Dendritic integration of sensory and reward information facilitates learning

Learning goal-directed behaviours requires integration of separate information streams representing context, relevant stimuli and reward. Dendrites of pyramidal neurons are suitable sites for such integration, but it remains elusive how their responses adapt when an animal learns a new task. Here, we identify two distinct classes of dendritic responses that represent either contextual/sensory information or reward information and that differ in their task- and learning-related dynamics. Using longitudinal calcium imaging of apical dendritic tufts of L5 pyramidal neurons in mouse barrel cortex, we tracked dendritic activity across learning and analyzed both local dendritic branch signals and global apical tuft activity. During texture discrimination learning, sensory representations (including contextual and touch information) strengthened and converged on the reward-predicting tactile stimulus when mice became experts. In contrast, reward-associated responses were particularly strong in the naive condition and became less pronounced upon learning. When we blocked the representation of unexpected reward in naive animals with optogenetic inhibition, animals failed to learn until we released the block and learning proceeded normally. Our results suggest that reward signals in dendrites are essential for adjusting neuronal integration of converging inputs to facilitate adaptive behaviour.

Differential Rearrangement of Excitatory Inputs to the Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Chronic Pain Models

Chronic pain patients suffer a disrupted quality of life not only from the experience of pain itself, but also from comorbid symptoms such as depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment, and sleep disturbances. The heterogeneity of these symptoms support the idea of a major involvement of the cerebral cortex in the chronic pain condition. Accordingly, abundant evidence shows that in chronic pain the activity of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a brain region that is critical for executive function and working memory, is severely impaired. Excitability of the mPFC depends on the integrated effects of intrinsic excitability and excitatory and inhibitory inputs. The main extracortical sources of excitatory input to the mPFC originate in the thalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala, which allow the mPFC to integrate multiple information streams necessary for cognitive control of pain including sensory information, context, and emotional salience. Recent techniques, such as optogenetic methods of circuit dissection, have made it possible to tease apart the contributions of individual circuit components. Here we review the synaptic properties of these main glutamatergic inputs to the rodent mPFC, how each is altered in animal models of chronic pain, and how these alterations contribute to pain-associated mPFC deactivation. By understanding the contributions of these individual circuit components, we strive to understand the broad spectrum of chronic pain and comorbid pathologies, how they are generated, and how they might be alleviated.

Information System for Screening and Automation of Document Management in Oncological Clinics

Introduction: Automation of business documentation workflow in medical practice substantially accelerates and improves the process and results in better service development. Methods: Efficient use of databases, data banks, and document-oriented storage (warehouses data), including dual-purpose databases, enables performing specific actions, such as adding records, introducing changes into them, performing an either ordinary or analytical search of data, as well as their efficient processing. With the focus on achieving interaction between the distributed and heterogeneous applications and the devices belonging to the independent organizations, the specialized medical client application has been developed, as a result of which the quantity and quality of information streams of data, which can be essential for effective treatment of patients with breast cancer, have increased. Results: The application has been developed, allowing automating the management of patient records, taking into account the needs of medical staff, especially in managing patients’ appointments and creating patient’s medical records in accordance with the international standards currently in force. This work is the basis for the smoother integration of medical records and genomics data to achieve better prevention, diagnosis, prediction, and treatment of breast cancer (oncology). Conclusion: Since relevant standards upgrade the functioning of health care information technology and the quality and safety of patient’s care, we have accomplished the global architectural scheme of the specific medical automation system through harmonizing the medical services specified by the HL7 international.

Thalamus gates active dendritic computations in cortex during sensory processing

Perception is causally linked to a calcium-dependent spiking mechanism that is built into the distal dendrites of layer 5 pyramidal tract neurons – the major output cell type of the cerebral cortex. It is yet unclear which circuits activate this cellular mechanism upon sensory stimulation. Here we found that the same thalamocortical axons that relay sensory signals to layer 4 also densely target the dendritic domain by which pyramidal tract neurons initiate calcium spikes. Distal dendritic inputs, which normally appear greatly attenuated at the cell body, thereby generate bursts of action potentials in cortical output during sensory processing. Our findings indicate that thalamus gates an active dendritic mechanism to facilitate the combination of sensory signals with top-down information streams into cortical output. Thus, in addition to being the central hub for sensory signals, thalamus is also likely to ensure that the signals it relays to cortex are perceived by the animal.

PUBLIC-PRIVATE COOPERATION MODELS FOR EFFICIENT ACCESS TO GEOSPATIAL CONTENT

Traditional public data procurement models for geospatial data sets as basemaps are not any longer alone the spatial reference for decision processes. A fast digitalizing society requires more flexibility and speed in the information streams. Public authorities have to deal with reducing budgets and higher demand, while the industry is searching for new business models. A smart and flexible design of public-private cooperation models increases the value for all stakeholders through (a) negotiated quality levels, (b) reduced unit prices, (c) stable income to all suppliers, (d) risk reduction to the authorities. The models allow for a high flexibility on product definition and orient themselves on the demands of the public and private markets alike.

THE INFLUENCE OF STATE'S POLICY ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GEOMETRY OF PREMISES ON EXAMPLE OF THE EVOLUTION OF RUSSIA HOUSING

The direction of housing development results from changes in the spatial consciousness of the society. The article, based on historical studies of Russian housing, hypothesizes that the development of the geometry of living quarters is characterized by cyclical changes. The spatial image of living premises as the basis of its reproduction is influenced by informational factors: external – inherent in the global design technology existing at a certain historical time, and internal, arising from the experience gained as a result of local construction. Both information streams change the state of political awareness that determines the direction of structural changes in the physical environment until they are effectively used.