Effect of single and fractionated x-irradiation on maze learning ability of mice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aoyama, Takashi; Norimura, Toshiyuki; Nakamura, Takeshi; Yoshikawa, Isao

1976-01-01

Fifty-six-day-old male ddk mice at the starting of the investigation were used as subjects through the experiment for 64 weeks. After 15 days' preliminary training, and 16 times of weekly trial training using complete maze, 15 mice received a single 224 rads of x-rays (S group), another 15 mice received two 112 rads spaced two weeks apart (F group) and another 15 mice were sham-irradiated (Control group). Then those mice were tested on the multiple T-maze with nine-choice points and change of performance was observed in terms of errorchoices by giving one test trial a week. We introduced the concept of ''confusional trials'' as an index for surmising to what extent mice failed to exhibit good maze learning habits. In the results, the F group showed significantly worse performance than the two other groups at early stages, opposite to it the S group exhibited the same, but at late stages after irradiation. The worse performance of F group should be considered to be due to the psychological after-effect to fractionated irradiation and that for S group could be assumed to be due to the acceleration of aging by the irradiation. (auth.)

Declarative virtual water maze learning and emotional fear conditioning in primary insomnia.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuhn, Marion; Hertenstein, Elisabeth; Feige, Bernd; Landmann, Nina; Spiegelhalder, Kai; Baglioni, Chiara; Hemmerling, Johanna; Durand, Diana; Frase, Lukas; Klöppel, Stefan; Riemann, Dieter; Nissen, Christoph

2018-05-02

Healthy sleep restores the brain's ability to adapt to novel input through memory formation based on activity-dependent refinements of the strength of neural transmission across synapses (synaptic plasticity). In line with this framework, patients with primary insomnia often report subjective memory impairment. However, investigations of memory performance did not produce conclusive results. The aim of this study was to further investigate memory performance in patients with primary insomnia in comparison to healthy controls, using two well-characterized learning tasks, a declarative virtual water maze task and emotional fear conditioning. Twenty patients with primary insomnia according to DSM-IV criteria (17 females, three males, 43.5 ± 13.0 years) and 20 good sleeper controls (17 females, three males, 41.7 ± 12.8 years) were investigated in a parallel-group study. All participants completed a hippocampus-dependent virtual Morris water maze task and amygdala-dependent classical fear conditioning. Patients with insomnia showed significantly delayed memory acquisition in the virtual water maze task, but no significant difference in fear acquisition compared with controls. These findings are consistent with the notion that memory processes that emerge from synaptic refinements in a hippocampal-neocortical network are particularly sensitive to chronic disruptions of sleep, while those in a basic emotional amygdala-dependent network may be more resilient. © 2018 European Sleep Research Society.

The scientific learning approach using multimedia-based maze game to improve learning outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Setiawan, Wawan; Hafitriani, Sarah; Prabawa, Harsa Wara

2016-02-01

The objective of curriculum 2013 is to improve the quality of education in Indonesia, which leads to improving the quality of learning. The scientific approach and supported empowerment media is one approach as massaged of curriculum 2013. This research aims to design a labyrinth game based multimedia and apply in the scientific learning approach. This study was conducted in one of the Vocational School in Subjects of Computer Network on 2 (two) classes of experimental and control. The method used Mix Method Research (MMR) which combines qualitative in multimedia design, and quantitative in the study of learning impact. The results of a survey showed that the general of vocational students like of network topology material (68%), like multimedia (74%), and in particular, like interactive multimedia games and flash (84%). Multimediabased maze game developed good eligibility based on media and material aspects of each value 840% and 82%. Student learning outcomes as a result of using a scientific approach to learning with a multimediabased labyrinth game increase with an average of gain index about (58%) and higher than conventional multimedia with index average gain of 0.41 (41%). Based on these results the scientific approach to learning by using multimediabased labyrinth game can improve the quality of learning and increase understanding of students. Multimedia of learning based labyrinth game, which developed, got a positive response from the students with a good qualification level (75%).

Sex and estrous cycle-dependent changes in neurosteroid and benzodiazepine effects on food consumption and plus-maze learning behaviors in rats.

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Reddy, D S; Kulkarni, S K

1999-01-01

Experiments were designed to investigate the influence of estrous cycle and gender of the rat on the effects of a gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA(A)) receptor active neurosteroid, 3alpha-hydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-20-one (allopregnanolone), the benzodiazepine, triazolam, and a GABA(A) receptor antagonistic neurosteroid, delta5-androsten-3beta-ol-17-one sulfate (dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate), on food intake and elevated plus-maze learning behaviors. Allopregnanolone (0.25 mg/kg, s.c.) and triazolam (0.25 mg/kg, i.p.) produced a hyperphagic effect, while dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (5 mg/kg, s.c.) elicited an anorectic effect. However, allopregnanolone was more potent in diestrous females, whereas triazolam exhibited significantly higher hyperphagic potency in estrus females. The extent of anorexia following dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate was alike in male and female rats. The triazolam- and allopregnanolone-induced hyperphagic effect was blocked by bicuculline (1 mg/kg, i.p.), a selective GABA(A) receptor antagonist. In contrast to triazolam, the hyperphagic effect of allopregnanolone was insensitive to flumazenil (5 mg/kg, i.p.), a benzodiazepine antagonist. Vehicle-treated diestrous rats displayed moderately higher latencies in the elevated plus-maze learning task than estrus or proestrus females. Although allopregnanolone and triazolam elicited equipotent learning deficits in plus-maze learning in male and female rats, the magnitude of impairment-induced by triazolam was significantly higher in diestrous females than proestrus females. Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate enhanced memory performance only in male rats. Although the use of the elevated plus-maze as a learning paradigm with benzodiazepines and neurosteroids may be sensitive to changes in anxiety, the differential data suggest that neurosteroid-induced effects are at least partly specific to learning behavior. These results confirm the role of estrous cycle and sex of rats in modifying the potency of

Virtual water maze learning in human increases functional connectivity between posterior hippocampus and dorsal caudate.

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Woolley, Daniel G; Mantini, Dante; Coxon, James P; D'Hooge, Rudi; Swinnen, Stephan P; Wenderoth, Nicole

2015-04-01

Recent work has demonstrated that functional connectivity between remote brain regions can be modulated by task learning or the performance of an already well-learned task. Here, we investigated the extent to which initial learning and stable performance of a spatial navigation task modulates functional connectivity between subregions of hippocampus and striatum. Subjects actively navigated through a virtual water maze environment and used visual cues to learn the position of a fixed spatial location. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were collected before and after virtual water maze navigation in two scan sessions conducted 1 week apart, with a behavior-only training session in between. There was a large significant reduction in the time taken to intercept the target location during scan session 1 and a small significant reduction during the behavior-only training session. No further reduction was observed during scan session 2. This indicates that scan session 1 represented initial learning and scan session 2 represented stable performance. We observed an increase in functional connectivity between left posterior hippocampus and left dorsal caudate that was specific to scan session 1. Importantly, the magnitude of the increase in functional connectivity was correlated with offline gains in task performance. Our findings suggest cooperative interaction occurs between posterior hippocampus and dorsal caudate during awake rest following the initial phase of spatial navigation learning. Furthermore, we speculate that the increase in functional connectivity observed during awake rest after initial learning might reflect consolidation-related processing. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Rapid learning of magnetic compass direction by C57BL/6 mice in a 4-armed 'plus' water maze.

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Phillips, John B; Youmans, Paul W; Muheim, Rachel; Sloan, Kelly A; Landler, Lukas; Painter, Michael S; Anderson, Christopher R

2013-01-01

Magnetoreception has been demonstrated in all five vertebrate classes. In rodents, nest building experiments have shown the use of magnetic cues by two families of molerats, Siberian hamsters and C57BL/6 mice. However, assays widely used to study rodent spatial cognition (e.g. water maze, radial arm maze) have failed to provide evidence for the use of magnetic cues. Here we show that C57BL/6 mice can learn the magnetic direction of a submerged platform in a 4-armed (plus) water maze. Naïve mice were given two brief training trials. In each trial, a mouse was confined to one arm of the maze with the submerged platform at the outer end in a predetermined alignment relative to magnetic north. Between trials, the training arm and magnetic field were rotated by 180(°) so that the mouse had to swim in the same magnetic direction to reach the submerged platform. The directional preference of each mouse was tested once in one of four magnetic field alignments by releasing it at the center of the maze with access to all four arms. Equal numbers of responses were obtained from mice tested in the four symmetrical magnetic field alignments. Findings show that two training trials are sufficient for mice to learn the magnetic direction of the submerged platform in a plus water maze. The success of these experiments may be explained by: (1) absence of alternative directional cues (2), rotation of magnetic field alignment, and (3) electromagnetic shielding to minimize radio frequency interference that has been shown to interfere with magnetic compass orientation of birds. These findings confirm that mice have a well-developed magnetic compass, and give further impetus to the question of whether epigeic rodents (e.g., mice and rats) have a photoreceptor-based magnetic compass similar to that found in amphibians and migratory birds.

Optimization of Apparatus Design and Behavioral Measures for the Assessment of Visuo-Spatial Learning and Memory of Mice on the Barnes Maze

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O'Leary, Timothy P.; Brown, Richard E.

2013-01-01

We have previously shown that apparatus design can affect visual-spatial cue use and memory performance of mice on the Barnes maze. The present experiment extends these findings by determining the optimal behavioral measures and test procedure for analyzing visuo-spatial learning and memory in three different Barnes maze designs. Male and female…

Can Passive Touch Be Better than Active Touch? A Comparison of Active and Passive Tactile Maze Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Barry L.; And Others

1981-01-01

In a comparison of the performance of active and passive mechanically yoked subjects who learned their way through a tactile maze, it was shown that active subjects made more errors and took a greater number of trials to reach criterion than did passive subjects. (Author)

Rapid learning of magnetic compass direction by C57BL/6 mice in a 4-armed 'plus' water maze.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John B Phillips

Full Text Available Magnetoreception has been demonstrated in all five vertebrate classes. In rodents, nest building experiments have shown the use of magnetic cues by two families of molerats, Siberian hamsters and C57BL/6 mice. However, assays widely used to study rodent spatial cognition (e.g. water maze, radial arm maze have failed to provide evidence for the use of magnetic cues. Here we show that C57BL/6 mice can learn the magnetic direction of a submerged platform in a 4-armed (plus water maze. Naïve mice were given two brief training trials. In each trial, a mouse was confined to one arm of the maze with the submerged platform at the outer end in a predetermined alignment relative to magnetic north. Between trials, the training arm and magnetic field were rotated by 180(° so that the mouse had to swim in the same magnetic direction to reach the submerged platform. The directional preference of each mouse was tested once in one of four magnetic field alignments by releasing it at the center of the maze with access to all four arms. Equal numbers of responses were obtained from mice tested in the four symmetrical magnetic field alignments. Findings show that two training trials are sufficient for mice to learn the magnetic direction of the submerged platform in a plus water maze. The success of these experiments may be explained by: (1 absence of alternative directional cues (2, rotation of magnetic field alignment, and (3 electromagnetic shielding to minimize radio frequency interference that has been shown to interfere with magnetic compass orientation of birds. These findings confirm that mice have a well-developed magnetic compass, and give further impetus to the question of whether epigeic rodents (e.g., mice and rats have a photoreceptor-based magnetic compass similar to that found in amphibians and migratory birds.

EMG finger movement classification based on ANFIS

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Caesarendra, W.; Tjahjowidodo, T.; Nico, Y.; Wahyudati, S.; Nurhasanah, L.

2018-04-01

An increase number of people suffering from stroke has impact to the rapid development of finger hand exoskeleton to enable an automatic physical therapy. Prior to the development of finger exoskeleton, a research topic yet important i.e. machine learning of finger gestures classification is conducted. This paper presents a study on EMG signal classification of 5 finger gestures as a preliminary study toward the finger exoskeleton design and development in Indonesia. The EMG signals of 5 finger gestures were acquired using Myo EMG sensor. The EMG signal features were extracted and reduced using PCA. The ANFIS based learning is used to classify reduced features of 5 finger gestures. The result shows that the classification of finger gestures is less than the classification of 7 hand gestures.

Penentuan Nilai Motorik Halus Anak Dengan Game Magic Maze Menggunakan Metode Mamdani

OpenAIRE

Fadly, Muhammad

2015-01-01

Motor development is a very important factor in the development of the whole child. fine motor skills are very important because it affects the other terms of learning in early childhood. Therefore, it made the game Magic Maze to assess motor skills early childhood. Game Magic Maze in this study using Mamdani method in determining the values to a child's fine motor skills. Maze game will be made on the PC. 081402045

Vicarious trial-and-error behavior and hippocampal cytochrome oxidase activity during Y-maze discrimination learning in the rat.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Dan; Xu, Xiaojuan; Gonzalez-Lima, Francisco

2006-03-01

The present study investigated whether more vicarious trial-and-error (VTE) behavior, defined by head movement from one stimulus to another at a choice point during simultaneous discriminations, led to better visual discrimination learning in a Y-maze, and whether VTE behavior was a function of the hippocampus by measuring regional brain cytochrome oxidase (C.O.) activity, an index of neuronal metabolic activity. The results showed that the more VTEs a rat made, the better the rat learned the visual discrimination. Furthermore, both learning and VTE behavior during learning were correlated to C.O. activity in the hippocampus, suggesting that the hippocampus plays a role in VTE behavior during discrimination learning.

Learning Motion Features for Example-Based Finger Motion Estimation for Virtual Characters

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Mousas, Christos; Anagnostopoulos, Christos-Nikolaos

2017-09-01

This paper presents a methodology for estimating the motion of a character's fingers based on the use of motion features provided by a virtual character's hand. In the presented methodology, firstly, the motion data is segmented into discrete phases. Then, a number of motion features are computed for each motion segment of a character's hand. The motion features are pre-processed using restricted Boltzmann machines, and by using the different variations of semantically similar finger gestures in a support vector machine learning mechanism, the optimal weights for each feature assigned to a metric are computed. The advantages of the presented methodology in comparison to previous solutions are the following: First, we automate the computation of optimal weights that are assigned to each motion feature counted in our metric. Second, the presented methodology achieves an increase (about 17%) in correctly estimated finger gestures in comparison to a previous method.

Spatial and Reversal Learning in the Morris Water Maze Are Largely Resistant to Six Hours of REM Sleep Deprivation Following Training

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Walsh, Christine M.; Booth, Victoria; Poe, Gina R.

2011-01-01

This first test of the role of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep in reversal spatial learning is also the first attempt to replicate a much cited pair of papers reporting that REM sleep deprivation impairs the consolidation of initial spatial learning in the Morris water maze. We hypothesized that REM sleep deprivation following training would impair…

Spatial and reversal learning in the Morris water maze are largely resistant to six hours of REM sleep deprivation following training

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Christine M.; Booth, Victoria; Poe, Gina R.

2011-01-01

This first test of the role of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep in reversal spatial learning is also the first attempt to replicate a much cited pair of papers reporting that REM sleep deprivation impairs the consolidation of initial spatial learning in the Morris water maze. We hypothesized that REM sleep deprivation following training would impair both hippocampus-dependent spatial learning and learning a new target location within a familiar environment: reversal learning. A 6-d protocol was divided into the initial spatial learning phase (3.5 d) immediately followed by the reversal phase (2.5 d). During the 6 h following four or 12 training trials/day of initial or reversal learning phases, REM sleep was eliminated and non-REM sleep left intact using the multiple inverted flowerpot method. Contrary to our hypotheses, REM sleep deprivation during four or 12 trials/day of initial spatial or reversal learning did not affect training performance. However, some probe trial measures indicated REM sleep-deprivation–associated impairment in initial spatial learning with four trials/day and enhancement of subsequent reversal learning. In naive animals, REM sleep deprivation during normal initial spatial learning was followed by a lack of preference for the subsequent reversal platform location during the probe. Our findings contradict reports that REM sleep is essential for spatial learning in the Morris water maze and newly reveal that short periods of REM sleep deprivation do not impair concurrent reversal learning. Effects on subsequent reversal learning are consistent with the idea that REM sleep serves the consolidation of incompletely learned items. PMID:21677190

2-Methyl-6-(phenylethynyl pyridine (MPEP reverses maze learning and PSD-95 deficits in Fmr1 knock-out mice.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Réno Michelle Gandhi

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Fragile X syndrome (FXS is caused by the lack of expression of the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP, which results in intellectual disability and other debilitating symptoms including impairment of visual-spatial functioning. FXS is the only single-gene disorder that is highly co-morbid with autism spectrum disorder and can therefore provide insight into its pathophysiology. Lack of FMRP results in altered group I metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR signalling, which is a target for putative treatments. The Hebb-Williams (H-W mazes are a set of increasingly complex spatial navigation problems that depend on intact hippocampal and thus mGluR-5 functioning. In the present investigation, we examined whether an antagonist of mGluR-5 would reverse previously described behavioural deficits in Fmr1 KO mice. Mice were trained on a subset of the H-W mazes and then treated with either 20 mg/kg of an mGluR-5 antagonist, 2-Methyl-6-(phenylethynyl pyridine (MPEP; n = 11 or an equivalent dose of saline (n = 11 prior to running test mazes. Latency and errors were dependent variables recorded during the test phase. Immediately after completing each test, marble-burying behavior was assessed which confirmed that the drug treatment was pharmacologically active during maze learning. Although latency was not statistically different between the groups, MPEP treated Fmr1 KO mice made significantly fewer errors on mazes deemed more difficult suggesting a reversal of the behavioural deficit. MPEP treated mice were also less perseverative and impulsive when navigating mazes. Furthermore, MPEP treatment reversed PSD-95 protein deficits in Fmr1 KO treated mice, whereas levels of a control protein (β-tubulin remained unchanged. These data further validate MPEP as a potentially beneficial treatment for FXS. Our findings also suggest that adapted H-W mazes may be a useful tool to document alterations in behavioural functioning following pharmacological

Non-spatial pre-training in the water maze as a clinically relevant model for evaluating learning and memory in experimental TBI.

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, Amy K; Brayer, Samuel W; Hurwitz, Max; Niyonkuru, Christian; Zou, Huichao; Failla, Michelle; Arenth, Patricia; Manole, Mioara D; Skidmore, Elizabeth; Thiels, Edda

2013-11-01

Explicit and implicit learning and memory networks exist where each network can facilitate or inhibit cognition. Clinical evidence suggests that implicit networks are relatively preserved after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Non-spatial pre-training (NSPT) in the Morris Water Maze (MWM) provides the necessary behavioral components to complete the task, while limiting the formation of spatial maps. Our study utilized NSPT in the MWM to assess implicit and explicit learning and memory system deficits in the controlled cortical impact (CCI) model of TBI. 76 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided: CCI vs. sham surgery, NSPT vs. No-NSPT, and cued vs. non-cued groups. NSPT occurred for 4d prior to surgery (dynamic hidden platform location, extra-maze cues covered, static pool entry point). Acquisition (d14-18), Probe/Visible Platform (d19), and Reversal (d20-21) trials were conducted with or without extra-maze cues. Novel time allocation and search strategy selection metrics were utilized. Results indicated implicit and explicit learning/memory networks are distinguishable in the MWM. In the cued condition, NSPT reduced thigmotaxis, improved place learning, and largely eliminated the apparent injury-induced deficits typically observed between untrained CCI and sham rats. However, among NSPT groups, incorporation of cues into search strategy selection for CCI rats was relatively impaired compared to shams. Non-cued condition performance showed sham/NSPT and CCI/NSPT rats perform similarly, suggesting implicit memory networks are largely intact 2weeks after CCI. Place learning differences between CCI/NSPT and sham/NSPT rats more accurately reflect spatial deficits in our CCI model compared to untrained controls. These data suggest NSPT as a clinically relevant construct for evaluating potential neurorestorative and neuroprotective therapies. These findings also support development of non-spatial cognitive training paradigms for evaluating rehabilitation relevant

Learning about cognition risk with the radial-arm maze in the developmental neurotoxicology battery.

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Levin, Edward D

2015-01-01

Cognitive dysfunction has been found in epidemiological studies to be among the most sensitive impairments associated with developmental exposure to a variety of environmental contaminants from heavy metals to polyhalogenated hydrocarbons and pesticides. These chemicals have been also shown to impair cognitive function after developmental exposure in experimental animal models. The radial-arm maze (RAM) has proven to be a sensitive and reliable way to assess both learning and memory in a variety of species, most often in rats and mice. The RAM is a very adaptable test method that takes advantage of rodents' instinct to explore new places in the environment to forage. That is, rodents do not need to be trained to run through the maze; they will normally do this from the initial session of testing. Training with differential reinforcement for arm choices provides a more rigorous test of learning and memory. The RAM is quite adaptable for assessing various aspects of cognition. Although the RAM has been mostly used to assess spatial learning and memory, it can be configured to assess non-spatial memory as well. Both working and reference memory can be easily distinguished. The RAM can be run with both appetitive (food reinforced) and aversive (water escape) motivators. The RAM has been found to be sensitive to a wide variety of developmental toxicants including heavy metals such as mercury and pesticides such as chlorpyrifos. There is an extremely rich literature especially with rats showing the effects of many types of brain lesions and drug effects so that the participation of a wide variety of neural systems in RAM performance is known. These systems, notably the hippocampus and frontal cortex, and acetylcholine and glutamate neurotransmitter systems, are the same neural systems that have been shown in humans to be critical for learning and memory. This considerably aids the interpretation of neurobehavioral toxicity studies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All

Curcuma comosa improves learning and memory function on ovariectomized rats in a long-term Morris water maze test

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Su, Jian; Sripanidkulchai, Kittisak; Wyss, J. Michael; Sripanidkulchai, Bungorn

2010-01-01

Aim of the study Curcuma comosa extract and some purified compounds from this plant have been reported to have estrogenic-like effects, and estrogen improves learning in some animals and potentially in postmenopausal women; therefore, this study tested the hypothesis that Curcuma comosa and estrogen have similar beneficial effects on spatial learning and memory. Materials and methods Curcuma comosa hexane extract, containing 0.165 mg of (4E,6E)-1,7-diphenylhepta-4,6-dien-3-one per mg of the crude extract, was orally administered to ovariectomized Wistar rats at the doses of 250 or 500 mg/kg body weight. 17β-estradiol (10 μg/kg body weight, subcutaneously) was used as a positive control. Thirty days after the initiation of treatment, animals were tested in a Morris water maze for spatial learning and memory. They were re-tested every 30 days and a final probe trial was run on day 119. Results Compared to control rats, OVX rats displayed significant memory impairment for locating the platform in the water maze from day 67 after the surgery, onward. In contrast, OVX rats treated with either Curcuma comosa or estrogen were significantly protected from this decline in cognitive function. Further, the protection of cognitive effects by Curcuma comosa was larger at higher dose. Conclusions These results suggest that long-term treatment with Curcuma comosa has beneficial effects on learning and memory function in rats. PMID:20420894

Ageing and spatial reversal learning in humans: findings from a virtual water maze.

Science.gov (United States)

Schoenfeld, R; Foreman, N; Leplow, B

2014-08-15

Deterioration in spatial memory with normal ageing is well accepted. Animal research has shown spatial reversal learning to be most vulnerable to pathological changes in the brain, but this has never been tested in humans. We studied ninety participants (52% females, 20-80 yrs) in a virtual water maze with a reversal learning procedure. Neuropsychological functioning, mood and personality were assessed to control moderator effects. For data analysis, participants were subdivided post hoc into groups aged 20-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-64 and 65-80 yrs. Initial spatial learning occurred in all age groups but 65-80-yrs-olds never reached the level of younger participants. When tested for delayed recall of spatial memory, younger people frequented the target area but those over 65 yrs did not. In spatial reversal learning, age groups over 45 yrs were deficient and the 65-80-yrs-olds showed no evidence of reversal. Spatial measures were associated with neuropsychological functioning. Extraversion and measures of depression moderated the age effect on the learning index with older introverted and non-depressed individuals showing better results. Measures of anxiety moderated the age effect on reversal learning with older people having higher anxiety scores showing a preserved reversal learning capability. Results confirmed age to be a major factor in spatial tasks but further showed neuropsychological functioning, psycho-affective determinants and personality traits to be significant predictors of individual differences. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Activation of the hippocampal complex during tactile maze solving in congenitally blind subjects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gagnon, Léa; Schneider, Fabien C; Siebner, Hartwig R

2012-01-01

Despite their lack of vision, congenitally blind subjects are able to build and manipulate cognitive maps for spatial navigation. It is assumed that they thereby rely more heavily on echolocation, proprioceptive signals and environmental cues such as ambient temperature and audition to compensate...... imaging (fMRI) in congenitally blind and blindfolded sighted participants while they navigated through a tactile multiple T-maze. Both groups learned the maze task at a similar pace. In blind participants, tactile maze navigation was associated with increased BOLD responses in the right hippocampus...

Prenatal exposure to alcohol does not affect radial maze learning and hippocampal mossy fiber sizes in three inbred strains of mouse

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bertholet Jean-Yves

2005-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on radial-maze learning and hippocampal neuroanatomy, particularly the sizes of the intra- and infrapyramidal mossy fiber (IIPMF terminal fields, in three inbred strains of mice (C57BL/6J, BALB/cJ, and DBA/2J. Results Although we anticipated a modification of both learning and IIPMF sizes, no such effects were detected. Prenatal alcohol exposure did, however, interfere with reproduction in C57BL/6J animals and decrease body and brain weight (in interaction with the genotype at adult age. Conclusion Prenatal alcohol exposure influenced neither radial maze performance nor the sizes of the IIPMF terminal fields. We believe that future research should be pointed either at different targets when using mouse models for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (e.g. more complicated behavioral paradigms, different hippocampal substructures, or other brain structures or involve different animal models.

Decoding of finger trajectory from ECoG using deep learning

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Ziqian; Schwartz, Odelia; Prasad, Abhishek

2018-06-01

Objective. Conventional decoding pipeline for brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) consists of chained different stages of feature extraction, time-frequency analysis and statistical learning models. Each of these stages uses a different algorithm trained in a sequential manner, which makes it difficult to make the whole system adaptive. The goal was to create an adaptive online system with a single objective function and a single learning algorithm so that the whole system can be trained in parallel to increase the decoding performance. Here, we used deep neural networks consisting of convolutional neural networks (CNN) and a special kind of recurrent neural network (RNN) called long short term memory (LSTM) to address these needs. Approach. We used electrocorticography (ECoG) data collected by Kubanek et al. The task consisted of individual finger flexions upon a visual cue. Our model combined a hierarchical feature extractor CNN and a RNN that was able to process sequential data and recognize temporal dynamics in the neural data. CNN was used as the feature extractor and LSTM was used as the regression algorithm to capture the temporal dynamics of the signal. Main results. We predicted the finger trajectory using ECoG signals and compared results for the least angle regression (LARS), CNN-LSTM, random forest, LSTM model (LSTM_HC, for using hard-coded features) and a decoding pipeline consisting of band-pass filtering, energy extraction, feature selection and linear regression. The results showed that the deep learning models performed better than the commonly used linear model. The deep learning models not only gave smoother and more realistic trajectories but also learned the transition between movement and rest state. Significance. This study demonstrated a decoding network for BMI that involved a convolutional and recurrent neural network model. It integrated the feature extraction pipeline into the convolution and pooling layer and used LSTM layer to capture the

Gastrodia elata Bl. Attenuated learning deficits induced by forced-swimming stress in the inhibitory avoidance task and Morris water maze.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Pei-Ju; Liang, Keng-Chen; Lin, Hui-Chen; Hsieh, Ching-Liang; Su, Kuan-Pin; Hung, Mei-Chu; Sheen, Lee-Yan

2011-06-01

This study adopted the forced-swimming paradigm to induce depressive symptoms in rats and evaluated the effects on learning and memory processing. Furthermore, the effects of the water extract of Gastrodia elata Bl., a well-known Chinese traditional medicine, on amnesia in rats subjected to the forced-swimming procedure were studied. Rats were subjected to the forced-swimming procedure, and the inhibitory avoidance task and Morris water maze were used to assess learning and memory performance. The acquisition of the two tasks was mostly impaired after the 15-minute forced-swimming procedure. Administration of the water extract of G. elata Bl. for 21 consecutive days at a dosage of 0.5 or 1.0 g/kg of body weight significantly improved retention in the inhibitory avoidance test, and the lower dose showed a better effect than the higher one and the antidepressant fluoxetine (18 mg/kg of body weight). In the Morris water maze, the lower dose of the water extract of G. elata Bl. significantly improved retention by shortening escape latency in the first test session and increasing the time in searching the target zone during the probe test. These findings suggest that water extracts of G. elata Bl. ameliorate the learning and memory deficits induced by forced swimming.

Effects of continuous vs. cycling estrogen replacement on the acquisition, retention and expression of place- and response-learning in the open-field tower maze.

Science.gov (United States)

Lipatova, Olga; Byrd, Dennis; Green, John T; Toufexis, Donna J

2014-10-01

Estrogen has been shown to either enhance or impair learning and memory in female rats. The use of different experimental paradigms or estrogen treatment regimens may contribute to these disparate findings. In order to assess the effect of different estradiol (E2) treatments on several aspects of cognition, we trained ovariectomized female rats with either continuous, cycling, or vehicle E2 replacement, in an open-field tower maze task (OFTM) designed to test reference memory in a low-stress environment. In addition, in order to compare two distinct learning and memory systems, rats were trained to use either a dorsolateral striatum-based response type learning or a hippocampal-based place type learning to solve the maze. Results showed that cyclic, but not continuous, E2 replacement facilitated the acquisition of spatial memory in place-learners. Neither E2 regimen affected acquisition in response-learners. Additionally, when all experimental groups were performing at asymptote, rats were evaluated for performance stability by changing the location of their start position in the OFTM. Both regimens of E2 disrupted the expression of spatial memory in place-learners following the novel start position. However, E2 replacement protected ovariectomized female rats from the disruption of memory expression following a start position change in response-learners. Additionally all experimental groups performed equally well when tested following a 21-day period during which rats were absent from the maze. These results suggest that E2 fluctuation is particularly important in the acquisition of hippocampal-mediated spatial learning, and that hippocampal-based memory may be subject to disruption following environmental change, while striatum-based memory is subject to protection. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Easy rider: monkeys learn to drive a wheelchair to navigate through a complex maze.

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Etienne, Stephanie; Guthrie, Martin; Goillandeau, Michel; Nguyen, Tho Hai; Orignac, Hugues; Gross, Christian; Boraud, Thomas

2014-01-01

The neurological bases of spatial navigation are mainly investigated in rodents and seldom in primates. The few studies led on spatial navigation in both human and non-human primates are performed in virtual, not in real environments. This is mostly because of methodological difficulties inherent in conducting research on freely-moving monkeys in real world environments. There is some incertitude, however, regarding the extrapolation of rodent spatial navigation strategies to primates. Here we present an entirely new platform for investigating real spatial navigation in rhesus monkeys. We showed that monkeys can learn a pathway by using different strategies. In these experiments three monkeys learned to drive the wheelchair and to follow a specified route through a real maze. After learning the route, probe tests revealed that animals successively use three distinct navigation strategies based on i) the place of the reward, ii) the direction taken to obtain reward or iii) a cue indicating reward location. The strategy used depended of the options proposed and the duration of learning. This study reveals that monkeys, like rodents and humans, switch between different spatial navigation strategies with extended practice, implying well-conserved brain learning systems across different species. This new task with freely driving monkeys provides a good support for the electrophysiological and pharmacological investigation of spatial navigation in the real world by making possible electrophysiological and pharmacological investigations.

Perceiving fingers in single-digit arithmetic problems.

Science.gov (United States)

Berteletti, Ilaria; Booth, James R

2015-01-01

In this study, we investigate in children the neural underpinnings of finger representation and finger movement involved in single-digit arithmetic problems. Evidence suggests that finger representation and finger-based strategies play an important role in learning and understanding arithmetic. Because different operations rely on different networks, we compared activation for subtraction and multiplication problems in independently localized finger somatosensory and motor areas and tested whether activation was related to skill. Brain activations from children between 8 and 13 years of age revealed that only subtraction problems significantly activated finger motor areas, suggesting reliance on finger-based strategies. In addition, larger subtraction problems yielded greater somatosensory activation than smaller problems, suggesting a greater reliance on finger representation for larger numerical values. Interestingly, better performance in subtraction problems was associated with lower activation in the finger somatosensory area. Our results support the importance of fine-grained finger representation in arithmetical skill and are the first neurological evidence for a functional role of the somatosensory finger area in proficient arithmetical problem solving, in particular for those problems requiring quantity manipulation. From an educational perspective, these results encourage investigating whether different finger-based strategies facilitate arithmetical understanding and encourage educational practices aiming at integrating finger representation and finger-based strategies as a tool for instilling stronger numerical sense.

Spatial memory deficits in a virtual reality eight-arm radial maze in schizophrenia.

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Spieker, Elena A; Astur, Robert S; West, Jeffrey T; Griego, Jacqueline A; Rowland, Laura M

2012-03-01

Learning and memory impairments are present in schizophrenia (SZ) throughout the illness course and predict psychosocial function. Abnormalities in prefrontal and hippocampal function are thought to contribute to SZ deficits. The radial arm maze (RAM) is a test of spatial learning and memory in rodents that relies on intact prefrontal and hippocampal function. The goal of the present study was to investigate spatial learning in SZ using a virtual RAM. Thirty-three subjects with SZ and thirty-nine healthy controls (HC) performed ten trials of a virtual RAM task. Subjects attempted to learn to retrieve four rewards each located in separate arms. As expected, subjects with SZ used more time and traveled more distance to retrieve rewards, made more reference (RM) and working memory (WM) errors, and retrieved fewer rewards than HC. It is important to note that the SZ group did learn but did not reach the level of HC. Whereas RM errors decreased across trials in the SZ group, WM errors did not. There were no significant relationships between psychiatric symptom severity and maze performance. To our knowledge, use of a virtual 8-arm radial maze task in SZ to assess spatial learning is novel. Impaired virtual RAM performance in SZ is consistent with studies that examined RAM performance in animal models of SZ. Results provide further support for compromised prefrontal and hippocampal function underlying WM and RM deficits in SZ. The virtual RAM task could help bridge preclinical and clinical research for testing novel drug treatments of SZ. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Making fingers and words count in a cognitive robot

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Vivian Milagros De La Cruz

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Evidence from developmental as well as neuroscientific studies suggest that finger counting activity plays an important role in the acquisition of numerical skills in children. It has been claimed that this skill helps in building motor-based representations of number that continue to influence number processing well into adulthood, facilitating the emergence of number concepts from sensorimotor experience through a bottom-up process. The act of counting also involves the acquisition and use of a verbal number system of which number words are the basic building blocks. Using a Cognitive Developmental Robotics paradigm we present results of a modeling experiment on whether finger counting and the association of number words (or tags to fingers, could serve to bootstrap the representation of number in a cognitive robot, enabling it to perform basic numerical operations such as addition. The cognitive architecture of the robot is based on artificial neural networks, which enable the robot to learn both sensorimotor skills (finger counting and linguistic skills (using number words. The results obtained in our experiments show that learning the number words in sequence along with finger configurations helps the fast building of the initial representation of number in the robot. Number knowledge, is instead, not as efficiently developed when number words are learned out of sequence without finger counting. Furthermore, the internal representations of the finger configurations themselves, developed by the robot as a result of the experiments, sustain the execution of basic arithmetic operations, something consistent with evidence coming from developmental research with children. The model and experiments demonstrate the importance of sensorimotor skill learning in robots for the acquisition of abstract knowledge such as numbers.

CaMKII binding to GluN2B is important for massed spatial learning in the Morris water maze [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/3ud

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Ivar S. Stein

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Learning and memory as well as long-term potentiation (LTP depend on Ca2+ influx through the NMDA-type glutamate receptor (NMDAR and the resulting activation of the Ca2+ and calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMKII. Ca2+ influx via the NMDAR triggers CaMKII binding to the NMDAR for enhanced CaMKII accumulation at post-synaptic sites that experience heightened activity as occurring during LTP. Previously, we generated knock-in (KI mice in which we replaced two residues in the NMDAR GluN2B subunit to impair CaMKII binding to GluN2B. Various forms of LTP at the Schaffer collateral synapses in CA1 are reduced by 50%. Nevertheless, working memory in the win-shift 8 arm maze and learning of the Morris water maze (MWM task was normal in the KI mice although recall of the task was impaired in these mice during the period of early memory consolidation. We now show that massed training in the MWM task within a single day resulted in impaired learning. However, learning and recall of the Barnes maze task and contextual fear conditioning over one or multiple days were surprisingly unaffected. The differences observed in the MWM compared to the Barnes maze and contextual fear conditioning suggest a differential involvement of CaMKII and the specific interaction with GluN2B, probably depending on varying degrees of stress, cognitive demand or even potentially different plasticity mechanisms associated with the diverse tasks.

Perceiving fingers in single-digit arithmetic problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilaria eBerteletti

2015-03-01

Full Text Available In this study, we investigate in children the neural underpinnings of finger representation and finger movement involved in single-digit arithmetic problems. Evidence suggests that finger representation and finger-based strategies play an important role in learning and understanding arithmetic. Because different operations rely on different networks, we compared activation for subtraction and multiplication problems in independently localized finger somatosensory and motor areas and tested whether activation was related to skill. Brain activations from children between 8 and 13 years of age revealed that only subtraction problems significantly activated finger motor areas, suggesting reliance on finger-based strategies. In addition, larger subtraction problems yielded greater somatosensory activation than smaller problems, suggesting a greater reliance on finger representation for larger numerical values. Interestingly, better performance in subtraction problems was associated with lower activation in the finger somatosensory area. Our results support the importance of fine-grained finger representation in arithmetical skill and are the first neurological evidence for a functional role of the somatosensory finger area in proficient arithmetical problem solving, in particular for those problems requiring quantity manipulation. From an educational perspective, these results encourage investigating whether different finger-based strategies facilitate arithmetical understanding and encourage educational practices aiming at integrating finger representation and finger-based strategies as a tool for instilling stronger numerical sense.

Glucose Injections into the Dorsal Hippocampus or Dorsolateral Striatum of Rats Prior to T-Maze Training: Modulation of Learning Rates and Strategy Selection

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Canal, Clinton E.; Stutz, Sonja J.; Gold, Paul E.

2005-01-01

The present experiments examined the effects of injecting glucose into the dorsal hippocampus or dorsolateral striatum on learning rates and on strategy selection in rats trained on a T-maze that can be solved by using either a hippocampus-sensitive place or striatum-sensitive response strategy. Percentage strategy selection on a probe trial…

Tactile maze solving in congenitally blind individuals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gagnon, Léa; Kupers, Ron; Schneider, Fabien C

2010-01-01

and environmental cues such as temperature and echolocation. We hypothesize that by limiting these cues, blind individuals will lose their advantage compared with controls in spatial navigation tasks. We therefore evaluated the performance of blind and sighted individuals in small-scale, tactile multiple T mazes....... Our results show that blindfolded sighted controls outperformed blind participants in the route-learning tasks. This suggests that, contrary to indoor large-scale spaces, navigational skills inside small-scale spaces benefit from visual experience....

Changing patterns of brain activation during maze learning.

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Van Horn, J D; Gold, J M; Esposito, G; Ostrem, J L; Mattay, V; Weinberger, D R; Berman, K F

1998-05-18

Recent research has found that patterns of brain activation involving the frontal cortex during novel task performance change dramatically following practice and repeat performance. Evidence for differential left vs. right frontal lobe activation, respectively, during episodic memory encoding and retrieval has also been reported. To examine these potentially related issues regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured in 15 normal volunteers using positron emission tomography (PET) during the naive and practiced performance of a maze task paradigm. SPM analysis indicated a largely right-sided, frontal lobe activation during naive performance. Following training and practice, performance of the same maze task elicited a more posterior pattern of rCBF activation involving posterior cingulate and precuneus. The change in the pattern of rCBF activation between novel and practiced task conditions agrees with results found in previous studies using repeat task methodology, and indicates that the neural circuitry required for encoding novel task information differs from that required when the same task has become familiar and information is being recalled. The right-sided preponderance of activation during naive performance may relate to task novelty and the spatially-based nature of the stimuli, whereas posterior areas activated during repeat performance are those previously found to be associated with visuospatial memory recall. Activation of these areas, however, does not agree with previously reported findings of left-sided activation during verbal episodic memory encoding and right-sided activation during retrieval, suggesting different neural substrates for verbal and visuospatial processing within memory. Copyright 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.

Electric Current Solves Mazes

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Ayrinhac, Simon

2014-01-01

We present in this work a demonstration of the maze-solving problem with electricity. Electric current flowing in a maze as a printed circuit produces Joule heating and the right way is instantaneously revealed with infrared thermal imaging. The basic properties of electric current can be discussed in this context, with this challenging question:…

Finger Forces in Clarinet Playing

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Alex Hofmann

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Clarinettists close and open multiple tone holes to alter the pitch of the tones. Their fingering technique must be fast, precise, and coordinated with the tongue articulation. In this empirical study, finger force profiles and tongue techniques of clarinet students (N = 17 and professional clarinettists (N = 6 were investigated under controlled performance conditions. First, in an expressive-performance task, eight selected excerpts from the first Weber Concerto were performed. These excerpts were chosen to fit in a 2 x 2 x 2 design (register: low--high; tempo: slow--fast, dynamics: soft--loud. There was an additional condition controlled by the experimenter, which determined the expression levels (low--high of the performers. Second, a technical-exercise task, an isochronous 23-tone melody was designed that required different effectors to produce the sequence (finger-only, tongue-only, combined tongue-finger actions. The melody was performed in three tempo conditions (slow, medium, fast in a synchronization-continuation paradigm. Participants played on a sensor-equipped Viennese clarinet, which tracked finger forces and reed oscillations simultaneously. From the data, average finger force (Fmean and peak force (Fmax were calculated. The overall finger forces were low (Fmean = 1.17 N, Fmax = 3.05 N compared to those on other musical instruments (e.g. guitar. Participants applied the largest finger forces during the high expression level performance conditions (Fmean = 1.21 N.For the technical exercise task, timing and articulation information were extracted from the reed signal. Here, the timing precision of the fingers deteriorated the timing precision of the tongue for combined tongue-finger actions, especially for faster tempi. Although individual finger force profiles were overlapping, the group of professional players applied less finger force overall (Fmean = 0.54 N. Such sensor instruments provide useful insights into player

Rolling block mazes are PSPACE-complete

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buchin, K.; Buchin, M.

2012-01-01

In a rolling block maze, one or more blocks lie on a rectangular board with square cells. In most mazes, the blocks have size k × m × n where k, m, n are integers that determine the size of the block in terms of units of the size of the board cells. The task of a rolling block maze is to roll a

Glow discharge based device for solving mazes

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Dubinov, Alexander E., E-mail: dubinov-ae@yandex.ru; Mironenko, Maxim S.; Selemir, Victor D. [Russian Federal Nuclear Center − All-Russian Scientific and Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF), Sarov, Nizhni Novgorod region 607188 (Russian Federation); Sarov Institute of Physics and Technology (SarFTI) of National Research Nuclear University “MEPhI,” Sarov, Nizhni Novgorod region 607188 (Russian Federation); Maksimov, Artem N.; Pylayev, Nikolay A. [Russian Federal Nuclear Center − All-Russian Scientific and Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF), Sarov, Nizhni Novgorod region 607188 (Russian Federation)

2014-09-15

A glow discharge based device for solving mazes has been designed and tested. The device consists of a gas discharge chamber and maze-transformer of radial-azimuth type. It allows changing of the maze pattern in a short period of time (within several minutes). The device has been tested with low pressure air. Once switched on, a glow discharge has been shown to find the shortest way through the maze from the very first attempt, even if there is a section with potential barrier for electrons on the way. It has been found that ionization waves (striations) can be excited in the maze along the length of the plasma channel. The dependancy of discharge voltage on the length of the optimal path through the maze has been measured. A reduction in discharge voltage with one or two potential barriers present has been found and explained. The dependency of the magnitude of discharge ignition voltage on the length of the optimal path through the maze has been measured. The reduction of the ignition voltage with the presence of one or two potential barriers has been observed and explained.

Performance of four different rat strains in the autoshaping, two-object discrimination, and swim maze tests of learning and memory.

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Andrews, J S; Jansen, J H; Linders, S; Princen, A; Broekkamp, C L

1995-04-01

The performance of four strains of rats commonly used in behavioural research was assessed in three different tests of learning and memory. The four strains included three outbred lines (Long-Evans, Sprague-Dawley, Wistar) and one inbred strain (S3). Learning and memory were tested using three different paradigms: autoshaping of a lever press, a two-object discrimination test, and performance in a two-island swim maze task. The pigmented strains showed better performance in the autoshaping procedure: the majority of the Long-Evans and the S3 rats acquired the response, and the majority of the Wistar and Sprague-Dawley failed to acquire the response in the set time. The albino strains were slightly better in the swim maze than the pigmented strains. There appeared to be a speed/accuracy trade-off in the strategy used to solve the task. This was also evident following treatment with the cholinergic-depleting agent hemicholinium-3. The performance of the Long-Evans rats was most affected by the treatment in terms of accuracy and the Wistar and Sprague-Dawleys in terms of speed. In the two-object discrimination test only the Long-Evans showed satisfactory performance and were able to discriminate a novel from a known object a short interval after initial exposure. These results show large task- and strain-dependent differences in performance in tests of learning and memory. Some of the performance variation may be due to emotional differences between the strains and may be alleviated by extra training. However, the response to pharmacological manipulation may require more careful evaluation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cognitive and Neural Determinants of Response Strategy in the Dual-Solution Plus-Maze Task

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De Leonibus, Elvira; Costantini, Vivian J. A.; Massaro, Antonio; Mandolesi, Georgia; Vanni, Valentina; Luvisetto, Siro; Pavone, Flaminia; Oliverio, Alberto; Mele, Andrea

2011-01-01

Response strategy in the dual-solution plus maze is regarded as a form of stimulus-response learning. In this study, by using an outcome devaluation procedure, we show that it can be based on both action-outcome and stimulus-response habit learning, depending on the amount of training that the animals receive. Furthermore, we show that…

Sex differences in a human analogue of the Radial Arm Maze: the "17-Box Maze Test".

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, Qazi; Abrahams, Sharon; Jussab, Fardin

2005-08-01

This study investigated sex differences in spatial memory using a human analogue of the Radial Arm Maze: a revision on the Nine Box Maze originally developed by called the 17-Box Maze Test herein. The task encourages allocentric spatial processing, dissociates object from spatial memory, and incorporates a within-participants design to provide measures of location and object, working and reference memory. Healthy adult males and females (26 per group) were administered the 17-Box Maze Test, as well as mental rotation and a verbal IQ test. Females made significantly fewer errors on this task than males. However, post hoc analysis revealed that the significant sex difference was specific to object, rather than location, memory measures. These were medium to large effect sizes. The findings raise the issue of task- and component-specific sexual dimorphism in cognitive mapping.

Finger agnosia and cognitive deficits in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

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Davis, Andrew S; Trotter, Jeffrey S; Hertza, Jeremy; Bell, Christopher D; Dean, Raymond S

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the presence of finger agnosia in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to determine if level of finger agnosia was related to cognitive impairment. Finger agnosia is a sensitive measure of cerebral impairment and is associated with neurofunctional areas implicated in AD. Using a standardized and norm-referenced approach, results indicated that patients with AD evidenced significantly decreased performance on tests of bilateral finger agnosia compared with healthy age-matched controls. Finger agnosia was predictive of cognitive dysfunction on four of seven domains, including: Crystallized Language, Fluid Processing, Associative Learning, and Processing Speed. Results suggest that measures of finger agnosia, a short and simple test, may be useful in the early detection of AD.

Spontaneous Recovery of Human Spatial Memory in a Virtual Water Maze

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Luna, David; Martínez, Héctor

2015-01-01

The occurrence of spontaneous recovery in human spatial memory was assessed using a virtual environment. In Experiment 1, spatial memory was established by training participants to locate a hidden platform in a virtual water maze using a set of four distal landmarks. In Experiment 2, after learning about the location of a hidden platform, the…

Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) ameliorates age-related deficits in water maze performance, especially in male rats.

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Kougias, Daniel G; Hankosky, Emily R; Gulley, Joshua M; Juraska, Janice M

2017-03-01

Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) is commonly supplemented to maintain muscle in elderly and clinical populations and has potential as a nootropic. Previously, we have shown that in both male and female rats, long-term HMB supplementation prevents age-related dendritic shrinkage within the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and improves cognitive flexibility and working memory performance that are both age- and sex-specific. In this study, we further explore the cognitive effects by assessing visuospatial learning and memory with the Morris water maze. Female rats were ovariectomized at 11months of age to model human menopause. At 12months of age, male and female rats received relatively short- or long-term (1- or 7-month) dietary HMB (450mg/kg/dose) supplementation twice a day prior to testing. Spatial reference learning and memory was assessed across four days in the water maze with four trials daily and a probe trial on the last day. Consistent with previous work, there were age-related deficits in water maze performance in both sexes. However, these deficits were ameliorated in HMB-treated males during training and in both sexes during probe trial performance. Thus, HMB supplementation prevented the age-related decrement in water maze performance, especially in male rats. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Selective impairment of subcategories of long-term memory in mice with hippocampal lesions accessed by the olfactory tubing maze.

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Chaillan, F A; Marchetti, E; Soumireu-Mourat, B; Roman, F S

2005-03-30

A new apparatus, the olfactory tubing maze for mice, was developed recently to study learning and memory processes in mice in regard to their ethological abilities. As in humans, BALB/c mice with selective bilateral lesions of the hippocampal formation showed selective impairment of subcategories of long-term memory when tested with the olfactory tubing maze. After three learning sessions, control mice reached a high percentage of correct responses. They consistently made the olfactory-reward associations, but antero-dorsal and postero-ventral hippocampal-lesioned mice did not. However, all lesioned mice learned the paradigm and the timing of the task as fast and as well as control mice. These data suggest that the olfactory tubing maze can be used to study subcategories of memory, such as declarative and non-declarative memory, which are similar in some respects to those observed in humans. Consequently, possible memory effects of classical approaches (i.e., pharmacological or lesion studies) or genetic modifications in transgenic or gene-targeting mice can be effectively analyzed using this new apparatus.

Automated Finger Spelling by Highly Realistic 3D Animation

Science.gov (United States)

Adamo-Villani, Nicoletta; Beni, Gerardo

2004-01-01

We present the design of a new 3D animation tool for self-teaching (signing and reading) finger spelling the first basic component in learning any sign language. We have designed a highly realistic hand with natural animation of the finger motions. Smoothness of motion (in real time) is achieved via programmable blending of animation segments. The…

Navigating a Maze with Balance Board and Wiimote

Science.gov (United States)

Fikkert, Wim; Hoeijmakers, Niek; van der Vet, Paul; Nijholt, Anton

Input from the lower body in human-computer interfaces can be beneficial, enjoyable and even entertaining when users are expected to perform tasks simultaneously. Users can navigate a virtual (game) world or even an (empirical) dataset while having their hands free to issue commands. We compared the Wii Balance Board to a hand-held Wiimote for navigating a maze and found that users completed this task slower with the Balance Board. However, the Balance Board was considered more intuitive, easy to learn and ‘much fun’.

A Finger Exoskeleton Robot for Finger Movement Rehabilitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tzu-Heng Hsu

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In this study, a finger exoskeleton robot has been designed and presented. The prototype device was designed to be worn on the dorsal side of the hand to assist in the movement and rehabilitation of the fingers. The finger exoskeleton is 3D-printed to be low-cost and has a transmission mechanism consisting of rigid serial links which is actuated by a stepper motor. The actuation of the robotic finger is by a sliding motion and mimics the movement of the human finger. To make it possible for the patient to use the rehabilitation device anywhere and anytime, an Arduino™ control board and a speech recognition board were used to allow voice control. As the robotic finger follows the patients voice commands the actual motion is analyzed by Tracker image analysis software. The finger exoskeleton is designed to flex and extend the fingers, and has a rotation range of motion (ROM of 44.2°.

Problem-solving in English through business mazes

CERN Document Server

Farthing, Joni

1981-01-01

We choose our job carefully. What we cannot choose are our colleagues - so it's not surprising that conflict and friction can arise in our working relationships. Business Mazes presents such problems for you to solve. Follow a route through the maze ans see the outcome of each decision you make. You may find that the quickest rout isn't always the best, or the easiest, in the long run. Business Mazes is designed for intermediate and advanced level students of English, working alone or in groups. It includes full teaching plans and exercises. The mazes may also be used effectively as an interesting approach to discussion for young people preparing their first job.

Reorganization of finger coordination patterns through motor exploration in individuals after stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Ranganathan, Rajiv

2017-09-11

Impairment of hand and finger function after stroke is common and affects the ability to perform activities of daily living. Even though many of these coordination deficits such as finger individuation have been well characterized, it is critical to understand how stroke survivors learn to explore and reorganize their finger coordination patterns for optimizing rehabilitation. In this study, I examine the use of a body-machine interface to assess how participants explore their movement repertoire, and how this changes with continued practice. Ten participants with chronic stroke wore a data glove and the finger joint angles were mapped on to the position of a cursor on a screen. The task of the participants was to move the cursor back and forth between two specified targets on a screen. Critically, the map between the finger movements and cursor motion was altered so that participants sometimes had to generate coordination patterns that required finger individuation. There were two phases to the experiment - an initial assessment phase on day 1, followed by a learning phase (days 2-5) where participants trained to reorganize their coordination patterns. Participants showed difficulty in performing tasks which had maps that required finger individuation, and the degree to which they explored their movement repertoire was directly related to clinical tests of hand function. However, over four sessions of practice, participants were able to learn to reorganize their finger movement coordination pattern and improve their performance. Moreover, training also resulted in improvements in movement repertoire outside of the context of the specific task during free exploration. Stroke survivors show deficits in movement repertoire in their paretic hand, but facilitating movement exploration during training can increase the movement repertoire. This suggests that exploration may be an important element of rehabilitation to regain optimal function.

A Maze Game on Android Using Growing Tree Method

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Hendrawan, Y. F.

2018-01-01

A maze is a type of puzzle games where a player moves in complex and branched passages to find a particular target or location. One method to create a maze is the Growing Tree method. The method creates a tree that has branches which are the paths of a maze. This research explored three types of Growing Tree method implementations for maze generation on Android mobile devices. The layouts produced could be played in first and third-person perspectives. The experiment results showed that it took 17.3 seconds on average to generate 20 cells x 20 cells dynamic maze layouts.

Cortex Inspired Model for Inverse Kinematics Computation for a Humanoid Robotic Finger

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Gentili, Rodolphe J.; Oh, Hyuk; Molina, Javier; Reggia, James A.; Contreras-Vidal, José L.

2013-01-01

In order to approach human hand performance levels, artificial anthropomorphic hands/fingers have increasingly incorporated human biomechanical features. However, the performance of finger reaching movements to visual targets involving the complex kinematics of multi-jointed, anthropomorphic actuators is a difficult problem. This is because the relationship between sensory and motor coordinates is highly nonlinear, and also often includes mechanical coupling of the two last joints. Recently, we developed a cortical model that learns the inverse kinematics of a simulated anthropomorphic finger. Here, we expand this previous work by assessing if this cortical model is able to learn the inverse kinematics for an actual anthropomorphic humanoid finger having its two last joints coupled and controlled by pneumatic muscles. The findings revealed that single 3D reaching movements, as well as more complex patterns of motion of the humanoid finger, were accurately and robustly performed by this cortical model while producing kinematics comparable to those of humans. This work contributes to the development of a bioinspired controller providing adaptive, robust and flexible control of dexterous robotic and prosthetic hands. PMID:23366569

Neural correlates of olfactory and visual memory performance in 3D-simulated mazes after intranasal insulin application.

Science.gov (United States)

Brünner, Yvonne F; Rodriguez-Raecke, Rea; Mutic, Smiljana; Benedict, Christian; Freiherr, Jessica

2016-10-01

This fMRI study intended to establish 3D-simulated mazes with olfactory and visual cues and examine the effect of intranasally applied insulin on memory performance in healthy subjects. The effect of insulin on hippocampus-dependent brain activation was explored using a double-blind and placebo-controlled design. Following intranasal administration of either insulin (40IU) or placebo, 16 male subjects participated in two experimental MRI sessions with olfactory and visual mazes. Each maze included two separate runs. The first was an encoding maze during which subjects learned eight olfactory or eight visual cues at different target locations. The second was a recall maze during which subjects were asked to remember the target cues at spatial locations. For eleven included subjects in the fMRI analysis we were able to validate brain activation for odor perception and visuospatial tasks. However, we did not observe an enhancement of declarative memory performance in our behavioral data or hippocampal activity in response to insulin application in the fMRI analysis. It is therefore possible that intranasal insulin application is sensitive to the methodological variations e.g. timing of task execution and dose of application. Findings from this study suggest that our method of 3D-simulated mazes is feasible for studying neural correlates of olfactory and visual memory performance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Phytochemical analysis, antioxidant, antistress, and nootropic activities of aqueous and methanolic seed extracts of ladies finger (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) in mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Doreddula, Sathish Kumar; Bonam, Srinivasa Reddy; Gaddam, Durga Prasad; Desu, Brahma Srinivasa Rao; Ramarao, Nadendla; Pandy, Vijayapandi

2014-01-01

Abelmoschus esculentus L. (ladies finger, okra) is a well-known tropical vegetable, widely planted from Africa to Asia and from South Europe to America. In the present study, we investigated the in vitro antioxidant capacity and in vivo protective effect of the aqueous and methanolic seed extracts of Abelmoschus esculentus against scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment using passive avoidance task and acute restraining stress-induced behavioural and biochemical changes using elevated plus maze (EPM) and forced swimming test (FST) in mice. Our results demonstrated that the pretreatment of mice with aqueous and methanolic seed extracts of Abelmoschus esculentus (200 mg/kg, p.o.) for seven days significantly (P nootropic activities which promisingly support the medicinal values of ladies finger as a vegetable.

Intelligence-Augmented Rat Cyborgs in Maze Solving.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yipeng Yu

Full Text Available Cyborg intelligence is an emerging kind of intelligence paradigm. It aims to deeply integrate machine intelligence with biological intelligence by connecting machines and living beings via neural interfaces, enhancing strength by combining the biological cognition capability with the machine computational capability. Cyborg intelligence is considered to be a new way to augment living beings with machine intelligence. In this paper, we build rat cyborgs to demonstrate how they can expedite the maze escape task with integration of machine intelligence. We compare the performance of maze solving by computer, by individual rats, and by computer-aided rats (i.e. rat cyborgs. They were asked to find their way from a constant entrance to a constant exit in fourteen diverse mazes. Performance of maze solving was measured by steps, coverage rates, and time spent. The experimental results with six rats and their intelligence-augmented rat cyborgs show that rat cyborgs have the best performance in escaping from mazes. These results provide a proof-of-principle demonstration for cyborg intelligence. In addition, our novel cyborg intelligent system (rat cyborg has great potential in various applications, such as search and rescue in complex terrains.

Intelligence-Augmented Rat Cyborgs in Maze Solving.

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Yu, Yipeng; Pan, Gang; Gong, Yongyue; Xu, Kedi; Zheng, Nenggan; Hua, Weidong; Zheng, Xiaoxiang; Wu, Zhaohui

2016-01-01

Cyborg intelligence is an emerging kind of intelligence paradigm. It aims to deeply integrate machine intelligence with biological intelligence by connecting machines and living beings via neural interfaces, enhancing strength by combining the biological cognition capability with the machine computational capability. Cyborg intelligence is considered to be a new way to augment living beings with machine intelligence. In this paper, we build rat cyborgs to demonstrate how they can expedite the maze escape task with integration of machine intelligence. We compare the performance of maze solving by computer, by individual rats, and by computer-aided rats (i.e. rat cyborgs). They were asked to find their way from a constant entrance to a constant exit in fourteen diverse mazes. Performance of maze solving was measured by steps, coverage rates, and time spent. The experimental results with six rats and their intelligence-augmented rat cyborgs show that rat cyborgs have the best performance in escaping from mazes. These results provide a proof-of-principle demonstration for cyborg intelligence. In addition, our novel cyborg intelligent system (rat cyborg) has great potential in various applications, such as search and rescue in complex terrains.

Use of an eight-arm radial water maze to assess working and reference memory following neonatal brain injury.

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Penley, Stephanie C; Gaudet, Cynthia M; Threlkeld, Steven W

2013-12-04

Working and reference memory are commonly assessed using the land based radial arm maze. However, this paradigm requires pretraining, food deprivation, and may introduce scent cue confounds. The eight-arm radial water maze is designed to evaluate reference and working memory performance simultaneously by requiring subjects to use extra-maze cues to locate escape platforms and remedies the limitations observed in land based radial arm maze designs. Specifically, subjects are required to avoid the arms previously used for escape during each testing day (working memory) as well as avoid the fixed arms, which never contain escape platforms (reference memory). Re-entries into arms that have already been used for escape during a testing session (and thus the escape platform has been removed) and re-entries into reference memory arms are indicative of working memory deficits. Alternatively, first entries into reference memory arms are indicative of reference memory deficits. We used this maze to compare performance of rats with neonatal brain injury and sham controls following induction of hypoxia-ischemia and show significant deficits in both working and reference memory after eleven days of testing. This protocol could be easily modified to examine many other models of learning impairment.

Unilateral robotic hybrid mini-maze: a novel experimental approach.

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Moslemi, Mohammad; Rawashdeh, Badi; Meyer, Mark; Nguyen, Duy; Poston, Robert; Gharagozloo, Farid

2016-03-01

A complete Cox maze IV procedure is difficult to accomplish using current endoscopic and minimally invasive techniques. These techniques are hampered by inability to adequately dissect the posterior structures of the heart and place all necessary lesions. We present a novel approach, using robotic technology, that achieves placement of all the lesions of the complete maze procedure. In three cadaveric human models, the technical feasibility of using robotic instruments through the right chest to dissect the posterior structures of the heart and place all Cox maze lesions was performed. The entire posterior aspect of the heart was dissected in the cadaveric model facilitating successful placement of all Cox maze IV lesions with robotic assistance through minimally invasive incisions. The robotic Cox maze IV procedure through the novel right thoracic approach is feasible. This obviates the need for sternotomy and avoids the associated morbidity of the conventional Cox-maze procedure. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Delayed-matching-to-place Task in a Dry Maze to Measure Spatial Working Memory in Mice.

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Feng, Xi; Krukowski, Karen; Jopson, Timothy; Rosi, Susanna

2017-07-05

The delayed-matching-to-place (DMP) dry maze test is a variant of DMP water maze (Steele and Morris, 1999; Faizi et al. , 2012) which measures spatial working/episodic-like learning and memory that depends on both hippocampal and cortical functions (Wang and Morris, 2010; Euston et al. , 2012). Using this test we can detect normal aging related spatial working memory decline, as well as trauma induced working memory deficits. Furthermore, we recently reported that fractionated whole brain irradiation does not affect working memory in mice (Feng et al. , 2016). Here we describe the experimental setup and procedures of this behavioral test.

Distinction between epigenic and hypogenic maze caves

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Palmer, Arthur N.

2011-11-01

Certain caves formed by dissolution of bedrock have maze patterns composed of closed loops in which many intersecting fractures or pores have enlarged simultaneously. Their origin can be epigenic (by shallow circulation of meteoric groundwater) or hypogenic (by rising groundwater or production of deep-seated solutional aggressiveness). Epigenic mazes form by diffuse infiltration through a permeable insoluble caprock or by floodwater supplied by sinking streams. Most hypogenic caves involve deep sources of aggressiveness. Transverse hypogenic cave origin is a recently proposed concept in which groundwater of mainly meteoric origin rises across strata in the distal portions of large flow systems, to form mazes in soluble rock sandwiched between permeable but insoluble strata. The distinction between maze types is debated and is usually based on examination of diagnostic cave features and relation of caves to their regional setting. In this paper, the principles of mass transfer are applied to clarify the limits of each model, to show how cave origin is related to groundwater discharge, dissolution rate, and time. The results show that diffuse infiltration and floodwater can each form maze caves at geologically feasible rates (typically within 500 ka). Transverse hypogenic mazes in limestone, to enlarge significantly within 1 Ma, require an unusually high permeability of the non-carbonate beds (generally ≥ 10-4 cm/s), large discharge, and calcite saturation no greater than 90%, which is rare in deep diffuse flow in sedimentary rocks. Deep sources of aggressiveness are usually required. The origin of caves by transverse hypogenic flow is much more favorable in evaporite rocks than in carbonate rocks.

Guiding brine shrimp through mazes by solving reaction diffusion equations

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Singal, Krishma; Fenton, Flavio

Excitable systems driven by reaction diffusion equations have been shown to not only find solutions to mazes but to also to find the shortest path between the beginning and the end of the maze. In this talk we describe how we can use the Fitzhugh-Nagumo model, a generic model for excitable media, to solve a maze by varying the basin of attraction of its two fixed points. We demonstrate how two dimensional mazes are solved numerically using a Java Applet and then accelerated to run in real time by using graphic processors (GPUs). An application of this work is shown by guiding phototactic brine shrimp through a maze solved by the algorithm. Once the path is obtained, an Arduino directs the shrimp through the maze using lights from LEDs placed at the floor of the Maze. This method running in real time could be eventually used for guiding robots and cars through traffic.

Trigger finger

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... digit; Trigger finger release; Locked finger; Digital flexor tenosynovitis ... cut or hand Yellow or green drainage from the cut Hand pain or discomfort Fever If your trigger finger returns, call your surgeon. You may need another surgery.

Psychometric Properties of Maze Tasks in Middle School Students

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Tolar, Tammy D.; Barth, Amy E.; Francis, David J.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Stuebing, Karla K.; Vaughn, Sharon

2012-01-01

Maze tasks have appealing properties as progress-monitoring tools, but there is a need for a thorough examination of the psychometric properties of Maze tasks among middle school students. We evaluated form effects, reliability, validity, and practice effects of Maze among students in Grades 6 through 8. We administered the same (familiar) and…

Changes in Search Path Complexity and Length During Learning of a Virtual Water Maze: Age Differences and Differential Associations with Hippocampal Subfield Volumes.

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Daugherty, Ana M; Bender, Andrew R; Yuan, Peng; Raz, Naftali

2016-06-01

Impairment of hippocampus-dependent cognitive processes has been proposed to underlie age-related deficits in navigation. Animal studies suggest a differential role of hippocampal subfields in various aspects of navigation, but that hypothesis has not been tested in humans. In this study, we examined the association between volume of hippocampal subfields and age differences in virtual spatial navigation. In a sample of 65 healthy adults (age 19-75 years), advanced age was associated with a slower rate of improvement operationalized as shortening of the search path over 25 learning trials on a virtual Morris water maze task. The deficits were partially explained by greater complexity of older adults' search paths. Larger subiculum and entorhinal cortex volumes were associated with a faster decrease in search path complexity, which in turn explained faster shortening of search distance. Larger Cornu Ammonis (CA)1-2 volume was associated with faster distance shortening, but not in path complexity reduction. Age differences in regional volumes collectively accounted for 23% of the age-related variance in navigation learning. Independent of subfield volumes, advanced age was associated with poorer performance across all trials, even after reaching the asymptote. Thus, subiculum and CA1-2 volumes were associated with speed of acquisition, but not magnitude of gains in virtual maze navigation. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Integration of tactile input across fingers in a patient with finger agnosia.

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Anema, Helen A; Overvliet, Krista E; Smeets, Jeroen B J; Brenner, Eli; Dijkerman, H Chris

2011-01-01

Finger agnosia has been described as an inability to explicitly individuate between the fingers, which is possibly due to fused neural representations of these fingers. Hence, are patients with finger agnosia unable to keep tactile information perceived over several fingers separate? Here, we tested a finger agnosic patient (GO) on two tasks that measured the ability to keep tactile information simultaneously perceived by individual fingers separate. In experiment 1 GO performed a haptic search task, in which a target (the absence of a protruded line) needed to be identified among distracters (protruded lines). The lines were presented simultaneously to the fingertips of both hands. Similarly to the controls, her reaction time decreased when her fingers were aligned as compared to when her fingers were stretched and in an unaligned position. This suggests that she can keep tactile input from different fingers separate. In experiment two, GO was required to judge the position of a target tactile stimulus to the index finger, relatively to a reference tactile stimulus to the middle finger, both in fingers uncrossed and crossed position. GO was able to indicate the relative position of the target stimulus as well as healthy controls, which indicates that she was able to keep tactile information perceived by two neighbouring fingers separate. Interestingly, GO performed better as compared to the healthy controls in the finger crossed condition. Together, these results suggest the GO is able to implicitly distinguish between tactile information perceived by multiple fingers. We therefore conclude that finger agnosia is not caused by minor disruptions of low-level somatosensory processing. These findings further underpin the idea of a selective impaired higher order body representation restricted to the fingers as underlying cause of finger agnosia. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Wireless EEG Recording Method for Rat Use inside the Water Maze.

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Richard C Pinnell

Full Text Available With the continued miniaturisation of portable embedded systems, wireless EEG recording techniques are becoming increasingly prevalent in animal behavioural research. However, in spite of their versatility and portability, they have seldom been used inside water-maze tasks designed for rats. As such, a novel 3D printed implant and waterproof connector is presented, which can facilitate wireless water-maze EEG recordings in freely-moving rats, using a commercial wireless recording system (W32; Multichannel Systems. As well as waterproofing the wireless system, battery, and electrode connector, the implant serves to reduce movement-related artefacts by redistributing movement-related forces away from the electrode connector. This implant/connector was able to successfully record high-quality LFP in the hippocampo-striatal brain regions of rats as they undertook a procedural-learning variant of the double-H water-maze task. Notably, there were no significant performance deficits through its use when compared with a control group across a number of metrics including number of errors and speed of task completion. Taken together, this method can expand the range of measurements that are currently possible in this diverse area of behavioural neuroscience, whilst paving the way for integration with more complex behaviours.

Female Sprague Dawley Rats Show Impaired Spatial Memory in the 8-Arm Radial Maze under Dim Blue and Red Light

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Michael Pirchl

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Light intensity and wavelength strongly influence mood and cognition in humans and rodent animal models. The aim of the present study was to explore if dim white (7.6–17.7 lux , blue (1.3–2.3 lux, and red light (0.8–1.4 lux affect spatial memory of male and female Sprague Dawley rats in the 8-arm radial maze. Our data show that spatial memory significantly improved within 5 daily learning sessions (each 5 trials under dim white light, which was not different between male and female rats. However, dim blue and red light significantly reduced spatial learning of female rats in the 8-arm radial maze in the last training session (session 5. In conclusion, we suggest that female Sprague Dawley rats show reduced learning under blue and red light.

Topographic generalization of tactile perceptual learning.

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Harrar, Vanessa; Spence, Charles; Makin, Tamar R

2014-02-01

Perceptual learning can improve our sensory abilities. Understanding its underlying mechanisms, in particular, when perceptual learning generalizes, has become a focus of research and controversy. Specifically, there is little consensus regarding the extent to which tactile perceptual learning generalizes across fingers. We measured tactile orientation discrimination abilities on 4 fingers (index and middle fingers of both hands), using psychophysical measures, before and after 4 training sessions on 1 finger. Given the somatotopic organization of the hand representation in the somatosensory cortex, the topography of the cortical areas underlying tactile perceptual learning can be inferred from the pattern of generalization across fingers; only fingers sharing cortical representation with the trained finger ought to improve with it. Following training, performance improved not only for the trained finger but also for its adjacent and homologous fingers. Although these fingers were not exposed to training, they nevertheless demonstrated similar levels of learning as the trained finger. Conversely, the performance of the finger that was neither adjacent nor homologous to the trained finger was unaffected by training, despite the fact that our procedure was designed to enhance generalization, as described in recent visual perceptual learning research. This pattern of improved performance is compatible with previous reports of neuronal receptive fields (RFs) in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) spanning adjacent and homologous digits. We conclude that perceptual learning rooted in low-level cortex can still generalize, and suggest potential applications for the neurorehabilitation of syndromes associated with maladaptive plasticity in SI. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Integration of tactile input across fingers in a patient with finger agnosia.

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Anema, H.A.; Overvliet, K.E.; Smeets, J.B.J.; Brenner, E.; Dijkerman, H.C.

2011-01-01

Finger agnosia has been described as an inability to explicitly individuate between the fingers, which is possibly due to fused neural representations of these fingers. Hence, are patients with finger agnosia unable to keep tactile information perceived over several fingers separate? Here, we tested

A novel radial water tread maze tracks age-related cognitive decline in mice

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Christina Pettan-Brewer

2013-10-01

Full Text Available There is currently no treatment and cure for age-related dementia and cognitive impairment in humans. Mice suffer from age-related cognitive decline just as people do, but assessment is challenging because of cumbersome and at times stressful performance tasks. We developed a novel radial water tread (RWT maze and tested male C57BL/6 (B6 and C57BL/6 x Balb/c F1 (CB6F1 mice at ages 4, 12, 20, and 28 months. B6 mice showed a consistent learning experience and memory retention that gradually decreased with age. CB6F1 mice showed a moderate learning experience in the 4 and 12 month groups, which was not evident in the 20 and 28 month groups. In conclusion, CB6F1 mice showed more severe age-related cognitive impairment compared to B6 mice and might be a suitable model for intervention studies. In addition, the RWT maze has a number of operational advantages compared to currently accepted tasks and can be used to assess age-related cognition impairment in B6 and CB6F1 mice as early as 12 months of age.

Effects of caffeine on learning and memory in rats tested in the Morris water maze

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Angelucci M.E.M.

2002-01-01

Full Text Available We studied some of the characteristics of the improving effect of the non-specific adenosine receptor antagonist, caffeine, using an animal model of learning and memory. Groups of 12 adult male Wistar rats receiving caffeine (0.3-30 mg/kg, ip, in 0.1 ml/100 g body weight administered 30 min before training, immediately after training, or 30 min before the test session were tested in the spatial version of the Morris water maze task. Post-training administration of caffeine improved memory retention at the doses of 0.3-10 mg/kg (the rats swam up to 600 cm less to find the platform in the test session, P<=0.05 but not at the dose of 30 mg/kg. Pre-test caffeine administration also caused a small increase in memory retrieval (the escape path of the rats was up to 500 cm shorter, P<=0.05. In contrast, pre-training caffeine administration did not alter the performance of the animals either in the training or in the test session. These data provide evidence that caffeine improves memory retention but not memory acquisition, explaining some discrepancies among reports in the literature.

Effects of an early experience involving training in a T-maze under either denial or receipt of expected reward through maternal contact.

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Antonios eStamatakis

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The mother is the most salient stimulus for the developing pups and a number of early experience models employ manipulation of the mother-infant interaction. We have developed a new model which in addition to changes in maternal behavior includes a learning component on the part of the pups. More specifically, pups were trained in a T-maze and either received (RER rats or were denied (DER the reward of maternal contact, during postnatal days 10—13.Pups of both experimental groups learn the T-maze, but the RER do so more efficiently utilizing a procedural-type of learning and memory with activation of the dorsal basal ganglia. On the other hand, the DER experience leads to activation of the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and amygdala in the pups.In adulthood, male DER animals exhibit better mnemonic abilities in the Morris water maze and higher activation of the hippocampus, while they have decreased brain serotonergic activity, exhibit a depressive-like phenotype and proactive aggressive behavior in the resident-intruder test. On the other hand, male RER animals assume a reactive coping style in this test, showed increased emotionality as well as freezing in the memory test following both contextual and cued fear conditioning.

Admittance Control of a Multi-Finger Arm Based on Manipulability of Fingers

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Jian Huang

2011-09-01

Full Text Available In the previous studies, admittance control and impedance control for a finger-arm robot using the manipulability of the finger were studied and methods of realizing the controls have been proposed. In this study, two 3-DOF fingers are attached to the end-effector of a 6-DOF arm to configure a multi-finger arm robot. Based on the previous methods, the authors have proposed an admittance control for a multi-finger arm robot using the manipulability of the fingers in this study. Algorithms of the averaging method and the mini-max method were introduced to establish a manipulability criterion of the two fingers in order to generate a cooperative movement of the arm. Comparison of the admittance controls combined with the top search method and local optimization method for the multi-finger arm robot was made and features of the control methods were also discussed. The stiffness control and damping control were experimentally evaluated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

7-NI and ODQ Disturbs Memory in the Elevated Plus Maze, Morris Water Maze, and Radial Arm Maze Tests in Mice.

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Mutlu, Oguz; Akar, Furuzan; Celikyurt, Ipek Komsuoglu; Tanyeri, Pelin; Ulak, Guner; Erden, Faruk

2015-01-01

Nitric oxide (NO) is an atypical neurotransmitter that causes changes in cognition. Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and guanylate cyclase (GC) inhibitors have been shown to exert some effects on cognition in previous studies; however, the findings have been controversial. This study was aimed at understanding the effects of an NOS inhibitor, 7-nitroindazole (7-NI), and a guanylate cyclase inhibitor, 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ), on spatial memory in modified elevated plus maze (mEPM), Morris water maze (MWM), and radial arm maze (RAM) tests. Male Balb-c mice were treated via intraperitoneal injections with 7-NI (15 mg/kg), ODQ (3, 10 mg/kg), L-arginine (100 mg/kg) + 7-NI (15 mg/kg), or physiological saline. ODQ (3 mg/kg) and 7-NI (15 mg/kg) significantly increased the second-day latency in the mEPM test. 7-NI (15 mg/kg) and ODQ (10 mg/kg) significantly increased the escape latency in second, third, and fourth sessions, decreased the time spent in the escape platform's quadrant, and increased the mean distance to the platform in the probe trial of the MWM test. ODQ (3, 10 mg/kg) and 7-NI (15 mg/kg) significantly increased the number of errors, whereas only 7-NI increased the latency in the RAM test. The administration of L-arginine (100 mg/kg) prior to 7-NI inverted the effects of 7-NI, which supports the role of NO on cognition. Our study shows that the NO/cGMP/GS pathway can regulate spatial memory in mice.

An old test for new neurons: refining the Morris water maze to study the functional relevance of adult hippocampal neurogenesis

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Alexander eGarthe

2013-05-01

Full Text Available The Morris water maze represents the de-facto standard for testing hippocampal function in laboratory rodents. In the field of adult hippocampal neurogenesis, however, using this paradigm to assess the functional relevance of the new neurons yielded surprisingly inconsistent results. While some authors found aspects of water maze performance to be linked to adult neurogenesis, others obtained different results or could not demonstrate any effect of manipulating adult neurogenesis.In this review we discuss evidence that the large diversity of protocols and setups used is an important aspect in interpreting the differences in the results that have been obtained. Even simple parameters such as pool size, number and configuration of visual landmarks, or number of trials can become highly relevant for getting the new neurons involved at all. Sets of parameters are often chosen with implicit or explicit concepts in mind and these might lead to different views on the function of adult-generated neurons.We propose that the classical parameters usually used to measure spatial learning performance in the water maze might not be particularly well suited to sensitively and specifically detect the supposedly highly specific functional changes elicited by the experimental modulation of adult hippocampal neurogenesis. As adult neurogenesis is supposed to affect specific aspects of information processing only in the hippocampus, any claim for a functional relevance of the new neurons has to be based on hippocampus-specific parameters. We also placed a special emphasis on the fact that the DG facilitates the differentiation between contexts as opposed to just differentiating places.In conclusion, while the Morris water maze has proven to be one of the most effective testing paradigms to assess hippocampus-dependent spatial learning, new and more specific questions ask for new parameters. Therefore, the full potential of the water maze task remains to be tapped.

Robotic finger perturbation training improves finger postural steadiness and hand dexterity.

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Yoshitake, Yasuhide; Ikeda, Atsutoshi; Shinohara, Minoru

2018-02-01

The purpose of the study was to understand the effect of robotic finger perturbation training on steadiness in finger posture and hand dexterity in healthy young adults. A mobile robotic finger training system was designed to have the functions of high-speed mechanical response, two degrees of freedom, and adjustable loading amplitude and direction. Healthy young adults were assigned to one of the three groups: random perturbation training (RPT), constant force training (CFT), and control. Subjects in RPT and CFT performed steady posture training with their index finger using the robot in different modes: random force in RPT and constant force in CFT. After the 2-week intervention period, fluctuations of the index finger posture decreased only in RPT during steady position-matching tasks with an inertial load. Purdue pegboard test score improved also in RPT only. The relative change in finger postural fluctuations was negatively correlated with the relative change in the number of completed pegs in the pegboard test in RPT. The results indicate that finger posture training with random mechanical perturbations of varying amplitudes and directions of force is effective in improving finger postural steadiness and hand dexterity in healthy young adults. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Robotic hand and fingers

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Salisbury, Curt Michael; Dullea, Kevin J.

2017-06-06

Technologies pertaining to a robotic hand are described herein. The robotic hand includes one or more fingers releasably attached to a robotic hand frame. The fingers can abduct and adduct as well as flex and tense. The fingers are releasably attached to the frame by magnets that allow for the fingers to detach from the frame when excess force is applied to the fingers.

The ampakine, Org 26576, bolsters early spatial reference learning and retrieval in the Morris water maze: a subchronic, dose-ranging study in rats.

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Hamlyn, Eugene; Brand, Linda; Shahid, Mohammed; Harvey, Brian H

2009-10-01

Ampakines have shown beneficial effects on cognition in selected animal models of learning. However, their ability to modify long-term spatial memory tasks has not been studied yet. This would lend credence to their possible value in treating disorders of cognition. We evaluated the actions of subchronic Org 26576 administration on spatial reference memory performance in the 5-day Morris water maze task in male Sprague-Dawley rats, at doses of 1, 3 and 10 mg/kg twice daily through intraperitoneal injection over 12 days. Org 26576 exerted a dose and time-dependent effect on spatial learning, with dosages of 3 and 10 mg/kg significantly enhancing acquisition on day 1. Globally, escape latency decreased significantly as the training days progressed in the saline and Org 26576-treated groups, indicating that significant and equal learning had taken place over the learning period. However, at the end of the learning period, all doses of Org 26576 significantly improved spatial memory storage/retrieval without confounding effects in the cued version of the task. Org 26576 offers early phase spatial memory benefits in rats, but particularly enhances search accuracy during reference memory retrieval. These results support its possible utility in treating disorders characterized by deficits in cognitive performance.

Evaluating spatial memory function in mice: a within-subjects comparison between the water maze test and its adaptation to dry land.

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Llano Lopez, L; Hauser, J; Feldon, J; Gargiulo, P A; Yee, B K

2010-05-01

The Morris water maze (WM) is a common spatial memory test in rats. It has been adapted for evaluating genetic manipulations in mice. One major acknowledged problem of this cross-species translation is floating. We investigated here in mice the feasibility and practicality of an alternative paradigm-the cheeseboard (CB), which is a dry version of the WM, in a within-subject design allowing direct comparison with the conventional WM. Under identical task demands (reference or working memory), mice learned in the CB as efficiently as in the WM. Furthermore, individual differences in learning rate correlated between the two reference memory tests conducted separately in the two mazes. However, no such correlation was found with respect to reference memory retention or working memory performance. This study demonstrated that the CB is an effective alternative to the WM as spatial cognition test. Additional tests in the CB confirmed that the mice relied on extra maze cues in their spatial search. We would recommend the CB as a valuable addition to, rather than a replacement of the WM in phenotyping transgenic mice, because the two apparatus might diverge in the ability to detect individual differences in various domains of mnemonic functions.

Finger vein recognition based on convolutional neural network

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Meng Gesi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Biometric Authentication Technology has been widely used in this information age. As one of the most important technology of authentication, finger vein recognition attracts our attention because of its high security, reliable accuracy and excellent performance. However, the current finger vein recognition system is difficult to be applied widely because its complicated image pre-processing and not representative feature vectors. To solve this problem, a finger vein recognition method based on the convolution neural network (CNN is proposed in the paper. The image samples are directly input into the CNN model to extract its feature vector so that we can make authentication by comparing the Euclidean distance between these vectors. Finally, the Deep Learning Framework Caffe is adopted to verify this method. The result shows that there are great improvements in both speed and accuracy rate compared to the previous research. And the model has nice robustness in illumination and rotation.

7-NI and ODQ Disturbs Memory in the Elevated plus Maze, Morris Water Maze, and Radial Arm Maze Tests in Mice

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Oguz Mutlu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Nitric oxide (NO is an atypical neurotransmitter that causes changes in cognition. Nitric oxide synthase (NOS and guanylate cyclase (GC inhibitors have been shown to exert some effects on cognition in previous studies; however, the findings have been controversial. This study was aimed at understanding the effects of an NOS inhibitor, 7-nitroindazole (7-NI, and a guanylate cyclase inhibitor, 1 H -[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ, on spatial memory in modified elevated plus maze (mEPM, Morris water maze (MWM, and radial arm maze (RAM tests. Male Balb-c mice were treated via intraperitoneal injections with 7-NI (15 mg/kg, ODQ (3, 10 mg/kg, L-arginine (100 mg/kg + 7-NI (15 mg/kg, or physiological saline. ODQ (3 mg/kg and 7-NI (15 mg/kg significantly increased the second-day latency in the mEPM test. 7-NI (15 mg/kg and ODQ (10 mg/kg significantly increased the escape latency in second, third, and fourth sessions, decreased the time spent in the escape platform's quadrant, and increased the mean distance to the platform in the probe trial of the MWM test. ODQ (3, 10 mg/kg and 7-NI (15 mg/kg significantly increased the number of errors, whereas only 7-NI increased the latency in the RAM test. The administration of L-arginine (100 mg/kg prior to 7-NI inverted the effects of 7-NI, which supports the role of NO on cognition. Our study shows that the NO/cGMP/GS pathway can regulate spatial memory in mice.

Differing Dynamics of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Coordination: Two-finger and Four-Finger Tapping Experiments.

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Kentaro Kodama

Full Text Available Finger-tapping experiments were conducted to examine whether the dynamics of intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination systems can be described equally by the Haken-Kelso-Bunz model, which describes inter-limb coordination dynamics. This article reports the results of finger-tapping experiments conducted in both systems. Two within-subject factors were investigated: the phase mode and the number of fingers. In the intrapersonal experiment (Experiment 1, the participants were asked to tap, paced by a gradually hastening auditory metronome, looking at their fingers moving, using the index finger in the two finger condition, or the index and middle finger in the four-finger condition. In the interpersonal experiment (Experiment 2, pairs of participants performed the task while each participant used the outside hand, tapping with the index finger in the two finger condition, or the index and middle finger in the four-finger condition. Some results did not agree with the HKB model predictions. First, from Experiment 1, no significant difference was observed in the movement stability between the in-phase and anti-phase modes in the two finger condition. Second, from Experiment 2, no significant difference was found in the movement stability between the in-phase and anti-phase mode in the four-finger condition. From these findings, different coordination dynamics were inferred between intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination systems against prediction from the previous studies. Results were discussed according to differences between intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination systems in the availability of perceptual information and the complexity in the interaction between limbs derived from a nested structure.

A comparison of the calculation methods of the maze shielding dose

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Wenqian; Li Junli; Li Pengyu; Tao Yinghua

2009-01-01

This paper gives a theoretical calculating method for the dose rate of the maze of the low-energy accelerators or high-energy accelerators, based on the NCRP report Nos.49, 51 and 151. The multi-legged maze of the Miyun CT workshop of the NUCTECH Company Limited and the arc maze of the radiation laboratory of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences were calculated using this method. The calculating results were compared with the MCNP simulating results and the measured results. For the commonly estimation of the maze dose rate, as long as the parameters chosen properly, this method can give a conservative result, and save time from simulation. It's hoped that this work could offer a reference for the maze design and the dose estimation method in the aftertime. (authors)

Immediate response strategy and shift to place strategy in submerged T-maze.

Science.gov (United States)

Asem, Judith S A; Holland, Peter C

2013-12-01

A considerable amount of research has demonstrated that animals can use different strategies when learning about, and navigating within, their environment. Since the influential research of Packard and McGaugh (1996), it has been widely accepted that, early in learning, rats use a flexible dorsal hippocampal-dependent place strategy. As learning progresses, they switch to a less effortful and more automatic dorsolateral caudate-dependent response strategy. However, supporting literature is dominated by the use of appetitively motivated tasks, using food reward. Because motivation often plays a crucial role in guiding learning, memory, and behavior, we examined spatial learning strategies of rats in an escape-motivated submerged T-maze. In Experiment 1, we observed rapid learning and the opposite pattern as that reported in appetitively motivated tasks. Rats exhibited a response strategy early in learning before switching to a place strategy, which persisted over extensive training. In Experiment 2, we replicated Packard and McGaugh's (1996) observations, using the apparatus and procedures as in Experiment 1, but with food reward instead of water escape. Mechanisms for, and implications of, this motivational modulation of spatial learning strategy are considered.

Multi-fingered robotic hand

Science.gov (United States)

Ruoff, Carl F. (Inventor); Salisbury, Kenneth, Jr. (Inventor)

1990-01-01

A robotic hand is presented having a plurality of fingers, each having a plurality of joints pivotally connected one to the other. Actuators are connected at one end to an actuating and control mechanism mounted remotely from the hand and at the other end to the joints of the fingers for manipulating the fingers and passing externally of the robot manipulating arm in between the hand and the actuating and control mechanism. The fingers include pulleys to route the actuators within the fingers. Cable tension sensing structure mounted on a portion of the hand are disclosed, as is covering of the tip of each finger with a resilient and pliable friction enhancing surface.

Differences in finger localisation performance of patients with finger agnosia.

Science.gov (United States)

Anema, Helen A; Kessels, Roy P C; de Haan, Edward H F; Kappelle, L Jaap; Leijten, Frans S; van Zandvoort, Martine J E; Dijkerman, H Chris

2008-09-17

Several neuropsychological studies have suggested parallel processing of somatosensory input when localising a tactile stimulus on one's own by pointing towards it (body schema) and when localising this touched location by pointing to it on a map of a hand (body image). Usually these reports describe patients with impaired detection, but intact sensorimotor localisation. This study examined three patients with a lesion of the angular gyrus with intact somatosensory processing, but with selectively disturbed finger identification (finger agnosia). These patients performed normally when pointing towards the touched finger on their own hand but failed to indicate this finger on a drawing of a hand or to name it. Similar defects in the perception of other body parts were not observed. The findings provide converging evidence for the dissociation between body image and body schema and, more importantly, reveal for the first time that this distinction is also present in higher-order cognitive processes selectively for the fingers.

Admittance Control of a Multi-Finger Arm Based on Manipulability of Fingers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takayuki Hori

2011-09-01

Full Text Available In the previous studies, admittance control and impedance control for a finger‐arm robot using the manipulability of the finger were studied and methods of realizing the controls have been proposed. In this study, two 3‐DOF fingers are attached to the end‐effector of a 6‐DOF arm to configure a multi‐finger arm robot. Based on the previous methods, the authors have proposed an admittance control for a multi‐finger arm robot using the manipulability of the fingers in this study. Algorithms of the averaging method and the mini‐max method were introduced to establish a manipulability criterion of the two fingers in order to generate a cooperative movement of the arm. Comparison of the admittance controls combined with the top search method and local optimization method for the multi‐finger arm robot was made and features of the control methods were also discussed. The stiffness control and damping control were experimentally evaluated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Elevated mazes as animal models of anxiety: effects of serotonergic agents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simone H. Pinheiro

2007-03-01

Full Text Available This article reviews reported results about the effects of drugs that act upon the serotonergic neurotransmission measured in three elevated mazes that are animal models of anxiety. A bibliographic search has been performed in MEDLINE using different combinations of the key words X-maze, plus-maze, T-maze, serotonin and 5-HT, present in the title and/or the abstract, with no time limit. From the obtained abstracts, several publications were excluded on the basis of the following criteria: review articles that did not report original results, species other than the rat, intracerebral drug administration alone, genetically manipulated rats, and animals having any kind of experimental pathology. The reported results indicate that the effect of drugs on the inhibitory avoidance task performed in the elevated T-maze and on the spatio temporal indexes of anxiety measured in the X and plus mazes correlate with their effect in patients diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. In contrast, the drug effects on the one-way escape task in the elevated T-maze predict the drug response of panic disorder patients. Overall, the drug effects assessed with the avoidance task in the T-maze are more consistent than those measured through the anxiety indexes of the X and plus mazes. Therefore, the elevated T-maze is a promising animal model of generalized anxiety and panic disorder.No presente artigo, revisamos resultados publicados relatando efeitos de drogas que atuam na neurotransmissão serotonérgica medidos em três labirintos elevados, que são modelos animais de ansiedade. Realizamos uma busca bibliográfica no MEDLINE, usando diferentes combinações das palavras-chave: X-maze, plus-maze, T-maze, serotonin e 5-HT, presentes no título ou no resumo, sem limite de tempo. Dos resumos obtidos, vários foram excluídos com base nos seguintes critérios: artigos de revisão que não continham resultados originais, espécies diferentes do rato, apenas inje

Memory-impairing effects of local anesthetics in an elevated plus-maze test in mice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.L. Blatt

1998-04-01

Full Text Available Post-training intracerebroventricular administration of procaine (20 µg/µl and dimethocaine (10 or 20 µg/µl, local anesthetics of the ester class, prolonged the latency (s in the retention test of male and female 3-month-old Swiss albino mice (25-35 g body weight; N = 140 in the elevated plus-maze (mean ± SEM for 10 male mice: control = 41.2 ± 8.1; procaine = 78.5 ± 10.3; 10 µg/µl dimethocaine = 58.7 ± 12.3; 20 µg/µl dimethocaine = 109.6 ± 5.73; for 10 female mice: control = 34.8 ± 5.8; procaine = 55.3 ± 13.4; 10 µg/µl dimethocaine = 59.9 ± 12.3 and 20 µg/µl dimethocaine = 61.3 ± 11.1. However, lidocaine (10 or 20 µg/µl, an amide class type of local anesthetic, failed to influence this parameter. Local anesthetics at the dose range used did not affect the motor coordination of mice exposed to the rota-rod test. These results suggest that procaine and dimethocaine impair some memory process(es in the plus-maze test. These findings are interpreted in terms of non-anesthetic mechanisms of action of these drugs on memory impairment and also confirm the validity of the elevated plus-maze for the evaluation of drugs affecting learning and memory in mice

DAILY RUNNING PROMOTES SPATIAL LEARNING AND MEMORY IN RATS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

HojjatAllah Alaei

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Previous studies have shown that physical activity improves learning and memory. Present study was performed to determine the effects of acute, chronic and continuous exercise with different periods on spatial learning and memory recorded as the latency and length of swim path in the Morris water maze testing in subsequent 8 days. Four rat groups were included as follows: 1- Group C (controls which did not exercise. 2- Group A (30 days treadmill running before and 8 days during the Morris water maze testing period. 3- Group B (30 days exercise before the Morris water maze testing period only and 4- Group D (8 days exercise only during the Morris water maze testing period. The results showed that chronic (30 days and continuous (during 8 days of Morris water maze testing days treadmill training produced a significant enhancement in spatial learning and memory which was indicated by decreases in path length and latency to reach the platform in the Morris water maze test (p < 0.05. The benefits in these tests were lost in three days, if the daily running session was abandoned. In group D with acute treadmill running (8 days exercise only the difference between the Group A disappeared in one week and benefit seemed to be obtained in comparison with the controls without running program. In conclusion the chronic and daily running exercises promoted learning and memory in Morris water maze, but the benefits were lost in few days without daily running sessions in adult rats

Utility of the Hebb-Williams Maze Paradigm for Translational Research in Fragile X Syndrome: A Direct Comparison of Mice and Humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Boutet, Isabelle; Collin, Charles A; MacLeod, Lindsey S; Messier, Claude; Holahan, Matthew R; Berry-Kravis, Elizabeth; Gandhi, Reno M; Kogan, Cary S

2018-01-01

To generate meaningful information, translational research must employ paradigms that allow extrapolation from animal models to humans. However, few studies have evaluated translational paradigms on the basis of defined validation criteria. We outline three criteria for validating translational paradigms. We then evaluate the Hebb-Williams maze paradigm (Hebb and Williams, 1946; Rabinovitch and Rosvold, 1951) on the basis of these criteria using Fragile X syndrome (FXS) as model disease. We focused on this paradigm because it allows direct comparison of humans and animals on tasks that are behaviorally equivalent (criterion #1) and because it measures spatial information processing, a cognitive domain for which FXS individuals and mice show impairments as compared to controls (criterion #2). We directly compared the performance of affected humans and mice across different experimental conditions and measures of behavior to identify which conditions produce comparable patterns of results in both species. Species differences were negligible for Mazes 2, 4, and 5 irrespective of the presence of visual cues, suggesting that these mazes could be used to measure spatial learning in both species. With regards to performance on the first trial, which reflects visuo-spatial problem solving, Mazes 5 and 9 without visual cues produced the most consistent results. We conclude that the Hebb-Williams mazes paradigm has the potential to be utilized in translational research to measure comparable cognitive functions in FXS humans and animals (criterion #3).

Improving Students’ English Pronunciation Ability Through Go Fish Game and Maze Game

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dwi Astuti Wahyu Nurhayati

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The problem highlighted in this research is the low pronunciation ability of Kindergarten students in Al-Irsyad  Madiun  that is caused by (1 the uninteresting activities in learning English; (2 the students' difficulties in pronunciating English words; (3 the students' low motivation in learning. The theoretical review includes the young learners characteristics, games in language, games for young learners. The procedure of the research consists of identifying the problem, planning the action, implementing the action, observing the action, and reflecting the result of the research. In this research, the researcher acts as the teacher who conducts the action research in the classroom and she is helped by the classsroom teacher. In collecting the data, the researcher uses observational technique supported with tests. In analyzing the data, the researcher uses the field notes, teacher's diaries, students ‘work supported with the cassette recording and photograph,then also compares the result of the students' pre-test and post-test to answer the research questions. There is significant improvement in the result of pre-test and post-test of cycle 1 and 2. In cycle 1, t0 (2.55734 is higher than tt (1.73 and in cycle 2, t0 (6.765738 is also higher than tt (1.73. From these two results, therefore, h0 is rejected and the alternative hypothesis (ha is accepted. They practice their pronunciation through taking turn and asking each other for cards to match those they have in their hands, arranging a word and sticking on alphabet, pronunciating the word, giving the meaning, hen making a sentence such as Go Fish Game and Maze Game. By conducting these games, using interesting media, creating various interesting tasks and activities can increase the students' motivation in learning English and pronunciation ability.Keywords: Improving, pronunciation, ability,  go fish and Maze games

Quantifying Parkinson's disease finger-tapping severity by extracting and synthesizing finger motion properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Sano, Yuko; Kandori, Akihiko; Shima, Keisuke; Yamaguchi, Yuki; Tsuji, Toshio; Noda, Masafumi; Higashikawa, Fumiko; Yokoe, Masaru; Sakoda, Saburo

2016-06-01

We propose a novel index of Parkinson's disease (PD) finger-tapping severity, called "PDFTsi," for quantifying the severity of symptoms related to the finger tapping of PD patients with high accuracy. To validate the efficacy of PDFTsi, the finger-tapping movements of normal controls and PD patients were measured by using magnetic sensors, and 21 characteristics were extracted from the finger-tapping waveforms. To distinguish motor deterioration due to PD from that due to aging, the aging effect on finger tapping was removed from these characteristics. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the age-normalized characteristics, and principal components that represented the motion properties of finger tapping were calculated. Multiple linear regression (MLR) with stepwise variable selection was applied to the principal components, and PDFTsi was calculated. The calculated PDFTsi indicates that PDFTsi has a high estimation ability, namely a mean square error of 0.45. The estimation ability of PDFTsi is higher than that of the alternative method, MLR with stepwise regression selection without PCA, namely a mean square error of 1.30. This result suggests that PDFTsi can quantify PD finger-tapping severity accurately. Furthermore, the result of interpreting a model for calculating PDFTsi indicated that motion wideness and rhythm disorder are important for estimating PD finger-tapping severity.

Left hand finger force in violin playing: tempo, loudness, and finger differences.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinoshita, Hiroshi; Obata, Satoshi

2009-07-01

A three-dimensional force transducer was installed in the neck of a violin under the A string at the D5 position in order to study the force with which the violinist clamps the string against the fingerboard under normal playing conditions. Violinists performed repetitive sequences of open A- and fingered D-tones using the ring finger at tempi of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 notes/s at mezzo-forte. At selected tempi, the effects of dynamic level and the use of different fingers were investigated as well. The force profiles were clearly dependent on tempo and dynamic level. At slow tempi, the force profiles were characterized by an initial pulse followed by a level force to the end of the finger contact period. At tempi higher than 2 Hz, only pulsed profiles were observed. The peak force exceeded 4.5 N at 1 and 2 Hz and decreased to 1.7 N at 16 Hz. All force and impulse values were lower at softer dynamic levels, and when using the ring or little finger compared to the index finger.

Effects of finger counting on numerical development – the opposing views of neurocognition and mathematics education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Korbinian eMoeller

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Usually children learn the basic principles of number and arithmetic by the help of finger-based representations. However, whether the reliance on finger-based representations is only beneficial or whether it may even become detrimental is the subject of an ongoing debate between neuro-cognitive and mathematics education researchers. From the neuro-cognitive perspective finger counting provides multi-sensory input conveying both cardinal and ordinal aspects of numbers. Recent data indicate that children with good finger-based numerical representations show better arithmetic skills and that training finger gnosis enhances mathematical skills. From this neuro-cognitive researchers conclude that elaborate finger-based numerical representations are beneficial for later numerical development.However, mathematics education research recommends fostering mental numerical representations so as to induce children to abandon finger-counting. More precisely mathematics education recommends moving from finger counting to concrete structured representations and then, finally, to mental representations of numbers.Taken together, there is obviously an important debate between the neuro-cognitve and mathematics education research concerning the benefits or detriments of finger-based strategies for numerical development. In the present review, the rationale of both lines of evidence will be presented and discussed.

Amazeobot : The construction of a maze mapping robot

OpenAIRE

REBECCA, WIKSTRÖM; MARTIN, SJÖGREN

2016-01-01

For the purpose of exploring how a computer can navigate through a maze, this project examines how a robot’s surroundings can be interpreted, mapped and navigated through, by applying common maze solving algorithms. The execution of the project involves infrared sensors used to interpret a controlled environment, consisting of a twodimensional board with paths. Movement and navigation decisions will be made possible by two DCmotorized wheels mounted on a platform, two simple computers and two...

Behavioral consequences of predator stress in the rat elevated T-maze.

Science.gov (United States)

Bulos, Erika Mondin; Pobbe, Roger Luis Henschel; Zangrossi, Helio

2015-07-01

Analyses of the behavioral reactions of rodents to predators have greatly contributed to the understanding of defense-related human psychopathologies such as anxiety and panic.We here investigated the behavioral consequences of exposing male Wistar rats to a live cat using the elevated T-maze test of anxiety. This test allows the measurement of two defensive responses: inhibitory avoidance and escape, which in terms of pathology have been associated with generalized anxiety and panic disorders, respectively. For comparative reasons, the effects of exposure to the cat were also assessed in the elevated plus-maze. The results showed that a 5-min exposure to the cat selectively facilitated inhibitory avoidance acquisition, an anxiogenic effect, without affecting escape expression in the elevated T-maze. This was seen immediately but not 30 min after contact with the predator. This short-lived anxiogenic effect was also detected in the elevated plus-maze. Previous administration of the benzodiazepine anxiolytic diazepam (2 mg/kg) decreased the immediate avoidance response to the predator and the neophobic reaction to a dummy cat used as a control stimulus. The drug also impaired inhibitory avoidance acquisition in the elevated T-maze, indicating an anxiolytic effect, without affecting escape performance. The results indicate that the state of anxiety evoked during contact with the predator generalizes to both elevated plus- and T-mazes, impacting on defensive responses associated with generalized anxiety disorder.

Tiger salamanders' (Ambystoma tigrinum) response learning and usage of visual cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Kundey, Shannon M A; Millar, Roberto; McPherson, Justin; Gonzalez, Maya; Fitz, Aleyna; Allen, Chadbourne

2016-05-01

We explored tiger salamanders' (Ambystoma tigrinum) learning to execute a response within a maze as proximal visual cue conditions varied. In Experiment 1, salamanders learned to turn consistently in a T-maze for reinforcement before the maze was rotated. All learned the initial task and executed the trained turn during test, suggesting that they learned to demonstrate the reinforced response during training and continued to perform it during test. In a second experiment utilizing a similar procedure, two visual cues were placed consistently at the maze junction. Salamanders were reinforced for turning towards one cue. Cue placement was reversed during test. All learned the initial task, but executed the trained turn rather than turning towards the visual cue during test, evidencing response learning. In Experiment 3, we investigated whether a compound visual cue could control salamanders' behaviour when it was the only cue predictive of reinforcement in a cross-maze by varying start position and cue placement. All learned to turn in the direction indicated by the compound visual cue, indicating that visual cues can come to control their behaviour. Following training, testing revealed that salamanders attended to stimuli foreground over background features. Overall, these results suggest that salamanders learn to execute responses over learning to use visual cues but can use visual cues if required. Our success with this paradigm offers the potential in future studies to explore salamanders' cognition further, as well as to shed light on how features of the tiger salamanders' life history (e.g. hibernation and metamorphosis) impact cognition.

The relationships between trait anxiety, place recognition memory, and learning strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hawley, Wayne R; Grissom, Elin M; Dohanich, Gary P

2011-01-20

Rodents learn to navigate mazes using various strategies that are governed by specific regions of the brain. The type of strategy used when learning to navigate a spatial environment is moderated by a number of factors including emotional states. Heightened anxiety states, induced by exposure to stressors or administration of anxiogenic agents, have been found to bias male rats toward the use of a striatum-based stimulus-response strategy rather than a hippocampus-based place strategy. However, no study has yet examined the relationship between natural anxiety levels, or trait anxiety, and the type of learning strategy used by rats on a dual-solution task. In the current experiment, levels of inherent anxiety were measured in an open field and compared to performance on two separate cognitive tasks, a Y-maze task that assessed place recognition memory, and a visible platform water maze task that assessed learning strategy. Results indicated that place recognition memory on the Y-maze correlated with the use of place learning strategy on the water maze. Furthermore, lower levels of trait anxiety correlated positively with better place recognition memory and with the preferred use of place learning strategy. Therefore, competency in place memory and bias in place strategy are linked to the levels of inherent anxiety in male rats. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multiple Fingers - One Gestalt.

Science.gov (United States)

Lezkan, Alexandra; Manuel, Steven G; Colgate, J Edward; Klatzky, Roberta L; Peshkin, Michael A; Drewing, Knut

2016-01-01

The Gestalt theory of perception offered principles by which distributed visual sensations are combined into a structured experience ("Gestalt"). We demonstrate conditions whereby haptic sensations at two fingertips are integrated in the perception of a single object. When virtual bumps were presented simultaneously to the right hand's thumb and index finger during lateral arm movements, participants reported perceiving a single bump. A discrimination task measured the bump's perceived location and perceptual reliability (assessed by differential thresholds) for four finger configurations, which varied in their adherence to the Gestalt principles of proximity (small versus large finger separation) and synchrony (virtual spring to link movements of the two fingers versus no spring). According to models of integration, reliability should increase with the degree to which multi-finger cues integrate into a unified percept. Differential thresholds were smaller in the virtual-spring condition (synchrony) than when fingers were unlinked. Additionally, in the condition with reduced synchrony, greater proximity led to lower differential thresholds. Thus, with greater adherence to Gestalt principles, thresholds approached values predicted for optimal integration. We conclude that the Gestalt principles of synchrony and proximity apply to haptic perception of surface properties and that these principles can interact to promote multi-finger integration.

Spoof Detection for Finger-Vein Recognition System Using NIR Camera

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dat Tien Nguyen

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Finger-vein recognition, a new and advanced biometrics recognition method, is attracting the attention of researchers because of its advantages such as high recognition performance and lesser likelihood of theft and inaccuracies occurring on account of skin condition defects. However, as reported by previous researchers, it is possible to attack a finger-vein recognition system by using presentation attack (fake finger-vein images. As a result, spoof detection, named as presentation attack detection (PAD, is necessary in such recognition systems. Previous attempts to establish PAD methods primarily focused on designing feature extractors by hand (handcrafted feature extractor based on the observations of the researchers about the difference between real (live and presentation attack finger-vein images. Therefore, the detection performance was limited. Recently, the deep learning framework has been successfully applied in computer vision and delivered superior results compared to traditional handcrafted methods on various computer vision applications such as image-based face recognition, gender recognition and image classification. In this paper, we propose a PAD method for near-infrared (NIR camera-based finger-vein recognition system using convolutional neural network (CNN to enhance the detection ability of previous handcrafted methods. Using the CNN method, we can derive a more suitable feature extractor for PAD than the other handcrafted methods using a training procedure. We further process the extracted image features to enhance the presentation attack finger-vein image detection ability of the CNN method using principal component analysis method (PCA for dimensionality reduction of feature space and support vector machine (SVM for classification. Through extensive experimental results, we confirm that our proposed method is adequate for presentation attack finger-vein image detection and it can deliver superior detection results compared

Spoof Detection for Finger-Vein Recognition System Using NIR Camera.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Yoon, Hyo Sik; Pham, Tuyen Danh; Park, Kang Ryoung

2017-10-01

Finger-vein recognition, a new and advanced biometrics recognition method, is attracting the attention of researchers because of its advantages such as high recognition performance and lesser likelihood of theft and inaccuracies occurring on account of skin condition defects. However, as reported by previous researchers, it is possible to attack a finger-vein recognition system by using presentation attack (fake) finger-vein images. As a result, spoof detection, named as presentation attack detection (PAD), is necessary in such recognition systems. Previous attempts to establish PAD methods primarily focused on designing feature extractors by hand (handcrafted feature extractor) based on the observations of the researchers about the difference between real (live) and presentation attack finger-vein images. Therefore, the detection performance was limited. Recently, the deep learning framework has been successfully applied in computer vision and delivered superior results compared to traditional handcrafted methods on various computer vision applications such as image-based face recognition, gender recognition and image classification. In this paper, we propose a PAD method for near-infrared (NIR) camera-based finger-vein recognition system using convolutional neural network (CNN) to enhance the detection ability of previous handcrafted methods. Using the CNN method, we can derive a more suitable feature extractor for PAD than the other handcrafted methods using a training procedure. We further process the extracted image features to enhance the presentation attack finger-vein image detection ability of the CNN method using principal component analysis method (PCA) for dimensionality reduction of feature space and support vector machine (SVM) for classification. Through extensive experimental results, we confirm that our proposed method is adequate for presentation attack finger-vein image detection and it can deliver superior detection results compared to CNN

Utility of the Hebb–Williams Maze Paradigm for Translational Research in Fragile X Syndrome: A Direct Comparison of Mice and Humans

Science.gov (United States)

Boutet, Isabelle; Collin, Charles A.; MacLeod, Lindsey S.; Messier, Claude; Holahan, Matthew R.; Berry-Kravis, Elizabeth; Gandhi, Reno M.; Kogan, Cary S.

2018-01-01

To generate meaningful information, translational research must employ paradigms that allow extrapolation from animal models to humans. However, few studies have evaluated translational paradigms on the basis of defined validation criteria. We outline three criteria for validating translational paradigms. We then evaluate the Hebb–Williams maze paradigm (Hebb and Williams, 1946; Rabinovitch and Rosvold, 1951) on the basis of these criteria using Fragile X syndrome (FXS) as model disease. We focused on this paradigm because it allows direct comparison of humans and animals on tasks that are behaviorally equivalent (criterion #1) and because it measures spatial information processing, a cognitive domain for which FXS individuals and mice show impairments as compared to controls (criterion #2). We directly compared the performance of affected humans and mice across different experimental conditions and measures of behavior to identify which conditions produce comparable patterns of results in both species. Species differences were negligible for Mazes 2, 4, and 5 irrespective of the presence of visual cues, suggesting that these mazes could be used to measure spatial learning in both species. With regards to performance on the first trial, which reflects visuo-spatial problem solving, Mazes 5 and 9 without visual cues produced the most consistent results. We conclude that the Hebb–Williams mazes paradigm has the potential to be utilized in translational research to measure comparable cognitive functions in FXS humans and animals (criterion #3). PMID:29643767

Finger-like voids induced by viscous fingering during phase inversion of alumina/PES/NMP suspensions

KAUST Repository

Wang, Bo

2012-07-01

The formation mechanism of phase-inversion ceramic hollow fibre membranes has not been well understood. In this paper, we report on the formation of finger-like macrovoids during non-solvent-induced phase inversion of alumina/PES/NMP suspensions. A membrane structure without such finger-like macrovoids was observed when the suspension was slowly immersed into pure ethanol or a mixture of 70. wt% NMP and 30. wt% water, whereas finger-like macrovoids occurred when the suspension was slid into the non-solvents at higher speeds. We found that the formation process of finger-like macrovoids could be fully or partially reversed when nascent membranes were taken out from water shortly after immersion, depending on the duration of the immersion. Splitting of the fingers during the formation of the macrovoids was also observed during the phase inversion of two alumina/PES/NMP suspensions. These experimental observations were not predicted by current theories of finger-like macrovoid formation in polymer membranes, but appear to mimic the well-known viscous fingering phenomenon. We therefore propose that in the phase inversion of ceramic suspensions, the viscous fingering phenomenon is an important mechanism in the formation of finger-like voids. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

A computer vision-based automated Figure-8 maze for working memory test in rodents.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedigo, Samuel F; Song, Eun Young; Jung, Min Whan; Kim, Jeansok J

2006-09-30

The benchmark test for prefrontal cortex (PFC)-mediated working memory in rodents is a delayed alternation task utilizing variations of T-maze or Figure-8 maze, which requires the animals to make specific arm entry responses for reward. In this task, however, manual procedures involved in shaping target behavior, imposing delays between trials and delivering rewards can potentially influence the animal's performance on the maze. Here, we report an automated Figure-8 maze which does not necessitate experimenter-subject interaction during shaping, training or testing. This system incorporates a computer vision system for tracking, motorized gates to impose delays, and automated reward delivery. The maze is controlled by custom software that records the animal's location and activates the gates according to the animal's behavior and a control algorithm. The program performs calculations of task accuracy, tracks movement sequence through the maze, and provides other dependent variables (such as running speed, time spent in different maze locations, activity level during delay). Testing in rats indicates that the performance accuracy is inversely proportional to the delay interval, decreases with PFC lesions, and that animals anticipate timing during long delays. Thus, our automated Figure-8 maze is effective at assessing working memory and provides novel behavioral measures in rodents.

Covering the Dorsal Finger Defect with Reverse Cross Finger Flap

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kaan Gurbuz

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Reconstruction of finger extensor zone defects with or without tendon gaps still remains a challenge for surgeons. Although surgical treatments may differ, and range from the use of local, regional, to free flaps, the outcomes for all cases are not satisfactory. In this case report, we present a case of a 3rd finger extensor side crush injury including a defect of Dd (Digit Dorsal 1, Dd2 and Dd3 defects of extensor zones with tendon gap. Tendon gap was reconstructed using m. palmaris longus tendon graft and the defect was covered with reversed cross-finger flap (random pattern with good cosmetic and excellent functional results.

Maze Procedures for Atrial Fibrillation, From History to Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Kik, Charles; Bogers, Ad J J C

2011-10-01

Atrial fibrillation may result in significant symptoms, (systemic) thrombo-embolism, as well as tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy with cardiac failure, and consequently be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Nowadays symptomatic atrial fibrillation can be treated with catheter-based ablation, surgical ablation or hybrid approaches. In this setting a fairly large number of surgical approaches and procedures are described and being practised. It should be clear that the Cox-maze procedure resulted from building up evidence and experience in different steps, while some of the present surgical approaches and techniques are being based only on technical feasibility with limited experience, rather than on a process of consequent methodology. Some of the issues still under debate are whether or not the maze procedure can be limited to the left atrium or even to isolation of the pulmonary veins or that bi-atrial procedures are indicated, whether or not cardiopulmonary bypass is to be applied and which route of exposure facilitates an optimal result. In addition, maze procedures are not procedures guide by electrophysiological mapping. At least in theory not in all patients all lesions of the maze procedures are necessary. A history and aspects of current practise in surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation is presented.

The creativity maze

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bourgeois-Bougrine, Samira; Glaveanu, Vlad Petre; Botella, Marion

2014-01-01

The present article aims to address a current gap in our understanding of creativity in screenplay writing by focusing on the cognitive, conative, affective, and environmental factors that come into play at different stages in the creative process. It reports a study employing in-depth interviews...... and or treatment), and, finally, intense periods of writing and rewriting the script. These 3 stages, and, in particular, the multiple and concrete decisions to be taken within each one of them, support a vision of the creative process in this domain metaphorically conceptualized as crossing a maze. Creators...

Walkable self-overlapping virtual reality maze and map visualization demo

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Serubugo, Sule; Skantarova, Denisa; Evers, Nicolaj

2017-01-01

This paper describes our demonstration of a walkable self-overlapping maze and its corresponding map to facilitate asymmetric collaboration for room-scale virtual reality setups in public places.......This paper describes our demonstration of a walkable self-overlapping maze and its corresponding map to facilitate asymmetric collaboration for room-scale virtual reality setups in public places....

Mesofluidic controlled robotic or prosthetic finger

Science.gov (United States)

Lind, Randall F; Jansen, John F; Love, Lonnie J

2013-11-19

A mesofluidic powered robotic and/or prosthetic finger joint includes a first finger section having at least one mesofluidic actuator in fluid communication with a first actuator, a second mesofluidic actuator in fluid communication with a second actuator and a second prosthetic finger section pivotally connected to the first finger section by a joint pivot, wherein the first actuator pivotally cooperates with the second finger to provide a first mechanical advantage relative to the joint point and wherein the second actuator pivotally cooperates with the second finger section to provide a second mechanical advantage relative to the joint point.

Learning strategy preference of 5XFAD transgenic mice depends on the sequence of place/spatial and cued training in the water maze task.

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Woo-Hyun; Park, Jung-Cheol; Chung, ChiHye; Jeon, Won Kyung; Han, Jung-Soo

2014-10-15

Learning strategy preference was assessed in 5XFAD mice, which carry 5 familial Alzheimer's disease (AD) mutations. Mice were sequentially trained in cued and place/spatial versions of the water maze task. After training, a strategy preference test was conducted in which mice were required to choose between the spatial location where the platform had previously been during the place/spatial training, and a visible platform in a new location. 5XFAD and non-transgenic control mice showed equivalent escape performance in both training tasks. However, in the strategy preference test, 5XFAD mice preferred a cued strategy relative to control mice. When the training sequence was presented in the reverse order (i.e., place/spatial training before cued training), 5XFAD mice showed impairments in place/spatial training, but no differences in cued training or in the strategy preference test comparing to control. Analysis of regional Aβ42 deposition in brains of 5XFAD mice showed that the hippocampus, which is involved in the place/spatial learning strategy, had the highest levels of Aβ42 and the dorsal striatum, which is involved in cued learning strategy, showed a small increase in Aβ42 levels. The effect of training protocol order on performance, and regional differences in Aβ42 deposition observed in 5XFAD mice, suggest differential functional recruitment of brain structures related to learning in healthy and AD individuals. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impact of Finger Type in Fingerprint Authentication

Science.gov (United States)

Gafurov, Davrondzhon; Bours, Patrick; Yang, Bian; Busch, Christoph

Nowadays fingerprint verification system is the most widespread and accepted biometric technology that explores various features of the human fingers for this purpose. In general, every normal person has 10 fingers with different size. Although it is claimed that recognition performance with little fingers can be less accurate compared to other finger types, to our best knowledge, this has not been investigated yet. This paper presents our study on the topic of influence of the finger type into fingerprint recognition performance. For analysis we employ two fingerprint verification software packages (one public and one commercial). We conduct test on GUC100 multi sensor fingerprint database which contains fingerprint images of all 10 fingers from 100 subjects. Our analysis indeed confirms that performance with small fingers is less accurate than performance with the others fingers of the hand. It also appears that best performance is being obtained with thumb or index fingers. For example, performance deterioration from the best finger (i.e. index or thumb) to the worst fingers (i.e. small ones) can be in the range of 184%-1352%.

Design and preliminary evaluation of the FINGER rehabilitation robot: controlling challenge and quantifying finger individuation during musical computer game play.

Science.gov (United States)

Taheri, Hossein; Rowe, Justin B; Gardner, David; Chan, Vicki; Gray, Kyle; Bower, Curtis; Reinkensmeyer, David J; Wolbrecht, Eric T

2014-02-04

This paper describes the design and preliminary testing of FINGER (Finger Individuating Grasp Exercise Robot), a device for assisting in finger rehabilitation after neurologic injury. We developed FINGER to assist stroke patients in moving their fingers individually in a naturalistic curling motion while playing a game similar to Guitar Hero. The goal was to make FINGER capable of assisting with motions where precise timing is important. FINGER consists of a pair of stacked single degree-of-freedom 8-bar mechanisms, one for the index and one for the middle finger. Each 8-bar mechanism was designed to control the angle and position of the proximal phalanx and the position of the middle phalanx. Target positions for the mechanism optimization were determined from trajectory data collected from 7 healthy subjects using color-based motion capture. The resulting robotic device was built to accommodate multiple finger sizes and finger-to-finger widths. For initial evaluation, we asked individuals with a stroke (n = 16) and without impairment (n = 4) to play a game similar to Guitar Hero while connected to FINGER. Precision design, low friction bearings, and separate high speed linear actuators allowed FINGER to individually actuate the fingers with a high bandwidth of control (-3 dB at approximately 8 Hz). During the tests, we were able to modulate the subject's success rate at the game by automatically adjusting the controller gains of FINGER. We also used FINGER to measure subjects' effort and finger individuation while playing the game. Test results demonstrate the ability of FINGER to motivate subjects with an engaging game environment that challenges individuated control of the fingers, automatically control assistance levels, and quantify finger individuation after stroke.

Results of clinical application of the modified maze procedure as concomitant surgery

Science.gov (United States)

Bakker, Robbert C.; Akin, Sakir; Rizopoulos, Dimitris; Kik, Charles; Takkenberg, Johanna J.M.; Bogers, Ad J.J.C.

2013-01-01

OBJECTIVES Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The classic cut-and-sew maze procedure is successful in 85–95% of patients. However, the technical complexity has prompted modifications of the maze procedure. The objective of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the clinical safety and efficacy of the maze treatment performed at our institution. METHODS From March 2001 until February 2009, 169 patients underwent a modified maze procedure for atrial fibrillation at the Erasmus MC, Rotterdam. Patient characteristics, surgical procedure and follow-up data were obtained by reviewing the medical charts and consulting with the referring physicians. The efficacy of the procedure as measured by AF recurrence was analysed with a repeated measurements model. The quality of life of the patients was assessed with the SF-36 (a short-form health survey with 36 questions) questionnaire and compared with that of the general Dutch population. RESULTS Of the 169 patients who underwent a modified maze procedure, 163 had their maze procedure as a concomitant procedure. The 30-day mortality rate was 4.7% (n = 8). The rate of post-procedural AF recurrence varied significantly over time (P < 0.0001). Decreased left ventricular function, increased age and higher preoperative creatinine levels were predictors of AF recurrence. Quality of life, as measured with the SF-36 questionnaire, was comparable with that of the Dutch population for all health domains. CONCLUSIONS Concomitant maze is a relatively safe treatment that eliminates atrial fibrillation in the majority of patients, although the probability of recurrent AF increases with the passage of time. Decreased left ventricular function, increased age and higher preoperative creatinine levels are associated with an increased risk of AF recurrence. PMID:23103720

Perinatal exposure to genistein, a soy phytoestrogen, improves spatial learning and memory but impairs passive avoidance learning and memory in offspring.

Science.gov (United States)

Kohara, Yumi; Kuwahara, Rika; Kawaguchi, Shinichiro; Jojima, Takeshi; Yamashita, Kimihiro

2014-05-10

This study investigated the effects of perinatal genistein (GEN) exposure on the central nervous system of rat offspring. Pregnant dams orally received GEN (1 or 10 mg/kg/day) or vehicle (1 ml/kg/day) from gestation day 10 to postnatal day 14. In order to assess the effects of GEN on rat offspring, we used a battery of behavioral tests, including the open-field, elevated plus-maze, MAZE and step-through passive avoidance tests. MAZE test is an appetite-motivation test, and we used this mainly for assessing spatial learning and memory. In the MAZE test, GEN groups exhibited shorter latency from start to goal than the vehicle-treated group in both sexes. On the other hand, performances in the step-through passive avoidance test were non-monotonically inhibited by GEN in both sexes, and a significant difference was observed in low dose of the GEN-treated group compared to the vehicle-treated group in female rats. Furthermore, we found that perinatal exposure to GEN did not significantly alter locomotor activity or emotionality as assessed by the open-field and elevated-plus maze tests. These results suggest that perinatal exposure to GEN improved spatial learning and memory of rat offspring, but impaired their passive avoidance learning and memory. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spatial Navigation in Complex and Radial Mazes in APP23 Animals and Neurotrophin Signaling as a Biological Marker of Early Impairment

Science.gov (United States)

Hellweg, Rainer; Huber, Roman; Kuhl, Alexander; Riepe, Matthias W.; Lohmann, Peter

2006-01-01

Impairment of hippocampal function precedes frontal and parietal cortex impairment in human Alzheimer's disease(AD). Neurotrophins are critical for behavioral performance and neuronal survival in AD. We used complex and radial mazes to assess spatial orientation and learning in wild-type and B6-Tg(ThylAPP)23Sdz (APP23) animals, a transgenic mouse…

Fingers that change color

Science.gov (United States)

... gov/ency/article/003249.htm Fingers that change color To use the sharing features on this page, please enable JavaScript. Fingers or toes may change color when they are exposed to cold temperatures or ...

Navigation using sensory substitution in real and virtual mazes.

Science.gov (United States)

Chebat, Daniel-Robert; Maidenbaum, Shachar; Amedi, Amir

2015-01-01

Under certain specific conditions people who are blind have a perception of space that is equivalent to that of sighted individuals. However, in most cases their spatial perception is impaired. Is this simply due to their current lack of access to visual information or does the lack of visual information throughout development prevent the proper integration of the neural systems underlying spatial cognition? Sensory Substitution devices (SSDs) can transfer visual information via other senses and provide a unique tool to examine this question. We hypothesize that the use of our SSD (The EyeCane: a device that translates distance information into sounds and vibrations) can enable blind people to attain a similar performance level as the sighted in a spatial navigation task. We gave fifty-six participants training with the EyeCane. They navigated in real life-size mazes using the EyeCane SSD and in virtual renditions of the same mazes using a virtual-EyeCane. The participants were divided into four groups according to visual experience: congenitally blind, low vision & late blind, blindfolded sighted and sighted visual controls. We found that with the EyeCane participants made fewer errors in the maze, had fewer collisions, and completed the maze in less time on the last session compared to the first. By the third session, participants improved to the point where individual trials were no longer significantly different from the initial performance of the sighted visual group in terms of errors, time and collision.

Discussion on the optimization design on mazes of medical linear accelerator facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao Lei; Zhang Wenyi; Liu Baiqun; Hou Changsong; Zhao Lancai

2007-01-01

Objective: To discuss the differences on the design and evaluation between the L-type and Z-type mazes of typical medical electric linear accelerator. Methods: The study is conducted by choosing some typical medical electric linear accelerators used in China, further analyzing on the running conditions of the accelerators in the mode of MV-X-ray, and referring to the late NCRP Report 51 and other references. Results: The radiation levels at the access to therapy room are effectively reduced by Z-type mazes. Conclusions: The Z-type mazes are advisable during the optimization design. (authors)

Magic Finger Teaching Method in Learning Multiplication Facts among Deaf Students

Science.gov (United States)

Thai, Liong; Yasin, Mohd. Hanafi Mohd

2016-01-01

Deaf students face problems in mastering multiplication facts. This study aims to identify the effectiveness of Magic Finger Teaching Method (MFTM) and students' perception towards MFTM. The research employs a quasi experimental with non-equivalent pre-test and post-test control group design. Pre-test, post-test and questionnaires were used. As…

Disentangling the cognitive components supporting Austin Maze performance in left versus right temporal lobe epilepsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hocking, Julia; Thomas, Hannah J; Dzafic, Ilvana; Williams, Rebecca J; Reutens, David C; Spooner, Donna M

2013-12-01

Neuropsychological tests requiring patients to find a path through a maze can be used to assess visuospatial memory performance in temporal lobe pathology, particularly in the hippocampus. Alternatively, they have been used as a task sensitive to executive function in patients with frontal lobe damage. We measured performance on the Austin Maze in patients with unilateral left and right temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), with and without hippocampal sclerosis, compared to healthy controls. Performance was correlated with a number of other neuropsychological tests to identify the cognitive components that may be associated with poor Austin Maze performance. Patients with right TLE were significantly impaired on the Austin Maze task relative to patients with left TLE and controls, and error scores correlated with their performance on the Block Design task. The performance of patients with left TLE was also impaired relative to controls; however, errors correlated with performance on tests of executive function and delayed recall. The presence of hippocampal sclerosis did not have an impact on maze performance. A discriminant function analysis indicated that the Austin Maze alone correctly classified 73.5% of patients as having right TLE. In summary, impaired performance on the Austin Maze task is more suggestive of right than left TLE; however, impaired performance on this visuospatial task does not necessarily involve the hippocampus. The relationship of the Austin Maze task with other neuropsychological tests suggests that differential cognitive components may underlie performance decrements in right versus left TLE. © 2013.

Finger multibiometric cryptosystems: fusion strategy and template security

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Jialiang; Li, Qiong; Abd El-Latif, Ahmed A.; Niu, Xiamu

2014-03-01

We address two critical issues in the design of a finger multibiometric system, i.e., fusion strategy and template security. First, three fusion strategies (feature-level, score-level, and decision-level fusions) with the corresponding template protection technique are proposed as the finger multibiometric cryptosystems to protect multiple finger biometric templates of fingerprint, finger vein, finger knuckle print, and finger shape modalities. Second, we theoretically analyze different fusion strategies for finger multibiometric cryptosystems with respect to their impact on security and recognition accuracy. Finally, the performance of finger multibiometric cryptosystems at different fusion levels is investigated on a merged finger multimodal biometric database. The comparative results suggest that the proposed finger multibiometric cryptosystem at feature-level fusion outperforms other approaches in terms of verification performance and template security.

Optimization for Guitar Fingering on Single Notes

Science.gov (United States)

Itoh, Masaru; Hayashida, Takumi

This paper presents an optimization method for guitar fingering. The fingering is to determine a unique combination of string, fret and finger corresponding to the note. The method aims to generate the best fingering pattern for guitar robots rather than beginners. Furthermore, it can be applied to any musical score on single notes. A fingering action can be decomposed into three motions, that is, a motion of press string, release string and move fretting hand. The cost for moving the hand is estimated on the basis of Manhattan distance which is the sum of distances along fret and string directions. The objective is to minimize the total fingering costs, subject to fret, string and finger constraints. As a sequence of notes on the score forms a line on time series, the optimization for guitar fingering can be resolved into a multistage decision problem. Dynamic programming is exceedingly effective to solve such a problem. A level concept is introduced into rendering states so as to make multiple DP solutions lead a unique one among the DP backward processes. For example, if two fingerings have the same value of cost at different states on a stage, then the low position would be taken precedence over the high position, and the index finger would be over the middle finger.

Characterization of the rat exploratory behavior in the elevated plus-maze with Markov chains.

Science.gov (United States)

Tejada, Julián; Bosco, Geraldine G; Morato, Silvio; Roque, Antonio C

2010-11-30

The elevated plus-maze is an animal model of anxiety used to study the effect of different drugs on the behavior of the animal. It consists of a plus-shaped maze with two open and two closed arms elevated 50cm from the floor. The standard measures used to characterize exploratory behavior in the elevated plus-maze are the time spent and the number of entries in the open arms. In this work, we use Markov chains to characterize the exploratory behavior of the rat in the elevated plus-maze under three different conditions: normal and under the effects of anxiogenic and anxiolytic drugs. The spatial structure of the elevated plus-maze is divided into squares, which are associated with states of a Markov chain. By counting the frequencies of transitions between states during 5-min sessions in the elevated plus-maze, we constructed stochastic matrices for the three conditions studied. The stochastic matrices show specific patterns, which correspond to the observed behaviors of the rat under the three different conditions. For the control group, the stochastic matrix shows a clear preference for places in the closed arms. This preference is enhanced for the anxiogenic group. For the anxiolytic group, the stochastic matrix shows a pattern similar to a random walk. Our results suggest that Markov chains can be used together with the standard measures to characterize the rat behavior in the elevated plus-maze. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chronic prenatal caffeine exposure impairs novel object recognition and radial arm maze behaviors in adult rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Soellner, Deborah E; Grandys, Theresa; Nuñez, Joseph L

2009-12-14

In this report, we demonstrate that chronic prenatal exposure to a moderate dose of caffeine disrupts novel object recognition and radial arm maze behaviors in adult male and female rats. Pregnant dams were administered either tap water or 75 mg/L caffeinated tap water throughout gestation. Oral self-administration in the drinking water led to an approximate maternal intake of 10mg/kg/day, equivalent to 2-3 cups of coffee/day in humans based on a metabolic body weight conversion. In adulthood, the offspring underwent testing on novel object recognition, radial arm maze, and Morris water maze tasks. Prenatal caffeine exposure was found to impair 24-h memory retention in the novel object recognition task and impair both working and reference memory in the radial arm maze. However, prenatal caffeine exposure did not alter Morris water maze performance in either a simple water maze procedure or in an advanced water maze procedure that included reversal and working memory paradigms. These findings demonstrate that chronic oral intake of caffeine throughout gestation can alter adult cognitive behaviors in rats.

Emotional Communication in Finger Braille

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasuhiro Matsuda

2010-01-01

Full Text Available We describe analyses of the features of emotions (neutral, joy, sadness, and anger expressed by Finger Braille interpreters and subsequently examine the effectiveness of emotional expression and emotional communication between people unskilled in Finger Braille. The goal is to develop a Finger Braille system to teach emotional expression and a system to recognize emotion. The results indicate the following features of emotional expression by interpreters. The durations of the code of joy were significantly shorter than the durations of the other emotions, the durations of the code of sadness were significantly longer, and the finger loads of anger were significantly larger. The features of emotional expression by unskilled subjects were very similar to those of the interpreters, and the coincidence ratio of emotional communication was 75.1%. Therefore, it was confirmed that people unskilled in Finger Braille can express and communicate emotions using this communication medium.

[Treatment of trigger finger with located needle knife].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qi-Feng; Yang, Jiang; Xi, Sheng-Hua

2016-07-25

To investigate the clinical effects of located needle knife in the treatment of trigger finger. The clinical data of 133 patients(145 fingers) with trigger finger underwent treatment with located needle knife from September 2010 to March 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 37 males(40 fingers) and 96 females (105 fingers), aged from 18 to 71 years old with a mean of 51.8 years. Course of disease was from 1 to 19 months with an average of 8.2 months. Affected fingers included 82 thumbs, 12 index fingers, 11 middle fingers, 36 ring fingers, and 4 little fingers. According to the standard of Quinnell grade, 42 fingers were grade III, 92 fingers were grade IV, and 11 fingers were grade V. Firstly the double pipe gab was put into the distal edge of hypertrophic tendon sheath, then small knife needle was used to release the sheath proximally along the tendon line direction. The informations of wound healing and nerve injury, postoperative finger function, finger pain at 6 months were observed. The operation time was from 8 to 25 min with an average of 9.8 min. All the patients were followed up from 6 to 26 months with an average of 12.5 months. No complications such as the wound inflammation and seepage, vascular or nerve injuries were found. According to the standard of Quinnell grade, 123 fingers got excellent results, 15 good, 7 poor. It's a good choice to treat trigger finger with located needle knife in advantage of minimal invasion, simple safe operation, and it should be promoted in clinic.

The creation of the artificial RING finger from the cross-brace zinc finger by α-helical region substitution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miyamoto, Kazuhide; Togiya, Kayo

2010-01-01

The creation of the artificial RING finger as ubiquitin-ligating enzyme (E3) has been demonstrated. In this study, by the α-helical region substitution between the EL5 RING finger and the Williams-Beuren syndrome transcription factor (WSTF) PHD finger, the artificial E3 (WSTF PHD R ING finger) was newly created. The experiments of the chemical modification of residues Cys and the circular dichroism spectra revealed that the WSTF PHD R ING finger binds two zinc atoms and adopts the zinc-dependent ordered-structure. In the substrate-independent ubiquitination assay, the WSTF PHD R ING finger functions as E3 and was poly- or mono-ubiquitinated. The present strategy is very simple and convenient, and consequently it might be widely applicable to the creation of various artificial E3 RING fingers with the specific ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2)-binding capability.

Effects of Boswellia Papyrifera Gum Extract on Learning and Memory in

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amir Farshchi

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Objective(sLearning is defined as the acquisition of information and skills, while subsequent retention of that information is called memory. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of aqueous extract of Boswellia papyrifera on learning and memory paradigms in mice and rats.Materials and MethodsThis study was held at the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kermanshah University of Medical Science, Kermanshah, Iran from September 2006 to March 2008. Male Wistar rats and male NMRI mice were randomly divided into control, B. papyrifera treated (50, 100, 150 mg/kg, p.o., and piracetam (150 mg/kg groups. Radial arm maze (RAM and Morris water maze (MWM were the screening tests used to assess the activity of B. papyrifera extract.ResultsThe mice treated with B. papyrifera (50, 100 and 150 mg/kg or piracetam (150 mg/kg showed a decrease in number of days required to learned (P< 0.05 and time taken to find food by the learned mice in radial arm maze (P< 0.01. In Morris water maze, rats treated with the above mentioned doses showed dose dependent improvement in spatial learning. Escape latency during swimming in water maze in piracetam and B. papyrifera treated animals was significantly lower (P< 0.01 than control. Swimming distance was also significantly lower (P< 0.05 in the treated groups.Conclusion The results show facilitation of spatial learning and memory processes and thereby validate B. papyrifera traditional use of intelligence improving. The presence of alkaloids, flavonoids and saponins might be responsible for this activity of B. papyrifera.

Navigation using sensory substitution in real and virtual mazes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel-Robert Chebat

Full Text Available Under certain specific conditions people who are blind have a perception of space that is equivalent to that of sighted individuals. However, in most cases their spatial perception is impaired. Is this simply due to their current lack of access to visual information or does the lack of visual information throughout development prevent the proper integration of the neural systems underlying spatial cognition? Sensory Substitution devices (SSDs can transfer visual information via other senses and provide a unique tool to examine this question. We hypothesize that the use of our SSD (The EyeCane: a device that translates distance information into sounds and vibrations can enable blind people to attain a similar performance level as the sighted in a spatial navigation task. We gave fifty-six participants training with the EyeCane. They navigated in real life-size mazes using the EyeCane SSD and in virtual renditions of the same mazes using a virtual-EyeCane. The participants were divided into four groups according to visual experience: congenitally blind, low vision & late blind, blindfolded sighted and sighted visual controls. We found that with the EyeCane participants made fewer errors in the maze, had fewer collisions, and completed the maze in less time on the last session compared to the first. By the third session, participants improved to the point where individual trials were no longer significantly different from the initial performance of the sighted visual group in terms of errors, time and collision.

Effects of laterality and sex on cognitive strategy in a water maze place learning task and modification by nicotine and nitric oxide synthase inhibition in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanit, L; Koylu, E O; Erdogan, O; Pogun, S

2005-08-15

The aim of the present study was to investigate sex differences in learning strategies and to elucidate the mechanisms, which may underlie these differences. In two separate experiments, rats were presented with different strategies that could be employed to learn the position of a platform in a water maze (WM); furthermore, rats received treatments that could influence these strategies. In the first experiment, we demonstrated that the response-learning paradigm can be applied to the WM and can be compared with visually cued learning and reversal learning. Naïve rats of either sex could acquire this protocol relatively easily. On the probe trial, where the rats are presented with a choice between using response versus visually cued learning, initially response learning was preferred, however, during these experiments, laterality emerged as a significant factor and rats trained to turn right had difficulty in reversing the learned pattern to find the platform. The second part of our study evaluated the effects of nicotine and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibition on the aforementioned parameters. Drug treatments impaired acquisition compared to saline treatments and the effect was more pronounced with NOS inhibition. During the probe trial, while NOS inhibition enhanced the right-side bias in both sexes, nicotine treatment had the same effect only in males. In conclusion, naïve rats can acquire place learning using visible cues or response learning; however, there is a right side bias in both sexes and the laterality effect is more pronounced in male rats. In drug-treated animals, while NOS inhibition enhances laterality (right bias) in both sexes similarly, nicotine modifies the cognitive strategy in a sexually dimorphic manner by augmenting the right bias only in male rats.

Finger tapping ability in healthy elderly and young adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Aoki, Tomoko; Fukuoka, Yoshiyuki

2010-03-01

The maximum isometric force production capacity of the fingers decreases with age. However, little information is available on age-related changes in dynamic motor capacity of individual fingers. The purpose of this study was to compare the dynamic motor function of individual fingers between elderly and young adults using rapid single-finger and double-finger tapping. Fourteen elderly and 14 young adults performed maximum frequency tapping by the index, middle, ring, or little finger (single-finger tapping) and with alternate movements of the index-middle, middle-ring, or ring-little finger-pair (double-finger tapping). The maximum pinch force between the thumb and each finger, tactile sensitivity of each fingertip, and time taken to complete a pegboard test were also measured. Compared with young subjects, the older subjects had significantly slower tapping rates in all fingers and finger-pairs in the tapping tasks. The age-related decline was also observed in the tactile sensitivities of all fingers and in the pegboard test. However, there was no group difference in the pinch force of any finger. The tapping rate of each finger did not correlate with the pinch force or tactile sensitivity for the corresponding finger in the elderly subjects. Maximum rate of finger tapping was lower in the elderly adults compared with the young adults. The decline of finger tapping ability in elderly adults seems to be less affected by their maximum force production capacities of the fingers as well as tactile sensitivities at the tips of the fingers.

Mathematical methods to model rodent behavior in the elevated plus-maze.

Science.gov (United States)

Arantes, Rafael; Tejada, Julián; Bosco, Geraldine G; Morato, Silvio; Roque, Antonio C

2013-11-15

The elevated plus maze is a widely used experimental test to study anxiety-like rodent behavior. It is made of four arms, two open and two closed, connected at a central area forming a plus shaped maze. The whole apparatus is elevated 50 cm from the floor. The anxiety of the animal is usually assessed by the number of entries and duration of stay in each arm type during a 5-min period. Different mathematical methods have been proposed to model the mechanisms that control the animal behavior in the maze, such as factor analysis, statistical inference on Markov chains and computational modeling. In this review we discuss these methods and propose possible extensions of them as a direction for future research. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Finger Search in the Implicit Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brodal, Gerth Stølting; Nielsen, Jesper Asbjørn Sindahl; Truelsen, Jakob

2012-01-01

We address the problem of creating a dictionary with the finger search property in the strict implicit model, where no information is stored between operations, except the array of elements. We show that for any implicit dictionary supporting finger searches in q(t) = Ω(logt) time, the time to move...... the finger to another element is Ω(q− 1(logn)), where t is the rank distance between the query element and the finger. We present an optimal implicit static structure matching this lower bound. We furthermore present a near optimal implicit dynamic structure supporting search, change-finger, insert......, and delete in times $\\mathcal{O}(q(t))$, $\\mathcal{O}(q^{-1}(\\log n)\\log n)$, $\\mathcal{O}(\\log n)$, and $\\mathcal{O}(\\log n)$, respectively, for any q(t) = Ω(logt). Finally we show that the search operation must take Ω(logn) time for the special case where the finger is always changed to the element...

Finger replantation: surgical technique and indications.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbary, S; Dap, F; Dautel, G

2013-12-01

In this article, we discuss the surgical technique of finger replantation in detail, distinguishing particularities of technique in cases of thumb amputation, children fingertip replantation, ring finger avulsion, and very distal replantations. We emphasize the principles of bone shortening, the spare part concept, the special importance of nerve sutures and the use of vein graft in case of avulsion or crushing. However, even if finger replantation is now a routine procedure, a clear distinction should be made between revascularization and functional success. The indications for finger replantation are then detailed in the second part of this paper. The absolute indications for replantation are thumb, multiple fingers, transmetacarpal or hand, and any upper extremity amputation in a child whatever the level. Fingertip amputations distal to the insertion of the Flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) are also a good indication. Other cases are more controversial because of the poor functional outcome, especially for the index finger, which is often functionally excluded. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier SAS.

The application of a rodent-based Morris water maze (MWM) protocol to an investigation of age-related differences in human spatial learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Jimmy Y; Magnusson, Kathy R; Swarts, Matthew E; Clendinen, Cherita A; Reynolds, Nadjalisse C; Moffat, Scott D

2017-12-01

The current study applied a rodent-based Morris water maze (MWM) protocol to an investigation of search performance differences between young and older adult humans. To investigate whether similar age-related decline in search performance could be seen in humans based on the rodent-based protocol, we implemented a virtual MWM (vMWM) that has characteristics similar to those of the MWM used in previous studies of spatial learning in mice. Through the use of a proximity to platform measure, robust differences were found between healthy young and older adults in search performance. After dividing older adults into good and poor performers based on a median split of their corrected cumulative proximity values, the age effects in place learning were found to be largely related to search performance differences between the young and poor-performing older adults. When compared with the young, poor-performing older adults exhibited significantly higher proximity values in 83% of 24 place trials and overall in the probe trials that assessed spatial learning in the absence of the hidden platform. In contrast, good-performing older adults exhibited patterns of search performance that were comparable with that of the younger adults in most place and probe trials. Taken together, our findings suggest that the low search accuracy in poor-performing older adults stemmed from potential differences in strategy selection, differences in assumptions or expectations of task demands, as well as possible underlying functional and/or structural changes in the brain regions involved in vMWM search performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of Amphetamine and β-Endorphin Fragments on Maze Performance in Rats

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boer, S. de; Bohus, B.

1990-01-01

Fragments of β-endorphin and amphetamine cause similar effects in some tests of maze behavior in rats. The present study served to compare the influence of amphetamine and two β-endorphin fragments [β-endorphin (βE)-(2-9) and βE-(2-16)] on maze behavior in more detail. In Experiment I no significant

Generic Automated Multi-function Finger Design

Science.gov (United States)

Honarpardaz, M.; Tarkian, M.; Sirkett, D.; Ölvander, J.; Feng, X.; Elf, J.; Sjögren, R.

2016-11-01

Multi-function fingers that are able to handle multiple workpieces are crucial in improvement of a robot workcell. Design automation of multi-function fingers is highly demanded by robot industries to overcome the current iterative, time consuming and complex manual design process. However, the existing approaches for the multi-function finger design automation are unable to entirely meet the robot industries’ need. This paper proposes a generic approach for design automation of multi-function fingers. The proposed approach completely automates the design process and requires no expert skill. In addition, this approach executes the design process much faster than the current manual process. To validate the approach, multi-function fingers are successfully designed for two case studies. Further, the results are discussed and benchmarked with existing approaches.

Robotic Assistance for Training Finger Movement Using a Hebbian Model: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowe, Justin B; Chan, Vicky; Ingemanson, Morgan L; Cramer, Steven C; Wolbrecht, Eric T; Reinkensmeyer, David J

2017-08-01

Robots that physically assist movement are increasingly used in rehabilitation therapy after stroke, yet some studies suggest robotic assistance discourages effort and reduces motor learning. To determine the therapeutic effects of high and low levels of robotic assistance during finger training. We designed a protocol that varied the amount of robotic assistance while controlling the number, amplitude, and exerted effort of training movements. Participants (n = 30) with a chronic stroke and moderate hemiparesis (average Box and Blocks Test 32 ± 18 and upper extremity Fugl-Meyer score 46 ± 12) actively moved their index and middle fingers to targets to play a musical game similar to GuitarHero 3 h/wk for 3 weeks. The participants were randomized to receive high assistance (causing 82% success at hitting targets) or low assistance (55% success). Participants performed ~8000 movements during 9 training sessions. Both groups improved significantly at the 1-month follow-up on functional and impairment-based motor outcomes, on depression scores, and on self-efficacy of hand function, with no difference between groups in the primary endpoint (change in Box and Blocks). High assistance boosted motivation, as well as secondary motor outcomes (Fugl-Meyer and Lateral Pinch Strength)-particularly for individuals with more severe finger motor deficits. Individuals with impaired finger proprioception at baseline benefited less from the training. Robot-assisted training can promote key psychological outcomes known to modulate motor learning and retention. Furthermore, the therapeutic effectiveness of robotic assistance appears to derive at least in part from proprioceptive stimulation, consistent with a Hebbian plasticity model.

A hand full of numbers: a role for offloading in arithmetics learning?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annelise Júlio Costa

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Finger counting has been associated to arithmetic learning in children. We examined children with (n = 14 and without (n = 84 mathematics learning difficulties with ages between 8 to 11 years. Deficits in finger gnosia were found in association to mathematical difficulties. Finger gnosia is particularly relevant for the performance in word problems requiring active manipulation of small magnitudes in the range between 1 and 10. Moreover, the deficits in finger gnosia cannot be attributed to a shortage in working memory capacity but rather to a specific inability to use fingers to transiently represent magnitudes, tagging to be counted objects and reducing the cognitive load necessary to solve arithmetic problems. Since finger gnosia is more related to symbolic than to nonsymbolic magnitude processing, finger-related representation of magnitude seems to be an important link for learning the mapping of analog onto discrete symbolic magnitudes.

Medial Entorhinal Grid Cells and Head Direction Cells Rotate with a T-Maze More Often During Less Recently Experienced Rotations

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Kishan; Beer, Nathan J.; Keller, Lauren A.; Hasselmo, Michael E.

2014-01-01

Prior studies of head direction (HD) cells indicate strong landmark control over the preferred firing direction of these cells, with few studies exhibiting shifts away from local reference frames over time. We recorded spiking activity of grid and HD cells in the medial entorhinal cortex of rats, testing correlations of local environmental cues with the spatial tuning curves of these cells' firing fields as animals performed continuous spatial alternation on a T-maze that shared the boundaries of an open-field arena. The environment was rotated into configurations the animal had either seen or not seen in the past recording week. Tuning curves of both cell types demonstrated commensurate shifts of tuning with T-maze rotations during less recent rotations, more so than recent rotations. This strongly suggests that animals are shifting their reference frame away from the local environmental cues over time, learning to use a different reference frame more likely reliant on distal or idiothetic cues. In addition, grid fields demonstrated varying levels of “fragmentation” on the T-maze. The propensity for fragmentation does not depend on grid spacing and grid score, nor animal trajectory, indicating the cognitive treatment of environmental subcompartments is likely driven by task demands. PMID:23382518

Diazepam-stress interactions in the rat: effects on autoanalgesia and a plus-maze model of anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Taukulis, H K; Goggin, C E

1990-03-01

On six occasions spaced at least a week apart, two groups of rats were subjected to a variety of stressful conditions consisting of a restraint/bright light complex, either alone or in combination with a tail pinch, whole-body inversion, or partial immersion in cold water. One of these groups was injected with diazepam (2.0 mg/kg) 30 min prior to the stressors, while the other group experienced the drug in their home cages the following day. A third group also received the diazepam but was not exposed to the stressors. In three test sessions all animals were injected with either diazepam or saline and were then exposed to a novel stressor: a plus-maze used as a screening device for anxiolytic drugs. This was immediately followed by a tail-flick measure of analgesia. The longest tail-flick latencies, indicating stress-induced analgesia ("autoanalgesia"), were observed in the group that had not been exposed to stress prior to testing. The other two groups exhibited substantially shorter latencies but did not differ from one another, thus showing a "stress inoculation" effect that was uninfluenced by diazepam. In the plus-maze, diazepam tends to increase the amount of time rats will spend in the two exposed arms of the maze relative to the two enclosed arms. This effect was significantly attenuated in the group that had previously experienced the variety of stressors after a diazepam injection, suggesting a learned association between drug and stress that resulted in a diminution of the drug's anxiolytic property.

What does the CBM-maze test measure?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Muijselaar, M.M.L.; Kendeou, P.; de Jong, P.F.; van den Broek, P.W.

2017-01-01

In this study, we identified the code-related (decoding, fluency) and language comprehension (vocabulary, listening comprehension) demands of the CBM-Maze test, a formative assessment, and compared them to those of the Gates–MacGinitie test, a standardized summative assessment. The demands of these

New Finger Biometric Method Using Near Infrared Imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Eui Chul; Jung, Hyunwoo; Kim, Daeyeoul

2011-01-01

In this paper, we propose a new finger biometric method. Infrared finger images are first captured, and then feature extraction is performed using a modified Gaussian high-pass filter through binarization, local binary pattern (LBP), and local derivative pattern (LDP) methods. Infrared finger images include the multimodal features of finger veins and finger geometries. Instead of extracting each feature using different methods, the modified Gaussian high-pass filter is fully convolved. Therefore, the extracted binary patterns of finger images include the multimodal features of veins and finger geometries. Experimental results show that the proposed method has an error rate of 0.13%. PMID:22163741

Current status of ultrasonography of the finger

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Seun Ah; Kim, Baek Hyun [Dept. of Radiology, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Ansan (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Seon Jeong [Dept. of Radiology, Myongji Hospital, Seonam University College of Medicine, Goyang (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Ji Na [Dept. of Radiology, Chungnam National University Hospital, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Sun Young [Dept. of Radiology, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Anyang (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Kyung Hee [Incheon Baek Hospital, Incheon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-03-15

The recent development of advanced high-resolution transducers has enabled the fast, easy, and dynamic ultrasonographic evaluation of small, superficial structures such as the finger. In order to best exploit these advances, it is important to understand the normal anatomy and the basic pathologies of the finger, as exemplified by the following conditions involving the dorsal, volar, and lateral sections of the finger: sagittal band injuries, mallet finger, and Boutonnière deformity (dorsal aspect); flexor tendon tears, trigger finger, and volar plate injuries (volar aspect); gamekeeper’s thumb (Stener lesions) and other collateral ligament tears (lateral aspect); and other lesions. This review provides a basis for understanding the ultrasonography of the finger and will therefore be useful for radiologists.

Current status of ultrasonography of the finger

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seun Ah Lee

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The recent development of advanced high-resolution transducers has enabled the fast, easy, and dynamic ultrasonographic evaluation of small, superficial structures such as the finger. In order to best exploit these advances, it is important to understand the normal anatomy and the basic pathologies of the finger, as exemplified by the following conditions involving the dorsal, volar, and lateral sections of the finger: sagittal band injuries, mallet finger, and Boutonnière deformity (dorsal aspect; flexor tendon tears, trigger finger, and volar plate injuries (volar aspect; gamekeeper’s thumb (Stener lesions and other collateral ligament tears (lateral aspect; and other lesions. This review provides a basis for understanding the ultrasonography of the finger and will therefore be useful for radiologists.

Younger apes and human children plan their moves in a maze task.

Science.gov (United States)

Völter, Christoph J; Call, Josep

2014-02-01

Planning defined as the predetermination of a sequence of actions towards some goal is crucial for complex problem solving. To shed light on the evolution of executive functions, we investigated the ontogenetic and phylogenetic origins of planning. Therefore, we presented all four great apes species (N=12) as well as 4- and 5-year-old human preschoolers (N=24) with a vertical maze task. To gain a reward placed on the uppermost level of the maze, subjects had to move the reward to the bottom through open gaps situated at each level of the maze. In total, there were ten gaps located over three of the maze's levels, and free passage through these gaps could be flexibly blocked using multiple traps. Due to the decision tree design of the maze, the subjects had to plan their actions depending on the trap configuration up to two steps ahead to successfully retrieve the reward. We found that (1) our measure of planning was negatively correlated with age in nonhuman apes, (2) younger apes as well as 5-year-old children planned their moves up to two steps ahead whereas 4-year-olds were limited to plan one step ahead, and (3) similar performance but different underlying limitations between apes and children. Namely, while all species of nonhuman apes were limited by a lack of motor control, human children exhibited a shortage in shifting their attention across a sequence of subgoals. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evolving Neural Turing Machines for Reward-based Learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Greve, Rasmus Boll; Jacobsen, Emil Juul; Risi, Sebastian

2016-01-01

An unsolved problem in neuroevolution (NE) is to evolve artificial neural networks (ANN) that can store and use information to change their behavior online. While plastic neural networks have shown promise in this context, they have difficulties retaining information over longer periods of time...... version of the double T-Maze, a complex reinforcement-like learning problem. In the T-Maze learning task the agent uses the memory bank to display adaptive behavior that normally requires a plastic ANN, thereby suggesting a complementary and effective mechanism for adaptive behavior in NE....

Applications of the Morris water maze in translational traumatic brain injury research.

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, Laura B; Velosky, Alexander G; McCabe, Joseph T

2018-05-01

Acquired traumatic brain injury (TBI) is frequently accompanied by persistent cognitive symptoms, including executive function disruptions and memory deficits. The Morris Water Maze (MWM) is the most widely-employed laboratory behavioral test for assessing cognitive deficits in rodents after experimental TBI. Numerous protocols exist for performing the test, which has shown great robustness in detecting learning and memory deficits in rodents after infliction of TBI. We review applications of the MWM for the study of cognitive deficits following TBI in pre-clinical studies, describing multiple ways in which the test can be employed to examine specific aspects of learning and memory. Emphasis is placed on dependent measures that are available and important controls that must be considered in the context of TBI. Finally, caution is given regarding interpretation of deficits as being indicative of dysfunction of a single brain region (hippocampus), as experimental models of TBI most often result in more diffuse damage that disrupts multiple neural pathways and larger functional networks that participate in complex behaviors required in MWM performance. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The flexible use of multiple cue relationships in spatial navigation : A comparison of water maze performance following hippocampal, medial septal, prefrontal cortex, or posterior parietal cortex lesions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Compton, DM; Griffith, HR; McDaniel, WF; Foster, RA; Davis, BK

Rats prepared with lesions of the prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, hippocampus, or medial septal area were tested for acquisition of a number of variations of the open-field water maze using a version of place learning assessment described by Eichenbaum, Stewart, and Morris (1991).

Finger language recognition based on ensemble artificial neural network learning using armband EMG sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Seongjung; Kim, Jongman; Ahn, Soonjae; Kim, Youngho

2018-04-18

Deaf people use sign or finger languages for communication, but these methods of communication are very specialized. For this reason, the deaf can suffer from social inequalities and financial losses due to their communication restrictions. In this study, we developed a finger language recognition algorithm based on an ensemble artificial neural network (E-ANN) using an armband system with 8-channel electromyography (EMG) sensors. The developed algorithm was composed of signal acquisition, filtering, segmentation, feature extraction and an E-ANN based classifier that was evaluated with the Korean finger language (14 consonants, 17 vowels and 7 numbers) in 17 subjects. E-ANN was categorized according to the number of classifiers (1 to 10) and size of training data (50 to 1500). The accuracy of the E-ANN-based classifier was obtained by 5-fold cross validation and compared with an artificial neural network (ANN)-based classifier. As the number of classifiers (1 to 8) and size of training data (50 to 300) increased, the average accuracy of the E-ANN-based classifier increased and the standard deviation decreased. The optimal E-ANN was composed with eight classifiers and 300 size of training data, and the accuracy of the E-ANN was significantly higher than that of the general ANN.

the strategy of finger use in children's addition Relationship with short-term memory, finger dexterity, and addition skills

OpenAIRE

Asakawa, Atsushi; Sugimura, Shinichiro

2009-01-01

Previous research has shown that the children's use of the fingers in additon changes with age. In this study, a part of data on the strategy of finger use by Asakawa and Sugimura (2009) was reanalyzed to clarify the relationship between, short-term memory, finger dexterity and addition skills. A two-way ANOVA showed a significant interaction between memory span and finger use. Examination of simple main effect indicated that significant effect of memory span at the group of the children who ...

A novel technique to optimise the length of a linear accelerator treatment room maze without compromising radiation protection.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Affan, I A M; Evans, S C; Qutub, M; Hugtenburg, R P

2018-03-01

Simulations with the FLUktuierende KAskade (FLUKA) Monte Carlo code were used to establish the possibility of introducing lead to cover the existing concrete walls of a linear accelerator treatment room maze, in order to reduce the dose of the scattered photons at the maze entrance. In the present work, a pilot study performed at Singleton Hospital in Swansea was used to pioneer the use of lead sheets of various thicknesses to absorb scattered low energy photons in the maze. The dose reduction was considered to be due to the strong effect of the photoelectric interaction in lead resulting in attenuation of the back-scattered photons. Calculations using FLUKA with mono-energetic photons were used to represent the main components of the x-ray spectrum up to 10 MV. Mono-energetic photons were used to enable the study of the behaviour of each energy component from the associated interaction processes. The results showed that adding lead of 1 to 4 mm thickness to the walls and floor of the maze reduced the dose at the maze entrance by up to 80%. Subsequent scatter dose measurements performed at the maze entrance of an existing treatment room with lead sheet of 1.3 mm thickness added to the maze walls and floor supported the results from the simulations. The dose reduction at the maze entrance with the lead in place was up to 50%. The variation between simulation and measurement was attributed to the fact that insufficient lead was available to completely cover the maze walls and floor. This novel proposal of partly, or entirely, covering the maze walls with lead a few millimetres in thickness has implications for the design of linear accelerator treatment rooms since it has the potential to provide savings, in terms of space and costs, when an existing maze requires upgrading in an environment where space is limited and the maze length cannot be extended sufficiently to reduce the dose.

Reconstruction based finger-knuckle-print verification with score level adaptive binary fusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Guangwei; Zhang, Lei; Yang, Jian; Zhang, Lin; Zhang, David

2013-12-01

Recently, a new biometrics identifier, namely finger knuckle print (FKP), has been proposed for personal authentication with very interesting results. One of the advantages of FKP verification lies in its user friendliness in data collection. However, the user flexibility in positioning fingers also leads to a certain degree of pose variations in the collected query FKP images. The widely used Gabor filtering based competitive coding scheme is sensitive to such variations, resulting in many false rejections. We propose to alleviate this problem by reconstructing the query sample with a dictionary learned from the template samples in the gallery set. The reconstructed FKP image can reduce much the enlarged matching distance caused by finger pose variations; however, both the intra-class and inter-class distances will be reduced. We then propose a score level adaptive binary fusion rule to adaptively fuse the matching distances before and after reconstruction, aiming to reduce the false rejections without increasing much the false acceptances. Experimental results on the benchmark PolyU FKP database show that the proposed method significantly improves the FKP verification accuracy.

Viscous fingering with permeability heterogeneity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tan, C.; Homsy, G.M.

1992-01-01

Viscous fingering in miscible displacements in the presence of permeability heterogeneities is studied using two-dimensional simulations. The heterogeneities are modeled as stationary random functions of space with finite correlation scale. Both the variance and scale of the heterogeneities are varied over modest ranges. It is found that the fingered zone grows linearly in time in a fashion analogous to that found in homogeneous media by Tan and Homsy [Phys. Fluids 31, 1330 (1988)], indicating a close coupling between viscous fingering on the one hand and flow through preferentially more permeable paths on the other. The growth rate of the mixing zone increases monotonically with the variance of the heterogeneity, as expected, but shows a maximum as the correlation scale is varied. The latter is explained as a ''resonance'' between the natural scale of fingers in homogeneous media and the correlation scale

Torque control of underactuated tendon-driven fingers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. E. Abdallah

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Given an underactuated tendon-driven finger, the finger posture is underdetermined and can move freely ("flop" in a region of slack tendons. This work shows that such an underactuated finger can be operated in tendon force control (rather than position control with effective performance. The force control eliminates the indeterminate slack while commanding a parameterized space of desired torques. The torque will either push the finger to the joint limits or wrap around an external object with variable torque – behavior that is sufficient for primarily gripping fingers. In addition, introducing asymmetric joint radii to the design allows the finger to command an expanded range of joint torques and to scan an expanded set of external surfaces. This study is motivated by the design and control of the secondary fingers of the NASA-GM R2 humanoid hand.

This paper was presented at the IFToMM/ASME International Workshop on Underactuated Grasping (UG2010, 19 August 2010, Montréal, Canada.

Negative transfer effects between reference memory and working memory training in the water maze in C57BL/6 mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Serrano Sponton, Lucas Ezequiel; Soria, Gonzalo Jose; Dubroqua, Sylvain; Singer, Philipp; Feldon, Joram; Gargiulo, Pascual A; Yee, Benjamin K

2018-02-26

The water maze is one of the most widely employed spatial learning paradigms in the cognitive profiling of genetically modified mice. Oftentimes, tests of reference memory (RM) and working memory (WM) in the water maze are sequentially evaluated in the same animals. However, critical difference in the rules governing efficient escape from the water between WM and RM tests is expected to promote the adoption of incompatible mnemonic or navigational strategies. Hence, performance in a given test is likely poorer if it follows the other test instead of being conducted first. Yet, the presence of such negative transfer effects (or proactive interference) between WM and RM training in the water maze is often overlooked in the literature. To gauge whether this constitutes a serious concern, the present study determined empirically the magnitude, persistence, and directionality of the transfer effect in wild-type C57BL/6 mice. We contrasted the order of tests between two cohorts of mice. Performance between the two cohorts in the WM and RM tests were then separately compared. We showed that prior training of either test significantly reduced performance in the subsequent one. The statistical effect sizes in both directions were moderate to large. Although extended training could overcome the deficit, it could re-emerge later albeit in a more transient fashion. Whenever RM and WM water maze tests are conducted sequentially in the same animals - regardless of the test order, extra caution is necessary when interpreting the outcomes in the second test. Counterbalancing test orders between animals is recommended. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Primary syphilis of the fingers

OpenAIRE

Starzycki, Z

1983-01-01

Six patients were seen with primary syphilitic chancres on their fingers between 1965 and 1980. Of these, two had bipolar chancres on their fingers and genitals resulting from sexual foreplay. Because syphilis is rarely suspected in such cases diagnostic errors are common.

Two-finger (TF) SPUDT cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Guenter; Biryukov, Sergey V; Schmidt, Hagen; Steiner, Bernd; Wall, Bert

2011-03-01

SPUDT cells including two fingers are only known thus far for so-called NSPUDT directions. In that case, usual solid-finger cells are used. The purpose of the present paper is to find SPUDT cell types consisting of two fingers only for pure mode directions. Two-finger (TF) cells for pure mode directions on substrates like 128°YX LiNbO(3) and YZ LiNbO(3) were found by means of an optimization procedure. The forward direction of a TF-cell SPUDT on 128°YX LiNbO(3) was determined experimentally. The properties of the new cells are compared with those of conventional SPUDT cells. The reflectivity of TF cells on 128°YX LiNbO(3) turns out to be two to three times larger than that of distributed acoustic reflection transducer (DART) and Hanma-Hunsinger cells at the same metal layer thickness.

Use of an Eight-arm Radial Water Maze to Assess Working and Reference Memory Following Neonatal Brain Injury

OpenAIRE

Penley, Stephanie C.; Gaudet, Cynthia M.; Threlkeld, Steven W.

2013-01-01

Working and reference memory are commonly assessed using the land based radial arm maze. However, this paradigm requires pretraining, food deprivation, and may introduce scent cue confounds. The eight-arm radial water maze is designed to evaluate reference and working memory performance simultaneously by requiring subjects to use extra-maze cues to locate escape platforms and remedies the limitations observed in land based radial arm maze designs. Specifically, subjects are required to avoid ...

CBM maze-scores as indicators of reading level and growth for seventh-grade students

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chung, S.; Espin, C.A.; Stevenson, C.E.

The technical adequacy of CBM maze-scores as indicators of reading level and growth for seventh-grade secondary-school students was examined. Participants were 452 Dutch students who completed weekly maze measures over a period of 23 weeks. Criterion measures were school level, dyslexia status,

Finger-like voids induced by viscous fingering during phase inversion of alumina/PES/NMP suspensions

KAUST Repository

Wang, Bo; Lai, Zhiping

2012-01-01

membrane structure without such finger-like macrovoids was observed when the suspension was slowly immersed into pure ethanol or a mixture of 70. wt% NMP and 30. wt% water, whereas finger-like macrovoids occurred when the suspension was slid into the non

Liraglutide Improves Water Maze Learning and Memory Performance While Reduces Hyperphosphorylation of Tau and Neurofilaments in APP/PS1/Tau Triple Transgenic Mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Shuyi; Sun, Jie; Zhao, Gang; Guo, Ai; Chen, Yanlin; Fu, Rongxia; Deng, Yanqiu

2017-08-01

The purpose of this study was to explore how liraglutide affects AD-like pathology and cognitive function in APP/PS1/Tau triple transgenic (3 × Tg) Alzheimer disease (AD) model mice. Male 3 × Tg mice and C57BL/6 J mice were treated for 8 weeks with liraglutide (300 μg/kg/day, subcutaneous injection) or saline. Levels of phosphorylated tau, neurofilaments (NFs), extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in brain tissues were assessed with western blots. Fluoro-Jade-B labeling were applied to detect pathological changes. The Morris water maze (MWM) was used to assess the spatial learning and memory. Liraglutide decreased levels of hyperphosphorylated tau and NFs in 3 × Tg liraglutide-treated (Tg + LIR) mice, increased ERK phosphorylation, and decreased JNK phosphorylation. Liraglutide also decreased the number of degenerative neurons in the hippocampus and cortex of Tg + LIR mice, and shortened their escape latencies and increased their hidden platform crossings in the MWM task. Liraglutide did not significantly affect the animals' body weight (BW) or fasting blood glucose. Liraglutide can reduce hyperphosphorylation of tau and NFs and reduce neuronal degeneration, apparently through alterations in JNK and ERK signaling, which may be related to its positive effects on AD-like learning and memory impairment.

Instrumented Glove Measures Positions Of Fingers

Science.gov (United States)

Bozeman, Richard J., Jr.

1993-01-01

Glove instrumented with flat membrane potentiometers to obtain crude measurements of relative positions of fingers. Resistance of each potentiometer varies with position of associated finger; translator circuit connected to each potentiometer converts analog reading to 1 of 10 digital levels. Digitized outputs from all fingers fed to indicating, recording, and/or data-processing equipment. Gloves and circuits intended for use in biomedical research, training in critical manual tasks, and other specialized applications.

Analysis of prosody in finger braille using electromyography.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyagi, Manabi; Nishida, Masafumi; Horiuchi, Yasuo; Ichikawa, Akira

2006-01-01

Finger braille is one of the communication methods for the deaf blind. The interpreter types braille codes on the fingers of deaf blind. Finger braille seems to be the most suitable medium for real-time communication by its speed and accuracy of transmitting characters. We hypothesize that the prosody information exists in the time structure and strength of finger braille typing. Prosody is the paralinguistic information that has functions to transmit the sentence structure, prominence, emotions and other form of information in real time communication. In this study, we measured the surface electromyography (sEMG) of finger movement to analyze the typing strength of finger braille. We found that the typing strength increases at the beginning of a phrase and a prominent phrase. The result shows the possibility that the prosody in the typing strength of finger braille can be applied to create an interpreter system for the deafblind.

Vertical Finger Displacement Is Reduced in Index Finger Tapping During Repeated Bout Rate Enhancement.

Science.gov (United States)

Mora-Jensen, Mark Holten; Madeleine, Pascal; Hansen, Ernst Albin

2017-10-01

The present study analyzed (a) whether a recently reported phenomenon of repeated bout rate enhancement in finger tapping (i.e., a cumulating increase in freely chosen finger tapping frequency following submaximal muscle activation in the form of externally unloaded voluntary tapping) could be replicated and (b) the hypotheses that the faster tapping was accompanied by changed vertical displacement of the fingertip and changed peak force during tapping. Right-handed, healthy, and recreationally active individuals (n = 24) performed two 3-min index finger tapping bouts at freely chosen tapping frequency, separated by 10-min rest. The recently reported phenomenon of repeated bout rate enhancement was replicated. The faster tapping (8.8 ± 18.7 taps/min, corresponding to 6.0 ± 11.0%, p = .033) was accompanied by reduced vertical displacement (1.6 ± 2.9 mm, corresponding to 6.3 ± 14.9%, p = .012) of the fingertip. Concurrently, peak force was unchanged. The present study points at separate control mechanisms governing kinematics and kinetics during finger tapping.

Thermal stability improvement of a multiple finger power SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor under different power dissipations using non-uniform finger spacing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Liang; Zhang Wan-Rong; Jin Dong-Yue; Shen Pei; Xie Hong-Yun; Ding Chun-Bao; Xiao Ying; Sun Bo-Tao; Wang Ren-Qing

2011-01-01

A method of non-uniform finger spacing is proposed to enhance thermal stability of a multiple finger power SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor under different power dissipations. Temperature distribution on the emitter fingers of a multi-finger SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor is studied using a numerical electro-thermal model. The results show that the SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor with non-uniform finger spacing has a small temperature difference between fingers compared with a traditional uniform finger spacing heterojunction bipolar transistor at the same power dissipation. What is most important is that the ability to improve temperature non-uniformity is not weakened as power dissipation increases. So the method of non-uniform finger spacing is very effective in enhancing the thermal stability and the power handing capability of power device. Experimental results verify our conclusions. (interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology)

Surgical Treatment of Trigger Finger: Open Release

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Firat Ozan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this study, open A1 pulley release results were evaluated in patients with a trigger finger diagnosis. 45 patients (29 females, 16 males, mean age 50.7 ± 11.9; range (24-79, 45 trigger fingers were released via open surgical technique. On the 25 of 45 cases were involved in the right hand and 16 of them were at the thumb, 2 at index, 6 at the middle and 1 at ring finger. Similarly, at the left hand, 15 of 20 cases were at the thumb, 1 at the index finger, 2 at middle finger and 2 at ring finger. Average follow-up time was 10.2 ± 2.7 (range, 6-15 months. Comorbidities in patients were; diabetes mellitus at 6 cases (13.3%, hypertension at 11 cases (24.4%, hyperthyroidism at 2 cases (4.4%, dyslipidemia at 2 cases (4.4% and lastly 2 cases had carpal tunnel syndrome operation. The mean time between the onset of symptoms to surgery was 6.9 ± 4.8 (range, 2-24 months. Patient satisfaction was very good in 34 cases (75.4% and good in 11 (24.6% patients. The distance between the pulpa of the operated finger and the palm was normal in every case postoperatively. We have not encountered any postoperative complications. We can recommend that; A1 pulley release via open incision is an effective and reliable method in trigger finger surgery.

Trigger Finger

Science.gov (United States)

... in a bent position. People whose work or hobbies require repetitive gripping actions are at higher risk ... developing trigger finger include: Repeated gripping. Occupations and hobbies that involve repetitive hand use and prolonged gripping ...

Unraveling cognitive traits using the Morris water maze unbiased strategy classification (MUST-C) algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Illouz, Tomer; Madar, Ravit; Louzon, Yoram; Griffioen, Kathleen J; Okun, Eitan

2016-02-01

The assessment of spatial cognitive learning in rodents is a central approach in neuroscience, as it enables one to assess and quantify the effects of treatments and genetic manipulations from a broad perspective. Although the Morris water maze (MWM) is a well-validated paradigm for testing spatial learning abilities, manual categorization of performance in the MWM into behavioral strategies is subject to individual interpretation, and thus to biases. Here we offer a support vector machine (SVM) - based, automated, MWM unbiased strategy classification (MUST-C) algorithm, as well as a cognitive score scale. This model was examined and validated by analyzing data obtained from five MWM experiments with changing platform sizes, revealing a limitation in the spatial capacity of the hippocampus. We have further employed this algorithm to extract novel mechanistic insights on the impact of members of the Toll-like receptor pathway on cognitive spatial learning and memory. The MUST-C algorithm can greatly benefit MWM users as it provides a standardized method of strategy classification as well as a cognitive scoring scale, which cannot be derived from typical analysis of MWM data. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Electroacupuncture Treatment Improves Learning-Memory Ability and Brain Glucose Metabolism in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease: Using Morris Water Maze and Micro-PET

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing Jiang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Alzheimer’s disease (AD causes progressive hippocampus dysfunctions leading to the impairment of learning and memory ability and low level of uptake rate of glucose in hippocampus. What is more, there is no effective treatment for AD. In this study, we evaluated the beneficial and protective effects of electroacupuncture in senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8. Method. In the electroacupuncture paradigm, electroacupuncture treatment was performed once a day for 15 days on 7.5-month-old SAMP8 male mice. In the normal control paradigm and AD control group, 7.5-month-old SAMR1 male mice and SAMP8 male mice were grabbed and bandaged while electroacupuncture group therapy, in order to ensure the same treatment conditions, once a day, 15 days. Results. From the Morris water maze (MWM test, we found that the treatment of electroacupuncture can improve the spatial learning and memory ability of SAMP8 mouse, and from the micro-PET test, we proved that after the electroacupuncture treatment the level of uptake rate of glucose in hippocampus was higher than normal control group. Conclusion. These results suggest that the treatment of electroacupuncture may provide a viable treatment option for AD.

Torque Control of Underactuated Tendon-driven Robotic Fingers

Science.gov (United States)

Abdallah, Muhammad E. (Inventor); Ihrke, Chris A. (Inventor); Reiland, Matthew J. (Inventor); Wampler, Charles W. (Inventor); Diftler, Myron A. (Inventor); Platt, Robert (Inventor); Bridgwater, Lyndon (Inventor)

2013-01-01

A robotic system includes a robot having a total number of degrees of freedom (DOF) equal to at least n, an underactuated tendon-driven finger driven by n tendons and n DOF, the finger having at least two joints, being characterized by an asymmetrical joint radius in one embodiment. A controller is in communication with the robot, and controls actuation of the tendon-driven finger using force control. Operating the finger with force control on the tendons, rather than position control, eliminates the unconstrained slack-space that would have otherwise existed. The controller may utilize the asymmetrical joint radii to independently command joint torques. A method of controlling the finger includes commanding either independent or parameterized joint torques to the controller to actuate the fingers via force control on the tendons.

ANALYSIS WITH MSC ADAMS OF A 5-FINGER AND 3-PHALANX /FINGER UNDER-ACTUATEDMECHANICAL HAND

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Gheorghe POPESCU

2013-05-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the analysis with MSC ADAMS of a 5-fingered and 3-phalanx/finger underactuatedmechanical hand, designed by the author to work on industrial robots. Moreover, in order to increasegrasping safety in the automated handling process, the author has fitted each finger with a locking sequence inthe final phase of grasping. Thus, the mechanism of mechanical hand is considered to be a mechanical systemand is treated like a set of rigid bodies connected by mechanical linkages and elastic elements. To model andsimulate this mechanism with MSC ADAMS programme, the author covered the following stages: constructionof the model, testing-simulation, validation, finishing, parameterization, and optimization

Rehabilitation of single finger amputation with customized silicone prosthesis

OpenAIRE

Yadav, Niharika; Chand, Pooran; Jurel, Sunit Kumar

2016-01-01

Finger amputations are common in accidents at home, work, and play. Apart from trauma, congenital disease and deformity also leads to finger amputation. This results in loss of function, loss of sensation as well as loss of body image. Finger prosthesis offers psychological support and social acceptance in such cases. This clinical report describes a method to fabricate ring retained silicone finger prosthesis in a patient with partial finger loss.

Finger prosthesis: a boon to handicapped.

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Ridhima; Kumar, Lakshya; Rao, Jitendra; Singh, Kamleshwar

2013-08-29

This is a clinical case report of a 52-year-old male patient with four partially missing fingers of the left hand. The article describes the clinical and laboratory procedure of making prosthesis with modern silicone material. A wax pattern was fabricated using the right hand of the patient. A special type of wax was formulated to make the pattern so that it can be easily moulded and carved. Intrinsic and extrinsic staining was also performed to match the adjacent skin colour. The patient was given the finger prosthesis and was asked to use a half glove (sports) to mask the junction between the prosthesis and the normal tissue. It also provides additional retention to the artificial fingers. The patient felt his social acceptance improved after wearing the finger prosthesis.

Learning spatial orientation tasks in the radial-maze and structural variation in the hippocampus in inbred mice

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Schwegler Herbert

2005-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract In the present paper we review a series of experiments showing that heritable variations in the size of the hippocampal intra- and infrapyramidal mossy fiber (IIPMF terminal fields correlate with performance in spatial, but not non-spatial radial-maze tasks. Experimental manipulation of the size of this projection by means of early postnatal hyperthyroidism produces the effects predicted from the correlations obtained with inbred mouse strains. Although the physiological mechanisms behind these correlations are unknown as yet, several lines of evidence indicate that these correlations are causal.

Hippocampal activation during the recall of remote spatial memories in radial maze tasks.

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Schlesiger, Magdalene I; Cressey, John C; Boublil, Brittney; Koenig, Julie; Melvin, Neal R; Leutgeb, Jill K; Leutgeb, Stefan

2013-11-01

Temporally graded retrograde amnesia is observed in human patients with medial temporal lobe lesions as well as in animal models of medial temporal lobe lesions. A time-limited role for these structures in memory recall has also been suggested by the observation that the rodent hippocampus and entorhinal cortex are activated during the retrieval of recent but not of remote memories. One notable exception is the recall of remote memories for platform locations in the water maze, which requires an intact hippocampus and results in hippocampal activation irrespective of the age of the memory. These findings raise the question whether the hippocampus is always involved in the recall of spatial memories or, alternatively, whether it might be required for procedural computations in the water maze task, such as for calculating a path to a hidden platform. We performed spatial memory testing in radial maze tasks to distinguish between these possibilities. Radial maze tasks require a choice between spatial locations on a center platform and thus have a lesser requirement for navigation than the water maze. However, we used a behavioral design in the radial maze that retained other aspects of the standard water maze task, such as the use of multiple start locations and retention testing in a single trial. Using the immediate early gene c-fos as a marker for neuronal activation, we found that all hippocampal subregions were more activated during the recall of remote compared to recent spatial memories. In areas CA3 and CA1, activation during remote memory testing was higher than in rats that were merely reexposed to the testing environment after the same time interval. Conversely, Fos levels in the dentate gyrus were increased after retention testing to the extent that was also observed in the corresponding exposure control group. This pattern of hippocampal activation was also obtained in a second version of the task that only used a single start arm instead of multiple

CBM Maze-Scores as Indicators of Reading Level and Growth for Seventh-Grade Students

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Chung, Siuman; Espin, Christine A.; Stevenson, Claire E.

2018-01-01

The technical adequacy of CBM maze-scores as indicators of reading level and growth for seventh-grade secondary-school students was examined. Participants were 452 Dutch students who completed weekly maze measures over a period of 23 weeks. Criterion measures were school level, dyslexia status, scores and growth on a standardized reading test.…

Effect of a water-maze procedure on the redox mechanisms in brain parts of aged rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalia Andreevna Krivova

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The Morris water maze (MWM is a tool for assessment of age-related cognitive deficits. In our work, MWM was used for appraisal of cognitive deficits in 11-month-old rats and investigation of the effect exerted by training in the Morris water maze on the redox mechanisms in rat brain parts. Young adult (3-month-old and aged (11-month-old male rats were trained in the water maze. Intact animals of the corresponding age were used as the reference groups. The level of pro- and antioxidant capacity in brain tissue homogenates was assessed using the chemiluminescence method.Cognitive deficits were found in 11-month-old rats: at the first day of training they showed only 30% of successful MWM trials. However, at the last training day the percentage of successful trials was equal for young adult and aged animals. This indicates that cognitive deficits in aged rats can be reversed by MWM training. Therewith, the MWM spatial learning procedure itself produces changes in different processes of redox homeostasis in 11-month-old and 3-month-old rats as compared to intact animals. Young adult rats showed a decrease in prooxidant capacity in all brain parts, while 11-month-old rats demonstrated an increase in antioxidant capacity in the olfactory bulb, pons + medulla oblongata and frontal lobe cortex. Hence, the MWM procedure activates the mechanisms that restrict the oxidative stress in brain parts. The obtained results may be an argument for further development of the animal training procedures aimed to activate the mechanisms responsible for age-related cognitive deficits. This may be useful not only for the development of training procedures applicable to human patients with age-related cognitive impairments, but also for their rehabilitation.

Influence of Action-Effect Associations Acquired by Ideomotor Learning on Imitation

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Bunlon, Frédérique; Marshall, Peter J.; Quandt, Lorna C.; Bouquet, Cedric A.

2015-01-01

According to the ideomotor theory, actions are represented in terms of their perceptual effects, offering a solution for the correspondence problem of imitation (how to translate the observed action into a corresponding motor output). This effect-based coding of action is assumed to be acquired through action-effect learning. Accordingly, performing an action leads to the integration of the perceptual codes of the action effects with the motor commands that brought them about. While ideomotor theory is invoked to account for imitation, the influence of action-effect learning on imitative behavior remains unexplored. In two experiments, imitative performance was measured in a reaction time task following a phase of action-effect acquisition. During action-effect acquisition, participants freely executed a finger movement (index or little finger lifting), and then observed a similar (compatible learning) or a different (incompatible learning) movement. In Experiment 1, finger movements of left and right hands were presented as action-effects during acquisition. In Experiment 2, only right-hand finger movements were presented during action-effect acquisition and in the imitation task the observed hands were oriented orthogonally to participants’ hands in order to avoid spatial congruency effects. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that imitative performance was improved after compatible learning, compared to incompatible learning. In Experiment 2, although action-effect learning involved perception of finger movements of right hand only, imitative capabilities of right- and left-hand finger movements were equally affected. These results indicate that an observed movement stimulus processed as the effect of an action can later prime execution of that action, confirming the ideomotor approach to imitation. We further discuss these findings in relation to previous studies of action-effect learning and in the framework of current ideomotor approaches to imitation. PMID:25793755

Extrinsic versus intrinsic hand muscle dominance in finger flexion.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Sukaini, A; Singh, H P; Dias, J J

2016-05-01

This study aims to identify the patterns of dominance of extrinsic or intrinsic muscles in finger flexion during initiation of finger curl and mid-finger flexion. We recorded 82 hands of healthy individuals (18-74 years) while flexing their fingers and tracked the finger joint angles of the little finger using video motion tracking. A total of 57 hands (69.5%) were classified as extrinsic dominant, where the finger flexion was initiated and maintained at proximal interphalangeal and distal interphalangeal joints. A total of 25 (30.5%) were classified as intrinsic dominant, where the finger flexion was initiated and maintained at the metacarpophalangeal joint. The distribution of age, sex, dominance, handedness and body mass index was similar in the two groups. This knowledge may allow clinicians to develop more efficient rehabilitation regimes, since intrinsic dominant individuals would not initiate extrinsic muscle contraction till later in finger flexion, and might therefore be allowed limited early active motion. For extrinsic dominant individuals, by contrast, initial contraction of extrinsic muscles would place increased stress on the tendon repair site if early motion were permitted. © The Author(s) 2016.

Elastic fingering in rotating Hele-Shaw flows

KAUST Repository

Carvalho, Gabriel D.; Gadê lha, Hermes; Miranda, José A.

2014-01-01

The centrifugally driven viscous fingering problem arises when two immiscible fluids of different densities flow in a rotating Hele-Shaw cell. In this conventional setting an interplay between capillary and centrifugal forces makes the fluid-fluid interface unstable, leading to the formation of fingered structures that compete dynamically and reach different lengths. In this context, it is known that finger competition is very sensitive to changes in the viscosity contrast between the fluids. We study a variant of such a rotating flow problem where the fluids react and produce a gellike phase at their separating boundary. This interface is assumed to be elastic, presenting a curvature-dependent bending rigidity. A perturbative weakly nonlinear approach is used to investigate how the elastic nature of the interface affects finger competition events. Our results unveil a very different dynamic scenario, in which finger length variability is not regulated by the viscosity contrast, but rather determined by two controlling quantities: a characteristic radius and a rigidity fraction parameter. By properly tuning these quantities one can describe a whole range of finger competition behaviors even if the viscosity contrast is kept unchanged. © 2014 American Physical Society.

Elastic fingering in rotating Hele-Shaw flows

KAUST Repository

Carvalho, Gabriel D.

2014-05-21

The centrifugally driven viscous fingering problem arises when two immiscible fluids of different densities flow in a rotating Hele-Shaw cell. In this conventional setting an interplay between capillary and centrifugal forces makes the fluid-fluid interface unstable, leading to the formation of fingered structures that compete dynamically and reach different lengths. In this context, it is known that finger competition is very sensitive to changes in the viscosity contrast between the fluids. We study a variant of such a rotating flow problem where the fluids react and produce a gellike phase at their separating boundary. This interface is assumed to be elastic, presenting a curvature-dependent bending rigidity. A perturbative weakly nonlinear approach is used to investigate how the elastic nature of the interface affects finger competition events. Our results unveil a very different dynamic scenario, in which finger length variability is not regulated by the viscosity contrast, but rather determined by two controlling quantities: a characteristic radius and a rigidity fraction parameter. By properly tuning these quantities one can describe a whole range of finger competition behaviors even if the viscosity contrast is kept unchanged. © 2014 American Physical Society.

The effect of a paraffin screen on the neutron dose at the maze door of a 15 MV linear accelerator.

Science.gov (United States)

Krmar, M; Nikolić, D; Kuzmanović, A; Kuzmanović, Z; Ganezer, K

2013-08-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of a paraffin screen located at various positions in the maze on the neutron dose equivalent at the maze door. The neutron dose equivalent was measured at the maze door of a room containing a 15 MV linear accelerator for x-ray therapy. Measurements were performed for several positions of the paraffin screen covering only 27.5% of the cross-sectional area of the maze. The neutron dose equivalent was also measured at all screen positions. Two simple models of the neutron source were considered in which the first assumed that the source was the cross-sectional area at the inner entrance of the maze, radiating neutrons in an isotropic manner. In the second model the reduction in the neutron dose equivalent at the maze door due to the paraffin screen was considered to be a function of the mean values of the neutron fluence and energy at the screen. The results of this study indicate that the equivalent dose at the maze door was reduced by a factor of 3 through the use of a paraffin screen that was placed inside the maze. It was also determined that the contributions to the dosage from areas that were not covered by the paraffin screen as viewed from the dosimeter, were 2.5 times higher than the contributions from the covered areas. This study also concluded that the contributions of the maze walls, ceiling, and floor to the total neutron dose equivalent were an order of magnitude lower than those from the surface at the far end of the maze. This study demonstrated that a paraffin screen could be used to reduce the neutron dose equivalent at the maze door by a factor of 3. This paper also found that the reduction of the neutron dose equivalent was a linear function of the area covered by the maze screen and that the decrease in the dose at the maze door could be modeled as an exponential function of the product φ·E at the screen.

Finger impedance evaluation by means of hand exoskeleton.

Science.gov (United States)

Fiorilla, Angelo Emanuele; Nori, Francesco; Masia, Lorenzo; Sandini, Giulio

2011-12-01

Modulation of arm mechanical impedance is a fundamental aspect for interaction with the external environment and its regulation is essential for stability preservation during manipulation. Even though past research on human arm movements has suggested that models of human finger impedance would benefit the study of neural control mechanisms and the design of novel hand prostheses, relatively few studies have focused on finger and hand impedance. This article touches on the two main aspects of this research topic: first it introduces a mechanical refinement of a device that can be used to effectively measure finger impedance during manipulation tasks; then, it describes a pilot study aimed at identifying the inertia of the finger and the viscous and elastic properties of finger muscles. The proposed wearable exoskeleton, which has been designed to measure finger posture and impedance modulation while leaving the palm free, is capable of applying fast displacements while monitoring the interaction forces between the human finger and the robotic links. Moreover, due to the relatively small inertia of the fingers, it allows us to meet some stringent specifications, performing relatively large displacements (~45°) before the stretch reflex intervenes (~25 ms). The results of measurements on five subjects show that inertia, damping, and stiffness can be effectively identified and that the parameters obtained are comparable with values from previous studies.

Number magnitude to finger mapping is disembodied and topological.

Science.gov (United States)

Plaisier, Myrthe A; Smeets, Jeroen B J

2011-03-01

It has been shown that humans associate fingers with numbers because finger counting strategies interact with numerical judgements. At the same time, there is evidence that there is a relation between number magnitude and space as small to large numbers seem to be represented from left to right. In the present study, we investigated whether number magnitude to finger mapping is embodied (related to the order of fingers on the hand) or disembodied (spatial). We let healthy human volunteers name random numbers between 1 and 30, while simultaneously tapping a random finger. Either the hands were placed directly next to each other, 30 cm apart, or the hands were crossed such that the left hand was on the right side of the body mid-line. The results show that naming a smaller number than the previous one was associated with tapping a finger to the left of the previously tapped finger. This shows that there is a spatial (disembodied) mapping between number magnitude and fingers. Furthermore, we show that this mapping is topological rather than metrically scaled.

Generating and analyzing synthetic finger vein images

OpenAIRE

Hillerström, Fieke; Kumar, Ajay; Veldhuis, Raymond N.J.

2014-01-01

Abstract: The finger-vein biometric offers higher degree of security, personal privacy and strong anti-spoofing capabilities than most other biometric modalities employed today. Emerging privacy concerns with the database acquisition and lack of availability of large scale finger-vein database have posed challenges in exploring this technology for large scale applications. This paper details the first such attempt to synthesize finger-vein images and presents analysis of synthesized images fo...

Dorsal finger texture recognition: Investigating fixed-length SURF

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hartung, Daniel; Kückelhahn, Jesper

2012-01-01

We seek to create fixed-length features from dorsal finger skin images extracted by the SURF interest point detector to combine it in the privacy enhancing helper data scheme. The source of the biometric samples is the GUC45 database which features finger vein, fingerprint and dorsal finger skin...

Contributions of Medial Temporal Lobe and Striatal Memory Systems to Learning and Retrieving Overlapping Spatial Memories

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Thackery I.; Stern, Chantal E.

2014-01-01

Many life experiences share information with other memories. In order to make decisions based on overlapping memories, we need to distinguish between experiences to determine the appropriate behavior for the current situation. Previous work suggests that the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and medial caudate interact to support the retrieval of overlapping navigational memories in different contexts. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in humans to test the prediction that the MTL and medial caudate play complementary roles in learning novel mazes that cross paths with, and must be distinguished from, previously learned routes. During fMRI scanning, participants navigated virtual routes that were well learned from prior training while also learning new mazes. Critically, some routes learned during scanning shared hallways with those learned during pre-scan training. Overlap between mazes required participants to use contextual cues to select between alternative behaviors. Results demonstrated parahippocampal cortex activity specific for novel spatial cues that distinguish between overlapping routes. The hippocampus and medial caudate were active for learning overlapping spatial memories, and increased their activity for previously learned routes when they became context dependent. Our findings provide novel evidence that the MTL and medial caudate play complementary roles in the learning, updating, and execution of context-dependent navigational behaviors. PMID:23448868

Development of locomotor activity of rat pups in figure-eight mazes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruppert, P H; Dean, K F; Reiter, L W

1985-05-01

In a series of four experiments, social and experiential factors that influence the development of motor activity in rat pups were examined. Motor activity was monitored from postnatal Days 13 to 21 as photocell interruptions in figure-eight mazes and comparisons were made between pups maintained in a nest box containing a dam and siblings and allowed access to the maze for 23 hr/day, pups tested daily for 1 hr/day vs pups tested only on postnatal Days 15, 18, or 21, pups tested daily for either 5 min, 30 min, or 1 hr/day, and pups tested daily for 30 min/day either singly in a maze, paired with a littermate, or paired with an anesthetized pup of the same age. A monotonic increase in activity was seen for nest-box testing, minimal developmental change was seen for pups tested on only a single day or for pups tested with an anesthetized pup, whereas all other groups showed an inverted U-shaped profile of activity which was influenced by the duration of testing and/or the presence of a littermate. These data emphasize the relevance of environmental factors as determinants of preweaning behavior.

Quantitative assessment of finger motor performance: Normative data.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessio Signori

Full Text Available Finger opposition movements are the basis of many daily living activities and are essential in general for manipulating objects; an engineered glove quantitatively assessing motor performance during sequences of finger opposition movements has been shown to be useful to provide reliable measures of finger motor impairment, even subtle, in subjects affected by neurological diseases. However, the obtained behavioral parameters lack published reference values.To determine mean values for different motor behavioral parameters describing the strategy adopted by healthy people in performing repeated sequences of finger opposition movements, examining associations with gender and age.Normative values for finger motor performance parameters were obtained on a sample of 255 healthy volunteers executing sequences of finger-to-thumb opposition movements, stratified by gender and over a wide range of ages. Touch duration, inter-tapping interval, movement rate, correct sequences (%, movements in advance compared with a metronome (% and inter-hand interval were assessed.Increasing age resulted in decreased movement speed, advance movements with respect to a cue, correctness of sequences, and bimanual coordination. No significant performance differences were found between male and female subjects except for the duration of the finger touch, the interval between two successive touches and their ratio.We report age- and gender-specific normal mean values and ranges for different parameters objectively describing the performance of finger opposition movement sequences, which may serve as useful references for clinicians to identify possible deficits in subjects affected by diseases altering fine hand motor skills.

A genetic algorithm for optimization of neural network capable of learning to search for food in a maze

Science.gov (United States)

Budilova, E. V.; Terekhin, A. T.; Chepurnov, S. A.

1994-09-01

A hypothetical neural scheme is proposed that ensures efficient decision making by an animal searching for food in a maze. Only the general structure of the network is fixed; its quantitative characteristics are found by numerical optimization that simulates the process of natural selection. Selection is aimed at maximization of the expected number of descendants, which is directly related to the energy stored during the reproductive cycle. The main parameters to be optimized are the increments of the interneuronal links and the working-memory constants.

On the tenth value distance of the photon field along the maze of high-energy linear accelerator vaults.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Zhaohui; Chin, Lee M

2018-03-01

There is a wide range in the reported photon tenth value distance (TVD) in the maze of high-energy linear accelerator vaults. In order to gain insight into the appropriate use of the TVD value during door design, we performed measurements of the photon dose in the maze of four vaults. In addition, our study represents the first to describe a scenario where an inner borated polyethylene (BPE) door for neutron shielding is installed in the maze downstream to Point A, the point on the maze centerline that is just visible from the isocenter. The measurements were made along the maze centerline at 1 m above the floor. In all cases, the accelerator operated at a nominal energy of 15 MV. Of the four vaults, three were equipped with an inner BPE door at a distance of 1.0-2.1 m downstream to Point A. The door was made of 10.16 cm (4″) BPE sandwiched between two 0.635 cm (1/4″) steel face plates. The photon dose in the maze without a BPE door decreases exponentially with a characteristic TVD of 6 m beyond a distance of 2.5 m from Point A. The presence of a BPE door in an identical vault not only reduces the photon intensity in the maze by about an order of magnitude, but also softens the energy spectrum with a shortened TVD of 4.7 m, significantly lessening the shielding burden at the outer maze entrance. In contrast to the common use of Point A as the reference point to specify distance, the photon dose in the maze with a BPE door located downstream to Point A can be satisfactorily described as exponential functions of the distance measured from the door, which shows good consistency among the three vaults of different room parameters. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Robust finger vein ROI localization based on flexible segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Yu; Xie, Shan Juan; Yoon, Sook; Yang, Jucheng; Park, Dong Sun

2013-10-24

Finger veins have been proved to be an effective biometric for personal identification in the recent years. However, finger vein images are easily affected by influences such as image translation, orientation, scale, scattering, finger structure, complicated background, uneven illumination, and collection posture. All these factors may contribute to inaccurate region of interest (ROI) definition, and so degrade the performance of finger vein identification system. To improve this problem, in this paper, we propose a finger vein ROI localization method that has high effectiveness and robustness against the above factors. The proposed method consists of a set of steps to localize ROIs accurately, namely segmentation, orientation correction, and ROI detection. Accurate finger region segmentation and correct calculated orientation can support each other to produce higher accuracy in localizing ROIs. Extensive experiments have been performed on the finger vein image database, MMCBNU_6000, to verify the robustness of the proposed method. The proposed method shows the segmentation accuracy of 100%. Furthermore, the average processing time of the proposed method is 22 ms for an acquired image, which satisfies the criterion of a real-time finger vein identification system.

Robust Finger Vein ROI Localization Based on Flexible Segmentation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dong Sun Park

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Finger veins have been proved to be an effective biometric for personal identification in the recent years. However, finger vein images are easily affected by influences such as image translation, orientation, scale, scattering, finger structure, complicated background, uneven illumination, and collection posture. All these factors may contribute to inaccurate region of interest (ROI definition, and so degrade the performance of finger vein identification system. To improve this problem, in this paper, we propose a finger vein ROI localization method that has high effectiveness and robustness against the above factors. The proposed method consists of a set of steps to localize ROIs accurately, namely segmentation, orientation correction, and ROI detection. Accurate finger region segmentation and correct calculated orientation can support each other to produce higher accuracy in localizing ROIs. Extensive experiments have been performed on the finger vein image database, MMCBNU_6000, to verify the robustness of the proposed method. The proposed method shows the segmentation accuracy of 100%. Furthermore, the average processing time of the proposed method is 22 ms for an acquired image, which satisfies the criterion of a real-time finger vein identification system.

Finger vein extraction using gradient normalization and principal curvature

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Joon Hwan; Song, Wonseok; Kim, Taejeong; Lee, Seung-Rae; Kim, Hee Chan

2009-02-01

Finger vein authentication is a personal identification technology using finger vein images acquired by infrared imaging. It is one of the newest technologies in biometrics. Its main advantage over other biometrics is the low risk of forgery or theft, due to the fact that finger veins are not normally visible to others. Extracting finger vein patterns from infrared images is the most difficult part in finger vein authentication. Uneven illumination, varying tissues and bones, and changes in the physical conditions and the blood flow make the thickness and brightness of the same vein different in each acquisition. Accordingly, extracting finger veins at their accurate positions regardless of their thickness and brightness is necessary for accurate personal identification. For this purpose, we propose a new finger vein extraction method which is composed of gradient normalization, principal curvature calculation, and binarization. As local brightness variation has little effect on the curvature and as gradient normalization makes the curvature fairly uniform at vein pixels, our method effectively extracts finger vein patterns regardless of the vein thickness or brightness. In our experiment, the proposed method showed notable improvement as compared with the existing methods.

Robust Finger Vein ROI Localization Based on Flexible Segmentation

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Yu; Xie, Shan Juan; Yoon, Sook; Yang, Jucheng; Park, Dong Sun

2013-01-01

Finger veins have been proved to be an effective biometric for personal identification in the recent years. However, finger vein images are easily affected by influences such as image translation, orientation, scale, scattering, finger structure, complicated background, uneven illumination, and collection posture. All these factors may contribute to inaccurate region of interest (ROI) definition, and so degrade the performance of finger vein identification system. To improve this problem, in this paper, we propose a finger vein ROI localization method that has high effectiveness and robustness against the above factors. The proposed method consists of a set of steps to localize ROIs accurately, namely segmentation, orientation correction, and ROI detection. Accurate finger region segmentation and correct calculated orientation can support each other to produce higher accuracy in localizing ROIs. Extensive experiments have been performed on the finger vein image database, MMCBNU_6000, to verify the robustness of the proposed method. The proposed method shows the segmentation accuracy of 100%. Furthermore, the average processing time of the proposed method is 22 ms for an acquired image, which satisfies the criterion of a real-time finger vein identification system. PMID:24284769

Maze solving algorithm and its programs using Z-80 assembler language for a robot

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Takeno, J; Mukaidono, M

1982-01-01

In the first part the formation of a maze problem is introduced and the outline of this algorithm to solve a maze is explained in the second part. The third part describes the detail of this program, and the final part shows the program which has been developed using Z-80 assembler language. This program has portability for other robots using Z-80 microprocessors. 7 references.

Number to finger mapping is topological.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Plaisier, M.A.; Smeets, J.B.J.

2011-01-01

It has been shown that humans associate fingers with numbers because finger counting strategies interact with numerical judgements. At the same time, there is evidence that there is a relation between number magnitude and space as small to large numbers seem to be represented from left to right. In

Polytopic dystelephalangy of the fingers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sugiura, Y.

1989-01-01

An 11-year old girl with dystelephalangy (Kirner deformity) of the right middle, ring, and little, and the left index through little fingers is reported. To the author's best knowledge, such polytopic affection with dystelephalangy has not yet been reported. The parents, one of the siblings and maternal grandfather showed dystelephalangy of the little finger. So, the patient was considered to be a homozygous state of dystelephalangy gene. (orig.)

Hybrid-Actuated Finger Prosthesis with Tactile Sensing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng Yee Low

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Finger prostheses are devices developed to emulate the functionality of natural human fingers. On top of their aesthetic appearance in terms of shape, size and colour, such biomimetic devices require a high level of dexterity. They must be capable of gripping an object, and even manipulating it in the hand. This paper presents a biomimetic robotic finger actuated by a hybrid mechanism and integrated with a tactile sensor. The hybrid actuation mechanism comprises a DC micromotor and a Shape Memory Alloy (SMA wire. A customized test rig has been developed to measure the force and stroke produced by the SMA wire. In parallel with the actuator development, experimental investigations have been conducted on Quantum Tunnelling Composite (QTC and Pressure Conductive Rubber (PCR towards the development of a tactile sensor for the finger. The viability of using these materials for tactile sensing has been determined. Such a hybrid actuation approach aided with tactile sensing capability enables a finger design as an integral part of a prosthetic hand for applications up to the transradial amputation level.

The role of fingers in number processing in young children.

Science.gov (United States)

Lafay, Anne; Thevenot, Catherine; Castel, Caroline; Fayol, Michel

2013-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between finger counting and numerical processing in 4-7-year-old children. Children were assessed on a variety of numerical tasks and we examined the correlations between their rates of success and their frequency of finger use in a counting task. We showed that children's performance on finger pattern comparison and identification tasks did not correlate with the frequency of finger use. However, this last variable correlated with the percentages of correct responses in an enumeration task (i.e., Give-N task), even when the age of children was entered as a covariate in the analysis. Despite this correlation, we showed that some children who never used their fingers in the counting task were able to perform optimally in the enumeration task. Overall, our results support the conclusion that finger counting is useful but not necessary to develop accurate symbolic numerical skills. Moreover, our results suggest that the use of fingers in a counting task is related to the ability of children in a dynamic enumeration task but not to static tasks involving recognition or comparison of finger patterns. Therefore, it could be that the link between fingers and numbers remain circumscribed to counting tasks and do not extent to static finger montring situations.

Little and often? Maintaining continued performance in an automated T-maze for mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaskill, Brianna N; Lucas, Jeffrey R; Pajor, Edmond A; Garner, Joseph P

2011-02-01

Operant and maze tasks in mice are limited by the small number of trials possible in a session before mice lose motivation. We hypothesized that by manipulating reward size and session length, motivation, and hence performance, would be maintained in an automated T-maze. We predicted that larger rewards and shorter sessions would improve acquisition; and smaller rewards and shorter sessions would maintain higher and less variable performance. Eighteen C57BL/6J mice (9 per sex) acquired (criterion 8/10 correct) and performed a spatial discrimination, with one of 3 reward sizes (.02, .04, or .08 g) and one of 3 session schedules (15, 30, or 45 min sessions). Each mouse had a total of 360 min of access to the maze per night, for two nights, and averaged 190 trials. Analysis used split-plot GLM with contrasts testing for linear effects. Acquisition of the discrimination was unaffected by reward size or session length/interval. After-criterion average performance improved as reward size decreased. After-criterion variability in performance was also affected. Variability increased as reward size increased. Session length/interval did not affect any outcome. We conclude that an automated maze, with suitable reward sizes, can sustain performance with low variability, at 5-10 times faster than traditional methods. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Automatic measurement of special leaning characteristics in mice during the water Morris maze test with inverted light].

Science.gov (United States)

Khotskin, N V; Fursenko, D V; Bazovkina, D V; Kulikov, V A; Kulikov, A V

2014-01-01

The description of the installation with inverted light is given as well as its software EthoStudio, which allows tracking the movements of any color animal in the water Morris maze (WMM) in high definition. The installation is based on the transmitted light technology (inverted light). The software gives possibility to estimate a wide range of learning indices. We have studied the statistic properties of three most widespread indices: latent time of platform finding, covered distance and the sum of distances to the center of the platform. The covered distance has shown the best statistic characteristics if compared to two other indices. The influence of polymorphism C1473G in the gene of the key serotonin synthesis enzyme, tryptophan hydroxylase 2, on the learning abilities of mice in WMM has been studied. Mice of the unique congenic lines B6-1473C and B6-12473G that differ by the polymorphic alleles C1473G have not demonstrated the association between the ability to learn and the genetically determined activity of tryptophan hydroxylase 2 in the brain.

Blood pressure measurement of all five fingers by strain gauge plethysmography

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hirai, M; Nielsen, S L; Lassen, N A

1976-01-01

of the other fingers was measured using a 24-mm-wide cuff. Blood pressure at the proximal phalanx was higher than that at the intermediate phalanx in all fingers except finger V. The difference of blood pressure values corresponded well with circumference of the finger. In 15 normal subjects, blood pressure...... at the proximal phalanx was compared in fingers I, III, IV, and V, using 16, 20, 24 and 24 mm wide cuffs. Finger blood pressure was closest to arm systolic blood pressure when a 24-mm or 27-mm-wide cuff was used in fingers I, III, and IV, and with a 20-mm-wide cuff in finger V. As the standard deviation......The aim of the present paper was to study the methodological problems involved in measuring systolic blood pressure in all five fingers by the strain gauge technique. In 24 normal subjects, blood pressure at the proximal phalanx of finger I and both at the proximal and the intermediate phalanx...

Cognitively-Impaired-Not-Demented Status Moderates the Time-Varying Association between Finger Tapping Inconsistency and Executive Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Halliday, Drew W R; Stawski, Robert S; MacDonald, Stuart W S

2017-02-01

Response time inconsistency (RTI) in cognitive performance predicts deleterious health outcomes in late-life; however, RTI estimates are often confounded by additional influences (e.g., individual differences in learning). Finger tapping is a basic sensorimotor measure largely independent of higher-order cognition that may circumvent such confounds of RTI estimates. We examined the within-person coupling of finger-tapping mean and RTI on working memory, and the moderation of these associations by cognitive status. A total of 262 older adults were recruited and classified as controls, cognitively-impaired-not-demented (CIND) unstable or CIND stable. Participants completed finger-tapping and working-memory tasks during multiple weekly assessments, repeated annually for 4 years. Within-person coupling estimates from multilevel models indicated that on occasions when RTI was greater, working-memory response latency was slower for the CIND-stable, but not for the CIND-unstable or control individuals. The finger-tapping task shows potential for minimizing confounds on RTI estimates, and for yielding RTI estimates sensitive to central nervous system function and cognitive status. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Effect of Different Attentional Focus Instructions during Finger Movement Tasks in Healthy Subjects: An Exploratory Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giacomo Rossettini

2017-01-01

Full Text Available External focus of attention (EFA and internal focus of attention (IFA represent commonly used strategies to instruct subjects during exercise. Several studies showed EFA to be more effective than IFA to improve motor performance and learning. To date the role of these strategies on motor performance during finger movement was less studied. The objective of the study was to investigate motor performance, patient’s preference induced by IFA and EFA, and the focus during control condition. Ten healthy right-handed participants performed a finger movement task in control, EFA, and IFA conditions (counterbalanced. Errors, patient’s preference, and type of attentional focus spontaneously adopted during the control condition were recorded. EFA determined less error (p<0.01 compared to control and IFA. Participants preferred EFA against IFA and control condition. In the control group 10% of subjects adopted a purely EFA, 70% of subjects adopted a purely IFA, and 20% of subjects adopted a mixture of the two foci. Our results confirm that EFA is more effective than IFA and control in finger movement task. Due its clinical relevance, the interaction between attention and finger movement should be further investigated.

Application of autoradiography in finger print analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stverak, B.; Kopejtko, J.; Simek, J.

1983-01-01

In order to broaden the possibilities of developing latent finger prints a tracer technique has been developed using sup(110m)Ag and autoradiographic imaging. This method has been tested on glass, paper and certain plastics. On paper it is possible to visualize finger prints even after previous development using Ninhydrin. It is shown that usable finger prints may be obtained also from materials from which they cannot be obtained using classical methods, e.g., polyethylene and simulated leather. (author)

Effect of lead exposure on spatial learning and running speed in the short-tailed opossum, Monodelphis domestica (Didelphidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Punzo, F; Farmer, C

2004-01-01

Studies were conducted to assess the spatial learning ability in adult males of the short-tailed opossum, Monodelphis domestica using a T-maze, complex maze and elevated radial 8-arm maze. This is the first study of maze learning in opossums. In the T-maze, the performance of these animals improved over an 8-day training period. Eighty percent of the subjects initially trained to turn to the right for food reinforcement reached criterion (80% correct responses) by day 3 and all reached criterion by day 4. Reversal training (subjects then trained to turn to the left) was more difficult and required 8 days for all subjects to reach criterion. In the complex maze, 89% of the animals achieved the criterion level of performance (3 consecutive trials with 5 or fewer errors) on the eighth day of training and all reached criterion by day 10. The relative importance of intramaze vs. extramaze cues in directing choice behavior was investigated in the radial arm maze. A discrimination procedure was used which selectively rewarded subjects for following only one set of cues. Animals in the intramaze group obtained a food pellet from a cup at the end of each arm. In the extramaze group, the food cups were placed on a small platform just beyond the end of each arm. All subjects were initially trained to visit each arm with the maze in a fixed position (controls) and did so within 15 test sessions. Following these initial trials, the maze was rotated to a different position after each choice. For subjects in the intramaze group, the food moved in conjunction with the rotation of the arms thereby increasing the relevance of intramaze cues. In the extramaze group, extramaze cues became more important because the food remained on the platforms in the same position in the room. Animals in the extramaze group performed significantly better than chance whereas the intramaze subjects did not. This indicates that intramaze cues are not as important as extramaze cues for accurate choice

The influence of intrinsic sympathomimetic activity and beta-1 receptor selectivity on the recovery of finger skin temperature after finger cooling in normotensive subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Lenders, J W; Salemans, J; de Boo, T; Lemmens, W A; Thien, T; van't Laar, A

1986-03-01

A double-blind randomized study was designed to investigate differences in the recovery of finger skin temperature after finger cooling during dosing with placebo or one of four beta-blockers: propranolol, atenolol, pindolol, and acebutolol. In 11 normotensive nonsmoking subjects, finger skin temperature was measured with a thermocouple before and 20 minutes after immersion of one hand in a water bath at 16 degrees C. This finger cooling test caused no significant changes in systemic hemodynamics such as arterial blood pressure, heart rate, and forearm blood flow. The recovery of finger skin temperature during propranolol dosing was better than that during pindolol and atenolol dosing. There were no differences between the recoveries of skin temperature during pindolol, atenolol, and acebutolol dosing. Thus we could demonstrate no favorable effect of intrinsic sympathomimetic activity or beta 1-selectivity on the recovery of finger skin temperature after finger cooling.

Mixing methods, tasting fingers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mann, Anna; Mol, Annemarie; Satalkar, Priya

2011-01-01

This article reports on an ethnographic experiment. Four finger eating experts and three novices sat down for a hot meal and ate with their hands. Drawing on the technique of playing with the familiar and the strange, our aim was not to explain our responses, but to articulate them. As we seek...... words to do so, we are compelled to stretch the verb "to taste." Tasting, or so our ethnographic experiment suggests, need not be understood as an activity confined to the tongue. Instead, if given a chance, it may viscously spread out to the fingers and come to include appreciative reactions otherwise...

The role of fingers in number processing in young children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne eLafay

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between finger counting and numerical processing in 4- to 7-year-old children. Children were assessed on a variety of numerical tasks and we examined the correlations between their rates of success and their frequency of finger use in a counting task. We showed that children’s performance on finger pattern comparison and identification tasks did not correlate with the frequency of finger use. However, this last variable correlated with the percentages of correct responses in an enumeration task (i.e., Give-N task, even when the age of children was entered as a covariate in the analysis. Despite this correlation, we showed that some children who never used their fingers in the counting task were able to perform optimally in the enumeration task. Overall, our results support the conclusion that finger counting is useful but not necessary to develop accurate symbolic numerical skills. Moreover, our results suggest that the use of fingers in a counting task is related to the ability of children in a dynamic enumeration task but not to static tasks involving recognition or comparison of finger patterns. Therefore, it could be that the link between fingers and numbers remain circumscribed to counting tasks and do not extent to static finger montring situations.

Radiation protection of cyclotron vault with maze in PET Cyclotron Center

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fueloep, Marko

2003-01-01

The PET Cyclotron center (PCC) is a complex for production, research and application of positron radiopharmaceuticals for PET (Positron Emission Tomography), which was commissioned this year (2004) in Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Positron radionuclides are produced by 18/9 MeV proton/deuteron cyclotron CYCLONE 18/9. Radiation protection of personnel and inhabitants against ionizing radiation in the PCC is solved with regard to the ICRP recommendations and Slovak regulatory system, protection rules and criteria and optimization of radiation protection. In the article comparisons of calculated and measured neutron and gamma dose equivalent rates around the CYCLONE 18/9 and at various points behind the shielding of cyclotron vault with maze are presented. Description of the CYCLONE 18/9 as a source of angular distribution of neutron energy spectra (production of 18 F was considered) was simulated by Monte Carlo code MCNPX. Code MCNP4B was used for shielding calculation of cyclotron vault with maze. Neutron energy spectra behind the shielding were measured by Bonner spectrometer. The values of neutron dose equivalent, which were calculated and measured around the CYCLONE 18/9 and at various points behind the shielding of cyclotron vault with maze, are within the range of factor 2. (authors)

Development of a CPM Machine for Injured Fingers.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Yili; Zhang, Fuxiang; Ma, Xin; Meng, Qinggang

2005-01-01

Human fingers are easy to be injured. A CPM machine is a mechanism based on the rehabilitation theory of continuous passive motion (CPM). To develop a CPM machine for the clinic application in the rehabilitation of injured fingers is a significant task. Therefore, based on the theories of evidence based medicine (EBM) and CPM, we've developed a set of biomimetic mechanism after modeling the motions of fingers and analyzing its kinematics and dynamics analysis. We also design an embedded operating system based on ARM (a kind of 32-bit RISC microprocessor). The equipment can achieve the precise control of moving scope of fingers, finger's force and speed. It can serves as a rational checking method and a way of assessment for functional rehabilitation of human hands. Now, the first prototype has been finished and will start the clinical testing in Harbin Medical University shortly.

Visuospatial working memory training facilitates visually-aided explicit sequence learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, John S Y; Wu, Qiaofeng; Liang, Danxia; Yan, Jin H

2015-10-01

Finger sequence learning requires visuospatial working memory (WM). However, the dynamics between age, WM training, and motor skill acquisition are unclear. Therefore, we examined how visuospatial WM training improves finger movement sequential accuracy in younger (n=26, 21.1±1.37years) and older adults (n=22, 70.6±4.01years). After performing a finger sequence learning exercise and numerical and spatial WM tasks, participants in each age group were randomly assigned to either the experimental (EX) or control (CO) groups. For one hour daily over a 10-day period, the EX group practiced an adaptive n-back spatial task while those in the CO group practiced a non-adaptive version. As a result of WM practice, the EX participants increased their accuracy in the spatial n-back tasks, while accuracy remained unimproved in the numerical n-back tasks. In all groups, reaction times (RT) became shorter in most numerical and spatial n-back tasks. The learners in the EX group - but not in the CO group - showed improvements in their retention of finger sequences. The findings support our hypothesis that computerized visuospatial WM training improves finger sequence learning both in younger and in older adults. We discuss the theoretical implications and clinical relevance of this research for motor learning and functional rehabilitation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic aspects of vibration-induced white finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Olsen, Niels

2002-01-01

Vibration-induced white finger (VWF) is a secondary type of Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) caused by exposure to hand-arm vibration. The present review concerns the cold-provoked attack of RP in vasospastic VWF. It concentrates on the most common clinical and laboratory methods used to diagnose RP in vibration-exposed subjects. Some physiological aspects of the attack of RP are mentioned to elucidate the diagnostic principles of the tests. Anamnestic diagnostics by medical interviews and questionnaires as well as cold-provocation tests with detection of finger colour, finger systolic blood pressure (FSP), recovery time of finger skin temperature and recovery time of normal nail colour after nail compression are mentioned. The discriminative capacity and the reproducibility of the tests are discussed. Cold-provocation tests with detection of finger colour or zero FSP during cooling are recommended to be used if an attack of RP has to be registered for diagnostic or medico-legal purposes in individual cases. An abnormal reduction in FSP during cooling makes a history of RP very probable and is a suitable laboratory test for groups of subjects. Both recovery tests may be useful screening tests in field studies of vibration-exposed subject groups.

A microelectrostatic repulsive-torque rotation actuator with two-width fingers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fan, Chao; He, Siyuan

2015-01-01

A microelectrostatic repulsive-torque rotation actuator with two-width fingers is presented. The actuator consists of finger-shaped electrodes and is made of two thin film layers, i.e. one movable layer and one fixed layer. There are two types of finger electrodes, namely constant-width and two-width fingers. The two-width finger has a narrow lower segment and a wide top segment. The constant-width finger has only the narrow lower segment. Each rotation finger has its corresponding aligned and unaligned fixed fingers. The electrostatic repulsive torque is generated and acts on the rotation fingers to rotate them up and away from the substrate. As a result, rotation is not limited by the gap between the movable and fixed layers and the ‘pull-in’ instability is avoided. Thus a large out-of-plane rotation and high operational stability can be achieved. The actuator is suitable for two-layer surface micromachining. The model of the actuator is developed. Prototypes are fabricated and tested. The experimental tests show that the actuator achieved a mechanical rotation of 7.65° at a driving voltage of 150 V. The settling time for a mechanical rotation of 5° is 5.7 ms. (paper)

Acute stress switches spatial navigation strategy from egocentric to allocentric in a virtual Morris water maze.

Science.gov (United States)

van Gerven, Dustin J H; Ferguson, Thomas; Skelton, Ronald W

2016-07-01

Stress and stress hormones are known to influence the function of the hippocampus, a brain structure critical for cognitive-map-based, allocentric spatial navigation. The caudate nucleus, a brain structure critical for stimulus-response-based, egocentric navigation, is not as sensitive to stress. Evidence for this comes from rodent studies, which show that acute stress or stress hormones impair allocentric, but not egocentric navigation. However, there have been few studies investigating the effect of acute stress on human spatial navigation, and the results of these have been equivocal. To date, no study has investigated whether acute stress can shift human navigational strategy selection between allocentric and egocentric navigation. The present study investigated this question by exposing participants to an acute psychological stressor (the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task, PASAT), before testing navigational strategy selection in the Dual-Strategy Maze, a modified virtual Morris water maze. In the Dual-Strategy maze, participants can chose to navigate using a constellation of extra-maze cues (allocentrically) or using a single cue proximal to the goal platform (egocentrically). Surprisingly, PASAT stress biased participants to solve the maze allocentrically significantly more, rather than less, often. These findings have implications for understanding the effects of acute stress on cognitive function in general, and the function of the hippocampus in particular. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Saffman-Taylor fingers with kinetic undercooling

KAUST Repository

Gardiner, Bennett P. J.

2015-02-23

© 2015 American Physical Society. The mathematical model of a steadily propagating Saffman-Taylor finger in a Hele-Shaw channel has applications to two-dimensional interacting streamer discharges which are aligned in a periodic array. In the streamer context, the relevant regularization on the interface is not provided by surface tension but instead has been postulated to involve a mechanism equivalent to kinetic undercooling, which acts to penalize high velocities and prevent blow-up of the unregularized solution. Previous asymptotic results for the Hele-Shaw finger problem with kinetic undercooling suggest that for a given value of the kinetic undercooling parameter, there is a discrete set of possible finger shapes, each analytic at the nose and occupying a different fraction of the channel width. In the limit in which the kinetic undercooling parameter vanishes, the fraction for each family approaches 1/2, suggesting that this "selection" of 1/2 by kinetic undercooling is qualitatively similar to the well-known analog with surface tension. We treat the numerical problem of computing these Saffman-Taylor fingers with kinetic undercooling, which turns out to be more subtle than the analog with surface tension, since kinetic undercooling permits finger shapes which are corner-free but not analytic. We provide numerical evidence for the selection mechanism by setting up a problem with both kinetic undercooling and surface tension and numerically taking the limit that the surface tension vanishes.

Saffman-Taylor fingers with kinetic undercooling

KAUST Repository

Gardiner, Bennett P. J.; McCue, Scott W.; Dallaston, Michael C.; Moroney, Timothy J.

2015-01-01

© 2015 American Physical Society. The mathematical model of a steadily propagating Saffman-Taylor finger in a Hele-Shaw channel has applications to two-dimensional interacting streamer discharges which are aligned in a periodic array. In the streamer context, the relevant regularization on the interface is not provided by surface tension but instead has been postulated to involve a mechanism equivalent to kinetic undercooling, which acts to penalize high velocities and prevent blow-up of the unregularized solution. Previous asymptotic results for the Hele-Shaw finger problem with kinetic undercooling suggest that for a given value of the kinetic undercooling parameter, there is a discrete set of possible finger shapes, each analytic at the nose and occupying a different fraction of the channel width. In the limit in which the kinetic undercooling parameter vanishes, the fraction for each family approaches 1/2, suggesting that this "selection" of 1/2 by kinetic undercooling is qualitatively similar to the well-known analog with surface tension. We treat the numerical problem of computing these Saffman-Taylor fingers with kinetic undercooling, which turns out to be more subtle than the analog with surface tension, since kinetic undercooling permits finger shapes which are corner-free but not analytic. We provide numerical evidence for the selection mechanism by setting up a problem with both kinetic undercooling and surface tension and numerically taking the limit that the surface tension vanishes.

Speed invariance of independent control of finger movements in pianists.

Science.gov (United States)

Furuya, Shinichi; Soechting, John F

2012-10-01

Independent control of finger movements characterizes skilled motor behaviors such as tool use and musical performance. The purpose of the present study was to identify the effect of movement frequency (tempo) on individuated finger movements in piano playing. Joint motion at the digits was recorded while 5 expert pianists were playing 30 excerpts from musical pieces with different fingering and key locations either at a predetermined normal tempo or as fast as possible. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis using an expectation-maximization algorithm determined three distinct patterns of finger movement coordination for a keypress with each of the index, middle, ring, and little fingers at each of the two tempi. The finger kinematics of each coordination pattern was overall similar across the tempi. Tone sequences assigned into each cluster were also similar for both tempi. A linear regression analysis determined no apparent difference in the amount of movement covariation between the striking and nonstriking fingers at both metacarpo-phalangeal and proximal-interphalangeal joints across the two tempi, which indicated no effect of tempo on independent finger movements in piano playing. In addition, the standard deviation of interkeystroke interval across strokes did not differ between the two tempi, indicating maintenance of rhythmic accuracy of keystrokes. Strong temporal constraints on finger movements during piano playing may underlie the maintained independent control of fingers over a wider range of tempi, a feature being likely to be specific to skilled pianists.

Effect of the linkers between the zinc fingers in zinc finger protein 809 on gene silencing and nuclear localization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ichida, Yu, E-mail: ichida-y@ncchd.go.jp; Utsunomiya, Yuko; Onodera, Masafumi

2016-03-18

Zinc finger protein 809 (ZFP809) belongs to the Kruppel-associated box-containing zinc finger protein (KRAB-ZFP) family and functions in repressing the expression of Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV). ZFP809 binds to the primer-binding site (PBS)located downstream of the MoMLV-long terminal repeat (LTR) and induces epigenetic modifications at integration sites, such as repressive histone modifications and de novo DNA methylation. KRAB-ZFPs contain consensus TGEKP linkers between C2H2 zinc fingers. The phosphorylation of threonine residues within linkers leads to the inactivation of zinc finger binding to target sequences. ZFP809 also contains consensus linkers between zinc fingers. However, the function of ZFP809 linkers remains unknown. In the present study, we constructed ZFP809 proteins containing mutated linkers and examined their ability to silence transgene expression driven by MLV, binding ability to MLV PBS, and cellular localization. The results of the present study revealed that the linkers affected the ability of ZFP809 to silence transgene expression. Furthermore, this effect could be partly attributed to changes in the localization of ZFP809 proteins containing mutated linkers. Further characterization of ZFP809 linkers is required for understanding the functions and features of KRAB-ZFP-containing linkers. - Highlights: • ZFP809 has three consensus linkers between the zinc fingers. • Linkers are required for ZFP809 to silence transgene expression driven by MLV-LTR. • Linkers affect the precise nuclear localization of ZFP809.

Blind rats are not profoundly impaired in the reference memory Morris water maze and cannot be clearly discriminated from rats with cognitive deficits in the cued platform task.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindner, M D; Plone, M A; Schallert, T; Emerich, D F

1997-06-01

The Morris water maze is commonly used to test cognitive function in rodent models of neurological disorders including age-related cognitive deficits. It is often assumed that the most profoundly impaired aged rats may be blind due to retinal degeneration, and it has been reported that animals with visual sensory deficits can be identified based on their performance in a cued platform task. The results of the present study demonstrate that blind rats can perform surprisingly well in the reference memory version of the Morris water maze, and that blind rats cannot be selectively excluded based on performance in the cued platform task since atropine-treated rats also perform poorly in the cued platform task. Future studies may be able to develop screening procedures that help to eliminate subjects with non-cognitive deficits, but the present results do not support the use of the cued platform or straight swim task as screening procedures. Experimenters must be careful to consider the role that visual sensory function and other non-cognitive factors may have in performance of the spatial learning Morris water maze, and also the role that severe cognitive deficits may have in performance of the cued platform task.

Sliding Window-Based Region of Interest Extraction for Finger Vein Images

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Lu; Yang, Gongping; Yin, Yilong; Xiao, Rongyang

2013-01-01

Region of Interest (ROI) extraction is a crucial step in an automatic finger vein recognition system. The aim of ROI extraction is to decide which part of the image is suitable for finger vein feature extraction. This paper proposes a finger vein ROI extraction method which is robust to finger displacement and rotation. First, we determine the middle line of the finger, which will be used to correct the image skew. Then, a sliding window is used to detect the phalangeal joints and further to ascertain the height of ROI. Last, for the corrective image with certain height, we will obtain the ROI by using the internal tangents of finger edges as the left and right boundary. The experimental results show that the proposed method can extract ROI more accurately and effectively compared with other methods, and thus improve the performance of finger vein identification system. Besides, to acquire the high quality finger vein image during the capture process, we propose eight criteria for finger vein capture from different aspects and these criteria should be helpful to some extent for finger vein capture. PMID:23507824

ZifBASE: a database of zinc finger proteins and associated resources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Punetha Ankita

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Information on the occurrence of zinc finger protein motifs in genomes is crucial to the developing field of molecular genome engineering. The knowledge of their target DNA-binding sequences is vital to develop chimeric proteins for targeted genome engineering and site-specific gene correction. There is a need to develop a computational resource of zinc finger proteins (ZFP to identify the potential binding sites and its location, which reduce the time of in vivo task, and overcome the difficulties in selecting the specific type of zinc finger protein and the target site in the DNA sequence. Description ZifBASE provides an extensive collection of various natural and engineered ZFP. It uses standard names and a genetic and structural classification scheme to present data retrieved from UniProtKB, GenBank, Protein Data Bank, ModBase, Protein Model Portal and the literature. It also incorporates specialized features of ZFP including finger sequences and positions, number of fingers, physiochemical properties, classes, framework, PubMed citations with links to experimental structures (PDB, if available and modeled structures of natural zinc finger proteins. ZifBASE provides information on zinc finger proteins (both natural and engineered ones, the number of finger units in each of the zinc finger proteins (with multiple fingers, the synergy between the adjacent fingers and their positions. Additionally, it gives the individual finger sequence and their target DNA site to which it binds for better and clear understanding on the interactions of adjacent fingers. The current version of ZifBASE contains 139 entries of which 89 are engineered ZFPs, containing 3-7F totaling to 296 fingers. There are 50 natural zinc finger protein entries ranging from 2-13F, totaling to 307 fingers. It has sequences and structures from literature, Protein Data Bank, ModBase and Protein Model Portal. The interface is cross linked to other public

Generating and analyzing synthetic finger vein images

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hillerström, Fieke; Kumar, Ajay; Veldhuis, Raymond N.J.

2014-01-01

Abstract: The finger-vein biometric offers higher degree of security, personal privacy and strong anti-spoofing capabilities than most other biometric modalities employed today. Emerging privacy concerns with the database acquisition and lack of availability of large scale finger-vein database have

Finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn].

Science.gov (United States)

Ceasar, Stanislaus Antony; Ignacimuthu, Savarimuthu

2015-01-01

Millets are the primary food source for millions of people in tropical regions of the world supplying mineral nutrition and protein. In this chapter, we describe an optimized protocol for the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of finger millet variety GPU 45. Agrobacterium strain LBA4404 harboring plasmid pCAMBIA1301 which contains hygromycin phosphotransferase (hph) as selectable marker gene and β-glucuronidase (GUS) as reporter gene has been used. This protocol utilizes the shoot apex explants for the somatic embryogenesis and regeneration of finger millet after the transformation by Agrobacterium. Desiccation of explants during cocultivation helps for the better recovery of transgenic plants. This protocol is very useful for the efficient production of transgenic plants in finger millet through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.

Association Between Finger Clubbing and Chronic Lung Disease in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Finger clubbed patients had higher risk of hypoxemia (46.7%), pulmonary hypertension (46.7%) and advanced disease in WHO stage III/ IV (91.7%) compared to non-finger clubbed patients. Finger clubbed patients had lower CD4 cells count and percentage (median 369cells, 13%) compared to non-clubbed patients ...

Esthetic, functional, and prosthetic outcomes with implant-retained finger prostheses.

Science.gov (United States)

Aydin, Cemal; Nemli, Secil Karakoca; Yilmaz, Handan

2013-04-01

Traumatic amputation of fingers results in a serious impairment of hand function and affects the psychological status of the patients. The implant-retained finger prostheses are an alternative treatment. The aim of this case report is to represent the use of osseointegrated implants for retention of finger prostheses in a patient with amputated thumb and index finger. Dental implants were placed in the residual bone of the fingers using two-stage surgery. Custom-made attachments were used to provide retention between implants and silicone prostheses. Prosthetic fingernails were made of composite resin material. After 6 months, implants were clinically successful, and the patient was satisfied with the appearance and the function of the prostheses. The complications of broken prosthetic nail and mild discoloration were observed. Reconstruction of amputated fingers with implant-retained prosthesis is a worthwhile treatment providing esthetic, functional, and psychological benefits, although some complications might be experienced. Clinical relevance Implant-retained finger prostheses are an acceptable treatment modality for patients with amputated fingers. Evaluating implant prognosis, functional results and prosthetic results of the patients are necessary to address the benefits and complications of the treatment.

Viscous Fingering in Deformable Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Jian Hui; MacMinn, Chris

2017-11-01

Viscous fingering is a classical hydrodynamic instability that occurs when an invading fluid is injected into a porous medium or a Hele-Shaw cell that contains a more viscous defending fluid. Recent work has shown that viscous fingering in a Hele-Shaw cell is supressed when the flow cell is deformable. However, the mechanism of suppression relies on a net volumetric expansion of the flow area. Here, we study flow in a novel Hele-Shaw cell consisting of a rigid bottom plate and a flexible top plate that deforms in a way that is volume-conserving. In other words, fluid injection into the flow cell leads to a local expansion of the flow area (outward displacement of the flexible surface) that must be coupled to non-local contraction (inward displacement of the flexible surface). We explore the impact of this volumetric confinement on steady viscous flow and on viscous fingering. We would like to thank EPSRC for the funding for this work.

The effects of vibration-reducing gloves on finger vibration

Science.gov (United States)

Welcome, Daniel E.; Dong, Ren G.; Xu, Xueyan S.; Warren, Christopher; McDowell, Thomas W.

2015-01-01

Vibration-reducing (VR) gloves have been used to reduce the hand-transmitted vibration exposures from machines and powered hand tools but their effectiveness remains unclear, especially for finger protection. The objectives of this study are to determine whether VR gloves can attenuate the vibration transmitted to the fingers and to enhance the understanding of the mechanisms of how these gloves work. Seven adult male subjects participated in the experiment. The fixed factors evaluated include hand force (four levels), glove condition (gel-filled, air bladder, no gloves), and location of the finger vibration measurement. A 3-D laser vibrometer was used to measure the vibrations on the fingers with and without wearing a glove on a 3-D hand-arm vibration test system. This study finds that the effect of VR gloves on the finger vibration depends on not only the gloves but also their influence on the distribution of the finger contact stiffness and the grip effort. As a result, the gloves increase the vibration in the fingertip area but marginally reduce the vibration in the proximal area at some frequencies below 100 Hz. On average, the gloves reduce the vibration of the entire fingers by less than 3% at frequencies below 80 Hz but increase at frequencies from 80 to 400 Hz. At higher frequencies, the gel-filled glove is more effective at reducing the finger vibration than the air bladder-filled glove. The implications of these findings are discussed. Relevance to industry Prolonged, intensive exposure to hand-transmitted vibration can cause hand-arm vibration syndrome. Vibration-reducing gloves have been used as an alternative approach to reduce the vibration exposure. However, their effectiveness for reducing finger-transmitted vibrations remains unclear. This study enhanced the understanding of the glove effects on finger vibration and provided useful information on the effectiveness of typical VR gloves at reducing the vibration transmitted to the fingers. The new

VISIONS FOR FOOTWEAR TIP SHAPE ACCORDING TO THE CONFIGURATION FINGER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MALCOCI Marina

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Compatibility between the consumer and the interior leg permanent footwear raises a number of issues. And any new form of footwear is time for a new silhouette last. Fashion is a factor in determining the shape of the last significant role. The most important influence on fashion in footwear that has at one time is found in peak shape. During registered a variety of forms leading to the last, for example, pointed, oval, round, square, asymmetrical, curved, trapezoidal, etc. Each has added a tip top recommended. The paper analyzes the morphofunctional characteristic, namely, finger configuration. The configuration of the fingers is determined from the positions of all the fingers of one another, as are six variants. Analysis of the shape and configuration of the arm fingers allow us to make the following recommendations to consumers: people showing finger configuration as in variant V and VI are advised not to wear pointy shoes because of the limited movement of the foot, which favors the diversion finger I exterior and deformed finger V; persons who fall within I-IV variant can procure pointy shoes; a round-tipped shoes, square, curved or asymmetric may be purchased by any consumer regardless of the configuration of the fingers; shoes with cut edge must be present only in garderopa people in variant I and II; consumers whose configuration is like finger-VI and III variants are awkwardly shaped fingers can buy shoes closed in the previous summer, but of different perforations or overlapping strips.

Three-dimensional viscous fingering of miscible fluids in porous media

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Suekane, Tetsuya; Ono, Jei; Hyodo, Akimitsu; Nagatsu, Yuichiro

2017-10-01

Viscous fingering is a flow instability that is induced at the displacement front when a less-viscous fluid (LVF) displaces a more-viscous fluid (MVF). Because of the opaque nature of porous media, most experimental investigations of the structure of viscous fingering and its development in time have been limited to two-dimensional porous media or Hele-Shaw cells. In this study, we investigate the three-dimensional characteristics of viscous fingering in porous media using a microfocused x-ray computer tomography (CT) scanner. Similar to two-dimensional experiments, characteristic events such as tip-splitting, shielding, and coalescence were observed in three-dimensional viscous fingering as well. With an increase in the Péclet number at a fixed viscosity ratio, M , the fingers appearing on the interface tend to be fine; however, the locations of the tips of the fingers remain the same for the same injected volume of the LVF. The finger extensions increase in proportion to ln M , and the number of fingers emerging at the initial interface increases with M . This fact agrees qualitatively with linear stability analyses. Within the fingers, the local concentration of NaI, which is needed for the x-ray CT scanner, linearly decreases, whereas it sharply decreases at the tips of the fingers. A locally high Péclet number as well as unsteady motions in lateral directions may enhance the dispersion at the tips of the fingers. As the viscosity ratio increases, the efficiency of each sweep monotonically decreases and reaches an asymptotic state; in addition, the degree of mixing increases with the viscosity ratio. For high flow rates, the asymptotic value of the sweep efficiency is low for high viscosity ratios, while there is no clear dependence of the asymptotic value on the Péclet number.

Viscoelastic fingering with a pulsed pressure signal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corvera Poire, E; Rio, J A del

2004-01-01

We derive a generalized Darcy's law in the frequency domain for a linear viscoelastic fluid flowing in a Hele-Shaw cell. This leads to an analytic expression for the dynamic permeability that has maxima which are several orders of magnitude larger than the static permeability. We then follow an argument of de Gennes (1987 Europhys. Lett. 2 195) to obtain the smallest possible finger width when viscoelasticity is important. Using this and a conservation law, we obtain the lowest bound for the width of a single finger displacing a viscoelastic fluid. When the driving force consists of a constant pressure gradient plus an oscillatory signal, our results indicate that the finger width varies in time following the frequency of the incident signal. Also, the amplitude of the finger width in time depends on the value of the dynamic permeability at the imposed frequency. When the finger is driven with a frequency that maximizes the permeability, variations in the amplitude are also maximized. This gives results that are very different for Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids. For the former ones the amplitude of the oscillation decays with frequency. For the latter ones on the other hand, the amplitude has maxima at the same frequencies that maximize the dynamic permeability

Active and passive spatial learning in human navigation: acquisition of graph knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Chrastil, Elizabeth R; Warren, William H

2015-07-01

It is known that active exploration of a new environment leads to better spatial learning than does passive visual exposure. We ask whether specific components of active learning differentially contribute to particular forms of spatial knowledge-the exploration-specific learning hypothesis. Previously, we found that idiothetic information during walking is the primary active contributor to metric survey knowledge (Chrastil & Warren, 2013). In this study, we test the contributions of 3 components to topological graph and route knowledge: visual information, idiothetic information, and cognitive decision making. Four groups of participants learned the locations of 8 objects in a virtual hedge maze by (a) walking or (b) watching a video, crossed with (1) either making decisions about their path or (2) being guided through the maze. Route and graph knowledge were assessed by walking in the maze corridors from a starting object to the remembered location of a test object, with frequent detours. Decision making during exploration significantly contributed to subsequent route finding in the walking condition, whereas idiothetic information did not. Participants took novel routes and the metrically shortest routes on the majority of both direct and barrier trials, indicating that labeled graph knowledge-not merely route knowledge-was acquired. We conclude that, consistent with the exploration-specific learning hypothesis, decision making is the primary component of active learning for the acquisition of topological graph knowledge, whereas idiothetic information is the primary component for metric survey knowledge. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Comparing kinematic changes between a finger-tapping task and unconstrained finger flexion-extension task in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Teo, W P; Rodrigues, J P; Mastaglia, F L; Thickbroom, G W

2013-06-01

Repetitive finger tapping is a well-established clinical test for the evaluation of parkinsonian bradykinesia, but few studies have investigated other finger movement modalities. We compared the kinematic changes (movement rate and amplitude) and response to levodopa during a conventional index finger-thumb-tapping task and an unconstrained index finger flexion-extension task performed at maximal voluntary rate (MVR) for 20 s in 11 individuals with levodopa-responsive Parkinson's disease (OFF and ON) and 10 healthy age-matched controls. Between-task comparisons showed that for all conditions, the initial movement rate was greater for the unconstrained flexion-extension task than the tapping task. Movement rate in the OFF state was slower than in controls for both tasks and normalized in the ON state. The movement amplitude was also reduced for both tasks in OFF and increased in the ON state but did not reach control levels. The rate and amplitude of movement declined significantly for both tasks under all conditions (OFF/ON and controls). The time course of rate decline was comparable for both tasks and was similar in OFF/ON and controls, whereas the tapping task was associated with a greater decline in MA, both in controls and ON, but not OFF. The findings indicate that both finger movement tasks show similar kinematic changes during a 20-s sustained MVR, but that movement amplitude is less well sustained during the tapping task than the unconstrained finger movement task. Both movement rate and amplitude improved with levodopa; however, movement rate was more levodopa responsive than amplitude.

Food restriction affects Y-maze spatial recognition memory in developing mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Yu; Chen, Yanmei; Li, Liane; Wang, Yumei; Kong, Xiangyang; Wang, Jianhong

2017-08-01

The ambiguous effects of food restriction (FR) on cognition in rodents have been mostly explored in the aged brain by a variety of paradigms, in which either rewards or punishments are involved. This study aims to examine the effects of chronic and acute FR with varying intensities on spatial recognition memory in developing mice. We have used a Y-maze task that is based on the innate tendency of rodents to explore novel environments. In chronic FR, mice had 70-30% chow of control for seven weeks. In acute FR, mice were food restricted for 12-48h before the tests. We found that chronic FR had no effect on the preference of mice for novelty in the Y-maze, but severe FR (50-30% of control) caused impairment on spatial recognition memory. The impairment significantly correlated with the slow weight growth induced by FR. Acute FR also did not affect the novelty preference of mice, but either improved or impaired the memory retention. These data suggest chronic FR impairs Y-maze spatial recognition memory in developing mice depending on FR intensity and individual tolerability of the FR. Moreover, acute FR exerts diverse effects on the memory, either positive or negative. Our findings have revealed new insights on the effects of FR on spatial recognition memory in developing animals. Copyright © 2017 ISDN. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hippocampal-dependent spatial memory in the water maze is preserved in an experimental model of temporal lobe epilepsy in rats.

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Marion Inostroza

Full Text Available Cognitive impairment is a major concern in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE. While different experimental models have been used to characterize TLE-related cognitive deficits, little is known on whether a particular deficit is more associated with the underlying brain injuries than with the epileptic condition per se. Here, we look at the relationship between the pattern of brain damage and spatial memory deficits in two chronic models of TLE (lithium-pilocarpine, LIP and kainic acid, KA from two different rat strains (Wistar and Sprague-Dawley using the Morris water maze and the elevated plus maze in combination with MRI imaging and post-morten neuronal immunostaining. We found fundamental differences between LIP- and KA-treated epileptic rats regarding spatial memory deficits and anxiety. LIP-treated animals from both strains showed significant impairment in the acquisition and retention of spatial memory, and were unable to learn a cued version of the task. In contrast, KA-treated rats were differently affected. Sprague-Dawley KA-treated rats learned less efficiently than Wistar KA-treated animals, which performed similar to control rats in the acquisition and in a probe trial testing for spatial memory. Different anxiety levels and the extension of brain lesions affecting the hippocampus and the amydgala concur with spatial memory deficits observed in epileptic rats. Hence, our results suggest that hippocampal-dependent spatial memory is not necessarily affected in TLE and that comorbidity between spatial deficits and anxiety is more related with the underlying brain lesions than with the epileptic condition per se.

Navigating to new frontiers in behavioral neuroscience: Traditional neuropsychological tests predict human performance on a rodent-inspired radial-arm maze

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah E. Mennenga

2014-09-01

Full Text Available We constructed an 11-arm, walk-through, human radial-arm maze (HRAM as a translational instrument to compare existing methodology in the areas of rodent and human learning and memory research. The HRAM, utilized here, serves as an intermediary test between the classic rat radial-arm maze (RAM and standard human neuropsychological and cognitive tests. We show that the HRAM is a useful instrument to examine working memory ability, explore the relationships between rodent and human memory and cognition models, and evaluate factors that contribute to human navigational ability. One-hundred-and-fifty-seven participants were tested on the HRAM, and scores were compared to performance on a standard cognitive battery focused on episodic memory, working memory capacity, and visuospatial ability. We found that errors on the HRAM increased as working memory demand became elevated, similar to the pattern typically seen in rodents, and that for this task, performance appears similar to Miller’s classic description of human working memory capacity of 7±2 items. Regression analysis revealed that measures of working memory capacity and visuospatial ability accounted for a large proportion of variance in HRAM scores, while measures of episodic memory and general intelligence did not serve as significant predictors of HRAM performance. We present the HRAM as a novel instrument for measuring navigational behavior in humans, as is traditionally done in basic science studies evaluating rodent learning and memory, thus providing a useful tool to help connect and translate between human and rodent models of cognitive functioning.

Effects of short-term piano training on measures of finger tapping, somatosensory perception and motor-related brain activity in patients with cerebral palsy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alves-Pinto A

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Ana Alves-Pinto,1 Stefan Ehrlich,2 Gordon Cheng,2 Varvara Turova,1 Tobias Blumenstein,1 Renée Lampe1 1Research Unit of the Buhl-Strohmaier Foundation for Paediatric Neuroorthopaedics and Cerebral Palsy, Department of Orthopaedics, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; 2Chair for Cognitive Systems, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany Abstract: Playing a musical instrument demands the integration of sensory and perceptual information with motor processes in order to produce a harmonic musical piece. The diversity of brain mechanisms involved and the joyful character of playing an instrument make musical instrument training a potential vehicle for neurorehabilitation of motor skills in patients with cerebral palsy (CP. This clinical condition is characterized by motor impairments that can affect, among others, manual function, and limit severely the execution of basic daily activities. In this study, adolescents and adult patients with CP, as well as a group of typically developing children learned to play piano for 4 consecutive weeks, having completed a total of 8 hours of training. For ten of the participants, learning was supported by a special technical system aimed at helping people with sensorimotor deficits to better discriminate fingers and orient themselves along the piano keyboard. Potential effects of piano training were assessed with tests of finger tapping at the piano and tests of perception of vibratory stimulation of fingers, and by measuring neuronal correlates of motor learning in the absence of and after piano training. Results were highly variable especially among participants with CP. Nevertheless, a significant effect of training on the ability to perceive the localization of vibrations over fingers was found. No effects of training on the performance of simple finger tapping sequences at the piano or on motor

Tetanus following replantation of an amputated finger: a case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayashida, Kenji; Murakami, Chikako; Fujioka, Masaki

2012-10-08

Tetanus is an infectious disease caused by tetanus toxin produced by Clostridium tetani and induces severe neurological manifestations. We treated a patient who developed tetanus during hospitalization for replantation of an amputated finger. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published case report of such an entity. A 49-year-old Japanese man had an amputation of his right middle finger at the distal interphalangeal joint region in an accident at work. His middle finger was successfully replanted, but his fingertip was partially necrotized because of crushing and so additional reconstruction with a reverse digital arterial flap was performed 15 days after the injury. Tetanus developed 21 days after replantation of the middle finger, but symptoms remitted via rapid diagnosis and treatment. In replantation after finger trauma with exposure of nerve and blood vessel bundles, concern over injuring nerves and blood vessels may prevent irrigation and debridement from being performed sufficiently; these treatments may have been insufficiently performed in this patient. It is likely that the replanted middle finger partially adhered, and Clostridium tetani colonized the partially necrotized region. Even when there is only limited soil contamination, administration of tetanus toxoid and anti-tetanus immunoglobulin is necessary when the fingers are injured outdoors and the finger nerves and blood vessels are exposed. The drugs should be administered just after replantation if the finger has been amputated. However, if clinicians pay attention to the possibility of tetanus development, treatment can be rapidly initiated.

Finger Vein Recognition Based on Personalized Weight Maps

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Yang, Gongping; Xiao, Rongyang; Yin, Yilong; Yang, Lu

2013-01-01

Finger vein recognition is a promising biometric recognition technology, which verifies identities via the vein patterns in the fingers. Binary pattern based methods were thoroughly studied in order to cope with the difficulties of extracting the blood vessel network. However, current binary pattern based finger vein matching methods treat every bit of feature codes derived from different image of various individuals as equally important and assign the same weight value to them. In this paper, we propose a finger vein recognition method based on personalized weight maps (PWMs). The different bits have different weight values according to their stabilities in a certain number of training samples from an individual. Firstly we present the concept of PWM, and then propose the finger vein recognition framework, which mainly consists of preprocessing, feature extraction, and matching. Finally, we design extensive experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposal. Experimental results show that PWM achieves not only better performance, but also high robustness and reliability. In addition, PWM can be used as a general framework for binary pattern based recognition. PMID:24025556

Finger Vein Recognition Based on Personalized Weight Maps

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lu Yang

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Finger vein recognition is a promising biometric recognition technology, which verifies identities via the vein patterns in the fingers. Binary pattern based methods were thoroughly studied in order to cope with the difficulties of extracting the blood vessel network. However, current binary pattern based finger vein matching methods treat every bit of feature codes derived from different image of various individuals as equally important and assign the same weight value to them. In this paper, we propose a finger vein recognition method based on personalized weight maps (PWMs. The different bits have different weight values according to their stabilities in a certain number of training samples from an individual. Firstly we present the concept of PWM, and then propose the finger vein recognition framework, which mainly consists of preprocessing, feature extraction, and matching. Finally, we design extensive experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposal. Experimental results show that PWM achieves not only better performance, but also high robustness and reliability. In addition, PWM can be used as a general framework for binary pattern based recognition.

Effects of acute or chronic ethanol exposure during adolescence on behavioral inhibition and efficiency in a modified water maze task.

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Shawn K Acheson

Full Text Available Ethanol is well known to adversely affect frontal executive functioning, which continues to develop throughout adolescence and into young adulthood. This is also a developmental window in which ethanol is misused by a significant number of adolescents. We examined the effects of acute and chronic ethanol exposure during adolescence on behavioral inhibition and efficiency using a modified water maze task. During acquisition, rats were trained to find a stable visible platform onto which they could escape. During the test phase, the stable platform was converted to a visible floating platform (providing no escape and a new hidden platform was added in the opposite quadrant. The hidden platform was the only means of escape during the test phase. In experiment 1, adolescent animals received ethanol (1.0 g/kg 30 min before each session during the test phase. In experiment 2, adolescent animals received chronic intermittent ethanol (5.0 g/kg for 16 days (PND30 To PND46 prior to any training in the maze. At PND72, training was initiated in the same modified water maze task. Results from experiment 1 indicated that acute ethanol promoted behavioral disinhibition and inefficiency. Experiment 2 showed that chronic intermittent ethanol during adolescence appeared to have no lasting effect on behavioral disinhibition or new spatial learning during adulthood. However, chronic ethanol did promote behavioral inefficiency. In summary, results indicate that ethanol-induced promotion of perseverative behavior may contribute to the many adverse behavioral sequelae of alcohol intoxication in adolescents and young adults. Moreover, the long-term effect of adolescent chronic ethanol exposure on behavioral efficiency is similar to that observed after chronic exposure in humans.

Nature or Nurture in finger counting: a review on the determinants of the direction of number-finger mapping

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Paola ePrevitali

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The spontaneous use of finger counting has been for long recognised as critical to the acquisition of number skills. Recently, the great interest on space-number associations shifted attention to the practice of finger counting itself, and specifically, to its spatial components. Besides general cross-cultural differences in mapping numbers onto fingers, contrasting results have been reported with regard to the directional features of this mapping. The key issue we address is to what extent directionality is culturally-mediated, i.e., linked to the conventional reading-writing system direction, and/or biologically determined, i.e. linked to hand dominance. Although the preferred starting hand for counting seems to depend on the surveyed population, even within the same population high inter-individual variability minimises the role of cultural factors. Even if so far largely overlooked, handedness represents a sound candidate for shaping finger counting direction. Here we discuss adults and developmental evidence in support of this view and we reconsider the plausibility of multiple and coexistent number-space mapping in physical and representational space.

Female Sprague Dawley Rats Show Impaired Spatial Memory in the 8-Arm Radial Maze under Dim Blue and Red Light

OpenAIRE

Pirchl, Michael; Kemmler, Georg; Humpel, Christian

2010-01-01

Light intensity and wavelength strongly influence mood and cognition in humans and rodent animal models. The aim of the present study was to explore if dim white (7.6–17.7 lux) , blue (1.3–2.3 lux), and red light (0.8–1.4 lux) affect spatial memory of male and female Sprague Dawley rats in the 8-arm radial maze. Our data show that spatial memory significantly improved within 5 daily learning sessions (each 5 trials) under dim white light, which was not different between male and female rats. ...

Cross-Cultural and Intra-Cultural Differences in Finger-Counting Habits and Number Magnitude Processing: Embodied Numerosity in Canadian and Chinese University Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyle Richard Morrissey

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Recent work in numerical cognition has shown-that number magnitude is not entirely abstract, and at least partly rooted in embodied and situated experiences, including finger-counting. The current study extends previous cross-cultural research to address within-culture individual differences in finger counting habits. Results indicated that Canadian participants demonstrated an additional cognitive load when comparing numbers that require more than one hand to represent, and this pattern of performance is further modulated by whether they typically start counting on their left hand or their right hand. Chinese students typically count on only one hand and so show no such effect, except for an increase in errors, similar to that seen in Canadians, for those whom self-identify as predominantly two-hand counters. Results suggest that the impact of finger counting habits extend beyond cultural experience and concord in predictable ways with differences in number magnitude processing for specific number-digits. We conclude that symbolic number magnitude processing is partially rooted in learned finger-counting habits, consistent with a motor simulation account of embodied numeracy and that argument is supported by both cross-cultural and within-culture differences in finger-counting habits.

Convolutional Neural Network-Based Finger-Vein Recognition Using NIR Image Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Hyung Gil; Lee, Min Beom; Park, Kang Ryoung

2017-06-06

Conventional finger-vein recognition systems perform recognition based on the finger-vein lines extracted from the input images or image enhancement, and texture feature extraction from the finger-vein images. In these cases, however, the inaccurate detection of finger-vein lines lowers the recognition accuracy. In the case of texture feature extraction, the developer must experimentally decide on a form of the optimal filter for extraction considering the characteristics of the image database. To address this problem, this research proposes a finger-vein recognition method that is robust to various database types and environmental changes based on the convolutional neural network (CNN). In the experiments using the two finger-vein databases constructed in this research and the SDUMLA-HMT finger-vein database, which is an open database, the method proposed in this research showed a better performance compared to the conventional methods.

The learning curve: implications of a quantitative analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Gallistel, Charles R; Fairhurst, Stephen; Balsam, Peter

2004-09-07

The negatively accelerated, gradually increasing learning curve is an artifact of group averaging in several commonly used basic learning paradigms (pigeon autoshaping, delay- and trace-eye-blink conditioning in the rabbit and rat, autoshaped hopper entry in the rat, plus maze performance in the rat, and water maze performance in the mouse). The learning curves for individual subjects show an abrupt, often step-like increase from the untrained level of responding to the level seen in the well trained subject. The rise is at least as abrupt as that commonly seen in psychometric functions in stimulus detection experiments. It may indicate that the appearance of conditioned behavior is mediated by an evidence-based decision process, as in stimulus detection experiments. If the appearance of conditioned behavior is taken instead to reflect the increase in an underlying associative strength, then a negligible portion of the function relating associative strength to amount of experience is behaviorally visible. Consequently, rate of learning cannot be estimated from the group-average curve; the best measure is latency to the onset of responding, determined for each subject individually.

Tetanus following replantation of an amputated finger: a case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hayashida Kenji

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction Tetanus is an infectious disease caused by tetanus toxin produced by Clostridium tetani and induces severe neurological manifestations. We treated a patient who developed tetanus during hospitalization for replantation of an amputated finger. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published case report of such an entity. Case presentation A 49-year-old Japanese man had an amputation of his right middle finger at the distal interphalangeal joint region in an accident at work. His middle finger was successfully replanted, but his fingertip was partially necrotized because of crushing and so additional reconstruction with a reverse digital arterial flap was performed 15 days after the injury. Tetanus developed 21 days after replantation of the middle finger, but symptoms remitted via rapid diagnosis and treatment. Conclusions In replantation after finger trauma with exposure of nerve and blood vessel bundles, concern over injuring nerves and blood vessels may prevent irrigation and debridement from being performed sufficiently; these treatments may have been insufficiently performed in this patient. It is likely that the replanted middle finger partially adhered, and Clostridium tetani colonized the partially necrotized region. Even when there is only limited soil contamination, administration of tetanus toxoid and anti-tetanus immunoglobulin is necessary when the fingers are injured outdoors and the finger nerves and blood vessels are exposed. The drugs should be administered just after replantation if the finger has been amputated. However, if clinicians pay attention to the possibility of tetanus development, treatment can be rapidly initiated.

Non-contact finger vein acquisition system using NIR laser

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jiman; Kong, Hyoun-Joong; Park, Sangyun; Noh, SeungWoo; Lee, Seung-Rae; Kim, Taejeong; Kim, Hee Chan

2009-02-01

Authentication using finger vein pattern has substantial advantage than other biometrics. Because human vein patterns are hidden inside the skin and tissue, it is hard to forge vein structure. But conventional system using NIR LED array has two drawbacks. First, direct contact with LED array raise sanitary problem. Second, because of discreteness of LEDs, non-uniform illumination exists. We propose non-contact finger vein acquisition system using NIR laser and Laser line generator lens. Laser line generator lens makes evenly distributed line laser from focused laser light. Line laser is aimed on the finger longitudinally. NIR camera was used for image acquisition. 200 index finger vein images from 20 candidates are collected. Same finger vein pattern extraction algorithm was used to evaluate two sets of images. Acquired images from proposed non-contact system do not show any non-uniform illumination in contrary with conventional system. Also results of matching are comparable to conventional system. We developed Non-contact finger vein acquisition system. It can prevent potential cross contamination of skin diseases. Also the system can produce uniformly illuminated images unlike conventional system. With the benefit of non-contact, proposed system shows almost equivalent performance compared with conventional system.

Sensory Feedback Training for Improvement of Finger Perception in Cerebral Palsy

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Tobias Blumenstein

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose. To develop and to test a feedback training system for improvement of tactile perception and coordination of fingers in children and youth with cerebral palsy. Methods. The fingers of 7 probands with cerebral palsy of different types and severity were stimulated using small vibration motors integrated in the fingers of a hand glove. The vibration motors were connected through a microcontroller to a computer and to a response 5-button keyboard. By pressing an appropriate keyboard button, the proband must indicate in which finger the vibration was felt. The number of incorrect responses and the reaction time were measured for every finger. The perception and coordination of fingers were estimated before and after two-week training using both clinical tests and the measurements. Results. Proper functioning of the developed system in persons with cerebral palsy was confirmed. The tactile sensation of fingers was improved in five of seven subjects after two weeks of training. There was no clear tendency towards improvement of selective use of fingers. Conclusion. The designed feedback system could be used to train tactile perception of fingers in children and youth with cerebral palsy. An extensive study is required to confirm these findings.

A new algorithmic approach for fingers detection and identification

Science.gov (United States)

Mubashar Khan, Arslan; Umar, Waqas; Choudhary, Taimoor; Hussain, Fawad; Haroon Yousaf, Muhammad

2013-03-01

Gesture recognition is concerned with the goal of interpreting human gestures through mathematical algorithms. Gestures can originate from any bodily motion or state but commonly originate from the face or hand. Hand gesture detection in a real time environment, where the time and memory are important issues, is a critical operation. Hand gesture recognition largely depends on the accurate detection of the fingers. This paper presents a new algorithmic approach to detect and identify fingers of human hand. The proposed algorithm does not depend upon the prior knowledge of the scene. It detects the active fingers and Metacarpophalangeal (MCP) of the inactive fingers from an already detected hand. Dynamic thresholding technique and connected component labeling scheme are employed for background elimination and hand detection respectively. Algorithm proposed a new approach for finger identification in real time environment keeping the memory and time constraint as low as possible.

Anxiolytic effect of clonazepam in female rats: grooming microstructure and elevated plus maze tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Nin, Maurício S; Couto-Pereira, Natividade S; Souza, Marilise F; Azeredo, Lucas A; Ferri, Marcelo K; Dalprá, Walesca L; Gomez, Rosane; Barros, Helena M T

2012-06-05

Grooming behavior is an adaptation to a stressful environment that can vary in accordance with stress intensity. Direct and indirect GABA(A) receptor agonists decrease duration, frequency, incorrect transitions and uninterrupted bouts of grooming. Hormonal variation during the different phases of the estrous cycle of female rats also changes the grooming behavior. It is known that GABA(A) agonists and endogenous hormones change anxiety-like behaviors observed in the elevated plus maze test, a classical animal model of anxiety. This study was designed to determine the anxiolytic effect of clonazepam in female rats in different estrous phases and to correlate anxiety behaviors in the elevated plus maze and grooming microstructure tests. Our results show that female rats displayed higher anxiety-like behavior scores during the estrus and proestrus phases in the elevated plus maze and that clonazepam (0.25 mg/kg; i.p.) had an anxiolytic effect that was independent of the estrous phase. Grooming behaviors were higher in the proestrus phase but were decreased by clonazepam administration, independent of the estrous phase, demonstrating the anxiolytic effect of this drug in both animal models. Grooming behaviors were moderately associated with anxiolytic-like behaviors in the elevated plus maze test. Here, we describe the anxiolytic effect of clonazepam and the influence of estrous phase on anxiety. Moreover, we show that the grooming microstructure test is a useful tool for detecting anxiolytic-like behaviors in rats. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multimodal biometric method that combines veins, prints, and shape of a finger

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Kang, Byung Jun; Park, Kang Ryoung; Yoo, Jang-Hee; Kim, Jeong Nyeo

2011-01-01

Multimodal biometrics provides high recognition accuracy and population coverage by using various biometric features. A single finger contains finger veins, fingerprints, and finger geometry features; by using multimodal biometrics, information on these multiple features can be simultaneously obtained in a short time and their fusion can outperform the use of a single feature. This paper proposes a new finger recognition method based on the score-level fusion of finger veins, fingerprints, and finger geometry features. This research is novel in the following four ways. First, the performances of the finger-vein and fingerprint recognition are improved by using a method based on a local derivative pattern. Second, the accuracy of the finger geometry recognition is greatly increased by combining a Fourier descriptor with principal component analysis. Third, a fuzzy score normalization method is introduced; its performance is better than the conventional Z-score normalization method. Fourth, finger-vein, fingerprint, and finger geometry recognitions are combined by using three support vector machines and a weighted SUM rule. Experimental results showed that the equal error rate of the proposed method was 0.254%, which was lower than those of the other methods.

A PZT Actuated Triple-Finger Gripper for Multi-Target Micromanipulation

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Tao Chen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a triple-finger gripper driven by a piezoceramic (PZT transducer for multi-target micromanipulation. The gripper consists of three fingers assembled on adjustable pedestals with flexible hinges for a large adjustable range. Each finger has a PZT actuator, an amplifying structure, and a changeable end effector. The moving trajectories of single and double fingers were calculated and finite element analyses were performed to verify the reliability of the structures. In the gripping experiment, various end effectors of the fingers such as tungsten probes and fibers were tested, and different micro-objects such as glass hollow spheres and iron spheres with diameters ranging from 10 to 800 μm were picked and released. The output resolution is 145 nm/V, and the driven displacement range of the gripper is 43.4 μm. The PZT actuated triple-finger gripper has superior adaptability, high efficiency, and a low cost.

Spatial learning and psychomotor performance of C57BL/6 mice: age sensitivity and reliability of individual differences.

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de Fiebre, Nancyellen C; Sumien, Nathalie; Forster, Michael J; de Fiebre, Christopher M

2006-09-01

Two tests often used in aging research, the elevated path test and the Morris water maze test, were examined for their application to the study of brain aging in a large sample of C57BL/6JNia mice. Specifically, these studies assessed: (1) sensitivity to age and the degree of interrelatedness among different behavioral measures derived from these tests, (2) the effect of age on variation in the measurements, and (3) the reliability of individual differences in performance on the tests. Both tests detected age-related deficits in group performance that occurred independently of each other. However, analysis of data obtained on the Morris water maze test revealed three relatively independent components of cognitive performance. Performance in initial acquisition of spatial learning in the Morris maze was not highly correlated with performance during reversal learning (when mice were required to learn a new spatial location), whereas performance in both of those phases was independent of spatial performance assessed during a single probe trial administered at the end of acquisition training. Moreover, impaired performance during initial acquisition could be detected at an earlier age than impairments in reversal learning. There were modest but significant age-related increases in the variance of both elevated path test scores and in several measures of learning in the Morris maze test. Analysis of test scores of mice across repeated testing sessions confirmed reliability of the measurements obtained for cognitive and psychomotor function. Power calculations confirmed that there are sufficiently large age-related differences in elevated path test performance, relative to within age variability, to render this test useful for studies into the ability of an intervention to prevent or reverse age-related deficits in psychomotor performance. Power calculations indicated a need for larger sample sizes for detection of intervention effects on cognitive components of the

Deficits in water maze performance and oxidative stress in the hippocampus and striatum induced by extremely low frequency magnetic field exposure.

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Yonghua Cui

Full Text Available The exposures to extremely low frequency magnetic field (ELF-MF in our environment have dramatically increased. Epidemiological studies suggest that there is a possible association between ELF-MF exposure and increased risks of cardiovascular disease, cancers and neurodegenerative disorders. Animal studies show that ELF-MF exposure may interfere with the activity of brain cells, generate behavioral and cognitive disturbances, and produce deficits in attention, perception and spatial learning. Although, many research efforts have been focused on the interaction between ELF-MF exposure and the central nervous system, the mechanism of interaction is still unknown. In this study, we examined the effects of ELF-MF exposure on learning in mice using two water maze tasks and on some parameters indicative of oxidative stress in the hippocampus and striatum. We found that ELF-MF exposure (1 mT, 50 Hz induced serious oxidative stress in the hippocampus and striatum and impaired hippocampal-dependent spatial learning and striatum-dependent habit learning. This study provides evidence for the association between the impairment of learning and the oxidative stress in hippocampus and striatum induced by ELF-MF exposure.

Model testing of a 10-kg high explosive blast attenuation maze

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bacigalupi, C.M.; Burton, W.A.

1981-01-01

The basement area of the proposed High Explosive Applications Facility (HEAF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory includes 10-kg HE assembly and process cells, and a 10-kg corridor for the transport of up to 10 kg of HE from the receiving dock to the cells and to the experimental firing tanks. Previous model experiments developed a process cell-maze configuration that attenuated the effects of an accidental 10-kg detonation to acceptable levels (maximum of 10 to 11 psi reflected). This document reports 1/8-scale model tests conducted to confirm the maze design and to determine the blast pressures in adjacent areas in the final HEAF building configuration. In addition, pressure/time information was obtained at selected points in the model expansion chamber to provide the architect-engineer with information for structural design

[When doors slam, fingers jam!].

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Claudet, I; Toubal, K; Carnet, C; Rekhroukh, H; Zelmat, B; Debuisson, C; Cahuzac, J-P

2007-08-01

Epidemiological analysis in a universitary paediatric emergency unit of children admitted after accidental injuries resulting from fingers crushed in a door. Prospective, descriptive cohort study from September 6th, 2004 to July 1st, 2005 included all children admitted for finger injuries crushed in a non-automatic door. included accidents due to automatic doors, toy's or refrigerator doors, families who refused to participate to the study or families who had left the waiting area before medical examination. Collected data were patient and family characteristics, accident characteristics and its management. Three hundred and forty children affected by 427 digital lesions were included. The mean age was 5.5+/-3.8 years (range 4 months - 15.5 years). Male/female ratio was equal to 1.2: 1. Fifty-eight percent of patients belonged to families composed of 3 or more siblings. Ninety-three per cent of families came to hospital within the first 2 hours after the accident (mean delay 99+/-162 min, median range 54 minutes). Location of the accident was: domestic (62%, at home (64%)), at school (17%). Locations within the home were: the bedroom (33%), bathroom and toilets (21%). An adult was present in 75% of cases and responsible for the trauma in 25% of accidents, another child in 44%. The finger or fingers were trapped on the hinge side in 57% of patients. No specific safeguard devices were used by 94% of families. Among victims, 20% had several crushed digits; left and right hand were injured with an equal frequency. The commonest involved digits were: the middle finger (29%), the ring finger (23%). The nail plate was damaged in 60% of digital lesions, associated with a wound (50%), a distal phalanx fracture (P3) (12%). Six children had a partial or complete amputation of P3, 2 children a lesion of the extensor tendon, 1 child had a rupture of the external lateral ligament. Three percent of children required an admission to the paediatric orthopaedic surgery unit. Post

Active and passive spatial learning in human navigation: acquisition of survey knowledge.

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Chrastil, Elizabeth R; Warren, William H

2013-09-01

It seems intuitively obvious that active exploration of a new environment would lead to better spatial learning than would passive visual exposure. It is unclear, however, which components of active learning contribute to spatial knowledge, and previous literature is decidedly mixed. This experiment tests the contributions of 4 components to metric survey knowledge: visual, vestibular, and podokinetic information and cognitive decision making. In the learning phase, 6 groups of participants learned the locations of 8 objects in a virtual hedge maze by (a) walking, (b) being pushed in a wheelchair, or (c) watching a video, crossed with (1) making decisions about their path or (2) being guided through the maze. In the test phase, survey knowledge was assessed by having participants walk a novel shortcut from a starting object to the remembered location of a test object, with the maze removed. Performance was slightly better than chance in the passive video condition. The addition of vestibular information did not improve performance in the wheelchair condition, but the addition of podokinetic information significantly improved angular accuracy in the walking condition. In contrast, there was no effect of decision making in any condition. The results indicate that visual and podokinetic information significantly contribute to survey knowledge, whereas vestibular information and decision making do not. We conclude that podokinetic information is the primary component of active learning for the acquisition of metric survey knowledge. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Lewis and Fischer 344 rats as a model for genetic differences in spatial learning and memory: Cocaine effects.

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Fole, Alberto; Miguéns, Miguel; Morales, Lidia; González-Martín, Carmen; Ambrosio, Emilio; Del Olmo, Nuria

2017-06-02

Lewis (LEW) and Fischer 344 (F344) rats are considered a model of genetic vulnerability to drug addiction. We previously showed important differences in spatial learning and memory between them, but in contrast with previous experiments demonstrating cocaine-induced enhanced learning in Morris water maze (MWM) highly demanding tasks, the eight-arm radial maze (RAM) performance was not modified either in LEW or F344 rats after chronic cocaine treatment. In the present work, chronically cocaine-treated LEW and F344 adult rats have been evaluated in learning and memory performance using the Y-maze, two RAM protocols that differ in difficulty, and a reversal protocol that tests cognitive flexibility. After one of the RAM protocols, we quantified dendritic spine density in hippocampal CA1 neurons and compared it to animals treated with cocaine but not submitted to RAM. LEW cocaine treated rats showed a better performance in the Y maze than their saline counterparts, an effect that was not evident in the F344 strain. F344 rats significantly took more time to learn the RAM task and made a greater number of errors than LEW animals in both protocols tested, whereas cocaine treatment induced deleterious effects in learning and memory in the highly difficult protocol. Moreover, hippocampal spine density was cocaine-modulated in LEW animals whereas no effects were found in F344 rats. We propose that differences in addictive-like behavior between LEW and F344 rats could be related to differences in hippocampal learning and memory processes that could be on the basis of individual vulnerability to cocaine addiction. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Isolated core vs. superficial cooling effects on virtual maze navigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Jennifer; Cheung, Stephen S

2007-07-01

Cold impairs cognitive performance and is a common occurrence in many survival situations. Altered behavior patterns due to impaired navigation abilities in cold environments are potential problems in lost-person situations. We investigated the separate effects of low core temperature and superficial cooling on a spatially demanding virtual navigation task. There were 12 healthy men who were passively cooled via 15 degrees C water immersion to a core temperature of 36.0 degrees C, then transferred to a warm (40 degrees C) water bath to eliminate superficial shivering while completing a series of 20 virtual computer mazes. In a control condition, subjects rested in a thermoneutral (approximately 35 degrees C) bath for a time-matched period before being transferred to a warm bath for testing. Superficial cooling and distraction were achieved by whole-body immersion in 35 degree water for a time-matched period, followed by lower leg immersion in 10 degree C water for the duration of the navigational tests. Mean completion time and mean error scores for the mazes were not significantly different (p > 0.05) across the core cooling (16.59 +/- 11.54 s, 0.91 +/- 1.86 errors), control (15.40 +/- 8.85 s, 0.82 +/- 1.76 errors), and superficial cooling (15.19 +/- 7.80 s, 0.77 +/- 1.40 errors) conditions. Separately reducing core temperature or increasing cold sensation in the lower extremities did not influence performance on virtual computer mazes, suggesting that navigation is more resistive to cooling than other, simpler cognitive tasks. Further research is warranted to explore navigational ability at progressively lower core and skin temperatures, and in different populations.

Stainless steel quadralatch finger test report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deichelbohrer, P.R.

1996-01-01

The design of the quadralatch on the universal samplers was changed in response to flammable gas operating constraints. Additional redesign of the fingers was included to facilitate manufacturability. The new design was tested to assure satisfactory performance. It was shown that the fingers can hold a sampler in place with an upward force of at least 2200 N (500 pounds) and that the mechanical remote latch unit can release the quadralatch under this condition of maximum upward force

Use of Mutation Breeding Technique in Improving Finger Millet in Northern Zambia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Msikita, R.N.

2002-01-01

Many breeders have observed that induced mutation increases genetic variability, and the expose to mutagenic agents increases mutation frequency. Studies have indicated the effect in height reduction, increased yield components,disease resistance, in crop like rice and wheat. A study was conducted in finger millet in thr Northern part of Zambia (Region III), a high rainfall area, aiming at improving finger length, number of fingers till ring capacity in order to increase the yield. the seed of Nyika variety, popular to farmers due to its medium maturity, palm shaped fingers (six fingers on average), and light brown grain. Three quantities of seed were irradiated at 15Kr, 20Kr and 30Kr doses. A dose of 15Kr of gamma rays irradiation continued to create good genetic change in the exposed material. These observations clearly suggest that 15Kr dose of gamma rays is the optimum one to expose/irradiate finger millet to create desired genetic changes. The results of 2000/2001 were not significantly different. However, FMM 165 had better yields (3193 Kg) than FMM 175 in Misamfu, while FMM 175 yielded better (3272 Kg) in Chinsali. During 2001/2002 both FMMs performed well in the national finger number of 10 per head. There were also highly significant differences among finger lengths.FMM 165 had finger length of 10.3 cm. Concerning grain yield FMM 165 and FMM 175 had 3802 and 3864 Kg/ha, respectively, which were above the overall mean 3864 Kg/ha. Grain yield correlated positively with finger number with an r-value of 0.19 and finger length r-value of 0.22 although it was not significant at 1% or 5%. Meanwhile in the advance trial there were significant differences among genotypes in finger number. Both FMMs had 9 fingers above the overall mean of 8.8. In the finger length there were highly significant differences. FMM 175 had a length of 11.5 cm while FMM 165 had 10.4 cm. There were highly significant differences among the genotypes in yield. FMM 165 (4636 Kg) and FMM 175

Central and peripheral administration of antisense oligonucleotide targeting amyloid-β protein precursor improves learning and memory and reduces neuroinflammatory cytokines in Tg2576 (AβPPswe) mice.

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Farr, Susan A; Erickson, Michelle A; Niehoff, Michael L; Banks, William A; Morley, John E

2014-01-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. Currently, there are no therapies to stop or reverse the symptoms of AD. We have developed an antisense oligonucleotide (OL-1) against the amyloid-β protein precursor (AβPP) that can decrease AβPP expression and amyloid-β protein (Aβ) production. This antisense rapidly crosses the blood-brain barrier, reverses learning and memory impairments, reduces oxidative stress, and restores brain-to-blood efflux of Aβ in SAMP8 mice. Here, we examined the effects of this AβPP antisense in the Tg2576 mouse model of AD. We administered the OL-1 antisense into the lateral ventricle 3 times at 2week intervals. Seventy-two hours after the third injection, we tested learning and memory in T-maze foot shock avoidance. In the second study, we injected the mice with OL-1 antisense 3 times at 2-week intervals via the tail vein. Seventy-two hours later, we tested learning and memory T-maze, novel object recognition, and elevated plus maze. At the end of behavioral testing, brain tissue was collected. OL-1 antisense administered centrally improved acquisition and retention of T-maze foot shock avoidance. OL-1 antisense administered via tail vein improved learning and memory in both T-maze foot shock avoidance and novel object-place recognition. In the elevated plus maze, the mice which received OL-1 antisense spent less time in the open arms and had fewer entries into the open arms indicating reduced disinhibitation. Biochemical analyses reveal significant reduction of AβPP signal and a reduction of measures of neuroinflammation. The current findings support the therapeutic potential of OL-1 AβPP antisense.

Effects of glutamine pretreatment on learning and memory in heat-exposed rats

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Shenghao Zhao; Lei Wang; Qin Wang; Siyi Wang; Chundi Deng; Xianfei Xie; Youe Yan; Hui Wang

2008-01-01

BACKGROUND: Glutamine (Gln) pretreatment can protect neural cells from injuries due to heat, ischemia, hypoxia, endotoxemia, and inflammatory factors.OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of Gln pretreatment on learning and memory, survival time, and rectal temperature in heat-exposed rats.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: The present randomized grouping, neurobehavioral experiment was performed at the Laboratory of Department of Pharmacology, Basic School of Medicine, Wuhan University between March and September 2007.MATERIALS: Twenty-four healthy, Wistar rats were included in this study. SPX-160B biochemistry incubator (Shanghai Experimental Equipment Co., Ltd., China), probe electronic thermometer (11000 type, Maikepai Science and Technology Co., Ltd., China), Y-type maze box used in conjunction with MG-2 maze stimulator (Zhangjiagang Biomedical Instrument Factory, China), L-Gin (Batch No. 061218, 5 g/bottle, prepared into 10% aqueous solution, Amresco Company, USA) were used.METHODS: Twenty-four rats were randomly and evenly divided into 3 groups: heat-exposed, Gln low-lose, and Gln high-dose. Following learning and memory testing with the Y-maze, rats in the heat-exposed group were subjected to heat injury (40.5-41.5℃) in a biochemistry incubator. Rectal temperature was measured every 5 minutes. Thirty-five minutes after heat exposure, rats were removed and placed in the Y-type maze to test learning and memory again. Subsequently, the rats were returned to the same environment of thermal stimulation until they died. Rat survival time was recorded. Subsequent to learning and memory testing, rats in the Gln low-dose and high-dose groups received an i.p. injection of Gln (0.4 g/kg and 0.8 g/kg, respectively), and were exposed to heat injury. The remaining experimental procedures remained the same as for the heat-exposed group.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Rat learning and memory, rectal temperature, and survival time in heat exposure environment.RESULTS: (1) In the Y-maze

Postnatal Gene Therapy Improves Spatial Learning Despite the Presence of Neuronal Ectopia in a Model of Neuronal Migration Disorder

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Huaiyu Hu

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Patients with type II lissencephaly, a neuronal migration disorder with ectopic neurons, suffer from severe mental retardation, including learning deficits. There is no effective therapy to prevent or correct the formation of neuronal ectopia, which is presumed to cause cognitive deficits. We hypothesized that learning deficits were not solely caused by neuronal ectopia and that postnatal gene therapy could improve learning without correcting the neuronal ectopia formed during fetal development. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated spatial learning of cerebral cortex-specific protein O-mannosyltransferase 2 (POMT2, an enzyme required for O-mannosyl glycosylation knockout mice and compared to the knockout mice that were injected with an adeno-associated viral vector (AAV encoding POMT2 into the postnatal brains with Barnes maze. The data showed that the knockout mice exhibited reduced glycosylation in the cerebral cortex, reduced dendritic spine density on CA1 neurons, and increased latency to the target hole in the Barnes maze, indicating learning deficits. Postnatal gene therapy restored functional glycosylation, rescued dendritic spine defects, and improved performance on the Barnes maze by the knockout mice even though neuronal ectopia was not corrected. These results indicate that postnatal gene therapy improves spatial learning despite the presence of neuronal ectopia.

Finger Vein Recognition Based on Local Directional Code

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Xianjing; Yang, Gongping; Yin, Yilong; Xiao, Rongyang

2012-01-01

Finger vein patterns are considered as one of the most promising biometric authentication methods for its security and convenience. Most of the current available finger vein recognition methods utilize features from a segmented blood vessel network. As an improperly segmented network may degrade the recognition accuracy, binary pattern based methods are proposed, such as Local Binary Pattern (LBP), Local Derivative Pattern (LDP) and Local Line Binary Pattern (LLBP). However, the rich directional information hidden in the finger vein pattern has not been fully exploited by the existing local patterns. Inspired by the Webber Local Descriptor (WLD), this paper represents a new direction based local descriptor called Local Directional Code (LDC) and applies it to finger vein recognition. In LDC, the local gradient orientation information is coded as an octonary decimal number. Experimental results show that the proposed method using LDC achieves better performance than methods using LLBP. PMID:23202194

Finger Vein Recognition Based on Local Directional Code

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rongyang Xiao

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Finger vein patterns are considered as one of the most promising biometric authentication methods for its security and convenience. Most of the current available finger vein recognition methods utilize features from a segmented blood vessel network. As an improperly segmented network may degrade the recognition accuracy, binary pattern based methods are proposed, such as Local Binary Pattern (LBP, Local Derivative Pattern (LDP and Local Line Binary Pattern (LLBP. However, the rich directional information hidden in the finger vein pattern has not been fully exploited by the existing local patterns. Inspired by the Webber Local Descriptor (WLD, this paper represents a new direction based local descriptor called Local Directional Code (LDC and applies it to finger vein recognition. In LDC, the local gradient orientation information is coded as an octonary decimal number. Experimental results show that the proposed method using LDC achieves better performance than methods using LLBP.

NUMERICALLY DETERMINED TRANSPORT LAWS FOR FINGERING ('THERMOHALINE') CONVECTION IN ASTROPHYSICS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Traxler, A.; Garaud, P.; Stellmach, S.

2011-01-01

We present the first three-dimensional simulations of fingering convection performed at parameter values approaching those relevant for astrophysics. Our simulations reveal the existence of simple asymptotic scaling laws for turbulent heat and compositional transport, which can be straightforwardly extrapolated from our numerically tractable values to the true astrophysical regime. Our investigation also indicates that thermo-compositional 'staircases', a key consequence of fingering convection in the ocean, cannot form spontaneously in the fingering regime in stellar interiors. Our proposed empirically determined transport laws thus provide simple prescriptions for mixing by fingering convection in a variety of astrophysical situations, and should, from here on, be used preferentially over older and less accurate parameterizations. They also establish that fingering convection does not provide sufficient extra-mixing to explain observed chemical abundances in red giant branch stars.

Use of maze in cyclotron hoppers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernandes, Fernando A.; Alves, Juliano S.; Fochesatto, Cintia; Cerioli, Luciane; Borges, Joao Alfredo; Gonzalez, Delfin; Silva, Daniel C.

2013-01-01

Introduction: the increasing number of cyclotrons in Brazil due to constitutional amendment 49 /06 that enabled the production of radiopharmaceuticals with a short half - life by private companies. The radionuclides used for PET - CT require production centers near or within the diagnostic centers. In order to minimize maintenance and operating risks, gaining efficiency, our facility was the first in Brazil to use the access to a cyclotron bunker via maze, rather than armored door stopper type. Materials: the design calculations were based on the Monte Carlo method (MCNP5 - Monte Carlo N-Particletransportcode version 5). At the ends of the labyrinth are installed a door of polyethylene, for thermalization of neutrons, and other of wood for limiting access. Both legs of the maze have wall thickness of 100cm. In inspection Brazilian CNEN realize measures of dose rate for neutrons and gamma 9 points: 7 around the bunker, 1 over the bunker and 1 in the exhaust with the cyclotron operating with maximum load, double beam of 50uA for 2 hours. After commissioning were carried out around the bunker, the following measures: cumulative dose in three months with dosimeters for neutron rate dose with a gas proportional detector type filled with 3 He and polyethylene neutron moderator and dose rate with a Geiger - Mueller detector for gamma radiation. Readings with neutron detectors were classified as background radiation and dose rates were always below the limits established in standard EN 3.01, and the calculation of the predicted regardless of the intensity of irradiation inside the bunker. Conclusion: the use of labyrinths as a way to access the bunkers cyclotron has been shown to be effective as the radiation shielding and efficient by allowing quick and easy access, virtually eliminating the maintenance

Evaluation of finger millet incorporated noodles for nutritive value and glycemic index

OpenAIRE

Shukla, Kamini; Srivastava, Sarita

2011-01-01

The present study was undertaken to develop finger millet incorporated noodles for diabetic patients. Finger millet variety VL-149 was taken. The finger millet flour and refined wheat flour (RWF) were evaluated for nutrient composition. The finger millet flour (FMF) was blended in various proportions (30 to 50%) in refined wheat flour and used for the preparation of noodles. Control consisted of RWF noodles. Sensory quality and nutrient composition of finger millet noodles was evaluated. The ...

Learning context modulates aversive taste strength in honey bees.

Science.gov (United States)

de Brito Sanchez, Maria Gabriela; Serre, Marion; Avarguès-Weber, Aurore; Dyer, Adrian G; Giurfa, Martin

2015-03-01

The capacity of honey bees (Apis mellifera) to detect bitter substances is controversial because they ingest without reluctance different kinds of bitter solutions in the laboratory, whereas free-flying bees avoid them in visual discrimination tasks. Here, we asked whether the gustatory perception of bees changes with the behavioral context so that tastes that are less effective as negative reinforcements in a given context become more effective in a different context. We trained bees to discriminate an odorant paired with 1 mol l(-1) sucrose solution from another odorant paired with either distilled water, 3 mol l(-1) NaCl or 60 mmol l(-1) quinine. Training was either Pavlovian [olfactory conditioning of the proboscis extension reflex (PER) in harnessed bees], or mainly operant (olfactory conditioning of free-walking bees in a Y-maze). PER-trained and maze-trained bees were subsequently tested both in their original context and in the alternative context. Whereas PER-trained bees transferred their choice to the Y-maze situation, Y-maze-trained bees did not respond with a PER to odors when subsequently harnessed. In both conditioning protocols, NaCl and distilled water were the strongest and the weakest aversive reinforcement, respectively. A significant variation was found for quinine, which had an intermediate aversive effect in PER conditioning but a more powerful effect in the Y-maze, similar to that of NaCl. These results thus show that the aversive strength of quinine varies with the learning context, and reveal the plasticity of the bee's gustatory system. We discuss the experimental constraints of both learning contexts and focus on stress as a key modulator of taste in the honey bee. Further explorations of bee taste are proposed to understand the physiology of taste modulation in bees. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Glia protein aquaporin-4 regulates aversive motivation of spatial memory in Morris water maze.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ji; Li, Ying; Chen, Zhong-Guo; Dang, Hui; Ding, Jian-Hua; Fan, Yi; Hu, Gang

2013-12-01

Although extensive investigation has revealed that an astrocyte-specific protein aquaporin-4 (AQP4) participates in regulating synaptic plasticity and memory, a functional relationship between AQP4 and learning processing has not been clearly established. This study was designed to test our hypothesis that AQP4 modulates the aversive motivation in Morris water maze (MWM). Using hidden platform training, we observed that AQP4 KO mice significantly decreased their swimming velocity compared with wild-type (WT) mice. To test for a relationship between velocities and escape motivation, we removed the platform and subjected a new group of mice similar to the session of hidden platform training. We found that KO mice exhibited a gradual reduction in swimming velocity, while WT mice did not alter their velocity. In the subsequent probe trial, KO mice after no platform training significantly decreased their mean velocity compared with those KO mice after hide platform training. However, all of KO mice were not impaired in their ability to locate a visible, cued escape platform. Our findings, along with a previous report that AQP4 regulates memory consolidation, implicate a novel role for this glial protein in modulating the aversive motivation in spatial learning paradigm. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Osmosis-driven viscous fingering of oil-in-water emulsions

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ying; Rallabandi, Bhargav; Baskaran, Mrudhula; Stone, Howard

2017-11-01

Viscous fingering occurs when a low viscosity fluid invades a more viscous fluid. Fingering of two miscible fluids is more complicated than that of immiscible fluids in that there is no sharp fluid-fluid interface and diffusion occurs between the phases. We experimentally studied the fingering of two miscible fluids: an oil-in-water emulsion and a sodium chloride solution. When the concentration of sodium chloride in the water phase in the emulsion exceeds that in the sodium chloride solution, the consequent osmotic flow automatically facilitates the occurrence of the fingering. On the contrary, when the sodium chloride solution has higher concentration, the spreading of emulsion is more uniform than the case without the concentration difference. We provide a model to rationalize and quantify these observations.

[Cox/maze III procedure combined with mitral valve replacement in treatment of rheumatic mitral valve disease with atrial fibrilation].

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Rukun; Wang, Yongqing; Chen, Yongbing; Chen, Suocheng

2002-06-25

To compare the curative effect of Cox/maze III procedure combined with mitral replacement and that of mitral valve replacement (MVR). Fifty-six patients suffering from rheumatic heart disease with atrial fibrillation (AF) were treated by Cox/maze III procedure combined with MVR (maze group). Another 56 age, sex, and heart function-matched patients with the same diagnosis underwent MVR alone during the same period. Warfarin was administered after operation in both groups. Comparison of operative complication and curative effects was made. The aortic cross-clamp time and cardio pulmonary bypass time (CPB) were longer in maze group than in MVT group (75 +/- 22 min vs 41 +/- 11 min, P Atrial contractility was restored in all patients with sinus rhythm. One year after operation, 98.18% patients' cardiac function changed to grade and 1.82% changed to grade II. In MVR group AF disappeared after operation temporarily for 24 hours in 7 patients and re-appeared, and AF disappeared in one patients for 2 years so far. One year after operation, the cardiac function of 94.6% patients in MVR group changed to grade I, of 3.6% patients to grade II, and of 1.8% patients to grade III. No serious hemorrhage relate d to anticoagulant therapy happened. One patient in MVR group suffered from hemiplegia due to cerebral embolism. The late mortality was 1.8% on maze group amd 3.6% in MVR group. Cox/maze III procedure combined with NVR is safe and effective in treating rheumatic heart disease with AF.

Finger-vein and fingerprint recognition based on a feature-level fusion method

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Yang, Jinfeng; Hong, Bofeng

2013-07-01

Multimodal biometrics based on the finger identification is a hot topic in recent years. In this paper, a novel fingerprint-vein based biometric method is proposed to improve the reliability and accuracy of the finger recognition system. First, the second order steerable filters are used here to enhance and extract the minutiae features of the fingerprint (FP) and finger-vein (FV). Second, the texture features of fingerprint and finger-vein are extracted by a bank of Gabor filter. Third, a new triangle-region fusion method is proposed to integrate all the fingerprint and finger-vein features in feature-level. Thus, the fusion features contain both the finger texture-information and the minutiae triangular geometry structure. Finally, experimental results performed on the self-constructed finger-vein and fingerprint databases are shown that the proposed method is reliable and precise in personal identification.

Spontaneous eye blinks are entrained by finger tapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Cong, D-K; Sharikadze, M; Staude, G; Deubel, H; Wolf, W

2010-02-01

We studied the mutual cross-talk between spontaneous eye blinks and continuous, self-paced unimanual and bimanual tapping. Both types of motor activities were analyzed with regard to their time-structure in synchronization-continuation tapping tasks which involved different task instructions, namely "standard" finger tapping (Experiment 1), "strong" tapping (Experiment 2) requiring more forceful finger movements, and "impulse-like" tapping (Experiment 3) where upward-downward finger movements had to be very fast. In a further control condition (Experiment 4), tapping was omitted altogether. The results revealed a prominent entrainment of spontaneous blink behavior by the manual tapping, with bimanual tapping being more effective than unimanual tapping, and with the "strong" and "impulse-like" tapping showing the largest effects on blink timing. Conversely, we found no significant effects of the tapping on the timing of the eye blinks across all experiments. The findings suggest a functional overlap of the motor control structures responsible for voluntary, rhythmic finger movements and eye blinking behavior.

Design and control of five fingered under-actuated robotic hand

Science.gov (United States)

Sahoo, Biswojit; Parida, Pramod Kumar

2018-04-01

Now a day's research regarding humanoid robots and its application in different fields (industry, household, rehabilitation and exploratory) is going on entire the globe. Among which a challenging topic is to design a dexterous robotic hand which not only can perform as a hand of a robot but also can be used in re habilitation. The basic key concern is a dexterous robot hand which can be able to mimic the function of biological hand to perform different operations. This thesis work is regarding design and control of a under-actuated robotic hand consisting of four under actuated fingers (index finger, middle finger, little finger and ring finger ) , a thumb and a dexterous palm which can copy the motions and grasp type of human hand which having 21degrees of freedom instead of 25Degree Of Freedom.

Genome-Wide Identification and Analysis of Genes Encoding PHD-Finger Protein in Tomato

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayat, S.; Cheng, Z.; Chen, X.

2016-01-01

The PHD-finger proteins are conserved in eukaryotic organisms and are involved in a variety of important functions in different biological processes in plants. However, the function of PHD fingers are poorly known in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). In current study, we identified 45 putative genes coding Phd finger protein in tomato distributed on 11 chromosomes except for chromosome 8. Some of the genes encode other conserved key domains besides Phd-finger. Phylogenetic analysis of these 45 proteins resulted in seven clusters. Most Phd finger proteins were predicted to PML body location. These PHD-finger genes displayed differential expression either in various organs, at different development stages and under stresses in tomato. Our study provides the first systematic analysis of PHD-finger genes and proteins in tomato. This preliminary study provides a very useful reference information for Phd-finger proteins in tomato. They will be helpful for cloning and functional study of tomato PHD-finger genes. (author)

Optical Myography: Detecting Finger Movements by Looking at the Forearm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian eNissler

2016-04-01

Full Text Available One of the crucial problems found in the scientific community of assistive / rehabilitation robotics nowadays is that of automatically detecting what a disabled subject (for instance, a hand amputee wants to do, exactly when she wants to do it and strictly for the time she wants to do it. This problem, commonly called intent detection, has traditionally been tackled using surface electromyography, a technique which suffers from a number of drawbacks, including the changes in the signal induced by sweat and muscle fatigue. With the advent of realistic, physically plausible augmented- and virtual-reality environments for rehabilitation, this approach does not suffice anymore. In this paper we explore a novel method to solve the problem, that we call Optical Myography (OMG. The idea is to visually inspect the human forearm (or stump to reconstruct what fingers are moving and to what extent. In a psychophysical experiment involving ten intact subjects, we used visual fiducial markers (AprilTags and a standard web-camera to visualize the deformations of the surface of the forearm, which then were mapped to the intended finger motions. As ground truth, a visual stimulus was used, avoiding the need for finger sensors (force/position sensors, datagloves, etc.. Two machine-learning approaches, a linear and a non-linear one, were comparatively tested in settings of increasing realism. The results indicate an average error in the range of 0.05 to 0.22 (root mean square error normalized over the signal range, in line with similar results obtained with more mature techniques such as electromyography. If further successfully tested in the large, this approach could lead to vision-based intent detection of amputees, with the main application of letting such disabled persons dexterously and reliably interact in an augmented- / virtual-reality setup.

Lipopolysaccharide causes deficits in spatial learning in the watermaze but not in BDNF expression in the rat dentate gyrus.

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Shaw, K N; Commins, S; O'Mara, S M

2001-09-28

We investigated the effects of a single injection and a daily injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on spatial learning and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in the rat dentate gyrus. LPS is derived from the cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria and is a potent endotoxin that causes the release of cytokines such as interleukin-1 and tumour necrosis factor. LPS is thought to activate both the neuroimmune and neuroendocrine systems; it also blocks long-term potentiation in the hippocampus. Here, we examined the effects of LPS on a form of hippocampal-dependent learning-spatial learning in the water maze. Rats were injected with LPS intraperitoneally (100 microg/kg) and trained in the water maze. The first group of rats were injected on day 1 of training, 4 h prior to learning the water maze task. Groups 2 and 3 were injected daily, again 4 h prior to the water-maze task; group 2 with LPS and group 3 with saline. A number of behavioural variables were recorded by a computerised tracking system for each trial. The behavioural results showed a single injection of LPS (group 1) impaired escape latency in both the acquisition and retention phases of the study, whereas a daily injection of LPS did not significantly impair acquisition or retention. BDNF expression was analysed in the dentate gyrus of all animals. No significant differences in BDNF expression were found between the three groups.

Impact of a modified Maze procedure on the atrial hormonal function and level of myocardial damage markers

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S. I. Zheleznev

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF in patients with valvular heart disease remains one of the most pressing problems in cardiac surgery. The purpose of the study was to determine the dynamics of proANP and myocardial damage markers depending on a modification of the radiofrequency (RF Maze procedure used. The study involved 86 patients operated over a period from November 2007 to December 2010. A concomitant RF Maze procedure during mitral valve (MV surgery was performed in two groups of the cohort; in group 1 it was the standard Maze IV scheme, in group 2 it was the modified one. In both groups we assessed the levels of proANP and myocardial damage markers. In group 1 a more significant decrease in proANP (by 4 times was seen as compared to group 2 (by half. In group 1, the pleural effusion rate was 46.2%, and thoracocentesis rate reached 25.6%. In group 2, the corresponding rates were lower,14.9% and 27.7%. During the first postoperative day there was an increase in creatine phosphokinase MB fraction and Troponin T in both groups, and the rise was significantly higher in group 1. It should be noted that modified Maze IV RF ablation results in 80% freedom from AF, which is consistent with that of the standard Maze IV scheme. In patients with left atrial ablation the proANP secretion is less prominent early after surgery, and myocardial damage is lower in comparison with biatrial ablation.

Low Power Measurements on a Finger Drift Tube Linac

CERN Document Server

Schempp, A

2004-01-01

The efficiency of RFQs decreases at higher particle energies. The DTL structures used in this energy regions have a defocusing influence on the beam. To achieve a focusing effect, fingers with quadrupole symmetry were added to the drift tubes. Driven by the same power supply as the drift tubes, the fingers do not need an additional power source or feedthrough. Beam dynamics have been studied with PARMTEQ . Detailed analysis of the field distribution was done and the geometry of the finger array has been optimized with respect to beam dynamics. A spiral loaded cavity with finger drift tubes was built up and low power measurements were done. In this contribution, the results of the rf simulating with Microwave Studio are shown in comparison with bead pertubation measurement on a prototype cavity.

Role of protein structure and the role of individual fingers in zinc finger protein-DNA recognition: a molecular dynamics simulation study and free energy calculations

Science.gov (United States)

Hamed, Mazen Y.

2018-05-01

Molecular dynamics and MM_GBSA energy calculations on various zinc finger proteins containing three and four fingers bound to their target DNA gave insights into the role of each finger in the DNA binding process as part of the protein structure. The wild type Zif 268 (PDB code: 1AAY) gave a ΔG value of - 76.1 (14) kcal/mol. Zinc fingers ZF1, ZF2 and ZF3 were mutated in one experiment and in another experiment one finger was cut and the rest of the protein was studied for binding. The ΔΔG values for the Zinc Finger protein with both ZF1 and ZF2 mutated was + 80 kcal/mol, while mutating only ZF1 the ΔΔG value was + 52 kcal/mol (relative to the wild type). Cutting ZF3 and studying the protein consisting only of ZF1 linked to ZF2 gave a ΔΔG value of + 68 kcal/mol. Upon cutting ZF1, the resulting ZF2 linked to ZF3 protein gave a ΔΔG value of + 41 kcal/mol. The above results shed light on the importance of each finger in the binding process, especially the role of ZF1 as the anchoring finger followed in importance by ZF2 and ZF3. The energy difference between the binding of the wild type protein Zif268 (1AAY) and that for individual finger binding to DNA according to the formula: ΔΔGlinkers, otherstructuralfactors = ΔGzif268 - (ΔGF1+F2+F3) gave a value = - 44.5 kcal/mol. This stabilization can be attributed to the contribution of linkers and other structural factors in the intact protein in the DNA binding process. DNA binding energies of variant proteins of the wild type Zif268 which differ in their ZF1 amino acid sequence gave evidence of a good relationship between binding energy and recognition and specificity, this finding confirms the reported vital role of ZF1 in the ZF protein scanning and anchoring to the target DNA sequence. The role of hydrogen bonds in both specific and nonspecific amino acid-DNA contacts is discussed in relation to mutations. The binding energies of variant Zinc Finger proteins confirmed the role of ZF1 in the recognition

On the relationship between finger width, velocity, and fluxes in thermohaline convection

Science.gov (United States)

Sreenivas, K. R.; Singh, O. P.; Srinivasan, J.

2009-02-01

Double-diffusive finger convection occurs in many natural processes. The theories for double-diffusive phenomena that exist at present consider systems with linear stratification in temperature and salinity. The double-diffusive systems with step change in salinity and temperature are, however, not amenable to simple stability analysis. Hence factors that control the width of the finger, velocity, and fluxes in systems that have step change in temperature and salinity have not been understood so far. In this paper we provide new physical insight regarding factors that influence finger convection in two-layer double-diffusive system through two-dimensional numerical simulations. Simulations have been carried out for density stability ratios (Rρ) from 1.5 to 10. For each density stability ratio, the thermal Rayleigh number (RaT) has been systematically varied from 7×103 to 7×108. Results from these simulations show how finger width, velocity, and flux ratios in finger convection are interrelated and the influence of governing parameters such as density stability ratio and the thermal Rayleigh number. The width of the incipient fingers at the time of onset of instability has been shown to vary as RaT-1/3. Velocity in the finger varies as RaT1/3/Rρ. Results from simulation agree with the scale analysis presented in the paper. Our results demonstrate that wide fingers have lower velocities and flux ratios compared to those in narrow fingers. This result contradicts present notions about the relation between finger width and flux ratio. A counterflow heat-exchanger analogy is used in understanding the dependence of flux ratio on finger width and velocity.

The Incidence of Finger Ridge Counts among the Christian ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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higher among the males than females, with sex difference significant ,they were compared with ... Finger prints were taken by a USB finger print reader (Biometric Scanner).According .... "Digital dermatoglyphics of three caste groups of Mysore.

Experience of Percutaneous Trigger Finger Release under Local ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Trigger finger is a common disorder of upper extremity. Majority of the patients can be treated conservatively but some resistant cases eventually need surgery. Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the results of percutaneous trigger finger release under local anesthesia. Subjects and Methods: This is a ...

Comparative Performance Analysis of G-RAKE Receivers with Suboptimal Finger Placement

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K. B. Baltzis

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Generalized RAKE (G-RAKE reception reduces the total amount of interference and provides enhanced diversity by comprising extra fingers to collect information about interference and further using channel and impairment correlation estimates for fingers allocation. However, the hardware complexity and the excessive computational requirements of GRAKE receivers may restrict their application in real systems; thus, suboptimal solutions are commonly used. In this paper, we propose and evaluate three maximum likelihood G-RAKE structures for colored noise with suboptimal finger placement. In all implementations, the fingers are optimally distributed within a time window that spans from several chip periods before the first arriving multipath to several chip periods after the latest one. The first receiver has its fingers at integer multiples of the chip period while in the rest two structures the search window is segmented in halves and tenths of the chip duration. This work also extends earlier studies by thoroughly investigating the impact of fractionally spaced finger placement on system performance. Our analysis shows that a suboptimal finger allocation reduces hardware complexity with negligible performance loss. The impact of channel delay spread and processing gain on system performance is also investigated and gives interesting results.

Can personality predict individual differences in brook trout spatial learning ability?

Science.gov (United States)

White, S.L.; Wagner, Tyler; Gowan, C.; Braithwaite, V.A.

2017-01-01

While differences in individual personality are common in animal populations, understanding the ecological significance of variation has not yet been resolved. Evidence suggests that personality may influence learning and memory; a finding that could improve our understanding of the evolutionary processes that produce and maintain intraspecific behavioural heterogeneity. Here, we tested whether boldness, the most studied personality trait in fish, could predict learning ability in brook trout. After quantifying boldness, fish were trained to find a hidden food patch in a maze environment. Stable landmark cues were provided to indicate the location of food and, at the conclusion of training, cues were rearranged to test for learning. There was a negative relationship between boldness and learning as shy fish were increasingly more successful at navigating the maze and locating food during training trials compared to bold fish. In the altered testing environment, only shy fish continued using cues to search for food. Overall, the learning rate of bold fish was found to be lower than that of shy fish for several metrics suggesting that personality could have widespread effects on behaviour. Because learning can increase plasticity to environmental change, these results have significant implications for fish conservation.

Validating the Electric Maze Task as a Measure of Planning

Science.gov (United States)

Sheppard, Kelly W.; Cheatham, Carol L.

2017-01-01

The Electric Maze Task (EMT) is a novel planning task designed to allow flexible testing of planning abilities across a broad age range and to incorporate manipulations to test underlying planning abilities, such as working-memory and inhibitory control skills. The EMT was tested in a group of 63 typically developing 7- to 12-year-olds.…

The genetic map of finger millet, Eleusine coracana.

Science.gov (United States)

Dida, Mathews M; Srinivasachary; Ramakrishnan, Sujatha; Bennetzen, Jeffrey L; Gale, Mike D; Devos, Katrien M

2007-01-01

Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), expressed-sequenced tag (EST), and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to generate a genetic map of the tetraploid finger millet (Eleusine coracana subsp. coracana) genome (2n = 4x = 36). Because levels of variation in finger millet are low, the map was generated in an inter-subspecific F(2) population from a cross between E. coracana subsp. coracana cv. Okhale-1 and its wild progenitor E. coracana subsp. africana acc. MD-20. Duplicated loci were used to identify homoeologous groups. Assignment of linkage groups to the A and B genome was done by comparing the hybridization patterns of probes in Okhale-1, MD-20, and Eleusine indica acc. MD-36. E. indica is the A genome donor to E. coracana. The maps span 721 cM on the A genome and 787 cM on the B genome and cover all 18 finger millet chromosomes, at least partially. To facilitate the use of marker-assisted selection in finger millet, a first set of 82 SSR markers was developed. The SSRs were identified in small-insert genomic libraries generated using methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes. Thirty-one of the SSRs were mapped. Application of the maps and markers in hybridization-based breeding programs will expedite the improvement of finger millet.

Kinematic design of a finger abduction mechanism for an anthropomorphic robotic hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L.-A. A. Demers

2011-02-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the kinematic design of an abduction mechanism for the fingers of an underactuated anthropomorphic robotic hand. This mechanism will enhance the range of feasible grasps of the underactuated hand without significantly increasing its complexity. The analysis of the link between the index finger and the third finger is first assessed, where the parameters are studied in order to follow the amplitude constraint and to minimize the coordination error. Then, the study of the mechanism joining the third finger and the little finger is summarized. Finally, a prototype of the finger's abduction system is presented.

This paper was presented at the IFToMM/ASME International Workshop on Underactuated Grasping (UG2010, 19 August 2010, Montréal, Canada.

Associative visual learning by tethered bees in a controlled visual environment.

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Buatois, Alexis; Pichot, Cécile; Schultheiss, Patrick; Sandoz, Jean-Christophe; Lazzari, Claudio R; Chittka, Lars; Avarguès-Weber, Aurore; Giurfa, Martin

2017-10-10

Free-flying honeybees exhibit remarkable cognitive capacities but the neural underpinnings of these capacities cannot be studied in flying insects. Conversely, immobilized bees are accessible to neurobiological investigation but display poor visual learning. To overcome this limitation, we aimed at establishing a controlled visual environment in which tethered bees walking on a spherical treadmill learn to discriminate visual stimuli video projected in front of them. Freely flying bees trained to walk into a miniature Y-maze displaying these stimuli in a dark environment learned the visual discrimination efficiently when one of them (CS+) was paired with sucrose and the other with quinine solution (CS-). Adapting this discrimination to the treadmill paradigm with a tethered, walking bee was successful as bees exhibited robust discrimination and preferred the CS+ to the CS- after training. As learning was better in the maze, movement freedom, active vision and behavioral context might be important for visual learning. The nature of the punishment associated with the CS- also affects learning as quinine and distilled water enhanced the proportion of learners. Thus, visual learning is amenable to a controlled environment in which tethered bees learn visual stimuli, a result that is important for future neurobiological studies in virtual reality.

Generation of dense plume fingers in saturated-unsaturated homogeneous porous media

Science.gov (United States)

Cremer, Clemens J. M.; Graf, Thomas

2015-02-01

Flow under variable-density conditions is widespread, occurring in geothermal reservoirs, at waste disposal sites or due to saltwater intrusion. The migration of dense plumes typically results in the formation of vertical plume fingers which are known to be triggered by material heterogeneity or by variations in source concentration that causes the density variation. Using a numerical groundwater model, six perturbation methods are tested under saturated and unsaturated flow conditions to mimic heterogeneity and concentration variations on the pore scale in order to realistically generate dense fingers. A laboratory-scale sand tank experiment is numerically simulated, and the perturbation methods are evaluated by comparing plume fingers obtained from the laboratory experiment with numerically simulated fingers. Dense plume fingering for saturated flow can best be reproduced with a spatially random, time-constant perturbation of the solute source. For unsaturated flow, a spatially and temporally random noise of solute concentration or a random conductivity field adequately simulate plume fingering.

Radiation safety education reduces the incidence of adult fingers on neonatal chest radiographs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sahota, N; Burbridge, B E; Duncan, M D

2014-01-01

A previous audit revealed a high frequency of adult fingers visualised on neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) chest radiographs—representing an example of inappropriate occupational radiation exposure. Radiation safety education was provided to staff and we hypothesised that the education would reduce the frequency of adult fingers visualised on NICU chest radiographs. Two cross-sectional samples taken before and after the administration of the education were compared. We examined fingers visualised directly in the beam, fingers in the direct beam but eliminated by technologists editing the image, and fingers under the cones of the portable x-ray machine. There was a 46.2% reduction in fingers directly in the beam, 50.0% reduction in fingers directly in the beam but cropped out, and 68.4% reduction in fingers in the coned area. There was a 57.1% overall reduction in adult fingers visualised, which was statistically significant (Z value − 7.48, P < 0.0001). This study supports radiation safety education in minimising inappropriate occupational radiation exposure. (paper)

MK-801 induced amnesia for the elevated plus-maze in mice

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Hliňák, Zdeněk; Krejčí, I.

2002-01-01

Roč. 131, 1-2 (2002), s. 221-225 ISSN 0166-4328 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA309/00/1644 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z5011922 Keywords : amnesia * elevated plus-maze * MK-801 Subject RIV: FH - Neurology Impact factor: 2.791, year: 2002

Nogo-A downregulation impairs place avoidance in the Carousel maze but not spatial memory in the Morris water maze

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Petrásek, Tomáš; Prokopová, Iva; Bahník, Štěpán; Schönig, K.; Berger, S.; Valeš, Karel; Tews, B.; Schwab, M. E.; Bartsch, D.; Stuchlík, Aleš

2014-01-01

Roč. 107, Jan 2014 (2014), s. 42-49 ISSN 1074-7427 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GCP303/10/J032; GA ČR(CZ) GBP304/12/G069; GA MZd(CZ) NT13386; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-03627S Grant - others:Rada Programu interní podpory projektů mezinárodní spolupráce AV ČR(CZ) M200111204; Univerzita Karlova(CZ) 365911 Institutional support: RVO:67985823 Keywords : Nogo-A * spatial navigation * cognitive coordination * spatial mazes * transgenic rat model Subject RIV: FH - Neurology Impact factor: 3.652, year: 2014

X-Ray Exam: Finger

Science.gov (United States)

... Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español X-Ray Exam: Finger KidsHealth / For Parents / X-Ray Exam: ... Muscles, and Joints Broken Bones Getting an X-ray (Video) X-Ray (Video) View more Partner Message About Us ...

Synchronized tapping facilitates learning sound sequences as indexed by the P300.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamiyama, Keiko S; Okanoya, Kazuo

2014-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether and how single finger tapping in synchrony with sound sequences contributed to the auditory processing of them. The participants learned two unfamiliar sound sequences via different methods. In the tapping condition, they learned an auditory sequence while they tapped in synchrony with each sound onset. In the no tapping condition, they learned another sequence while they kept pressing a key until the sequence ended. After these learning sessions, we presented the two melodies again and recorded event-related potentials (ERPs). During the ERP recordings, 10% of the tones within each melody deviated from the original tones. An analysis of the grand average ERPs showed that deviant stimuli elicited a significant P300 in the tapping but not in the no-tapping condition. In addition, the significance of the P300 effect in the tapping condition increased as the participants showed highly synchronized tapping behavior during the learning sessions. These results indicated that single finger tapping promoted the conscious detection and evaluation of deviants within the learned sequences. The effect was related to individuals' musical ability to coordinate their finger movements along with external auditory events.

Influence of spatial and temporal manipulations on the anxiolytic efficacy of chlordiazepoxide in mice previously exposed to the elevated plus-maze.

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, A; Rodgers, R J

1999-11-01

It has been widely reported that the anxiolytic efficacy of benzodiazepines in the elevated plus-maze test is abolished in subjects (rats or mice) that have been given a single prior undrugged experience of the test apparatus. The present series of experiments was designed to further characterise the key experiential determinants of this intriguing phenomenon in Swiss Webster mice. Using a standard 5 min test duration for both trials, Experiment 1 confirmed the anxiolytic efficacy of chlordiazepoxide (CDP; 5-20 mg/kg) in mice naive to the plus-maze, but a virtual elimination of drug effects in animals that had been pre-exposed to the maze 24 h earlier. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that, while extending the duration of initial exposure to 10 min did not prevent the loss of CDP (10 mg/kg) efficacy in a standard-duration second trial, increasing the duration of both trials reinstated an anxiolytic profile for the compound. Finally, although trial 1 confinement to an open arm did not compromise CDP efficacy when animals were subsequently allowed to freely explore the maze (Experiment 4), closed arm confinement during initial exposure abolished the drug's anxiolytic action upon retest (Experiment 5). In contrast to previous findings in rats, these data suggest that the experientially induced loss of benzodiazepine efficacy in the mouse plus-maze depends rather critically upon prior discovery and exploration of relatively safe areas of the maze (i.e. closed arms). Results are discussed in relation to the hypothesis that the absence of an anxiolytic response to benzodiazepines in plus-maze-experienced subjects reflects the acquisition of an open arm phobia during trial 1.

EFFECTS OF 5, 7-DIHYDROXYTRYPTAMINE-INDUCED DEPLETION OF BRAIN SEROTONIN ON RADIAL ARM-MAZE TASK IN RATS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasile Hefco

2005-08-01

Full Text Available Adult rats pretreated with desipramine (25 mg/kg i.p.30 min before anesthesia in order to protect noradrenergic system, were subjected to intracerebroventriculare injection of 5, 7 –dihydroxytryptamine (5, 7-DHT, 150 μg, 4.5 μl/ventricle, a chronic neurotoxin of the central serotonergic function. After 1.5 months later, we assessed the working memory and reference memory in radial 8 arm-mazes. Serotonergic depletion impaired more significantly shortterm memory tested by means of the average working memory errors, entries to repeat and average time taken to consume all five baits during 12 days training. Long-term memory, explored by means of reference memory errors, was less impaired. It is concluded that serotonin, among other neurotransmitters, play one important role in cognitive functions, including learning and memory.

Intensity Variation Normalization for Finger Vein Recognition Using Guided Filter Based Singe Scale Retinex.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Shan Juan; Lu, Yu; Yoon, Sook; Yang, Jucheng; Park, Dong Sun

2015-07-14

Finger vein recognition has been considered one of the most promising biometrics for personal authentication. However, the capacities and percentages of finger tissues (e.g., bone, muscle, ligament, water, fat, etc.) vary person by person. This usually causes poor quality of finger vein images, therefore degrading the performance of finger vein recognition systems (FVRSs). In this paper, the intrinsic factors of finger tissue causing poor quality of finger vein images are analyzed, and an intensity variation (IV) normalization method using guided filter based single scale retinex (GFSSR) is proposed for finger vein image enhancement. The experimental results on two public datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in enhancing the image quality and finger vein recognition accuracy.

Evaluation of finger millet incorporated noodles for nutritive value and glycemic index.

Science.gov (United States)

Shukla, Kamini; Srivastava, Sarita

2014-03-01

The present study was undertaken to develop finger millet incorporated noodles for diabetic patients. Finger millet variety VL-149 was taken. The finger millet flour and refined wheat flour (RWF) were evaluated for nutrient composition. The finger millet flour (FMF) was blended in various proportions (30 to 50%) in refined wheat flour and used for the preparation of noodles. Control consisted of RWF noodles. Sensory quality and nutrient composition of finger millet noodles was evaluated. The 30% finger millet incorporated noodles were selected best on the basis of sensory evaluation. Noodles in that proportion along with control were evaluated for glycemic response. Nutrient composition of noodles showed that 50% finger millet incorporated noodles contained highest amount of crude fat (1.15%), total ash (1.40%), crude fiber (1.28%), carbohydrate (78.54%), physiological energy (351.36 kcal), insoluble dietary fiber (5.45%), soluble dietary fiber (3.71%), iron (5.58%) and calcium (88.39%), respectively. However, control RWF noodles contained highest amount of starch (63.02%), amylose (8.72%) and amylopectin (54.29%). The glycemic index (GI) of 30% finger millet incorporated noodles (best selected by sensory evaluation) was observed significantly lower (45.13) than control noodles (62.59). It was found that finger millet flour incorporated noodles were found nutritious and showed hypoglycemic effect.

Nailfold Capillaroscopy of Fingers and Toes - Variations of Normal.

Science.gov (United States)

Lambova, Sevdalina Nikolova; Muller-Ladner, Ulf

2018-04-20

Nailfold capillaroscopy is the only method for morphological assessment of nutritive capillaries. The literature data about capillaroscopic findings in healthy individuals are scarce. To evaluate and compare the capillaroscopic findings of fingers and toes in healthy subjects. 22 healthy individuals were included in the study. Capillaroscopic examination was performed with videocapillaroscope Videocap 3.0 (DS Medica). Exclusion criteria were as follows: history of vasospasm, presence of accompanying diseases, taking any medications, arterial hypertension in first degree relatives, overweight or obesity (body mass index > 25kg/m2) and presence of chronic arterial or venous insufficiency. Poor visibility of nailfold capillaries was found significantly more frequently in the toes (22.7%, 5/22) as compared with fingers (0/22). Slight irregularities in capillary distribution and orientation to their parallel axis were significantly more common in the toes (31.8%, 7/22) as compared with fingers (9%, 2/22), (p10%) was found significantly more often in the toes (12/22) as compared with fingers (6/22, χ2=6.769, p<0.05). Short capillary loops (length<100µm) were observed significantly more often in the toes (11/22 - toes, 1/22 - fingers, χ2=14.666, p<0.05). Capillaroscopic examination of the toes shows some differences as compared to those of the fingers such as greater number of cases with poor visibility and slight irregularities of distribution, greater number of shorter capillaries and increased tortuosity, which might be related to the thicker epidermis of the toes and increased capillary pressure due to gravity. The values of the major capillaroscopic parameters such as capillary diameters and capillary density in fingers and toes do not differ significantly. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Viscous fingering of HCI through gastric mucin

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Bhaskar, K. Ramakrishnan; Garik, Peter; Turner, Bradley S.; Bradley, James Douglas; Bansil, Rama; Stanley, H. Eugene; Lamont, J. Thomas

1992-12-01

THE HCI in the mammalian stomach is concentrated enough to digest the stomach itself, yet the gastric epithelium remains undamaged. One protective factor is gastric mucus, which forms a protective layer over the surface epithelium1-4 and acts as a diffusion barrier5,6 Bicarbonate ions secreted by the gastric epithelium7 are trapped in the mucus gel, establishing a gradient from pH 1-2 at the lumen to pH 6-7 at the cell surface8-10. How does HCI, secreted at the base of gastric glands by parietal cells, traverse the mucus layer without acidifying it? Here we demonstrate that injection of HCI through solutions of pig gastric mucin produces viscous fingering patterns11-18 dependent on pH, mucin concentration and acid flow rate. Above pH 4, discrete fingers are observed, whereas below pH 4, HCI neither penetrates the mucin solution nor forms fingers. Our in vitro results suggest that HCI secreted by the gastric gland can penetrate the mucus gel layer (pH 5-7) through narrow fingers, whereas HC1 in the lumen (pH 2) is prevented from diffusing back to the epithelium by the high viscosity of gastric mucus gel on the luminal side.

The biometric recognition on contactless multi-spectrum finger images

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Wenxiong; Chen, Xiaopeng; Wu, Qiuxia

2015-01-01

This paper presents a novel multimodal biometric system based on contactless multi-spectrum finger images, which aims to deal with the limitations of unimodal biometrics. The chief merits of the system are the richness of the permissible texture and the ease of data access. We constructed a multi-spectrum instrument to simultaneously acquire three different types of biometrics from a finger: contactless fingerprint, finger vein, and knuckleprint. On the basis of the samples with these characteristics, a moderate database was built for the evaluation of our system. Considering the real-time requirements and the respective characteristics of the three biometrics, the block local binary patterns algorithm was used to extract features and match for the fingerprints and finger veins, while the Oriented FAST and Rotated BRIEF algorithm was applied for knuckleprints. Finally, score-level fusion was performed on the matching results from the aforementioned three types of biometrics. The experiments showed that our proposed multimodal biometric recognition system achieves an equal error rate of 0.109%, which is 88.9%, 94.6%, and 89.7% lower than the individual fingerprint, knuckleprint, and finger vein recognitions, respectively. Nevertheless, our proposed system also satisfies the real-time requirements of the applications.

Manipulation of viscous fingering in a radially tapered cell geometry

Science.gov (United States)

Bongrand, Grégoire; Tsai, Peichun Amy

2018-06-01

When a more mobile fluid displaces another immiscible one in a porous medium, viscous fingering propagates with a partial sweep, which hinders oil recovery and soil remedy. We experimentally investigate the feasibility of tuning such fingering propagation in a nonuniform narrow passage with a radial injection, which is widely used in various applications. We show that a radially converging cell can suppress the common viscous fingering observed in a uniform passage, and a full sweep of the displaced fluid is then achieved. The injection flow rate Q can be further exploited to manipulate the viscous fingering instability. For a fixed gap gradient α , our experimental results show a full sweep at a small Q but partial displacement with fingering at a sufficient Q . Finally, by varying α , we identify and characterize the variation of the critical threshold between stable and unstable displacements. Our experimental results reveal good agreement with theoretical predictions by a linear stability analysis.

Morphine Reward Promotes Cue-Sensitive Learning: Implication of Dorsal Striatal CREB Activity

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Mathieu Baudonnat

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Different parallel neural circuits interact and may even compete to process and store information: whereas stimulus–response (S–R learning critically depends on the dorsal striatum (DS, spatial memory relies on the hippocampus (HPC. Strikingly, despite its potential importance for our understanding of addictive behaviors, the impact of drug rewards on memory systems dynamics has not been extensively studied. Here, we assessed long-term effects of drug- vs food reinforcement on the subsequent use of S–R vs spatial learning strategies and their neural substrates. Mice were trained in a Y-maze cue-guided task, during which either food or morphine injections into the ventral tegmental area (VTA were used as rewards. Although drug- and food-reinforced mice learned the Y-maze task equally well, drug-reinforced mice exhibited a preferential use of an S–R learning strategy when tested in a water-maze competition task designed to dissociate cue-based and spatial learning. This cognitive bias was associated with a persistent increase in the phosphorylated form of cAMP response element-binding protein phosphorylation (pCREB within the DS, and a decrease of pCREB expression in the HPC. Pharmacological inhibition of striatal PKA pathway in drug-rewarded mice limited the morphine-induced increase in levels of pCREB in DS and restored a balanced use of spatial vs cue-based learning. Our findings suggest that drug (opiate reward biases the engagement of separate memory systems toward a predominant use of the cue-dependent system via an increase in learning-related striatal pCREB activity. Persistent functional imbalance between striatal and hippocampal activity could contribute to the persistence of addictive behaviors, or counteract the efficiency of pharmacological or psychotherapeutic treatments.

Analysis and optimal design of an underactuated finger mechanism for LARM hand

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Shuangji; Ceccarelli, Marco; Carbone, Giuseppe; Zhan, Qiang; Lu, Zhen

2011-09-01

This paper aims to present general design considerations and optimality criteria for underactuated mechanisms in finger designs. Design issues related to grasping task of robotic fingers are discussed. Performance characteristics are outlined as referring to several aspects of finger mechanisms. Optimality criteria of the finger performances are formulated after careful analysis. A general design algorithm is summarized and formulated as a suitable multi-objective optimization problem. A numerical case of an underactuated robot finger design for Laboratory of Robotics and Mechatronics (LARM) hand is illustrated with the aim to show the practical feasibility of the proposed concepts and computations.

Preserved learning and memory following 5-fluorouracil and cyclophosphamide treatment in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Jeffrey M; Lee, Garrick D; Kelley-Bell, Bennett; Spangler, Edward L; Perez, Evelyn J; Longo, Dan L; de Cabo, Rafael; Zou, Sige; Rapp, Peter R

2011-11-01

Some patients experience enduring cognitive impairment after cancer treatment, a condition termed "chemofog". Animal models allow assessment of chemotherapy effects on learning and memory per se, independent of changes due to cancer itself or associated health consequences such as depression. The present study examined the long-term learning and memory effects of a chemotherapy cocktail used widely in the treatment of breast cancer, consisting of 5-fluorouracil (5FU) and cyclophosphamide (CYP). Eighty 5-month old male F344 rats received contextual and cued fear conditioning before treatment with saline, or a low or high dose drug cocktail (50mg/kg CYP and 75 mg/kg 5FU, or 75 mg/kg CYP and 120 mg/kg 5FU, i.p., respectively) every 30 days for 2 months. After a 2-month, no-drug recovery, both long-term retention and new task acquisition in the water maze and 14-unit T-maze were assessed. Neither dose of the CYP/5FU cocktail impaired retrograde fear memory despite marked toxicity documented by enduring weight loss and 50% mortality at the higher dose. Acquisition in the water maze and Stone maze was also normal relative to controls in rats treated with CYP/5FU. The results contribute to a growing literature suggesting that learning and memory mediated by the hippocampus can be relatively resistant to chemotherapy. Future investigation may need to focus on assessments of processing speed, executive function and attention, and the possible interactive contribution of cancer itself and aging to the post-treatment development of cognitive impairment. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An estimation of finger-tapping rates and load capacities and the effects of various factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Ekşioğlu, Mahmut; İşeri, Ali

2015-06-01

The aim of this study was to estimate the finger-tapping rates and finger load capacities of eight fingers (excluding thumbs) for a healthy adult population and investigate the effects of various factors on tapping rate. Finger-tapping rate, the total number of finger taps per unit of time, can be used as a design parameter of various products and also as a psychomotor test for evaluating patients with neurologic problems. A 1-min tapping task was performed by 148 participants with maximum volitional tempo for each of eight fingers. For each of the tapping tasks, the participant with the corresponding finger tapped the associated key in the standard position on the home row of a conventional keyboard for touch typing. The index and middle fingers were the fastest fingers for both hands, and little fingers the slowest. All dominant-hand fingers, except little finger, had higher tapping rates than the fastest finger of the nondominant hand. Tapping rate decreased with age and smokers tapped faster than nonsmokers. Tapping duration and exercise had also significant effect on tapping rate. Normative data of tapping rates and load capacities of eight fingers were estimated for the adult population. In designs of psychomotor tests that require the use of tapping rate or finger load capacity data, the effects of finger, age, smoking, and tapping duration need to be taken into account. The findings can be used for ergonomic designs requiring finger-tapping capacity and also as a reference in psychomotor tests. © 2015, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Association between finger tapping, attention, memory, and cognitive diagnosis in elderly patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Rabinowitz, Israel; Lavner, Yizhar

2014-08-01

This study examined the association between spontaneous finger tapping and cognitive function, with a detailed analysis of the two main phases of finger tapping, the touch-phase and the off-phase. 170 elderly patients (83 men, 87 women; M age = 82.1 yr., SD = 6.2) underwent cognitive assessment including the Mini-Mental State Examination, a forward digit span test, and 15 sec. of finger tapping. Results indicated a significant increase in the length and variability of the finger-touch phase among participants with mild cognitive impairment or dementia compared to participants with no cognitive impairment, suggesting a relationship between finger tapping and attention, short-term memory, and cognitive diagnosis. Pattern classification analyses on the finger tapping parameters indicated a specificity of 0.91 and sensitivity of 0.52 for ruling out cognitive impairment.

Trigger Finger (Stenosing Tenosynovitis)

Science.gov (United States)

... All Topics A-Z Videos Infographics Symptom Picker Anatomy Bones Joints Muscles Nerves Vessels Tendons About Hand Surgery What is a Hand Surgeon? What is a Hand Therapist? Media Find a Hand Surgeon Home Anatomy Trigger Finger Email to a friend * required fields ...

The relationship between anxiety and depression in animal models: a study using the forced swimming test and elevated plus-maze

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Andreatini

1999-09-01

Full Text Available The present study evaluated the correlation between the behavior of mice in the forced swimming test (FST and in the elevated plus-maze (PM. The effect of the order of the experiments, i.e., the influence of the first test (FST or PM on mouse behavior in the second test (PM or FST, respectively was compared to handled animals (HAND. The execution of FST one week before the plus-maze (FST-PM, N = 10, in comparison to mice that were only handled (HAND-PM, N = 10 in week 1, decreased % open entries (HAND-PM: 33.6 ± 2.9; FST-PM: 20.0 ± 3.9; mean ± SEM; P0.10. A prior test in the plus-maze (PM-FST did not change % immobility time in the FST when compared to the HAND-FST group (HAND-FST: 57.7 ± 3.9; PM-FST: 65.7 ± 3.2; mean ± SEM; P>0.10. Since these data suggest that there is an order effect, the correlation was evaluated separately with each test sequence: FST-PM (N = 20 and PM-FST (N = 18. There was no significant correlation between % immobility time in the FST and plus-maze indexes (% time and entries in open arms in any test sequence (r: -0.07 to 0.18. These data suggest that mouse behavior in the elevated plus-maze is not related to behavior in the forced swimming test and that a forced swimming test before the plus-maze has an anxiogenic effect even after a one-week interval.

Intensity Variation Normalization for Finger Vein Recognition Using Guided Filter Based Singe Scale Retinex

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shan Juan Xie

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Finger vein recognition has been considered one of the most promising biometrics for personal authentication. However, the capacities and percentages of finger tissues (e.g., bone, muscle, ligament, water, fat, etc. vary person by person. This usually causes poor quality of finger vein images, therefore degrading the performance of finger vein recognition systems (FVRSs. In this paper, the intrinsic factors of finger tissue causing poor quality of finger vein images are analyzed, and an intensity variation (IV normalization method using guided filter based single scale retinex (GFSSR is proposed for finger vein image enhancement. The experimental results on two public datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in enhancing the image quality and finger vein recognition accuracy.

Photon dose evaluation at the entrance of radiotherapy bunkers without maze

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Facure, Alessandro; Salata, Camila

2017-01-01

Radiation protection has become an important field of study, as the use of ionizing radiation for diagnosis and therapy increased along the years. According to the ALARA principles, shielding is one of the most efficient ways to minimize radiation exposure. Linear accelerators for radiotherapy treatment can lead to a considerable risk due to radiation for public and workers if proper shielding is not calculated. Mazeless rooms for LINACS are becoming more usual, as they need less space to be constructed, but, on the other hand they are more expensive. The doors of those kinds of rooms are an important point, as they will have to be thicker in mazelles room to proper shield the radiation. The NCRP 151 lays out the general considerations for the shielding calculation of standard rooms, with mazes, but there are no specific recommendations for mazeless rooms on literature. The work herein presented evaluated the absorbed dose in a room model without maze, which will be constructed soon in Brazil. The applicant calculated the thickness of the door as if it was a room with maze, and the authors used computational simulation wit MCNP code to simulate the same room, and calculated the door thickness as if it was a secondary barrier. The dose limit considered was for public occupation, 1 mSv/sem, and the energy beam was of 6 MeV. The simulated results showed that the applicant calculation thickness for the door was underestimated in 88%. The obtained results are important to establish a better methodology for shielding calculation of mazeless radiotherapy rooms that are becoming more common in Brazil. (author)

Photon dose evaluation at the entrance of radiotherapy bunkers without maze

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Facure, Alessandro; Salata, Camila, E-mail: facure@cnen.gov.br, E-mail: camila.salata@cnen.gov.br [Comissao Nacional de Energia Nuclear (CNEN), Rio de janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2017-07-01

Radiation protection has become an important field of study, as the use of ionizing radiation for diagnosis and therapy increased along the years. According to the ALARA principles, shielding is one of the most efficient ways to minimize radiation exposure. Linear accelerators for radiotherapy treatment can lead to a considerable risk due to radiation for public and workers if proper shielding is not calculated. Mazeless rooms for LINACS are becoming more usual, as they need less space to be constructed, but, on the other hand they are more expensive. The doors of those kinds of rooms are an important point, as they will have to be thicker in mazelles room to proper shield the radiation. The NCRP 151 lays out the general considerations for the shielding calculation of standard rooms, with mazes, but there are no specific recommendations for mazeless rooms on literature. The work herein presented evaluated the absorbed dose in a room model without maze, which will be constructed soon in Brazil. The applicant calculated the thickness of the door as if it was a room with maze, and the authors used computational simulation wit MCNP code to simulate the same room, and calculated the door thickness as if it was a secondary barrier. The dose limit considered was for public occupation, 1 mSv/sem, and the energy beam was of 6 MeV. The simulated results showed that the applicant calculation thickness for the door was underestimated in 88%. The obtained results are important to establish a better methodology for shielding calculation of mazeless radiotherapy rooms that are becoming more common in Brazil. (author)

Computer simulation of viscous fingering in a lifting Hele-Shaw cell

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

We simulate viscous fingering generated by separating two plates with a constant force, in a lifting Hele-Shaw cell. Variation in the patterns for different fluid viscosity and lifting force is studied. Viscous fingering is strongly affected by anisotropy. We report a computer simulation study of fingering patterns, where circular or ...

Finger crease pattern recognition using Legendre moments and principal component analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Rongfang; Lin, Tusheng

2007-03-01

The finger joint lines defined as finger creases and its distribution can identify a person. In this paper, we propose a new finger crease pattern recognition method based on Legendre moments and principal component analysis (PCA). After obtaining the region of interest (ROI) for each finger image in the pre-processing stage, Legendre moments under Radon transform are applied to construct a moment feature matrix from the ROI, which greatly decreases the dimensionality of ROI and can represent principal components of the finger creases quite well. Then, an approach to finger crease pattern recognition is designed based on Karhunen-Loeve (K-L) transform. The method applies PCA to a moment feature matrix rather than the original image matrix to achieve the feature vector. The proposed method has been tested on a database of 824 images from 103 individuals using the nearest neighbor classifier. The accuracy up to 98.584% has been obtained when using 4 samples per class for training. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed approach is feasible and effective in biometrics.

Learning to remember: Cognitive training-induced attenuation of age-related memory decline depends on sex and cognitive demand, and can transfer to untrained cognitive domains

Science.gov (United States)

Talboom, Joshua S.; West, Stephen G.; Engler-Chiurazzi, Elizabeth B.; Enders, Craig K.; Crain, Ian; Bimonte-Nelson, Heather A.

2014-01-01

Aging is associated with progressive changes in learning and memory. A potential approach to attenuate age-related cognitive decline is cognitive training. In this study, adult male and female rats were given either repeated exposure to a T-maze, or no exposure to any maze, and then tested on a final battery of cognitive tasks. Two groups of each sex were tested from 6-18 months old on the same T-maze; one group received a version testing spatial reference memory, and the other group received only the procedural testing components with minimal cognitive demand. Groups three and four of each sex had no maze exposure until the final battery, and were comprised of aged or young rats. The final maze battery included the practiced T-maze plus two novel tasks, one with a similar, and one with a different, memory type to the practice task. The fifth group of each sex was not maze tested, serving as an aged control for the effects of maze testing on neurotrophin protein levels in cognitive brain regions. Results showed that adult intermittent cognitive training enhanced performance on the practice task when aged in both sexes, that cognitive training benefits transferred to novel tasks only in females, and that cognitive demand was necessary for these effects since rats receiving only the procedural testing components showed no improvement on the final maze battery. Further, for both sexes, rats that showed faster learning when young demonstrated better memory when aged. Age-related increases in neurotrophin concentrations in several brain regions were revealed, which was related to performance on the training task only in females. This longitudinal study supports the tenet that cognitive training can help one remember later in life, with broader enhancements and associations with neurotrophins in females. PMID:25104561

Effect of local versus remote tonic heat pain during training on acquisition and retention of a finger-tapping sequence task.

Science.gov (United States)

Bilodeau, Marie-Claude; Roosink, Meyke; Mercier, Catherine

2016-02-01

Although pain is present in a large proportion of patients receiving rehabilitation, its impact on motor learning is still unclear, especially in the case of neuropathic pain that is not tightly linked to specific movements. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of local and remote tonic cutaneous heat pain applied during training on motor learning of a finger-tapping sequence task. Forty-five healthy participants, randomized to the control, local pain or remote pain groups, were trained to perform an explicit finger motor sequence of five items as fast as possible. During the 10 training blocks (30 s each), local pain and remote pain groups received a heat pain stimulus on the wrist or leg, respectively. Performance was tested in the absence of pain in all groups before (baseline), immediately after (post-immediate), 60 min after (post-60 min) and 24 h after training (post-24 h) to assess both acquisition and next-day retention. Speed increased over time from baseline to post-24 h (p pain during training. No changes were observed on error rates, which were very low even at baseline. These results with experimental heat pain suggest that the ability to relearn finger sequence should not be affected by concomitant neuropathic pain in neurorehabilitation. However, these results need to be validated in the context of chronic pain, by including pain as a co-variable in motor rehabilitation trials.

Viscous fingering effects in solvent displacement of heavy oil

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cuthiell, D. [Suncor Energy, Fort McMurray, AB (Canada); Kissel, G.; Jackson, C.; Frauenfeld, T.W.J.; Fisher, D. [Alberta Research Council, Devon, AB (Canada); Rispler, K. [Saskatchewan Research Council, Saskatoon, SK (Canada)

2004-07-01

Vapour Extraction (VAPEX) is a solvent-based process that is analogous to steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) for the recovery of heavy oil. A cyclic solvent process is preferred for thin reservoirs, particularly primary-depleted reservoirs. In a cyclic steam stimulation process, a solvent is injected into the reservoir for a period of time before oil is produced from the well. Viscous fingering is a phenomena that characterizes several solvent-based processes for the recovery of heavy oil. A combined experimental and simulation study was conducted to characterize viscous fingering under heavy oil recovery conditions (high ratio of oil to solvent viscosity). Four experiments were conducted in heavy oil-saturated sand packs. Three involved injection of a miscible, liquid solvent at the bottom of the sand pack. The heavy oil in these experiments was displaced upwardly. The fourth experiment involved top-down injection of a gaseous solvent. The miscible liquid displacement was dominated by one solvent finger which broke through to a producing well at the other end of the sand pack. Breakthrough times were similar to that at lower viscosity. The fourth experiment showed fingering along with features of a gravity-driven VAPEX process. Key features of the experiment and realistic fingering patterns were numerically simulated using a commercial reservoir simulator. It was emphasized that accurate modelling of dispersion is necessary in matching the observed phenomena. The simulations should include the capillary effects because of their significance for gaseous fingering and the VAPEX processes. 17 refs., 2 tabs., 20 figs.

Magnetic resonance imaging and radiographic findings of seal finger

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marjelund, S.; Tikkakoski, T.; Isokangas, M.; Raeisaenen, S.

2006-01-01

Purpose: To describe the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and radiographic findings of five patients with seal finger. Material and Methods: The MR images and radiographs of five patients with seal finger were retrospectively evaluated. MRI was performed on four patients in the subacute phase, and follow-up imaging was done on one of them at 5 months. One patient had MRI only at a later stage 5 years after onset. Radiographs were taken three times in the subacute phase and once at a later stage. One patient had had seal finger in another finger previously. Results: Short-tau inversion-recovery (STIR) sequence showed extensive subcutaneous soft tissue edema in all four patients in the subacute phase and tenosynovitis of the flexion tendons in two cases. Three patients had edema in 2-3 phalanges, and effusion in the distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint was seen in one case. At the later stage, no signal pathology in soft tissues or bones was seen in STIR images. In the subacute phase, radiographs showed digital soft-tissue swelling in three patients, and one patient had a narrowed DIP joint, periarticular osteoporosis, and a periosteal reaction. At the later stage, flexion contracture of the finger was seen. Conclusion: In addition to soft-tissue infection, seal finger causes bone marrow edema, tenosynovitis, and effusion in the interphalangeal joints visible as increased signal intensity in STIR images. Radiographs reveal periarticular osteoporosis with loss of cartilage in the subacute phase and flexion contracture at the later stage. MRI (STIR) allows more precise delineation of the inflammatory process compared to radiography

Magnetic resonance imaging and radiographic findings of seal finger

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marjelund, S.; Tikkakoski, T.; Isokangas, M.; Raeisaenen, S. [Oulu Univ. Hospital (Finland). Dept. of Radiology

2006-12-15

Purpose: To describe the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and radiographic findings of five patients with seal finger. Material and Methods: The MR images and radiographs of five patients with seal finger were retrospectively evaluated. MRI was performed on four patients in the subacute phase, and follow-up imaging was done on one of them at 5 months. One patient had MRI only at a later stage 5 years after onset. Radiographs were taken three times in the subacute phase and once at a later stage. One patient had had seal finger in another finger previously. Results: Short-tau inversion-recovery (STIR) sequence showed extensive subcutaneous soft tissue edema in all four patients in the subacute phase and tenosynovitis of the flexion tendons in two cases. Three patients had edema in 2-3 phalanges, and effusion in the distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint was seen in one case. At the later stage, no signal pathology in soft tissues or bones was seen in STIR images. In the subacute phase, radiographs showed digital soft-tissue swelling in three patients, and one patient had a narrowed DIP joint, periarticular osteoporosis, and a periosteal reaction. At the later stage, flexion contracture of the finger was seen. Conclusion: In addition to soft-tissue infection, seal finger causes bone marrow edema, tenosynovitis, and effusion in the interphalangeal joints visible as increased signal intensity in STIR images. Radiographs reveal periarticular osteoporosis with loss of cartilage in the subacute phase and flexion contracture at the later stage. MRI (STIR) allows more precise delineation of the inflammatory process compared to radiography.

Reconstruction of fingers after electrical injury using lateral tarsal artery flap

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhang MH

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Minghua Zhang, Mitao Huang, Pihong Zhang, Pengfei Liang, Licheng Ren, Jizhang Zeng, Jie Zhou, Xiong Liu, Tinghong Xie, Xiaoyuan Huang Department of Burns Reconstruction Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of China Objective: Electrical injuries to the fingers account for the majority of total severe burns that occur each year. While several types of flaps have been used in covering finger defects, all have limitations or disadvantages. The purpose of this study was to introduce our clinical experiences of using the lateral tarsal artery (LTA flap to successfully restore fingers after electrical injury.Patients and methods: From 2005 to 2012, 10 patients with 14 severe electrical burns to their fingers, including six thumbs and four index and four middle fingers, were treated with LTA flap. The wound size ranged from 2.0×3.0 cm to 3.5×5.0 cm. The flap with free tendon graft was used to repair the tendon defect in four cases, free nerve graft was used to repair the feeling defect in two cases, and the flap with nerve was used to repair the feeling defect in two cases. All the patients were followed up for 3 months to 2 years.Results: All skin flaps adhered successfully and there were no complications. All patients were satisfied with the esthetic appearance and functional outcome of the finger reconstruction.Conclusion: LTA flap is a reliable method to restore fingers after severe electrical injuries. Keywords: electrical injuries to fingers, lateral tarsal artery flap

The GABAergic Anterior Paired Lateral Neurons Facilitate Olfactory Reversal Learning in "Drosophila"

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yanying; Ren, Qingzhong; Li, Hao; Guo, Aike

2012-01-01

Reversal learning has been widely used to probe the implementation of cognitive flexibility in the brain. Previous studies in monkeys identified an essential role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in reversal learning. However, the underlying circuits and molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we use the T-maze to investigate the neural…

A three-fingered, touch-sensitive, metrological micro-robotic assembly tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torralba, Marta; Hastings, D J; Thousand, Jeffery D; Nowakowski, Bartosz K; Smith, Stuart T

2015-01-01

This article describes a metrological, robotic hand to manipulate and measure micrometer size objects. The presented work demonstrates not only assembly operations, but also positioning control and metrology capability. Sample motion is achieved by a commercial positioning stage, which provides XYZ-displacements for assembly of components. A designed and manufactured gripper tool that incorporates 21 degrees-of-freedom for independent alignment of actuators, sensors, and the three fingers of this hand is presented. These fingers can be opened and closed by piezoelectric actuators through levered flexures providing an 80 μm displacement range measured with calibrated opto-interrupter based, knife-edge sensors. The operational ends of the fingers comprise of a quartz tuning fork with a 7 μm diameter 3.2 mm long carbon fiber extending from the end of one tuning fork tine. Finger-tip force-sensing is achieved by the monitoring of individual finger resonances typically at around 32 kHz. Experimental results included are focused on probe performance analysis. Pick and place operation using the three fingers is demonstrated with all fingers being continuously oscillated, a capability not possible with the previous single or two finger tweezer type designs. By monitoring electrical feedback during pick and place operations, changes in the response of the three probes demonstrate the ability to identify both grab and release operations. Component metrology has been assessed by contacting different micro-spheres of diameters 50(±7.5) μm, 135(±20) μm, and 140(±20) μm. These were measured by the micro robot to have diameters of 67, 133, and 126 μm respectively with corresponding deviations of 4.2, 4.9, and 4.3 μm. This deviation in the measured results was primarily due to the manual, joystick-based, contacting of the fingers, difficulties associated with centering the components to the axis of the hand, and lower contact sensitivity for the smallest sphere

Fingering in a channel and tripolar Loewner evolutions

Science.gov (United States)

Durán, Miguel A.; Vasconcelos, Giovani L.

2011-11-01

A class of Laplacian growth models in the channel geometry is studied using the formalism of tripolar Loewner evolutions, in which three points, namely, the channel corners and the point at infinity, are kept fixed. Initially, the problem of fingered growth, where growth takes place only at the tips of slitlike fingers, is revisited and a class of exact solutions of the corresponding Loewner equation is presented for the case of stationary driving functions. A model for interface growth is then formulated in terms of a generalized tripolar Loewner equation and several examples are presented. It is shown that the growing interface evolves into a steadily moving finger and that tip competition arises for nonsymmetric initial configurations with multiple tips.

Dynamic performance of a C/C composite finger seal in a tilting mode

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Hailin ZHAO

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The complex operating state of aeroengines has an impact on the performance of finger seals. However, little work has been focused on the issue and the dynamic performance of finger seals is also rarely studied. Therefore, a distributed mass equivalent model considering working conditions is proposed in this paper for solving the existing problems. The effects of the fiber bundle density and the preparation direction of the fiber bundle of a C/C composite on the dynamic performance of a finger seal are investigated in rotor tilt based on the proposed model. The difference between the C/C composite finger seal performances under the rotor precession and nutation tilt cases is also investigated. The results show that the fiber bundle density and the preparation direction of the fiber bundle have an influence on the dynamic performance of the finger seal as rotor tilt is considered, and the dynamic performance of the finger seal is different in the two kinds of tilting modes. In addition, a novel method for design of finger seals is presented based on the contact pressure between finger boots and the rotor. Finger seals with good leakage rates and low wear can be acquired in this method.

Evaluation of electron beam irradiation for disinfection of turmeric fingers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yasumoto, Kyoden; Fujino, Masayuki; Supriyadi (Kyoto Univ., Uji (Japan). Research Inst. for Food Science); Suzuki, Tetsuya; Hayashi, Toru

1991-08-01

Turmeric finger as one of the most popular spices has been widely used for food manufacturing. However, it has also been a major cause of bacterial infestation of food materials especially in curry, ham and sausage manufacturing. In this study decontamination of bacteria in turmeric finger by electron beam irradiation was evaluated by comparing with several other decontamination methods: i.e., boiling, microwave irradiation, treatment by twin screw extruder and gamma-ray irradiation. By estimation of colony counting on nutrient agar plate, turmeric finger without any treatment gave total viable cell at 10{sup 8}/g. Turmeric finger which was irradiated by electron beam at 10 kGy dose dramatically reduced thermotolerant cell population below self restriction level (<1000/g), which has been required by food hygiene law. The same level of sterilization effect was obtained only by gamma-ray irradiation at 10 kGy and 20 kGy. On the other hand, although treatment through twin screw extruder slightly reduced bacterial numbers, neither boiling nor microwave irradiation gave sufficient decontamination effect on turmeric fingers. (author).

Evaluation of electron beam irradiation for disinfection of turmeric fingers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yasumoto, Kyoden; Fujino, Masayuki; Supriyadi; Suzuki, Tetsuya; Hayashi, Toru.

1991-01-01

Turmeric finger as one of the most popular spices has been widely used for food manufacturing. However, it has also been a major cause of bacterial infestation of food materials especially in curry, ham and sausage manufacturing. In this study decontamination of bacteria in turmeric finger by electron beam irradiation was evaluated by comparing with several other decontamination methods: i.e., boiling, microwave irradiation, treatment by twin screw extruder and gamma-ray irradiation. By estimation of colony counting on nutrient agar plate, turmeric finger without any treatment gave total viable cell at 10 8 /g. Turmeric finger which was irradiated by electron beam at 10 kGy dose dramatically reduced thermotolerant cell population below self restriction level (<1000/g), which has been required by food hygiene law. The same level of sterilization effect was obtained only by gamma-ray irradiation at 10 kGy and 20 kGy. On the other hand, although treatment through twin screw extruder slightly reduced bacterial numbers, neither boiling nor microwave irradiation gave sufficient decontamination effect on turmeric fingers. (author)

Patient-specific prosthetic fingers by remote collaboration--a case study.

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John-John Cabibihan

Full Text Available The concealment of amputation through prosthesis usage can shield an amputee from social stigma and help improve the emotional healing process especially at the early stages of hand or finger loss. However, the traditional techniques in prosthesis fabrication defy this as the patients need numerous visits to the clinics for measurements, fitting and follow-ups. This paper presents a method for constructing a prosthetic finger through online collaboration with the designer. The main input from the amputee comes from the Computer Tomography (CT data in the region of the affected and the non-affected fingers. These data are sent over the internet and the prosthesis is constructed using visualization, computer-aided design and manufacturing tools. The finished product is then shipped to the patient. A case study with a single patient having an amputated ring finger at the proximal interphalangeal joint shows that the proposed method has a potential to address the patient's psychosocial concerns and minimize the exposure of the finger loss to the public.

A Method for Recognizing State of Finger Flexure and Extension

Science.gov (United States)

Terado, Toshihiko; Fujiwara, Osamu

In our country, the handicapped and the elderly people in bed increase rapidly. In the bedridden person’s daily life, there may be limitations in the physical movement and the means of mutual communication. For the support of their comfortable daily lives, therefore, the development of human interface equipment becomes an important task. The equipment of this kind is being already developed by means of laser beam, eye-tracking, breathing motion and myo-electric signals, while the attachment and handling are normally not so easy. In this study, paying attention to finger motion, we have developed human interface equipment easily attached to the body, which enables one to measure the finger flexure and extension for mutual communication. The state of finger flexure and extension is identified by a threshold level analysis from the 3D-locus data for the finger movement, which can be measured through the infrared rays from the LED markers attached to a glove with the previously developed prototype system. We then have confirmed from an experiment that nearly 100% recognition for the finger movement can be achieved.

Evaluation of electron beam irradiation for disinfection of turmeric fingers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yasumoto, K.; Fujino, M.; Supriyadi; Suzuki, T.; Hayashi, T.

1991-01-01

Turmeric finger as one of the most popular spices has been widely used for food manufacturing. However, it has also been a major cause of bacterial infestation of food materials especially in curry, ham and sausage manufacturing. In this study decontamination of bacteria in turmeric finger by electron beam irradiation was evaluated by comparing with several other decontamination methods: i.e., boiling, microwave irradiation, treatment by twin screw extruder and gamma-ray irradiation. By estimation of colony counting on nutrient agar plate, turmeric finger without any treatment gave total viable cell at 10 8 /g. Turmeric finger which was irradiated by electron beam at 10kGy dose dramatically reduced thermotolerant cell population below self restriction level (<1000/g), which has been required by food hygiene law. The same level of sterilization effect was obtained only by gamma-ray irradiation at 10kGy and 20kGy. On the other hand, although treatment through twin screw extruder slightly reduced bacterial numbers, neither boiling nor microwave irradiation gave sufficient decontamination effect on turmeric fingers

Hidradenocarcinoma of the finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Nazerali, Rahim S; Tan, Cynthia; Fung, Maxwell A; Chen, Steven L; Wong, Michael S

2013-04-01

Hidradenocarcinoma is a rare adnexal neoplasm representing the malignant counterpart of hidradenoma derived from eccrine sweat glands. Misdiagnosis of this disease is common due to the wide variety of histological patterns and rarity of this malignancy. We report an 87-year-old man presenting with a rare case of biopsy-proven hidradenocarcinoma of the finger. There is no standard care of treatment of hidradenocarcinoma, especially of those tumors in rare locations such as the fingers, given its rarity, variable tumor behavior and histology. Although limited treatment strategies exist, detailed data including TNM, location, histologic type and grade, and patient age should be gathered for optimal treatment strategy. The literature supports a 3-fold approach to these malignancies involving margin-free resection, sentinel lymph node biopsy to evaluate possible metastasis, and long-term follow-up given high risk of recurrence. Our treatment strategy involved a 4-fold, multidisciplinary approach involving reconstruction to optimize tumor-free remission and hand function.

Evaluation of the finger wrinkling test: A pilot study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Barneveld, S.; van der Palen, Jacobus Adrianus Maria; van Putten, Michel Johannes Antonius Maria

2010-01-01

Purpose: Tilt table testing mainly evaluates the systemic cardiovascular part of the autonomic nervous system, while it is assumed that the finger wrinkling test assesses the peripheral part of the autonomic nervous system. In this study we explored whether the finger wrinkling test could be a

Finger-tapping motion analysis in cervical myelopathy by magnetic-sensor tapping device.

Science.gov (United States)

Miwa, Toshitada; Hosono, Noboru; Mukai, Yoshihiro; Makino, Takahiro; Kandori, Akihiko; Fuji, Takeshi

2013-08-01

Case-control study. The purpose of this study is to determine finger motion of patients with cervical myelopathy during finger-tapping cycles. A major symptom of patients with compressive cervical myelopathy is finger clumsiness. Therefore, understanding finger motion is prerequisite in assessing the severity of myelopathy. The popular grip-and-release test evaluates only the number of motion cycles, which is insufficient to fully describe complex finger motion. Forty-three patients with cervical myelopathy and 41 healthy controls tapped their index fingers against their thumbs as rapidly as possible for 30 seconds and the motion was recorded by a magnetic-sensor coil attached to the nail surface. Output signals were stored in a computer, which automatically calculated tapping frequency, distance moved, ratio of opening/closing velocity and the SD of the tapping interval. The SD of the tapping interval was significantly greater and all other measures were significantly smaller in patients with cervical myelopathy, than in healthy controls. All indices significantly improved after surgical decompression of the cervical spine. Distance moved (Pearson correlation coefficient: r=0.590, Ptapping interval (r=-0.451; P=0.002) were significantly correlated with the Japanese Orthopedic Association score (neurological scale). The quantitative evaluation of finger paralysis was performed by this tapping device. Speed and regularity in repetitive motion of fingers were correlated with the severity of cervical myelopathy.

Models of brachial to finger pulse wave distortion and pressure decrement.

Science.gov (United States)

Gizdulich, P; Prentza, A; Wesseling, K H

1997-03-01

To model the pulse wave distortion and pressure decrement occurring between brachial and finger arteries. Distortion reversion and decrement correction were also our aims. Brachial artery pressure was recorded intra-arterially and finger pressure was recorded non-invasively by the Finapres technique in 53 adult human subjects. Mean pressure was subtracted from each pressure waveform and Fourier analysis applied to the pulsations. A distortion model was estimated for each subject and averaged over the group. The average inverse model was applied to the full finger pressure waveform. The pressure decrement was modelled by multiple regression on finger systolic and diastolic levels. Waveform distortion could be described by a general, frequency dependent model having a resonance at 7.3 Hz. The general inverse model has an anti-resonance at this frequency. It converts finger to brachial pulsations thereby reducing average waveform distortion from 9.7 (s.d. 3.2) mmHg per sample for the finger pulse to 3.7 (1.7) mmHg for the converted pulse. Systolic and diastolic level differences between finger and brachial arterial pressures changed from -4 (15) and -8 (11) to +8 (14) and +8 (12) mmHg, respectively, after inverse modelling, with pulse pressures correct on average. The pressure decrement model reduced both the mean and the standard deviation of systolic and diastolic level differences to 0 (13) and 0 (8) mmHg. Diastolic differences were thus reduced most. Brachial to finger pulse wave distortion due to wave reflection in arteries is almost identical in all subjects and can be modelled by a single resonance. The pressure decrement due to flow in arteries is greatest for high pulse pressures superimposed on low means.

Finger Vein Recognition Using Optimal Partitioning Uniform Rotation Invariant LBP Descriptor

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Bang Chao Liu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available As a promising biometric system, finger vein identification has been studied widely and many relevant researches have been proposed. However, it is hard to extract a satisfied finger vein pattern due to the various vein thickness, illumination, low contrast region, and noise existing. And most of the feature extraction algorithms rely on high-quality finger vein database and take a long time for a large dimensional feature vector. In this paper, we proposed two block selection methods which are based on the estimate of the amount of information in each block and the contribution of block location by looking at recognition rate of each block position to reduce feature extraction time and matching time. The specific approach is to find out some local finger vein areas with low-quality and noise, which will be useless for feature description. Local binary pattern (LBP descriptors are proposed to extract the finger vein pattern feature. Two finger vein databases are taken to test our algorithm performance. Experimental results show that proposed block selection algorithms can reduce the feature vector dimensionality in a large extent.

Fingering instabilities in bacterial community phototaxis

Science.gov (United States)

Vps, Ritwika; Man Wah Chau, Rosanna; Casey Huang, Kerwyn; Gopinathan, Ajay

Synechocystis sp PCC 6803 is a phototactic cyanobacterium that moves directionally in response to a light source. During phototaxis, these bacterial communities show emergent spatial organisation resulting in the formation of finger-like projections at the propagating front. In this study, we propose an analytical model that elucidates the underlying physical mechanisms which give rise to these spatial patterns. We describe the migrating front during phototaxis as a one-dimensional curve by considering the effects of phototactic bias, diffusion and surface tension. By considering the propagating front as composed of perturbations to a flat solution and using linear stability analysis, we predict a critical bias above which the finger-like projections appear as instabilities. We also predict the wavelengths of the fastest growing mode and the critical mode above which the instabilities disappear. We validate our predictions through comparisons to experimental data obtained by analysing images of phototaxis in Synechocystis communities. Our model also predicts the observed loss of instabilities in taxd1 mutants (cells with inactive TaxD1, an important photoreceptor in finger formation), by considering diffusion in mutually perpendicular directions and a lower, negative bias.

Dorsal periaqueductal gray stimulation facilitates anxiety-, but not panic-related, defensive responses in rats tested in the elevated T-maze

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Camplesi, M. Jr.; Bortoli, V.C. de; Paula Soares, V. de; Nogueira, R.L.; Zangrossi, H. Jr.

2012-01-01

The escape response to electrical or chemical stimulation of the dorsal periaqueductal gray matter (DPAG) has been associated with panic attacks. In order to explore the validity of the DPAG stimulation model for the study of panic disorder, we determined if the aversive consequences of the electrical or chemical stimulation of this midbrain area can be detected subsequently in the elevated T-maze. This animal model, derived from the elevated plus-maze, permits the measurement in the same rat of a generalized anxiety- and a panic-related defensive response, i.e., inhibitory avoidance and escape, respectively. Facilitation of inhibitory avoidance, suggesting an anxiogenic effect, was detected in male Wistar rats (200-220 g) tested in the elevated T-maze 30 min after DPAG electrical stimulation (current generated by a sine-wave stimulator, frequency at 60 Hz) or after local microinjection of the GABA A receptor antagonist bicuculline (5 pmol). Previous electrical (5, 15, 30 min, or 24 h before testing) or chemical stimulation of this midbrain area did not affect escape performance in the elevated T-maze or locomotion in an open-field. No change in the two behavioral tasks measured by the elevated T-maze was observed after repetitive (3 trials) electrical stimulation of the DPAG. The results indicate that activation of the DPAG caused a short-lived, but selective, increase in defensive behaviors associated with generalized anxiety

Dorsal periaqueductal gray stimulation facilitates anxiety-, but not panic-related, defensive responses in rats tested in the elevated T-maze

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Camplesi, M. Jr. [Instituto de Patologia Tropical e Saúde Pública, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO (Brazil); Bortoli, V.C. de [Departamento de Ciências da Saúde, Centro Universitário Norte do Espírito Santo, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, São Mateus, ES (Brazil); Paula Soares, V. de [Departamento de Biofísica e Farmacologia, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN (Brazil); Nogueira, R.L. [Laboratório de Psicologia Comparada, Universidade Estácio de Sá, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Zangrossi, H. Jr. [Departamento de Farmacologia, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP (Brazil)

2012-08-03

The escape response to electrical or chemical stimulation of the dorsal periaqueductal gray matter (DPAG) has been associated with panic attacks. In order to explore the validity of the DPAG stimulation model for the study of panic disorder, we determined if the aversive consequences of the electrical or chemical stimulation of this midbrain area can be detected subsequently in the elevated T-maze. This animal model, derived from the elevated plus-maze, permits the measurement in the same rat of a generalized anxiety- and a panic-related defensive response, i.e., inhibitory avoidance and escape, respectively. Facilitation of inhibitory avoidance, suggesting an anxiogenic effect, was detected in male Wistar rats (200-220 g) tested in the elevated T-maze 30 min after DPAG electrical stimulation (current generated by a sine-wave stimulator, frequency at 60 Hz) or after local microinjection of the GABA{sub A} receptor antagonist bicuculline (5 pmol). Previous electrical (5, 15, 30 min, or 24 h before testing) or chemical stimulation of this midbrain area did not affect escape performance in the elevated T-maze or locomotion in an open-field. No change in the two behavioral tasks measured by the elevated T-maze was observed after repetitive (3 trials) electrical stimulation of the DPAG. The results indicate that activation of the DPAG caused a short-lived, but selective, increase in defensive behaviors associated with generalized anxiety.

Hybrid Photoacoustic/Ultrasound Tomograph for Real-Time Finger Imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Oeri, Milan; Bost, Wolfgang; Sénégond, Nicolas; Tretbar, Steffen; Fournelle, Marc

2017-10-01

We report a target-enclosing, hybrid tomograph with a total of 768 elements based on capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer technology and providing fast, high-resolution 2-D/3-D photoacoustic and ultrasound tomography tailored to finger imaging. A freely programmable ultrasound beamforming platform sampling data at 80 MHz was developed to realize plane wave transmission under multiple angles. A multiplexing unit enables the connection and control of a large number of elements. Fast image reconstruction is provided by GPU processing. The tomograph is composed of four independent and fully automated movable arc-shaped transducers, allowing imaging of all three finger joints. The system benefits from photoacoustics, yielding high optical contrast and enabling visualization of finger vascularization, and ultrasound provides morphologic information on joints and surrounding tissue. A diode-pumped, Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and an optical parametric oscillator are used to broaden the spectrum of emitted wavelengths to provide multispectral imaging. Custom-made optical fiber bundles enable illumination of the region of interest in the plane of acoustic detection. Precision in positioning of the probe in motion is ensured by use of a motor-driven guide slide. The current position of the probe is encoded by the stage and used to relate ultrasound and photoacoustic signals to the corresponding region of interest of the suspicious finger joint. The system is characterized in phantoms and a healthy human finger in vivo. The results obtained promise to provide new opportunities in finger diagnostics and establish photoacoustic/ultrasound-tomography in medical routine. Copyright © 2017 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Can personality predict individual differences in brook trout spatial learning ability?

Science.gov (United States)

White, S L; Wagner, T; Gowan, C; Braithwaite, V A

2017-08-01

While differences in individual personality are common in animal populations, understanding the ecological significance of variation has not yet been resolved. Evidence suggests that personality may influence learning and memory; a finding that could improve our understanding of the evolutionary processes that produce and maintain intraspecific behavioural heterogeneity. Here, we tested whether boldness, the most studied personality trait in fish, could predict learning ability in brook trout. After quantifying boldness, fish were trained to find a hidden food patch in a maze environment. Stable landmark cues were provided to indicate the location of food and, at the conclusion of training, cues were rearranged to test for learning. There was a negative relationship between boldness and learning as shy fish were increasingly more successful at navigating the maze and locating food during training trials compared to bold fish. In the altered testing environment, only shy fish continued using cues to search for food. Overall, the learning rate of bold fish was found to be lower than that of shy fish for several metrics suggesting that personality could have widespread effects on behaviour. Because learning can increase plasticity to environmental change, these results have significant implications for fish conservation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Distinct neural control of intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the hand during single finger pressing.

Science.gov (United States)

Dupan, Sigrid S G; Stegeman, Dick F; Maas, Huub

2018-06-01

Single finger force tasks lead to unintended activation of the non-instructed fingers, commonly referred to as enslaving. Both neural and mechanical factors have been associated with this absence of finger individuality. This study investigates the amplitude modulation of both intrinsic and extrinsic finger muscles during single finger isometric force tasks. Twelve participants performed single finger flexion presses at 20% of maximum voluntary contraction, while simultaneously the electromyographic activity of several intrinsic and extrinsic muscles associated with all four fingers was recorded using 8 electrode pairs in the hand and two 30-electrode grids on the lower arm. The forces exerted by each of the fingers, in both flexion and extension direction, were recorded with individual force sensors. This study shows distinct activation patterns in intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscles. Intrinsic muscles exhibited individuation, where the agonistic and antagonistic muscles associated with the instructed fingers showed the highest activation. This activation in both agonistic and antagonistic muscles appears to facilitate finger stabilisation during the isometric force task. Extrinsic muscles show an activation independent from instructed finger in both agonistic and antagonistic muscles, which appears to be associated with stabilisation of the wrist, with an additional finger-dependent modulation only present in the agonistic extrinsic muscles. These results indicate distinct muscle patterns in intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscles during single finger isometric force pressing. We conclude that the finger specific activation of intrinsic muscles is not sufficient to fully counteract enslaving caused by the broad activation of the extrinsic muscles. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of exercise on neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus and ability of learning and memory after hippocampus lesion in adult rats

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Lin CHEN; Shan GONG; Li-Dong SHAN; Wei-Ping XU; Yue-Jin ZHANG; Shi-Yu GUO; Tadashi Hisamitsu; Qi-Zhang YIN; Xing-Hong JIANG

2006-01-01

Objective To explore the effects of exercise on dentate gyrus (DG) neurogenesis and the ability of learning and memory in hippocampus-lesioned adult rats. Methods Hippocampus lesion was produced by intrahippocampal microinjection of kainic acid (KA). Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was used to label dividing cells. Y maze test was used to evaluate the ability of learning and memory. Exercise was conducted in the form of forced running in a motor-driven running wheel. The speed of wheel revolution was regulated at 3 kinds of intensity: lightly running, moderately running, or heavily running. Results Hippocampus lesion could increase the number of BrdU-labeled DG cells, moderately running after lesion could further enhance the number of BrdU-labeled cells and decrease the error number (EN) in Y maze test,while neither lightly running, nor heavily running had such effects. There was a negative correlation between the number of DG BrdU-labeled cells and the EN in the Y maze test after running. Conclusion Moderate exercise could enhance the DG neurogenesis and ameliorate the ability of learning and memory in hippocampus-lesioned rats.

Modified radial v/s biatrial maze for atrial fibrillation in rheumatic valvular heart surgery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sajid A. Sayed

2014-09-01

Discussion: In patients with AF undergoing rheumatic valvular surgery, radiofrequency radial approach is as effective as modified Cox's maze III for conversion to NSR with better atrial transport function.

Mouse hippocampal GABAB1 but not GABAB2 subunit-containing receptor complex levels are paralleling retrieval in the multiple-T-maze

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soheil eKeihan Falsafi

2015-10-01

Full Text Available GABAB receptors are heterodimeric G-protein coupled receptors known to be involved in learning and memory. Although a role for GABAB receptors in cognitive processes is evident, there is no information on hippocampal GABAB receptor complexes in a multiple T maze (MTM task, a robust paradigm for evaluation of spatial learning.Trained or untrained (yoked control C57BL/6J male mice (n=10/group were subjected to the MTM task and sacrificed 6 hours following their performance. Hippocampi were taken, membrane proteins extracted and run on blue native PAGE followed by immunoblotting with specific antibodies against GABAB1, GABAB1a and GABAB2. Immunoprecipitation with subsequent mass spectrometric identification of co-precipitates was carried out to show if GABAB1 and GABAB2 as well as other interacting proteins co-precipitate. An antibody shift assay (ASA and a proximity ligation assay (PLA were also used to see if the two GABAB subunits are present in the receptor complex.Single bands were observed on Western blots, each representing GABAB1, GABAB1a or GABAB2 at an apparent molecular weight of approximately 100 kDa. Subsequently, densitometric analysis revealed that levels of GABAB1 and GABAB1a but not GABAB2- containing receptor complexes were significantly higher in trained than untrained groups. Immunoprecipitation followed by mass spectrometric studies confirmed the presence of GABAB1, GABAB2, calcium calmodulin kinases I and II, GluA1 and GluA2 as constituents of the complex. ASA and PLA also showed the presence of the two subunits of GABAB receptor within the complex. It is shown that increased levels of GABAB1 subunit-containing complexes are paralleling performance in a land maze.

A hierarchical classification method for finger knuckle print recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Tao; Yang, Gongping; Yang, Lu

2014-12-01

Finger knuckle print has recently been seen as an effective biometric technique. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical classification method for finger knuckle print recognition, which is rooted in traditional score-level fusion methods. In the proposed method, we firstly take Gabor feature as the basic feature for finger knuckle print recognition and then a new decision rule is defined based on the predefined threshold. Finally, the minor feature speeded-up robust feature is conducted for these users, who cannot be recognized by the basic feature. Extensive experiments are performed to evaluate the proposed method, and experimental results show that it can achieve a promising performance.

Compensating Pose Uncertainties through Appropriate Gripper Finger Cutouts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wolniakowski, Adam; Gams, Andrej; Kiforenko, Lilita

2018-01-01

The gripper finger design is a recurring problem in many robotic grasping platforms used in industry. The task of switching the gripper configuration to accommodate a new batch of objects typically requires engineering expertise and is a lengthy and costly iterative trial-and-error process. One...... in a sample industrial object grasping scenario for a finger that was designed using an automated simulation-based geometry optimization method (Wolniakowski et al., 2013, 2015). We test the developed gripper with a set of grasps subjected to structured perturbation in a simulation environment and in the real......-world setting. We provide a comparison of the data obtained by using both of these approaches. We argue that the strong correspondence observed in results validates the use of dynamic simulation for the gripper finger design and optimization....

Involuntary Neuromuscular Coupling between the Thumb and Finger of Stroke Survivors during Dynamic Movement.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Christopher L; Kamper, Derek G

2018-01-01

Finger-thumb coordination is crucial to manual dexterity but remains incompletely understood, particularly following neurological injury such as stroke. While being controlled independently, the index finger and thumb especially must work in concert to perform a variety of tasks requiring lateral or palmar pinch. The impact of stroke on this functionally critical sensorimotor control during dynamic tasks has been largely unexplored. In this study, we explored finger-thumb coupling during close-open pinching motions in stroke survivors with chronic hemiparesis. Two types of perturbations were applied randomly to the index with a novel Cable-Actuated Finger Exoskeleton: a sudden joint acceleration stretching muscle groups of the index finger and a sudden increase in impedance in selected index finger joint(s). Electromyographic signals for specific thumb and index finger muscles, thumb tip trajectory, and index finger joint angles were recorded during each trial. Joint angle perturbations invoked reflex responses in the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS), first dorsal interossei (FDI), and extensor digitorum communis muscles of the index finger and heteronymous reflex responses in flexor pollicis brevis of the thumb ( p  index finger joint impedance was suddenly increased, thumb tip movement was substantially increased, from 2 to 10 cm ( p  index finger impacting thumb activity. The degree of coupling modulated with the phase of motion. These findings reveal a potential mechanism for direct intervention to improve poststroke hand mobility and provide insight on prospective neurologically oriented therapies.

Short-term memory, executive control, and children's route learning

OpenAIRE

Purser, H. R.; Farran, E. K.; Courbois, Y.; Lemahieu, A.; Mellier, D.; Sockeel, P.; Blades, M.

2012-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate route-learning ability in 67 children aged 5 to 11years and to relate route-learning performance to the components of Baddeley's model of working memory. Children carried out tasks that included measures of verbal and visuospatial short-term memory and executive control and also measures of verbal and visuospatial long-term memory; the route-learning task was conducted using a maze in a virtual environment. In contrast to previous research, correlation...

[Change of hippocampal NMDA receptor and emotional behavior and spatial learning and memory in status epilepticus rat model].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Wei-Ping; Lou, Yan; Li, Zhen-Zhong; Li, Pan; Duan, Rui-Sheng

2007-02-01

SD rats were utilized for the purpose of the exploration of effects of status epilepticus (SE) on their emotional behavior, spatial learning and memory, and explorating its molecular mechanism. Forty maturity male SD rats, weighing (200 +/- 20) g were divided randomly and equally into SE group (SG) and normal control group (NG). The SG rats were induced by Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) and the control animals received a saline (0.9%) solution. The change of emotional behavior in two groups were tested in elevated plus maze. Furthermore, Morris water maze was applied to evaluate the effects by SE on spatial learning and memory in rats. At the same time, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor NR1 subunit mRNA in the hippocampus was determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In elevated plus test, SE rats increased the times of visits as well as the time spent on the open arms of the elevated plus maze (P emotional behavior and damage of spatial learning and memory in rats. NR1 might be involved in the patho- and physiological process in causing these behavioral changes.

Comparisons of Online Reading Paradigms: Eye Tracking, Moving-Window, and Maze

Science.gov (United States)

Witzel, Naoko; Witzel, Jeffrey; Forster, Kenneth

2012-01-01

This study compares four methodologies used to examine online sentence processing during reading. Specifically, self-paced, non-cumulative, moving-window reading (Just et al. in "J Exp Psychol Gen" 111:228-238, 1982), eye tracking (see e.g., Rayner in "Q J Exp Psychol" 62:1457-1506, 2009), and two versions of the maze task (Forster et al. in…

Neural network committees for finger joint angle estimation from surface EMG signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reddy Narender P

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In virtual reality (VR systems, the user's finger and hand positions are sensed and used to control the virtual environments. Direct biocontrol of VR environments using surface electromyography (SEMG signals may be more synergistic and unconstraining to the user. The purpose of the present investigation was to develop a technique to predict the finger joint angle from the surface EMG measurements of the extensor muscle using neural network models. Methodology SEMG together with the actual joint angle measurements were obtained while the subject was performing flexion-extension rotation of the index finger at three speeds. Several neural networks were trained to predict the joint angle from the parameters extracted from the SEMG signals. The best networks were selected to form six committees. The neural network committees were evaluated using data from new subjects. Results There was hysteresis in the measured SMEG signals during the flexion-extension cycle. However, neural network committees were able to predict the joint angle with reasonable accuracy. RMS errors ranged from 0.085 ± 0.036 for fast speed finger-extension to 0.147 ± 0.026 for slow speed finger extension, and from 0.098 ± 0.023 for the fast speed finger flexion to 0.163 ± 0.054 for slow speed finger flexion. Conclusion Although hysteresis was observed in the measured SEMG signals, the committees of neural networks were able to predict the finger joint angle from SEMG signals.

78 FR 68907 - Agency Information Collection (Hand and Finger Conditions Disability Benefits Questionnaire...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-15

... Finger Conditions Disability Benefits Questionnaire) Under OMB Review AGENCY: Veterans Benefits... Control No. 2900- NEW (Hand and Finger Conditions Disability Benefits Questionnaire)'' in any... Benefits Questionnaire)''. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Hand and Finger Conditions Disability Benefits...

Luciferase-Zinc-Finger System for the Rapid Detection of Pathogenic Bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Chu; Xu, Qing; Ge, Yue; Jiang, Ling; Huang, He

2017-08-09

Rapid and reliable detection of pathogenic bacteria is crucial for food safety control. Here, we present a novel luciferase-zinc finger system for the detection of pathogens that offers rapid and specific profiling. The system, which uses a zinc-finger protein domain to probe zinc finger recognition sites, was designed to bind the amplified conserved regions of 16S rDNA, and the obtained products were detected using a modified luciferase. The luciferase-zinc finger system not only maintained luciferase activity but also allowed the specific detection of different bacterial species, with a sensitivity as low as 10 copies and a linear range from 10 to 10 4 copies per microliter of the specific PCR product. Moreover, the system is robust and rapid, enabling the simultaneous detection of 6 species of bacteria in artificially contaminated samples with excellent accuracy. Thus, we envision that our luciferase-zinc finger system will have far-reaching applications.

Measurements Of Fingers Doses Of Staff Members In Nuclear Medicine Department

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

AL LEHYANI, S.H.; SHOUSHA, H.A.; HASSAN, R.A.

2009-01-01

For some occupationally radiation exposed groups, the hands are more heavily exposed to ionizing radiation than the rest of the body. The Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority runs an extensive personal dosimetry service in Egypt, but finger doses have not been measured to a wide extent. In this study, the finger doses were measured for five different nuclear medicine staff occupational groups for which heavy irradiation of the hands was suspected. Finger doses were measured for nuclear medicine physicians, technologists, nurses and physicists. The nuclear medicine staff working with the radioactive materials wears two TLD dosimeters during the whole period, which lasted from 1 to 4 weeks. The staff performs their work on a regular basis throughout the month, and means annual doses were calculated for these groups. The doses to the fingers for the 99m Tc technologists and nurses of groups (2) and (3) were observed to be 30.24 ± 14.5 μSv/GBq (mean ± SD) and 30.37 ± 17.5 μSv/GBq, respectively. Similarly, the dose to the fingers for the 131 I technologists in group (5) was estimated to be 126.13 ± 38.2μSv/GBq. Finger doses for the physicians could not be calculated per unit of activity because they did not handle the radiopharmaceuticals directly but their doses were reported in millisieverts that accumulated in 1 week. The doses to the fingers of the physicist were 16.3±7.7 μSv/GBq. The maximum average finger dose in this study was found to be 2.8 mSv for the technologists handled therapeutic 131 I (group 5). It could be concluded that the maximum expected annual dose to the extremities appeared to be less than the annual limit (500 mSv/y).

Evaluation of the effect of acute sibutramine in female rats in the elevated T-maze and elevated plus-maze tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, Raliny O; de Assunção, Gabriela L M; de Medeiros, Diogo M B; de Sousa Pinto, Icaro A; de Barros, Keizianny S; Soares, Bruno L; André, Eunice; Gavioli, Elaine C; de Paula Soares-Rachetti, Vanessa

2014-02-01

Sibutramine is a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor indicated for the treatment of obesity. A pre-clinical study showed that acute administration of sibutramine promoted anxiolytic- and panicolytic-like effects in male rats. However, in clinical reports, sibutramine favoured the onset of panic attacks in women. In this study, the effect of sibutramine on experimental anxiety in females and the relevance of different oestrous cycle phases for this effect were analysed. In experiment 1, both male and female rats were submitted to acute intraperitoneal injection of sibutramine or vehicle 30 min. before testing in the elevated T-maze (ETM) and in the open-field test (OF). Females in the pro-oestrus (P), oestrus (E), early dioestrus (ED) and late dioestrus (LD) phases were tested in the ETM and OF (experiment 2) or in the elevated plus-maze (EPM) 30 min. after the injection of sibutramine. Sibutramine impaired the escape response in the ETM in both males and females. This effect was observed for P, E and ED, but not for LD females. Sibutramine altered neither the inhibitory avoidance in the ETM nor the behaviour of females in the EPM. Thus, sibutramine promoted a panicolytic-like effect in female rats cycling at P, E and ED, but not in the LD phase and did not alter behaviours related to anxiety in both ETM and EPM. Considering that pre-clinical studies aiming the screening of anxiolytic drugs employ male rodents, data here obtained reinforce the importance of better understanding the effects of drugs in females. © 2013 Nordic Pharmacological Society. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Mixing methods, tasting fingers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mann, Anna; Mol, Annemarie; Satalkar, Priya

2011-01-01

This article reports on an ethnographic experiment. Four finger eating experts and three novices sat down for a hot meal and ate with their hands. Drawing on the technique of playing with the familiar and the strange, our aim was not to explain our responses, but to articulate them. As we seek wo...

Fluctuation of biological rhythm in finger tapping

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshinaga, H.; Miyazima, S.; Mitake, S.

2000-06-01

By analyzing biological rhythms obtained from finger tapping, we have investigated the differences of two biological rhythms between healthy and handicapped persons caused by Parkinson, brain infraction, car accident and so on. In this study, we have observed the motion of handedness of all subjects and obtained a slope a which characterizes a power-law relation between frequency and amplitude of finger-tapping rhythm. From our results, we have estimated that the slope a=0.06 is a rough criterion in order to distinguish healthy and handicapped persons.

Influence of age on cognition and scopolamine induced memory impairment in rats measured in the radial maze paradigm.

Science.gov (United States)

Appenroth, Dorothea; Fleck, Christian

2010-01-01

The influence of age on (1) cognition and (2) scopolamine (CAS 51-34-3) induced memory impairment in female rats was measured in the radial maze paradigm (RAM). (1) First training trials were done with 3 and 12 months old rats. Rats were trained to find all eight food baits in the RAM without errors and within 1 min. Both 3- and 12-month old rats need about 15 trials for the first-time learning of the RAM task. After intervals of 3 6 months, respectively, initially young rats were re-trained with an age of 6 and 12 months. Surprisingly, re-trained rats successfully completed the maze runs already after one re-training trial. Thus the phenomenon of preserved spatial memory was approved for female rats. (2) Memory impairment by scopolamine in the RAM was tested for the time in rats with an age of 3 months. first rats with thesame After a control run,the rats received an i.p. injection of either scopolamine hydrochloride (0.05 mg/100 g b. wt.) or saline vehicle. The effect of scopolamine on working memory was measured 20 min after administration. Training procedure and scopolamine administration were repeated at an age of 6, 12, 18, and 24 months in the same manner. The cognition impairment after scopolamine (number of errors: control: <1; scopolamine: 5-6) remains constant between 3 and 24 months of age. The only significant difference was the increase in run time in rats older than 18 months caused by degenerative changes developing with age.

Personal recognition using finger knuckle shape oriented features and texture analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Usha

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Finger knuckle print is considered as one of the emerging hand biometric traits due to its potentiality toward the identification of individuals. This paper contributes a new method for personal recognition using finger knuckle print based on two approaches namely, geometric and texture analyses. In the first approach, the shape oriented features of the finger knuckle print are extracted by means of angular geometric analysis and then integrated to achieve better precision rate. Whereas, the knuckle texture feature analysis is carried out by means of multi-resolution transform known as Curvelet transform. This Curvelet transform has the ability to approximate curved singularities with minimum number of Curvelet coefficients. Since, finger knuckle patterns mainly consist of lines and curves, Curvelet transform is highly suitable for its representation. Further, the Curvelet transform decomposes the finger knuckle image into Curvelet sub-bands which are termed as ‘Curvelet knuckle’. Finally, principle component analysis is applied on each Curvelet knuckle for extracting its feature vector through the covariance matrix derived from their Curvelet coefficients. Extensive experiments were conducted using PolyU database and IIT finger knuckle database. The experimental results confirm that, our proposed method shows a high recognition rate of 98.72% with lower false acceptance rate of 0.06%.

Finger and foot tapping as alternative outcomes of upper and lower extremity function in multiple sclerosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanigawa, Makoto; Stein, Jason; Park, John; Kosa, Peter; Cortese, Irene; Bielekova, Bibiana

2017-01-01

While magnetic resonance imaging contrast-enhancing lesions represent an excellent screening tool for disease-modifying treatments in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), this biomarker is insensitive for testing therapies against compartmentalized inflammation in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). Therefore, alternative sensitive outcomes are needed. Using machine learning, clinician-acquired disability scales can be combined with timed measures of neurological functions such as walking speed (e.g. 25-foot walk; 25FW) or fine finger movements (e.g. 9-hole peg test; 9HPT) into sensitive composite clinical scales, such as the recently developed combinatorial, weight-adjusted disability scale (CombiWISE). Ideally, these complementary simplified measurements of certain neurological functions could be performed regularly at patients' homes using smartphones. We asked whether tests amenable to adaptation to smartphone technology, such as finger and foot tapping have comparable sensitivity and specificity to current non-clinician-acquired disability measures. We observed that finger and foot tapping can differentiate RRMS and progressive MS in a cross-sectional study and can also measure yearly and two-year disease progression in the latter, with better power (based on z-scores) in comparison to currently utilized 9HPT and 25FW. Replacing the 9HPT and 25FW with simplified tests broadly adaptable to smartphone technology may enhance the power of composite scales for progressive MS.

Arrhythmokinesis is evident during unimanual not bimanual finger tapping in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Trager, Megan H; Velisar, Anca; Koop, Mandy Miller; Shreve, Lauren; Quinn, Emma; Bronte-Stewart, Helen

2015-01-01

Arrhythmokinesis, the variability in repetitive movements, is a fundamental feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). We hypothesized that unimanual repetitive alternating finger tapping (AFT) would reveal more arrhythmokinesis compared to bimanual single finger alternating hand tapping (SFT), in PD. The variability of inter-strike interval (CVISI) and of amplitude (CVAMP) during AFT and SFT were measured on an engineered, MRI-compatible keyboard in sixteen PD subjects off medication and in twenty-four age-matched controls. The CVISI and CVAMP of the more affected (MA) and less affected (LA) sides in PD subjects were greater during AFT than SFT (P tapping brings out more arrhythmokinesis compared to bimanual, single finger tapping in PDs but not in controls. Arrhythmokinesis during unimanual, alternating finger tapping captured a significant difference between both the MA and LA hands of PD subjects and controls, whereas that during a bimanual, single finger tapping task only distinguished between the MA hand and controls. Arrhythmokinesis underlies freezing of gait and may also underlie the freezing behavior documented in fine motor control if studied using a unimanual alternating finger tapping task.

Compensating Hand Function in Chronic Stroke Patients Through the Robotic Sixth Finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Salvietti, Gionata; Hussain, Irfan; Cioncoloni, David; Taddei, Sabrina; Rossi, Simone; Prattichizzo, Domenico

2017-02-01

A novel solution to compensate hand grasping abilities is proposed for chronic stroke patients. The goal is to provide the patients with a wearable robotic extra-finger that can be worn on the paretic forearm by means of an elastic band. The proposed prototype, the Robotic Sixth Finger, is a modular articulated device that can adapt its structure to the grasped object shape. The extra-finger and the paretic hand act like the two parts of a gripper cooperatively holding an object. We evaluated the feasibility of the approach with four chronic stroke patients performing a qualitative test, the Frenchay Arm Test. In this proof of concept study, the use of the Robotic Sixth Finger has increased the total score of the patients by two points in a five points scale. The subjects were able to perform the two grasping tasks included in the test that were not possible without the robotic extra-finger. Adding a robotic opposing finger is a very promising approach that can significantly improve the functional compensation of the chronic stroke patient during everyday life activities.

Rate effects on timing, key velocity, and finger kinematics in piano performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Bella, Simone Dalla; Palmer, Caroline

2011-01-01

We examined the effect of rate on finger kinematics in goal-directed actions of pianists. In addition, we evaluated whether movement kinematics can be treated as an indicator of personal identity. Pianists' finger movements were recorded with a motion capture system while they performed melodies from memory at different rates. Pianists' peak finger heights above the keys preceding keystrokes increased as tempo increased, and were attained about one tone before keypress. These rate effects were not simply due to a strategy to increase key velocity (associated with tone intensity) of the corresponding keystroke. Greater finger heights may compensate via greater tactile feedback for a speed-accuracy tradeoff that underlies the tendency toward larger temporal variability at faster tempi. This would allow pianists to maintain high temporal accuracy when playing at fast rates. In addition, finger velocity and accelerations as pianists' fingers approached keys were sufficiently unique to allow pianists' identification with a neural-network classifier. Classification success was higher in pianists with more extensive musical training. Pianists' movement "signatures" may reflect unique goal-directed movement kinematic patterns, leading to individualistic sound.

Individual differences in the elevated plus-maze and the forced swim test.

Science.gov (United States)

Estanislau, Celio; Ramos, Anna Carolina; Ferraresi, Paula Daniele; Costa, Naiara Fernanda; de Carvalho, Heloisa Maria Cotta Pires; Batistela, Silmara

2011-01-01

The elevated plus-maze is an apparatus composed of enclosed and open (elevated) arms and time spent in the open arms by a rat can be increased/decreased by anxiolytic/anxiogenic agents. In the forced swim test, floating behavior is used as an index of behavioral despair and can be decreased by antidepressant agents. As the comorbidity between anxiety and depression is a remarkable issue in human behavioral disorders, a possible relationship between the behaviors seen in the cited tests is of great relevance. In the present study, fifty-four male rats (Rattus norvegicus) were submitted to a plus-maze session and to a 2-day forced swim protocol. According to their time in the open arms, they were divided into three groups: Low Open, Medium Open and High Open. Some plus-maze measures were found to be coherent with time in the open arms and are suggested to also be reliable anxiety indexes. In the forced swim test, the Low Open group showed decreases in floating duration from forced swim Session 1 to Session 2, an alteration opposite to that observed in the other groups (particularly, the Medium Open group). The Low Open group also showed increases in floating latency, again in sharp contrast with the alteration found in the other groups. Accordingly, positive and negative correlation were found between time in the open arms and floating duration and latency, respectively. Results are compared to previous studies and mediation of the effect by reactivity to aversive stimulation or alterations induced by open arm exposure is discussed. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of Royal Jelly on Improving Passive Avoidance Learning and Spatial Learning and Memory in Rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H Alaei

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Studies have proposed that royal jelly(RJ has various biological activities in different cells and tissues. Since it has been demonstrated that RJ contains compounds having desirable effects on central neurons system and neural functions, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of royal jelly on learning and memory in rats. Methods: Male wistar rats were divided into two groups, the royal jelly and the control. In the RJ group, the rats received a food that contained 3% RJ instead of regular food for 10 days. Then learning and memory were investigated in these animals through both passive avoidance learning test(1 day and 1 week after receiving electrical shock and Morris water maze test(1 day and 1 week after a 4-day learning period. Results: The study results indicated that the food containing RJ in the RJ group significantly increased the time of the first entrance to the dark room one week after the electrical shock in passive avoidance learning test. In other words, the findings suggest an improvement of learning and memory in RJ group. In the acquisition phase of Morris water maze test, rats receiving RJ found the underwater escape plate during less time and distance comparing with the control group. Furthermore, one week after the acquisition phase, in the retention phase, rats spent more time in the quadrant in which the escape plate was previously located. Conclusion: The present study findings propose that Royal Jelly can improve cognitive processes through positive effects on neural functions and probably has a significant influence on prevention and therapy of some neuronal disorders.

Effect of botanical extracts containing carnosic acid or rosmarinic acid on learning and memory in SAMP8 mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Farr, Susan A; Niehoff, Michael L; Ceddia, Michael A; Herrlinger, Kelli A; Lewis, Brandon J; Feng, Shulin; Welleford, Andrew; Butterfield, D Allan; Morley, John E

2016-10-15

Oxidative damage is one of the hallmarks of the aging process. The current study evaluated effects of two proprietary antioxidant-based ingredients, rosemary extract and spearmint extract containing carnosic acid and rosmarinic acid, respectively, on learning and memory in the SAMP8 mouse model of accelerated aging. The two rosemary extracts contained carnosic acid (60% or 10% carnosic acid) and one spearmint extract contained 5% rosmarinic acid. Three doses of actives in each extract were tested: 32, 16, 1.6 or 0mg/kg. After 90days of treatment mice were tested in T-maze foot shock avoidance, object recognition and lever press. Rosemary extract containing 60% carnosic acid improved acquisition and retention in T-maze foot shock, object recognition and lever press. Rosemary extract with 10% carnosic acid improved retention in T-maze foot shock avoidance and lever press. Spearmint with 5% rosmarinic acid improved acquisition and retention in T-maze foot shock avoidance and object recognition. 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) was reduced in the brain cortex after treatment with all three extracts (Prosemary with 10% carnosic acid (Prosemary have beneficial effects on learning and memory and brain tissue markers of oxidation that occur with age in SAMP8 mice. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Finger tapping analysis in patients with Parkinson's disease and atypical parkinsonism.

Science.gov (United States)

Djurić-Jovičić, Milica; Petrović, Igor; Ječmenica-Lukić, Milica; Radovanović, Saša; Dragašević-Mišković, Nataša; Belić, Minja; Miler-Jerković, Vera; Popović, Mirjana B; Kostić, Vladimir S

2016-08-01

The goal of this study was to investigate repetitive finger tapping patterns in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), progressive supranuclear palsy-Richardson syndrome (PSP-R), or multiple system atrophy of parkinsonian type (MSA-P). The finger tapping performance was objectively assessed in PD (n=13), PSP-R (n=15), and MSA-P (n=14) patients and matched healthy controls (HC; n=14), using miniature inertial sensors positioned on the thumb and index finger, providing spatio-temporal kinematic parameters. The main finding was the lack or only minimal progressive reduction in amplitude during the finger tapping in PSP-R patients, similar to HC, but significantly different from the sequence effect (progressive decrement) in both PD and MSA-P patients. The mean negative amplitude slope of -0.12°/cycle revealed less progression of amplitude decrement even in comparison to HC (-0.21°/cycle, p=0.032), and particularly from PD (-0.56°/cycle, p=0.001), and MSA-P patients (-1.48°/cycle, p=0.003). No significant differences were found in the average finger separation amplitudes between PD, PSP-R and MSA-P patients (pmsa-pd=0.726, pmsa-psp=0.363, ppsp-pd=0.726). The lack of clinically significant sequence effect during finger tapping differentiated PSP-R from both PD and MSA-P patients, and might be specific for PSP-R. The finger tapping kinematic parameter of amplitude slope may be a neurophysiological marker able to differentiate particular forms of parkinsonism. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experimental Evaluation of a Braille-Reading-Inspired Finger Motion Adaptive Algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Ulusoy, Melda; Sipahi, Rifat

2016-01-01

Braille reading is a complex process involving intricate finger-motion patterns and finger-rubbing actions across Braille letters for the stimulation of appropriate nerves. Although Braille reading is performed by smoothly moving the finger from left-to-right, research shows that even fluent reading requires right-to-left movements of the finger, known as "reversal". Reversals are crucial as they not only enhance stimulation of nerves for correctly reading the letters, but they also show one to re-read the letters that were missed in the first pass. Moreover, it is known that reversals can be performed as often as in every sentence and can start at any location in a sentence. Here, we report experimental results on the feasibility of an algorithm that can render a machine to automatically adapt to reversal gestures of one's finger. Through Braille-reading-analogous tasks, the algorithm is tested with thirty sighted subjects that volunteered in the study. We find that the finger motion adaptive algorithm (FMAA) is useful in achieving cooperation between human finger and the machine. In the presence of FMAA, subjects' performance metrics associated with the tasks have significantly improved as supported by statistical analysis. In light of these encouraging results, preliminary experiments are carried out with five blind subjects with the aim to put the algorithm to test. Results obtained from carefully designed experiments showed that subjects' Braille reading accuracy in the presence of FMAA was more favorable then when FMAA was turned off. Utilization of FMAA in future generation Braille reading devices thus holds strong promise.

Digital artery perforator (DAP) flaps: modifications for fingertip and finger stump reconstruction.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitsunaga, Narushima; Mihara, Makoto; Koshima, Isao; Gonda, Koichi; Takuya, Iida; Kato, Harunosuke; Araki, Jun; Yamamoto, Yushuke; Yuhei, Otaki; Todokoro, Takeshi; Ishikawa, Shoichi; Eri, Uehara; Mundinger, Gerhard S

2010-08-01

Various fingertip reconstructions have been reported for situations where microsurgical finger replantation is impossible. One method is the digital artery perforator (DAP) flap. Herein we report 13 DAP flaps for fingertip and finger stump reconstruction following traumatic finger amputations, highlighting modifications to the originally described DAP flap. From October 1998 to December 2007, a total of 13 fingers (11 patients) underwent fingertip and finger stump reconstruction with modified DAP flaps following traumatic finger amputations. We performed six adipocutaneous flaps, three adipose-only flaps, two supercharged flaps and two extended flaps. Flap size ranged from 1.44 to 8 cm(2) (average 3.25 cm(2)). All flaps survived completely with the exception of partial skin necrosis in two cases. One of these cases required debridement and skin grafting. Our initial three cases used donor-site skin grafting. The donor site was closed primarily in the 10 subsequent cases. No patients showed postoperative hypersensitivity of repaired fingertips. Semmes-Weinstein (SW) test result for flaps including a digital nerve branch did not differ from those without (average 4.07 vs. 3.92). Modified DAP flaps allow for preservation of digital length, volume and finger function. They can be raised as adiposal-only flaps or extended flaps and supercharged through perforator-to-perforator anastomoses. The donor defect on the lateral pulp can be closed primarily or by skin grafting. For traumatic fingertip and finger stump reconstructions, DAP flaps deliver consistent aesthetic and functional results. Copyright 2009 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Non-acute effects of different doses of 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine on spatial memory in the Morris water maze in Sprague-Dawley male rats

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Sara Soleimani Asl; Mohammad Hassan Farhadi; Nasser Naghdi; Samira Choopani; Alireza Samzadeh-Kermani; Mehdi Mehdizadeh

2011-01-01

3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; also known as 'ecstasy') has been shown to impair learning and spatial memory in adult and neonatal rats.Many studies have focused on the acute effects of MDMA on memory.In the present study, we intraperitoneally administered MDMA (0, 5, 10, 20 mg/kg) to adult male rats to investigate the effects of different doses on rat spatial memory in the Morris water maze, body temperature, and mortality, twice a day, for 7 successive days.The results indicated that MDMA impaired spatial memory dose-dependently, with the highest dose (20 mg/kg) exerting the strongest effects.In addition, MDMA also caused hyperthermia and increased mortality in rats.

[Effect of early scream sound stress on learning and memory in female rats].

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Lili; Han, Bo; Zhao, Xiaoge; Mi, Lihua; Song, Qiang; Huang, Chen

2015-12-01

To investigate the effect of early scream sound stress on the ability of spatial learning and memory, the levels of norepinephrine (NE) and corticosterone (CORT) in serum, and the morphology of adrenal gland.
 Female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were treated daily with scream sound from postnatal day 1(P1) for 21 d. Morris water maze was used to measure the spatial learning and memory ability. The levels of serum NE and CORT were determined by radioimmunoassay. Adrenal gland of SD rats was collected and fixed in formalin, and then embedded with paraffin. The morphology of adrenal gland was observed by HE staining.
 Exposure to early scream sound decreased latency of escape and increased times to cross the platform in Morris water maze test (Psound stress can enhance spatial learning and memory ability in adulthood, which is related to activation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic nervous system.

Feasibility of ambulatory, continuous 24-hour finger arterial pressure recording

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Imholz, B. P.; Langewouters, G. J.; van Montfrans, G. A.; Parati, G.; van Goudoever, J.; Wesseling, K. H.; Wieling, W.; Mancia, G.

1993-01-01

We tested Portapres, an innovative portable, battery-operated device for the continuous, noninvasive, 24-hour ambulatory measurement of blood pressure in the finger. Portapres is based on Finapres, a stationary device for the measurement of finger arterial pressure. Systems were added to record

A novel hybrid biometric electronic voting system: integrating finger print face recognition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Najam, S.S.; Shaikh, A.Z.; Naqvi, S.

2018-01-01

A novel hybrid design based electronic voting system is proposed, implemented and analyzed. The proposed system uses two voter verification techniques to give better results in comparison to single identification based systems. Finger print and facial recognition based methods are used for voter identification. Cross verification of a voter during an election process provides better accuracy than single parameter identification method. The facial recognition system uses Viola-Jones algorithm along with rectangular Haar feature selection method for detection and extraction of features to develop a biometric template and for feature extraction during the voting process. Cascaded machine learning based classifiers are used for comparing the features for identity verification using GPCA (Generalized Principle Component Analysis) and K-NN (K-Nearest Neighbor). It is accomplished through comparing the Eigen-vectors of the extracted features with the biometric template pre-stored in the election regulatory body database. The results of the proposed system show that the proposed cascaded design based system performs better than the systems using other classifiers or separate schemes i.e. facial or finger print based schemes. The proposed system will be highly useful for real time applications due to the reason that it has 91% accuracy under nominal light in terms of facial recognition. (author)

Fusarium verticillioides from finger millet in Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

Saleh, Amgad A; Esele, J P; Logrieco, Antonio; Ritieni, Alberto; Leslie, John F

2012-01-01

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is a subsistence crop grown in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Sub-continent. Fusarium species occurring on this crop have not been reported. Approximately 13% of the Fusarium isolates recovered from finger millet growing at three different locations in eastern Uganda belong to Fusarium verticillioides, and could produce up to 18,600 µg/g of total fumonisins when cultured under laboratory conditions. These strains are all genetically unique, based on AFLP analyses, and form fertile perithecia when crossed with the standard mating type tester strains for this species. All but one of the strains is female-fertile and mating-type segregates 13:20 Mat-1:Mat-2. Three new sequences of the gene encoding translation elongation factor 1-α were found within the population. These results indicate a potential health risk for infants who consume finger millet gruel as a weaning food, and are consistent with the hypothesis that F. verticillioides originated in Africa and not in the Americas, despite its widespread association with maize grown almost anywhere worldwide.

A new technique to determine vertical dimension of occlusion from anthropometric measurements of fingers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruchi Ladda

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find the correlation between vertical dimension of occlusion (VDO and length of fingers. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 dentate subjects comprising of 200 males and 200 females. Anthropometric measurements of VDO, length of index finger, length of little finger, and distance from tip of thumb to tip of index finger of right hand were recorded clinically using modified digital vernier caliper. Correlation between VDO and length of fingers was studied using Spearman′s coefficient. For the execution of regression command and preparation of prediction equations to estimate VDO, Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software Version 11.5 was used. Results: VDO was significantly and positively correlated with all the parameters studied. In males, correlation of VDO was strongest for length of index finger (r-0.406 whereas in females, it was strongest for length of little finger (r-0.385. VDO estimation using regression equation had a standard error of ± 3.76 in males and ± 2.86 in females for length of index finger, ±3.81 and ± 2.74 in males and females respectively for length of little finger, ±3.99 and ± 2.89 in males and females respectively for distance from tip of thumb to tip of index finger. Conclusions: Since the variations between VDO and finger lengths are within the range of 2-4 mm, VDO prediction through this method is reliable, and reproducible. Also the method is simple, economic, and non-invasive; hence, it could be recommended for everyday practice.

Addressing Barriers to Learning and Teaching to Enhance Equity of Opportunity. Report from the National Summit on ESSA and Learning Supports

Science.gov (United States)

Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA, 2017

2017-01-01

Passage of the "Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA) provides opportunities to improve how schools address barriers to learning and teaching and re-engage disconnected students and families. Of particular relevance to these concerns, ESSA replaces what has been described as a maze of programs with a "Student Support and Academic…

Induction of habits in rats by a forced-choice procedure in T-maze and the effect of pre-test free exploration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moustgaard, Anette; Hau, Jann

2009-01-01

the opportunity to explore the entire maze immediately before the free-choice challenge after 200 forced-choice trials, this resulted in a large variation in the choice pattern of the individual rats, and a subgroup of rats choose the newly opened maze arm in 95-100% of the 20 free-choice trials....

[Comparison of Bacteria ERIC-PCR Fingerprints of Index Fingers and Contactants].

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Y T; Sun, D M; Shi, S P; Yang, X

2018-02-01

To explore the bacteria relevance between index fingers and contactant' surfaces （mobile phone touch screen and desktop of personal office table）. Bacteria were collected from the index fingers, mobile phone touch screen and desktop of personal office table of 10 volunteers. Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus （ERIC）-PCR fingerprint was established by PCR amplification technique of metagenome. There were 7 volunteers' ERIC-PCR fingerprints of index fingers matched that took from the mobile phone touch screens, and different from each other. There were 3 volunteers' ERIC-PCR fingerprints of index fingers matched that took from desk top of personal office table, and other 7 volunteers' ERIC-PCR fingerprints did not match perfectly with that took from desk top of personal office table, but had at least one similar band for both. The bacteria on index finger shows individual specificity, which on mobile phone touching screen and personal desktop may be a new biological sample of forensic identification. Copyright© by the Editorial Department of Journal of Forensic Medicine.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the finger masquerading as an abscess. Case report.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

O'Sullivan, S T

2012-02-03

A 43-year-old man presented with an abscess on his left ring finger, which recurred despite multiple drainage procedures. Histological examination of the lesion was unhelpful; it was only on histopathological examination of the finger after ray amputation that the diagnosis of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma was established. This case illustrates the need to consider malignancy when dealing with chronic finger infections.

[Glass maze in women's leadership].

Science.gov (United States)

Barberá Heredia, Ester; Ramos López, Amparo; Candela Agulló, Carlos

2011-04-01

Psychological gender discrimination explanations have changed over the past thirty years, becoming more complex in order to obtain a better understanding of the social reality. At the present moment, one of the most interesting research areas is the one referring to the 'glass maze' phenomenon in women's management careers. The main purpose of this work is to reveal the theoretical evolution in an attempt to explain the leadership study from a gender perspective. The consecutive hypotheses, starting with the labour sexual division idea, are becoming more interactive in order to understand the current labour-social situation. Social psychology has underlined the role of beliefs, observed via gender stereotyped roles, prejudiced attitudes against women, sexist and neo-sexist ideology, or masculine, feminine and androgynous identity development. New psychological interpretations insist on the variability of the gender concept, where gender is sometimes observed through men and women's behaviours, and other times through those behaviour expectations. But gender is mainly observed though the power relations between men and women during social interactions in labour organizations.

Finger vein identification using fuzzy-based k-nearest centroid neighbor classifier

Science.gov (United States)

Rosdi, Bakhtiar Affendi; Jaafar, Haryati; Ramli, Dzati Athiar

2015-02-01

In this paper, a new approach for personal identification using finger vein image is presented. Finger vein is an emerging type of biometrics that attracts attention of researchers in biometrics area. As compared to other biometric traits such as face, fingerprint and iris, finger vein is more secured and hard to counterfeit since the features are inside the human body. So far, most of the researchers focus on how to extract robust features from the captured vein images. Not much research was conducted on the classification of the extracted features. In this paper, a new classifier called fuzzy-based k-nearest centroid neighbor (FkNCN) is applied to classify the finger vein image. The proposed FkNCN employs a surrounding rule to obtain the k-nearest centroid neighbors based on the spatial distributions of the training images and their distance to the test image. Then, the fuzzy membership function is utilized to assign the test image to the class which is frequently represented by the k-nearest centroid neighbors. Experimental evaluation using our own database which was collected from 492 fingers shows that the proposed FkNCN has better performance than the k-nearest neighbor, k-nearest-centroid neighbor and fuzzy-based-k-nearest neighbor classifiers. This shows that the proposed classifier is able to identify the finger vein image effectively.

Population Structure and Diversity in Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana) Germplasm.

Science.gov (United States)

A genotypic analysis of 79 finger millet accessions (E. coracana subsp. coracana) from 11 African and 5 Asian countries, plus 14 wild E. coracana subsp. africana lines collected in Uganda and Kenya was conducted with 45 SSR markers distributed across the finger millet genome. Phylogenetic and popula...

Influences of reduced masticatory sensory input from soft-diet feeding upon spatial memory/learning ability in mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsutsui, Keisuke; Kaku, Masato; Motokawa, Masahide; Tohma, Yuiko; Kawata, Toshitsugu; Fujita, Tadashi; Kohno, Shinya; Ohtani, Junji; Tenjoh, Kaoru; Nakano, Mao; Kamada, Hiroko; Tanne, Kazuo

2007-02-01

It has been reported that reduction of masticatory afferent stimulation might influence learning and memory function. In order to clarify the influences of reduced masticatory sensory input on spatial memory/learning ability and neuropathological changes, we conducted the Morris water maze experiment and investigated the number of hippocampal neurons in association with the differences in masticatory afferent stimuli from hard- and soft-diet feeding in mice. The water maze experiment showed no significant difference in learning ability between 180-day-old solid- and powderdiet groups. Meanwhile, the ability was significantly reduced in the 360-day-old powder-diet group as compared with the age-matched solid-diet group. The total number of pyramidal cells in the hippocampal CA1 and CA3 regions was significantly smaller in 360-day-old powder-diet group than in the remaining groups. These results demonstrate that reduction of masticatory afferent stimuli due to long-term soft-diet feeding may induce neuron loss in the hippocampus and reduced memory/learning ability.

Rate effects on timing, key velocity, and finger kinematics in piano performance.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simone Dalla Bella

Full Text Available We examined the effect of rate on finger kinematics in goal-directed actions of pianists. In addition, we evaluated whether movement kinematics can be treated as an indicator of personal identity. Pianists' finger movements were recorded with a motion capture system while they performed melodies from memory at different rates. Pianists' peak finger heights above the keys preceding keystrokes increased as tempo increased, and were attained about one tone before keypress. These rate effects were not simply due to a strategy to increase key velocity (associated with tone intensity of the corresponding keystroke. Greater finger heights may compensate via greater tactile feedback for a speed-accuracy tradeoff that underlies the tendency toward larger temporal variability at faster tempi. This would allow pianists to maintain high temporal accuracy when playing at fast rates. In addition, finger velocity and accelerations as pianists' fingers approached keys were sufficiently unique to allow pianists' identification with a neural-network classifier. Classification success was higher in pianists with more extensive musical training. Pianists' movement "signatures" may reflect unique goal-directed movement kinematic patterns, leading to individualistic sound.

Variations in the nerves of the thumb and index finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Wallace, W A; Coupland, R E

1975-11-01

The digital nerves to the thumb and index finger have been studied by dissecting twenty-five embalmed upper limbs. The palmar digital nerves to the thumb were constant in position and course, with a short lateral cutaneous branch from the radial palmar digital nerve in 30 per cent of cases. The palmar digital nerves to the index finger had a variable pattern, the commonest arrangement, well described in Gray's Anatomy, occurring in 74 per cent of cases. The variations and their frequency are described. By examining histological cross-sections of the index finger it was found that of about 5,000 endoneurial tubes entering the finger, 60 per cent passed beyond the distal digital crease to supply the pulp and nail bed. The depth of the palmar digital nerves was about 3 millimetres, but less at the digital creases, and their diameter lay between 1 and 1.5 millimetres as far as the distal digital crease. Clinical applications of the findings are discussed.

Relations between open-field, elevated plus-maze, and emergence tests as displayed by C57/BL6J and BALB/c mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Lalonde, R; Strazielle, C

2008-06-15

The relations between open-field, elevated plus-maze, and emergence tests were examined in two strains of mice. In the open-field, C57BL/6J mice had more ambulatory movements and rears but not stereotyped movements relative to BALB/c. In addition, C57BL/6J mice entered more often than BALB/c into enclosed and open arms of the elevated plus-maze. When placed inside a large enclosure, C57BL/6J mice emerged more quickly than BALB/c from a small toy object. In the entire series of mice, ambulation and rears in the open-field were linearly correlated with open and enclosed arm visits in the elevated plus-maze. Ambulatory movements and rears were also correlated with emergence latencies. In contrast, stereotyped movements were correlated with emergence latencies, but not with any elevated plus-maze value. These results specify the extent and limits of association between the three tests.

Systematic classification of the His-Me finger superfamily.

Science.gov (United States)

Jablonska, Jagoda; Matelska, Dorota; Steczkiewicz, Kamil; Ginalski, Krzysztof

2017-11-16

The His-Me finger endonucleases, also known as HNH or ββα-metal endonucleases, form a large and diverse protein superfamily. The His-Me finger domain can be found in proteins that play an essential role in cells, including genome maintenance, intron homing, host defense and target offense. Its overall structural compactness and non-specificity make it a perfectly-tailored pathogenic module that participates on both sides of inter- and intra-organismal competition. An extremely low sequence similarity across the superfamily makes it difficult to identify and classify new His-Me fingers. Using state-of-the-art distant homology detection methods, we provide an updated and systematic classification of His-Me finger proteins. In this work, we identified over 100 000 proteins and clustered them into 38 groups, of which three groups are new and cannot be found in any existing public domain database of protein families. Based on an analysis of sequences, structures, domain architectures, and genomic contexts, we provide a careful functional annotation of the poorly characterized members of this superfamily. Our results may inspire further experimental investigations that should address the predicted activity and clarify the potential substrates, to provide more detailed insights into the fundamental biological roles of these proteins. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Task-specific kinetic finger tremor affects the performance of carrom players.

Science.gov (United States)

Kahathuduwa, Chanaka N; Weerasinghe, Vajira S; Dassanayake, Tharaka L; Priyadarshana, Rajeewa; Dissanayake, Arunika L; Perera, Christine

2016-01-01

We aimed to determine the effect of task-specific kinetic finger tremor, as indexed by surface electromyography (EMG), on the accuracy of a carrom stroke. Surface EMG of extensor digitorum communis muscle of the playing arm was recorded during rest, isometric contraction and stroke execution in 17 male carrom players with clinically observed finger tremor and 18 skill- and age-matched controls. Log-transformed power spectral densities (LogPSDs) of surface EMG activity (signifying tremor severity) at a 1-s pre-execution period correlated with angular error of the stroke. LogPSDs in 4-10 Hz range were higher in players with tremor than controls during pre-execution (P kinetic finger tremor in carrom players. This finger tremor during the immediate pre-execution phase appears to be a significant determinant of stroke accuracy.

Where have I been? Where should I go? Spatial working memory on a radial arm maze in a rat model of depression.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sophie Helene Richter

Full Text Available Disturbances in cognitive functioning are among the most debilitating problems experienced by patients with major depression. Investigations of these deficits in animals help to extend and refine our understanding of human emotional disorder, while at the same time providing valid tools to study higher executive functions in animals. We employ the "learned helplessness" genetic rat model of depression in studying working memory using an eight arm radial maze procedure with temporal delay. This so-called delayed spatial win-shift task consists of three phases, training, delay and test, requiring rats to hold information on-line across a retention interval and making choices based on this information in the test phase. According to a 2×2 factorial design, working memory performance of thirty-one congenitally helpless (cLH and non-helpless (cNLH rats was tested on eighteen trials, additionally imposing two different delay durations, 30 s and 15 min, respectively. While not observing a general cognitive deficit in cLH rats, the delay length greatly influenced maze performance. Notably, performance was most impaired in cLH rats tested with the shorter 30 s delay, suggesting a stress-related disruption of attentional processes in rats that are more sensitive to stress. Our study provides direct animal homologues of clinically important measures in human research, and contributes to the non-invasive assessment of cognitive deficits associated with depression.

Tool-specific performance of vibration-reducing gloves for attenuating fingers-transmitted vibration

Science.gov (United States)

Welcome, Daniel E.; Dong, Ren G.; Xu, Xueyan S.; Warren, Christopher; McDowell, Thomas W.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND Fingers-transmitted vibration can cause vibration-induced white finger. The effectiveness of vibration-reducing (VR) gloves for reducing hand transmitted vibration to the fingers has not been sufficiently examined. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to examine tool-specific performance of VR gloves for reducing finger-transmitted vibrations in three orthogonal directions (3D) from powered hand tools. METHODS A transfer function method was used to estimate the tool-specific effectiveness of four typical VR gloves. The transfer functions of the VR glove fingers in three directions were either measured in this study or during a previous study using a 3D laser vibrometer. More than seventy vibration spectra of various tools or machines were used in the estimations. RESULTS When assessed based on frequency-weighted acceleration, the gloves provided little vibration reduction. In some cases, the gloves amplified the vibration by more than 10%, especially the neoprene glove. However, the neoprene glove did the best when the assessment was based on unweighted acceleration. The neoprene glove was able to reduce the vibration by 10% or more of the unweighted vibration for 27 out of the 79 tools. If the dominant vibration of a tool handle or workpiece was in the shear direction relative to the fingers, as observed in the operation of needle scalers, hammer chisels, and bucking bars, the gloves did not reduce the vibration but increased it. CONCLUSIONS This study confirmed that the effectiveness for reducing vibration varied with the gloves and the vibration reduction of each glove depended on tool, vibration direction to the fingers, and finger location. VR gloves, including certified anti-vibration gloves do not provide much vibration reduction when judged based on frequency-weighted acceleration. However, some of the VR gloves can provide more than 10% reduction of the unweighted vibration for some tools or workpieces. Tools and gloves can be matched for

Similar reliability and equivalent performance of female and male mice in the open field and water‐maze place navigation task

Science.gov (United States)

Fritz, Ann‐Kristina; Amrein, Irmgard

2017-01-01

Although most nervous system diseases affect women and men differentially, most behavioral studies using mouse models do not include subjects of both sexes. Many researchers worry that data of female mice may be unreliable due to the estrous cycle. Here, we retrospectively evaluated sex effects on coefficient of variation (CV) in 5,311 mice which had performed the same place navigation protocol in the water‐maze and in 4,554 mice tested in the same open field arena. Confidence intervals for Cohen's d as measure of effect size were computed and tested for equivalence with 0.2 as equivalence margin. Despite the large sample size, only few behavioral parameters showed a significant sex effect on CV. Confidence intervals of effect size indicated that CV was either equivalent or showed a small sex difference at most, accounting for less than 2% of total group to group variation of CV. While female mice were potentially slightly more variable in water‐maze acquisition and in the open field, males tended to perform less reliably in the water‐maze probe trial. In addition to evaluating variability, we also directly compared mean performance of female and male mice and found them to be equivalent in both water‐maze place navigation and open field exploration. Our data confirm and extend other large scale studies in demonstrating that including female mice in experiments does not cause a relevant increase of data variability. Our results make a strong case for including mice of both sexes whenever open field or water‐maze are used in preclinical research. PMID:28654717

Fingers' vibration transmission and grip strength preservation performance of vibration reducing gloves.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamouda, K; Rakheja, S; Dewangan, K N; Marcotte, P

2018-01-01

The vibration isolation performances of vibration reducing (VR) gloves are invariably assessed in terms of power tools' handle vibration transmission to the palm of the hand using the method described in ISO 10819 (2013), while the nature of vibration transmitted to the fingers is ignored. Moreover, the VR gloves with relatively low stiffness viscoelastic materials affect the grip strength in an adverse manner. This study is aimed at performance assessments of 12 different VR gloves on the basis of handle vibration transmission to the palm and the fingers of the gloved hand, together with reduction in the grip strength. The gloves included 3 different air bladder, 3 gel, 3 hybrid, and 2 gel-foam gloves in addition to a leather glove. Two Velcro finger adapters, each instrumented with a three-axis accelerometer, were used to measure vibration responses of the index and middle fingers near the mid-phalanges. Vibration transmitted to the palm was measured using the standardized palm adapter. The vibration transmissibility responses of the VR gloves were measured in the laboratory using the instrumented cylindrical handle, also described in the standard, mounted on a vibration exciter. A total of 12 healthy male subjects participated in the study. The instrumented handle was also used to measure grip strength of the subjects with and without the VR gloves. The results of the study showed that the VR gloves, with only a few exceptions, attenuate handle vibration transmitted to the fingers only in the 10-200 Hz and amplify middle finger vibration at frequencies exceeding 200 Hz. Many of the gloves, however, provided considerable reduction in vibration transmitted to the palm, especially at higher frequencies. These suggest that the characteristics of vibration transmitted to fingers differ considerably from those at the palm. Four of the test gloves satisfied the screening criteria of the ISO 10819 (2013) based on the palm vibration alone, even though these caused

[Necrosis in fingers and toes following local anaesthesia with adrenaline--an urban legend?].

Science.gov (United States)

Finsen, Vilhjalmur

2013-09-17

It is often maintained that a local anaesthetic (usually lidocaine) with adrenaline must not be used in fingers and toes because it may cause necrosis due to vascular spasm in end arteries. This review article is an attempt to find evidence to support this warning. Relevant literature was found by means of searches in PubMed limited downwards to 1946 and in EMBASE from 1980 to 2012, and in reference lists. Five review articles on finger necrosis following local anaesthesia concluded that lidocaine with adrenaline does not entail a risk of ischaemic injury. One article found 48 reported cases of finger necrosis in the period 1880 to 2000. Most were from the first half of the 1900s, and none involved lidocaine. Gangrene of part of the finger tip has subsequently been described in one patient with Raynaud's syndrome. No cases of necrosis have been described in a large number of reported accidents in which EpiPen injections contained the same quantity of adrenaline as is found in 60 ml lidocaine with adrenaline. Over a quarter of a million reports have been made of operations on feet, hands, fingers and toes anaesthetised with lidocaine with adrenaline without resulting necrosis. There are no grounds for the warning against using lidocaine with adrenaline in fingers and toes. This anaesthetic offers considerable practical advantages. Care should be taken with infected fingers or fingers with poor circulation.

The effect of Vitamin E on learning and memory deficits in intrahippocampal kainate-induced temporal lobe epilepsy in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiasalari, Zahra; Khalili, Mohsen; Shafiee, Samaneh; Roghani, Mehrdad

2016-01-01

Since temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is associated with learning and memory impairment, we investigated the beneficial effect of Vitamin E on the impaired learning and memory in the intrahippocampal kainate model of TLE in rats. Rats were divided into sham, Vitamin E-treated sham, kainate, and Vitamin E-treated kainate. Intrahippocampal kainate was used for induction of epilepsy. Vitamin E was injected intraperitoneal (i.p.) at a dose of 200 mg/kg/day started 1 week before surgery until 1 h presurgery. Initial and step-through latencies in the passive avoidance test and alternation behavior percentage in Y-maze were finally determined in addition to measurement of some oxidative stress markers. Kainate injection caused a higher severity and rate of seizures and deteriorated learning and memory performance in passive avoidance paradigm and spontaneous alternation as an index of spatial recognition memory in Y-maze task. Intrahippocampal kainate also led to the elevation of malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitrite and reduced activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD). Vitamin E pretreatment significantly attenuated severity and incidence rate of seizures, significantly improved retrieval and recall in passive avoidance, did not ameliorate spatial memory deficit in Y-maze, and lowered MDA and enhanced SOD activity. Vitamin E improves passive avoidance learning and memory and part of its beneficial effect is due to its potential to mitigate hippocampal oxidative stress.

GABA receptors in the region of the dorsomedial hypothalamus of rats regulate anxiety in the elevated plus-maze test. II. Physiological measures.

Science.gov (United States)

Shekhar, A; Sims, L S; Bowsher, R R

1993-11-05

In the previous report, we had shown that blockade and enhancement of GABAA receptors in the DMH of rats increased or decreased the level of anxiety, respectively, as measured by the elevated plus-maze test. The present study was conducted to assess the effects of enhancing GABAA neurotransmission in the DMH of rats on the physiological concomitants of anxiety such as increases in heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP) and plasma norepinephrine (NE) levels while the animals were placed on the elevated plus-maze. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were equipped with arterial and venous catheters and stereotaxically implanted with microinjection cannulae in the cardiostimulatory region of the DMH where injection of bicuculline methiodide (BMI) elicited increases in heart rate under anesthesia. After recovery, rats were injected with either saline or the GABAA agonist muscimol and their HR, BP and plasma NE responses were measured when confined in the open or the closed arm of the elevated plus-maze. Injection of muscimol into the DMH reduced the increases seen in HR, BP and plasma NE when the rats were confined to either the closed or the open arms in addition to decreasing 'anxiety' in the plus-maze. Injection of muscimol into the areas of the hypothalamus surrounding the DMH did not significantly affect the changes in HR, BP and plasma NE in the plus-maze. Blocking the changes in HR and BP elicited by microinjecting GABAergic drugs into the DMH of rats, with systemic injections of a combination of atropine and the beta-blocker atenolol, did not block the behavioral effects of the GABAergic drugs in the plus-maze test.

Participation of hippocampal agmatine in spatial learning: an in vivo microdialysis study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rushaidhi, Madihah; Jing, Yu; Zhang, Hu; Liu, Ping

2013-02-01

Agmatine, decarboxylated arginine, is widely distributed in mammalian brains and is considered as a novel putative neurotransmitter. Recent research demonstrates spatial learning-induced increases in agmatine in memory-related structures at the tissue and presynaptic terminal levels. By using the in vivo microdialysis technique coupled with highly sensitive liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry assay, we investigated dynamic changes of extracellular agmatine in the rat dorsal hippocampus before, during and after water maze training to find a fixed hidden platform on the first and forth day of testing. It was firstly noted that the basal level of extracellular agmatine was significantly elevated on day 4. While swimming per se had no effect, a rapid rise (2-6 folds) in extracellular agmatine was observed during water maze training regardless of testing day. Such learning-induced rise was found to successively lessen across the multiple blocks of training on day 1. However, this pattern was reversed on day 4 when the platform was removed during the final training trial. The present study, for the first time, demonstrates water maze training-induced increase of extracellular agmatine in the dorsal hippocampus. The results suggest a role of endogenous agmatine in the encoding and retrieval of spatial information. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The relation between the anthropometric characteristics of fingers and cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omid Mardanshahi

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Anthropometry is a science of human body measurement that could be used for manufacturing artificial limbs or prosthesis, investigating body differences between populations, utilizing in forensics and criminology, or even in the diagnosis of some diseases. Two of the most important anthropometric characteristics are dermatoglyphic patterns and finger length. Many studies have evaluated the relation between these two characteristics in different diseases such as cancers. It assumed that dermatoglyphic patterns and finger length could be used as predictors of some cancers such as gastric, ovarian, prostate, testicular, and breast cancers. In this review, we evaluated the relation between dermatoglyphic variability and finger length in different cancers more precisely.

Shielding of radiation fields generated by 252Cf in a concrete maze. Part 2 -- Simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fasso, A.; Ipe, N.E.; Reyna, A.

1998-03-01

A streaming experiment performed in a concrete maze of shape and size typical of a radiotherapy room was simulated with the Monte Carlo program FLUKA. The purpose of the calculation was to test the performance of the code in the low energy neutron range, and at the same time to provide additional information which could help in optimizing shielding of medical facilities. Instrument responses were calculated at different maze locations for several experimental configurations and were compared with measurements. In addition, neutron and gamma fluence, ambient dose equivalent and effective dose were calculated at the same positions. Both sources used in the experiment, namely a bare 252 Cf source and one shielded by a tungsten shell 5 cm thick, were considered in the simulation

Effects of Ethanol-Gasoline Blended Fuels on Learning and Memory

Science.gov (United States)

The potential toxicity of ethanol-gasoline blended fuels to the developing nervous system is of concern. We previously reported an absence of effect on learning and memory as seen in a trace fear conditioning task and water maze task in offspring of dams exposed prenatally to the...

Decontamination in the Electron Probe Microanalysis with a Peltier-Cooled Cold Finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Buse, Ben; Kearns, Stuart; Clapham, Charles; Hawley, Donovan

2016-10-01

A prototype Peltier thermoelectric cooling unit has been constructed to cool a cold finger on an electron microprobe. The Peltier unit was tested at 15 and 96 W, achieving cold finger temperatures of -10 and -27°C, respectively. The Peltier unit did not adversely affect the analytical stability of the instrument. Heat conduction between the Peltier unit mounted outside the vacuum and the cold finger was found to be very efficient. Under Peltier cooling, the vacuum improvement associated with water vapor deposition was not achieved; this has the advantage of avoiding severe degradation of the vacuum observed when warming up a cold finger from liquid nitrogen (LN2) temperatures. Carbon contamination rates were reduced as cooling commenced; by -27°C contamination rates were found to be comparable with LN2-cooled devices. Peltier cooling, therefore, provides a viable alternative to LN2-cooled cold fingers, with few of their associated disadvantages.

The Case Report of Trigger Finger Improved with Hominis Placenta Pharmacopuncture Treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeong-Won Kim

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Objectives : The Purpose of this study is to investigate and report the effectiveness of Hominis Placenta using Pharmacopuncture treatment for trigger finger. Methods : 3 Patients are admitted at Dept. of Oriental Rehabilitation, Bu-Chun Jaseng Oriental Medicine Hospital, diagnosed as Trigger finger and treated with Hominis Placenta Pharmacopuncture. Each cases are measured and assessed by Quinnell's classification of triggering and VAS (Visual Analogue Scale scores. Results : 3 Patients of trigger finger have a different kind of cause and fingers lesion they have, but nodules are not significantly found up, so we could classify all of 3 patients to diffuse type. After treatment of Hominis placenta Pharmacopuncture, spontaneous pain and tenderness, grades of triggering are decreased significantly. We would expect that Hominis placenta Pharmacopuncture has a effect on degenerative diseases of diffuse type's tendon sheath. Conclusions : Trigger finger is generally divided into two stages, inflammatory and degenerative stage, and when degenerative stage, Hominis placenta pharmacopuncture appears to be effective.

Trigger finger presenting secondary to leiomyoma: a case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harb Ziad

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction We present a previously undescribed entity: trigger finger secondary to a leiomyoma. This is the first time such a case has been reported and highlights the fact that common conditions can sometimes present secondary to rare diseases. Case presentation A 39-year-old Caucasian man presented with a fairly typical presentation of trigger finger. During surgical treatment, the lesion was excised and sent for histology, which showed tissue consistent with a leiomyoma. The patient made an uneventful recovery. Conclusion Trigger finger is a common condition that is usually easily diagnosed and managed. However, it is important to appreciate that uncommon conditions, such as leiomyoma, can present with what is sometimes considered trivial disease, and one should always consider the differential diagnoses even when faced with relatively benign conditions.

Identification of the ``a'' Genome of Finger Millet Using Chloroplast DNA

Science.gov (United States)

Hilu, K. W.

1988-01-01

Finger millet (Eleusine corocana subsp. coracana), an important cereal in East Africa and India, is a tetraploid species with unknown genomic components. A recent cytogenetic study confirmed the direct origin of this millet from the tetraploid E. coracana subsp. africana but questioned Eleusine indica as a genomic donor. Chloroplast (ct) DNA sequence analysis using restriction fragment pattern was used to examine the phylogenetic relationships between E. coracana subsp. coracana (domesticated finger millet), E. coracana subspecies africana (wild finger millet), and E. indica. Eleusine tristachya was included since it is the only other annual diploid species in the genus with a basic chromosome number of x = 9 like finger millet. Eight of the ten restriction endonucleases used had 16 to over 30 restriction sites per genome and were informative. E. coracana subsp. coracana and subsp. africana and E. indica were identical in all the restriction sites surveyed, while the ct genome of E. tristachya differed consistently by at least one mutational event for each restriction enzyme surveyed. This random survey of the ct genomes of these species points out E. indica as one of the genome donors (maternal genome donor) of domesticated finger millet contrary to a previous cytogenetic study. The data also substantiate E. coracana subsp. africana as the progenitor of domesticated finger millet. The disparity between the cytogenetic and the molecular approaches is discussed in light of the problems associated with chromosome pairing and polyploidy. PMID:8608927

Identification of the "A" genome of finger millet using chloroplast DNA.

Science.gov (United States)

Hilu, K W

1988-01-01

Finger millet (Eleusine corocana subsp. coracana), an important cereal in East Africa and India, is a tetraploid species with unknown genomic components. A recent cytogenetic study confirmed the direct origin of this millet from the tetraploid E. coracana subsp. africana but questioned Eleusine indica as a genomic donor. Chloroplast (ct) DNA sequence analysis using restriction fragment pattern was used to examine the phylogenetic relationships between E. coracana subsp. coracana (domesticated finger millet), E. coracana subspecies africana (wild finger millet), and E. indica. Eleusine tristachya was included since it is the only other annual diploid species in the genus with a basic chromosome number of x = 9 like finger millet. Eight of the ten restriction endonucleases used had 16 to over 30 restriction sites per genome and were informative. E. coracana subsp. coracana and subsp. africana and E. indica were identical in all the restriction sites surveyed, while the ct genome of E, tristachya differed consistently by at least one mutational event for each restriction enzyme surveyed. This random survey of the ct genomes of these species points out E. indica as one of the genome donors (maternal genome donor) of domesticated finger millet contrary to a previous cytogenetic study. The data also substantiate E. coracana subsp. africana as the progenitor of domesticated finger millet. The disparity between the cytogenetic and the molecular approaches is discussed in light of the problems associated with chromosome pairing and polyploidy.

CUTANEOUS MYXOID CYST ON THE SCLEROTIC FINGER IN A PATIENT WITH DIFFUSE SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS

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Taeko Nakamura-Wakatsuki

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Skin tumors occurring on the scleroderma fingers are rarely seen. Swollen fingers are hallmarks of systemic sclerosis, and mucin deposition in the lesional skin is a constant feature in systemic sclerosis. Here we describe a case of cutaneous myxoid cyst on the flexor aspect of the sclerotic fingers in a patient with severe diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis. Cutaneous myxoid cyst is a relatively common benign tumor; however, cases of cutaneous myxoid cysts developing on the scleroderma fingers have not been reported to date. Mucin deposition in the sclerotic skin may be a predisposing factor in the induction of myxoid cyst on the scleroderma finger in our patient.

Multi-finger haptic interaction

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Galiana, Ignacio

2013-01-01

The H-1B visa is the gateway for the world's best and brightest to live and work in the United States as IT professionals, engineers, scientists, professors, doctors, nurses, and researchers. How to Secure Your H?1B Visa guides employees and employers alike through the maze of H-1B laws, policies, and procedures. This road map lays out the whole H-1B process from petition to visa to status maintenance to visa extension and, ultimately, to permanent residence in the US for you and your family. It shows you step by step exactly how the H-1B process divides up between the employer and employee. I

A Contest-Oriented Project for Learning Intelligent Mobile Robots

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Huang, Hsin-Hsiung; Su, Juing-Huei; Lee, Chyi-Shyong

2013-01-01

A contest-oriented project for undergraduate students to learn implementation skills and theories related to intelligent mobile robots is presented in this paper. The project, related to Micromouse, Robotrace (Robotrace is the title of Taiwanese and Japanese robot races), and line-maze contests was developed by the embedded control system research…

Brain activity during bilateral rapid alternate finger tapping measured with magnetoencephalography

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Fukuda, Hiroshi; Odagaki, Masato; Hiwaki, Osamu; Kodabashi, Atsushi; Fujimoto, Toshiro

2009-04-01

Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), brain regions involved in an alternate bimanual tapping task by index fingers triggered with spontaneous timing were investigated. The tapping mode in which both index fingers moved simultaneously was interlaced during the task. The groups of the alternate tapping (AL mode) and the simultaneous tapping (SI mode) were extracted from the successive alternating taps with a histogram of intervals between the right and left index fingers. MEG signals in each mode were averaged separately before and after the tapping initiation of the dominant index finger. The activities of the contralateral sensorimotor cortex before and after the tapping initiation in the AL mode were larger than that in the SI mode. The result indicates that the activity of the contralateral sensorimotor cortex depends on the degree of achievement in the difficult motor task such as the voluntary alternate tapping movements.

Palm to Finger Ulnar Sensory Nerve Conduction.

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Davidowich, Eduardo; Nascimento, Osvaldo J M; Orsini, Marco; Pupe, Camila; Pessoa, Bruno; Bittar, Caroline; Pires, Karina Lebeis; Bruno, Carlos; Coutinho, Bruno Mattos; de Souza, Olivia Gameiro; Ribeiro, Pedro; Velasques, Bruna; Bittencourt, Juliana; Teixeira, Silmar; Bastos, Victor Hugo

2015-12-29

Ulnar neuropathy at the wrist (UNW) is rare, and always challenging to localize. To increase the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis of UNW many authors advocate the stimulation of the ulnar nerve (UN) in the segment of the wrist and palm. The focus of this paper is to present a modified and simplified technique of sensory nerve conduction (SNC) of the UN in the wrist and palm segments and demonstrate the validity of this technique in the study of five cases of type III UNW. The SNC of UN was performed antidromically with fifth finger ring recording electrodes. The UN was stimulated 14 cm proximal to the active electrode (the standard way) and 7 cm proximal to the active electrode. The normal data from amplitude and conduction velocity (CV) ratios between the palm to finger and wrist to finger segments were obtained. Normal amplitude ratio was 1.4 to 0.76. Normal CV ratio was 0.8 to 1.23.We found evidences of abnormal SNAP amplitude ratio or substantial slowing of UN sensory fibers across the wrist in 5 of the 5 patients with electrophysiological-definite type III UNW.

Palm to finger ulnar sensory nerve conduction

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Eduardo Davidowich

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Ulnar neuropathy at the wrist (UNW is rare, and always challenging to localize. To increase the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis of UNW many authors advocate the stimulation of the ulnar nerve (UN in the segment of the wrist and palm. The focus of this paper is to present a modified and simplified technique of sensory nerve conduction (SNC of the UN in the wrist and palm segments and demonstrate the validity of this technique in the study of five cases of type III UNW. The SNC of UN was performed antidromically with fifth finger ring recording electrodes. The UN was stimulated 14 cm proximal to the active electrode (the standard way and 7 cm proximal to the active electrode. The normal data from amplitude and conduction velocity (CV ratios between the palm to finger and wrist to finger segments were obtained. Normal amplitude ratio was 1.4 to 0.76. Normal CV ratio was 0.8 to 1.23.We found evidences of abnormal SNAP amplitude ratio or substantial slowing of UN sensory fibers across the wrist in 5 of the 5 patients with electrophysiological-definite type III UNW.

Environmental enrichment to alleviate maze performance deficits in rats with microcephaly induced by X-irradiation

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Shibagaki, M.; Seo, M.; Asano, T.; Kiyono, S.

1981-01-01

Pregnant rats received 150 R of X-irradiation on day 17 of gestation. The male offspring were reared under environmentally enriched (EC), standard colony (SC) or impoverished conditions (IC) for 30 days after weaning. Then the Hebb-Williams maze test was carried out. The effects of X-irradiation and environment were both significant in initial, repetitive and total error scores and running time. Further analysis revealed that both EC-SC and EC-IC differences in initial, repetitive and total error scores were significant in X-irradiated animals, whereas only the EC-IC difference in initial and total error scores was significant in sham-irradiated control animals. Total protein, protein/g cortex, total benzodiazepine and muscarine cholinergic receptor bindings, and muscarinic cholinergic receptor binding/mg protein in the cerebral cortex were decreased in X-irradiated groups, compared to controls, but the effect of environment was not significant in these items. The results confirmed that environmental enrichment is a useful tool to alleviate the learning decrements in prenatally X-irradiated microcephalic rats. (author)

The spatial distribution of errors made by rats in Hebb-Williams type mazes in relation to the spatial properties of the blind alleys

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Boer, S. de; Bohus, B.

The various configurations in series of Hebb-Williams type of mazes, which are used to measure problem solving behaviour in rats, differ markedly in structure. The relationship between error behaviour and spatial maze structure in control rats tested in a number of pharmacological experiments is

Selective recruitment of single motor units in human flexor digitorum superficialis muscle during flexion of individual fingers.

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Butler, T J; Kilbreath, S L; Gorman, R B; Gandevia, S C

2005-08-15

Flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) is an extrinsic multi-tendoned muscle which flexes the proximal interphalangeal joints of the four fingers. It comprises four digital components, each with a tendon that inserts onto its corresponding finger. To determine the degree to which these digital components can be selectively recruited by volition, we recorded the activity of a single motor unit in one component via an intramuscular electrode while the subject isometrically flexed each of the remaining fingers, one at a time. The finger on which the unit principally acted was defined as the 'test finger' and that which flexed isometrically was the 'active' finger. Activity in 79 units was recorded. Isometric finger flexion forces of 50% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) activated less than 50% of single units in components of FDS acting on fingers that were not voluntarily flexed. With two exceptions, the median recruitment threshold for all active-test finger combinations involving the index, middle, ring and little finger test units was between 49 and 60% MVC (60% MVC being the value assigned to those not recruited). The exceptions were flexion of the little finger while recording from ring finger units (median: 40% MVC), and vice versa (median: 2% MVC). For all active-test finger combinations, only 35/181 units were activated when the active finger flexed at less than 20% MVC, and the fingers were adjacent for 28 of these. Functionally, to recruit FDS units during grasping and lifting, relatively heavy objects were required, although systematic variation occurred with the width of the object. In conclusion, FDS components can be selectively activated by volition and this may be especially important for grasping at high forces with one or more fingers.

Comparative analyses reveal high levels of conserved colinearity between the finger millet and rice genomes.

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Srinivasachary; Dida, Mathews M; Gale, Mike D; Devos, Katrien M

2007-08-01

Finger millet is an allotetraploid (2n = 4x = 36) grass that belongs to the Chloridoideae subfamily. A comparative analysis has been carried out to determine the relationship of the finger millet genome with that of rice. Six of the nine finger millet homoeologous groups corresponded to a single rice chromosome each. Each of the remaining three finger millet groups were orthologous to two rice chromosomes, and in all the three cases one rice chromosome was inserted into the centromeric region of a second rice chromosome to give the finger millet chromosomal configuration. All observed rearrangements were, among the grasses, unique to finger millet and, possibly, the Chloridoideae subfamily. Gene orders between rice and finger millet were highly conserved, with rearrangements being limited largely to single marker transpositions and small putative inversions encompassing at most three markers. Only some 10% of markers mapped to non-syntenic positions in rice and finger millet and the majority of these were located in the distal 14% of chromosome arms, supporting a possible correlation between recombination and sequence evolution as has previously been observed in wheat. A comparison of the organization of finger millet, Panicoideae and Pooideae genomes relative to rice allowed us to infer putative ancestral chromosome configurations in the grasses.

Contamination by human fingers. The Midas touch