Area 3a Research Articles

ABSTRACT This study provides an updated probabilistic seismic hazard model for Maharashtra state. A new and updated earthquake catalogue including events from January 1600 to October 2021 has been compiled. Six declustering trials using various declustering methods are applied to develop the corresponding six earthquake catalogues. A seventh catalogue (C1) is compiled by extracting common events from these six catalogues. Fault recurrence parameters for linear sources are derived using the parameters estimated from C1. Further, six ground motion prediction equations developed for Peninsular India are initially considered and subsequently reduced to four based on their performance using the global intraplate earthquake ground motion records. Three logic tree models are used which include linear and areal source contributions to estimate peak ground acceleration. Seismic hazard maps are developed for return periods of 2475 and 475 years, evaluating PGA and spectral acceleration at 0.2 and 1.0 s at the bedrock level. Koynanagar and Panvel regions in the western part of the state exhibit higher PGA values for both return periods. The estimated seismic hazard for Area A1 is lower than the values specified by IS (1893) (2016), whereas some areas in A2, A3, and A4 exhibit higher hazard values than those specified in the code.

Long-duration spaceflight affects otolith-mediated ocular counter-roll (OCR) and brain function, but the relationship between these changes is unclear. This study examines whether OCR changes correlate with functional connectivity (FC) changes in the vestibular network in the same cosmonauts after a long-duration (6-month) spaceflight mission. Using a human vestibular atlas, we found that changes in FC between the right operculum (OP2_PIVC) and inferior parietal lobule (IPL, area PGp and PGa) were positively correlated with OCR changes. First-time flyers showed a greater decrease in OCR, linked to more significant FC reductions. Irrespective of the OCR, increased FC was observed postflight between the left visual cingulate cortex (CSv) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, area 33), superior parietal lobule (SPL, area 5C), and thalamus (pulvinar), and between the right OP2_PIVC and SPL (area 5Ci). Secondly, decreased FC was observed between the left OP2_PIVC and the IPL (PGp) and SPL (area 7A). Additionally, increased FC postflight was observed between the left lateral sensorimotor area (LSM) and IPL (area PGp), and between the right lateral visual area (LVA) and cerebellum (Crus 1, Lobule VI). These findings suggest sensory reweighting and sensory system reorganization after long-duration spaceflight.

ABSTRACTSensory feedback is crucial for movement execution, especially in the highly specialized skilled hand use in humans and other primates. Extensive sensory loss of tactile and proprioceptive inputs from the hand initially results in severe motor deficits, but recovery occurs gradually over time. To determine how sensory loss from one hand affects evoked forelimb movements from sensorimotor cortical areas, lesions were selectively placed in the ascending somatosensory pathway in the dorsal column in the cervical spinal cord (C5, DCL) of three squirrel monkeys. After 1 year of postlesion recovery, we examined the long‐term effects of DCL on motor response patterns evoked by long‐train intracortical microstimulation (LT‐ICMS) from the hand cortex in primary motor cortex (M1) and somatosensory areas 3a, 3b, and 1 in both control and DCL groups. Somatosensory receptive fields were mapped primarily to define the borders of area 3b, as well as to compare somatosensory responses with motor responses after DCL. Corticocortical connections were investigated by injecting neuroanatomical tracers into the sensory‐deprived forelimb regions of 3b and M1. We found that after somatosensory loss and compensation, LT‐ICMS‐evoked movement maps for M1 and deprived somatosensory areas did not show statistically detectable effects of DCL. Results were consistent with our earlier findings of the effects of long‐term recovery from DCL on somatosensory response maps and connections among somatosensory areas. We now show that the effects of long‐term DCL on evoked motor responses in somatosensory cortex were limited, while the connections between M1 cortex and somatosensory cortical areas were more widespread.

Research using satellite imagery of gravity data has been conducted in the Dampit District, Malang Regency, East Java Province. This research was conducted to identify areas vulnerable to landslides. The results of this research can serve as a basis for the government to develop effective landslide disaster mitigation policies, thereby minimizing the losses incurred. The data used is TOPEX satellite gravity data in the form of Free Air Correction data, and supported by landslide vulnerable areas data from the InaRisk satellite. The research area is 23 km x 16 km with 2 km spacing between points and 184 measurement points. Furthermore, the research area is divided into four areas: Area A1, Area A2, Area A3, and Area A4. The residual anomaly value in the study area is between 82.7 mGal to 142.4 mGal. The residual anomalies are more variable due to the local nature of the anomalies. The correlation between the residual anomaly value and InaRisk satellite image data shows that Area A4 is the most vulnerable to landslides, especially if there is a trigger such as an earthquake. This is because Area A4 has a low-density value, a large fault, and is the contact area between the Mandalika Formation and Wuni Formation.

Allocating visual attention to behaviorally relevant stimuli is easier when distractors are in the opposite visual hemifield relative to when they are in the same hemifield. The neural mechanisms underlying this bilateral field advantage remains unclear. We documented this effect in two macaques performing a covert spatial attention task in two different conditions: when the target and distracter were positioned in different hemifields (across condition), and when they were positioned on the top and bottom quadrants within the same visual hemifield (within condition). The animals' behavioral performance at detecting a change in the attended stimulus was higher in the across relative to the within condition. We recorded the responses of lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC, area 8A) neurons in one animal. The proportion of LPFC neurons encoding the allocation of attention was larger in the across relative to the within condition. The latter was accompanied by an increase in the ability of single neurons to discriminate the allocation of attention in the across relative to the within condition. Finally, we used linear classifiers to decode the allocation of attention from the activity of neuronal ensembles and found a similar bilateral field advantage in decoding performance in the across relative to the within condition that generalized to different integration time windows and number of neurons used by the classifier. Our finding provides a neural correlate of the bilateral field advantage reported in behavioral studies of attention and suggest a role of the LPFC circuitry in its origin.

This study finds that there are significant differences in the temporal fidelity of auditory cortical neuronal responses as a function of natural aging, particularly in the belt cortical field CL compared to core areas A1 and R. These differences are stimulus dependent and are consistent with known auditory processing deficits in geriatric human subjects.

1141: METHYLCELLULOSE FIBER GELS ARE AS EFFECTIVE AS PSYLLIUM IN REDUCING COLONIC GAS AFTER INGESTING INULIN AND ARE ASSOCIATED WITH HIGHER WATER CONTENT IN SMALL BOWEL AND COLON – A POTENTIAL AID TO SYMPTOM RELIEF FOR IBS WITH CONSTIPATION

Abstract A key problem in transonic compressor and fan design is that although a 3D description of the flow is necessary to correctly capture the shock, accounting for it during the sectional design is difficult because the key driving design parameters are unknown. In this paper, it is shown that for inlet relative Mach numbers between 0.85 and 1.10, the pre-shock Mach number is a function of the 3D streamtube area at the throat At over the inlet area A1. This key finding is based on three key transonic flow features, discussed in detail within this paper, being present together across a wide range of 10,000 representative transonic compressor and fan designs published online.1 This unique wide-ranging web-interactive dataset reveals that the effect of changes in the blade geometry, or the 3D streamtube height, on the transonic flow field is one of the same and can be explained simply by keeping track of the associated changes in At/A1. Surprisingly, the pre-shock Mach number at a given At/A1 is shown to be insensitive to the details of the blade surface geometry. Only geometric design choices made in the preliminary design phase, such as the maximum thickness and inlet relative flow angle, are shown to have a second-order effect. These findings suggest that the sectional design phase should focus solely on achieving the desired spanwise 3D At/A1 distribution. The second half of the paper addresses the level of fidelity necessary when calculating the spanwise 3D At/A1, for it to positively influence design; especially when approaching a Mach number of unity. A key conclusion is that failing to resolve the subtle 3D radial flow changes within the blade passage at the appropriate level of fidelity during the early throughflow multistage compressor design stage could mislead the transonic design process. As a result, for the rapid exploration of future compressor designs, this paper advocates utilizing the more than 10,000 transonic design databse to generate an initial 3D blade, which is then assessed early in the design process using At/A1 extracted from 3D CFD.

The facial nerve is the seventh cranial nerve, and its temporal branch (TBFN) innervates the frontalis muscle. Peripheral nerve disorders involving the facial nerve can lead to facial palsy, for which a common non-invasive treatment approach is to inject a chemodenervation agent such as botulinum toxin (BoNT). The purpose of this study was to provide anatomical suggestions for BoNT injection sites in the frontalis muscle based on the intramuscular innervation pattern of the TBFN as identified objectively using Sihler’s staining. Nineteen hemifaces containing the TBFN and the frontalis muscle were harvested from 15 embalmed cadavers according to facial landmarks. The frontalis muscle was divided into 16 areas to identify the prevalence rates of distal nerve endings and the arborization pattern of the TBFN after applying Sihler’s staining. Distal nerve endings of the TBFN were most commonly found in area B2 (17 of 19 specimens, 89.5%), followed by in area B3 (n = 15, 78.9%). No distal nerve ending was observed in area A1. Two types of the arborization pattern of the TBFN were observed. We propose four BoNT injection sites based on the intramuscular innervation pattern of the TBFN in the frontalis muscle as identified using Sihler’s staining.

Excessive cardiorespiratory responses to CO2 are a hallmark of panic disorder (PD). Female sex and exposure to early life stress are risk factors for PD. Neonatal maternal separation (NMS; 3h/day, postnatal days 3-12) augments the ventilatory response to CO2 by ∼35% relative to controls; this effect is most notable during pro-oestrus but is not observed in males. Orexin-1 receptor (OX1-R) antagonism attenuates the CO2 response of NMS females. In the limbic system, stress and ovarian hormones influence OX1-R expression, but the impact of these factors on OX1-Rs in regions regulating the cardiorespiratory responses to CO2 is unknown. Here, we hypothesised that ovarian hormones and NMS determine OX1-R expression in structures regulating the CO2 response; we used in situ hybridisation to quantify OX-1R mRNA expression in the brains of adult NMS and control rats. Brains were harvested from females that were either in pro-oestrus (high ovarian hormones) or 2weeks post ovariectomy (OVX; low ovarian hormones); males were included for comparison. Hormonal status influenced the intensity of the OX1-R signal in the medial amygdala, raphe obscurus (RObs) and the A5 area, but the direction of the changes (increase vs. decrease) was structure-specific. Significant NMS×hormonal status interactions were noted in the dorsal raphe, the locus coeruleus, the nucleus of the solitary tract and the A5 area; the effects were structure-specific. As the dorsal raphe was the only structure in which the changes in OX1-R expression matched the sex-specific effect of NMS on the CO2 response, this structure likely contributes to respiratory manifestations of PD.

The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of criminalistic support for the prevention of crimes against the family and minors. The author analyzes the historical prerequisites for the formation of the theory (doctrine) of criminalistic crime prevention, highlights controversial issues in the interpretation of terminology and content of this area of law enforcement. The purpose of the work is to define the concept and system of criminalistic support for the prevention of crimes against the family and minors in order to apply it. The methodological basis of the research is made up of general scientific and specific scientific methods: dialectical, formal logic (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction), historical, systemic, comparative research, hermeneutical, etc. Results: based on the analysis of the positions of individual scientists presented in criminalistic science and the conducted research, the author proposes his own vision of criminalistic support for the prevention of crimes against the family and minors, and also identifies the structural elements of such a system, including tasks, subjects of prevention, objects of preventive impact, as well as criminalistic situations and appropriate means, methods and technologies of criminalistic prevention. The article argues the need to modernize existing techniques for analyzing criminalistically significant information, to increase the professional training of law enforcement officers in this ar ea, to actively use information t echnology and to strengthen interagency cooperation in order to minimize recidivism and ensure effective protection of the rights and legitimate interests of the famil y and minors.

Introduction. Injuries to the ureter occur in 1-2,5% of cases of all lesions of the genitourinary organs. Iatrogenic injuries account for more than 80% of cases. Their number is associated with the active application of minimally invasive treatment methods into practice. The choice of reconstructive surgery in these patients depends on the functional state of the kidneys and ureters, the extent and level of stricture. Of particular importance is theBoari technique, which is associated with the general embryogenesis of the lower urinary tract. If there is tension in the anastomosis ar ea, it is preferable to use the psoas-hitch technique. Materials and methods. The work was based on the results of the treatment of 42 patients undergoing inpatient treatment at the MC «Medassist» clinic from 2019 to 2024. All patients underwent laparoscopic ureteral plastic surgery using the Boari and psoas-hitch techniques. Results. According to MSCT of the urinary system, no relapse was detected in any of the subjects during the follow-up period. With dynamic nephroscintigraphy after surgical treatment, an improvement in the functional parameters of kidney function was recorded in most patients (n=39; 92,9). According to ultrasound data, passive reflux was noted in 15 (35,7%) patients. Pyelonephritis occurred in 3 (7,1%) patients, all of whom had a urological history. According to the cystometric study, there was no reliable relationship between the volume of the flap used and the development of dysfunctional urination; detrusor hyperactivity of the detrusor before surgery was detected in 7,1% of cases (n=3); after surgery – 9,5% of cases (n=4); no clinically significant change in the maximum cystometric capacity after such a benefit was recorded. Conclusions. Reconstructive surgery for iatrogenic injuries of the lower third of the ureter using Boari and psoas-hitch techniques is effective in 92,9% of patients. 35,7% of patients in the postoperative period had clinically insignificant passive vesicoureteral reflux. Patients with a history of infravesical obstruction, bladder surgery or repeated plasty using flap techniques, and external radiation therapy to the pelvic organs have a high risk of recurrent urinary infection due to active and passive reflux. Cystometry revealed no significant relationship between the length of the bladder flap used and the development of dysfunctional urination.

The features of restoration of plant communities formed in agrogenically transformed territories have been studied. During the period 2006–2023 observed restoration successions in the territory of the Pritagil zone of the Middle Urals in four areas represented by deposits. The research was carried out using direct observations of communities. Based on a set of characteristics of the coenotic structure (number of groups, their ratio in terms of participation in species richness, composition and number of leading groups, dominant groups), it is shown that it is more dynamic and reflects the internal processes of community development within individual successional stages, distinguished taking into account the life form dominants and features of the species structure. Within the studied communities there are 16 phytocenotic groups. In some areas in different years, from 11 to 14 groups are represented. Based on the share of participation in species richness, leading coenotic groups are distinguished with a share of participation of more than 10% and others with a share of participation of less than 10%. The most sig- nificant differences in the cenotic structure are observed among the leading groups. At the initial stages of fallow development, a group of weed species dominates in the communities. During succession, the dominant position is occupied by edge-meadow species. Meadow species act as codominants. Further, in the presence of forest com- munities in the environment, the appearance of a second codominant was noted: a group of edge-forest species. It has been established that of the communities of the four study territories, the phytocenoses of areas A1 (during the study period, the communities are characterized as transitional-cereal and early meadow) and A2 (young meadow) are the most dynamically developing. In the remaining areas (A3 and A5), where mature meadow communities are represented, the coenotic structure is stable. Changes in the coenotic structure of the studied communities co- incide with the stages identified by the life form of dominants and the species structure of communities only par- tially. The cenotic structure is more dynamic and reflects the internal processes of community development within individual successional stages.

BackgroundAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by cerebral amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles and disruption of large-scale brain networks (LSBNs). Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has emerged as a potential non-invasive AD treatment that may serve as an adjunct therapy with FDA approved medications.MethodsWe conducted a 10-subject open label, single site study evaluating the effect of functional connectivity-resting state functional MRI guided-approach to TMS targeting with dysfunctional LSBNs in subjects with biomarker-confirmed early-stage AD (https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05292222). Subjects underwent pre-post imaging and testing to assess connectivity dysfunction and cognition. All participants received intermittent theta burst stimulation [(iTBS), (80% motor threshold; 5 sessions per day; 5 days; 3 targets; 18,000 pulses/day)] over 2 weeks. Three Human Connectome Project (HCP) defined parcellations were targeted, with one common right temporal area G dorsal (RTGd) target across all subjects and two personalized.ResultsWe identified the following parcellations to be dysfunctional: RTGd, left area 8A ventral (L8Av), left area 8B lateral (L8BL), and left area 55b (L55b). There were no changes in these parcellations after treatment, but subjects showed improvement on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status attention index (9.7; p = 0.01). No subject dropped out of the treatment, though 3 participants were unable to tolerate the RTGd target due to facial twitching (n = 2) and anxiety (n = 1).ConclusionAccelerated iTBS protocol was well-tolerated and personalized target-based treatment is feasible in early-stage AD. Further sham-controlled clinical trials are necessary to determine if this is an effective adjunctive treatment in early-stage AD.

Response Latencies of Visually Sensitive Neurons in Area 21a of the Cortex

Real world choices often involve balancing decisions that are optimized for the short-vs. long-term. Here, we reason that apparently sub-optimal single trial decisions in macaques may in fact reflect long-term, strategic planning. We demonstrate that macaques freely navigating in VR for sequentially presented targets will strategically abort offers, forgoing more immediate rewards on individual trials to maximize session-long returns. This behavior is highly specific to the individual, demonstrating that macaques reason about their own long-run performance. Reinforcement-learning (RL) models suggest this behavior is algorithmically supported by modular actor-critic networks with a policy module not only optimizing long-term value functions, but also informed of specific state-action values allowing for rapid policy optimization. The behavior of artificial networks suggests that changes in policy for a matched offer ought to be evident as soon as offers are made, even if the aborting behavior occurs much later. We confirm this prediction by demonstrating that single units and population dynamics in macaque dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), but not parietal area 7a or dorsomedial superior temporal area (MSTd), reflect the upcoming reward-maximizing aborting behavior upon offer presentation. These results cast dlPFC as a specialized policy module, and stand in contrast to recent work demonstrating the distributed and recurrent nature of belief-networks.

The research aims to increase the conservation percentage of trapped coal in the ROM A1 drainage area from February to June 2024 by improving fine coal management and adding value to the conservation of PJP. This study also seeks to reduce penalties from fine coal blending into sellable products and minimize environmental pollution in the ROM A1 area. The study employs a descriptive method, focusing on implementing coal conservation in drainage areas by determining the scope of each conservation object. Root cause analysis using a Fishbone diagram was used to identify key improvement strategies for increasing coal conservation percentages. Initial observations in the ROM A1 drainage area revealed 6,829 tons of unpreserved fine coal, primarily due to rainwater runoff. The results showed that with proper implementation of conservation techniques, including the installation of fine coal traps and the centralization of fine coal in collection points, the conservation rate improved from 0% to 62% by April 2024. In tangible terms, 83 tons of fine coal, worth IDR 26,434,928, were saved, contributing to both environmental conservation efforts and economic benefits for the company. This study highlights the importance of continuous coal conservation efforts, especially in mining operations where environmental and financial impacts can be significant.

Area 8A has traditionally been considered to be the frontal eye field (FEF), i.e. the area for the motor production of eye movements. However, recent research has shown that the FEF lies posteriorly in premotor area 6. Research in macaque monkeys has demonstrated that, in contrast to premotor area 6, which is involved in the production of motor actions, area 8A is implicated in the cognitive allocation of attention to stimuli based on instruction cues. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the specific cognitive role of area 8A by examining a unique patient with a lesion restricted to area 8A, i.e. sparing the premotor cortex. This right-handed male patient underwent neuropsychological assessment and testing on two conditional associative-learning tasks: the motor hand conditional associative-learning task (MCALT) assessing the selection of motor actions based on instruction cues and the visual conditional associative-learning task (VCALT) assessing the selection of visual stimuli based on instruction cues. The patient's performance on the VCALT was significantly impaired compared to control subjects, but performance on the MCALT and on an Eye Movement Control Task was preserved. The present study provides evidence that area 8A is critical for the cognitive process regulating the allocation of attention to different stimuli in the environment, but not in the production of eye movements. These findings enhance understanding of the functional organization of the posterior dorsolateral frontal region in the human brain and suggest a specialized role of area 8A in high-level cognitive processes.

Natural behaviors occur in closed action-perception loops and are supported by dynamic and flexible beliefs abstracted away from our immediate sensory milieu. How this real-world flexibility is instantiated in neural circuits remains unknown. Here, we have male macaques navigate in a virtual environment by primarily leveraging sensory (optic flow) signals, or by more heavily relying on acquired internal models. We record single-unit spiking activity simultaneously from the dorsomedial superior temporal area (MSTd), parietal area 7a, and the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Results show that while animals were able to maintain adaptive task-relevant beliefs regardless of sensory context, the fine-grain statistical dependencies between neurons, particularly in 7a and dlPFC, dynamically remapped with the changing computational demands. In dlPFC, but not 7a, destroying these statistical dependencies abolished the area’s ability for cross-context decoding. Lastly, correlational analyses suggested that the more unit-to-unit couplings remapped in dlPFC, and the less they did so in MSTd, the less were population codes and behavior impacted by the loss of sensory evidence. We conclude that dynamic functional connectivity between neurons in prefrontal cortex maintain a stable population code and context-invariant beliefs during naturalistic behavior.

Abstract The greater argentine is a benthopelagic fish with a northern amphi-Atlantic and southern Arctic distribution. Landings of this species have been steadily increasing since the early 2000s, mainly for ultra-processed fish food. The rising economic importance of this species begs for an accurate delineation of the management units needed to ensure the sustainability of the fishery. The alignment between management and biological units was investigated on three of the ICES stocks in the NE Atlantic (123a4, 5a14, and 5b6a) by genotyping 88 ad hoc-developed SNPs on 1299 individuals sampled along the Norwegian coast, north of Shetland, around the Faroe Islands, and in the Denmark Strait within Icelandic waters. Candidate loci to positive selection were particularly crucial for units’ delineation and supported the current ICES 5b6a and 5a14 stocks around the Faroe Islands and Iceland, respectively. However, within the third stock investigated, 123a4, which corresponded mainly to the Norwegian coast, the sample from area 3a (Skagerrak) was significantly different from all the remaining in the same stock. This differentiation advocates for reconsideration of the present policy and suggests considering ICES Area 3a (Skagerrak) as an independent management unit. The environmental conditions in the Skagerrak area have left a genetic print on other marine taxa, which could putatively be the case in the greater argentine.