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To understand how pharmacological interventions can exert their powerful effects on brain function, we need to understand how they engage the brain's rich neurotransmitter landscape. Here, we bridge microscale molecular chemoarchitecture and pharmacologically induced macroscale functional reorganization, by relating the regional distribution of 19 neurotransmitter receptors and transporters obtained from positron emission tomography, and the regional changes in functional magnetic resonance imaging connectivity induced by 10 different mind-altering drugs: propofol, sevoflurane, ketamine, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ayahuasca, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), modafinil, and methylphenidate. Our results reveal a many-to-many mapping between psychoactive drugs' effects on brain function and multiple neurotransmitter systems. The effects of both anesthetics and psychedelics on brain function are organized along hierarchical gradients of brain structure and function. Last, we show that regional co-susceptibility to pharmacological interventions recapitulates co-susceptibility to disorder-induced structural alterations. Collectively, these results highlight rich statistical patterns relating molecular chemoarchitecture and drug-induced reorganization of the brain's functional architecture.

Dairy products from ovine milk are very popular in the Mediterranean countries and are gaining a large portion of the market in EU countries and worldwide. EU legislation permits the dairy processing of raw ovine milk under certain conditions. To study the ecology and prevalence of E. coli in raw ewes’ milk and assess thus the public health risk, samples of milk were taken from 75 different sheep farms in the rural area of Epirus, Greece. The initial sampling was conducted in clinically healthy animals which were noted as controls (group A). From the same farms, samples were taken from animals with clinical mastitis and before treatment (group B). For therapeutic purposes, to some animals, a combination of penicillin and streptomycin was administrated (group C1), or tetracycline (group C2), or enrofloxacin (group C3). Finally, samples of raw milk were taken from the C groups, on the first day after the withdrawal period of the antibiotics used, when the milk is permitted to enter the food chain. In total, 97 isolates of Escherichia coli were recovered from all groups. Analysis revealed an impressive increase in E. coli strains in the milk of group B (39.33%) with respect to group A (5%). Even after treatment, although the prevalence was decreased, it was still found to be higher in the C groups than group A. E. coli O157:H7 strains absent from group A were detected in all other groups in relatively low occurrence rates with respect to other “O” serotypes but non-O157:H7 strains. Virulence factors such as the production of toxins (32.60% for serotoxin 1 and 18.47% for serotoxin 2) and hemolysin (42.39%) as well as biofilm formation capacity (52.17% of the total) and ESDL production (43.47% of the total) were also studied. All strains were also tested for susceptibility against 12 antibiotics by the MIC method and the results showed a high prevalence of resistance and multi-resistance. The presence of various resistant strains to antibiotics and pathogenic “O” serotype strains in the milk when it can enter the food chain again is an alarming conclusion.

Abstract Background Assessment of visual fixation is commonly used in the clinical examination of patients with disorders of consciousness. However, different international guidelines seem to disagree whether fixation is compatible with the diagnosis of the vegetative state (i.e., represents "automatic" subcortical processing) or is a sufficient sign of consciousness and higher order cortical processing. Methods We here studied cerebral metabolism in ten patients with chronic post-anoxic encephalopathy and 39 age-matched healthy controls. Five patients were in a vegetative state (without fixation) and five presented visual fixation but otherwise showed all criteria typical of the vegetative state. Patients were matched for age, etiology and time since insult and were followed by repeated Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) assessments for at least 1 year. Sustained visual fixation was considered as present when the eyes refixated a moving target for more than 2 seconds as defined by CRS-R criteria. Results Patients without fixation showed metabolic dysfunction in a widespread fronto-parietal cortical network (with only sparing of the brainstem and cerebellum) which was not different from the brain function seen in patients with visual fixation. Cortico-cortical functional connectivity with visual cortex showed no difference between both patient groups. Recovery rates did not differ between patients without or with fixation (none of the patients showed good outcome). Conclusions Our findings suggest that sustained visual fixation in (non-traumatic) disorders of consciousness does not necessarily reflect consciousness and higher order cortical brain function.

rs-fMRI is used to investigate human brain connectivity changes induced by prolonged microgravity in cosmonauts before and after spaceflight, with both persistent and reversible location specific changes in connectivity being observed.

Rural households all over the world rear backyard chicken mainly for their own consumption and, to a lesser extent, for barter trade. These chickens represent a staple dish with numerous culinary variations and a cheap source of protein. Although some Campylobacter species, and particularly Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli, have been associated with industrial poultry carcasses, studies concerning the ecology of this genus in rural households do not exist. To assess the prevalence of Campylobacter species in the tissues of backyard chickens, samples were collected from birds Gallus domesticus bred in households in the rural area of Epirus (Greece), and Campylobacter strains were isolated by quantitative methods at 37 °C and 42 °C. In total, 256 strains were identified, belonging to 17 Campylobacter species, with C. jejuni and C. coli being the most prevalent. From the four ecological parameters studied (size of the flock, presence of small ruminants in the same household, presence of other poultry species in the same household, and feeding leftovers of the household), the size of the flock and the presence of small ruminants and/or pigs in the same household mostly affected the distribution of these strains. To study the phenotypical resistance against 14 antibiotics, 215 strains were selected. The results showed a high prevalence of multidrug-resistance (MDR) strains extending to all classes of antibiotics. Further genome analysis revealed the presence of genes coding resistance (blaOxA-61, tet(O), tet(A) cmeA, cmeB, cmeC, and gyrA (Thr-86-Ile mutation)), with the efflux pump CmeABC being the most prevalent. All antimicrobial resistance-encoded genes co-circulated, except for blaOXA-61, which moved independently. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of two out of three antibiotics (representing different classes) were reduced when the strains tested were exposed to carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP), a known efflux pump inhibitor. The same result was obtained with the addition of CCCP to the MIC values of bile salts. These results lead to the conclusion that Campylobacter species are present in an impressive diversity in backyard chicken tissues and that they exert a significant resistance to antibiotics, raising a potential danger for public health.

Deaf individuals present differences compared to their hearing peers in terms of their learning profile. In addition, deaf adults seem to still be socially excluded nowadays, given that the transition from school to work is more difficult for people with hearing loss. This study aims to analyze the cognitive characteristics of deaf adults, as well as the way they learn better, for the development of an innovative and user-friendly e-learning platform, which will be adapted to the educational needs of the target group. Fifty-three deaf or hard-of-hearing adults participated in the field research for the needs of this study. According to the results, participants prefer e-learning modules with continuity in terms of the content, which offer comprehension questions during the sessions, as well as practice exercises after their completion. Furthermore, participants had positive attitudes towards the use of special graphics and explanatory videos.

Summary: Brain states are frequently represented using a unidimensional scale measuring the richness of subjective experience (level of consciousness). This description assumes a mapping between the high-dimensional space of whole-brain configurations and the trajectories of brain states associated with changes in consciousness, yet this mapping and its properties remain unclear. We combine whole-brain modeling, data augmentation, and deep learning for dimensionality reduction to determine a mapping representing states of consciousness in a low-dimensional space, where distances parallel similarities between states. An orderly trajectory from wakefulness to patients with brain injury is revealed in a latent space whose coordinates represent metrics related to functional modularity and structure-function coupling, increasing alongside loss of consciousness. Finally, we investigate the effects of model perturbations, providing geometrical interpretation for the stability and reversibility of states. We conclude that conscious awareness depends on functional patterns encoded as a low-dimensional trajectory within the vast space of brain configurations.

Exposure to altered g-levels causes unusual sensorimotor demands that must be dealt with by the brain. This study aimed to investigate whether fighter pilots, who are exposed to frequent g-level transitions and high g-levels, show differential functional characteristics compared to matched controls, indicative of neuroplasticity. We acquired resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data to assess brain functional connectivity (FC) changes with increasing flight experience in pilots and to assess differences in FC between pilots and controls. We performed whole-brain exploratory and region-of-interest (ROI) analyses, with the right parietal operculum 2 (OP2) and the right angular gyrus (AG) as ROIs. Our results show positive correlations with flight experience in the left inferior and right middle frontal gyri, and in the right temporal pole. Negative correlations were observed in primary sensorimotor regions. We found decreased whole-brain functional connectivity of the left inferior frontal gyrus in fighter pilots compared to controls and this cluster showed decreased functional connectivity with the medial superior frontal gyrus. Functional connectivity increased between the right parietal operculum 2 and the left visual cortex, and between the right and left angular gyrus in pilots compared to controls. These findings suggest altered motor, vestibular, and multisensory processing in the brains of fighter pilots, possibly reflecting coping strategies to altered sensorimotor demands during flight. Altered functional connectivity in frontal areas may reflect adaptive cognitive strategies to cope with challenging conditions during flight. These findings provide novel insights into brain functional characteristics of fighter pilots, which may be of interest to humans traveling to space.

AbstractSpontaneous brain activity changes across states of consciousness. A particular consciousness-mediated configuration is the anticorrelations between the default mode network and other brain regions. What this antagonistic organization implies about consciousness to date remains inconclusive. In this Perspective Article, we propose that anticorrelations are the physiological expression of the concept of segregation, namely the brain’s capacity to show selectivity in the way areas will be functionally connected. We postulate that this effect is mediated by the process of neural inhibition, by regulating global and local inhibitory activity. While recognizing that this effect can also result from other mechanisms, neural inhibition helps the understanding of how network metastability is affected after disrupting local and global neural balance. In combination with relevant theories of consciousness, we suggest that anticorrelations are a physiological prior that can work as a marker of preserved consciousness. We predict that if the brain is not in a state to host anticorrelations, then most likely the individual does not entertain subjective experience. We believe that this link between anticorrelations and the underlying physiology will help not only to comprehend how consciousness happens, but also conceptualize effective interventions for treating consciousness disorders in which anticorrelations seem particularly affected.

The rapid advancements in technology have given rise to groundbreaking solutions and practical applications in the field of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). These advancements have had a profound impact on the structures of numerous industrial organizations. The IIoT, a seamless integration of the physical and digital realms with minimal human intervention, has ushered in radical changes in the economy and modern business practices. At the heart of the IIoT lies its ability to gather and analyze vast volumes of data, which is then harnessed by artificial intelligence systems to perform intelligent tasks such as optimizing networked units’ performance, identifying and correcting errors, and implementing proactive maintenance measures. However, implementing IIoT systems is fraught with difficulties, notably in terms of security and privacy. IIoT implementations are susceptible to sophisticated security attacks at various levels of networking and communication architecture. The complex and often heterogeneous nature of these systems makes it difficult to ensure availability, confidentiality, and integrity, raising concerns about mistrust in network operations, privacy breaches, and potential loss of critical, personal, and sensitive information of the network's end-users. To address these issues, this study aims to investigate the privacy requirements of an IIoT ecosystem as outlined by industry standards. It provides a comprehensive overview of the IIoT, its advantages, disadvantages, challenges, and the imperative need for industrial privacy. The research methodology encompasses a thorough literature review to gather existing knowledge and insights on the subject. Additionally, it explores how the IIoT is transforming the manufacturing industry and enhancing industrial processes, incorporating case studies and real-world examples to illustrate its practical applications and impact. Also, the research endeavors to offer actionable recommendations on implementing privacy-enhancing measures and establishing a secure IIoT ecosystem.

The Campylobacter species is considered as an emerging zoonotic threat to public health. C. jejuni and C. coli are the most studied species, yet a variety of other species of the same genus were found to be the causative agents of other diseases. Chicken meat has been described as an excellent vehicle for the transmission of some Campylobacter species but most of the relevant research has been conducted in urban populations and concerned meat of industrial-grade birds. To investigate the abundance and prevalence of the Campylobacter genus in rural free-grazing chicken, quantitative and qualitative methods at 37 and at 42 °C were employed. The possible correlation of the prevalence with certain epidemiological factors (size of the flock, presence of other poultry species, presence of small ruminants, feeding concentrates, or leftovers) has been also investigated. In total, 242–249 strains (depending on the method) belonging to the following 18 different Campylobacter species have been isolated: C. coli, C. rectus, C. hominis, C. helveticus, C. upsaliensis, C. jejuni, C. avium, C. fetus, C. hepaticus., C. lari, C. sputorum, C. mucosalis, C. gracilis, C. showae, C. hyointestinalis, C. concisus, C. cuniculorum, and C. ureolyticus. The size of the flock and the presence of small ruminants in the same household were the most influential factors affecting the prevalence of most species. Campylobacter species biodiversity can be attributed to environmental, zoonotic, or anthropogenic contamination. Rural populations should be educated about the importance of self-protection measures during their contact with their poultry and the necessity to cook sufficiently the meat.

A smart city is where existing facilities and services are enhanced by digital technology to benefit people and companies. The most critical infrastructures in this city are interconnected. Increased data exchange across municipal domains aims to manage the essential assets, leading to more automation in city governance and optimization of the dynamic offered services. However, no clear guideline or standard exists for modeling these data flows. As a result, operators, municipalities, policymakers, manufacturers, solution providers, and vendors are forced to accept systems with limited scalability and varying needs. Nonetheless, it is critical to raise awareness about smart-city cybersecurity and implement suitable measures to safeguard citizens’ privacy and security because cyber threats seem to be well-organized, diverse, and sophisticated. This study aims to present an overview of cyber threats, attacks, and countermeasures on the primary domains of smart cities (smart government, smart mobility, smart environment, smart living, smart healthcare, smart economy, and smart people). It aims to present information extracted from the state of the art so policymakers can perceive the critical situation and simultaneously be a valuable resource for the scientific community. It also seeks to offer a structural reference model that may guide the architectural design and implementation of infrastructure upgrades linked to smart city networks.

Sensory conflicts leading to motion sickness can occur not only between but also within sensory modalities. The vestibular organs are located in both left and right inner ears, and their misalignment can be a source of self-motion related sensory conflicts. In the current study, using inner ear magnetic resonance imaging, we examined whether morphological asymmetry of the bilateral vestibular organs was associated with motion sickness susceptibility. The results showed a larger position asymmetry of bilateral vestibular organs in individuals with high rather than low susceptibility. In addition, vestibular position asymmetry was associated with reciprocal interaction (negative resting state functional connectivity) between vestibular and visuocortical regions in lowly, but not highly, susceptible individuals. In conclusion, these findings suggest that vestibular morphological asymmetry can be a source of sensory conflicts in individuals with dysfunctional reciprocal visuo-vestibular interactions, a putative neural mechanism for resolving sensory conflicts.

Consciousness transiently fades away during deep sleep, more stably under anesthesia, and sometimes permanently due to brain injury. The development of an index to quantify the level of consciousness across these different states is regarded as a key problem both in basic and clinical neuroscience. We argue that this problem is ill-defined since such an index would not exhaust all the relevant information about a given state of consciousness. While the level of consciousness can be taken to describe the actual brain state, a complete characterization should also include its potential behavior against external perturbations. We developed and analyzed whole-brain computational models to show that the stability of conscious states provides information complementary to their similarity to conscious wakefulness. Our work leads to a novel methodological framework to sort out different brain states by their stability and reversibility, and illustrates its usefulness to dissociate between physiological (sleep), pathological (brain-injured patients), and pharmacologically-induced (anesthesia) loss of consciousness.

Lindley distribution is a continuous distribution with various applications some of which are in medicine, genetics, epidemiology, biology, finance and actuarial sciences, ecology, meteorology, sociology, demography, agriculture, hydrology, geosciences, reliability and engineering, life testing and survival analysis, airborne systems and communications, environmental studies and modeling and describing of human mistakes, strikes, accidents, behavioural and emotional or IQ test scores and waiting times of customers in queues until service, etc. Due to its variety of applications, it appears to be important that control charts for detected shifts in a process should be constructed under the assumption that the quality characteristic of interest follows a Lindley‐related distribution. Here, we construct probability‐type, Shewhart‐type and EWMA control charts (and deal with the optimal choice of its parameters) for individual observations from the two‐parameter Lindley distribution, investigate and compare their performance and illustrate them using examples with both simulated and real data. The whole analysis reveals the superiority of using skewness correction for the construction of the control charts against not using it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural households all over the world rear backyard chicken mainly for their own consumption and, to a lesser extent, for barter trade. These chickens represent a staple dish with numerous culinary variations and a cheap source of protein. Although some Campylobacter species, and particularly Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli, have been associated with industrial poultry carcasses, studies concerning the ecology of this genus in rural households do not exist. To assess the prevalence of Campylobacter species in the tissues of backyard chickens, samples were collected from birds Gallus domesticus bred in households in the rural area of Epirus (Greece), and Campylobacter strains were isolated by quantitative methods at 37 °C and 42 °C. In total, 256 strains were identified, belonging to 17 Campylobacter species, with C. jejuni and C. coli being the most prevalent. From the four ecological parameters studied (size of the flock, presence of small ruminants in the same household, presence of other poultry species in the same household, and feeding leftovers of the household), the size of the flock and the presence of small ruminants and/or pigs in the same household mostly affected the distribution of these strains. To study the phenotypical resistance against 14 antibiotics, 215 strains were selected. The results showed a high prevalence of multidrug-resistance (MDR) strains extending to all classes of antibiotics. Further genome analysis revealed the presence of genes coding resistance (blaOxA-61, tet(O), tet(A) cmeA, cmeB, cmeC, and gyrA (Thr-86-Ile mutation)), with the efflux pump CmeABC being the most prevalent. All antimicrobial resistance-encoded genes co-circulated, except for blaOXA-61, which moved independently. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of two out of three antibiotics (representing different classes) were reduced when the strains tested were exposed to carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP), a known efflux pump inhibitor. The same result was obtained with the addition of CCCP to the MIC values of bile salts. These results lead to the conclusion that Campylobacter species are present in an impressive diversity in backyard chicken tissues and that they exert a significant resistance to antibiotics, raising a potential danger for public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diffusion of molecules on interstellar grain surfaces is one of the most important driving forces for the molecular complexity in the interstellar medium. Due to the lack of laboratory measurements, astrochemical modeling of grain surface processes usually assumes a constant ratio between the diffusion energy barrier and the desorption energy. This over-simplification inevitably causes large uncertainty in model predictions. We present a new measurement of the diffusion of CO $ _2 $ 2 molecules on the surface of non-porous amorphous solid water (np-ASW), an analog of the ice mantle that covers cosmic dust grains. A small coverage of CO $ _2 $ 2 was deposited onto an np-ASW surface at 40 K, the subsequent warming of the ice activated the diffusion of CO $ _2 $ 2 molecules, and a transition from isolated CO $ _2 $ 2 to CO $ _2 $ 2 clusters was seen in the infrared spectra. To obtain the diffusion energy barrier and pre-exponential factor simultaneously, a set of isothermal experiments were carried out. The values for the diffusion energy barrier and pre-exponential factor were found to be $ 1300\pm 110 $ 1300 ± 110 K and $ 10^{7.6\pm 0.8} $ 10 7.6 ± 0.8 s $ ^{-1} $ − 1 . A comparison with prior laboratory measurements on diffusion is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]