Behavioral Signs Research Articles

Investigation of Ductility and Damage Behavior of C/GFRP Composite Laminates under Bending Loads

Carbon and glass fabric reinforced polymer (C/GFRP) composites are extensively used in aerospace and sports industry because of their exceptional properties. However, during service, static and dynamic bending loads can ensue damage in composites affecting their strength, stiffness and energy absorption. Carbon fiber composites, being inherently brittle, are prone to sudden catastrophic fracture without ductile-like behavior of metals. This study investigates mechanical behavior and damage mechanisms of woven C/GFRP composites in on- and off-axis orientations during bending. Initially, bending tests with quasi-static loading were performed, followed by dynamic ones using an Izod impact testing apparatus. Results showed distinct behavior in on-axis CFRP laminates with brittle fracture. Off-axis CFRP samples and both on- and off-axis GFRP laminates showed signs of damage and non-linear behavior, yet they retained their ability to bear loads. Significantly, off-axis specimens of both types and on-axis GFRP laminates exhibited enhanced energy absorption capabilities without experiencing fracture, undergoing pseudo-ductile deformation. CFRP specimens were analyzed with micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), provided insights into prevalent damage modes such as matrix mircocracking, debonding of tows, delamination and breakage of fabric. While on-axis CFRP laminates experienced brittle fracture, off-axis specimens exhibited a ductile-like response attributed to matrix plasticity, cracking and fiber trellising before eventual failure.

Better suicidality detection among minority, preteens needed

Observing that hospital emergency departments may be missing signs of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in Black and Hispanic youth, boys and preteens, researchers of a new study published in JAMA Open Network are calling for improved detection of suicidality in this population and the need to address these disparities.

Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children: Early Signs and Therapeutic Interventions

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition characterized by challenges in communication, social interaction difficulties, and repetitive behaviors that can hinder a child’s development. The growing prevalence of autism necessitates early detection and effective intervention strategies. This review summarizes the current knowledge of early indicators of ASD, including brain development markers and behavioral signs visible in infants. It investigates diagnostic processes, emphasizing the importance of timely detection at 18 to 24 months using established screening tools. We discuss a variety of therapeutic approaches, including behavioral interventions, educational strategies such as music therapy, and technological advancements such as speech-generating devices. Furthermore, we investigate pharmacological options for treating associated symptoms, emphasizing the lack of targeted medications for core ASD symptoms. Finally, we present evidence highlighting the positive effects of early intervention on developmental outcomes, advocating for individualized treatment plans to enhance the well-being of children with ASD. This comprehensive overview aims to inform ongoing ASD research and clinical practices.

The Application of Dhikr Spiritual Therapy to Reduce Signs of Risk of Violent Behavior in the Mawar Room at dr. Radjiman Wediodiningrat Hospital

The risk of violent behavior is a condition when an individual will endanger the safety of himself, others, family, community, because of his aggressive behavior. Spiritual dhikr therapy is a therapy that can help reduce signs and symptoms of the risk of violent behavior because when patients listen to reading the Al-Qur’an it can reduce stress hormones, increase feelings of relaxation and divert attention from fear, anxiety and tension. This study aims to apply how to apply spiritual dhikr killing treatment therapy in patients at risk of violent behavior. The method employed is through a case study research design using 5 nursing processes. The patients accept the implementation of nursing strategies to cotrol violent behavior using physical, drug, verbal and spiritual means. Interventions for clients with a risk of violent behavior are adjusted to violent behavior implementation strategies (SP) and then receive additional non-pharmacological therapy in the form of spiritual dhikr therapy at each meeting. Spiritual dhikr therapy is carried out for 10 consscutive days, each meeting consisting of 5 sessions with reading tahlil, tasbih, tahmid, takbir, istighfar. Each session reads the dhikr sentence 33 times wtithin 5 minutes. Before giving dhikr, spiritual therapy there were 9 signs of violent behavior, whereas after giving therapy for 10 days there was a decrease to 2 signs of violent behavior. Spiritual dhikr therapy can reduce signs and symptoms of violent behavior because dhikr can purify the heart and soul, be grateful for what Allah has given, make the body healthy, and prevent oneself from the dangers of lust. Nursing strategies (controlling violent behavior physically, drugs, verbally and spiritually and spiritual dhikr intervention can effectively reduce signs of violent behavior. This can reduce stress hormones, increase feelings of relaxation and distraction of fear, anxiety.

Examining mothers' obsessive and compulsive behaviors regarding baby care, cyberchondria level and maternal burnout in the postpartum period: Path analysis.

To examine the effects of postpartum women's obsessive and compulsive behaviors towards the care of their babies and maternal exhaustion levels on cyberchondria. The study, designed as a cross-sectional and correlation-seeking study, included 275 mothers. Data were collected from Turkish mothers with maternal burnout scale (MBS), scale for obsessive and compulsive behavıors of mothers ın the postpartum perıod wıth regard to baby care and cyberchondria severity scale (CSS). A total of 41.8% of the mothers, whose average age was 28.49 ± 5.04, had their first birth, 62.5% of the mothers were feeding their babies with breast milk, and 65.8% had regular sleep. The total mean score of the scales was 24.76 ± 5.15 for T-MBS, 81.19 ± 22.16 for CSS, and 16.11 ± 10.28 for the obsession scale. There was a statistically significant positive relationship between the maternal burnout and postpartum obsession scales and the cyberchondria severity scale. In the present study, mothers in the postpartum period did not show signs of burnout or obsessive-compulsive behaviors in the care of their babies, and their cyberchondria severity scores were at a moderate level.

ShNFN: Shepard Neuro-Fuzzy Network for Intrusion Detection in Fog Computing

Fog computing is a type of distributed computing that makes data storage and computation closer to the network edge. While fog computing offers numerous advantages, it also introduces several challenges, particularly in terms of security. Intrusion Detection System (IDS) plays a crucial role in securing fog computing environments by monitoring network traffic and system activities for signs of malicious behavior. Several techniques can be employed to enhance intrusion detection in fog computing environments. Accordingly, this paper proposes a Shepard Neuro-Fuzzy Network (ShNFN) for intrusion detection in fog computing. Initially, in the cloud layer, the input data are passed to data transformation to transform the unstructured data into structured form. Here, data transformation is done employing the Box-Cox transformation. Following this, the feature selection is done in terms of information gain and symmetric uncertainty process and it is used to create a relationship between two variables. After that, the data are classified by employing the proposed ShNFN. The ShNFN is attained by fusing two networks, such as Cascade Neuro-Fuzzy Network (Cascade NFN) and Shepard Convolutional Neural Networks (ShCNN). After this, the physical process is executed at the endpoint layer. Finally, intrusion detection is accomplished in the fog layer by the proposed ShNFN method. The performance of the intrusion detection using ShNFN is calculated by the metrics of recall, F-measure and precision. The proposed method achieves the values of 93.3%, 92.5% and 94.8% for recall, F-measure, and precision, respectively.

Refining Research Diagnostic Criteria for Catatonia Among Delirium, Medical, Affective, and Psychosis Patient Groups.

The authors proposed catatonia diagnostic criteria that require the presence of three neuropsychiatric symptom clusters, rated over 24 hours; this system differs from other symptom clustering proposals and is intended to increase diagnostic rigor over Bush-Francis Catatonia Rating Scale (BFCRS) or DSM-5 criteria. By applying new BFCRS item score thresholds, symptoms were clustered into three categories to comprise the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Catatonia (RDCC): akinesia (criterion A), unusual motor signs (criterion B), and behavioral signs (criterion C). RDCC symptom clusters were analyzed in four prospectively evaluated patient groups (delirium, medical, affective, and psychosis) (N=341). Use of the RDCC, compared with the DSM-5-TR and BFCRS, resulted in far fewer diagnoses of catatonia in the four patient groups: medical, N=1 out of 42 (2%); affective, N=1 out of 45 (2%); psychosis, N=3 out of 53 (6%); and delirium, N=0 out of 201. Permutations of the RDCC with more relaxed criteria were assessed, requiring either symptom thresholds or numbers of symptoms to meet criteria, resulting in catatonia rate gradations between those obtained with the RDCC and those obtained with current systems. The Cochrane Q test found that the DSM-5-TR was not dissimilar to the RDCC, if fulfilling numerical thresholds for criteria A-C, although any level of symptom severity was allowed. Confirmatory factor analysis with three goodness-of-fit indexes validated the RDCC. The RDCC requires akinetic symptoms on the basis of literature demonstrating their high BFCRS prevalence and exploratory factor analysis co-loadings, plus symptoms from unusual motor and behavioral signs. Compared with current lenient diagnostic approaches, having the symptoms required by the RDCC produced lower catatonia rates in the psychosis, affective, and medical groups and revealed no patients with catatonia in the delirium group. Subdividing DSM-5-TR symptoms into several different criteria may improve diagnosis. RDCC symptom clusters are both research data-based and amenable to further research for validation.

Relationships of dog behavior and cattle illness signs to dogs’ ability to distinguish between sick and healthy cattle

Dogs are highly successful at detecting disease using olfaction; however, performance varies among dogs. Training detection dogs represents a substantial investment of time and resources; thus, identifying behavioral markers of a successful detection dog and factors that affect dog performance is needed. In a previous study, one of four dogs was able to distinguish between nasal and saliva swabs from healthy cattle and cattle undergoing an inflammatory response at a rate greater than chance, with 73 % accuracy. The present study evaluated how dogs’ accuracy changed throughout training and testing, whether dogs’ responses were related to illness signs present in cattle, and whether dogs’ accuracy was related to their own behavior on a per-trial and per-sample basis. Trial number, or the order of a detection trial within a 20-trial training or test session, was slightly positively correlated with accuracy for one dog. Sample number, the order in which the dogs encountered samples, was slightly positively correlated with per-session accuracy for all dogs. Dog accuracy declined across training sessions that used the same sample (F4381 = 3.48, P = 0.01), suggesting a deterioration in sample quality over time. Among the clinical illness signs measured in cattle, the strongest association demonstrated that greater changes in cattle body temperature were positively associated with dog accuracy (r = 0.32, P < 0.01). During training and testing, positive (sickness-model), negative (healthy) and blank (unscented) samples were presented at equal rates. Dogs spent more time sniffing and made more visits to investigate the positive samples than negative samples, and spent more time sniffing and made more visits to negative samples than blank samples, indicating that less time was required for dogs to rule out unscented stations than to distinguish between cattle swabs. Visits to the negative sample and visits to the positive sample were negatively (r = −0.581, P < 0.01) and positively (r = 0.761, P < 0.01) correlated with accuracy, respectively. Increased latency to search was negatively correlated with accuracy (r = −0.10, P < 0.01). This represents another potential behavioral marker of successful detection dogs.

Морально-етичні норми в юриспруденції

It was found that the moral and ethical norms in jurisprudence were reflected in the relevant Codes, Instructions, Rules of Conduct, etc., which are aimed at ensuring the principle of peoplecenteredness and contribute to the formation and development of a morally mature specialist with high value orientations in the field of professional duties and interpersonal communication Compliance with moral and ethical standards in jurisprudence is a guarantee of maintaining stable professional relationships in the legal team and contributes to maintaining a positive image of the legal profession. It was emphasized that professional activity implemented in the “person-to-person” format requires not only proper expertise, but also perfect standards of moral and ethical interaction to prevent violation of human rights and freedoms and personal values. Jurisprudence is one of the areas where the official-business interaction between representatives of this profession and citizens is tangential to a person’s private life and personal boundaries. That is why it is important to regulate the ethical aspect of such interaction for full cooperation and the most positive resolution of problematic issues. It is noted that ethical codes define a system of value orientations of representatives of a certain professional direction, in particular, persons who perform specific job duties and are empowered to cooperate with their colleagues or subordinates, as well as all physical and legal entities with whom they cooperate. Attention is focused on the fact that the proper level of moral and ethical culture of a lawyer contributes to the prevention and avoidance of his professional deformation, because a high level of professionalism, unfortunately, is not an obstacle to the development of professional deformation. A developed moral and ethical culture and the desire for personal development do not allow signs of antivalue behavior of a person to manifest. When forming and implementing moral and ethical norms in Ukrainian jurisprudence, the experience and practice of the world legal community is taken into account. Recognition and observance of international standards enables the active cooperation of relevant competent authorities with international organizations to ensure law and order and prevent violations of human rights.

Use of alternative therapies in pain management in domestic animals: A narrative review of the literature

Objective: To explore the impact of alternative therapeutic approaches on pain management and animal welfare, highlighting the integration of complementary methods into conventional treatments. Animal welfare is directly related to quality of life, which includes psychological, physical, environmental and social factors. Given the many facets of pain and the individual responses of animals to it, it is difficult to assess this complex and subjective experience. To address pain, it is essential to observe physiological and behavioral signs. To do this, tools such as the University of Melbourne Pain Scale can be used to assess pain intensity. Traditional methods are being supplemented by new alternative therapies such as acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal medicine and aromatherapy. While acupuncture stimulates specific points to restore balance, Bach flower remedies offer a more comprehensive approach that focuses on emotions. With caution, aromatherapy can alleviate anxiety and stress. Although cannabidiol (CBD) has the potential to treat chronic diseases and relieve pain, further research is needed to confirm its safety and efficacy. These alternative therapies offer valuable options for managing pain and improving animal welfare, encouraging continued research and personalized treatments.

Goal-directed behavior in Tenebrio molitor larvae

Can signs of intentional behavior be traced in an insect larva, traditionally thought to be driven only by mere reflexes? We trained Tenebrio molitor coleoptera larvae in a uniform Y-maze to prefer one target branch to get access to food, observing their ability to learn and retain access to the reward-associated side for up to 24 h. During reward devaluation, the reward food (experimental group) and a different food (control group) were paired with an aversive stimulus in a new environment. When tested again in the Y-maze, mealworms of the experimental group significantly reduced their visits to the target branch, whereas mealworms of the control group did not. Importantly, we found that the larvae did not have to experience the unpleasant consequences directly in the target branch to halt their behavior, as the exposure to the aversive taste occurred in a separate unfamiliar context. This is evidence that the mealworms formed a mental representation of action-consequence relationships, demonstrating flexible control of their actions to achieve desired outcomes at an early stage of their development.

Pain anticipation is a new behavioural sign of minimally conscious state.

Probing cognition and consciousness in the absence of functional communication remains an extremely challenging task. In this perspective, we imagined a basic clinical procedure to explore pain anticipation at bedside. In a series of 61 patients with a disorder of consciousness, we tested the existence of a nociceptive anticipation response by pairing a somaesthetic stimulation with a noxious stimulation. We then explored how nociceptive anticipation response correlated with (i) clinical status inferred from Coma Recovery Scale-Revised scoring, (ii) with an EEG signature of stimulus anticipation-the contingent negative variation-and (iii) how nociceptive anticipation response could predict consciousness outcome at 6 months. Proportion of nociceptive anticipation response differed significantly according to the state of consciousness: nociceptive anticipation response was present in 5 of 5 emerging from minimally conscious state patients (100%), in 10 of 11 minimally conscious state plus patients (91%), but only in 8 of 17 minimally conscious state minus patients (47%), and only in 1 of 24 vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome patients (4%) (χ 2 P < 0.0001). Nociceptive anticipation response correlated with the presence of a contingent negative variation, suggesting that patients with nociceptive anticipation response were more prone to actively expect and anticipate auditory stimuli (Fisher's exact test P = 0.05). However, nociceptive anticipation response presence did not predict consciousness recovery. Nociceptive anticipation response appears as a new additional behavioural sign that can be used to differentiate minimally conscious state from vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome patients. As most behavioural signs of minimally conscious state, the nociceptive anticipation response seems to reveal the existence of a cortically mediated state that does not necessarily reflect residual conscious processing.

Multiple mechanisms of action of an extremely painful venom.

Evolutionary arms races between predator and prey can lead to extremely specific and effective defense mechanisms. Such defenses include venoms that deter predators by targeting nociceptive (pain-sensing) pathways. Through co-evolution, venom toxins can become extremely efficient modulators of their molecular targets. The venom of velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) is notoriously painful. The intensity of a velvet ant sting has been described as "Explosive and long lasting, you sound insane as you scream. Hot oil from the deep fryer spilling over your entire hand." [1] The effectiveness of the velvet ant sting as a deterrent against potential predators has been shown across vertebrate orders, including mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds [2-4]. The venom's low toxicity suggests it has a targeted effect on nociceptive sensory mechanisms [5]. This leads to the hypothesis that velvet ant venom targets a conserved nociception mechanism, which we sought to uncover using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system. Drosophila larvae have peripheral sensory neurons that sense potentially damaging (noxious) stimuli such as high temperature, harsh mechanical touch, and noxious chemicals [6-9]. These polymodal nociceptors are called class IV multidendritic dendritic arborizing (cIV da) neurons, and they share many features with vertebrate nociceptors, including conserved sensory receptor channels [10,11]. We found that velvet ant venom strongly activated Drosophila nociceptors through heteromeric Pickpocket/Balboa (Ppk/Bba) ion channels. Furthermore, we found a single venom peptide (Do6a) that activated larval nociceptors at nanomolar concentrations through Ppk/Bba. Drosophila Ppk/Bba is homologous to mammalian Acid Sensing Ion Channels (ASICs) [12]. However, the Do6a peptide did not produce behavioral signs of nociception in mice, which was instead triggered by other non-specific, less potent, peptides within the venom. This suggests that Do6a is an insect-specific venom component that potently activates insect nociceptors. Consistent with this, we showed that the velvet ant's defensive sting produced aversive behavior in a predatory praying mantis. Together, our results indicate that velvet ant venom evolved to target nociceptive systems of both vertebrates and invertebrates, but through different molecular mechanisms.

Oral behaviour during riding is associated with oral lesions in dressage horses – A field study

The welfare of sports horses is debated both within and outside the horse community. One welfare concern is the frequent occurrence of oral lesions. Lesions may be caused by inappropriate training and ill-fitting equipment. Increased knowledge of behavioural signs of pain, discomfort and frustration (often jointly labelled ‘conflict behaviour’) in horses can increase awareness by riders, trainers, officials, and competition judges, which is a first step towards reducing the occurrence. This study included 11 warmblood dressage horses competing at upper national level (Intermediaire I). The horses were randomly selected (from a total of 22 horses) for an unannounced inspection for oral lesions immediately after leaving the dressage arena. Five of the 11 horses had abrasion of the skin and/or mucosa at one or both commissures of the lips and were eliminated from the competition according to the rules of the national equestrian federation. An experienced observer who was blind regarding the outcome of the inspection, scored behaviour in the 11 horses from official video recordings available online from the event. The frequency of mouth opening ranged from 5 to 59 times in the 11 horses. Horses with oral lesions had a significantly higher frequency of mouth opening compared to horses without oral lesions (t-test, mean ±SEM; lesions: 34.6 ±6.7 vs. no lesions: 12.2 ±2.4, t(9) = 3.4, P = 0.008). The frequency of other conflict behaviours did not differ significantly between the groups (e.g. tail swishing: MWU-test, median [25;75 %]; lesions: 25 [14;27] vs. no lesions: 10 [6,24], U = 7.0, P = 0.18). It is concluded that oral behaviour may be a useful indicator of oral lesions. Further studies are needed to investigate behavioural signs of discomfort and pain in riding horses, as behaviour can be an early predictor of compromised welfare. Increased awareness of subtle behavioural signs is therefore an important first step towards improved sports horse welfare.

Oligodendroglial fatty acid metabolism as a central nervous system energy reserve

Brain function requires a constant supply of glucose. However, the brain has no known energy stores, except for glycogen granules in astrocytes. In the present study, we report that continuous oligodendroglial lipid metabolism provides an energy reserve in white matter tracts. In the isolated optic nerve from young adult mice of both sexes, oligodendrocytes survive glucose deprivation better than astrocytes. Under low glucose, both axonal ATP levels and action potentials become dependent on fatty acid β-oxidation. Importantly, ongoing oligodendroglial lipid degradation feeds rapidly into white matter energy metabolism. Although not supporting high-frequency spiking, fatty acid β-oxidation in mitochondria and oligodendroglial peroxisomes protects axons from conduction blocks when glucose is limiting. Disruption of the glucose transporter GLUT1 expression in oligodendrocytes of adult mice perturbs myelin homeostasis in vivo and causes gradual demyelination without behavioral signs. This further suggests that the imbalance of myelin synthesis and degradation can underlie myelin thinning in aging and disease.

Changes in therapists’ knowledge of symptom management and stabilization following program co-participation with dissociative patients

Few professionals in the mental health field receive systematic training in treating trauma-related symptoms and disorders, including dissociative disorders (DD). Experts in the field of treating DDs recommend building stabilization skills early in treatment to improve emotion regulation and safety, yet research on DD therapists’ actual practices suggest that they are engaging in these practices less than recommended. DD patients may benefit from therapists learning more about emotion regulation and trauma symptom management towards stabilizing difficult experiences and risky, unhealthy, or unsafe behaviors. The current study considered whether an international group of therapists who participated alongside their DD patients in a 2-year Internet-based psychoeducational program demonstrated changes in knowledge related to symptom management and stabilization techniques. Therapists answered five free-form text questions related to DD symptom management and stabilization at baseline, mid-point, and end of the study. Results showed that significant changes in therapist knowledge were evident between baseline and mid-point, as well as between the baseline and the end of the study, with effect sizes ranging from small to large. Compared to when they began the study, therapists were better able to understand their DD patients’ reasons for self-injury, recognize warning signs of unsafe behaviors, identify coping skills, and identify skills to manage overwhelming feelings and intrusive traumatic content. Implications and opportunities for future research are discussed.

Scrolling through adolescence: unveiling the relationship of the use of social networks and its addictive behavior with psychosocial health

BackgroundUnderstanding the relationship of social network use and addictive behaviors with adolescent psychosocial health is crucial in today’s digital age.AimTo verify the associations between social network use, messaging applications, and the addictive behaviors to social network with psychosocial health in Spanish adolescents.MethodsA cross-sectional study was developed with 632 adolescents, aged 12 to 17 years from the Region of Murcia, Spain. The assessment of social network use (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok) involved evaluating the frequency of use of each social network individually using a single-item scale with five response options. WhatsApp use (i.e., a messaging application) was evaluated in the same manner. The Short Social Networks Addiction Scale-6 Symptoms was employed to assess potential addictive behaviors to social network use. The psychosocial health was assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Generalized linear regression models were conducted, and predictive probabilities of having psychosocial health problems were calculated.ResultsThe predicted probability of presenting psychosocial health problems in the medium users and high users of social networks was 19.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 13.0 to 27.7), and 16.2% (95% CI 10.2 to 24.6) higher compared to low users, respectively. High usage of Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Facebook was associated with increased probabilities of psychosocial health problems, with Facebook showing the highest probabilities, at 31.3% (95% CI 14.8 to 54.2) for medium users and 51.9% (95% CI 26.5 to 76.3) for high users. Additionally, adolescents with addictive behaviors to social network use had from 19.0 to 25.2% probabilities of experiencing psychosocial health problems. Finally, the highest probabilities of having psychosocial health problems were identified in adolescents with high addictive behaviors when using social networks (28.9%; 95% CI 19.3 to 40.8%) and the lowest in those with low addictive behaviors (6.8%; 95% CI 3.3 to 13.6%).ConclusionAdolescents who use social networks more frequently and exhibit more addictive behaviors related to their use are more likely to experience psychosocial health problems compared to those who do not. Facebook showed the strongest association, followed by Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. Our data also revealed that adolescents exhibit various signs of addictive behaviors to social network use.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy: A novel tool for detecting consciousness after acute severe brain injury

Recent advancements in functional neuroimaging have demonstrated that some unresponsive patients in the intensive care unit retain a level of consciousness that is inconsistent with their behavioral diagnosis of awareness. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a portable optical neuroimaging method that can be used to measure neural activity with good temporal and spatial resolution. However, the reliability of fNIRS for detecting the neural correlates of consciousness remains to be established. In a series of studies, we evaluated whether fNIRS can record sensory, perceptual, and command-driven neural processing in healthy participants and in behaviorally nonresponsive patients. At the individual healthy subject level, we demonstrate that fNIRS can detect commonly studied resting state networks, sensorimotor processing, speech-specific auditory processing, and volitional command-driven brain activity to a motor imagery task. We then tested fNIRS with three acutely brain injured patients and found that one could willfully modulate their brain activity when instructed to imagine playing a game of tennis-providing evidence of preserved consciousness despite no observable behavioral signs of awareness. The successful application of fNIRS for detecting preserved awareness among behaviorally nonresponsive patients highlights its potential as a valuable tool for uncovering hidden cognitive states in critical care settings.

Dilution of broiler breeder diets with oat hulls prolongs feeding but does not affect central control of appetite

The parents of broiler (meat) chickens (ie, broiler breeders) are food-restricted until sexual maturity, ensuring good health and reproduction, but resulting in hunger. We investigated whether diets with added insoluble fiber promote satiety and reduce behavioral, motivational, and physiological signs of hunger. Ninety-six broiler breeders were fed 1 of 4 feed treatments (n = 24 per diet) from 6 to 12 wk of age: 1) a commercial diet fed to the recommended ration (R) or 2) ad libitum (AL), the same diet as R but mixed with oat hulls at 3) 20% (OH20%) or 4) 40% (OH40%). The R, OH20% and OH40% diets were approximately iso-energetic and resulted in mean 12 wk of age weights within 2.5% of each other (1.21 kg), while AL birds weighed 221% as much (2.67kg). At 12 wk of age, agouti-related protein (AGRP) expression, was, on average, more than 12 times lower in AL birds (P < 0.001) but did not differ between the fiber diet treatments and R. Pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) expression, was, on average, over 1.5 times higher in AL birds, but was not statistically significantly affected by feed treatments (P = 0.33). In their home pens, AL birds stood/sat more, foraged less and fed more in total (P < 0.001) and OH40% birds spent longer feeding than R (P = 0.001). Motivation to forage tested by willingness to walk through water to access an area of wood shavings (without food) was not significantly affected by diet (P = 0.33). However, restricted birds were willing to cross in only 7.3% to 12.5% of tests. Mostly birds stayed on the start platform, where AL birds sat more than other treatments and OH40% birds reduced walking relative to R birds (P = 0.016). Across the behavioral and physiological measurements there was a dichotomy of effects in response to approximately iso-energetic diets differing in fiber. There were some potentially beneficial behavioral effects related to reduced foraging and walking. However, there was no evidence that these diets significantly improved physiological measures of satiety of broiler breeders.

Novel tau filament folds in individuals with MAPT mutations P301L and P301T.

Mutations in MAPT, the microtubule-associated protein tau gene, give rise to cases of frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTDP-17) with abundant filamentous tau inclusions in brain cells. Individuals with pathological MAPT variants exhibit behavioural changes, cognitive impairment and signs of parkinsonism. Missense mutations of residue P301, which are the most common MAPT mutations associated with FTDP-17, give rise to the assembly of mutant four-repeat tau into filamentous inclusions, in the absence of extracellular deposits. Here we report the cryo-EM structures of tau filaments from five individuals belonging to three unrelated families with mutation P301L and from one individual belonging to a family with mutation P301T. A novel three-lobed tau fold resembling the two-layered tau fold of Pick's disease was present in all cases with the P301L tau mutation. Two different tau folds were found in the case with mutation P301T, the less abundant of which was a variant of the three-lobed fold. The major P301T tau fold was V-shaped, with partial similarity to the four-layered tau folds of corticobasal degeneration and argyrophilic grain disease. These findings suggest that FTDP-17 with mutations in P301 should be considered distinct inherited tauopathies and that model systems with these mutations should be used with caution in the study of sporadic tauopathies.