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Introduction: This study aimed to meta-analyze the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data and compare the brain activations from gustatory studies with different stimulus delivery methods. Methods: Published fMRI studies were included into the analysis if they evaluated the brain responses to liquid tastants or food among healthy subjects. Studies were coded into three groups: stimulus removed from the mouth by suction without the need to swallow, swallowing without controlling for its confounds, and swallowing with controlling for its confounds. Results: Forty-five studies that comprised of a total of 1498 participants fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Suction studies activated the posterior cingulate. Swallowing studies covered multiple brain regions including the anterior and middle insula, the precentral gyrus, and the postcentral gyrus. Conclusions: For the contrast analysis between swallowing studies with and without controlling for the confounds, the former group had larger brain activation mainly at the anterior and middle insula and the thalamus, whereas the latter group had larger brain activation mainly at the anterior cingulate, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus. Implications: Compared to studies that did not control for confounds of swallowing, studies that controlled for swallowing demonstrated heightened responses at the insula and reduced responses at the sensorimotor cortex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the neuroimaging community, coordinate based meta-analyses (CBMAs) are essential for aggregating findings across studies and testing whether those studies report similar anatomical locations. This approach has been predominantly applied to studies that focus on whether activation of a brain region is associated with a given psychological process. In a recent paper, we used CBMA to examine a distinct set of studies-that is, those focusing on whether connectivity between brain regions is modulated by a given psychological process (Smith et al. [2016]: Hum Brain Mapp 37:2904-2917). Specifically, we reviewed 284 studies examining brain connectivity with psychophysiological interactions (PPI). Our meta-analytic results indicated that PPI yields connectivity patterns that are consistent across studies and that can be specific for a given psychological process and seed region. After publication of our findings, we learned that the analysis software we used to conduct our CBMAs (GingerALE v2.3.3) contained an implementation error that led to results that were more liberal than intended. Here, we comment on the impact of this implementation error on the results of our paper, new recommendations for sample sizes in CBMAs, and the importance of communication between software users and developers. We show that our key claims are supported in a reanalysis and that our results are robust to new guidelines on sample sizes. Hum Brain Mapp 38:588-591, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the work in cognitive neuroscience is shifting from a focus on single brain regions to a focus on the connectivity between multiple brain regions. These inter-regional connectivity patterns contribute to a wide range of behaviors and are studied with models of functional integration. The rapid expansion of the literature on functional integration offers an opportunity to scrutinize the consistency and specificity of one of the most popular approaches for quantifying connectivity: psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis. We performed coordinate-based meta-analyses on 284 PPI studies, which allowed us to test (a) whether those studies consistently converge on similar target regions and (b) whether the identified target regions are specific to the chosen seed region and psychological context. Our analyses revealed two key results. First, we found that different types of PPI studies-e.g., those using seeds such as amygdala and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and contexts such as emotion and cognitive control, respectively-each consistently converge on similar target regions, thus supporting the reliability of PPI as a tool for studying functional integration. Second, we also found target regions that were specific to the chosen seed region and psychological context, indicating distinct patterns of brain connectivity. For example, the DLPFC seed reliably contributed to a posterior cingulate cortex target during cognitive control but contributed to an amygdala target in other contexts. Our results point to the robustness of PPI while highlighting common and distinct patterns of functional integration, potentially advancing models of brain connectivity. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2904-2917, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Zwitterionic monomer carboxybetaine methacrylate (CBMA) is well known as an excellent hydrophilic and ion adsorption material. Herein, we created a PCBMA layer on PVDF membrane surface via physisorbed free radical polymerization grafting technique (P-FFPG) to improve its hydrophilicity, antifouling and inorganic salts separation property. The key factors of monomer concentration and reaction time which influence grafted density (GD) were investigated in the present work. Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) confirmed that the CBMA monomer was grafted onto the membrane successfully. The surface chemistry composition was conducted via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis clearly showed that the PCBMA layer formed on the membrane surface, and its grafted degree increased with the monomer concentration. The water static contact measurement confirmed that modified PVDF membranes obtained stable enhanced hydrophilicity and superior water adsorption ability. The static protein adsorption at different pH showed a partly pH sensitivity and an improving antifouling ability almost in the whole pH range. The ultrafiltration experiments suggested that the anti-protein fouling of the grafted membranes was significantly improved. The modified membrane possessed a stable initial sodium chloride (NaCl) rejection ratio and reversible flux behavior. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]