The neuroecology of the water-to-land transition and the evolution of the vertebrate brain

The water-to-land transition in vertebrate evolution offers an unusual opportunity to consider computational affordances of a new ecology for the brain. All sensory modalities are changed, particularly a greatly enlarged visual sensorium owing to air versus water as a medium, and expanded by mobile eyes and neck. The multiplication of limbs, as evolved to exploit aspects of life on land, is a comparable computational challenge. As the total mass of living organisms on land is a hundredfold larger than the mass underwater, computational improvements promise great rewards. In water, the midbrain tectum coordinates approach/avoid decisions, contextualized by water flow and by the animal’s body state and learning. On land, the relative motions of sensory surfaces and effectors must be resolved, adding on computational architectures from the dorsal pallium, such as the parietal cortex. For the large-brained and long-living denizens of land, making the right decision when the wrong one means death may be the basis of planning, which allows animals to learn from hypothetical experience before enactment. Integration of value-weighted, memorized panoramas in basal ganglia/frontal cortex circuitry, with allocentric cognitive maps of the hippocampus and its associated cortices becomes a cognitive habit-to-plan transition as substantial as the change in ecology. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Systems neuroscience through the lens of evolutionary theory’.

Appearance and Basic Functional Elements of an Interactive Multimodal Hybrid Conformal Microsystem for Real-Time Transdermal Biomedical Monitoring and Correction of the Body State

The constructive and technological solutions of a new generation interactive multimodal hybrid conformal sensor-correcting microsystem are presented. The functional modules of the microsystem made in the form of an ultrathin bracelet or patch with the possibility of fixation on human skin are considered. The advantages of the proposed microsystem, its purpose and possible applications are discussed.

Insight of Trividha Roga Ayatana (Three Principal Causes of Diseases) Mentioned in Ayurveda

Disease is as old as mankind itself. Man has always tried to understand natural phenomena and attempted to give his own explanation to it. According to Ayurveda, disease is a state of the body and mind that gives pain and discomfort to us. The cause of disturbance of the normal balance between the mind and body can be external, Agantuka, or internal, Nija. It means that the internal environment of the body is at constant interaction with the outside world. Disorder occurs when these two are out of balance. Hence to change the internal environment, to bring it at balance with the external world, it is important to understand the process of disease occurrence within the mind and body state. Ayurveda provides extensive insight into the concept and process of disease. According to Ayurveda, the root cause of any disease is always the imbalance of tridoshas, or body humours which further manifests as imbalance in other body components inevitably leading to diseases. Three main causes are misuse of intellect (pragyapradha), misuse of senses (Asatmendriyartha samyoga), seasonal variations (parinama or kala). Key words: Ayurveda, Roga, tridosha, trividha roga ayatana, pragyapradh, asatmendriyartha samyog, parinama.

Robust Vibration Control Based on Rigid-Body State Observer for Modular Joints

The vibration caused by resonance modes frequently occurs during acceleration and deceleration of the modular joint integrated with flexible harmonic drive. The conventional equivalent rigid-body velocity method with observer can suppress the residual vibration induced by resonant frequency but has poor robustness to model uncertainties and external disturbances. Moreover, it cannot eliminate the torque ripple caused by the harmonic drive during low-speed uniform motion, reducing the velocity tracking accuracy. Hence, a velocity controller with a rigid-body state observer and an adjustable damper is designed to improve the robust performance and velocity tracking accuracy. The designed rigid-body state observer allows a higher gain so that the bandwidth of the observer can increase, and the equivalent rigid-body velocity can be acquired more accurately. Notably, the high gain observer reduces the sensitivity to model uncertainties and exotic disturbances, especially near the resonant frequency. In addition, the observer combined with an adjustable damper can suppress the residual vibration and torque ripple simultaneously. The proposed method is compared experimentally with a PI method and two other rigid-body velocity methods, such as the conventional equivalent rigid-body observer method and the self-resonance cancellation method, to verify its advantages.

Andreev reflection of fractional quantum Hall quasiparticles

Electron correlation in a quantum many-body state appears as peculiar scattering behaviour at its boundary, symbolic of which is Andreev reflection at a metal-superconductor interface. Despite being fundamental in nature, dictated by the charge conservation law, however, the process has had no analogues outside the realm of superconductivity so far. Here, we report the observation of an Andreev-like process originating from a topological quantum many-body effect instead of superconductivity. A narrow junction between fractional and integer quantum Hall states shows a two-terminal conductance exceeding that of the constituent fractional state. This remarkable behaviour, while theoretically predicted more than two decades ago but not detected to date, can be interpreted as Andreev reflection of fractionally charged quasiparticles. The observed fractional quantum Hall Andreev reflection provides a fundamental picture that captures microscopic charge dynamics at the boundaries of topological quantum many-body states.

Dynamics of Ultracold Bosons in Artificial Gauge Fields—Angular Momentum, Fragmentation, and the Variance of Entropy

We consider the dynamics of two-dimensional interacting ultracold bosons triggered by suddenly switching on an artificial gauge field. The system is initialized in the ground state of a harmonic trapping potential. As a function of the strength of the applied artificial gauge field, we analyze the emergent dynamics by monitoring the angular momentum, the fragmentation as well as the entropy and variance of the entropy of absorption or single-shot images. We solve the underlying time-dependent many-boson Schrödinger equation using the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method for indistinguishable particles (MCTDH-X). We find that the artificial gauge field implants angular momentum in the system. Fragmentation—multiple macroscopic eigenvalues of the reduced one-body density matrix—emerges in sync with the dynamics of angular momentum: the bosons in the many-body state develop non-trivial correlations. Fragmentation and angular momentum are experimentally difficult to assess; here, we demonstrate that they can be probed by statistically analyzing the variance of the image entropy of single-shot images that are the standard projective measurement of the state of ultracold atomic systems.

Effects of Feed Supplementation on Nesfatin-1, Insulin, Glucagon, Leptin, T3, Cortisol, and BCS in Milking Ewes Grazing on Semi-Natural Pastures

This study aimed to investigate the effects of feed supplementation on body condition score (BCS) and different metabolic hormones concentration in lactating sheep reared in Italian Central Apennine pastures during the grazing summer period. In this study, 24 Comisana x Appenninica pluriparous ewes from June until August were divided into two homogenous groups: the control group (UNS) was free to graze, while the other group (SUP), in addition to grazing, was supplemented with 600 g/day/head of cereals. At the start of the supplementation and at an interval of 9–10 days until the end of experimentation, BCS evaluation and blood withdrawal to assay nesfatin-1, insulin, glucagon, leptin, triiodothyronine and cortisol levels were performed. Univariable analysis showed no remarkable differences between the groups, while multivariable analysis suggested that the UNS group was characterized by a lower BCS and greater nesfatin-1 than the SUP group. These findings can be considered in relation to milk production, which shows a clear better persistence in the SUP group. Our results indicate that nutritional supplementation has protected ewes from the usual lowering of the body state linked to lactation and provides a good maintenance of milk production, determining also a better overall body and metabolic state of the animals, which is important at the beginning of the sexual season.

An integrative model of cardiometabolic traits identifies two types of metabolic syndrome

Human diseases arise in a complex ecosystem composed of disease mechanisms and the whole-body state. However, the precise nature of the whole-body state and its relations with disease remain obscure. Here we map similarities among clinical parameters in normal physiological settings, including a large collection of metabolic, hemodynamic, and immune parameters, and then use the mapping to dissect phenotypic states. We find that the whole-body state is faithfully represented by a quantitative two-dimensional model. One component of the whole-body state represents ‘metabolic syndrome’ (MetS) – a conventional way to determine the cardiometabolic state. The second component is decoupled from the classical MetS, suggesting a novel ‘non-classical MetS’ that is characterized by dozens of parameters, including dysregulated lipoprotein parameters (e.g. low free cholesterol in small high-density lipoproteins) and attenuated cytokine responses of immune cells to ex vivo stimulations. Both components are associated with disease, but differ in their particular associations, thus opening new avenues for improved personalized diagnosis and treatment. These results provide a practical paradigm to describe whole-body states and to dissect complex disease within the ecosystem of the human body.