highest mean of deoxynivalenol level was 0.13 +- 0.02 mg/kg and concentration of total fumonisins ranged from 20.13 +- 2.53 to 90.33 +- 10.35 micrograms/kg. This study indicated that application of chemical additives containing organic acids, organic salts and inorganic salt was sufficient to inhibit mycotoxins formation. The use of calcium formiate, sodium benzoate and sodium nitrite resulted in high hygienic quality of HMC silages and significantly reduced the concentration of zearalenone, deoxynivalenol and total ochratoxins and fumonisins.