scholarly journals Subsystem macroarchitecture of the intrinsic midbrain neural network and its tectal and tegmental subnetworks

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (20) ◽  
pp. e2101869118
Author(s):  
Larry W. Swanson ◽  
Joel D. Hahn ◽  
Olaf Sporns

The midbrain is the smallest of three primary vertebrate brain divisions. Here we use network science tools to reveal the global organizing principles of intramidbrain axonal circuitry before adding extrinsic connections with the remaining nervous system. Curating the experimental neuroanatomical literature yielded 17,248 connection reports for 8,742 possible connections between the 94 gray matter regions forming the right and left midbrain. Evidence for the existence of 1,676 connections suggests a 19.2% connection density for this network, similar to that for the intraforebrain network [L. W. Swanson et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 31470–31481 (2020)]. Multiresolution consensus cluster analysis parceled this network into a hierarchy with 6 top-level and 30 bottom-level subsystems. A structure–function model of the hierarchy identifies midbrain subsystems that play specific functional roles in sensory–motor mechanisms, motivation and reward, regulating complex reproductive and agonistic behaviors, and behavioral state control. The intramidbrain network also contains four bilateral region pairs designated putative hubs. One pair contains the superior colliculi of the tectum, well known for participation in visual sensory–motor mechanisms, and the other three pairs form spatially compact right and left units (the ventral tegmental area, retrorubral area, and midbrain reticular nucleus) in the tegmentum that are implicated in motivation and reward mechanisms. Based on the core hypothesis that subsystems form functionally cohesive units, the results provide a theoretical framework for hypothesis-driven experimental analysis of neural circuit mechanisms underlying behavioral responses mediated in part by the midbrain.

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido Gainotti

Abstract The target article carefully describes the memory system, centered on the temporal lobe that builds specific memory traces. It does not, however, mention the laterality effects that exist within this system. This commentary briefly surveys evidence showing that clear asymmetries exist within the temporal lobe structures subserving the core system and that the right temporal structures mainly underpin face familiarity feelings.


Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts

This chapter focuses on the role of the dominant player in conservative media, Fox News, during the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency. It looks at three case studies to illustrate how Fox News used its position at the core of the right-wing media ecosystem repeatedly to mount propaganda attacks in support of Trump: the Michael Flynn firing in March 2017, when Fox adopted the “deep state” framing of the entire controversy; the James Comey firing and Robert Mueller appointment in May 2017; when Fox propagated the Seth Rich murder conspiracy; and in October and November, when the arrests of Paul Manafort and guilty plea of Flynn seemed to mark a new level of threat to the president, Fox reframed the Uranium One story as an attack on the integrity of the FBI and Justice Department officials in charge of the investigation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Katharina Pistor

Abstract In this brief introduction, I summarize the core themes of my book “The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality”. Capital, I argue, is coded in law – predominantly in a handful of private law institutions. By relying on legal coding techniques, asset holders invoke the right to enforce claims against others, if necessary with the help of the state’s coercive power.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanda Iacobas ◽  
Bogdan Amuzescu ◽  
Dumitru A. Iacobas

AbstractMyocardium transcriptomes of left and right atria and ventricles from four adult male C57Bl/6j mice were profiled with Agilent microarrays to identify the differences responsible for the distinct functional roles of the four heart chambers. Female mice were not investigated owing to their transcriptome dependence on the estrous cycle phase. Out of the quantified 16,886 unigenes, 15.76% on the left side and 16.5% on the right side exhibited differential expression between the atrium and the ventricle, while 5.8% of genes were differently expressed between the two atria and only 1.2% between the two ventricles. The study revealed also chamber differences in gene expression control and coordination. We analyzed ion channels and transporters, and genes within the cardiac muscle contraction, oxidative phosphorylation, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, calcium and adrenergic signaling pathways. Interestingly, while expression of Ank2 oscillates in phase with all 27 quantified binding partners in the left ventricle, the percentage of in-phase oscillating partners of Ank2 is 15% and 37% in the left and right atria and 74% in the right ventricle. The analysis indicated high interventricular synchrony of the ion channels expressions and the substantially lower synchrony between the two atria and between the atrium and the ventricle from the same side.


BJPsych Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 317-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asako Mori ◽  
Yasumasa Okamoto ◽  
Go Okada ◽  
Koki Takagaki ◽  
Masahiro Takamura ◽  
...  

BackgroundBehavioural activation is an efficient treatment for depression and can improve intrinsic motivation. Previous studies have revealed that the frontostriatal circuit is involved in intrinsic motivation; however, there are no data on how behavioural activation affects the frontostriatal circuit.AimsWe aimed to investigate behavioural activation-related changes in the frontostriatal circuit.MethodFifty-nine individuals with subthreshold depression were randomly assigned to either the intervention or non-intervention group. The intervention group received five weekly behavioural activation sessions. The participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning on two separate occasions while performing a stopwatch task based on intrinsic motivation. We investigated changes in neural activity and functional connectivity after behavioural activation.ResultsAfter behavioural activation, the intervention group had increased activation and connectivity in the frontostriatal region compared with the non-intervention group. The increased activation in the right middle frontal gyrus was correlated with an improvement of subjective sensitivity to environmental rewards.ConclusionsBehavioural activation-related changes to the frontostriatal circuit advance our understanding of psychotherapy-induced improvements in the neural basis of intrinsic motivation.Declaration of interestNone.


Author(s):  
Philippe Pfeifer ◽  
Alexandra Sebastian ◽  
Hans Georg Buchholz ◽  
Christoph P. Kaller ◽  
Gerhard Gründer ◽  
...  

AbstractD2-like dopamine receptors in animals and humans have been shown to be linked to impulsive behaviors that are highly relevant for several psychiatric disorders. Here, we investigate the relationship between the fronto-striatal D2/D3 dopamine receptor availability and response inhibition in a selected population of healthy OPRM1 G-allele carriers. Twenty-two participants successively underwent blood-oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a stop-signal task and a separate positron emission tomography (PET) scan. Striatal and extrastriatal D2/D3 dopamine receptor availability was measured using the radiotracer [18F]fallypride. Caudate D2/D3 dopamine receptor availability positively correlated with stopping-related fronto-striatal fMRI activation. In addition, right prefrontal D2/D3 dopamine receptor availability correlated positively with stopping-related striatal fMRI BOLD signal. Our study partially replicates previous findings on correlations between striatal D2/D3 dopamine receptor availability and response inhibition in a population selected for its genetic determination of dopamine response to alcohol and as a modulator of impulse control via the endogenous opioid system. We confirm the important role of D2/D3 dopamine receptor availability in the fronto-striatal neural circuit for response inhibition. Moreover, we extend previous findings suggesting that dopamine receptor availability in the right inferior frontal cortex, a crucial region of the stopping network, is also strongly associated with stopping-related striatal fMRI activity in healthy OPRM1 G-allele carriers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-114
Author(s):  
Thino Bekker

The summary judgment procedure in South African law provides for a speedy judgment in favour of a deserving plaintiff where it can be shown that the defendant does not have a triable defence. In 2019 the Rules Board made certain drastic amendments to the procedure of summary judgment in the high court. In this article the historical development of the procedure of summary judgment will be discussed, and the new amendments to rule 32 of the Uniform Rules of Court critically evaluated. It will be argued that the amendments to rule 32 were unnecessary and that it may diminish the right to access to justice in civil disputes. It will, however, also be argued that there are some merits in the critique raised by the Rules Board in relation to rule 32 and that the Rules Board missed a golden opportunity to overhaul the entire summary judgment procedure in a more sensible manner and in line with the core constitutional values of s 34 of the Constitution. It will be argued that rule 32 should be replaced in its entirety by a new, more streamlined procedure, and some recommendations for legal reform will be made in this regard.


Author(s):  
J. T. Cunningham

On May 4th of the current year a number of small Pleuronectids were captured by the hand in a pool left by the ebb tide at Plymouth Breakwater, and brought to me alive. Two of them were very transparent, and, from their habit of lying on the right side when at rest, evidently sinistral forms. One of them was almost perfectly symmetrical; while in the other the torsion of the facial region and eyes had commenced. The pigmentation had the form of interrupted transverse bands, which were most conspicuous on the dorsal and ventral fins; on the dorsal fin seven bands were indicated. The terminal portion of the original trunk, containing the notochord, was seen at the upper edge of the caudal fin. The neurochord was covered with pigment, forming a very distinct band, situated, however, not in the skin, but in the connective tissue surrounding the neurochord or spinal cord. The mouth was large, and the snout upturned. The pectoral fin was large, the pelvic small. But the most important characteristic was the presence of two straight spines projecting laterally from the auditory region. These have been called otocystic spines by Prof. McIntosh, but I think they would be more appropriately described as periotic spines, as they are evidently projections of the periotic cartilage or bone; to which particular bones of the periotic region they belong has not been determined. Mr. Holt cut sections of the spines in situ, and found that they consisted of a knob of periotic cartilage passing into a mass of undifferentiated cells, the whole forming the core of a dermal spine consisting of hyaline ossified tissue. In my specimens I observed a third spine, much smaller, situated in the region of the frontal bone, behind and above the eye; it was visible in both the stages.


2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 878-919
Author(s):  
Sudev Sheth

AbstractThe meaning of land revenue farming in Indian history has eluded consensus. Some view it as an administrative aberration indicating weak state control, while others see it as a strategy for consolidating authority. This essay traces the historical development ofiqṭāʻandijārah, two Perso-Arabic terms frequently translated from the sources as ‘revenue farming estate’. I then suggest that existing perspectives do not capture the broader structure and significance of various entitlements to land revenue. Instead, I suggest that entitlements be schematized according to how regularized the right was, whether it was permanent, and how duty-bound the right holder was. In this formulation, revenue farm refers to a complex of rights and duties secured by contract in which a sovereign transferred the temporary exploitation of a holding for rent in advance. It was one of four tenurial complexes under which entitlements fell, the others being estates from bureaucratic assignment, hereditary occupation or possession by grant/gift, and tributary or chieftaincy.


2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-305
Author(s):  
Beverly Stein

The question of 17th-century tonality has intrigued scholars for years: how to make sense of a repertoire in which modal concepts appear to coexist with elements of common-practice tonality. Although the system of modes and that of modern tonality are different constructions, the aspect of functional tonality that allows for the presence of major and minor keys at all 12 levels of transposition developed in part from an extension of a technique carried over from modal practice, that of transposition of mode. Nowhere is this process of tonal expansion based on the concept of transposition of mode as clear or as well structured as in the music of Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674), the Roman composer of oratorios, cantatas, and motets whose output spans the central 40 years of the 17th century. A close examination of Carissimi's music provides us with a snapshot of the expansion of tonality via transposition and, in addition, offers important suggestions for understanding the tonal practices of contemporaries such as Monteverdi and Cavalli. In Carissimi's music, four basic tonalities are still clearly distinguishable, recognizable through unique and predictable cadence patterns. They appear at transposition levels ranging from the three-flat to the three-sharp systems, with the one-flat system conspicuous in its absence. As shown, the core of eight central keys demonstrates key pairing in a way that models the traditional authentic-plagal relationship of modes. An overview of Carissimi's tonal system demonstrates how the ap- parent coexistence of functional tonality and much older concepts of mode and hexachord can be understood to be part of a rational and organized system. This study explores Carissimi's tonal scheme through an examination of his cantatas, the repertoire displaying the widest tonal range. Based on characteristic cadence frequencies, opening transpositions, and previously unrecognized standard cadence patterns, it is possible to determine the nature of the four primary tonalities and their relationships to one another. These cadence patterns also appear as organizing principles in works of several other 17th-century composers and suggest future avenues of research. The final section summarizes the conservative and progressive features of Carissimi's tonal system, relates his practice to discussion of transposition in two popular treatises of the time, Giovanni Maria Bononcini's Musica prattico and Lorenzo Penna's Li primi albori musicali, and compares Carissimi's practice to the system of church keys (based on common transpositions of the psalm tones) prevalent in the 17th century. A study of Carissimi's cantatas thus reveals the existence of a truly distinct 17th-century tonal practice which functions on its own terms at the same time as it exhibits concepts derived from traditional modal and hexachordal theory, as well as contemporary practices of psalmody and small-scale functional tonality.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document