Neophobia and innovation in critically endangered Bali myna, Leucopsar rothschildi

Cognition underlies animal behaviour, which is key to successful conservation strategies, yet largely under-utilised in conservation, though there are recent calls for closer integration. Conservation-relevant cognitive abilities can impact on adaptability and survival, such as neophobia, e.g., responses to novelty, and innovation e.g., problem-solving, particularly in today's changing world. Bali myna are a critically endangered endemic species, which are a focus of active conservation efforts, including reintroductions. Therefore, gathering cognitive data can aid in improving and developing conservation strategies, like pre-release training and individual selection for release. In 22 captive Bali myna, we tested neophobia (novel object, novel food, control conditions), innovation (bark, cup, lid conditions) and individual repeatability. We found effects of condition and social environment, including longer latencies to touch familiar food in presence than absence of novel items, and between problem-solving tasks, as well as in the presence of conspecifics, compared with being alone, or with conspecifics and competing heterospecifics. Individuals were repeatable in latency responses: 1) temporally in both experiments; 2) contextually in innovation experiment and between both experiments (and approach order), suggesting a stable behaviour trait. These findings are an important starting point for improving conservation strategies in Bali myna and other similarly threatened species.

Corpus callosum in schizophrenia with deficit and non-deficit syndrome: a statistical shape analysis

BackgroundThe corpus callosum (CC) is the most targeted region in the cerebrum that integrates cognitive data between homologous areas in the right and left hemispheres.AimsOur study used statistical analysis to determine whether there was a correlation between shape changes in the CC in patients with schizophrenia (SZ) (deficit syndrome (DS) and non-deficit syndrome (NDS)) and healthy control (HC) subjects.MethodsThis study consisted of 27 HC subjects and 50 schizophrenic patients (20 with DS and 30 with NDS). 3 patients with DS and 4 patients with NDS were excluded. Three-dimensional, sagittal, T1-spoiled, gradient-echo imaging was used. Standard anatomical landmarks were selected and marked on each image using specific software.ResultsAs to comparing the Procrustes mean shapes of the CC, statistically significant differences were observed between HC and SZ (DS+NDS) (p=0.017, James’s Fj=73.732), HC and DS (p<0.001, James’s Fj=140.843), HC and NDS (p=0.006, James’s Fj=89.178) and also DS and NDS (p<0.001, James’s Fj=152.967). Shape variability in the form of CC was 0.131, 0.085, 0.082 and 0.086 in the HC, SZ (DS+NDS), DS and NDS groups, respectively.ConclusionsThis study reveals callosal shape variations in patients with SZ and their DS and NDS subgroups that take into account the CC’s topographic distribution.

Pre-Statistical Considerations for Harmonization of Cognitive Instruments: Harmonization of ARIC, CARDIA, CHS, FHS, MESA, and NOMAS

Background: Meta-analyses of individuals’ cognitive data are increasing to investigate the biomedical, lifestyle, and sociocultural factors that influence cognitive decline and dementia risk. Pre-statistical harmonization of cognitive instruments is a critical methodological step for accurate cognitive data harmonization, yet specific approaches for this process are unclear. Objective: To describe pre-statistical harmonization of cognitive instruments for an individual-level meta-analysis in the blood pressure and cognition (BP COG) study. Methods: We identified cognitive instruments from six cohorts (the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, Cardiovascular Health Study, Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study, Framingham Offspring Study, Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, and Northern Manhattan Study) and conducted an extensive review of each item’s administration and scoring procedures, and score distributions. Results: We included 153 cognitive instrument items from 34 instruments across the six cohorts. Of these items, 42%were common across ≥2 cohorts. 86%of common items showed differences across cohorts. We found administration, scoring, and coding differences for seemingly equivalent items. These differences corresponded to variability across cohorts in score distributions and ranges. We performed data augmentation to adjust for differences. Conclusion: Cross-cohort administration, scoring, and procedural differences for cognitive instruments are frequent and need to be assessed to address potential impact on meta-analyses and cognitive data interpretation. Detecting and accounting for these differences is critical for accurate attributions of cognitive health across cohort studies.

Longitudinal Connectome Analyses following Low-Grade Glioma Neurosurgery: Implications for Cognitive Rehabilitation

Aims Low-grade gliomas (LGG) slowly grow and infiltrate the brain's network architecture (the connectome). Unlike strokes that acutely damage the connectome, LGGs intricately remodel it, leading to varying deficits in executive function (i.e. attention, concentration, working memory). By longitudinally mapping the “mesoscale” architecture of the connectome, we may begin to systematically accelerate domain-general cognitive rehabilitation in LGG patients. In this study, we pursued the following aims: 1) track cognitive and connectome trajectories following LGG surgery, 2) determine optimal time period for cognitive rehabilitation, and 3) distinguish patients with perioperative predictors of long-term cognitive deficits (&gt;1 year). Method With MRI and cognitive data from n=629 individuals across the lifespan, we first validated the structural, functional, and topological relevance of the multiple demand (MD) system for higher-order cognition. Next, in n=17 patients undergoing glioma surgery, we longitudinally acquired connectome and cognitive data: pre-surgery, post-surgery Day 1, Month 3, & 12. We assessed how glioma infiltration, surgery, and rehabilitation affected MD system trajectories at the single-subject level. Deploying transcriptomic and graph theoretical analyses, we tested if perioperative connectome modularity can accurately distinguish long-term cognitive trajectories. Results Controlling for age and sex, the MD system’s multi-scale architecture in health was positively associated with higher-order cognition (Catell’s fluid intelligence). Pre-operative glioma infiltration into the MD system was negatively associated with the number of long-term cognitive deficits (OCS-Bridge cognitive battery), suggesting its functional reorganisation. Mixed-effects modelling demonstrated the resilience of the MD system to infiltration and resection, while the early post-operative period was critical for effective neurorehabilitation. Graph analyses revealed perioperative modularity can distinguish patients with long-term cognitive deficits at one-year follow-up. Transcriptomic analyses of inter-module connector hubs revealed increased gene expression for mitochondrial metabolism and synaptic plasticity. Conclusion This is the first serial functional mapping of LGG patient trajectories for domain-general cognition. By assessing the mesoscale architecture, we demonstrate how connectomics can help overcome the intrinsic heterogeneity in LGG patients and predict long-term rehabilitation trajectories. We discuss how to identify neurobiologically-grounded personalised targets for 'interventional neurorehabilitation' following LGG surgery.

6G Enabled Tactile Internet and Cognitive Internet of Healthcare Everything: Towards a Theoretical Framework

Digital era deficiencies traditionally exist in healthcare applications because of the unbalanced distribution of medical resources, especially in rural areas globally. Cognitive data intelligence, which constitute the integration of cognitive computing, massive data analytics, and tiny artificial intelligence, especially tiny machine learning, can be used to palpate a patient’s health status, physiologically and psychologically transforming the current healthcare system. To remotely detect patients’ emotional state of diagnosing diseases, the integration of 6G enabled Tactile Internet, cognitive data intelligence, and Internet of Healthcare Everything is proposed to form the 6GCIoHE system that aims at achieving global ubiquitous accessibility, extremely low latency, high reliability, and elevated performance in cognitive healthcare in real time to ensure patients receive prompt treatment, especially for the haptic actions. Judiciously, a model-driven methodology is proffered to facilitate the 6GCIoHE system design and development that adopts different refinement levels to incorporate the cognitive healthcare requirements through the interactions of semantic management, process management, cognitive intelligence capabilities, and knowledge sources. Based on the 6GCIoHE system architecture, applications, and challenges, the aim of this study was accomplished by developing a novel theoretical framework to captivate further research within the cognitive healthcare field.

OS14.4.A The Neuroplastic Potential of the Human Brain before and After Glioma Surgery: Towards “Interventional Neurorehabilitation

INTRODUCTION The human brain is a highly neuroplastic ‘complex’ network: it self-organises without a hard blueprint, adapts to evolving circumstances, and can withstand insults. However, similar to other naturally occurring networks, brain networks can only endure a finite amount of damage before cognitive processes are affected. In this study, we first sought to establish the brain networks governing domain-general cognition (DGC) in healthy individuals across the lifespan. We then sought to map, track, and potentially rehabilitate networks governing DGC through connectomics and non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) when damaged by low-grade gliomas (LGG) and surgical oncology. METHODS Using MRI and cognitive data from n=629 individuals (aged 18–88, Female= 51%), we assessed the structural, functional, and topological relevance of the spatially-distributed multiple-demand (MD) system for DGC. Next, in n=17 patients undergoing glioma surgery, we longitudinally acquired connectomic and cognitive data at multiple time points: pre-surgery and post-surgery Day 1, Month 3, Month 12. In an independent cohort of n=34 patients, we sought to establish the safety profile for “interventional neurorehabilitation”: connectome-driven NIBS in the acute post-operative period to accelerate cognitive recovery. RESULTS In healthy individuals, the MD system across multiple scales of biological organisation was positively associated with higher-order cognition (Catell’s fluid intelligence). In our patients, pre-operative LGG infiltration into the structural MD system was negatively associated with the number of long-term cognitive deficits, suggesting a functional reorganisation. Mixed-effects modelling demonstrated the resilience of the functional MD system to infiltration and resection, while the early post-operative period was critical for effective neurorehabilitation. Graph analyses revealed increased perioperative modularity can distinguish patients with long-term cognitive improvements at one-year follow-up. Finally, NIBS within two weeks post-craniotomy had a 90% (n=31/34) recruitment rate into the trial. There were no seizures or serious complications due to NIBS in this patient population. Transient headaches and tingling were reported in a minority of patients. CONCLUSION For the first time, we elucidate long-term cognitive and network trajectories following LGG surgery while establishing a positive safety-profile for NIBS in the acute post-operative period. We argue that “mesoscale” brain mapping serves as a robust biomarker for intervention-related plasticity for future clinical trials. While we performed these experiments in the context of neurosurgery, connectomics and NIBS could be adopted across diverse neuro-oncological care pathways (i.e. chemotherapy/radiation).