Neural representations of perspectival shapes and attentional effects: Evidence from fMRI and MEG.

Does the human brain represent perspectival shapes, i.e., viewpoint-dependent object shapes, especially in relatively higher-level visual areas such as the lateral occipital cortex? What is the temporal profile of the appearance and disappearance of neural representations of perspectival shapes? And how does attention influence these neural representations? To answer these questions, we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and multivariate decoding techniques to investigate spatiotemporal neural representations of perspectival shapes. Participants viewed rotated objects along with the corresponding objective shapes and perspectival shapes (i.e., rotated round, round, and oval) while we measured their brain activities. Our results revealed that shape classifiers trained on the basic shapes (i.e., round and oval) consistently identified neural representations in the lateral occipital cortex corresponding to the perspectival shapes of the viewed objects regardless of attentional manipulations. Additionally, this classification tendency toward the perspectival shapes emerged approximately 200 ms after stimulus presentation. Moreover, attention influenced the spatial dimension as the regions showing the perspectival shape classification tendency propagated from the occipital lobe to the temporal lobe. As for the temporal dimension, attention led to a more robust and enduring classification tendency towards perspectival shapes. In summary, our study outlines a spatiotemporal neural profile for perspectival shapes that suggests a greater degree of perspectival representation than is often acknowledged.

Perspectival shapes are viewpoint-dependent relational properties.

Recently, there is a renewed debate concerning the role of perspective in vision. Morales et al. (2020) present evidence that, in the case of viewing a rotated coin, the visual system is sensitive to what has often been called "perspectival shapes." It has generated vigorous discussions, including an online symposium by Morales and Cohen, an exchange between Linton (2021) and Morales et al. (2021), and most recently, a fierce critique by Burge and Burge (2022), in which they launch various conceptual and empirical objections. Although Morales and Firestone (2022) have responded to them recently, and we are in agreement with Morales and Firestone in general, there are further problems in Burge and Burge (2022) that are worth highlighting. The main point of this comment is that what the Burge-Burge team call "viewpoint-dependent relational properties" are simply instances of what the Morales-Firestone team call "perspectival shapes"; the confusion arises from Burge and Burge's misconstrual of Morales et al.'s claims. This shows that conceptually, the two teams are in large agreement, as Morales and Firestone (2022) also point out, and the focus should be put on the empirical disagreements, which has been covered by Morales and Firestone (2022). Relatedly, we argue that Burge and Burge (2022) misinterpret Morales et al. (2020) as supporting a new entity in perception science, and that this misinterpretation is a primary source of their apparent disagreement. This is worth pointing out because such misunderstanding generates many unnecessary quarrels that hinder progress. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Excellent Medium-Temperature Thermoelectric Performance of Monolayer BiOCl.

Recently, a ternary-layered material BiOCl has elicited intense interest in photocatalysis, environmental remediation, and ultraviolet light detection because of its unique band gap of around 3.6 eV, low toxicity, and earth abundance. In particular, Gibson et al. reported a measurement of the in-plane thermal conductivity of BiOCl experimentally using a four-point-probe method [Science, 373, 1017-1022 (2021)], which is only 1.25 W/m K at 300 K. Motivated by the work, we studied the thermoelectric property of monolayer BiOCl using first-principles calculations combined with the Boltzmann transport equation. The calculated phonon thermal conductivity of monolayer BiOCl is 3 W/m K at 300 K, which is far below that of other promising 2D thermoelectric materials like graphyne and MoS2. A comprehensive analysis of phonon modes is conducted to reveal the low thermal conductivity. Moreover, the maximal ZT value is as high as 1.8 at 300 K and 5.7 at 800 K for the p-type doping with the 2 × 1015 cm-2 concentration. More importantly, we found that the thermoelectric efficiency of such 2D materials is significantly enhanced to 8 at 800 K by applying 1.5% tensile strain, which clearly outperforms that of the reported 2D thermoelectric material SnSe. The results shed light on the promising application in medium-temperature (600-900 K) thermoelectric devices.

Spinal cord contusion and paraplegia resulting from indirect gunshot injury.

Emergency physicians may overlook spinal cord injury in patients when the direct impact of a gunshot on the spine is lacking. A 30-year-old man who was shot on his right chest wall was brought to the emergency department. He arrived in a state of shock and underwent emergent thoracotomy for massive hemothorax. After surgery, he was found to be paraplegic. Magnetic resonance imaging of the spine showed T4 spinal cord contusion. The penetrating bullet dissipates energy to the surrounding tissue and contuses the spinal cord. Another assumption of the spinal cord injury is the impairment of blood supply to the cord. No effective treatment exists for gunshot-related indirect injury to the spinal cord. These reported cases reminded emergency physicians that after stabilization of the patient with a gunshot wound, a complete neurologic examination should be performed to discover occult spinal cord injury.

Experiential ownership and body ownership are different phenomena.

Body ownership concerns what it is like to feel a body part or a full body as mine, and has become a prominent area of study. We propose that there is a closely related type of bodily self-consciousness largely neglected by researchers-experiential ownership. It refers to the sense that I am the one who is having a conscious experience. Are body ownership and experiential ownership actually the same phenomenon or are they genuinely different? In our experiments, the participant watched a rubber hand or someone else's body from the first-person perspective and was touched either synchronously or asynchronously. The main findings: (1) The sense of body ownership was hindered in the asynchronous conditions of both the body-part and the full-body experiments. However, a strong sense of experiential ownership was observed in those conditions. (2) We found the opposite when the participants' responses were measured after tactile stimulations had ceased for 5 s. In the synchronous conditions of another set of body-part and full-body experiments, only experiential ownership was blocked but not body ownership. These results demonstrate for the first time the double dissociation between body ownership and experiential ownership. Experiential ownership is indeed a distinct type of bodily self-consciousness.

The Characteristics and Mortality of Osteoporosis, Osteomyelitis, or Rheumatoid Arthritis in the Diabetes Population: A Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with diabetes mellitus are prone to develop osteoporosis, osteomyelitis, or rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Furthermore, the presence of these complications in those with diabetes may lead to higher mortality. The aim of our study was to assess characteristics and mortality of osteoporosis, osteomyelitis, or rheumatoid arthritis in individuals with diabetes. METHODS: We analyzed osteoporosis, osteomyelitis, and RA deaths associated with diabetes from 1999-2017 using the CDC WONDER system (CDC WONDER; https://wonder.cdc.gov). We used ICD-10 codes to categorize the underlying and contributing causes of death. Crude mortality rates (CMR) and age-adjusted mortality rates (AAMR) per 1,000,000 person-years were calculated. RESULTS: The AAMR for osteoporosis in the population with diabetes was significantly higher in females (AAMR: 4.17, 95% CI: 4.10-4.24) than in males (AAMR: 1.12, 95% CI: 1.07-1.16). Deaths due to osteoporosis increased gradually from 1999, peaked in 2003 (AAMR: 3.78, 95% CI: 3.55-4.00), and reached a nadir in 2016 (AAMR: 2.32, 95% CI: 2.15-2.48). The AAMR for RA associated with diabetes was slightly higher in females (AAMR: 4.04, 95% CI: 3.98-4.11) than in males (AAMR: 2.45, 95% CI: 2.39-2.51). The mortality rate due to RA increased slightly from 1999 (AAMR: 3.18, 95% CI: 2.97-3.39) to 2017 (AAMR: 3.20, 95% CI: 3.02-3.38). The AAMR for osteomyelitis associated with diabetes was higher in males (AAMR: 4.36, 95% CI: 4.28-4.44) than in females (AAMR: 2.31, 95% CI: 2.26-2.36). From 1999 to 2017, the AAMR from osteomyelitis in this population was 2.63 (95% CI: 2.44-2.82) per 1,000,000 person-years in 1999 and 4.25 (95% CI: 4.05-4.46) per 1,000,000 person-years in 2017. CONCLUSIONS: We found an increase in the age-adjusted mortality rates of RA and osteomyelitis and a decrease of osteoporosis associated with diabetes from 1999 to 2017. We suggest that increased attention should therefore be given to these diseases in the population with diabetes, especially in efforts to develop preventative and treatment strategies.

Identification of Potential Serum Metabolic Biomarkers of Diabetic Kidney Disease: A Widely Targeted Metabolomics Study.

Background and Objectives. Diabetic kidney disease is a leading cause of chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease across the world. Early identification of DKD is vitally important for the effective prevention and control of it. However, the available indicators are doubtful in the early diagnosis of DKD. This study is aimed at determining novel sensitive and specific biomarkers to distinguish DKD from their counterparts effectively based on the widely targeted metabolomics approach. Materials and Method. This case-control study involved 44 T2DM patients. Among them, 24 participants with DKD were defined as the cases and another 20 without DKD were defined as the controls. The ultraperformance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry system was applied for the assessment of the serum metabolic profiles. Comprehensive analysis of metabolomics characteristics was conducted to detect the candidate metabolic biomarkers and assess their capability and feasibility. RESULT: A total of 11 differential metabolites, including Hexadecanoic Acid (C16:0), Linolelaidic Acid (C18:2N6T), Linoleic Acid (C18:2N6C), Trans-4-Hydroxy-L-Proline, 6-Aminocaproic Acid, L-Dihydroorotic Acid, 6-Methylmercaptopurine, Piperidine, Azoxystrobin Acid, Lysopc 20:4, and Cuminaldehyde, were determined as the potential biomarkers for the DKD early identification, based on the multivariable generalized linear regression model and receiver operating characteristic analysis. CONCLUSION: Serum metabolites might act as sensitive and specific biomarkers for DKD early detection. Further longitudinal studies are needed to confirm our findings.

High-Frequency Stimulation of the Subthalamic Nucleus Activates Motor Cortex Pyramidal Tract Neurons by a Process Involving Local Glutamate, GABA and Dopamine Receptors in Hemi-Parkinsonian Rats.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is widely used to treat advanced Parkinson's disease (PD). Here, we investigated how DBS applied on the subthalamic nucleus (STN) influenced the neural activity in the motor cortex. Rats, which had the midbrain dopaminergic neurons partially depleted unilaterally, called the hemi-Parkinsonian rats, were used as a study model. c-Fos expression in the neurons was used as an indicator of neural activity. Application of high-frequency stimulation (HFS) upon the STN was used to mimic the DBS treatment. The motor cortices in the two hemispheres of hemi-Parkinsonian rats were found to contain unequal densities of c-Fos-positive (Fos+) cells, and STN-HFS rectified this bilateral imbalance. In addition, STN-HFS led to the intense c-Fos expression in a group of motor cortical neurons which exhibited biochemical and anatomical characteristics resembling those of the pyramidal tract (PT) neurons sending efferent projections to the STN. The number of PT neurons expressing high levels of c-Fos was significantly reduced by local application of the antagonists of non-N-methyl-D-aspartate (non-NMDA) glutamate receptors, gammaaminobutyric acid A (GABAA) receptors and dopamine receptors in the upper layers of the motor cortex. The results indicate that the coincident activations of synapses and dopamine receptors in the motor cortex during STN-HFS trigger the intense expression of c-Fos of the PT neurons. The implications of the results on the cellular mechanism underlying the therapeutic effects of STN-DBS on the movement disorders of PD are also discussed.

Double primary teeth in children under 17 years old and their correlation with permanent successors.

BACKGROUND: The existence of double primary teeth associated with further problems in permanent successors may have deleterious effects on occlusion and esthetics. The purposes of this study were to investigate the prevalence of double teeth in a group of Taiwanese children under 17 years old, and to compare the distribution of the different types of double primary teeth and their relationship to permanent successors. METHODS: A total of 7868 qualified dental records of children under age 17 from the pediatric dental clinic of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-Kaohsiung Medical Center were selected for this study. Panoramic radiographs were obtained from each child. The distribution of double teeth was investigated according to sex differences, types and clinical positions. The occurrence of double primary teeth and their effects on the permanent dentition were also recorded. RESULTS: The prevalence of double primary teeth in children under 17 years old in this study was 0.72%. Double primary teeth were found mostly in the mandibular lateral incisors and canines (63.2%). Approximately 56% of cases experienced further problems in the permanent successors. Hypodontia (51.5%) was the most common problem in the permanent successors. CONCLUSION: The close relationship between double primary teeth and permanent successors justifies radiographic examination to evaluate the number and condition of permanent successors and determine a proper treatment plan.