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Sensorimotor synchronization strategies have been frequently used for gait rehabilitation in different neurological populations. Despite these positive effects on gait, attentional processes required to dynamically attend to the auditory stimuli needs elaboration. Here, we investigate auditory attention in neurological populations compared to healthy controls quantified by EEG recordings. Literature was systematically searched in databases PubMed and Web of Science. Inclusion criteria were investigation of auditory attention quantified by EEG recordings in neurological populations in cross-sectional studies. In total, 35 studies were included, including participants with Parkinson's disease (PD), stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). A meta-analysis was performed on P3 amplitude and latency separately to look at the differences between neurological populations and healthy controls in terms of P3 amplitude and latency. Overall, neurological populations showed impairments in auditory processing in terms of magnitude and delay compared to healthy controls. Consideration of individual auditory processes and thereafter selecting and/or designing the auditory structure during sensorimotor synchronization paradigms in neurological physical rehabilitation is recommended., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Studies in mice have shown that less aversive handling methods (e.g. tunnel or cup handling) can reduce behavioural measures of anxiety in comparison to picking mice up by their tail. Despite such evidence, tail handling continues to be used routinely. Besides resistance to change accustomed procedures, this may also be due to the fact that current evidence in support of less aversive handling is mostly restricted to effects of extensive daily handling, which may not apply to routine husbandry practices. The aim of our study was to assess whether, and to what extent, different handling methods during routine husbandry induce differences in behavioural and physiological measures of stress in laboratory mice. To put the effects of handling method in perspective with chronic stress, we compared handling methods to a validated paradigm of unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS). We housed mice of two strains (Balb/c and C57BL/6) and both sexes either under standard laboratory conditions (CTRL) or under UCMS. Half of the animals from each housing condition were tail handled and half were tunnel handled twice per week, once during a cage change and once for a routine health check. We found strain dependent effects of handling method on behavioural measures of anxiety: tunnel handled Balb/c mice interacted with the handler more than tail handled conspecifics, and tunnel handled CTRL mice showed increased open arm exploration in the elevated plus-maze. Mice undergoing UCMS showed increased plasma corticosterone levels and reduced sucrose preference. However, we found no effect of handling method on these stress-associated measures. Our results therefore indicate that routine tail handling can affect behavioural measures of anxiety, but may not be a significant source of chronic husbandry stress. Our results also highlight strain dependent responses to handling methods., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Rhythmic joint coordination is ubiquitous in daily-life human activities. In order to coordinate their actions towards shared goals, individuals need to co-regulate their timing and move together at the collective level of behavior. Remarkably, basic forms of coordinated behavior tend to emerge spontaneously as long as two individuals are exposed to each other's rhythmic movements. The present study investigated the dynamics of spontaneous dyadic entrainment, and more specifically how they depend on the sensory modalities mediating informational coupling. By means of a novel interactive paradigm, we showed that dyadic entrainment systematically takes place during a minimalistic rhythmic task despite explicit instructions to ignore the partner. Crucially, the interaction was organized by clear dynamics in a modality-dependent fashion. Our results showed highly consistent coordination patterns in visually-mediated entrainment, whereas we observed more chaotic and more variable profiles in the auditorily-mediated counterpart. The proposed experimental paradigm yields empirical evidence for the overwhelming tendency of dyads to behave as coupled rhythmic units. In the context of our experimental design, it showed that coordination dynamics differ according to availability and nature of perceptual information. Interventions aimed at rehabilitating, teaching or training sensorimotor functions can be ultimately informed and optimized by such fundamental knowledge., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

The Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) is one of the least known cetacean species worldwide. The decreasing population trend and associated threats has led to the IUCN categorising the Mediterranean subpopulation as Vulnerable on the Red List of Threatened Species. This study aimed to investigate for the first time the ecotoxicological status of Cuvier's beaked whale in the NW Mediterranean Sea. The study sampled around the 20% of the individuals belonging to the Ligurian subpopulation, collecting skin biopsies from free-ranging specimens. The levels of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and induction of cytochrome's P450 (CYP1A1 and CYP2B isoforms) were evaluated. Results highlighted that the pattern of concentration for the target contaminants was PCBs > PBDEs and the accumulation values were linked to age and sex, with adult males showing significantly higher levels than juvenile. Concerns raised by the fact that 80% of the individuals had PCB levels above the toxicity threshold for negative physiological effects in marine mammals. Therefore, these findings shed light on this silent and serious threat never assessed in the Mediterranean Cuvier's beaked whale population, indicating that anthropogenic pressures, including chemical pollution, may represent menaces for the conservation of this species in the Mediterranean Sea.

Poor reproducibility is considered a serious problem in laboratory animal research, with important scientific, economic, and ethical implications. One possible source of conflicting findings in laboratory animal research are environmental differences between animal facilities combined with rigorous environmental standardization within studies. Due to phenotypic plasticity, study-specific differences in environmental conditions during development can induce differences in the animals' responsiveness to experimental treatments, thereby contributing to poor reproducibility of experimental results. Here, we studied how variation in weaning age (14-30 days) and housing conditions (single versus group housing) affects the phenotype of SWISS mice as measured by a range of behavioral and physiological outcome variables. Weaning age, housing conditions, and their interaction had little effect on the development of stereotypies, as well as on body weight, glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations, and behavior in the elevated plus-maze and open field test. These results are surprising and partly in conflict with previously published findings, especially with respect to the effects of early weaning. Our results thus question the external validity of previous findings and call for further research to identify the sources of variation between replicate studies and study designs that produce robust and reproducible experimental results.

Fabrication of microsystems is traditionally achieved with photolithography. However, this fabrication technique can be expensive and non-ideal for integration with microfluidic systems. As such, graphene fabrication is explored as an alternative. This graphene fabrication can be achieved with graphite oxide undergoing optical exposure, using optical disc drives, to impose specified patterns and convert to graphene. This work characterises such a graphene fabrication, and provides fabrication, electrical, microfluidic, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterisations. In the fabrication characterisation, a comparison is performed between traditional photolithography fabrication and the new graphene fabrication. (Graphene fabrication details are also provided.) Here, the minimum achievable feature size is identified and graphene fabrication is found to compare favourably with traditional photolithography fabrication. In the electrical characterisation, the resistivity of graphene is measured as a function of fabrication dose in the optical disc drive and saturation effects are noted. In the microfluidic characterisation, the wetting properties of graphene are shown through an investigation of the contact angle of a microdroplet positioned on a surface that is treated with varying fabrication dose. In the SEM characterisation, the observed effects in the previous characterisations are attributed to chemical or physical effects through measurement of SEM energy dispersive X-ray spectra and SEM images, respectively. Overall, graphene fabrication is revealed to be a viable option for development of microsystems and microfluidics.

The currently accepted paradigm is that fruits and vegetables should be consumed fresh and that their quality deteriorates during storage; however, there are indications that some metabolic properties can, in fact, be improved. We examined the effects of low temperature and high-CO 2 conditions on table grapes, Vitis vinifera L. cv. 'Superior Seedless'. Berries were sampled at harvest (T0) and after low-temperature storage for 6 weeks under either normal atmosphere conditions (TC) or under an O 2 level of 5 kPa and elevated CO 2 levels of 5, 10 or 15 kPa (T5, T10, T15). Accumulation of 10 stilbenes, including E-ε-viniferin, E-miyabenol C and piceatannol, significantly increased under TC treatment as compared to T0 or T15. Sensory analysis demonstrated that elevated CO 2 elicited dose-dependent off-flavor accumulation. These changes were accompanied by an accumulation of 12 volatile metabolites, e.g., ethyl acetate and diacetyl, that imparted disagreeable flavors to fresh fruit. Transcriptome analysis revealed enrichment of genes involved in pyruvate metabolism and the phenylpropanoid pathway. One of the transcription factors induced at low temperature but not under high CO 2 was VvMYB14, which regulates stilbene biosynthesis. Our findings reveal the potential to alter the levels of targeted metabolites in stored produce through understanding the effects of postharvest treatments.