An evaluation of the left-brain vs. right-brain hypothesis with resting state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging.

PubMed

Nielsen, Jared A; Zielinski, Brandon A; Ferguson, Michael A; Lainhart, Janet E; Anderson, Jeffrey S

2013-01-01

Lateralized brain regions subserve functions such as language and visuospatial processing. It has been conjectured that individuals may be left-brain dominant or right-brain dominant based on personality and cognitive style, but neuroimaging data has not provided clear evidence whether such phenotypic differences in the strength of left-dominant or right-dominant networks exist. We evaluated whether strongly lateralized connections covaried within the same individuals. Data were analyzed from publicly available resting state scans for 1011 individuals between the ages of 7 and 29. For each subject, functional lateralization was measured for each pair of 7266 regions covering the gray matter at 5-mm resolution as a difference in correlation before and after inverting images across the midsagittal plane. The difference in gray matter density between homotopic coordinates was used as a regressor to reduce the effect of structural asymmetries on functional lateralization. Nine left- and 11 right-lateralized hubs were identified as peaks in the degree map from the graph of significantly lateralized connections. The left-lateralized hubs included regions from the default mode network (medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and temporoparietal junction) and language regions (e.g., Broca Area and Wernicke Area), whereas the right-lateralized hubs included regions from the attention control network (e.g., lateral intraparietal sulcus, anterior insula, area MT, and frontal eye fields). Left- and right-lateralized hubs formed two separable networks of mutually lateralized regions. Connections involving only left- or only right-lateralized hubs showed positive correlation across subjects, but only for connections sharing a node. Lateralization of brain connections appears to be a local rather than global property of brain networks, and our data are not consistent with a whole-brain phenotype of greater "left-brained" or greater "right-brained" network strength across individuals. Small increases in lateralization with age were seen, but no differences in gender were observed.

Lateralization of affective processing in the insula.

PubMed

Duerden, Emma G; Arsalidou, Marie; Lee, Minha; Taylor, Margot J

2013-09-01

Evidence from electrophysiological and functional neuroimaging studies has suggested strong lateralization of affective processing within the insular cortices; however, little is known about the spatial location of these processes in these regions. Using quantitative meta-analytic methods the laterality of: (1) emotional processing; (2) stimulus valence (positive vs. negative); (3) perception vs. experience of emotion; and (4) sex-differences were assessed using the data from 143 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. Activation in response to all emotional stimuli occurred in bilateral anterior and mid-insula, and the left posterior insula. Positive emotional stimuli were associated with activation in the left anterior and mid-insula, while negative emotional stimuli activated bilateral anterior and mid-insula. Activation in response to the perception and experience of emotions was highest in bilateral anterior insula, and within the mid and posterior insula it was left lateralized. In males, emotional stimuli predominantly activated the left anterior/mid-insula and right posterior insula, whereas females activated bilateral anterior insula and the left mid and posterior insula. Spatial distinctions observed in emotional processing and its subcategories can provide a comprehensive account of the role of the insular cortices in affect processing, which could aid in understanding deficits seen in psychiatric or developmental disorders. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Associations between schizotypy and cerebral laterality.

PubMed

Park, Haeme R P; Waldie, Karen E

2017-03-01

Atypical lateralization for language has been found in schizophrenia, suggesting that language and thought disorders on the schizophrenia spectrum may be due to left hemispheric dysfunction. However, research with those with non-clinical schizotypy has been inconsistent, with some studies finding reduced or reversed language laterality (particularly with positive schizotypal traits), and others finding typical left hemispheric specialization. The aim of the current study was to use both a behavioural (dual reading-finger tapping) task and an functional magnetic resonance imaging lexical decision task to investigate language laterality in a university sample of high- and low-schizotypal adults. Findings revealed no evidence for atypical lateralization in our sample for both overall schizotypy (measured by the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences) and positive schizotypy (measured by the Unusual Experiences subscale) groups. Our findings provide further evidence that non-clinical schizotypy is not associated with atypical language laterality.

Hip-flexed postures do not affect local anaesthetic spread following induction of epidural analgesia for labour.

PubMed

Ducloy-Bouthors, A S; Davette, M; Le Fahler, G; Devos, P; Depret-Mosser, S; Krivosic-Horber, R

2004-04-01

Hip-flexed postures enlarging the pelvic diameter are used to improve the obstetric course of labour. Although most investigations show that lateral and sitting positions do not affect the spread of epidural analgesia, the effect of recently introduced hip-flexed postures has yet to be confirmed. This prospective randomised study included 93 parturients. Ropivacaine 0.1% 12 mL plus sufentanil 0.5 micrograms/mL was administered epidurally over a period of 6 min in one of four postures: sitting, right hip-flexed left lateral position, left hip-flexed right lateral position and supine 30 degrees lateral tilt as a control group. Left and right cephalad and sacral epidural spread were measured every 2 min over a period of 30 min. Pain relief, motor blockade and maternal and fetal side effects were noted. The total epidural spread was 15+/-0.3 dermatomes and the upper level of thermo-algesic blockade T7-T8 (range T3 to T10) in all groups. There were no differences between groups in left or right total spread or upper level of epidural blockade, time to maximal block or pain relief. There was no motor block nor any maternal or fetal side effects. The power of the study (1 - beta) was 93%. We conclude that, for the three hip-flexed postures tested, position does not influence local anaesthetic spread or symmetry of thermo-algesic blockade after induction of obstetric epidural analgesia.

Lateralized swim positions are conserved across environments for beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) mother-calf pairs.

PubMed

Hill, Heather M; Guarino, Sara; Calvillo, Amber; Gonzalez, Antonio; Zuniga, Kristy; Bellows, Chris; Polasek, Lori; Sims, Christy

2017-05-01

Research with wild belugas has indicated that, during mother-calf swims, calves spend more time on their mothers' right side, which enables the calves to maintain visual contact with their mothers using their left eye. This bias may facilitate processing of social information by the right hemisphere, much like human and non-human primates and other animals. The current study explored the social laterality of the Cook Inlet, AK beluga population in comparison to a beluga population in managed care. As expected, the results indicated that the calves spent more time on the mothers' right side than the left for both populations. We also examined the developmental trend for the belugas in managed care and found that the calves generally preferred to swim on their mother's right side across most months, although there was an inversion during the third quarter when a left-side preference appeared. Individual differences were present. The results corroborate previous research conducted with two wild beluga populations from the White Sea and from the Sea of Okhotsk in which a left-eye bias was displayed by calves when swimming with their mothers. In conclusion, a preference for a lateralized swim position appears to be conserved across wild and managed care settings, and this lateralized swim position may facilitate the processing of social information or familiar stimuli for the calves. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The laterality of the gallop gait in Thoroughbred racehorses

PubMed Central

Cully, Paulette; Lancaster, Bryony

2018-01-01

Laterality can be observed as side biases in locomotory behaviour which, in the horse, manifest inter alia as forelimb preferences, most notably in the gallop. The current study investigated possible leading-leg preferences at the population and individual level in Thoroughbred racehorses (n = 2095) making halt-to-gallop transitions. Videos of flat races in the UK (n = 350) were studied to record, for each horse, the lead-leg preference of the initial stride into gallop from the starting stalls. Races from clockwise (C) and anti-clockwise (AC) tracks were chosen alternately at random to ensure equal representation. Course direction, horse age and sex, position relative to the inside rail and finishing position were also noted. On C courses, the left/right ratio was 1.15, which represents a significant bias to the left (z = –2.29, p = 0.022), while on AC courses it was 0.92 (z = 0.51, p = 0.610). In both course directions, there was no significant difference between winning horses that led with the left leading leg versus the right (C courses, z = –1.32, p = 0.19 and AC courses, z = –0.74, p = 0.46). Of the 2,095 horses studied 51.26% led with their L fore and 48.74% with their R, with no statistically significant difference (z = -1.16, p = 0.25). Therefore, there was no evidence of a population level motor laterality. Additionally, 22 male and 22 female horses were randomly chosen for repeated measures of leading leg preference. A laterality index was calculated for each of the 44 horses studied using the repeated measures: 22 exhibited right laterality (of which two were statistically significant) and 21 exhibited left laterality (eight being statistically significant); one horse was ambilateral. Using these data, left lateralized horses were more strongly lateralized on an individual level than the right lateralized horses (t = 2.28, p = 0.03, DF = 34) and mares were more left lateralized than males (t = 2.4, p = 0.03, DF = 19). PMID:29883459

The effect of motivation on working memory: an fMRI and SEM study.

PubMed

Szatkowska, Iwona; Bogorodzki, Piotr; Wolak, Tomasz; Marchewka, Artur; Szeszkowski, Wojciech

2008-09-01

This study investigated the effective connectivity between prefrontal regions of human brain supporting motivational influence on working memory. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to examine the interaction between the lateral orbitofrontal (OFC), medial OFC, and dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC) regions in the left and right hemisphere during performance of the verbal 2-back working memory task under two reinforcement conditions. The "low-motivation" condition was not associated with monetary reinforcement, while the "high-motivation" condition involved the probability of winning a certain amount of money. In the "low-motivation" condition, the OFC regions in both hemispheres positively influenced the left DLPFC activity. In the "high-motivation" condition, the connectivity in the network including the right OFC regions and left DLPFC changed from positive to negative, whereas the positive connectivity in the network composed of the left OFC and left DLPFC became slightly enhanced compared with the "low-motivation" condition. However, only the connection between the right lateral OFC and left DLPFC showed a significant condition-dependent change in the strength of influence conveyed through the pathway. This change appears to be the functional correlate of motivational influence on verbal working memory.

Is there a relationship between foetal position and both preferred lying posture after birth and pattern of subsequent postural deformity in non-ambulant people with cerebral palsy?

PubMed

Porter, D; Michael, S; Kirkwood, C

2010-09-01

A pattern of postural deformity was observed in a previous study that included an association between direction of spinal curvature and direction of windsweeping with more windswept deformities occurring to the right and lateral spinal curvatures occurring convex to the left. The direction of this pattern was found to be associated with preferred lying posture in early life. The aim of this study was to test the association between foetal position and both the preferred lying posture after birth, and the direction of subsequent postural deformity in non-ambulant children with cerebral palsy (CP). A retrospective cohort study was carried out involving 60 participants at level five on the gross motor function classification for CP. Foetal position during the last month of pregnancy was taken from antenatal records and parents were interviewed to identify preferred lying posture in the first year of life. At the time of the physical assessment ages ranged from 1 year and 1 month to 19 years with a median age of 13 years and 1 month. Foetal presentation was found to be associated with the preferred lying posture with participants carried in a left occipito-anterior/lateral position more likely to adopt a supine head right lying posture, and vice versa. An association was also observed between the foetal position and asymmetrical postural deformity occurring later in life with participants carried in a left occipito-anterior/lateral presentation more likely to have a convex left spinal curve, a lower left pelvic obliquity, and a windswept hip pattern to the right. Clinicians should be aware of the association between foetal presentation, asymmetrical lying posture, and the direction of subsequent postural deformity for severely disabled children. A hypothesis is described that might help to explain these findings.

A left ventricular epicardial to right ventricular endocardial dominant frequency gradient exists in human ventricular fibrillation.

PubMed

Torres, Jose Luis; Shah, Bindi K; Greenberg, Richard M; Deger, Florin Titus; Gerstenfeld, Edward P

2010-10-01

We hypothesized that in patients with left ventricular dysfunction undergoing implant of a biventricular ICD, the local dominant frequency during early induced ventricular fibrillation would be higher at an epicardial left ventricular position compared to an endocardial right ventricular position. Patients undergoing implant of a biventricular ICD were studied. During ventricular fibrillation induction, bipolar electrograms were recorded from leads at an epicardial left ventricular position and an endocardial right ventricular position. Overlapping 2-s fast Fourier transforms were obtained for 6 s of ventricular fibrillation. The dominant frequency and organizational index were compared. Thirty-four patients (20 men, age 64 ± 11 years) underwent 57 inductions of ventricular fibrillation. Eighteen patients had non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy and 16 had ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. The dominant frequency was higher at a lateral epicardial left ventricular position than an apical endocardial right ventricular position in 18 patients with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (LV epicardial 5.34 ± 0.37 Hz, RV endocardial 5.09 ± 0.41 Hz, p < 0.001), but not in 16 patients with ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (LV epicardial 4.99 ± 0.57 Hz, RV epicardial 4.87 ± 0.65 Hz, p = 0.094). In patients with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy, there is a dominant frequency gradient during early ventricular fibrillation induced at ICD testing from the lateral left ventricular epicardium to the apical right ventricular endocardium.

Thoracoscopic oesophageal mobilization during thoracolaparoscopy three-stage oesophagectomy: a comparison of lateral decubitus versus semiprone positions

PubMed Central

Lin, Jiangbo; Kang, Mingqiang; Chen, Chun; Lin, Ruobai

2013-01-01

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to compare thoracoscopic mobilization of the oesophagus in the lateral decubitus position and the semiprone position and to identify potential differences between the two techniques. METHODS A retrospective review of a prospectively maintained oesophagectomy database identified 150 patients undergoing combined thoracoscopic and laparoscopic oesophagectomy (TLO). Of these, 90 cases underwent thoracoscopic oesophageal mobilization in the left lateral decubitus position. The remaining 60 cases underwent thoracoscopic oesophageal mobilization in the semiprone position. RESULTS There were no differences in the clinicopathological factors and tumour characteristics between the two groups. There was no significant difference in the blood loss, operation time, the incidence of conversion, length of hospital stay or in the number of retrieved mediastinal and abdominal nodes between the two groups. There was no significant difference with regard to the incidence of respiratory complications, anastomotic leaks, vocal cord palsy, chylothorax, delayed gastric emptying, arrhythmia and intestinal obstruction between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS The semiprone and lateral decubitus positions each have their inherent advantages and disadvantages. Our initial experience confirmed that while the semiprone position is associated with superior surgical ergonomics and better exposure of the posterior mediastinum, there is no convincing evidence that semiprone thoracoscopic oesophagectomy is superior to the left lateral decubitus positioning with respect to the major surgical outcomes and oncological clearance. PMID:23842760

Computed tomographic findings of pulmonary atelectasis in healthy anesthetized Beagles.

PubMed

le Roux, Christelle; Cassel, Nicolette; Fosgate, Geoffrey T; Zwingenberger, Allison L; Kirberger, Robert M

2016-10-01

OBJECTIVE To characterize the extent and location of atelectasis in healthy anesthetized dogs positioned in lateral recumbency and to determine whether repositioning dogs in sternal recumbency would resolve atelectasis. ANIMALS 6 healthy adult Beagles. PROCEDURES Each dog was anesthetized and underwent a CT examination twice with a 2-week interval between examinations. Once anesthetized, each dog was positioned in sternal recumbency, and a breath-hold helical transverse thoracic CT scan was acquired. The dog was then positioned in lateral recumbency for 30 minutes, and images were obtained at 5 preselected sites at 3, 8, 13, 20, and 30 minutes after repositioning (phase 1). Then, the dog was repositioned in sternal recumbency, and CT images were obtained at the 5 preselected sites at 5, 10, and 20 minutes after repositioning (phase 2). The protocol for the second examination was the same as the first except the dog was positioned in the opposite lateral recumbency during phase 1. The attenuation and cross-sectional area of the lung lobes at the preselected sites were measured and compared over time. RESULTS Lateral recumbency did not cause atelectasis in any of the dogs. Patchy areas of abnormally increased attenuation were infrequently detected in the left cranial lung lobe when dogs were positioned in left lateral recumbency, and those areas failed to resolve when dogs were positioned in sternal recumbency. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results indicated that the extent of lung attenuation changes was minimal in healthy anesthetized Beagles positioned in lateral recumbency and should not preclude CT examination.

An investigation of immune system disorder as a "marker" for anomalous dominance.

PubMed

Rich, D A; McKeever, W F

1990-01-01

Geschwind and Galaburda (1987) proposed that immune disorder (ID) susceptibility, along with left handedness and familial sinistrality (FS), is a "marker" for anomalous dominance. The theory predicts lesser left lateralization for language processes, lessened left hemisphere abilities, and enhanced right hemisphere abilities. We assessed language laterality (dichotic consonant vowel task) and performances on spatial and verbal tasks. Subjects were 128 college students. The factors of handedness, sex, FS, and immune disorder history (negative or positive) were perfectly counterbalanced. Left-handers were significantly less lateralized for language and scored lower than right-handers on the spatial tasks. Females scored lower on mental rotation than males, but performed comparably to males on the spatial relations task. The only effect of ID was by way of interaction with FS on both spatial tasks--subjects who were either negative or positive on both FS and ID status factors scored significantly higher than subjects negative for one but positive for the other factor. A speculative explanatory model for this interaction was proposed. The model incorporates the notion that FS and ID factors are comparably correlated, but in opposite directions, with hormonal factors implicated by other research as relevant for spatial ability differences. Finally, no support for the "anomalous dominance" hypothesis predictions was found.

Right-ear precedence and vocal emotion contagion: The role of the left hemisphere.

PubMed

Schepman, Astrid; Rodway, Paul; Cornmell, Louise; Smith, Bethany; de Sa, Sabrina Lauren; Borwick, Ciara; Belfon-Thompson, Elisha

2018-05-01

Much evidence suggests that the processing of emotions is lateralized to the right hemisphere of the brain. However, under some circumstances the left hemisphere might play a role, particularly for positive emotions and emotional experiences. We explored whether emotion contagion was right-lateralized, lateralized valence-specifically, or potentially left-lateralized. In two experiments, right-handed female listeners rated to what extent emotionally intoned pseudo-sentences evoked target emotions in them. These sound stimuli had a 7 ms ear lead in the left or right channel, leading to stronger stimulation of the contralateral hemisphere. In both experiments, the results revealed that right ear lead stimuli received subtly but significantly higher evocation scores, suggesting a left hemisphere dominance for emotion contagion. A control experiment using an emotion identification task showed no effect of ear lead. The findings are discussed in relation to prior findings that have linked the processing of emotional prosody to left-hemisphere brain regions that regulate emotions, control orofacial musculature, are involved in affective empathy processing areas, or have an affinity for processing emotions socially. Future work is needed to eliminate alternative interpretations and understand the mechanisms involved. Our novel binaural asynchrony method may be useful in future work in auditory laterality.

Reduced Left Lateralization of Language in Congenitally Blind Individuals.

PubMed

Lane, Connor; Kanjlia, Shipra; Richardson, Hilary; Fulton, Anne; Omaki, Akira; Bedny, Marina

2017-01-01

Language processing depends on a left-lateralized network of frontotemporal cortical regions. This network is remarkably consistent across individuals and cultures. However, there is also evidence that developmental factors, such as delayed exposure to language, can modify this network. Recently, it has been found that, in congenitally blind individuals, the typical frontotemporal language network expands to include parts of "visual" cortices. Here, we report that blindness is also associated with reduced left lateralization in frontotemporal language areas. We analyzed fMRI data from two samples of congenitally blind adults (n = 19 and n = 13) and one sample of congenitally blind children (n = 20). Laterality indices were computed for sentence comprehension relative to three different control conditions: solving math equations (Experiment 1), a memory task with nonwords (Experiment 2), and a "does this come next?" task with music (Experiment 3). Across experiments and participant samples, the frontotemporal language network was less left-lateralized in congenitally blind than in sighted individuals. Reduction in left lateralization was not related to Braille reading ability or amount of occipital plasticity. Notably, we observed a positive correlation between the lateralization of frontotemporal cortex and that of language-responsive occipital areas in blind individuals. Blind individuals with right-lateralized language responses in frontotemporal cortices also had right-lateralized occipital responses to language. Together, these results reveal a modified neurobiology of language in blindness. Our findings suggest that, despite its usual consistency across people, the neurobiology of language can be modified by nonlinguistic experiences.

Inversion of left-right asymmetry alters performance of Xenopus tadpoles in nonlateralized cognitive tasks.

PubMed

Blackiston, Douglas J; Levin, Michael

2013-08-01

Left-right behavioural biases are well documented across the animal kingdom, and handedness has long been associated with cognitive performance. However, the relationship between body laterality and cognitive ability is poorly understood. The embryonic pathways dictating normal left-right patterning have been molecularly dissected in model vertebrates, and numerous genetic and pharmacological treatments now facilitate experimental randomization or reversal of the left-right axis in these animals. Several recent studies showed a link between brain asymmetry and strongly lateralized behaviours such as eye use preference. However, links between laterality of the body and performance on cognitive tasks utilizing nonlateralized cues remain unknown. Xenopus tadpoles are an established model for the study of early left-right patterning, and protocols were recently developed to quantitatively evaluate learning and memory in these animals. Using an automated testing and training platform, we tested wild-type, left-right-randomized and left-right-reversed tadpoles for their ability to learn colour cues in an automated assay. Our results indicate that animals with either randomization or reversal of somatic left-right patterning learned more slowly than wild-type siblings, although all groups were able to reach the same performance optimum given enough training sessions. These results are the first analysis of the link between body laterality and learning of nonlateralized cues, and they position the Xenopus tadpole as an attractive and tractable model for future studies of the links between asymmetry of the body, lateralization of the brain and behaviour.

External defibrillation in the left lateral position--a comparison of manual paddles with self-adhesive pads.

PubMed

Dodd, Tamsin E L; Deakin, Charles D; Petley, Graham W; Clewlow, Frank

2004-12-01

Firm paddle force during defibrillation lowers transthoracic impedance (TTI) and increases transmyocardial current, increasing the chances of successful cardioversion. Current protocols recommend that if defibrillation using the anterior-apical (AA) paddle position fails, the anterior-posterior (AP) position should be used. This generally requires the patient to be placed in the left lateral position with the operator leaning over the patient. Avoiding physical contact with the patient during defibrillation subjectively makes application of firm paddle force difficult in the AP position. We compared TTI between the AA and AP positions and between manual paddles and self-adhesive pads to establish if the AP position precludes firm paddle force and to compare TTI between paddles and self-adhesive pads. Twenty-one consecutive patients undergoing elective cardioversion (age 39-82) were studied. TTI was measured between pairs of manually held paddles and self-adhesive pads using AA placement with the patient supine, and AP placement with the patient left lateral position. Mean TTI using the AP electrode position was lower using manual paddles (66.5 Omega; 95% CI 60.2-72.9 Omega) than that using self-adhesive pads (92.1 Omega; 95% CI 81.5-102.7 Omega; 95% CI between the mean =15.8-35.5 Omega; P <0.0001). TTI was significantly less using the manual paddles compared with self-adhesive pads in both AA and AP positions (P <0.0001). Despite the subjective difficulties of defibrillating patients in the AP position whilst leaning over them, use of manual paddles achieves a lower TTI than that achieved with self-adhesive pads.

Effects of suture position on left ventricular fluid mechanics under mitral valve edge-to-edge repair.

PubMed

Du, Dongxing; Jiang, Song; Wang, Ze; Hu, Yingying; He, Zhaoming

2014-01-01

Mitral valve (MV) edge-to-edge repair (ETER) is a surgical procedure for the correction of mitral valve regurgitation by suturing the free edge of the leaflets. The leaflets are often sutured at three different positions: central, lateral and commissural portions. To study the effects of position of suture on left ventricular (LV) fluid mechanics under mitral valve ETER, a parametric model of MV-LV system during diastole was developed. The distribution and development of vortex and atrio-ventricular pressure under different suture position were investigated. Results show that the MV sutured at central and lateral in ETER creates two vortex rings around two jets, compared with single vortex ring around one jet of the MV sutured at commissure. Smaller total orifices lead to a higher pressure difference across the atrio-ventricular leaflets in diastole. The central suture generates smaller wall shear stresses than the lateral suture, while the commissural suture generated the minimum wall shear stresses in ETER.

Attitudes to the right- and left: frontal ERP asymmetries associated with stimulus valence and processing goals.

PubMed

Cunningham, William A; Espinet, Stacey D; DeYoung, Colin G; Zelazo, Philip David

2005-12-01

We used dense-array event-related potentials (ERP) to examine the time course and neural bases of evaluative processing. Participants made good vs. bad (evaluative) and abstract vs. concrete (nonevaluative) judgments of socially relevant concepts (e.g., "murder," "welfare"), and then rated all concepts for goodness and badness. Results revealed a late positive potential (LPP) beginning at about 475 ms post-stimulus and maximal over anterior sites. The LPP was lateralized (higher amplitude and shorter latency) on the right for concepts later rated bad, and on the left for concepts later rated good. Moreover, the degree of lateralization for the amplitude but not the latency was larger when participants were making evaluative judgments than when they were making nonevaluative judgments. These data are consistent with a model in which discrete regions of prefrontal cortex (PFC) are specialized for the evaluative processing of positive and negative stimuli.

An L-Shaped Incision for an Extensive Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm and Coronary Artery Bypass Using the Left Internal Thoracic Artery.

PubMed

Abe, Tomonobu; Suenaga, Hiroto; Oshima, Hideki; Araki, Yoshimori; Mutsuga, Masato; Fujimoto, Kazuro; Usui, Akihiko

2015-04-01

An L-shaped incision combining an upper half mid-sternotomy and a left antero-lateral thoracotomy at the fourth intercostal space has been proposed by several authors for extensive aneurysms involving the aortic arch and the proximal thoracic descending aorta. This approach usually requires the division of the left internal thoracic artery at its mid position, thus making it unusable for coronary artery bypass. We herein report a modified surgical approach for simultaneous extensive arch and proximal thoracic descending aorta replacement and coronary artery bypass using the left internal thoracic artery combining a left antero-lateral thoracotomy at the sixth intercostal space and upper mid-sternotomy. The visualization of the whole diseased aorta down to the level below the hilum of the left lung was good, and the integrity of the left internal thoracic artery graft was preserved by early heparin administration before sternotomy.

For Which Side the Bell Tolls: The Laterality of Approach-Avoidance Associative Networks.

PubMed

Fetterman, Adam K; Ode, Scott; Robinson, Michael D

2013-03-01

The two hemispheres of the brain appear to play different roles in emotion and/or motivation. A great deal of previous research has examined the valence hypothesis (left hemisphere = positive; right = negative), but an increasing body of work has supported the motivational hypothesis (left hemisphere = approach; right = avoidance) as an alternative. The present investigation ( N = 117) sought to provide novel support for the latter perspective. Left versus right hemispheres were briefly activated by neutral lateralized auditory primes. Subsequently, participants categorized approach versus avoidance words as quickly and accurately as possible. Performance in the task revealed that approach-related thoughts were more accessible following left-hemispheric activation, whereas avoidance-related thoughts were more accessible following right-hemispheric activation. The present results are the first to examine such lateralized differences in accessible motivational thoughts, which may underlie more "downstream" manifestations of approach and avoidance motivation such as judgments, decision making, and behavior.

For Which Side the Bell Tolls: The Laterality of Approach-Avoidance Associative Networks

PubMed Central

Fetterman, Adam K.; Ode, Scott; Robinson, Michael D.

2012-01-01

The two hemispheres of the brain appear to play different roles in emotion and/or motivation. A great deal of previous research has examined the valence hypothesis (left hemisphere = positive; right = negative), but an increasing body of work has supported the motivational hypothesis (left hemisphere = approach; right = avoidance) as an alternative. The present investigation (N = 117) sought to provide novel support for the latter perspective. Left versus right hemispheres were briefly activated by neutral lateralized auditory primes. Subsequently, participants categorized approach versus avoidance words as quickly and accurately as possible. Performance in the task revealed that approach-related thoughts were more accessible following left-hemispheric activation, whereas avoidance-related thoughts were more accessible following right-hemispheric activation. The present results are the first to examine such lateralized differences in accessible motivational thoughts, which may underlie more “downstream” manifestations of approach and avoidance motivation such as judgments, decision making, and behavior. PMID:23869114

Does Side Make a Difference? Anatomical Differences Between the Left and Right Ureter.

PubMed

Odegard, Stephen E; Abernethy, Melinda G; Mueller, Elizabeth R

2015-01-01

Seventy to eighty percent of iatrogenic ureteral injuries involve the left ureter. We sought to evaluate potential anatomical differences between the left and right ureters that may contribute to this discrepancy. A retrospective image review was undertaken of women who underwent computed tomography urograms between 2012 and 2013. The distance to the ureters from the midline was measured at the level of the sacral promontory (S1) and the cervix. Cervical deviation from the midline was measured, and distance between the cervix and ureters was calculated. The anterior-posterior distance between ureters was also measured. Ninety-five computed tomography urograms were analyzed. The mean age was 56 years (range, 23-92 years). Mean cervical deviation was 2.9 mm left of the midline (P = 0.028). The left ureter was 4.2 mm more lateral than the right at S1 and 2.7 mm more lateral at the cervix (P = 0.000 and 0.001). There was no significant difference when accounting for cervical deviation (P = 0.220). The left ureter was 1.9 mm more anterior than the right at the cervix (P = 0.012). Age, body mass index, and ethnicity did not affect the ureteral position. Based on midline measurements, the left ureter courses 2 to 4 mm more lateral and anterior than does the right ureter. The cervix is also positioned 2 to 4 mm to the left side, and as a result, the ureters are actually symmetric to the cervix. Although seemingly small, 2 to 4 mm is the width range of a Heaney clamp. These anatomic differences may be a contributing factor to the increase in ureteral injuries on the left side compared with the right.

Differential effects of galvanic vestibular stimulation on arm position sense in right- vs. left-handers.

PubMed

Schmidt, Lena; Artinger, Frank; Stumpf, Oliver; Kerkhoff, Georg

2013-04-01

The human brain is organized asymmetrically in two hemispheres with different functional specializations. Left- and right-handers differ in many functional capacities and their anatomical representations. Right-handers often show a stronger functional lateralization than left-handers, the latter showing a more bilateral, symmetrical brain organization. Recent functional imaging evidence shows a different lateralization of the cortical vestibular system towards the side of the preferred hand in left- vs. right-handers as well. Since the vestibular system is involved in somatosensory processing and the coding of body position, vestibular stimulation should affect such capacities differentially in left- vs. right-handers. In the present, sham-stimulation-controlled study we explored this hypothesis by studying the effects of galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) on proprioception in both forearms in left- and right-handers. Horizontal arm position sense (APS) was measured with an opto-electronic device. Second, the polarity-specific online- and after-effects of subsensory, bipolar GVS on APS were investigated in different sessions separately for both forearms. At baseline, both groups did not differ in their unsigned errors for both arms. However, right-handers showed significant directional errors in APS of both arms towards their own body. Right-cathodal/left-anodal GVS, resulting in right vestibular cortex activation, significantly deteriorated left APS in right-handers, but had no detectable effect on APS in left-handers in either arm. These findings are compatible with a right-hemisphere dominance for vestibular functions in right-handers and a differential vestibular organization in left-handers that compensates for the disturbing effects of GVS on APS. Moreover, our results show superior arm proprioception in left-handers in both forearms. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Caffeine Improves Left Hemisphere Processing of Positive Words

PubMed Central

Kuchinke, Lars; Lux, Vanessa

2012-01-01

A positivity advantage is known in emotional word recognition in that positive words are consistently processed faster and with fewer errors compared to emotionally neutral words. A similar advantage is not evident for negative words. Results of divided visual field studies, where stimuli are presented in either the left or right visual field and are initially processed by the contra-lateral brain hemisphere, point to a specificity of the language-dominant left hemisphere. The present study examined this effect by showing that the intake of caffeine further enhanced the recognition performance of positive, but not negative or neutral stimuli compared to a placebo control group. Because this effect was only present in the right visual field/left hemisphere condition, and based on the close link between caffeine intake and dopaminergic transmission, this result points to a dopaminergic explanation of the positivity advantage in emotional word recognition. PMID:23144893

Initial influence of right versus left lateral recumbency on the radiographic finding of duodenal gas on subsequent survey ventrodorsal projections of the canine abdomen.

PubMed

Vander Hart, Daniel; Berry, Clifford R

2015-01-01

Identification of the duodenum and potential abnormalities on survey abdominal radiographs is often difficult unless it contains gas. This study investigated the effect of patient positioning on the presence of duodenal gas in survey abdominal radiographs. One hundred dogs receiving a three-view survey abdominal radiographic study were enrolled in a prospective, randomized study where all dogs were divided into two groups. Group A (n = 51) dogs had a left lateral projection first, followed by a ventrodorsal projection, ending with a right lateral projection. Group B (n = 49) dogs had a right lateral projection first, followed by a ventrodorsal projection, ending with a left lateral projection. The presence of gas within the duodenum and level of distribution of gas throughout the duodenum were recorded for all three projections. In addition, the presence or absence of duodenal pseudoulcers was evaluated on all three projections for each dog. The results for the two groups were compared using Chi-square analysis with a P-value of less than 0.05 being considered significant. Results showed that dogs first placed in left lateral recumbency were significantly more likely to have duodenal gas on the subsequent ventrodorsal and right lateral radiographic projections compared to dogs first placed in right lateral recumbency (P-value < 0.0001). Pseudoulcers were seen in 11 dogs that had duodenal gas making the visualization of pseudoulcers on survey abdominal radiographs somewhat commonplace. This study emphasizes the benefit of using initial left lateral abdominal projections prior to other views for subsequent evaluation of the duodenum. © 2014 American College of Veterinary Radiology.

Back to sleep or not: the effect of the supine position on pediatric OSA: Sleeping position in children with OSA.

PubMed

Walter, Lisa M; Dassanayake, Daranagama U N; Weichard, Aidan J; Davey, Margot J; Nixon, Gillian M; Horne, Rosemary S C

2017-09-01

In both adults and children, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has significant adverse cardiovascular consequences. In adults, sleeping position has a marked effect on the severity of OSA; however, the limited number of studies conducted in children have reported conflicting findings. We aimed to evaluate the effect of sleeping position on OSA severity and the cardiovascular consequences in preschool-aged children. This was a retrospective analysis of children (3-5 years of age) diagnosed with OSA (n = 75) and nonsnoring controls (n = 25). Sleeping position was classified as supine, semi-supine, left lateral, right lateral, prone, and semi-prone by using video recordings during one night of attended polysomnography. OSA severity and cardiovascular parameters were compared between the positions. All children spent significantly more sleep time in the supine position than in any other position. The obstructive apnea-hypopnea index was higher in the supine position than in the other sleeping positions during NREM (p < 0.05), higher in the moderate/severe OSA group when sleeping in the supine position than when sleeping in the left and right lateral positions (p < 0.05 for both) and prone position (p = 0.007) during REM. Sympathovagal balance was decreased in children with OSA in the supine and lateral positions (p < 0.05). This study identified that preschool-aged children, whether nonsnoring controls or children with OSA, predominately sleep in the supine position, and OSA was more severe in the supine position. We suggest that to avoid the supine sleep position, positional therapy has the potential to ameliorate OSA severity, and the known cardiovascular consequences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The valence-specific laterality effect in free viewing conditions: The influence of sex, handedness, and response bias.

PubMed

Rodway, Paul; Wright, Lynn; Hardie, Scott

2003-12-01

The right hemisphere has often been viewed as having a dominant role in the processing of emotional information. Other evidence indicates that both hemispheres process emotional information but their involvement is valence specific, with the right hemisphere dealing with negative emotions and the left hemisphere preferentially processing positive emotions. This has been found under both restricted (Reuter-Lorenz & Davidson, 1981) and free viewing conditions (Jansari, Tranel, & Adophs, 2000). It remains unclear whether the valence-specific laterality effect is also sex specific or is influenced by the handedness of participants. To explore this issue we repeated Jansari et al.'s free-viewing laterality task with 78 participants. We found a valence-specific laterality effect in women but not men, with women discriminating negative emotional expressions more accurately when the face was presented on the left-hand side and discriminating positive emotions more accurately when those faces were presented on the right-hand side. These results indicate that under free viewing conditions women are more lateralised for the processing of facial emotion than are men. Handedness did not affect the lateralised processing of facial emotion. Finally, participants demonstrated a response bias on control trials, where facial emotion did not differ between the faces. Participants selected the left-hand side more frequently when they believed the expression was negative and the right-hand side more frequently when they believed the expression was positive. This response bias can cause a spurious valence-specific laterality effect which might have contributed to the conflicting findings within the literature.

Brain correlates of stuttering and syllable production. A PET performance-correlation analysis.

PubMed

Fox, P T; Ingham, R J; Ingham, J C; Zamarripa, F; Xiong, J H; Lancaster, J L

2000-10-01

To distinguish the neural systems of normal speech from those of stuttering, PET images of brain blood flow were probed (correlated voxel-wise) with per-trial speech-behaviour scores obtained during PET imaging. Two cohorts were studied: 10 right-handed men who stuttered and 10 right-handed, age- and sex-matched non-stuttering controls. Ninety PET blood flow images were obtained in each cohort (nine per subject as three trials of each of three conditions) from which r-value statistical parametric images (SPI¿r¿) were computed. Brain correlates of stutter rate and syllable rate showed striking differences in both laterality and sign (i.e. positive or negative correlations). Stutter-rate correlates, both positive and negative, were strongly lateralized to the right cerebral and left cerebellar hemispheres. Syllable correlates in both cohorts were bilateral, with a bias towards the left cerebral and right cerebellar hemispheres, in keeping with the left-cerebral dominance for language and motor skills typical of right-handed subjects. For both stutters and syllables, the brain regions that were correlated positively were those of speech production: the mouth representation in the primary motor cortex; the supplementary motor area; the inferior lateral premotor cortex (Broca's area); the anterior insula; and the cerebellum. The principal difference between syllable-rate and stutter-rate positive correlates was hemispheric laterality. A notable exception to this rule was that cerebellar positive correlates for syllable rate were far more extensive in the stuttering cohort than in the control cohort, which suggests a specific role for the cerebellum in enabling fluent utterances in persons who stutter. Stutters were negatively correlated with right-cerebral regions (superior and middle temporal gyrus) associated with auditory perception and processing, regions which were positively correlated with syllables in both the stuttering and control cohorts. These findings support long-held theories that the brain correlates of stuttering are the speech-motor regions of the non-dominant (right) cerebral hemisphere, and extend this theory to include the non-dominant (left) cerebellar hemisphere. The present findings also indicate a specific role of the cerebellum in the fluent utterances of persons who stutter. Support is also offered for theories that implicate auditory processing problems in stuttering.

Can we measure the intraocular pressure when the eyeball is against the pillow in the lateral decubitus position?

PubMed

Kim, Ho Soong; Park, Ki Ho; Jeoung, Jin Wook

2013-11-01

To evaluate the amount of intraocular pressure (IOP) change in the eye against the pillow in the lateral decubitus position (LDP). Thirty eyes from 15 healthy volunteers (12 men and three women) aged 29 ± 3 (range 25-37) years participated in this study. Using the rebound tonometer (Icare PRO, Icare Finland Oy, Helsinki, Finland), the IOP of both eyes was checked in sitting, supine, right and left LDPs. In the LDP, the additional IOP measurements were taken with the lower eyeball against the latex pillow. Baseline IOP in the sitting position was 12.7 ± 1.9 mmHg in the right eye and 12.8 ± 2.2 mmHg in the left eye. Ten minutes after shifting from the sitting to the supine position, IOP increased significantly (right eye: +1.4 ± 1.4 mmHg, p = 0.006; left eye: +1.8 ± 1.5 mmHg, p = 0.001). Changing from the supine to the right and left LDP increased significantly the IOP of dependent eye (right eye: +2.3 ± 1.8 mmHg, p = 0.001; left eye: +1.5 ± 1.8 mmHg, p = 0.011). When the dependent eye was compressed against the pillow in the LDP, the IOP of the dependent eyes increased significantly after 10 min (right eye in the right LDP: +4.1 ± 4.9 mmHg, p = 0.011; left eye in the left LDP: +3.4 ± 3.7 mmHg, p = 0.006). The IOP was significantly elevated when the eyeball was against the pillow in the LDP. © 2013 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Damage to Left Frontal Regulatory Circuits Produces Greater Positive Emotional Reactivity in Frontotemporal Dementia

PubMed Central

Sturm, Virginia E.; Yokoyama, Jennifer S.; Eckart, Janet A.; Zakrzewski, Jessica; Rosen, Howard J.; Miller, Bruce L.; Seeley, William W.; Levenson, Robert W.

2015-01-01

Positive emotions foster social relationships and motivate thought and action. Dysregulation of positive emotion may give rise to debilitating clinical symptomatology such as mania, risk-taking, and disinhibition. Neuroanatomically, there is extensive evidence that the left hemisphere of the brain, and the left frontal lobe in particular, plays an important role in positive emotion generation. Although prior studies have found that left frontal injury decreases positive emotion, it is not clear whether selective damage to left frontal emotion regulatory systems can actually increase positive emotion. We measured happiness reactivity in 96 patients with frontotemporal dementia, a neurodegenerative disease that targets emotion-relevant neural systems and causes alterations in positive emotion (i.e., euphoria and jocularity), and in 34 healthy controls. Participants watched a film clip designed to elicit happiness and a comparison film clip designed to elicit sadness while their facial behavior, physiological reactivity, and self-reported emotional experience were monitored. Whole-brain voxel-based morphometry analyses revealed that atrophy in predominantly left hemisphere fronto-striatal emotion regulation systems including left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior insula, and striatum (pFWE < .05) was associated with greater happiness facial behavior during the film. Atrophy in left anterior insula and bilateral frontopolar cortex was also associated with higher cardiovascular reactivity (i.e., heart rate and blood pressure) but not self-reported positive emotional experience during the happy film (p< .005, uncorrected). No regions emerged as being associated with greater sadness reactivity, which suggests that left-lateralized fronto-striatal atrophy is selectively associated with happiness dysregulation. Whereas previous models have proposed that left frontal injury decreases positive emotional responding, we argue that selective disruption of left hemisphere emotion regulating systems can impair the ability to suppress positive emotions such as happiness. PMID:25461707

A positive association between active lifestyle and hemispheric lateralization for motor control and learning in older adults.

PubMed

Wang, Jinsung; D'Amato, Arthur; Bambrough, Jennifer; Swartz, Ann M; Miller, Nora E

2016-11-01

Physical activity (PA) is well known to have general health benefits for older adults, but it is unclear whether it can also positively affect brain function involved in motor control and learning. We have previously shown that interlimb transfer of visuomotor adaptation occurs asymmetrically in young adults, while that occurs symmetrically in older adults, which suggests that the lateralized function of each hemisphere during motor tasks is diminished with aging. Here, we investigated the association between the level of PA and hemispheric motor lateralization by comparing the pattern of interlimb transfer following visuomotor adaptation between physically active and inactive older adults. Subjects were divided into two groups based on their PA level (active, inactive). They were further divided into two groups, such that a half of the subjects in each group adapted to a 30° rotation during targeted reaching movements with the left arm first, then with the right arm; and the other half with the right arm first, then with the left arm. Results indicated asymmetrical transfer (from left to right only) in the active subjects, whereas symmetrical transfer (from left to right, and vice versa) was observed in the inactive subjects. These findings suggest that older adults who maintain active lifestyle have a central nervous system that is more intact in terms of its lateralized motor function as compared with those who are inactive. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The left-right asymmetry of liver lobation is generated by Pitx2c-mediated asymmetries in the hepatic diverticulum.

PubMed

Womble, Mandy; Amin, Nirav M; Nascone-Yoder, Nanette

2018-07-15

Internal organs exhibit left-right asymmetric sizes, shapes and anatomical positions, but how these different lateralities develop is poorly understood. Here we use the experimentally tractable Xenopus model to uncover the morphogenetic events that drive the left-right asymmetrical lobation of the liver. On the right side of the early hepatic diverticulum, endoderm cells become columnar and apically constricted, forming an expanded epithelial surface and, ultimately, an enlarged right liver lobe. In contrast, the cells on the left side become rounder, and rearrange into a compact, stratified architecture that produces a smaller left lobe. Side-specific gain- and loss-of-function studies reveal that asymmetric expression of the left-right determinant Pitx2c elicits distinct epithelial morphogenesis events in the left side of the diverticulum. Surprisingly, the cellular events induced by Pitx2c during liver development are opposite those induced in other digestive organs, suggesting divergent cellular mechanisms underlie the formation of different lateralities. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Do Right- and Left-Handed Monkeys Differ on Cognitive Measures?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hopkins, William D.; Washburn, David A.

1994-01-01

Twelve left- and 14 right-handed monkeys were compared on 6 measures of cognitive performance (2 maze-solving tasks, matching-to-sample, delayed matching-to-sample, delayed response using spatial cues, and delayed response using form cues). The dependent variable was trials-to-training criterion for each of the 6 tasks. Significant differences were found between left- and right-handed monkeys on the 2 versions of the delayed response task. Right-handed monkeys reached criterion significantly faster on the form cue version of the task, whereas left-handed monkeys reached criterion significantly faster on delayed response for spatial position (p less than .05). The results suggest that sensitive hand preference measures of laterality can reveal differences in cognitive performance, which in turn may reflect underlying laterality in functional organization of the nervous system.

Relative age effect and left-handedness in world class water polo male and female players.

PubMed

Barrenetxea-Garcia, Josu; Torres-Unda, Jon; Esain, Izaro; Gil, Susana M

2018-06-01

Most studies of the relative age effect (RAE) refer to popular sports. In contrast, we examined to what extent the RAE is present in elite water polo players, as well as the association between handedness and RAE. For these purposes, laterality, anthropometry, month of birth, performance and playing position of participants in the 2011, 2013 and 2015 World Championships (623 women, 622 men) were analised. No RAE was observed in the total sample. However, the proportion of male left-handed field players born in the first quarter (11%) was lower than those born in the second (35.3%) and fourth quarter (29.4%). Regarding the overall laterality, the amount of left handed players was similar to the general population (10%). Nevertheless, there was a larger amount of left-handed wings than expected both in men (23.7%) and women (34.4%). Left-handed male players performed more shots, shots/minute and also scored more goals than right-handed players. Women left-handed players were younger and they performed more shots/minute. There is no RAE in elite male and female water polo players. However, laterality could be a possible moderator of the RAE particularly in left handed players, which should be taken into account in future studies.

Language Lateralization in Individuals with Callosal Agenesis: An fMRI Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pelletier, Isabelle; Paquette, Natacha; Lepore, Franco; Rouleau, Isabelle; Sauerwein, Catherine H.; Rosa, Christine; Leroux, Jean-Maxime; Gravel, Pierre; Valois, Katja; Andermann, Frederick; Saint-Amour, Dave; Lassonde, Maryse

2011-01-01

Since the seminal work of Broca in 1861, it is well established that language is essentially processed in the left hemisphere. However, the origin of hemispheric specialization remains controversial. Some authors posit that language lateralization is genetically determined, while others have suggested that hemispheric specialization develops with…

Sex-related differences in neural activity during emotion regulation.

PubMed

Mak, Amanda K Y; Hu, Zhi-guo; Zhang, John X X; Xiao, Zhuangwei; Lee, Tatia M C

2009-11-01

The sex disparity in the development of depression has long been an important research topic, but the sex-related differences in neural activity during emotion regulation have been less thoroughly studied. It was hypothesized that, during the regulation of emotion, there would be more activation in the prefrontal regions implicated in cognitive processing for males, while there would be more activation in the prefrontal regions implicated in affective processing for females. This fMRI study recruited 12 females and 12 males who were required to view or to regulate the negative and positive emotion induced by some emotion-arousing pictures. During the regulation of negative emotion, both males and females had stronger activation in the left anterior cingulate gyrus, but males showed more activation in the prefrontal regions in general, including the left dorsolateral and lateral orbitofrontal gyrus as well as the right anterior cingulate gyrus, while females only showed stronger activation in the left medial orbitofrontal gyrus. For the regulation of positive emotion, both males and females showed stronger activation in the left dorsomedial prefrontal gyrus, but males were found to also have stronger activity in the left lateral orbitofrontal gyrus. It was concluded that there are common as well as sex-specific sets of brain regions involved in regulating negative and positive emotion, and the findings may have significant implications for females' vulnerability to developing depression.

The acute effects of body position strategies and respiratory therapy in paralyzed patients with acute lung injury

PubMed Central

Davis, Kenneth; Johannigman, Jay A; Campbell, Robert S; Marraccini, Ann; Luchette, Fred A; Frame, Scott B; Branson, Richard D

2001-01-01

Background: Routine turning of critically ill patients is a standard of care. In recent years, specialized beds that provide automated turning have been introduced. These beds have been reported to improve lung function, reduce hospital-acquired pneumonia, and facilitate secretion removal. This trial was designed to measure the physiological effects of routine turning and respiratory therapy in comparison with continuous lateral rotation (CLR). Methods: The study was a prospective, quasi-experimental, random assignment, trial with patients serving as their own controls. Paralyzed, sedated patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome were eligible for study. Patients were randomized to receive four turning and secretion management regimens in random sequence for 6 h each over a period of 24 h: (1) routine turning every 2 h from the left to right lateral position; (2) routine turning every 2 h from the left to right lateral position including a 15-min period of manual percussion and postural drainage (P&PD); (3) CLR with a specialized bed that turned patients from left to right lateral position, pausing at each position for 2 min; and (4) CLR with a specialized bed that turned patients from left to right lateral position pausing at each position for 2 min, and a 15-min period of percussion provided by the pneumatic cushions of the bed every 2 h. Results: Nineteen patients were entered into the study. There were no statistically significant differences in the measured cardiorespiratory variables. There was a tendency for the ratio of partial pressure of arterial oxygen to fractional inspired oxygen concentration (PaO2/FIO2) to increase (174 ± 31 versus 188 ± 36; P = 0.068) and for the ratio of deadspace to tidal volume (Vd/Vt) to decrease (0.62 ± 0.18 versus 0.59 ± 0.18; P = 0.19) during periods of CLR, but these differences did not achieve statistical significance. There were statistically significant increases in sputum volume during the periods of CLR. The addition of P&PD did not increase sputum volume for the group as a whole. However, in the four patients producing more than 40 ml of sputum per day, P&PD increased sputum volume significantly. The number of patient turns increased from one every 2 h to one every 10 min during CLR. Conclusion: The acute effects of CLR are undoubtedly different in other patient populations (spinal cord injury and unilateral lung injury). The link between acute physiological changes and improved outcomes associated with CLR remain to be determined. PMID:11299066

Geometry and kinematics of the eastern Lake Mead fault system in the Virgin Mountains, Nevada and Arizona

USGS Publications Warehouse

Beard, Sue; Campagna, David J.; Anderson, R. Ernest

2010-01-01

The Lake Mead fault system is a northeast-striking, 130-km-long zone of left-slip in the southeast Great Basin, active from before 16 Ma to Quaternary time. The northeast end of the Lake Mead fault system in the Virgin Mountains of southeast Nevada and northwest Arizona forms a partitioned strain field comprising kinematically linked northeast-striking left-lateral faults, north-striking normal faults, and northwest-striking right-lateral faults. Major faults bound large structural blocks whose internal strain reflects their position within a left step-over of the left-lateral faults. Two north-striking large-displacement normal faults, the Lakeside Mine segment of the South Virgin–White Hills detachment fault and the Piedmont fault, intersect the left step-over from the southwest and northeast, respectively. The left step-over in the Lake Mead fault system therefore corresponds to a right-step in the regional normal fault system.Within the left step-over, displacement transfer between the left-lateral faults and linked normal faults occurs near their junctions, where the left-lateral faults become oblique and normal fault displacement decreases away from the junction. Southward from the center of the step-over in the Virgin Mountains, down-to-the-west normal faults splay northward from left-lateral faults, whereas north and east of the center, down-to-the-east normal faults splay southward from left-lateral faults. Minimum slip is thus in the central part of the left step-over, between east-directed slip to the north and west-directed slip to the south. Attenuation faults parallel or subparallel to bedding cut Lower Paleozoic rocks and are inferred to be early structures that accommodated footwall uplift during the initial stages of extension.Fault-slip data indicate oblique extensional strain within the left step-over in the South Virgin Mountains, manifested as east-west extension; shortening is partitioned between vertical for extension-dominated structural blocks and south-directed for strike-slip faults. Strike-slip faults are oblique to the extension direction due to structural inheritance from NE-striking fabrics in Proterozoic crystalline basement rocks.We hypothesize that (1) during early phases of deformation oblique extension was partitioned to form east-west–extended domains bounded by left-lateral faults of the Lake Mead fault system, from ca. 16 to 14 Ma. (2) Beginning ca. 13 Ma, increased south-directed shortening impinged on the Virgin Mountains and forced uplift, faulting, and overturning along the north and west side of the Virgin Mountains. (3) By ca. 10 Ma, initiation of the younger Hen Spring to Hamblin Bay fault segment of the Lake Mead fault system accommodated westward tectonic escape, and the focus of south-directed shortening transferred to the western Lake Mead region. The shift from early partitioned oblique extension to south-directed shortening may have resulted from initiation of right-lateral shear of the eastern Walker Lane to the west coupled with left-lateral shear along the eastern margin of the Great Basin.

Mandibular Symmetrical Bilateral Canine-Lateral Incisors Transposition: Its Early Diagnosis and Treatment Considerations.

PubMed

Shapira, Yehoshua; Finkelstein, Tamar; Kadry, Rana; Schonberger, Shirley; Shpack, Nir

2016-01-01

Bilateral mandibular tooth transposition is a relatively rare dental anomaly caused by distal migration of the mandibular lateral incisors and can be detected in the early mixed dentition by radiographic examination. Early diagnosis and interceptive intervention may reduce the risk of possible transposition between the mandibular canine and lateral incisor. This report illustrates the orthodontic management of bilateral mandibular canine-lateral incisor transposition. Correct positioning of the affected teeth was achieved on the left side while teeth on the right side were aligned in their transposed position. It demonstrates the outcome of good alignment of the teeth in the dental arch.

Spatial memory for asymmetrical dot locations predicts lateralization among patients with presurgical mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

PubMed

Brown, Franklin C; Hirsch, Lawrence J; Spencer, Dennis D

2015-11-01

This study examined the ability of an asymmetrical dot location memory test (Brown Location Test, BLT) and two verbal memory tests (Verbal Selective Reminding Test (VSRT) and California Verbal Learning Test, Second Edition (CVLT-II)) to correctly lateralize left (LTLE) or right (RTLE) mesial temporal lobe epilepsy that was confirmed with video-EEG. Subjects consisted of 16 patients with medically refractory RTLE and 13 patients with medically refractory LTLE who were left hemisphere language dominant. Positive predictive values for lateralizing TLE correctly were 87.5% for the BLT, 72.7% for the VSRT, and 80% for the CVLT-II. Binary logistic regression indicated that the BLT alone correctly classified 76.9% of patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy and 87.5% of patients with right temporal lobe epilepsy. Inclusion of the verbal memory tests improved this to 92.3% of patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy and 100% correct classification of patients with right temporal lobe epilepsy. Though of a limited sample size, this study suggests that the BLT alone provides strong laterality information which improves with the addition of verbal memory tests. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ipsilesional motor deficits following stroke reflect hemispheric specializations for movement control.

PubMed

Schaefer, Sydney Y; Haaland, Kathleen Y; Sainburg, Robert L

2007-08-01

Recent reports of functional impairment in the 'unaffected' limb of stroke patients have suggested that these deficits vary with the side of lesion. This not only supports the idea that the ipsilateral hemisphere contributes to arm movements, but also implies that such contributions are lateralized. We have previously suggested that the left and right hemispheres are specialized for controlling different features of movement. In reaching movements, the non-dominant arm appears better adapted for achieving accurate final positions and the dominant arm for specifying initial trajectory features, such as movement direction and peak acceleration. The purpose of this study was to determine whether different features of control could characterize ipsilesional motor deficits following stroke. Healthy control subjects and patients with either left- or right-hemisphere damage performed targeted single-joint elbow movements of different amplitudes in their ipsilateral hemispace. We predicted that left-hemisphere damage would produce deficits in specification of initial trajectory features, while right-hemisphere damage would produce deficits in final position accuracy. Consistent with our predictions, patients with left, but not right, hemisphere damage showed reduced modulation of acceleration amplitude. However, patients with right, but not left, hemisphere damage showed significantly larger errors in final position, which corresponded to reduced modulation of acceleration duration. Neither patient group differed from controls in terms of movement speed. Instead, the mechanisms by which speed was specified, through modulation of acceleration amplitude and modulation of acceleration duration, appeared to be differentially affected by left- and right-hemisphere damage. These findings support the idea that each hemisphere contributes differentially to the control of initial trajectory and final position, and that ipsilesional deficits following stroke reflect this lateralization in control.

Use of an Alternative Surgical Corridor in Oblique Lateral Interbody Fusion at the L5-S1 Segment: A Technical Report.

PubMed

Chung, Nam-Su; Jeon, Chang-Hoon; Lee, Han-Dong

2017-09-11

Technical report. To demonstrate the use of an alternative surgical corridor in oblique lateral interbody fusion (OLIF) at the L5-S1 segment. OLIF L5-S1 is essentially performed through the central disk space between the bifurcations of the iliac vessels, which is sometimes difficult due to the vascular structures that obstruct the surgical field. Another concern is retrograde ejaculation following superior hypogastric plexus injury in male patients. The alternative surgical corridor involves the lateral disk space external to the left iliac vessels. The patient position and the retroperitoneal approach are similar to those used in the conventional OLIF L5-S1. The left iliac vessels are identified and mobilized medially to the midline of the L5-S1 disk space. The vascular structures are then protected using the conventional OLIF 51 retractor system. Six patients underwent OLIF L5-S1 through the alternative lateral surgical corridor. The L5-S1 disk spaces were always exposed sufficiently for disk preparation and cage insertion. The postoperative radiographs showed a satisfactory L5-S1 reconstruction with good cage position. There were no perioperative complications during the surgical access and reconstruction procedures. When the central approach to the L5-S1 disk space poses a risk of vascular or superior hypogastric plexus injury, use of a lateral approach external to the left iliac vessels can be an alternative method to perform OLIF L5-S1.

Differential neuropsychological test sensitivity to left temporal lobe epilepsy.

PubMed

Loring, David W; Strauss, Esther; Hermann, Bruce P; Barr, William B; Perrine, Kenneth; Trenerry, Max R; Chelune, Gordon; Westerveld, Michael; Lee, Gregory P; Meador, Kimford J; Bowden, Stephen C

2008-05-01

We examined the sensitivity of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), Boston Naming Test (BNT), and Multilingual Aphasia Examination Visual Naming subtest (MAE VN) to lateralized temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) in patients who subsequently underwent anterior temporal lobectomy. For the AVLT (n = 189), left TLE patients performed more poorly than their right TLE counterparts [left TLE = 42.9 (10.6), right TLE = 47.7 (9.9); p < .002 (Cohen's d = .47)]. Although statistically significant, the CVLT group difference (n = 212) was of a smaller magnitude [left LTE = 40.7 (11.1), right TLE = 43.8 (9.9); (p < .03, Cohen's d = .29)] than the AVLT. Group differences were also present for both measures of confrontation naming ability [BNT: left LTE = 43.1 (8.9), right TLE = 48.1 (8.9); p < .001 (Cohen's d = .56); MAE VN: left TLE = 42.2, right TLE = 45.6, p = .02 (Cohen's d = .36)]. When these data were modeled in independent logistic regression analyses, the AVLT and BNT both significantly predicted side of seizure focus, although the positive likelihood ratios were modest. In the subset of 108 patients receiving both BNT and AVLT, the AVLT was the only significant predictor of seizure laterality, suggesting individual patient variability regarding whether naming or memory testing may be more sensitive to lateralized TLE.

Effects of body position and extension of the neck and extremities on lung volume measured via computed tomography in red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans).

PubMed

Mans, Christoph; Drees, Randi; Sladky, Kurt K; Hatt, Jean-Michel; Kircher, Patrick R

2013-10-15

To determine the effects of body position and extension of the neck and extremities on CT measurements of ventilated lung volume in red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans). Prospective crossover-design study. 14 adult red-eared slider turtles. CT was performed on turtles in horizontal ventral recumbent and vertical left lateral recumbent, right lateral recumbent, and caudal recumbent body positions. In sedated turtles, evaluations were performed in horizontal ventral recumbent body position with and without extension of the neck and extremities. Lung volumes were estimated from helical CT images with commercial software. Effects of body position, extremity and neck extension, sedation, body weight, and sex on lung volume were analyzed. Mean ± SD volume of dependent lung tissue was significantly decreased in vertical left lateral (18.97 ± 14.65 mL), right lateral (24.59 ± 19.16 mL), and caudal (9.23 ± 12.13 mL) recumbent positions, compared with the same region for turtles in horizontal ventral recumbency (48.52 ± 20.08 mL, 50.66 ± 18.08 mL, and 31.95 ± 15.69 mL, respectively). Total lung volume did not differ among positions because of compensatory increases in nondependent lung tissue. Extension of the extremities and neck significantly increased total lung volume (127.94 ± 35.53 mL), compared with that in turtles with the head, neck, and extremities withdrawn into the shell (103.24 ± 40.13 mL). Vertical positioning of red-eared sliders significantly affected lung volumes and could potentially affect interpretation of radiographs obtained in these positions. Extension of the extremities and neck resulted in the greatest total lung volume.

Negative Urgency Mediates the Relationship between Amygdala and Orbitofrontal Cortex Activation to Negative Emotional Stimuli and General Risk-Taking

PubMed Central

Cyders, Melissa A.; Dzemidzic, Mario; Eiler, William J.; Coskunpinar, Ayca; Karyadi, Kenny A.; Kareken, David A.

2015-01-01

The tendency toward impulsive behavior under emotional duress (negative and positive urgency) predicts a wide range of maladaptive risk-taking and behavioral disorders. However, it remains unclear how urgency relates to limbic system activity as induced from emotional provocation. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the relationship between brain responses to visual emotional stimuli and urgency traits. Twenty-seven social drinkers (mean age = 25.2, 14 males) viewed negative (Neg), neutral (Neu), and positive (Pos) images during 6 fMRI scans. Brain activation was extracted from a priori limbic regions previously identified in studies of emotional provocation. The right posterior orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and left amygdala were activated in the [Neg>Neu] contrast, whereas the left posterior OFC was activated in the [Pos>Neu] contrast. Negative urgency was related to the right lateral OFC (r = 0.43, P = 0.03) and the left amygdala (r = 0.39, P = 0.04) [Neg>Neu] activation. Negative urgency also mediated the relationship between [Neg>Neu] activation and general risk-taking (regression weights = 3.42 for right OFC and 2.75 for the left amygdala). Emotional cue-induced activation in right lateral OFC and left amygdala might relate to emotion-based risk-taking through negative urgency. PMID:24904065

Accurate means of detecting and characterizing abnormal patterns of ventricular activation by phase image analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Botvinick, E.H.; Frais, M.A.; Shosa, D.W.

1982-08-01

The ability of scintigraphic phase image analysis to characterize patterns of abnormal ventricular activation was investigated. The pattern of phase distribution and sequential phase changes over both right and left ventricular regions of interest were evaluated in 16 patients with normal electrical activation and wall motion and compared with those in 8 patients with an artificial pacemaker and 4 patients with sinus rhythm with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and delta waves. Normally, the site of earliest phase angle was seen at the base of the interventricular septum, with sequential change affecting the body of the septum and the cardiac apex andmore » then spreading laterally to involve the body of both ventricles. The site of earliest phase angle was located at the apex of the right ventricle in seven patients with a right ventricular endocardial pacemaker and on the lateral left ventricular wall in one patient with a left ventricular epicardial pacemaker. In each case the site corresponded exactly to the position of the pacing electrode as seen on posteroanterior and left lateral chest X-ray films, and sequential phase changes spread from the initial focus to affect both ventricles. In each of the patients with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, the site of earliest ventricular phase angle was located, and it corresponded exactly to the site of the bypass tract as determined by endocardial mapping. In this way, four bypass pathways, two posterior left paraseptal, one left lateral and one right lateral, were correctly localized scintigraphically. On the basis of the sequence of mechanical contraction, phase image analysis provides an accurate noninvasive method of detecting abnormal foci of ventricular activation.« less

Supine posture affects cortical plasticity in elderly but not young women during a word learning-recognition task.

PubMed

Spironelli, Chiara; Angrilli, Alessandro

2017-07-01

The present research investigated the hypothesis that elderly and horizontal body position contribute to impair learning capacity. To this aim, 30 young (mean age: 23.2 years) and 20 elderly women (mean age: 82.8 years) were split in two equal groups, one assigned to the Seated Position (SP), and the other to the horizontal Bed Rest position (hBR). In the Learning Phase, participants were shown 60 words randomly distributed, and in the subsequent Recognition Phase they had to recognize them mixed with a sample of 60 new words. Behavioral analyses showed age-group effects, with young women exhibiting faster response times and higher accuracy rates than elderly women, but no interaction of body position with age group was found. Analysis of the RP component (250-270ms) revealed greater negativity in the left Occipital gyrus/Cuneus of both sitting age-groups, but significantly left-lateralized RP in left Lingual gyrus only in young bedridden women. Elderly hBR women showed a lack of left RP lateralization, the main generator being located in the right Cuneus. Young participants had the typical old/new effect (450-800ms) in different portions of left Frontal gyri/Uncus, whereas elderly women showed no differences in stimulus processing and its location. EEG alpha activity analyzed during a 3min resting state, soon after the recognition task, revealed greater alpha amplitude (i.e., cortical inhibition) in posterior sites of hBR elderly women, a result in line with their inhibited posterior RP. In elderly women the left asymmetry of RP was positively correlated with both greater accuracy and faster responses, thus pointing to a dysfunctional role, rather than a compensatory shift, of the observed right RP asymmetry in this group. This finding may have important clinical implications, with particular regard to the long-term side-effects of forced Bed Rest on elderly patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Behavioral laterality of the brain: support for the binary construct of hemisity

PubMed Central

Morton, Bruce E.

2013-01-01

Three terms define brain behavioral laterality: hemispheric dominance identifies the cerebral hemisphere producing one's first language. Hemispheric asymmetry locates the brain side of non-language skills. A third term is needed to describe a person's binary thinking, learning, and behaving styles. Since the 1950s split-brain studies, evidence has accumulated that individuals with right or left brain behavioral orientations (RPs or LPs) exist. Originally, hemisphericity sought, but failed, to confirm the existence of such individual differences, due to its assertion that each individual lay somewhere on a gradient between competing left and right brain extremes. Recently, hemisity, a more accurate behavioral laterality context, has emerged. It posits that one's behavioral laterality is binary: i.e., inherently either right or left brain-oriented. This insight enabled the quantitative determination of right or left behavioral laterality of thousands of subjects. MRI scans of right and left brain-oriented groups revealed two neuroanatomical differences. The first was an asymmetry of an executive element in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). This provided hemisity both a rationale and a primary standard. RPs and LPs gave opposite answers to many behavioral preference “either-or,” forced choice questions. This showed that several sex vs. hemisity traits are being conflated by society. Such was supported by the second neuroanatomical difference between the hemisity subtypes, that RPs of either sex had up to three times larger corpus callosi than LPs. Individuals of the same hemisity but opposite sex had more personality traits in common than those of the same sex but different hemisity. Although hemisity subtypes were equally represented in the general population, the process of higher education and career choice caused substantial hemisity sorting among the professions. Hemisity appears to be a valid and promising area for quantitative research of behavioral laterality. PMID:24101910

Comparison of a tube-holder (Rescuefix) versus tape-tying for minimizing double-lumen tube displacement during lateral positioning in thoracic surgery

PubMed Central

Byun, Sung Hye; Kang, Su Hwang; Kim, Jong Hae; Ryu, Taeha; Kim, Baek Jin; Jung, Jin Yong

2016-01-01

Abstract Background: Double-lumen endotracheal tubes (DLTs) are often displaced during change from the supine to the lateral decubitus position. The aim of this study was to determine whether Rescuefix, a recently developed tube-holder device, is more effective than the traditional tape-tying method for tube security during lateral positioning. Methods: Patients were randomly assigned to a Rescuefix (R) group (n = 22) or a tape (T) group (n = 22). After intubation with a left-sided DLT and adjustment of the appropriate DLT position using a fiberoptic bronchoscope, the DLT was fixed firmly at the side of the mouth by either Rescuefix or Durapore tape. “Tracheal depth” (from the tracheal carina to the elbow connector of the DLT) and “bronchial depth” (from the left bronchial carina to the elbow connector of the DLT) were measured in the supine position using the fiberoptic bronchoscope. After positional change, tracheal and bronchial depths were measured as described above. As the primary endpoint, displacement of the DLT during positional change was evaluated by obtaining the difference in depths measured when the patient was in the supine and lateral decubitus positions. In addition, after lateral positioning of the patient, any requirement for repositioning the DLT was recorded. Results: After lateral positioning, there were no significant differences in changes in tracheal and bronchial depths between the groups (tracheal depth 6.1 ± 4.4 mm [R group] and 9.1 ± 5.6 mm [T group], P = 0.058; bronchial depth 6.5 ± 4.4 mm [R group], and 8.5 ± 4.6 mm [T group], P = 0.132). Although the amount of change in tracheal and bronchial depths was not different between the groups, the need to reposition the DLT was significantly lower in the R group than in the T group (32% vs 68%, P = 0.016). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that use of Rescuefix did not reduce the amount of DLT displacement, but it did significantly lower the incidence of DLT repositioning compared with the tape-tying method. Therefore, Rescuefix appears to be an effective alternative to minimizing DLT displacement during lateral positioning in thoracic surgery. Trial registration: http://cris.nih.go.kr identifier: KCT0001949. PMID:27495093

Carbon Dioxide in the Aortic Arch: Coronary Effects and Implications in a Swine Study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Culp, William C.; Porter, Thomas R.; Culp, William C.

2003-04-15

Purpose: CO{sub 2} angiography is considered dangerous in the aortic arch where bubbles may cause critical cerebral and cardiac ischemia. We investigated CO{sub 2}distribution, physiologic effects in the heart, methods of detection and treatments. Methods: Eight pigs had CO{sub 2}and iodinated contrast arch angiograms in supine and both lateral decubitus positions. An electrocardiogram, physiologic data and cardiac ultrasound were obtained. Therapies included precordial thumps and rolls to lateral decubitus positions. Results: Supine high descending aorta CO{sub 2} injections floated retrograde up the arch during diastole and preferentially filled the right coronary artery (RCA): mean score 3.5 (of 4), in nominatemore » artery 2.4, left coronary artery 1.2; n = 17; p = 0.0001. Aortic root injections preferentially filled the RCA when the animal was supine, left coronary in the right decubitus position, and showed a diffuse pattern in the left decubitus position. Right decubitus rolls filled both coronaries causing several lethal arrhythmias. Precordialthumps successfully cleared CO{sub 2}. Ultrasound is a sensitive detector of myocardial CO{sub 2}. Conclusion: Arch distribution of CO{sub 2} primarily involves the RCA. Diagnostic ultrasound detects cardiac CO{sub 2} well. Precordial thumps are an effective treatment.« less

Emotive hemispheric differences measured in real-life portraits using pupil diameter and subjective aesthetic preferences.

PubMed

Blackburn, Kelsey; Schirillo, James

2012-06-01

The biased positioning of faces exposed to viewers of Western portraiture has suggested there may be fundamental differences in the lateralized expression and perception of emotion. The present study investigates whether there are differences in the perception of the left and right sides of the face in real-life photographs of individuals. The study paired conscious aesthetic ratings of pleasantness with measurements of pupil size, which are thought to be a reliable unconscious measure of interest first tested by Hess. Images of 10 men and 10 women were taken from the left and right sides of the face. These images were also mirror-reversed. As expected, we found a strong preference for left-sided portraits (regardless of original or mirror-reversed orientation), such that left hemifaces elicited higher ratings and greater pupil dilation. Interestingly, this effect was true of both sexes. A positive linear relationship was also found between pupil size and aesthetic ratings such that pupil size increased with pleasantness ratings. These findings provide support for the notions of lateralized emotion, right-hemispheric dominance, pupillary dilation to pleasant images, and constriction to unpleasant images.

The influence of foot position on scrum kinetics during machine scrummaging.

PubMed

Bayne, Helen; Kat, Cor-Jacques

2018-05-23

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of variations in the alignment of the feet on scrum kinetics during machine scrummaging. Twenty nine rugby forwards from amateur-level teams completed maximal scrum efforts against an instrumented scrum machine, with the feet in parallel and non-parallel positions. Three-dimensional forces, the moment about the vertical axis and sagittal plane joint angles were measured during the sustained pushing phase. There was a decrease in the magnitude of the resultant force and compression force in both of the non-parallel conditions compared to parallel and larger compression forces were associated with more extended hip and knee angles. Scrummaging with the left foot forward resulted in the lateral force being directed more towards the left and the turning moment becoming more clockwise. These directional changes were reversed when scrummaging with the right foot forward. Scrummaging with the right foot positioned ahead of the left may serve to counteract the natural clockwise wheel of the live scrum and could be used to achieve an anti-clockwise rotation of the scrum for tactical reasons. However, this would be associated with lower resultant forces and a greater lateral shear force component directed towards the right.

Hemispheric lateralization of verbal and spatial working memory during adolescence

PubMed Central

Nagel, Bonnie J.; Herting, Megan M.; Maxwell, Emily C.; Bruno, Richard; Fair, Damien

2013-01-01

Adult functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) literature suggests that a left-right hemispheric dissociation may exist between verbal and spatial working memory (WM), respectively. However, investigation of this type has been obscured by incomparable verbal and spatial WM tasks and/or visual inspection at arbitrary thresholds as means to assess lateralization. Furthermore, it is unclear whether this hemispheric lateralization is present during adolescence, a time in which WM skills are improving, and whether there is a developmental association with laterality of brain functioning. This study used comparable verbal and spatial WM n-back tasks during fMRI and a bootstrap analysis approach to calculate lateralization indices (LI) across several thresholds to examine the potential of a left-right WM hemispheric dissociation in healthy adolescents. We found significant left hemispheric lateralization for verbal WM, most notably in the frontal and parietal lobes, as well as right hemisphere lateralization for spatial WM, seen in frontal and temporal cortices. Although no significant relationships were observed between LI and age or LI and performance, significant age-related patterns of brain activity were demonstrated during both verbal and spatial WM. Specifically, increased adolescent age was associated with less activity in the default mode brain network during verbal WM. In contrast, increased adolescent age was associated with greater activity in task-positive posterior parietal cortex during spatial working memory. Our findings highlight the importance of utilizing non-biased statistical methods and comparable tasks for determining patterns of functional lateralization. Our findings also suggest that, while a left-right hemispheric dissociation of verbal and spatial WM is apparent by early adolescence, age-related changes in functional activation during WM are also present. PMID:23511846

Is the planum temporale surface area a marker of hemispheric or regional language lateralization?

PubMed

Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie; Crivello, Fabrice; Mazoyer, Bernard

2018-04-01

We investigated the association between the left planum temporale (PT) surface area or asymmetry and the hemispheric or regional functional asymmetries during language production and perception tasks in 287 healthy adults (BIL&GIN) who were matched for sex and handedness. The measurements of the PT surface area were performed after manually delineating the region using brain magnetic resonance images (MRI) and considering the Heschl's gyrus (HG) duplication pattern; the measurements either included (PT tot ) or did not include (PT post ) the second gyrus. A region encompassing both the PT and HG (HGPT) was also studied. Regardless of the ROI measured, 80% of the sample had a positive left minus right PT asymmetry. We first tested whether the PT tot , PT post and HGPT surface areas in the left or right hemispheres or PT asymmetries differed in groups of individuals varying in language lateralization by assessing their hemispheric index during a sentence production minus word list production task. We then investigated the association between these different measures of the PT anatomy and the regional asymmetries measured during the task. Regardless of the anatomical definition used, we observed no correlations between the left surface areas or asymmetries and the hemispheric or regional functional asymmetries during the language production task. We then performed a similar analysis using the same sample measuring language functional lateralization during speech listening tasks (i.e., listening to sentences and lists of words). Although the hemispheric lateralization during speech listening was not correlated with the left PT tot , PT post or HGPT surface areas or the PT asymmetries, significant positive correlations were observed between the asymmetries in these regions and the regional functional asymmetries measured in areas adjacent to the end of the Sylvian fissure while participants listened to the word lists or sentences. The PT asymmetry thus appears to be associated with the local functional asymmetries in auditory areas but is not a marker of inter-individual variability in language dominance.

Preferred neck-resting position predicts aggression in Caribbean flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber).

PubMed

Anderson, Matthew J; Williams, Sarah A; Bono, Amanda J

2010-11-01

When flamingos rest, they typically lay their heads along their backs. In order to achieve this positioning they curve their necks to either the right or left of their midline. Previously we have shown both individual and flock-level laterality of preferred neck-resting direction, with most birds preferring to rest their necks to their right (Anderson, Williams, & O'Brien, 2009). As laterality has been shown to play a role in social cohesion (e.g., Rogers & Workman, 1989) and aggression (e.g., Vallortigara, Cozzutti, Tommasi, & Rogers, 2001), here we attempted to determine whether a flamingo's preferred neck-resting direction could be used to predict involvement in aggressive encounters. Results replicated the earlier flock-level preference for neck resting towards the right, and indicated that those flamingos preferring the left were more likely to be involved in aggressive encounters.

A brain electrical signature of left-lateralized semantic activation from single words.

PubMed

Koppehele-Gossel, Judith; Schnuerch, Robert; Gibbons, Henning

2016-01-01

Lesion and imaging studies consistently indicate a left-lateralization of semantic language processing in human temporo-parietal cortex. Surprisingly, electrocortical measures, which allow a direct assessment of brain activity and the tracking of cognitive functions with millisecond precision, have not yet been used to capture this hemispheric lateralization, at least with respect to posterior portions of this effect. Using event-related potentials, we employed a simple single-word reading paradigm to compare neural activity during three tasks requiring different degrees of semantic processing. As expected, we were able to derive a simple temporo-parietal left-right asymmetry index peaking around 300ms into word processing that neatly tracks the degree of semantic activation. The validity of this measure in specifically capturing verbal semantic activation was further supported by a significant relation to verbal intelligence. We thus posit that it represents a promising tool to monitor verbal semantic processing in the brain with little technological effort and in a minimal experimental setup. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Motivation, affect, and hemispheric asymmetry: power versus affiliation.

PubMed

Kuhl, Julius; Kazén, Miguel

2008-08-01

In 4 experiments, the authors examined to what extent information related to different social needs (i.e., power vs. affiliation) is associated with hemispheric laterality. Response latencies to a lateralized dot-probe task following lateralized pictures or verbal labels that were associated with positive or negative episodes related to power, affiliation, or achievement revealed clear-cut laterality effects. These effects were a function of need content rather than of valence: Power-related stimuli were associated with right visual field (left hemisphere) superiority, whereas affiliation-related stimuli were associated with left visual field (right hemisphere) superiority. Additional results demonstrated that in contrast to power, affiliation primes were associated with better discrimination between coherent word triads (e.g., goat, pass, and green, all related to mountain) and noncoherent triads, a remote associate task known to activate areas of the right hemisphere. (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved

Predicting driver from front passenger using only the postmortem pattern of injury following a motor vehicle collision.

PubMed

Curtin, Eleanor; Langlois, Neil E I

2007-10-01

This study aimed to establish whether post-mortem injury patterns can assist in distinguishing drivers from front seat passengers among victims of motor vehicle collisions without regard to collision type, vehicle type or if safety equipment had been used. Injuries sustained by 206 drivers and 91 front seat passengers were catalogued from post-mortem reports. Injuries were coded for the body region, depth and location of the injury. Statistical analysis was used to detect injuries capable of discriminating between driver and passenger. Drivers were more likely to sustain the following injuries: brain injury; fractures to the right femur, right posterior ribs, base of skull, right humerus and right shoulder; and superficial wounds at the right lateral and posterior thigh, right face, right and left anterior knee, right anterior shoulder, lateral right arm and forearm and left anterior thigh. Front passengers were more vulnerable to splenic injury; fractures to the left posterior and anterior ribs, left shoulder and left femur; and superficial wounds at the left anterior shoulder region and left lateral neck. Linear discriminant analysis generated a model for predicting seating position based on the presence of injury to certain regions of the body; the overall predictive accuracy of the model was 69.3%. It was found that driver and front passenger fatalities receive different injury patterns from motor vehicle collisions, regardless of collision type. A larger study is required to improve the predictive accuracy of this model and to ascertain its value to forensic medicine.

Platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome in the right lateral decubitus position: a case report.

PubMed

Tsuzuki, Ippei; Iigaya, Kamon; Matsubara, Takashi; Takagi, Shunsuke; Inohara, Taku; Ohgino, Yasuyuki; Imafuku, Toshio

2017-04-12

Platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome is a rare syndrome characterized by dyspnea and hypoxia when the patient is sitting or standing. Here we report a case of platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome caused by a right hemidiaphragmatic elevation with giant liver cyst that triggered a right-to-left shunt through the patent foramen ovale. This case report is the first presentation of a case secondary to hemidiaphragmatic elevation with giant liver cyst. In addition to this, a malposition of the pacemaker lead could be associated with platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome in this case. A 91-year-old Japanese woman presented to our hospital with hypoxia of unknown origin. Severe hypoxia and cyanosis were observed only in the right lateral decubitus position. A chest X-ray and computed tomography scan revealed right hemidiaphragmatic elevation, which was probably compressing the right atrium. A transesophageal echocardiogram showed a compressed right atrium and shunt blood flow in both directions: from the left to the right atrium and vice versa. The shunt flow was exacerbated by postural changes from the left to the right lateral decubitus. A transesophageal echocardiogram also confirmed compression of the right atrium due to giant liver cyst and a malposition of the pacemaker lead abnormally placed in the left atrium through patent foramen ovale. We concluded that the cause of hypoxia was platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome with right-to-left interatrial shunt through patent foramen ovale. Surgical closure of patent foramen ovale was not performed due to the age of our patient, surgical difficulties, and failure to obtain informed consent. For these reasons she was discharged after receiving medical advice about her posture. Platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome is rare and difficult to diagnose. The present case suggests that hypoxia due to postural changes should be considered a differential diagnosis of platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome.

Visual Similarity of Words Alone Can Modulate Hemispheric Lateralization in Visual Word Recognition: Evidence From Modeling Chinese Character Recognition.

PubMed

Hsiao, Janet H; Cheung, Kit

2016-03-01

In Chinese orthography, the most common character structure consists of a semantic radical on the left and a phonetic radical on the right (SP characters); the minority, opposite arrangement also exists (PS characters). Recent studies showed that SP character processing is more left hemisphere (LH) lateralized than PS character processing. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether this is due to phonetic radical position or character type frequency. Through computational modeling with artificial lexicons, in which we implement a theory of hemispheric asymmetry in perception but do not assume phonological processing being LH lateralized, we show that the difference in character type frequency alone is sufficient to exhibit the effect that the dominant type has a stronger LH lateralization than the minority type. This effect is due to higher visual similarity among characters in the dominant type than the minority type, demonstrating the modulation of visual similarity of words on hemispheric lateralization. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Left-handedness and language lateralization in children.

PubMed

Szaflarski, Jerzy P; Rajagopal, Akila; Altaye, Mekibib; Byars, Anna W; Jacola, Lisa; Schmithorst, Vincent J; Schapiro, Mark B; Plante, Elena; Holland, Scott K

2012-01-18

This fMRI study investigated the development of language lateralization in left- and righthanded children between 5 and 18 years of age. Twenty-seven left-handed children (17 boys, 10 girls) and 54 age- and gender-matched right-handed children were included. We used functional MRI at 3T and a verb generation task to measure hemispheric language dominance based on either frontal or temporo-parietal regions of interest (ROIs) defined for the entire group and applied on an individual basis. Based on the frontal ROI, in the left-handed group, 23 participants (85%) demonstrated left-hemispheric language lateralization, 3 (11%) demonstrated symmetric activation, and 1 (4%) demonstrated right-hemispheric lateralization. In contrast, 50 (93%) of the right-handed children showed left-hemispheric lateralization and 3 (6%) demonstrated a symmetric activation pattern, while one (2%) demonstrated a right-hemispheric lateralization. The corresponding values for the temporo-parietal ROI for the left-handed children were 18 (67%) left-dominant, 6 (22%) symmetric, 3 (11%) right-dominant and for the right-handed children 49 (91%), 4 (7%), 1 (2%), respectively. Left-hemispheric language lateralization increased with age in both groups but somewhat different lateralization trajectories were observed in girls when compared to boys. The incidence of atypical language lateralization in left-handed children in this study was similar to that reported in adults. We also found similar rates of increase in left-hemispheric language lateralization with age between groups (i.e., independent of handedness) indicating the presence of similar mechanisms for language lateralization in left- and right-handed children. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Liver mobilization and liver hanging for totally laparoscopic right hepatectomy: an easy way to do it.

PubMed

Rotellar, Fernando; Pardo, Fernando; Martí-Cruchaga, Pablo; Zozaya, Gabriel; Valentí, Victor; Bellver, Manuel; Lopez-Olaondo, Luis; Hidalgo, Francisco

2017-02-01

The purpose of this study is to describe a technical modification that facilitates right liver mobilization in laparoscopic right hepatectomy (LRH). In the supine position, an inflatable device is placed under the patient's right chest. For right hemiliver mobilization, the table is placed in 30° anti-Trendelenburg and full-left tilt. Balloon inflation offers an additional 30° left inclination that places the patient in an almost left lateral position. Foot and lateral supports are placed to prevent patient slippage during changes in the patient positioning. From December 2013 to October 2015, this technique has been used in 10 consecutive LRH. The indications for these procedures were as follows: four donor hepatectomies for living donor liver transplant, three hepatocellular carcinomas and one peripheral cholangiocarcinoma in cirrhotic patients, one hepatocellular carcinoma in a non-cirrhotic patient, and one case of colorectal cancer metastases. In this period, it has also been used to facilitate mobilization and resection in the posterior segments of the liver in seven patients. In every case, right hemiliver mobilization was easily performed in a maximum time of 15 min and placement of a tape or plastic tube for liver hanging was prepared. We have not observed any complication directly attributable to the technique herein described (i.e. right brachialgia; arms, back or left flank pain) in the early or late postoperative follow-up. The additional left inclination obtained with the inflation of a balloon under the right chest facilitates right hemiliver mobilization. Its use may help in the performance and adoption of LRH.

Laterality of pain: modulation by placebo and participants' paranormal belief.

PubMed

Klemenz, Caroline; Regard, Marianne; Brugger, Peter; Emch, Oliver

2009-09-01

To investigate the effects of placebo and paranormal belief on the laterality of pain perception. The right hemisphere is dominantly involved in both the mediation of pain sensation and the belief in paranormal phenomena. We set out to assess a possible influence of long-term belief systems on placebo analgesia in response to unilateral nociceptive stimuli. Forty healthy participants (20 high and 20 low believers as indexed by the Magical Ideation Scale) underwent a placebo analgesia study measuring stimulus detection, pain threshold, and pain tolerance by electrostimulation on the right and left hand. Placebo treatment consisted of the application of a sham cream on the hands. Placebo had a positive influence on pain perception in the 3 variables. Enhanced pain sensitivity for the left side was only found for the disbelievers. Placebo treatment resulted in a double dissociation: in believers, it increased tolerance exclusively on the left side, in disbelievers on the right side. Our results confirm laterality effects in pain perception. However, only disbelievers conformed to the expected higher left-sided sensitivity. Placebo effects were dissociated between believers and disbelievers suggesting that short-term reactions to a placebo are modulated by a person's long-term belief system.

Behavioral laterality of the brain: support for the binary construct of hemisity.

PubMed

Morton, Bruce E

2013-10-01

hemispheric dominance identifies the cerebral hemisphere producing one's first language. Hemispheric asymmetry locates the brain side of non-language skills. A third term is needed to describe a person's binary thinking, learning, and behaving styles. Since the 1950s split-brain studies, evidence has accumulated that individuals with right or left brain behavioral orientations (RPs or LPs) exist. Originally, hemisphericity sought, but failed, to confirm the existence of such individual differences, due to its assertion that each individual lay somewhere on a gradient between competing left and right brain extremes. Recently, hemisity, a more accurate behavioral laterality context, has emerged. It posits that one's behavioral laterality is binary: i.e., inherently either right or left brain-oriented. This insight enabled the quantitative determination of right or left behavioral laterality of thousands of subjects. MRI scans of right and left brain-oriented groups revealed two neuroanatomical differences. The first was an asymmetry of an executive element in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). This provided hemisity both a rationale and a primary standard. RPs and LPs gave opposite answers to many behavioral preference "either-or," forced choice questions. This showed that several sex vs. hemisity traits are being conflated by society. Such was supported by the second neuroanatomical difference between the hemisity subtypes, that RPs of either sex had up to three times larger corpus callosi than LPs. Individuals of the same hemisity but opposite sex had more personality traits in common than those of the same sex but different hemisity. Although hemisity subtypes were equally represented in the general population, the process of higher education and career choice caused substantial hemisity sorting among the professions. Hemisity appears to be a valid and promising area for quantitative research of behavioral laterality.

Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in normal and hypertensive pregnancy. Response to postural stimuli.

PubMed

Fagundes, V G; Lamas, C C; Francischetti, E A

1992-02-01

Most studies that have attempted to distinguish pregnancy-induced hypertension from chronic hypertension in pregnancy include arbitrary clinical definitions and morphological reports based on renal biopsy. To evaluate whether these conditions have different responses to stimuli to the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, we studied four normal nonpregnant women, eight normal pregnant women, 10 women with pregnancy-induced hypertension, and 14 with chronic hypertension in pregnancy, in the third trimester of pregnancy, after they had sequentially adopted the supine, the left lateral recumbent, and the orthostatic positions for 90 minutes each. Postural maneuvers did not significantly change mean arterial pressure in pregnancy-induced hypertensive or in normal pregnant women, although in chronic hypertensive women, a significant reduction in this parameter was observed in left lateral recumbency. The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system was significantly less activated with women in the supine position in pregnancy-induced hypertensive and chronic hypertensive women; however, as opposed to pregnancy-induced hypertensive women, those with chronic hypertension reassumed their humoral response to upright posture, which was accompanied by a significant reduction in sodium excretion. The parallelism between plasma renin activity and aldosterone levels, absent in normal pregnancy, returned in pregnancy-induced hypertensive and chronic hypertensive women in the erect posture (r = 0.73, p less than 0.01; r = 0.68, p less than 0.01, respectively). These data suggest that the adoption of the left lateral recumbent position in pregnancy reduces mean arterial pressure only in chronic hypertensive women. Moreover, in chronic hypertension, the upright position provoked a significant response of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. This effect was not observed in women with pregnancy-induced hypertension.

The effects of sad prosody on hemispheric specialization for words processing.

PubMed

Leshem, Rotem; Arzouan, Yossi; Armony-Sivan, Rinat

2015-06-01

This study examined the effect of sad prosody on hemispheric specialization for word processing using behavioral and electrophysiological measures. A dichotic listening task combining focused attention and signal-detection methods was conducted to evaluate the detection of a word spoken in neutral or sad prosody. An overall right ear advantage together with leftward lateralization in early (150-170 ms) and late (240-260 ms) processing stages was found for word detection, regardless of prosody. Furthermore, the early stage was most pronounced for words spoken in neutral prosody, showing greater negative activation over the left than the right hemisphere. In contrast, the later stage was most pronounced for words spoken with sad prosody, showing greater positive activation over the left than the right hemisphere. The findings suggest that sad prosody alone was not sufficient to modulate hemispheric asymmetry in word-level processing. We posit that lateralized effects of sad prosody on word processing are largely dependent on the psychoacoustic features of the stimuli as well as on task demands. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Probabilistic choice between symmetric disparities in motion stereo matching for a lateral navigation system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ershov, Egor; Karnaukhov, Victor; Mozerov, Mikhail

2016-02-01

Two consecutive frames of a lateral navigation camera video sequence can be considered as an appropriate approximation to epipolar stereo. To overcome edge-aware inaccuracy caused by occlusion, we propose a model that matches the current frame to the next and to the previous ones. The positive disparity of matching to the previous frame has its symmetric negative disparity to the next frame. The proposed algorithm performs probabilistic choice for each matched pixel between the positive disparity and its symmetric disparity cost. A disparity map obtained by optimization over the cost volume composed of the proposed probabilistic choice is more accurate than the traditional left-to-right and right-to-left disparity maps cross-check. Also, our algorithm needs two times less computational operations per pixel than the cross-check technique. The effectiveness of our approach is demonstrated on synthetic data and real video sequences, with ground-truth value.

Effects of body position on lung density estimated from EIT data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noshiro, Makoto; Ebihara, Kei; Sato, Ena; Nebuya, Satoru; Brown, Brian H.

2010-04-01

Normal subjects took the sitting, supine, prone, right lateral and left lateral positions during the measurement procedure. One minute epochs of EIT data were collected at the levels of the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th intercostal spaces in each position during normal tidal breathing. Lung density was then determined from the EIT data using the method proposed by Brown5. Lung density at the electrode level of the 6th intercostal space was different from that at almost any other levels in both male and female subjects, and lung density at the electrode levels of the 4th and 5th intercostal spaces in male subjects did not depend upon position.

Emotional memory retrieval. rTMS stimulation on left DLPFC increases the positive memories.

PubMed

Balconi, Michela; Ferrari, Chiara

2012-09-01

A suggestive hypothesis proposed that the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) may be identified as the site of emotion-memory integration, since it was shown to be sensitive to the encoding and retrieval of emotional content. In the present research we explored the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in memory retrieval of positive vs. negative emotional stimuli. This effect was analyzed by using an rTMS paradigm that induced a cortical activation of the left DLPFC. Subjects were required to perform a task consisting of two experimental phases: an encoding phase, where some lists composed by positive and negative emotional words were presented to the subjects; a retrieval phase, where the old stimuli and the new stimuli were presented for a recognition performance. The rTMS stimulation was provided during the retrieval phase over the left DLPFC. We found that the rTMS stimulation over this area affects the memory retrieval of positive emotional material, with higher memory efficiency (reduced RTs). This result suggested that left DLPFC activation promotes the memory retrieval of emotional information. Secondly, the valence model of emotional cue processing may explain decreasing of RTs, by pointing out the distinct role the left hemisphere has in positive emotional cue processing.

[Measurement of external pressure of peroneal nerve tract coming in contact with lithotomy leg holders using pressure distribution measurement system BIG-MAT®].

PubMed

Mizuno, Ju; Namba, Chikara; Takahashi, Toru

2014-10-01

We investigated external pressure on peroneal nerve tract coming in contact with two kinds of leg holders using pressure distribution measurement system BIG- MAT® (Nitta Corp., Osaka) in the lithotomy position Peak contact (active) pressure at the left fibular head region coming in contact with knee-crutch-type leg holder M® (Takara Belmont Corp., Osaka), which supports the left popliteal fossa, was 78.0 ± 26.4 mmHg. On the other hand, peak contact pressure at the left lateral lower leg region coming in contact with boot-support-type leg holder Bel Flex® (Takara Belmont Corp., Osaka), which supports the left lower leg and foot was 26.3±7.9 mmHg. These results suggest that use of knee-crutch-type leg holder is more likely to induce common peroneal nerve palsy at the fibular head region, but use of boot-support-type leg holder dose not easily induce superficial peroneal nerve palsy at the lateral lower leg region, because capillary blood pressure is known to be 32 mmHg. Safer holders for positioning will be developed to prevent nerve palsy based on the analysis of chronological change in external pressure using BIG-MAT® system during anesthesia.

Structural and functional cerebral correlates of hypnotic suggestibility.

PubMed

Huber, Alexa; Lui, Fausta; Duzzi, Davide; Pagnoni, Giuseppe; Porro, Carlo Adolfo

2014-01-01

Little is known about the neural bases of hypnotic suggestibility, a cognitive trait referring to the tendency to respond to hypnotic suggestions. In the present magnetic resonance imaging study, we performed regression analyses to assess hypnotic suggestibility-related differences in local gray matter volume, using voxel-based morphometry, and in waking resting state functional connectivity of 10 resting state networks, in 37 healthy women. Hypnotic suggestibility was positively correlated with gray matter volume in portions of the left superior and medial frontal gyri, roughly overlapping with the supplementary and pre-supplementary motor area, and negatively correlated with gray matter volume in the left superior temporal gyrus and insula. In the functional connectivity analysis, hypnotic suggestibility was positively correlated with functional connectivity between medial posterior areas, including bilateral posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus, and both the lateral visual network and the left fronto-parietal network; a positive correlation was also found with functional connectivity between the executive-control network and a right postcentral/parietal area. In contrast, hypnotic suggestibility was negatively correlated with functional connectivity between the right fronto-parietal network and the right lateral thalamus. These findings demonstrate for the first time a correlation between hypnotic suggestibility, the structural features of specific cortical regions, and the functional connectivity during the normal resting state of brain structures involved in imagery and self-monitoring activity.

Valence-space compatibility effects depend on situated motor fluency in both right- and left-handers.

PubMed

Milhau, Audrey; Brouillet, Thibaut; Brouillet, Denis

2015-01-01

According to the body specificity hypothesis, the way we interact with our environment participates in our conceptualization of concepts and word meanings. For instance, valence is associated to horizontal space because of the motor fluency by which one acts with one's dominant hand. We propose that the decisive factor in the compatibility effects between valence and lateral actions is the interaction between the fluency of response movement and the situational constraints of the task. In a valence judgement task with positive and negative words, right-handers (Experiment 1) and left-handers (Experiment 2) responded with lateralized actions of either their dominant or their nondominant hand. To do so, we used a response device that was either congruent or noncongruent with the fluency of the response hand. Results highlighted that when the response device was congruent with the fluency of the responding hand, response times to positive evaluations were shorter than those to negative evaluations. Conversely, when the response device was noncongruent with the fluency of the responding hand, we observed faster responses for negative evaluations than for positive evaluations. Furthermore, we obtained similar patterns for right- and left-handers, supporting the idea that compatibility effects are driven by the situated fluency of the responding hand.

Long range chromosome organization in Escherichia coli: The position of the replication origin defines the non-structured regions and the Right and Left macrodomains

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The Escherichia coli chromosome is organized into four macrodomains (Ori, Ter, Right and Left) and two non-structured regions. This organization influences the segregation of sister chromatids, the mobility of chromosomal DNA, and the cellular localization of the chromosome. The organization of the Ter and Ori macrodomains relies on two specific systems, MatP/matS for the Ter domain and MaoP/maoS for the Ori domain, respectively. Here by constructing strains with chromosome rearrangements to reshuffle the distribution of chromosomal segments, we reveal that the difference between the non-structured regions and the Right and Left lateral macrodomains relies on their position on the chromosome. A change in the genetic location of oriC generated either by an inversion within the Ori macrodomain or by the insertion of a second oriC modifies the position of Right and Left macrodomains, as the chromosome region the closest to oriC are always non-structured while the regions further away behave as macrodomain regardless of their DNA sequence. Using fluorescent microscopy we estimated that loci belonging to a non-structured region are significantly closer to the Ori MD than loci belonging to a lateral MD. Altogether, our results suggest that the origin of replication plays a prominent role in chromosome organization in E. coli, as it determines structuring and localization of macrodomains in growing cell. PMID:28486476

Control of an Omni-directional Power-assisted Cart

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maeda, Hiroshi; Fujiwara, Shigeki; Kitano, Hitoshi; Yamashita, Hideki; Fukunaga, Hideo

This paper describes an easy-to-operate, omni-directional cart. This cart includes power assist technology that acts for both the longitudinal and rotational motions of the cart. Two objectives are set for this development. The first objective is to overcome the difficulty of shifting the cart laterally. Therefore, the equation for calculating the cart turning speed is modified so that the moment, which is driven by the operating force in the right/left direction, is offset. As a result, it becomes possible to stabilize the balance between the operating force in the right/left direction and the operating moment, and improve the operating performance. The second objective is to overcome the other difficulty whereby, during the one-hand pull-operation, the cart tended to run off course to the right/left. To solve this problem, we add a positional control in the right/left direction. As a result, we reduce the lateral deviation of the cart, and improve the operating performance.

The Intubating Laryngeal Mask Airway Facilitates Tracheal Intubation in the Lateral Position

PubMed Central

Komatsu, Ryu; Nagata, Osamu; Sessler, Daniel I.; Ozaki, Makoto

2005-01-01

Although the difficulty of tracheal intubation in the lateral position has not been systematically evaluated, airway loss during surgery in a laterally positioned patient may have hazardous consequences. We explored whether the intubating laryngeal mask airway (ILMA) facilitates tracheal intubation in patients with normal airway anatomy, i.e., Mallampati grade ≤ 3 and thyromental distance ≥ 5 cm, positioned in the lateral position. And we evaluated whether this technique can be used as a rescue when the airway is lost mid-case in laterally positioned patients with respect to success rate and intubation time. Anesthesia was induced with propofol, fentanyl, and vecuronium in 50 patients undergoing spine surgery for lumbar disk herniation (Lateral) and 50 undergoing other surgical procedures (Supine). Patients having disk surgery (Lateral) were positioned on their right or left sides before induction of general anesthesia, and intubation was performed in that position. Patients in control group (Supine) were anesthetized in supine position, and intubation was performed in that position. Intubation was performed blindly via an ILMA in both groups. The time required for intubation and number and types of adjusting maneuvers employed were recorded. Data were compared by Mann-Whitney U, Fisher’s exact, chi-square, or unpaired t-tests, as appropriate. Data presented as mean (SD). Demographic and airway measures were similar in the two groups, except for mouth opening which was slightly wider in patients in the lateral position: 5.1 (0.9) vs. 4.6 (0.7) cm. The time required for intubation was similar in each group (≈25 s), as was intubation success (96%). We conclude that blind intubation via an ILMA offers a frequent success rate and a clinically acceptable intubation time (< one min) even in the lateral position. Summary Blind intubation via the intubating laryngeal mask airway (ILMA) offers a high success rate and a clinically acceptable intubation time even in patients in the lateral position. PMID:14980953

Gaussian Mixture Modeling of Hemispheric Lateralization for Language in a Large Sample of Healthy Individuals Balanced for Handedness

PubMed Central

Mazoyer, Bernard; Zago, Laure; Jobard, Gaël; Crivello, Fabrice; Joliot, Marc; Perchey, Guy; Mellet, Emmanuel; Petit, Laurent; Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie

2014-01-01

Hemispheric lateralization for language production and its relationships with manual preference and manual preference strength were studied in a sample of 297 subjects, including 153 left-handers (LH). A hemispheric functional lateralization index (HFLI) for language was derived from fMRI acquired during a covert sentence generation task as compared with a covert word list recitation. The multimodal HFLI distribution was optimally modeled using a mixture of 3 and 4 Gaussian functions in right-handers (RH) and LH, respectively. Gaussian function parameters helped to define 3 types of language hemispheric lateralization, namely “Typical” (left hemisphere dominance with clear positive HFLI values, 88% of RH, 78% of LH), “Ambilateral” (no dominant hemisphere with HFLI values close to 0, 12% of RH, 15% of LH) and “Strongly-atypical” (right-hemisphere dominance with clear negative HFLI values, 7% of LH). Concordance between dominant hemispheres for hand and for language did not exceed chance level, and most of the association between handedness and language lateralization was explained by the fact that all Strongly-atypical individuals were left-handed. Similarly, most of the relationship between language lateralization and manual preference strength was explained by the fact that Strongly-atypical individuals exhibited a strong preference for their left hand. These results indicate that concordance of hemispheric dominance for hand and for language occurs barely above the chance level, except in a group of rare individuals (less than 1% in the general population) who exhibit strong right hemisphere dominance for both language and their preferred hand. They call for a revisit of models hypothesizing common determinants for handedness and for language dominance. PMID:24977417

Gaussian mixture modeling of hemispheric lateralization for language in a large sample of healthy individuals balanced for handedness.

PubMed

Mazoyer, Bernard; Zago, Laure; Jobard, Gaël; Crivello, Fabrice; Joliot, Marc; Perchey, Guy; Mellet, Emmanuel; Petit, Laurent; Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie

2014-01-01

Hemispheric lateralization for language production and its relationships with manual preference and manual preference strength were studied in a sample of 297 subjects, including 153 left-handers (LH). A hemispheric functional lateralization index (HFLI) for language was derived from fMRI acquired during a covert sentence generation task as compared with a covert word list recitation. The multimodal HFLI distribution was optimally modeled using a mixture of 3 and 4 Gaussian functions in right-handers (RH) and LH, respectively. Gaussian function parameters helped to define 3 types of language hemispheric lateralization, namely "Typical" (left hemisphere dominance with clear positive HFLI values, 88% of RH, 78% of LH), "Ambilateral" (no dominant hemisphere with HFLI values close to 0, 12% of RH, 15% of LH) and "Strongly-atypical" (right-hemisphere dominance with clear negative HFLI values, 7% of LH). Concordance between dominant hemispheres for hand and for language did not exceed chance level, and most of the association between handedness and language lateralization was explained by the fact that all Strongly-atypical individuals were left-handed. Similarly, most of the relationship between language lateralization and manual preference strength was explained by the fact that Strongly-atypical individuals exhibited a strong preference for their left hand. These results indicate that concordance of hemispheric dominance for hand and for language occurs barely above the chance level, except in a group of rare individuals (less than 1% in the general population) who exhibit strong right hemisphere dominance for both language and their preferred hand. They call for a revisit of models hypothesizing common determinants for handedness and for language dominance.

Anterior versus lateral needle decompression of tension pneumothorax: comparison by computed tomography chest wall measurement.

PubMed

Sanchez, Leon D; Straszewski, Shannon; Saghir, Amina; Khan, Atif; Horn, Erin; Fischer, Christopher; Khosa, Faisal; Camacho, Marc A

2011-10-01

Recent research describes failed needle decompression in the anterior position. It has been hypothesized that a lateral approach may be more successful. The aim of this study was to identify the optimal site for needle decompression. A retrospective study was conducted of emergency department (ED) patients who underwent computed tomography (CT) of the chest as part of their evaluation for blunt trauma. A convenience sample of 159 patients was formed by reviewing consecutive scans of eligible patients. Six measurements from the skin surface to the pleural surface were made for each patient: anterior second intercostal space, lateral fourth intercostal space, and lateral fifth intercostal space on the left and right sides. The distance from skin to pleura at the anterior second intercostal space averaged 46.3 mm on the right and 45.2 mm on the left. The distance at the midaxillary line in the fourth intercostal space was 63.7 mm on the right and 62.1 mm on the left. In the fifth intercostal space the distance was 53.8 mm on the right and 52.9 mm on the left. The distance of the anterior approach was statistically less when compared to both intercostal spaces (p < 0.01). With commonly available angiocatheters, the lateral approach is less likely to be successful than the anterior approach. The anterior approach may fail in many patients as well. Longer angiocatheters may increase the chances of decompression, but would also carry a higher risk of damage to surrounding vital structures. © 2011 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

Sex differences in the cerebral lateralization of a cichlid fish when detouring to view emotionally conditioned stimuli.

PubMed

Reddon, Adam R; Hurd, Peter L

2009-09-01

The lateralization of emotion has been described in a variety of animals. The right hemisphere has been implicated in the processing of negative emotions while positive emotions are processed in the left. Most animal studies of this phenomenon to date have used intrinsically emotionally arousing stimuli and there are few examples of lateralized responses to learned emotional triggers. It is known that males and females may demonstrate different patterns of lateralization, and that these sex differences may interact with other variables. We investigated the lateralized response of male and female convict cichlids to emotionally conditioned stimuli. One stimulus was given an appetitive (positive emotional valence) association by pairing with food. The other stimulus was given an aversive (negative emotional valence) association by pairing with a chemical alarm signal. We found that males tend to be more strongly lateralized to aversive stimuli while females are more strongly lateralized when responding to appetitive stimuli.

Left-Hemispheric Microstructural Abnormalities in Children With High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Peterson, Daniel; Mahajan, Rajneesh; Crocetti, Deana; Mejia, Amanda; Mostofsky, Stewart

2014-01-01

Current theories of the neurobiological basis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) posit an altered pattern of connectivity in large-scale brain networks. Here we used Diffusion Tensor Imaging to investigate the microstructural properties of the white matter that mediates inter-regional connectivity in 36 high-functioning children with ASD (HF-ASD), as compared to 37 controls. By employing an atlas-based analysis using LDDMM registration, a widespread, but left-lateralized pattern of abnormalities was revealed. The Mean Diffusivity (MD) of water in the white matter of HF-ASD children was significantly elevated throughout the left hemisphere, particularly in the outer-zone cortical white matter. Across diagnostic groups there was a significant effect of age on left hemisphere MD, with a similar reduction in MD during childhood in both TD and HF-ASD children. The increased MD in children with HF-ASD suggests hypomyelination, and may reflect increased short-range cortico-cortical connections subsequent to early white matter overgrowth. These findings also highlight left hemispheric connectivity as relevant to the pathophysiology of ASD, and indicate that the spatial distribution of microstructural abnormalities in HF-ASD is widespread, and left-lateralized. This altered left-hemispheric connectivity may contribute to deficits in communication and praxis observed in ASD. PMID:25256103

Spine lateral flexion strength development differences between exercises with pelvic stabilization and without pelvic stabilization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Straton, Alexandru; Gidu, Diana Victoria; Micu, Alexandru

2015-02-01

Poor lateral flexor muscle strength can be an important source of lumbar/thoracic back pain in women. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pelvic stabilization (PS) and no pelvic stabilization (NoPS) lateral flexion strength exercise training on the development of isolated right and left lateral flexion strength. Isometric torque of the isolated right and left lateral flexion muscles was measured at two positions (0° and 30° opposed angle range of motion) on 42 healthy women before and after 8 weeks of PS and NoPS lateral flexion strength exercise training. Subjects were assigned in three groups, the first (n=14) trained 3 times/week with PS lateral flexion strength exercise, the second (n=14) trained 3 times/week with NoPS lateral flexion strength exercise and the third (control, n=14) did not train. Post training isometric strength values describing PS and NoPS lateral flexion strength improved in greater extent for the PS lateral flexion strength exercise group and in lesser extent for the NoPS lateral flexion strength exercise group, in both angles (p<0.05) relative to controls. These data indicate that the most effective way of training the spine lateral flexion muscles is PS lateral flexion strength exercises; NoPS lateral flexion strength exercises can be an effective way of training for the spine lateral flexion muscles, if there is no access to PS lateral flexion strength training machines.

A Reduction in Delay Discounting by Using Episodic Future Imagination and the Association with Episodic Memory Capacity

PubMed Central

Hu, Xiaochen; Kleinschmidt, Helena; Martin, Jason A.; Han, Ying; Thelen, Manuela; Meiberth, Dix; Jessen, Frank; Weber, Bernd

2017-01-01

Delay discounting (DD) refers to the phenomenon that individuals discount future consequences. Previous studies showed that future imagination reduces DD, which was mediated by functional connectivity between medial prefrontal valuation areas and a key region for episodic memory (hippocampus). Future imagination involves an initial period of construction and a later period of elaboration, with the more elaborative latter period recruiting more cortical regions. This study examined whether elaborative future imagination modulated DD, and if so, what are the underlying neural substrates. It was assumed that cortical areas contribute to the modulation effect during the later period of imagination. Since future imagination is supported by episodic memory capacity, we additionally hypothesize that the neural network underlying the modulation effect is related to individual episodic memory capacity. Twenty-two subjects received an extensive interview on personal future events, followed by an fMRI DD experiment with and without the need to perform elaborative future imagination simultaneously. Subjects' episodic memory capacity was also assessed. Behavioral results replicate previous findings of a reduced discount rate in the DD plus imagination condition compared to the DD only condition. The behavioral effect positively correlated with: (i) subjective value signal changes in midline brain structures during the initial imagination period; and (ii) signal changes in left prefrontoparietal areas during the later imagination period. Generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analyses reveal positive correlations between the behavioral effect and functional connectivity among the following areas: right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and left hippocampus; left inferior parietal cortex (IPC) and left hippocampus; and left IPC and bilateral occipital cortices. These changes in functional connectivity are also associated with episodic memory capacity. A hierarchical multiple regression indicates that the model with both the valuation related signal changes in the right ACC and the imagination related signal changes in the left IPC best predicts the reduction in DD. This study illustrates interactions between the left hippocampus and multiple cortical regions underlying the modulation effect of elaborative episodic future imagination, demonstrating, for the first time, empirical support for a relation to individual episodic memory capacity. PMID:28105009

A Reduction in Delay Discounting by Using Episodic Future Imagination and the Association with Episodic Memory Capacity.

PubMed

Hu, Xiaochen; Kleinschmidt, Helena; Martin, Jason A; Han, Ying; Thelen, Manuela; Meiberth, Dix; Jessen, Frank; Weber, Bernd

2016-01-01

Delay discounting (DD) refers to the phenomenon that individuals discount future consequences. Previous studies showed that future imagination reduces DD, which was mediated by functional connectivity between medial prefrontal valuation areas and a key region for episodic memory (hippocampus). Future imagination involves an initial period of construction and a later period of elaboration, with the more elaborative latter period recruiting more cortical regions. This study examined whether elaborative future imagination modulated DD, and if so, what are the underlying neural substrates. It was assumed that cortical areas contribute to the modulation effect during the later period of imagination. Since future imagination is supported by episodic memory capacity, we additionally hypothesize that the neural network underlying the modulation effect is related to individual episodic memory capacity. Twenty-two subjects received an extensive interview on personal future events, followed by an fMRI DD experiment with and without the need to perform elaborative future imagination simultaneously. Subjects' episodic memory capacity was also assessed. Behavioral results replicate previous findings of a reduced discount rate in the DD plus imagination condition compared to the DD only condition. The behavioral effect positively correlated with: (i) subjective value signal changes in midline brain structures during the initial imagination period; and (ii) signal changes in left prefrontoparietal areas during the later imagination period. Generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analyses reveal positive correlations between the behavioral effect and functional connectivity among the following areas: right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and left hippocampus; left inferior parietal cortex (IPC) and left hippocampus; and left IPC and bilateral occipital cortices. These changes in functional connectivity are also associated with episodic memory capacity. A hierarchical multiple regression indicates that the model with both the valuation related signal changes in the right ACC and the imagination related signal changes in the left IPC best predicts the reduction in DD. This study illustrates interactions between the left hippocampus and multiple cortical regions underlying the modulation effect of elaborative episodic future imagination, demonstrating, for the first time, empirical support for a relation to individual episodic memory capacity.

Does Bipedality Predict the Group-Level Manual Laterality in Mammals?

PubMed Central

Giljov, Andrey; Karenina, Karina; Malashichev, Yegor

2012-01-01

Background Factors determining patterns of laterality manifestation in mammals remain unclear. In primates, the upright posture favours the expression of manual laterality across species, but may have little influence within a species. Whether the bipedalism acts the same in non-primate mammals is unknown. Our recent findings in bipedal and quadrupedal marsupials suggested that differences in laterality pattern, as well as emergence of manual specialization in evolution might depend on species-specific body posture. Here, we evaluated the hypothesis that the postural characteristics are the key variable shaping the manual laterality expression across mammalian species. Methodology/Principal Findings We studied forelimb preferences in a most bipedal marsupial, brush-tailed bettong, Bettongia penicillata in four different types of unimanual behavior. The significant left-forelimb preference at the group level was found in all behaviours studied. In unimanual feeding on non-living food, catching live prey and nest-material collecting, all or most subjects were lateralized, and among lateralized bettongs a significant majority displayed left-forelimb bias. Only in unimanual supporting of the body in the tripedal stance the distribution of lateralized and non-lateralized individuals did not differ from chance. Individual preferences were consistent across all types of behaviour. The direction or the strength of forelimb preferences were not affected by the animals’ sex. Conclusions/Significance Our findings support the hypothesis that the expression of manual laterality depends on the species-typical postural habit. The interspecies comparison illustrates that in marsupials the increase of bipedality corresponds with the increase of the degree of group-level forelimb preference in a species. Thus, bipedalism can predict pronounced manual laterality at both intra- and interspecific levels in mammals. We also conclude that quadrupedal position in biped species can slightly hinder the expression of manual laterality, but the evoked biped position in quadrupedal species does not necessarily lead to the enhanced manifestation of manual laterality. PMID:23251583

Does bipedality predict the group-level manual laterality in mammals?

PubMed

Giljov, Andrey; Karenina, Karina; Malashichev, Yegor

2012-01-01

Factors determining patterns of laterality manifestation in mammals remain unclear. In primates, the upright posture favours the expression of manual laterality across species, but may have little influence within a species. Whether the bipedalism acts the same in non-primate mammals is unknown. Our recent findings in bipedal and quadrupedal marsupials suggested that differences in laterality pattern, as well as emergence of manual specialization in evolution might depend on species-specific body posture. Here, we evaluated the hypothesis that the postural characteristics are the key variable shaping the manual laterality expression across mammalian species. We studied forelimb preferences in a most bipedal marsupial, brush-tailed bettong, Bettongia penicillata in four different types of unimanual behavior. The significant left-forelimb preference at the group level was found in all behaviours studied. In unimanual feeding on non-living food, catching live prey and nest-material collecting, all or most subjects were lateralized, and among lateralized bettongs a significant majority displayed left-forelimb bias. Only in unimanual supporting of the body in the tripedal stance the distribution of lateralized and non-lateralized individuals did not differ from chance. Individual preferences were consistent across all types of behaviour. The direction or the strength of forelimb preferences were not affected by the animals' sex. Our findings support the hypothesis that the expression of manual laterality depends on the species-typical postural habit. The interspecies comparison illustrates that in marsupials the increase of bipedality corresponds with the increase of the degree of group-level forelimb preference in a species. Thus, bipedalism can predict pronounced manual laterality at both intra- and interspecific levels in mammals. We also conclude that quadrupedal position in biped species can slightly hinder the expression of manual laterality, but the evoked biped position in quadrupedal species does not necessarily lead to the enhanced manifestation of manual laterality.

HCN4 ion channel function is required for early events that regulate anatomical left-right patterning in a nodal and lefty asymmetric gene expression-independent manner

PubMed Central

Pai, Vaibhav P.; Willocq, Valerie; Pitcairn, Emily J.; Lemire, Joan M.; Paré, Jean-François; Shi, Nian-Qing; McLaughlin, Kelly A.

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Laterality is a basic characteristic of all life forms, from single cell organisms to complex plants and animals. For many metazoans, consistent left-right asymmetric patterning is essential for the correct anatomy of internal organs, such as the heart, gut, and brain; disruption of left-right asymmetry patterning leads to an important class of birth defects in human patients. Laterality functions across multiple scales, where early embryonic, subcellular and chiral cytoskeletal events are coupled with asymmetric amplification mechanisms and gene regulatory networks leading to asymmetric physical forces that ultimately result in distinct left and right anatomical organ patterning. Recent studies have suggested the existence of multiple parallel pathways regulating organ asymmetry. Here, we show that an isoform of the hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) family of ion channels (hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channel 4, HCN4) is important for correct left-right patterning. HCN4 channels are present very early in Xenopus embryos. Blocking HCN channels (Ih currents) with pharmacological inhibitors leads to errors in organ situs. This effect is only seen when HCN4 channels are blocked early (pre-stage 10) and not by a later block (post-stage 10). Injections of HCN4-DN (dominant-negative) mRNA induce left-right defects only when injected in both blastomeres no later than the 2-cell stage. Analysis of key asymmetric genes' expression showed that the sidedness of Nodal, Lefty, and Pitx2 expression is largely unchanged by HCN4 blockade, despite the randomization of subsequent organ situs, although the area of Pitx2 expression was significantly reduced. Together these data identify a novel, developmental role for HCN4 channels and reveal a new Nodal-Lefty-Pitx2 asymmetric gene expression-independent mechanism upstream of organ positioning during embryonic left-right patterning. PMID:28818840

HCN4 ion channel function is required for early events that regulate anatomical left-right patterning in a nodal and lefty asymmetric gene expression-independent manner.

PubMed

Pai, Vaibhav P; Willocq, Valerie; Pitcairn, Emily J; Lemire, Joan M; Paré, Jean-François; Shi, Nian-Qing; McLaughlin, Kelly A; Levin, Michael

2017-10-15

Laterality is a basic characteristic of all life forms, from single cell organisms to complex plants and animals. For many metazoans, consistent left-right asymmetric patterning is essential for the correct anatomy of internal organs, such as the heart, gut, and brain; disruption of left-right asymmetry patterning leads to an important class of birth defects in human patients. Laterality functions across multiple scales, where early embryonic, subcellular and chiral cytoskeletal events are coupled with asymmetric amplification mechanisms and gene regulatory networks leading to asymmetric physical forces that ultimately result in distinct left and right anatomical organ patterning. Recent studies have suggested the existence of multiple parallel pathways regulating organ asymmetry. Here, we show that an isoform of the hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) family of ion channels (hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channel 4, HCN4) is important for correct left-right patterning. HCN4 channels are present very early in Xenopus embryos. Blocking HCN channels ( I h currents) with pharmacological inhibitors leads to errors in organ situs. This effect is only seen when HCN4 channels are blocked early (pre-stage 10) and not by a later block (post-stage 10). Injections of HCN4-DN (dominant-negative) mRNA induce left-right defects only when injected in both blastomeres no later than the 2-cell stage. Analysis of key asymmetric genes' expression showed that the sidedness of Nodal , Lefty , and Pitx2 expression is largely unchanged by HCN4 blockade, despite the randomization of subsequent organ situs, although the area of Pitx2 expression was significantly reduced. Together these data identify a novel, developmental role for HCN4 channels and reveal a new Nodal-Lefty-Pitx2 asymmetric gene expression-independent mechanism upstream of organ positioning during embryonic left-right patterning. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Convergent models of handedness and brain lateralization

PubMed Central

Sainburg, Robert L.

2014-01-01

The pervasive nature of handedness across human history and cultures is a salient consequence of brain lateralization. This paper presents evidence that provides a structure for understanding the motor control processes that give rise to handedness. According to the Dynamic Dominance Model, the left hemisphere (in right handers) is proficient for processes that predict the effects of body and environmental dynamics, while the right hemisphere is proficient at impedance control processes that can minimize potential errors when faced with unexpected mechanical conditions, and can achieve accurate steady-state positions. This model can be viewed as a motor component for the paradigm of brain lateralization that has been proposed by Rogers et al. (MacNeilage et al., 2009) that is based upon evidence from a wide range of behaviors across many vertebrate species. Rogers proposed a left-hemisphere specialization for well-established patterns of behavior performed in familiar environmental conditions, and a right hemisphere specialization for responding to unforeseen environmental events. The dynamic dominance hypothesis provides a framework for understanding the biology of motor lateralization that is consistent with Roger's paradigm of brain lateralization. PMID:25339923

A Zebrafish Loss-of-Function Model for Human CFAP53 Mutations Reveals Its Specific Role in Laterality Organ Function.

PubMed

Noël, Emily S; Momenah, Tarek S; Al-Dagriri, Khalid; Al-Suwaid, Abdulrahman; Al-Shahrani, Safar; Jiang, Hui; Willekers, Sven; Oostveen, Yara Y; Chocron, Sonja; Postma, Alex V; Bhuiyan, Zahurul A; Bakkers, Jeroen

2016-02-01

Establishing correct left-right asymmetry during embryonic development is crucial for proper asymmetric positioning of the organs. Congenital heart defects, such as dextrocardia, transposition of the arteries, and inflow or outflow tract malformations, comprise some of the most common birth defects and may be attributed to incorrect establishment of body laterality. Here, we identify new patients with dextrocardia who have mutations in CFAP53, a coiled-coil domain containing protein. To elucidate the mechanism by which CFAP53 regulates embryonic asymmetry, we used genome editing to generate cfap53 zebrafish mutants. Zebrafish cfap53 mutants have specific defects in organ laterality and randomization of asymmetric gene expression. We show that cfap53 is required for cilia rotation specifically in Kupffer's vesicle, the zebrafish laterality organ, providing a mechanism by which patients with CFAP53 mutations develop dextrocardia and heterotaxy, and confirming previous evidence that left-right asymmetry in humans is regulated through cilia-driven fluid flow in a laterality organ. © 2015 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

Lateral bias and temperament in the domestic cat (Felis silvestris).

PubMed

McDowell, Louise J; Wells, Deborah L; Hepper, Peter G; Dempster, Martin

2016-11-01

Research points to a relationship between lateralization and emotional functioning in humans and many species of animal. The present study explored the association between paw preferences and emotional functioning, specifically temperament, in a species thus far overlooked in this area, the domestic cat. Thirty left-pawed, 30 right-pawed, and 30 ambilateral pet cats were recruited following an assessment of their paw preferences using a food-reaching challenge. The animals' temperament was subsequently assessed using the Feline Temperament Profile (FTP). Cats' owners also completed a purpose-designed cat temperament (CAT) scale. Analysis revealed a significant relationship between lateral bias and FTP and CAT scale scores. Ambilateral cats had lower positive (FTP+) scores, and were perceived as less affectionate, obedient, friendly, and more aggressive, than left or right-pawed animals. Left and right pawed cats differed significantly on 1 trait on the CAT scale, namely playfulness. The strength of the cats' paw preferences was related to the animals' FTP and CAT scores. Cats with a greater strength of paw preference had higher FTP+ scores than those with a weaker strength of paw preference. Animals with stronger paw preferences were perceived as more confident, affectionate, active, and friendly than those with weaker paw preferences. Results suggest that motor laterality in the cat is strongly related to temperament and that the presence or absence of lateralization has greater implications for the expression of emotion in this species than the direction of the lateralized bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Lateralization is predicted by reduced coupling from the left to right prefrontal cortex during semantic decisions on written words.

PubMed

Seghier, Mohamed L; Josse, Goulven; Leff, Alexander P; Price, Cathy J

2011-07-01

Over 90% of people activate the left hemisphere more than the right hemisphere for language processing. Here, we show that the degree to which language is left lateralized is inversely related to the degree to which left frontal regions drive activity in homotopic right frontal regions. Lateralization was assessed in 60 subjects using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation for semantic decisions on verbal (written words) and nonverbal (pictures of objects) stimuli. Regional interactions between left and right ventral and dorsal frontal regions were assessed using dynamic causal modeling (DCM), random-effects Bayesian model selection at the family level, and Bayesian model averaging at the connection level. We found that 1) semantic decisions on words and pictures modulated interhemispheric coupling between the left and right dorsal frontal regions, 2) activation was more left lateralized for words than pictures, and 3) for words only, left lateralization was greater when the coupling from the left to right dorsal frontal cortex was reduced. These results have theoretical implications for understanding how left and right hemispheres communicate with one another during the processing of lateralized functions.

White-matter microstructure and language lateralization in left-handers: a whole-brain MRI analysis.

PubMed

Perlaki, Gabor; Horvath, Reka; Orsi, Gergely; Aradi, Mihaly; Auer, Tibor; Varga, Eszter; Kantor, Gyongyi; Altbäcker, Anna; John, Flora; Doczi, Tamas; Komoly, Samuel; Kovacs, Norbert; Schwarcz, Attila; Janszky, Jozsef

2013-08-01

Most people are left-hemisphere dominant for language. However the neuroanatomy of language lateralization is not fully understood. By combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), we studied whether language lateralization is associated with cerebral white-matter (WM) microstructure. Sixteen healthy, left-handed women aged 20-25 were included in the study. Left-handers were targeted in order to increase the chances of involving subjects with atypical language lateralization. Language lateralization was determined by fMRI using a verbal fluency paradigm. Tract-based spatial statistics analysis of DTI data was applied to test for WM microstructural correlates of language lateralization across the whole brain. Fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity were used as indicators of WM microstructural organization. Right-hemispheric language dominance was associated with reduced microstructural integrity of the left superior longitudinal fasciculus and left-sided parietal lobe WM. In left-handed women, reduced integrity of the left-sided language related tracts may be closely linked to the development of right hemispheric language dominance. Our results may offer new insights into language lateralization and structure-function relationships in human language system. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dynamic dominance varies with handedness: reduced interlimb asymmetries in left-handers

PubMed Central

Przybyla, Andrzej; Good, David C.; Sainburg, Robert L.

2013-01-01

Our previous studies of interlimb asymmetries during reaching movements have given rise to the dynamic-dominance hypothesis of motor lateralization. This hypothesis proposes that dominant arm control has become optimized for efficient intersegmental coordination, which is often associated with straight and smooth hand-paths, while non-dominant arm control has become optimized for controlling steady-state posture, which has been associated with greater final position accuracy when movements are mechanically perturbed, and often during movements made in the absence of visual feedback. The basis for this model of motor lateralization was derived from studies conducted in right-handed subjects. We now ask whether left-handers show similar proficiencies in coordinating reaching movements. We recruited right- and left-handers (20 per group) to perform reaching movements to three targets, in which intersegmental coordination requirements varied systematically. Our results showed that the dominant arm of both left- and right-handers were well coordinated, as reflected by fairly straight hand-paths and low errors in initial direction. Consistent with our previous studies, the non-dominant arm of right-handers showed substantially greater curvature and large errors in initial direction, most notably to targets that elicited higher intersegmental interactions. While the right, non-dominant, hand-paths of left-handers were slightly more curved than those of the dominant arm, they were also substantially more accurate and better coordinated than the non-dominant arm of right-handers. Our results indicate a similar pattern, but reduced lateralization for intersegmental coordination in left-handers. These findings suggest that left-handers develop more coordinated control of their non-dominant arms than right-handers, possibly due to environmental pressure for right-handed manipulations. PMID:22113487

Dynamic dominance varies with handedness: reduced interlimb asymmetries in left-handers.

PubMed

Przybyla, Andrzej; Good, David C; Sainburg, Robert L

2012-02-01

Our previous studies of interlimb asymmetries during reaching movements have given rise to the dynamic-dominance hypothesis of motor lateralization. This hypothesis proposes that dominant arm control has become optimized for efficient intersegmental coordination, which is often associated with straight and smooth hand-paths, while non-dominant arm control has become optimized for controlling steady-state posture, which has been associated with greater final position accuracy when movements are mechanically perturbed, and often during movements made in the absence of visual feedback. The basis for this model of motor lateralization was derived from studies conducted in right-handed subjects. We now ask whether left-handers show similar proficiencies in coordinating reaching movements. We recruited right- and left-handers (20 per group) to perform reaching movements to three targets, in which intersegmental coordination requirements varied systematically. Our results showed that the dominant arm of both left- and right-handers were well coordinated, as reflected by fairly straight hand-paths and low errors in initial direction. Consistent with our previous studies, the non-dominant arm of right-handers showed substantially greater curvature and large errors in initial direction, most notably to targets that elicited higher intersegmental interactions. While the right, non-dominant, hand-paths of left-handers were slightly more curved than those of the dominant arm, they were also substantially more accurate and better coordinated than the non-dominant arm of right-handers. Our results indicate a similar pattern, but reduced lateralization for intersegmental coordination in left-handers. These findings suggest that left-handers develop more coordinated control of their non-dominant arms than right-handers, possibly due to environmental pressure for right-handed manipulations.

Structural and Functional Cerebral Correlates of Hypnotic Suggestibility

PubMed Central

Huber, Alexa; Lui, Fausta; Duzzi, Davide; Pagnoni, Giuseppe; Porro, Carlo Adolfo

2014-01-01

Little is known about the neural bases of hypnotic suggestibility, a cognitive trait referring to the tendency to respond to hypnotic suggestions. In the present magnetic resonance imaging study, we performed regression analyses to assess hypnotic suggestibility-related differences in local gray matter volume, using voxel-based morphometry, and in waking resting state functional connectivity of 10 resting state networks, in 37 healthy women. Hypnotic suggestibility was positively correlated with gray matter volume in portions of the left superior and medial frontal gyri, roughly overlapping with the supplementary and pre-supplementary motor area, and negatively correlated with gray matter volume in the left superior temporal gyrus and insula. In the functional connectivity analysis, hypnotic suggestibility was positively correlated with functional connectivity between medial posterior areas, including bilateral posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus, and both the lateral visual network and the left fronto-parietal network; a positive correlation was also found with functional connectivity between the executive-control network and a right postcentral/parietal area. In contrast, hypnotic suggestibility was negatively correlated with functional connectivity between the right fronto-parietal network and the right lateral thalamus. These findings demonstrate for the first time a correlation between hypnotic suggestibility, the structural features of specific cortical regions, and the functional connectivity during the normal resting state of brain structures involved in imagery and self-monitoring activity. PMID:24671130

Faces of glory: the left-cheek posing bias for medallists of Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions.

PubMed

Okubo, Matia

2018-04-20

Laboratory studies have shown that people tend to show the left side of their face when asked to broadly express emotions, while they tend to show the right side when asked to hide emotions. Because emotions are expressed more intensely in the left side of the face, it is hypothesized that an individual's intention to express or hide emotions biases the direction of lateral facial poses. The present study tested this hypothesis using photographic portraits of individuals experiencing emotional events in a naturalistic setting: the reception of medals in Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions. Portrait photographs of Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitors were sourced online (N = 460) and were rated by two independent raters in terms of posing direction, emotional expression, and medal colour. Gold and silver medallists showed their left cheeks to the camera for commemorative photographs taken immediately after the medal ceremony. Positive emotions were expressed more often for gold medallists than silver ones. The left-cheek posing bias observed in the present study supports the hypothesis that the intended purpose of expressing or hiding emotions determines the direction of lateral posing biases, and extends the laboratory findings to situations in the real world.

Change in drawing placement: A measure of change in mood state reflective of hemispheric lateralization of emotion.

PubMed

Butler, Tracy R; O'Mara, Erin M; Wilson, Josephine F

2018-04-26

The Valence Hypothesis of cerebral lateralization of emotion suggests greater right hemisphere activation during negative mood and greater left hemisphere activation during positive mood. This can manifest as visual field attentional bias. Here, study participants completed an assessment of current mood state (PANAS) and made a drawing (Drawing 1). To induce positive or negative mood, participants played a game; then, the winner read a script depicting a positive interpersonal interaction and the loser read a script depicting a negative interpersonal interaction. Participants then drew a second picture (Drawing 2) and completed the PANAS. We hypothesized that the game outcome would change current mood state and hemispheric activation, which would be reflected in drawing placement. The placement of Drawing 2 moved right for winners and left for losers. Winners experienced a greater increase in positive affect from Time 1 to Time 2 than losers and had decreased negative affect from Time 1. Losers had decreased positive affect from Time 1 and had a greater increase in negative affect from Time 1 to Time 2 than winners. Our results suggest that change in current mood state may be objectively observed by evaluating hemispatial bias reflective of brain hemispheric activation with drawings. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessment of the post-implant final left ventricular lead position: a comparative study between radiographic and angiographic modalities.

PubMed

Kumar, Prabhat; Blendea, Dan; Nandigam, Veena; Moore, Stephanie A; Heist, E Kevin; Singh, Jagmeet P

2010-10-01

Post-implant lateral and postero-anterior chest X-rays (CXR) are often utilized to determine the final LV lead tip position after cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). This study sought to compare post-implant standard CXRs with intra-procedural rotational coronary venous angiography (RCVA) to localize the final LV lead position. Sixty-four patients undergoing CRT (69.2 ± 11.4 years; males 68.7%; ischemic cardiomyopathy 59.4%; NYHA class 2.9 ± 0.5 and LV ejection fraction 24% ± 9%) were included in the study. RCVA was done by recording a rapid 4-second isocentric cine-loop from RAO 55° to LAO 55° (120 frames). Conventional CXR method (CC) and a composite CXR strategy (CM) based on two-view CXR were separately compared with RCVA. The most common pacing site was lateral (64.1%), followed by postero-lateral (23.4%) and antero-lateral (10.9%). In 73.4% (47) cases, the LV lead position was misclassified by CC as compared to RCVA. Among the 47 (73.4%) cases misclassified by CC approach, 35 had lateral LV lead position misclassified by CC as postero-lateral (77%), posterior (20%) and antero-lateral (3%). On the other hand, CM strategy classified the LV lead position correctly in 46 (71.9%) of the patients (p < 0.0001). The composite CXR strategy is a useful method for post-procedure LV lead localization. Due to its simplicity, it can be widely applied in post-implant evaluation of LV lead position in CRT patients.

N-acetyl Aspartate Levels in Adolescents With Bipolar and/or Cannabis Use Disorders

PubMed Central

Bitter, Samantha M.; Weber, Wade A.; Chu, Wen-Jang; Adler, Caleb M.; Eliassen, James C.; Strakowski, Stephen M.; DelBello, Melissa P.

2014-01-01

Objective Bipolar and cannabis use disorders commonly co-occur during adolescence, and neurochemical studies may help clarify the pathophysiology underlying this co-occurrence. This study compared metabolite concentrations in the left ventral lateral prefrontal cortex among: adolescents with bipolar disorder (bipolar group; n=14), adolescents with a cannabis use disorder (cannabis use group, n=13), adolescents with cannabis use and bipolar disorders (bipolar and cannabis group, n=25), and healthy adolescents (healthy controls, n=15). We hypothesized that adolescents with bipolar disorder (with or without cannabis use disorder) would have decreased N-acetyl aspartate levels in the ventral lateral prefrontal cortex compared to the other groups, and that the bipolar and cannabis group would have the lowest N-acetyl aspartate levels of all groups. Methods N-acetyl aspartate concentrations in the left ventral lateral prefrontal cortex were obtained using Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Results Adolescents with bipolar disorder showed significantly lower left ventral lateral prefrontal cortex N-acetyl aspartate levels, but post-hoc analyses indicated that this was primarily due to increased N-acetyl aspartate levels in the cannabis group. The cannabis use disorder group had significantly higher N-acetyl aspartate levels compared to the bipolar disorder and the bipolar and cannabis groups (p=0.0002 and p=0.0002, respectively). Pearson correlations revealed a significant positive correlation between amount of cannabis used and N-acetyl aspartate concentrations. Conclusions Adolescents with cannabis use disorder showed higher levels of N-acetyl aspartate concentrations that were significantly positively associated with the amount of cannabis used; however, this finding was not present in adolescents with comorbid bipolar disorder. PMID:24729763

Biomechanical Comparison of Locking Compression Plate versus Positive Profile Pins and Polymethylmethacrylate for Stabilization of the Canine Lumbar Vertebrae.

PubMed

Sturges, Beverly K; Kapatkin, Amy S; Garcia, Tanya C; Anwer, Cona; Fukuda, Shimpei; Hitchens, Peta L; Wisner, Tristan; Hayashi, Kei; Stover, Susan M

2016-04-01

To compare the stiffness, angular deformation, and mode of failure of lumbar vertebral column constructs stabilized with bilateral pins and polymethylmethacrylate (Pin-PMMA) or with a unilateral (left) locking compression plate (LCP) with monocortical screws. Ex vivo biomechanical, non-randomized. Cadaveric canine thoracolumbar specimens (n=16). Thoracolumbar (T13-L3) vertebral specimens had the L1-L2 vertebral motion unit stabilized with either Pin-PMMA or LCP. Stiffness in flexion, extension, and right and left lateral bending after nondestructive testing were compared between intact (pretreated) specimens and Pin-PMMA, and LCP constructs. The Pin-PMMA and LCP constructs were then tested to failure in flexion and left lateral bending. Both the Pin-PMMA and LCP constructs had reduced range of motion at the stabilized L1-L2 vertebral motion unit compared to intact specimens. The Pin-PMMA constructs had less range of motion for the flexion elastic zone than LCP constructs. The Pin-PMMA constructs were stiffer than intact specimens in flexion, extension, and lateral bending, and stiffer than LCP constructs in flexion and left lateral bending. The Pin-PMMA constructs had less angular deformation at construct yield and lower residual deformation at L1-L2 than LCP constructs after destructive testing to failure in flexion. The Pin-PMMA constructs were stiffer, stronger, and had less deformation at yield than LCP constructs after destructive testing to failure in lateral bending. Most constructs failed distant to the implant and fixation site. Pin-PMMA constructs had greater lumbar vertebral stiffness and reduced ROM than LCP constructs; however, both Pin-PMMA and LCP constructs were stronger than intact specimens. © Copyright 2016 by The American College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Investigation of left and right lateral fluid percussion injury in C57BL6/J mice: In vivo functional consequences

PubMed Central

Schurman, Lesley D.; Smith, Terry L.; Morales, Anthony J.; Lee, Nancy N.; Reeves, Thomas M.; Phillips, Linda L.; Lichtman, Aron H.

2017-01-01

Although rodent models of traumatic brain injury (TBI) reliably produce cognitive and motor disturbances, behavioral characterization resulting from left and right hemisphere injuries remains unexplored. Here we examined the functional consequences of targeting the left versus right parietal cortex in lateral fluid percussion injury, on Morris water maze (MWM) spatial memory tasks (fixed platform and reversal) and neurological motor deficits (neurological severity score and rotarod). In the MWM fixed platform task, right lateral injury produced a small delay in acquisition rate compared to left. However, injury to either hemisphere resulted in probe trial deficits. In the MWM reversal task, left-right performance deficits were not evident, though left lateral injury produced mild acquisition and probe trial deficits compared to sham controls. Additionally, left and right injury produced similar neurological motor task deficits, impaired righting times, and lesion volumes. Injury to either hemisphere also produced robust ipsilateral, and modest contralateral, morphological changes in reactive microglia and astrocytes. In conclusion, left and right lateral TBI impaired MWM performance, with mild fixed platform acquisition rate differences, despite similar motor deficits, histological damage, and glial cell reactivity. Thus, while both left and right lateral TBI produce cognitive deficits, laterality in mouse MWM learning and memory merits consideration in the investigation of TBI-induced cognitive consequences. PMID:28527714

Investigation of left and right lateral fluid percussion injury in C57BL6/J mice: In vivo functional consequences.

PubMed

Schurman, Lesley D; Smith, Terry L; Morales, Anthony J; Lee, Nancy N; Reeves, Thomas M; Phillips, Linda L; Lichtman, Aron H

2017-07-13

Although rodent models of traumatic brain injury (TBI) reliably produce cognitive and motor disturbances, behavioral characterization resulting from left and right hemisphere injuries remains unexplored. Here we examined the functional consequences of targeting the left versus right parietal cortex in lateral fluid percussion injury, on Morris water maze (MWM) spatial memory tasks (fixed platform and reversal) and neurological motor deficits (neurological severity score and rotarod). In the MWM fixed platform task, right lateral injury produced a small delay in acquisition rate compared to left. However, injury to either hemisphere resulted in probe trial deficits. In the MWM reversal task, left-right performance deficits were not evident, though left lateral injury produced mild acquisition and probe trial deficits compared to sham controls. Additionally, left and right injury produced similar neurological motor task deficits, impaired righting times, and lesion volumes. Injury to either hemisphere also produced robust ipsilateral, and modest contralateral, morphological changes in reactive microglia and astrocytes. In conclusion, left and right lateral TBI impaired MWM performance, with mild fixed platform acquisition rate differences, despite similar motor deficits, histological damage, and glial cell reactivity. Thus, while both left and right lateral TBI produce cognitive deficits, laterality in mouse MWM learning and memory merits consideration in the investigation of TBI-induced cognitive consequences. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Sexual dimorphism of the planum temporale in schizophrenia: A MRI study.

PubMed

Delvecchio, Giuseppe; Pigoni, Alessandro; Perlini, Cinzia; Barillari, Marco; Ruggeri, Mirella; Altamura, Alfredo Carlo; Bellani, Marcella; Brambilla, Paolo

2017-10-01

Anatomical alterations in the superior temporal gyrus have been consistently reported in patients with schizophrenia, and they have mostly been linked to positive symptoms, including hallucinations and thought disorders. The superior temporal gyrus is considered one of the most asymmetric and lateralized structure of the human brain, and the process of lateralization seems to vary according to gender in the normal population. However, although it has been consistently suggested that patients with schizophrenia did not show normal brain lateralization in several regions, only few studies investigated it in the superior temporal gyrus and its sub-regions considering the effects of gender. In this context, the aim of this study was to evaluate sexual dimorphism in superior temporal gyrus volumes in a sample of patients with schizophrenia compared to age- and gender-matched healthy controls. A total of 72 right/left-handed males (40 schizophrenia patients and 32 healthy controls) and 45 right/left-handed females (18 schizophrenia patients and 27 healthy controls) underwent clinical evaluation and a 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging scan. Gray and white matter volumes of regions of interest within the superior temporal gyrus were manually detected, including the Heschl's gyrus and the planum temporale. Female patients with schizophrenia presented a reduction in left planum temporale gray matter volumes ( F = 4.58, p = 0.03) and a lack of the normal planum temporale asymmetry index ( t = 0.27; p = 0.79) compared to female controls ( t = 5.47; p = 0.001). No differences were found between males for any volumes or laterality indices. Finally, in female patients with schizophrenia, Heschl's gyrus gray and white matter volumes negatively correlated with positive symptoms ( r = -0.56, p = 0.01). Our results showed that sexual dimorphism plays a key role on planum temporale in schizophrenia, underlining the importance of gender as a modulator of brain morphology and lateralization of schizophrenia.

Posture in dentists: Sitting vs. standing positions during dentistry work--An EMG study.

PubMed

Pejcić, Natasa; Jovicić, Milica Đurić; Miljković, Nadica; Popović, Dejan B; Petrović, Vanja

2016-01-01

Adequate working posture is important for overall health. Inappropriate posture may increase fatigue, decrease efficiency, and eventually lead to injuries. The purpose was to examine posture positions used during dentistry work. In order to quantify different posture positions, we recorded muscle activity and positions of body segments. The position (inclination) data of the back was used to assess two postures: sitting and standing during standard dental interventions. During standard interventions, whether sitting or standing, a tilt of less than 20 degrees was most prevalent in the forward and lateral flexion directions. Amplitude of electromyography signals corresponding to the level of muscle activity were higher in sitting compared with the electromyography in standing position for all muscle groups on the left and right side of the body. Significant difference between muscle activity in two working postures was evident in splenius capitis muscle on the left (p = 0.032), on the right side of the body (p = 0.049) and in muscle activity of mastoid muscle on the left side (p = 0.029). These findings show that risk for increased fatigue and possible injures can be reduced by combining the sitting and standing occupational postures.

Modified liver hanging maneuver focusing on outflow control in pure laparoscopic left-sided hepatectomy.

PubMed

Kim, Ji Hoon

2018-04-01

Outflow control during laparoscopic liver resection necessitates the use of technically demanding procedures since the hepatic veins are fragile and vulnerable to damage during parenchymal transection. The liver hanging maneuver reduces venous backflow bleeding during deep parenchymal transection. The present report describes surgical outcomes and a technique to achieve outflow control during application of the modified liver hanging maneuver in patients undergoing laparoscopic left-sided hepatectomy. A retrospective review was performed of clinical data from 29 patients who underwent laparoscopic left-sided hepatectomy using the modified liver hanging maneuver between February 2013 and March 2017. For this hanging technique, the upper end of the hanging tape was placed on the lateral aspect of the left hepatic vein. The tape was then aligned with the ligamentum venosum. The position of the lower end of the hanging tape was determined according to left-sided hepatectomy type. The hanging tape gradually encircled either the left hepatic vein or the common trunk of the left hepatic vein and middle hepatic vein. The surgical procedures comprised: left lateral sectionectomy (n = 10); left hepatectomy (n = 17); and extended left hepatectomy including the middle hepatic vein (n = 2). Median operative time was 210 min (range 90-350 min). Median intraoperative blood loss was 200 ml (range 60-600 ml). Two intraoperative major hepatic vein injuries occurred during left hepatectomy. Neither patient developed massive bleeding or air embolism. Postoperative major complications occurred in one patient (3.4%). Median postoperative hospital stay was 7 days (range 4-15 days). No postoperative mortality occurred. The present modified liver hanging maneuver is a safe and effective method of outflow control during laparoscopic left-sided hepatectomy.

Functional deficit in the medial prefrontal cortex during a language comprehension task in patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Dollfus, Sonia; Razafimandimby, Annick; Maiza, Olivier; Lebain, Pierrick; Brazo, Perrine; Beaucousin, Virginie; Lecardeur, Laurent; Delamillieure, Pascal; Mazoyer, Bernard; Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie

2008-02-01

We and others have observed that patients with schizophrenia commonly presented a reduced left recruitment in language semantic brain regions. However, most studies include patients with leftward and rightward lateralizations for language. We investigated whether a cohort comprised purely of patients with typical lateralization (leftward) presented a reduced left recruitment in semantic regions during a language comprehension task. The goal was to reduce the inter-subject variability and thus improve the resolution for studying functional abnormalities in the language network. Twenty-three patients with schizophrenia (DSM-IV) were matched with healthy subjects in age, sex, level of education and handedness. All patients exhibited leftward lateralization for language. Functional MRI was performed as subjects listened to a story comprising characters and social interactions. Functional MRI signal variations were analyzed individually and compared among groups. Although no differences were observed in the recruitment of the semantic language network, patients with schizophrenia presented significantly lower signal variations compared to controls in the medial part of the left superior frontal gyrus (MF1) (x=-6, y=58, z=20; Z(score)=5.6; p<0.001 uncorrected). This region corresponded to the Theory of Mind (ToM) network. Only 5 of the 23 patients (21.7%) and 21 of the 23 (91.3%) control subjects demonstrated a positive signal variation in this area. A left functional deficit was observed in a core region of the ToM network in patients with schizophrenia and typical lateralizations for language. This functional defect could represent a neural basis for impaired social interaction and communication in patients with schizophrenia.

Impact of body posture on laterality judgement and explicit recognition tasks performed on self and others' hands.

PubMed

Conson, Massimiliano; Errico, Domenico; Mazzarella, Elisabetta; De Bellis, Francesco; Grossi, Dario; Trojano, Luigi

2015-04-01

Judgments on laterality of hand stimuli are faster and more accurate when dealing with one's own than others' hand, i.e. the self-advantage. This advantage seems to be related to activation of a sensorimotor mechanism while implicitly processing one's own hands, but not during explicit one's own hand recognition. Here, we specifically tested the influence of proprioceptive information on the self-hand advantage by manipulating participants' body posture during self and others' hand processing. In Experiment 1, right-handed healthy participants judged laterality of either self or others' hands, whereas in Experiment 2, an explicit recognition of one's own hands was required. In both experiments, the participants performed the task while holding their left or right arm flexed with their hand in direct contact with their chest ("flexed self-touch posture") or with their hand placed on a wooden smooth surface in correspondence with their chest ("flexed proprioceptive-only posture"). In an "extended control posture", both arms were extended and in contact with thighs. In Experiment 1 (hand laterality judgment), we confirmed the self-advantage and demonstrated that it was enhanced when the subjects judged left-hand stimuli at 270° orientation while keeping their left arm in the flexed proprioceptive-only posture. In Experiment 2 (explicit self-hand recognition), instead, we found an advantage for others' hand ("self-disadvantage") independently from posture manipulation. Thus, position-related proprioceptive information from left non-dominant arm can enhance sensorimotor one's own body representation selectively favouring implicit self-hands processing.

Refractory Positional Vertigo With Apogeotropic Horizontal Nystagmus After Labyrinthitis: Surgical Treatment and Identification of Dysmorphic Ampullae.

PubMed

Ahmed, Sameer; Heidenreich, Katherine D; McHugh, Jonathan B; Altschuler, Richard A; Carender, Wendy J; Telian, Steven A

2015-09-01

To describe the rationale, intraoperative details, and histopathologic findings discovered when treating an unusual case of apogeotropic horizontal canal positional vertigo with a transmastoid labyrinthectomy. A single case report. Therapeutic. Resolution of apogeotropic nystagmus and improvement of positional vertigo. The apogeotropic variant of horizontal canal positional vertigo can be a difficult entity to treat. This report describes a patient who developed profound sensorineural hearing loss and vertigo after an acute left labyrinthitis. Ten months later, she developed vertigo with apogeotropic positional nystagmus involving the left horizontal semicircular canal. Particle repositioning maneuvers and vestibular physical therapy were unsuccessful. In addition, she developed intermittent positional vertigo affecting the ipsilateral vertical semicircular canals. Given the persistence of her vertigo, multiple canal involvement, and patient preference for definitive treatment, a transmastoid labyrinthectomy was performed. Intraoperatively, the ampulla of the horizontal canal as well as that of the other canals was grossly abnormal as later confirmed on histology. After surgery, her apogeotropic nystagmus and vertigo resolved, and her balance ability gradually improved to a highly functional level. This case illustrates a unique form of positional vertigo that developed and persisted after acute labyrinthitis. Conservative measures were unsuccessful and a transmastoid labyrinthectomy documented dense inflammatory tissue involving all three ampullae. We postulate that the post-labyrinthitic inflammatory changes resulted in mass loading of the membranous ampullae, causing abnormal nystagmus patterns and positional vertigo, which resolved after the labyrinthectomy.

Beyond Hemispheric Dominance: Brain Regions Underlying the Joint Lateralization of Language and Arithmetic to the Left Hemisphere

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinel, Philippe; Dehaene, Stanislas

2010-01-01

Language and arithmetic are both lateralized to the left hemisphere in the majority of right-handed adults. Yet, does this similar lateralization reflect a single overall constraint of brain organization, such an overall "dominance" of the left hemisphere for all linguistic and symbolic operations? Is it related to the lateralization of specific…

Anatomic and hemodynamic evaluation of renal venous flow in varicocele formation using color Doppler sonography with emphasis on renal vein entrapment syndrome.

PubMed

Unlu, Murat; Orguc, Sebnem; Serter, Selim; Pekindil, Gokhan; Pabuscu, Yuksel

2007-01-01

To investigate the anatomic and hemodynamic properties of testicular venous drainage and its effects on varicocele formation and reflux using color Doppler ultrasound (US) with emphasis on renal vein entrapment syndrome. Upper abdominal and scrotal US examinations of 35 varicocele patients and 35 healthy male subjects were performed in the supine position during rest, during a Valsalva maneuver and in the erect position. The aortomesenteric angle and distance (AMA and AMD, respectively), peak mean velocities (PVs) and diameters of different segments of renal veins, testicular vein diameters and duration of flow inversion were measured. In the varicocele group, the lateral segment of the left renal vein (LRV) had a larger diameter and slower PV, and the medial segment of the LRV had a smaller diameter and faster PV. The diameter of the dominant draining vein correlated with the PV of the medial and lateral segments of the LRV, whereas there was no correlation between the diameter of the dominant draining vein and the diameters of the right renal vein (RRV) and the lateral segment of the LRV or the PV of the RRV. The duration of flow inversion correlated with the diameter and PV of the medial segment of the LRV. No correlation between the diameters and PVs of the RRV and the lateral segment of the LRV was detected. The decreases in the AMA, AMD, diameter of the medial segment of the LRV and PV of the lateral segment of the LRV, and the increases in the PV of the medial segment of the LRV and the diameter of the lateral segment of the LRV in varicocele patients in all positions suggest the entrapment or impingement of the left renal vein between the aorta and the superior mesenteric artery. This has been defined as the "nutcracker phenomenon", which is known to affect varicocele formation.

Lateralization of event-related potential effects during mental rotation of polygons.

PubMed

Pellkofer, Julia; Jansen, Petra; Heil, Martin

2012-07-11

Numerous studies have shown that there is an amplitude modulation of the late positivity depending on the angular disparity during mental rotation performance. However, almost all of these studies used characters as stimulus material, whereas studies with different stimuli are rare. In the present experiment, 35 participants were instructed to rotate polygons mentally. Most importantly, with this stimulus material, the well-known event-related potential effects were also present at posterior electrode leads. Interestingly, the amplitude modulation were found to be larger and more reliable over left than over right posterior electrode leads, a finding reported previously for characters as stimuli, although not consistently. Thus, the present data suggest that the left lateralization of event-related potential effects during mental rotation of characters might not be because of their 'verbal nature', but might suggest a stronger involvement of the left parietal cortex during mental rotation per se, a suggestion that needs to be addressed with methods providing a higher spatial resolution.

Biotinylated dextran amine anterograde tracing of the canine corticospinal tract.

PubMed

Han, Xiao; Lv, Guangming; Wu, Huiqun; Ji, Dafeng; Sun, Zhou; Li, Yaofu; Tang, Lemin

2012-04-15

In this study, biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) was microinjected into the left cortical motor area of the canine brain. Fluorescence microscopy results showed that a large amount of BDA-labeled pyramidal cells were visible in the left cortical motor area after injection. In the left medulla oblongata, the BDA-labeled corticospinal tract was evenly distributed, with green fluorescence that had a clear boundary with the surrounding tissue. The BDA-positive corticospinal tract entered into the right lateral funiculus of the spinal cord and descended into the posterior part of the right lateral funiculus, close to the posterior horn, from cervical to sacral segments. There was a small amount of green fluorescence in the sacral segment. The distribution of BDA labeling in the canine central nervous system was consistent with the course of the corticospinal tract. Fluorescence labeling for BDA gradually diminished with time after injection. Our findings indicate that the BDA anterograde tracing technique can be used to visualize the localization and trajectory of the corticospinal tract in the canine central nervous system.

Contralesional motor deficits after unilateral stroke reflect hemisphere-specific control mechanisms

PubMed Central

Mani, Saandeep; Mutha, Pratik K.; Przybyla, Andrzej; Haaland, Kathleen Y.; Good, David C.

2013-01-01

We have proposed a model of motor lateralization, in which the left and right hemispheres are specialized for different aspects of motor control: the left hemisphere for predicting and accounting for limb dynamics and the right hemisphere for stabilizing limb position through impedance control mechanisms. Our previous studies, demonstrating different motor deficits in the ipsilesional arm of stroke patients with left or right hemisphere damage, provided a critical test of our model. However, motor deficits after stroke are most prominent on the contralesional side. Post-stroke rehabilitation has also, naturally, focused on improving contralesional arm impairment and function. Understanding whether contralesional motor deficits differ depending on the hemisphere of damage is, therefore, of vital importance for assessing the impact of brain damage on function and also for designing rehabilitation interventions specific to laterality of damage. We, therefore, asked whether motor deficits in the contralesional arm of unilateral stroke patients reflect hemisphere-dependent control mechanisms. Because our model of lateralization predicts that contralesional deficits will differ depending on the hemisphere of damage, this study also served as an essential assessment of our model. Stroke patients with mild to moderate hemiparesis in either the left or right arm because of contralateral stroke and healthy control subjects performed targeted multi-joint reaching movements in different directions. As predicted, our results indicated a double dissociation; although left hemisphere damage was associated with greater errors in trajectory curvature and movement direction, errors in movement extent were greatest after right hemisphere damage. Thus, our results provide the first demonstration of hemisphere specific motor control deficits in the contralesional arm of stroke patients. Our results also suggest that it is critical to consider the differential deficits induced by right or left hemisphere lesions to enhance post-stroke rehabilitation interventions. PMID:23358602

Medio-lateral postural instability in subjects with tinnitus.

PubMed

Kapoula, Zoi; Yang, Qing; Lê, Thanh-Thuan; Vernet, Marine; Berbey, Nolwenn; Orssaud, Christophe; Londero, Alain; Bonfils, Pierre

2011-01-01

Many patients show modulation of tinnitus by gaze, jaw or neck movements, reflecting abnormal sensorimotor integration, and interaction between various inputs. Postural control is based on multi-sensory integration (visual, vestibular, somatosensory, and oculomotor) and indeed there is now evidence that posture can also be influenced by sound. Perhaps tinnitus influences posture similarly to external sound. This study examines the quality of postural performance in quiet stance in patients with modulated tinnitus. Twenty-three patients with highly modulated tinnitus were selected in the ENT service. Twelve reported exclusively or predominately left tinnitus, eight right, and three bilateral. Eighteen control subjects were also tested. Subjects were asked to fixate a target at 40 cm for 51 s; posturography was performed with the platform (Technoconcept, 40 Hz) for both the eyes open and eyes closed conditions. For both conditions, tinnitus subjects showed abnormally high lateral body sway (SDx). This was corroborated by fast Fourrier Transformation (FFTx) and wavelet analysis. For patients with left tinnitus only, medio-lateral sway increased significantly when looking away from the center. Similarly to external sound stimulation, tinnitus could influence lateral sway by activating attention shift, and perhaps vestibular responses. Poor integration of sensorimotor signals is another possibility. Such abnormalities would be accentuated in left tinnitus because of the importance of the right cerebral cortex in processing both auditory-tinnitus eye position and attention.

Motor "dexterity"?: Evidence that left hemisphere lateralization of motor circuit connectivity is associated with better motor performance in children.

PubMed

Barber, Anita D; Srinivasan, Priti; Joel, Suresh E; Caffo, Brian S; Pekar, James J; Mostofsky, Stewart H

2012-01-01

Motor control relies on well-established motor circuits, which are critical for typical child development. Although many imaging studies have examined task activation during motor performance, none have examined the relationship between functional intrinsic connectivity and motor ability. The current study investigated the relationship between resting state functional connectivity within the motor network and motor performance assessment outside of the scanner in 40 typically developing right-handed children. Better motor performance correlated with greater left-lateralized (mean left hemisphere-mean right hemisphere) motor circuit connectivity. Speed, rhythmicity, and control of movements were associated with connectivity within different individual region pairs: faster speed was associated with more left-lateralized putamen-thalamus connectivity, less overflow with more left-lateralized supplementary motor-primary motor connectivity, and less dysrhythmia with more left-lateralized supplementary motor-anterior cerebellar connectivity. These findings suggest that for right-handed children, superior motor development depends on the establishment of left-hemisphere dominance in intrinsic motor network connectivity.

Effect of Auditory Motion Velocity on Reaction Time and Cortical Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Getzmann, Stephan

2009-01-01

The study investigated the processing of sound motion, employing a psychophysical motion discrimination task in combination with electroencephalography. Following stationary auditory stimulation from a central space position, the onset of left- and rightward motion elicited a specific cortical response that was lateralized to the hemisphere…

Laparoscopic liver resection for posterosuperior tumors using caudal approach and postural changes: A new technical approach.

PubMed

Morise, Zenichi

2016-12-21

Laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) for tumors in the posterosuperior liver [segment (S) 7 and deep S6] is a challenging clinical procedure. This area is located in the bottom of the small subphrenic space (rib cage), with the large and heavy right liver on it when the patient is in the supine position. Thus, LLR of this area is technically demanding because of the handling of the right liver which is necessary to obtain a fine surgical view, secure hemostasis and conduct the resection so as to achieve an appropriate surgical margin in the cage. Handling of the right liver may be performed by the hand-assisted approach, robotic liver resection or by using spacers, such as a sterile glove pouch. In addition, the operative field of posterosuperior resection is in the deep bottom area of the subphrenic cage, with the liver S6 obstructing the laparoscopic caudal view of lesions. The use of intercostal ports facilitates the direct lateral approach into the cage and to the target area, with the combination of mobilization of the liver. Postural changes during the LLR procedure have also been reported to facilitate the LLR for this area, such as left lateral positioning for posterior sectionectomy and semi-prone positioning for tumors in the posterosuperior segments. In our hospital, LLR procedures for posterosuperior tumors are performed via the caudal approach with postural changes. The left lateral position is used for posterior sectionectomy and the semi-prone position is used for S7 segmentectomy and partial resections of S7 and deep S6 without combined intercostal ports insertion. Although the movement of instruments is restricted in the caudal approach, compared to the lateral approach, port placement in the para-vertebra area makes the manipulation feasible and stable, with minimum damage to the environment around the liver.

Relationships between hand laterality and verbal and spatial skills in 436 healthy adults balanced for handedness.

PubMed

Mellet, E; Jobard, G; Zago, L; Crivello, F; Petit, L; Joliot, M; Mazoyer, B; Tzourio-Mazoyer, N

2014-01-01

The relationship between manual laterality and cognitive skills remains highly controversial. Some studies have reported that strongly lateralised participants had higher cognitive performance in verbal and visuo-spatial domains compared to non-lateralised participants; however, others found the opposite. Moreover, some have suggested that familial sinistrality and sex might interact with individual laterality factors to alter cognitive skills. The present study addressed these issues in 237 right-handed and 199 left-handed individuals. Performance tests covered various aspects of verbal and spatial cognition. A principal component analysis yielded two verbal and one spatial factor scores. Participant laterality assessments included handedness, manual preference strength, asymmetry of motor performance, and familial sinistrality. Age, sex, education level, and brain volume were also considered. No effect of handedness was found, but the mean factor scores in verbal and spatial domains increased with right asymmetry in motor performance. Performance was reduced in participants with a familial history of left-handedness combined with a non-maximal preference strength in the dominant hand. These results elucidated some discrepancies among previous findings in laterality factors and cognitive skills. Laterality factors had small effects compared to the adverse effects of age for spatial cognition and verbal memory, the positive effects of education for all three domains, and the effect of sex for spatial cognition.

Sudden post-traumatic sciatica caused by a thoracic spinal meningioma.

PubMed

Mariniello, Giuseppe; Malacario, Francesca; Dones, Flavia; Severino, Rocco; Ugga, Lorenzo; Russo, Camilla; Elefante, Andrea; Maiuri, Francesco

2016-10-01

Spinal meningiomas usually present with slowly progressive symptoms of cord and root compression, while a sudden clinical onset is very rare. A 35-year-old previously symptom-free woman presented sudden right sciatica and weakness of her right leg following a fall with impact to her left foot. A neurological examination showed paresis of the right quadriceps, tibial and sural muscles, increased bilateral knee and ankle reflexes and positive Babinski sign. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed the presence of a spinal T11 meningioma in the left postero-lateral compartment of the spinal canal; at this level, the spinal cord was displaced to the contralateral side with the conus in the normal position. At surgery, a meningioma with dural attachment of the left postero-lateral dural surface was removed. The intervention resulted in rapid remission of both pain and neurological deficits. Spinal meningiomas may exceptionally present with sudden pain and neurological deficits as result of tumour bleeding or post-traumatic injury of the already compressed nervous structures, both in normal patients and in those with conus displacement or tethered cord. In this case, the traumatic impact of the left foot was transmitted to the spine, resulting in stretching of the already compressed cord and of the contralateral lombosacral roots. This case suggests that low thoracic cord compression should be suspected in patients with post-traumatic radicular leg pain with normal lumbar spine MRI. © The Author(s) 2016.

Considerations on the mechanisms of alternating skew deviation in patients with cerebellar lesions.

PubMed

Zee, D S

1996-01-01

Alternating skew deviation, in which the side of the higher eye changes depending upon whether gaze is directed to the left or the right, is a frequent sign in patients with posterior fossa lesions, including those restricted to the cerebellum. Here we propose a mechanism for alternating skews related to the otolith-ocular responses to fore and aft pitch of the head in lateral-eyed animals. In lateral-eyed animals the expected response to a static head pitch is cyclorotation of the eyes. But if the eyes are rotated horizontally in the orbit, away from the primary position, a compensatory skew deviation should also appear. The direction of the skew would depend upon whether the eyes were directed to the right (left eye forward, right eye backward) or to the left (left eye backward, right eye forward). In contrast, for frontal-eyed animals, skew deviations are counterproductive because they create diplopia and interfere with binocular vision. We attribute the emergence of skew deviations in frontal-eyed animals in pathological conditions to 1) an imbalance in otolithocular pathways and 2) a loss of the component of ocular motor innervation that normally corrects for the differences in pulling directions and strengths of the various ocular muscles as the eyes change position in the orbit. Such a compensatory mechanism is necessary to ensure optimal binocular visual function during and after head motion. This compensatory mechanism may depend upon the cerebellum.

[Paresthesia and spinal anesthesia for cesarean section: comparison of patient positioning].

PubMed

Palacio Abizanda, F J; Reina, M A; Fornet, I; López, A; López López, M A; Morillas Sendín, P

2009-01-01

To determine the incidence of paresthesia during lumbar puncture performed with the patient in different positions. A single-blind prospective study of patients scheduled for elective cesarean section, randomized to 3 groups. In group 1 patients were seated in the direction of the long axis of the table, with heels resting on the table. In group 2 they were seated perpendicular to the long axis of the table, with legs hanging from the table. In group 3 they were in left lateral decubitus position. Lumbar punctures were performed with a 27-gauge Whitacre needle. One hundred sixty-eight patients (56 per group) were enrolled. Paresthesia occurred most often in group 3 (P = .009). We observed no differences in blood pressure after patients moved from decubitus position to the assigned position. Nor did we observe between-group differences in blood pressure according to position taken during puncture. Puncture undertaken with the patient seated, heels on the table and knees slightly bent, is associated with a lower incidence of paresthesia than puncture performed with the patient seated, legs hanging from the table. Placing the patient's heels on the table requires hip flexion and leads to anterior displacement of nerve roots in the dural sac. Such displacement would increase the nerve-free zone on the posterior side of the sac, thereby decreasing the likelihood of paresthesia during lumbar puncture. A left lateral decubitus position would increase the likelihood of paresthesia, possibly because the anesthetist may inadvertently not follow the medial line when inserting the needle.

Orbitofrontal Cortex Volume and Effortful Control as Prospective Risk Factors for Substance Use Disorder in Adolescence.

PubMed

Cheetham, Ali; Allen, Nicholas B; Whittle, Sarah; Simmons, Julian; Yücel, Murat; Lubman, Dan I

2017-01-01

Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) dysfunction has been proposed to increase the risk for developing a substance use disorder (SUD) during adolescence. In this study, we suggest that a reduction in OFC volumes might underlie temperament-based risk factors for SUD, and examined whether smaller OFC volumes during early adolescence could predict later development of SUD. Adolescents (n = 107; 58 male, 49 female) underwent structural MRI and completed a self-report measure of temperamental effortful control at age 12. At 3 subsequent assessments (aged 15, 16, and 18) SUD was assessed via a semi-structured clinical interview. By the third assessment, 24 participants (22.4%) had received a lifetime diagnosis of SUD. Smaller volumes of the left OFC, right OFC, and left medial subregions predicted lifetime history of SUD by age 18. Volumes of the left OFC and left lateral subregions were positively correlated with effortful control, and left OFC volumes mediated the relationship between effortful control and SUD. Smaller volumes of the OFC and low effortful control during adolescence appear to be associated phenotypes that increase the risk of subsequent SUD. Further studies examining the temporal sequence of these risk factors are needed to fully understand this relationship. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The neural coding of creative idea generation across adolescence and early adulthood

PubMed Central

Kleibeuker, Sietske W.; Koolschijn, P. Cédric M. P.; Jolles, Dietsje D.; De Dreu, Carsten K. W.; Crone, Eveline A.

2013-01-01

Creativity is considered key to human prosperity, yet the neurocognitive principles underlying creative performance, and their development, are still poorly understood. To fill this void, we examined the neural correlates of divergent thinking in adults (25–30 years) and adolescents (15–17 years). Participants generated alternative uses (AU) or ordinary characteristics (OC) for common objects while brain activity was assessed using fMRI. Adults outperformed adolescents on the number of solutions for AU and OC trials. Contrasting neural activity for AU with OC trials revealed increased recruitment of left angular gyrus, left supramarginal gyrus, and bilateral middle temporal gyrus in both adults and adolescents. When only trials with multiple AU were included in the analysis, participants showed additional left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)/middle frontal gyrus (MFG) activation for AU compared to OC trials. Correspondingly, individual difference analyses showed a positive correlation between activations for AU relative to OC trials in left IFG/MFG and divergent thinking performance and activations were more pronounced in adults than in adolescents. Taken together, the results of this study demonstrated that creative idea generation involves recruitment of mainly left lateralized parietal and temporal brain regions. Generating multiple creative ideas, a hallmark of divergent thinking, shows additional lateral PFC activation that is not yet optimized in adolescence. PMID:24416008

The component structure of ERP subsequent memory effects in the Von Restorff paradigm and the word frequency effect in recall.

PubMed

Kamp, Siri-Maria; Brumback, Ty; Donchin, Emanuel

2013-11-01

We examined the degree to which ERP components elicited by items that are isolated from their context, either by their font size ("size isolates") or by their frequency of usage, are correlated with subsequent immediate recall. Study lists contained (a) 15 words including a size isolate, (b) 14 high frequency (HF) words with one low frequency word ("LF isolate"), or (c) 14 LF words with one HF word. We used spatiotemporal PCA to quantify ERP components. We replicated previously reported P300 subsequent memory effects for size isolates and found additional correlations with recall in the novelty P3, a right lateralized positivity, and a left lateralized slow wave that was distinct from the slow wave correlated with recall for nonisolates. LF isolates also showed evidence of a P300 subsequent memory effect and also elicited the left lateralized subsequent memory effect, supporting a role of distinctiveness in word frequency effects in recall. Copyright © 2013 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Social learning modulates the lateralization of emotional valence.

PubMed

Shamay-Tsoory, Simone G; Lavidor, Michal; Aharon-Peretz, Judith

2008-08-01

Although neuropsychological studies of lateralization of emotion have emphasized valence (positive vs. negative) or type (basic vs. complex) dimensions, the interaction between the two dimensions has yet to be elucidated. The purpose of the current study was to test the hypothesis that recognition of basic emotions is processed preferentially by the right prefrontal cortex (PFC), whereas recognition of complex social emotions is processed preferentially by the left PFC. Experiment 1 assessed the ability of healthy controls and patients with right and left PFC lesions to recognize basic and complex emotions. Experiment 2 modeled the patient's data of Experiment 1 on healthy participants under lateralized displays of the emotional stimuli. Both experiments support the Type as well as the Valence Hypotheses. However, our findings indicate that the Valence Hypothesis holds for basic but less so for complex emotions. It is suggested that, since social learning overrules the basic preference of valence in the hemispheres, the processing of complex emotions in the hemispheres is less affected by valence.

Left hemisphere lateralization for lexical and acoustic pitch processing in Cantonese speakers as revealed by mismatch negativity.

PubMed

Gu, Feng; Zhang, Caicai; Hu, Axu; Zhao, Guoping

2013-12-01

For nontonal language speakers, speech processing is lateralized to the left hemisphere and musical processing is lateralized to the right hemisphere (i.e., function-dependent brain asymmetry). On the other hand, acoustic temporal processing is lateralized to the left hemisphere and spectral/pitch processing is lateralized to the right hemisphere (i.e., acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry). In this study, we examine whether the hemispheric lateralization of lexical pitch and acoustic pitch processing in tonal language speakers is consistent with the patterns of function- and acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry in nontonal language speakers. Pitch contrast in both speech stimuli (syllable /ji/ in Experiment 1) and nonspeech stimuli (harmonic tone in Experiment 1; pure tone in Experiment 2) was presented to native Cantonese speakers in passive oddball paradigms. We found that the mismatch negativity (MMN) elicited by lexical pitch contrast was lateralized to the left hemisphere, which is consistent with the pattern of function-dependent brain asymmetry (i.e., left hemisphere lateralization for speech processing) in nontonal language speakers. However, the MMN elicited by acoustic pitch contrast was also left hemisphere lateralized (harmonic tone in Experiment 1) or showed a tendency for left hemisphere lateralization (pure tone in Experiment 2), which is inconsistent with the pattern of acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry (i.e., right hemisphere lateralization for acoustic pitch processing) in nontonal language speakers. The consistent pattern of function-dependent brain asymmetry and the inconsistent pattern of acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry between tonal and nontonal language speakers can be explained by the hypothesis that the acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry is the consequence of a carryover effect from function-dependent brain asymmetry. Potential evolutionary implication of this hypothesis is discussed. © 2013.

Postoperative Posterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy After Left Far-Lateral Craniectomy for Resection of Craniocervical Meningioma.

PubMed

Eli, Ilyas M; Kim, Robert B; Kilburg, Craig; Pecha, Travis J; Couldwell, William T; Menacho, Sarah T

2018-06-01

Postoperative posterior ischemic optic neuropathy (PION) is a rare cause of postoperative vision loss, most often seen when surgical patients are placed in the prone position for a prolonged period of time. We report a case of bilateral PION after far-lateral craniectomy in the lateral position. A 36-year-old man presented with a history of right extremity numbness, weakness, and muscle atrophy, and a craniocervical meningioma was diagnosed. Surgery in the lateral position lasted 9 hours, 52 minutes; the patient had 2 L of blood loss. On postoperative day 1, the patient had bilateral vision loss, which prompted further work-up. Diffusion-weighted imaging of the orbits demonstrated restricted diffusion within the bilateral optic nerves. The clinical presentation of painless vision loss after surgery with these imaging findings led to a diagnosis of PION. At the time of discharge, he had not recovered any visual function. This case suggests that PION can occur in the lateral position where there is no direct pressure on the orbits. PION is often not discussed as a potential complication during the preoperative consent process. This case suggests it may be prudent to discuss PION in similar neurosurgical cases. Intraoperative blood transfusion should be considered in prolonged surgeries in the lateral position, where slow blood loss over a long period could be a contributing factor to development of PION. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Optimization of left adrenal vein sampling in primary aldosteronism: Coping with asymmetrical cortisol secretion.

PubMed

Kishino, Mitsuhiro; Yoshimoto, Takanobu; Nakadate, Masashi; Katada, Yoshiaki; Kanda, Eiichiro; Nakaminato, Shuichiro; Saida, Yukihisa; Ogawa, Yoshihiro; Tateishi, Ukihide

2017-03-31

We evaluated the influence of catheter sampling position and size on left adrenal venous sampling (AVS) in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) and analyzed their relationship to cortisol secretion. This retrospective study included 111 patients with a diagnosis of primary aldosteronism who underwent tetracosactide-stimulated AVS. Left AVS was obtained from two catheter positions - the central adrenal vein (CAV) and the common trunk. For common trunk sampling, 5-French catheters were used in 51 patients, and microcatheters were used in 60 patients. Autonomous cortisol secretion was evaluated with a low-dose dexamethasone suppression test in 87 patients. The adrenal/inferior vena cava cortisol concentration ratio [selectivity index (SI)] was significantly lower in samples from the left common trunk than those of the left CAV and right adrenal veins, but this difference was reduced when a microcatheter was used for common trunk sampling. Sample dilution in the common trunk of the left adrenal vein can be decreased by limiting sampling speed with the use of a microcatheter. Meanwhile, there was no significant difference in SI between the left CAV and right adrenal veins. Laterality, determined according to aldosterone/cortisol ratio (A/C ratio) based criteria, showed good reproducibility regardless of sampling position, unlike the absolute aldosterone value based criteria. However, in 11 cases with autonomous cortisol co-secretion, the cortisol hypersecreting side tended to be underestimated when using A/C ratio based criteria. Left CAV sampling enables symmetrical sampling, and may be essential when using absolute aldosterone value based criteria in cases where symmetrical cortisol secretion is uncertain.

Association between lateral bias and personality traits in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris).

PubMed

Barnard, Shanis; Wells, Deborah L; Hepper, Peter G; Milligan, Adam D S

2017-08-01

Behavioral laterality reflects the cerebral functional asymmetry. Measures of laterality have been associated with emotional stress, problem-solving, and personality in some vertebrate species. Thus far, the association between laterality and personality in the domestic dog has been largely overlooked. In this study, we investigated whether lateralized (left or right) and ambilateral dogs differed in their behavioral response to a standardized personality test. The dog's preferred paw to hold a Kong ball filled with food and the first paw used to step-off from a standing position were scored as laterality measures. The Dog Mentality Assessment (DMA) test was used to assess 5 personality traits (e.g., sociability, aggressiveness) and a broader shy-boldness dimension. No differences emerged between left- and right-biased dogs on any personality trait. Instead, ambilateral dogs, scored using the Kong test, scored higher on their playfulness (Z = -1.98, p = .048) and Aggressiveness (Z = -2.10, p = .036) trait scores than did lateralized (irrespective of side) dogs. Also, ambilateral dogs assessed by using the First-Stepping test scored higher than lateralized dogs on the Sociability (Z = -2.83, p = .005) and Shy-Boldness (Z = -2.34, p = .019) trait scores. Overall, we found evidence of a link between canine personality and behavioral laterality, and this was especially true for those traits relating to stronger emotional reactivity, such as aggressiveness, fearfulness, and sociability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Automated external defibrillation training on the left or the right side - a randomized simulation study.

PubMed

Stærk, Mathilde; Bødtker, Henrik; Lauridsen, Kasper G; Løfgren, Bo

2017-01-01

Correct placement of the left automated external defibrillator (AED) electrode is rarely achieved. AED electrode placement is predominantly illustrated and trained with the rescuer sitting on the right side of the patient. Placement of the AED electrodes from the left side of the patient may result in a better overview of and access to the left lateral side of the thorax. This study aimed to investigate if training in automated external defibrillation on the left side compared to the right side of a manikin improves left AED electrode placement. Laypeople attending basic life support training were randomized to learn automated external defibrillation from the left or right side of a manikin. After course completion, participants used an AED and placed AED electrodes in a simulated cardiac arrest scenario. In total, 40 laypersons were randomized to AED training on the left (n=19 [missing data =1], 63% female, mean age: 47.3 years) and right (n=20, 75% female, mean age: 48.7 years) sides of a manikin. There was no difference in left AED electrode placement when trained on the left or right side: the mean (SD) distances to the recommended left AED electrode position were 5.9 (2.1) cm vs 6.9 (2.2) cm ( p =0.15) and to the recommended right AED electrode position were 2.6 (1.5) cm vs 1.8 (0.8) cm ( p =0.06), respectively. Training in automated external defibrillation on the left side of a manikin does not improve left AED electrode placement compared to training on the right side.

The effect of lateral decubitus position on nocturnal intraocular pressure over a habitual 24-hour period in healthy adults.

PubMed

Hao, Jie; Zhen, Yi; Wang, Hao; Yang, Diya; Wang, Ningli

2014-01-01

To investigate the effect of lateral decubitus position (LDP) on nocturnal intraocular pressure (IOP) and the effect of LDP on 24-hour habitual IOP pattern in healthy subjects. Intraocular pressure was measured every 2-hours using an Accupen Applanation Tonometer (Accutome, USA). During the diurnal period (7:30 am, 9:30 am, 11:30 am, 1:30 pm, 3:30 pm, 5:30 pm, 7:30 pm, and 9:30 pm), IOP was measured in the sitting position under bright light (500-1000 lux) after the subjects had been seated for 5 min. The nocturnal IOP was measured in the supine position, right LDP, and left LDP, with randomized sequences, under dim light (<10 lux) at 11:30 pm, 1:30 am, 3:30 am, and 5:30 am. The subjects were awakened and maintained each position for 5 min before the measurement. The 24-hour habitual IOP patterns were obtained according to the nocturnal position (supine, right LDP and left LDP) for either eye. P<0.05 was considered to be significant. Nineteen healthy subjects were included with a mean age of 51.3±5.8 years. During the nocturnal period, a significant IOP difference was found between the dependent eye (the eye on the lower side) of LDP and the supine position, but not for all the nocturnal time points. Over a 24-hour period, the effect of LDP on habitual IOP pattern was not statistically significant, although the mean nocturnal IOP and the diurnal-nocturnal IOP change for the right and the left eye in the LDP pattern was slightly higher than that in the sitting-supine pattern. Significant nocturnal IOP differences existed between the dependent eye and the supine, but did not occur consistently for all time points. Over a 24-hour period, the effect of LDP on habitual IOP pattern was not statistically significant in healthy subjects.

Body position does not affect the hemodynamic response to venous air embolism in dogs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mehlhorn, U.; Burke, E. J.; Butler, B. D.; Davis, K. L.; Katz, J.; Melamed, E.; Morris, W. P.; Allen, S. J.

1994-01-01

Current therapy for massive venous air embolism (VAE) includes the use of the left lateral recumbent (LLR) position. This recommendation is based on animal studies, conducted 50 yr ago, which looked primarily at survival. Little is known, however, about the concomitant hemodynamic response after VAE in various body positions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the hemodynamic and cardiovascular changes in various body positions after VAE. Twenty-two mechanically ventilated supine mongrel dogs received a venous air infusion of 2.5 mL/kg at a rate of 5 mL/s. One minute after the infusion, 100% oxygen ventilation was commenced and the body position of the dogs was changed to either the LLR (n = 6), the LLR with the head 10 degrees down (LLR-10 degrees; n = 6) or the right lateral recumbent (RLR; n = 5) position. Five dogs were maintained in the supine position (SUP; n = 5). One dog died in every group except in the SUP group, where all the dogs recovered. There were no significant differences among the various body positions in terms of heart rate, mean arterial pressure, pulmonary artery pressure, central venous pressure, left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, or cardiac output. The acute hemodynamic changes occurring during the first 5-15 min after VAE recovered to 80% of control within 60 min. Our data suggest that body repositioning does not influence the cardiovascular response to VAE. Specifically, our data do not support the recommendation of repositioning into the LLR position for the treatment of VAE.

Body position does not affect the hemodynamic response to venous air embolism in dogs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mehlhorn, Uwe; Burke, Edward J.; Butler, Bruce D.; Davis, Karen L.; Katz, Jeffrey; Melamed, Evan; Morris, William P.; Allen, Steven J.

1993-01-01

Current therapy for massive venous air embolism (VAE) includes the use of the left lateral recumbent (LLR) position. This recommendation is based on animal studies, conducted 50 years ago, which looked primarily at survival. Little is known, however, about the concomitant hemodynamic response after VAE in various body positions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the hemodynamic and cardiovascular changes in various body positions after VAE. Twenty-two mechanically ventilated supine mongrel dogs received a venous air infusion of 2.5 mL/kg at a rate of 5 mL/s. One minute after the infusion, 100% oxygen ventilation was commenced and the body position of the dogs was changed to either the LLR (n = 6), the LLR with the head 10 deg down (LLR-10 deg; n = 6) or the right lateral recumbent (RLR; n = 5) position. Five dogs were maintained in the supine position (SUP; n = 5). One dog died in every group except in the SUP group, where all the dogs recovered. There were no significant differences among the various body positions in terms of heart rate, mean arterial pressure, pulmonary artery pressure, central venous pressure, left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, or cardiac output. The acute hemodynamic changes occurring during the first 5-15 min after VAE recovered to 80% of control within 60 min. Our data suggest that body repositioning does not influence the cardiovascular response to VAE. Specifically, our data do not support the recommendation of repositioning into the LLR position for the treatment of VAE.

Cerebral lateralization of praxis in right- and left-handedness: same pattern, different strength.

PubMed

Vingerhoets, Guy; Acke, Frederic; Alderweireldt, Ann-Sofie; Nys, Jo; Vandemaele, Pieter; Achten, Eric

2012-04-01

We aimed to investigate the effect of hand effector and handedness on the cerebral lateralization of pantomiming learned movements. Fourteen right-handed and 14 left-handed volunteers performed unimanual and bimanual tool-use pantomimes with their dominant or nondominant hand during fMRI. A left hemispheric lateralization was observed in the right- and left-handed group regardless of which hand(s) performed the task. Asymmetry was most marked in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), premotor cortex (PMC), and superior and inferior parietal lobules (SPL and IPL). Unimanual pantomimes did not reveal any significant differences in asymmetric cerebral activation patterns between left- and right-handers. Bimanual pantomimes showed increased left premotor and posterior parietal activation in left- and right-handers. Lateralization indices (LI) of the 10% most active voxels in DLPFC, PMC, SPL, and IPL were calculated for each individual in a contrast that compared all tool versus all control conditions. Left-handers showed a significantly reduced overall LI compared with right-handers. This was mainly due to diminished asymmetry in the IPL and SPL. We conclude that the recollection and pantomiming of learned gestures recruits a similar left lateralized activation pattern in right and left-handed individuals. Handedness only influences the strength (not the side) of the lateralization, with left-handers showing a reduced degree of asymmetry that is most readily observed over the posterior parietal region. Together with similar findings in language and visual processing, these results point to a lesser hemispheric specialization in left-handers that may be considered in the cost/benefit assessment to explain the disproportionate handedness polymorphism in humans. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Retroperitoneal oblique corridor to the L2-S1 intervertebral discs in the lateral position: an anatomic study.

PubMed

Davis, Timothy T; Hynes, Richard A; Fung, Daniel A; Spann, Scott W; MacMillan, Michael; Kwon, Brian; Liu, John; Acosta, Frank; Drochner, Thomas E

2014-11-01

Access to the intervertebral discs from L2-S1 in one surgical position can be challenging. The transpsoas minimally invasive surgical (MIS) approach is preferred by many surgeons, but this approach poses potential risk to neural structures of the lumbar plexus as they course through the psoas. The lumbar plexus and iliac crest often restrict the L4-5 disc access, and the L5-S1 level has not been a viable option from a direct lateral approach. The purpose of the present study was to investigate an MIS oblique corridor to the L2-S1 intervertebral disc space in cadaveric specimens while keeping the specimens in a lateral decubitus position with minimal disruption of the psoas and lumbar plexus. Twenty fresh-frozen full-torso cadaveric specimens were dissected, and an oblique anatomical corridor to access the L2-S1 discs was examined. Measurements were taken in a static state and with mild retraction of the psoas. The access corridor was defined at L2-5 as the left lateral border of the aorta (or iliac artery) and the anterior medial border of the psoas. The L5-S1 corridor of access was defined transversely from the midsagittal line of the inferior endplate of L-5 to the medial border of the left common iliac vessel and vertically to the first vascular structure that crosses midline. The mean access corridor diameters in the static state and with mild psoas retraction, respectively, were as follows: at L2-3, 18.60 mm and 25.50 mm; at L3-4, 19.25 mm and 27.05 mm; and at L4-5, 15.00 mm and 24.45 mm. The L5-S1 corridor mean values were 14.75 mm transversely, from midline to the left common iliac vessel and 23.85 mm from the inferior endplate of L-5 cephalad to the first midline vessel. The oblique corridor allows access to the L2-S1 discs while keeping the patient in a lateral decubitus position without a break in the table. Minimal psoas retraction without significant tendon disruption allowed for a generous corridor to the disc space. The L5-S1 disc space can be accessed from an oblique angle consistently with gentle retraction of the iliac vessels. This study supports the potential of an MIS oblique retroperitoneal approach to the L2-S1 discs.

Modulating phonemic fluency performance in healthy subjects with transcranial magnetic stimulation over the left or right lateral frontal cortex.

PubMed

Smirni, Daniela; Turriziani, Patrizia; Mangano, Giuseppa Renata; Bracco, Martina; Oliveri, Massimiliano; Cipolotti, Lisa

2017-07-28

A growing body of evidence have suggested that non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), can improve the performance of aphasic patients in language tasks. For example, application of inhibitory rTMS or tDCs over the right frontal lobe of dysphasic patients resulted in improved naming abilities. Several studies have also reported that in healthy controls (HC) tDCS application over the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) improve performance in naming and semantic fluency tasks. The aim of this study was to investigate in HC, for the first time, the effects of inhibitory repetitive TMS (rTMS) over left and right lateral frontal cortex (BA 47) on two phonemic fluency tasks (FAS or FPL). 44 right-handed HCs were administered rTMS or sham over the left or right lateral frontal cortex in two separate testing sessions, with a 24h interval, followed by the two phonemic fluency tasks. To account for possible practice effects, an additional 22 HCs were tested on only the phonemic fluency task across two sessions with no stimulation. We found that rTMS-inhibition over the left lateral frontal cortex significantly worsened phonemic fluency performance when compared to sham. In contrast, rTMS-inhibition over the right lateral frontal cortex significantly improved phonemic fluency performance when compared to sham. These results were not accounted for practice effects. We speculated that rTMS over the right lateral frontal cortex may induce plastic neural changes to the left lateral frontal cortex by suppressing interhemispheric inhibitory interactions. This resulted in an increased excitability (disinhibition) of the contralateral unstimulated left lateral frontal cortex, consequently enhancing phonemic fluency performance. Conversely, application of rTMS over the left lateral frontal cortex may induce a temporary, virtual lesion, with effects similar to those reported in left frontal patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Left Preference for Sport Tasks Does Not Necessarily Indicate Left-Handedness: Sport-Specific Lateral Preferences, Relationship with Handedness and Implications for Laterality Research in Behavioural Sciences

PubMed Central

Loffing, Florian; Sölter, Florian; Hagemann, Norbert

2014-01-01

In the elite domain of interactive sports, athletes who demonstrate a left preference (e.g., holding a weapon with the left hand in fencing or boxing in a ‘southpaw’ stance) seem overrepresented. Such excess indicates a performance advantage and was also interpreted as evidence in favour of frequency-dependent selection mechanisms to explain the maintenance of left-handedness in humans. To test for an overrepresentation, the incidence of athletes' lateral preferences is typically compared with an expected ratio of left- to right-handedness in the normal population. However, the normal population reference values did not always relate to the sport-specific tasks of interest, which may limit the validity of reports of an excess of ‘left-oriented’ athletes. Here we sought to determine lateral preferences for various sport-specific tasks (e.g., baseball batting, boxing) in the normal population and to examine the relationship between these preferences and handedness. To this end, we asked 903 participants to indicate their lateral preferences for sport-specific and common tasks using a paper-based questionnaire. Lateral preferences varied considerably across the different sport tasks and we found high variation in the relationship between those preferences and handedness. In contrast to unimanual tasks (e.g., fencing or throwing), for bimanually controlled actions such as baseball batting, shooting in ice hockey or boxing the incidence of left preferences was considerably higher than expected from the proportion of left-handedness in the normal population and the relationship with handedness was relatively low. We conclude that (i) task-specific reference values are mandatory for reliably testing for an excess of athletes with a left preference, (ii) the term ‘handedness’ should be more cautiously used within the context of sport-related laterality research and (iii) observation of lateral preferences in sports may be of limited suitability for the verification of evolutionary theories of handedness. PMID:25141020

Left preference for sport tasks does not necessarily indicate left-handedness: sport-specific lateral preferences, relationship with handedness and implications for laterality research in behavioural sciences.

PubMed

Loffing, Florian; Sölter, Florian; Hagemann, Norbert

2014-01-01

In the elite domain of interactive sports, athletes who demonstrate a left preference (e.g., holding a weapon with the left hand in fencing or boxing in a 'southpaw' stance) seem overrepresented. Such excess indicates a performance advantage and was also interpreted as evidence in favour of frequency-dependent selection mechanisms to explain the maintenance of left-handedness in humans. To test for an overrepresentation, the incidence of athletes' lateral preferences is typically compared with an expected ratio of left- to right-handedness in the normal population. However, the normal population reference values did not always relate to the sport-specific tasks of interest, which may limit the validity of reports of an excess of 'left-oriented' athletes. Here we sought to determine lateral preferences for various sport-specific tasks (e.g., baseball batting, boxing) in the normal population and to examine the relationship between these preferences and handedness. To this end, we asked 903 participants to indicate their lateral preferences for sport-specific and common tasks using a paper-based questionnaire. Lateral preferences varied considerably across the different sport tasks and we found high variation in the relationship between those preferences and handedness. In contrast to unimanual tasks (e.g., fencing or throwing), for bimanually controlled actions such as baseball batting, shooting in ice hockey or boxing the incidence of left preferences was considerably higher than expected from the proportion of left-handedness in the normal population and the relationship with handedness was relatively low. We conclude that (i) task-specific reference values are mandatory for reliably testing for an excess of athletes with a left preference, (ii) the term 'handedness' should be more cautiously used within the context of sport-related laterality research and (iii) observation of lateral preferences in sports may be of limited suitability for the verification of evolutionary theories of handedness.

Systemic Staphylococcus pseudintermedius infection in an arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) with severe multifocal suppurative meningoencephalitis and nephritis.

PubMed

Iwata, Kei; Kasuya, Kazufumi; Takayama, Kou; Nakahara, Yusuke; Kobayashi, Yoshifumi; Kato, Asako; Senba, Hironobu; Yanagisawa, Masae; Shibahara, Tomoyuki

2018-06-11

A 2-year-female arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) developed anorexia, dehydration, and emaciation during the quarantine period for importation from Norway, and died 17 days later. At necropsy, a fistula was observed on the left gluteal region, and the left eye, left brain, and kidneys were discolored. Histologically, severe diffuse suppurative meningoencephalitis and renal abscesses were detected. Numerous Gram-positive cocci were detected in these lesions. Multidrug-susceptible Staphylococcus pseudintermedius were isolated from the lesions. These results suggest that S. pseudintermedius can cause severe multifocal suppurative meningoencephalitis and nephritis in foxes. This is the first report of multidrug-susceptible S. pseudintermedius meningoencephalitis and nephritis in a fox.

Left lobe of the prostate during clinical prostate cancer screening: the dark side of the gland for right-handed examiners.

PubMed

Ploussard, G; Nicolaiew, N; Mongiat-Artus, P; Terry, S; Allory, Y; Vacherot, F; Abbou, C-C; Desgrandchamps, F; Salomon, L; de la Taille, A

2014-06-01

The predictive value of the abnormality side during digital rectal examination (DRE) has never been studied, suggesting that physicians examined the left lobe of the gland as well as the right lobe. We aimed to assess the predictive value of the side of DRE abnormality for prostate cancer (PCa) detection and aggressiveness in right-handed urologists. An analysis of a prospective database was carried out that included all consecutive men undergoing prostate biopsies between 2001 and 2012. The main end point was the predictive value of the abnormality side during DRE for cancer detection in clinically suspicious unilateral T2 disease. The diagnostic performance of left- versus right-sided abnormality was also assessed in terms of sensitivity, specificity and negative/positive predictive values. Overall, 308 patients had a suspicious unilateral clinical disease (detection rate 57.5%). The cancer detection rate was significantly higher in case of left-sided compared with right-sided clinical T2 stage (odds ratio 2.1). In case of left-sided disease, the number of positive cores, the rate of perineural invasion, the rate of primary grade 4 pattern and the percentage of cancer involvement per core were significantly higher compared with those reported for right-sided disease. The predictive value of abnormality laterality for cancer detection and aggressiveness remained statistically independent in multivariate models. The positive predictive value for cancer detection was 64.6 in case of suspicious left-sided disease versus 46.9 in case of right-sided disease. The risks of detecting PCa and aggressive disease on biopsy are significantly higher when DRE reveals a suspicious left-sided clinical disease as compared with right-sided disease. Right-handed physicians should be aware of this variance in diagnostic performance and potential underdetection of left-sided clinical disease, and should improve their examination of the left lobe of the gland by conducting longer exams or changing the patient's position.

"Where Is the Sun" for Hemi-Neglect Patients?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Montalembert, M.; Auclair, L.; Mamassian, P.

2010-01-01

Human observers use prior constraints to disambiguate a scene; in particular, light is preferentially seen as coming from above but also slightly from the left. One explanation of this lateral bias could be a cerebral hemispheric difference. The aim of the present study was to determine the preferred light source position for neglect patients. For…

tDCS over the left prefrontal cortex enhances cognitive control for positive affective stimuli.

PubMed

Vanderhasselt, Marie-Anne; De Raedt, Rudi; Brunoni, Andre R; Campanhã, Camila; Baeken, Chris; Remue, Jonathan; Boggio, Paulo S

2013-01-01

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulation technique with promising results for enhancing cognitive information processes. So far, however, research has mainly focused on the effects of tDCS on cognitive control operations for non-emotional material. Therefore, our aim was to investigate the effects on cognitive control considering negative versus positive material. For this sham-controlled, within-subjects study, we selected a homogeneous sample of twenty-five healthy participants. By using behavioral measures and event related potentials (ERP) as indexes, we aimed to investigate whether a single session of anodal tDCS of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) would have specific effects in enhancing cognitive control for positive and negative valenced stimuli. After tDCS over the left DLPFC (and not sham control stimulation), we observed more negative N450 amplitudes along with faster reaction times when inhibiting a habitual response to happy compared to sad facial expressions. Gender did not influence the effects of tDCS on cognitive control for emotional information. In line with the Valence Theory of side-lateralized activity, this stimulation protocol might have led to a left dominant (relative to right) prefrontal cortical activity, resulting in augmented cognitive control specifically for positive relative to negative stimuli. To verify that tDCS induces effects that are in line with all aspects of the well known Valence Theory, future research should investigate the effects of tDCS over the left vs. right DLPFC on cognitive control for emotional information.

[A Case of Cystic Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis of HPV-positive Tonsil Cancer, Being Discriminated as the Branchiogenic Carcinoma].

PubMed

Kambara, Rumi; Tamai, Masamitsu; Horii, Arata

2016-02-01

In recent years, human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal carcinomas have been increasing. The first manifestation of these tumors is frequently as cystic metastasis to cervical lymph nodes that may precede recognition of the primary tumor, so, they often result in misdiagnosis as branchial cleft cysts. We report a case of cystic cervical lymph node metastasis of HPV-positive tonsil cancer. The patient was a 70-years-old man who noticed a mass on his left neck. The tumor was large and soft, and it was diagnosed as benign in fine-needle aspiration cytology. We diagnosed the tumor as a branchial cleft cyst and undertook surgery. The histopathological diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma arising from a branchiogenic cyst. However, because it did not satisfy the diagnostic criteria, we diagnosed the tumor as an unknown primary tumor. One year later, left tonsil cancer was suspected based on PET-CT imaging and a left tonsillectomy was undertaken, whereafter tonsil cancer was found. In p16 immunostaining, it was positive in both cystic mass and tonsil. The cervical mass was cystic lymph node metastasis of HPV-positive tonsil cancer. It is important to investigate the oropharynx, when we found cystic cervical mass, because HPV-positive oropharyngeal carcinoma frequently results in cystic neck metastasis.

Left dominant arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy: a morbid association of ventricular arrhythmias and unexplained infero-lateral T-wave inversion.

PubMed

Protonotarios, Alexandros; Patrianakos, Alexandros; Spanoudaki, Elpida; Kochiadakis, Georgios; Michalodimitrakis, Emmanouel; Vardas, Panagiotis

2013-01-01

Left-dominant arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy is a subtype of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy characterized by early predominant left ventricular involvement. Α 34-year-old man presented with palpitations and a history of frequent ventricular extrasystoles of both LBBB and RBBB configuration. Cardiac workup revealed repolarization abnormalities at infero-lateral leads in the absence of diagnostic structural/functional alterations or obstructive coronary artery disease. Six months later he died suddenly. Histopathology was diagnostic for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy affecting predominantly the left ventricle at subepicardial/midwall myocardial layers. Thus, ventricular arrhythmias accompanied by unexplained infero-lateral T-wave inversion should warn of a possible morbid association underlying left-dominant arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Lateralization of infant holding by mothers: A longitudinal evaluation of variations over the first 12 weeks.

PubMed

Todd, Brenda K; Banerjee, Robin

2016-01-01

The maternal preference to hold infants on the left rather than right side of the body was examined longitudinally, with attention to 4 explanations: maternal monitoring of infant state, maternal handedness, infant proximity to the mother's heartbeat, and preferred infant head position. The side and site of holding were measured over the first 12 weeks of the lives of 24 infants. Information about group and individual consistency in holding side allowed novel evaluation of the theories. A strong bias to hold on the left dropped below significance when the infants were aged 12 weeks and was limited to specific holding positions. Findings were generally consistent with the monitoring hypothesis, and little support was found for the 3 alternative explanations.

Generating Stereoscopic Television Images With One Camera

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coan, Paul P.

1996-01-01

Straightforward technique for generating stereoscopic television images involves use of single television camera translated laterally between left- and right-eye positions. Camera acquires one of images (left- or right-eye image), and video signal from image delayed while camera translated to position where it acquires other image. Length of delay chosen so both images displayed simultaneously or as nearly simultaneously as necessary to obtain stereoscopic effect. Technique amenable to zooming in on small areas within broad scenes. Potential applications include three-dimensional viewing of geological features and meteorological events from spacecraft and aircraft, inspection of workpieces moving along conveyor belts, and aiding ground and water search-and-rescue operations. Also used to generate and display imagery for public education and general information, and possible for medical purposes.

Evolution of the developmental plasticity and a coupling between left mechanosensory neuromasts and an adaptive foraging behavior.

PubMed

Fernandes, Vânia Filipa Lima; Macaspac, Christian; Lu, Louise; Yoshizawa, Masato

2018-05-18

Many animal species exhibit laterality in sensation and behavioral responses, namely, the preference for using either the left or right side of the sensory system. For example, some fish use their left eye when observing social stimuli, whereas they use their right eye to observe novel objects. However, it is largely unknown whether such laterality in sensory-behavior coupling evolves during rapid adaptation processes. Here, in the Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, we investigate the laterality in the relationship between an evolved adaptive behavior, vibration attraction behavior (VAB), and its main sensors, mechanosensory neuromasts. A. mexicanus has a surface-dwelling form and cave-dwelling forms (cavefish), whereby a surface fish ancestor colonized the new environment of a cave, eventually evolving cave-type morphologies such as increased numbers of neuromasts at the cranium. These neuromasts are known to regulate VAB, and it is known that, in teleosts, the budding (increasing) process of neuromasts is accompanied with dermal bone formation. This bone formation is largely regulated by endothelin signaling. To assess the evolutionary relationship between bone formation, neuromast budding, and VAB, we treated 1-3 month old juvenile fish with endothelin receptor antagonists. This treatment significantly increased cranial neuromasts in both surface and cavefish, and the effect was significantly more pronounced in cavefish. Antagonist treatment also increased the size of dermal bones in cavefish, but neuromast enhancement was observed earlier than dermal bone formation, suggesting that endothelin signaling may independently regulate neuromast development and bone formation. In addition, although we did not detect a major change in VAB level under this antagonist treatment, cavefish did show a positive correlation of VAB with the number of neuromasts on their left side but not their right. This laterality in correlation was observed when VAB emerged during cavefish development, but it was not seen in surface fish under any conditions tested, suggesting this laterality emerged through an evolutionary process. Above all, cavefish showed higher developmental plasticity in neuromast number and bone formation, and they showed an asymmetric correlation between the number of left-right neuromasts and VAB. Published by Elsevier Inc.

A revision of hominin fossil teeth from Fontana Ranuccio (Middle Pleistocene, Anagni, Frosinone, Italy).

PubMed

Rubini, Mauro; Cerroni, Vittorio; Festa, Giulia; Sardella, Raffaele; Zaio, Paola

2014-12-01

The Fontana Ranuccio hominin teeth (FR, Latium, Italy) are dated to the Middle Pleistocene. In previous studies these teeth were classified as two lower (left and right) second molars, one lower left central incisor and a badly worn incisor crown, the exact position of which could not be determined. In 2012 these remains were acquired by the Anthropological Service of S.B.A.L. (Italian Ministry of Culture) and for this reason re-analysed. In a thorough revision we have reassessed them both morphologically and dimensionally as two lower (left and right) first molars, one lower left lateral incisor and a possible upper left canine. The comparison with penecontemporaneous and diachronic samples shows that the Fontana Ranuccio teeth are morphologically similar to Atapuerca-Sima de los Huesos, Arago XIII and Neanderthal samples. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Relationship between Exposure to Missiles and PTSD Symptoms as a Function of Hemispheric Preference in Israelis.

PubMed

Herzog, Daniela; Farchi, Moshe; Gidron, Yori

2018-01-01

Recent research proposes that left hemispheric lateralization (HL) may protect against the effects of life events on mental distress. This study extends these findings by examining the protective role of left HL in the relationship between war threat (missile exposure) and PTSD symptoms. A sample of 186 Israelis, exposed to missile attacks, completed brief scales of self-reported missile exposure, a subjective and a neuropsychological HL measure, and of PTSD symptoms. The sample was split into right HL and left HL individuals on both HL measures. Self-reported missile exposure was positively associated with PTSD symptoms in right HL, but not in left HL individuals on both HL measures. These results replicate, extend our previous results and suggest that left HL may even protect against the effects of severe life threatening events. Results are discussed in relation to neuropsychological and neurophysiological differences between the hemispheres.

Correlation among scapular asymmetry, neck pain, and neck disability index (NDI) in young women with slight neck pain.

PubMed

Kim, Su-Rim; Kang, Mi-Hee; Bahng, Sun-Young; An, Jin-Kyoung; Lee, Ji-Young; Park, Sang-Young; Kim, Seong-Gil

2016-05-01

[Purpose] This study aimed to investigate the correlations among scapular asymmetry, neck pain, and neck disability index in women in their 20s with slight neck pain. [Subjects and Methods] A total of 60 female students at U university in Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea, participated in this study. The lateral scapular slide test, which measures the distance between the thorax and scapula, was used to analyze the scapular asymmetry. The lateral scapular slide test was performed in three positions. The visual analogue scale and neck disability index were used to measure neck pain. [Results] In the lateral scapular slide test in position 3 (shoulder abduction at 90 degrees), the scapular left-right asymmetry and VAS showed a moderate positive linear relationship, with r=0.344. The VAS and NDI showed a moderate positive linear relationship, with r = 0.632. [Conclusion] Scapular asymmetry indicates imbalance of surrounding muscles of the scapula and is related to neck pain based on the results of measuring the distance from the thorax to the scapula.

Surface anatomy of the pulmonary fissures determined by high-resolution computed tomography.

PubMed

Heřmanová, Zuzana; Ctvrtlík, Filip; Heřman, Miroslav

2012-10-01

The aim of our study was to describe the surface anatomy of the interlobar fissures using volumetric thin-section high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). Retrospective assessment of HRCT examinations of 250 patients was performed. The localization of the oblique fissures was marked at three sites: posteriorly at its most superior medial limit, laterally in the midaxillary line, and inferiorly at the junction of the middle and lateral thirds of the hemithorax; posteriorly and laterally, this was to the nearest rib whilst inferiorly the position was described in relation to the diaphragm or chest wall. The localization of the horizontal fissure was marked anteriorly in relation to the nearest rib (or costal cartilage) and posteriorly where it intersected with the oblique fissure (superior, middle, or inferior third). Shapes of the fissures and differences between inspiration and expiration were also documented. Descriptive statistics were used to report the most frequent positions. The most frequent localization of the oblique fissure on the left side was posteriorly at the fourth rib (45%), laterally at the sixth rib (52%), and inferiorly in the anterior third of the hemidiaphragm (60%). The right oblique fissure was located posteriorly at the fifth rib (50%), laterally at the sixth rib (50%), and inferiorly in the anterior third of the hemidiaphragm (71%). The horizontal fissure most commonly originated in the middle third of the oblique fissure (61%) and met the anterior thoracic wall at the level of the fourth rib (51%). The most frequent shape of the left oblique fissure was linear (78%), whereas S-shaped and linear configurations (28% each) were most frequent on the right. No difference was found in the surface markings of the fissures between inspiration and expiration in 90% of cases. The considerable individual variation in the position and shape of the interlobar fissures helps to explain the variable descriptions of their surface anatomy in the literature. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Neural competition as a developmental process: Early hemispheric specialization for word processing delays specialization for face processing

PubMed Central

Li, Su; Lee, Kang; Zhao, Jing; Yang, Zhi; He, Sheng; Weng, Xuchu

2013-01-01

Little is known about the impact of learning to read on early neural development for word processing and its collateral effects on neural development in non-word domains. Here, we examined the effect of early exposure to reading on neural responses to both word and face processing in preschool children with the use of the Event Related Potential (ERP) methodology. We specifically linked children’s reading experience (indexed by their sight vocabulary) to two major neural markers: the amplitude differences between the left and right N170 on the bilateral posterior scalp sites and the hemispheric spectrum power differences in the γ band on the same scalp sites. The results showed that the left-lateralization of both the word N170 and the spectrum power in the γ band were significantly positively related to vocabulary. In contrast, vocabulary and the word left-lateralization both had a strong negative direct effect on the face right-lateralization. Also, vocabulary negatively correlated with the right-lateralized face spectrum power in the γ band even after the effects of age and the word spectrum power were partialled out. The present study provides direct evidence regarding the role of reading experience in the neural specialization of word and face processing above and beyond the effect of maturation. The present findings taken together suggest that the neural development of visual word processing competes with that of face processing before the process of neural specialization has been consolidated. PMID:23462239

Colateralization of Broca's Area and the Visual Word form Area in Left-Handers: fMRI Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van der Haegen, Lise; Cai, Qing; Brysbaert, Marc

2012-01-01

Language production has been found to be lateralized in the left hemisphere (LH) for 95% of right-handed people and about 75% of left-handers. The prevalence of atypical right hemispheric (RH) or bilateral lateralization for reading and colateralization of production with word reading laterality has never been tested in a large sample. In this…

Laterality of radiographic osteoarthritis of the knee.

PubMed

Komatsu, Daigo; Ikeuchi, Kazuma; Kojima, Toshihisa; Takegami, Yasuhiko; Amano, Takafumi; Tsuboi, Masaki; Ishiguro, Naoki; Hasegawa, Yukiharu

2017-05-01

There are few reports of the laterality in radiological knee osteoarthritis (ROA). This study aimed to evaluate laterality in terms of the minimum joint space width (mJSW) and osteophyte areas (OFs) in a cross-sectorial general population screen and elucidate the association between laterality and risk of osteoarthritis. We enrolled 330 participants (mean age 64.6 years) and examined the presence of ROA (Kellgren-Lawrence grade ≧ 2) laterality in terms of the mJSW and OF on the medial tibia using auto-measuring software. Moreover, we examined the association between laterality and leg dominance. The right and left medial mJSWs were 4.02 ± 0.98 mm and 4.05 ± 1.01 mm, respectively, showing no laterality; the laterals were also similar. The participants who had osteophytes ≥1 mm 2 in the right, left, and bilateral knees were 15, 37, and 57 respectively, with osteophytes being significantly more common in the left knee. The OF was significantly larger in the left knee. Conversely, the medial and lateral mJSWs and OF did not differ according to leg dominance. The prevalence of ROA was higher and the OF was more pronounced in the left knee. However, the mJSW showed no laterality. Additionally, the mJSW and OF showed no differences according to leg dominance.

Automated external defibrillation training on the left or the right side – a randomized simulation study

PubMed Central

Stærk, Mathilde; Bødtker, Henrik; Lauridsen, Kasper G; Løfgren, Bo

2017-01-01

Background Correct placement of the left automated external defibrillator (AED) electrode is rarely achieved. AED electrode placement is predominantly illustrated and trained with the rescuer sitting on the right side of the patient. Placement of the AED electrodes from the left side of the patient may result in a better overview of and access to the left lateral side of the thorax. This study aimed to investigate if training in automated external defibrillation on the left side compared to the right side of a manikin improves left AED electrode placement. Methods Laypeople attending basic life support training were randomized to learn automated external defibrillation from the left or right side of a manikin. After course completion, participants used an AED and placed AED electrodes in a simulated cardiac arrest scenario. Results In total, 40 laypersons were randomized to AED training on the left (n=19 [missing data =1], 63% female, mean age: 47.3 years) and right (n=20, 75% female, mean age: 48.7 years) sides of a manikin. There was no difference in left AED electrode placement when trained on the left or right side: the mean (SD) distances to the recommended left AED electrode position were 5.9 (2.1) cm vs 6.9 (2.2) cm (p=0.15) and to the recommended right AED electrode position were 2.6 (1.5) cm vs 1.8 (0.8) cm (p=0.06), respectively. Conclusion Training in automated external defibrillation on the left side of a manikin does not improve left AED electrode placement compared to training on the right side. PMID:29066936

The temporolimbic system theory of positive schizophrenic symptoms.

PubMed

Bogerts, B

1997-01-01

This article proposes that subtle structural and functional disturbance of limbic key structures in the medial temporal lobe-especially of the left hippocampal formation and parahippocampal gyrus-can explain the so-called positive symptoms of schizophrenia. After presenting pathophysiological considerations linking limbic dysfunction to schizophrenia, the article reviews evidence from structural, biochemical, and functional studies supporting the theory. Also discussed here are neurodevelopmental and laterality aspects, as well as predictions, questions, and future tasks derived from the theory.

Differences in the neural correlates of frontal lobe tests.

PubMed

Matsuoka, Teruyuki; Kato, Yuka; Imai, Ayu; Fujimoto, Hiroshi; Shibata, Keisuke; Nakamura, Kaeko; Yamada, Kei; Narumoto, Jin

2018-01-01

The Executive Interview (EXIT25), the executive clock-drawing task (CLOX1), and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) are used to assess executive function at the bedside. These tests assess distinct psychometric properties. The aim of this study was to examine differences in the neural correlates of the EXIT25, CLOX1, and FAB based on magnetic resonance imaging. Fifty-eight subjects (30 with Alzheimer's disease, 10 with mild cognitive impairment, and 18 healthy controls) participated in this study. Multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the brain regions correlated with the EXIT25, CLOX1, and FAB scores. Age, gender, and years of education were included as covariates. Statistical thresholds were set to uncorrected P-values of 0.001 at the voxel level and 0.05 at the cluster level. The EXIT25 score correlated inversely with the regional grey matter volume in the left lateral frontal lobe (Brodmann areas 6, 9, 44, and 45). The CLOX1 score correlated positively with the regional grey matter volume in the right orbitofrontal cortex (Brodmann area 11) and the left supramarginal gyrus (Brodmann area 40). The FAB score correlated positively with the regional grey matter volume in the right precentral gyrus (Brodmann area 6). The left lateral frontal lobe (Brodmann area 9) and the right lateral frontal lobe (Brodmann area 46) were identified as common brain regions that showed association with EXIT25, CLOX1, and FAB based only a voxel-level threshold. The results of this study suggest that the EXIT25, CLOX1, and FAB may be associated with the distinct neural correlates of the frontal cortex. © 2018 Japanese Psychogeriatric Society.

Atypical temporal activation pattern and central-right brain compensation during semantic judgment task in children with early left brain damage.

PubMed

Chang, Yi-Tzu; Lin, Shih-Che; Meng, Ling-Fu; Fan, Yang-Teng

In this study we investigated the event-related potentials (ERPs) during the semantic judgment task (deciding if the two Chinese characters were semantically related or unrelated) to identify the timing of neural activation in children with early left brain damage (ELBD). The results demonstrated that compared with the controls, children with ELBD had (1) competitive accuracy and reaction time in the semantic judgment task, (2) weak operation of the N400, (3) stronger, earlier and later compensational positivities (referred to the enhanced P200, P250, and P600 amplitudes) in the central and right region of the brain to successfully engage in semantic judgment. Our preliminary findings indicate that temporally postlesional reorganization is in accordance with the proposed right-hemispheric organization of speech after early left-sided brain lesion. During semantic processing, the orthography has a greater effect on the children with ELBD, and a later semantic reanalysis (P600) is required due to the less efficient N400 at the former stage for semantic integration. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Material specific lateralization of medial temporal lobe function: An fMRI investigation.

PubMed

Dalton, Marshall A; Hornberger, Michael; Piguet, Olivier

2016-03-01

The theory of material specific lateralization of memory function posits that left and right MTL regions are asymmetrically involved in mnemonic processing of verbal and nonverbal material respectively. Lesion and functional imaging (fMRI) studies provide robust evidence for a left MTL asymmetry in the verbal memory domain. Evidence for a right MTL/nonverbal asymmetry is not as robust. A handful of fMRI studies have investigated this issue but have generally utilised nonverbal stimuli which are amenable to semantic elaboration. This fMRI study aimed to investigate the neural correlates of recognition memory processing in 20 healthy young adults (mean age = 26 years) for verbal stimuli and nonverbal stimuli that were specifically designed to minimize verbalisation. Analyses revealed that the neural correlates of recognition memory processing for verbal and nonverbal stimuli were differentiable and asymmetrically recruited the left and right MTL respectively. The right perirhinal cortex and hippocampus were preferentially involved in successful recognition memory of items devoid of semantic information. In contrast, the left anterior hippocampus was preferentially involved in successful recognition memory of stimuli which contained semantic meaning. These results suggest that the left MTL is preferentially involved in mnemonic processing of verbal/semantic information. In contrast, the right MTL is preferentially involved in visual/non-semantic mnemonic processing. We propose that during development, the left MTL becomes specialised for verbal mnemonic processing due to its proximity with left lateralised cortical language processing areas while visual/non-semantic mnemonic processing gets 'crowded out' to become predominantly, but not completely, the domain of the right MTL. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Play it again, Sam: brain correlates of emotional music recognition.

PubMed

Altenmüller, Eckart; Siggel, Susann; Mohammadi, Bahram; Samii, Amir; Münte, Thomas F

2014-01-01

Music can elicit strong emotions and can be remembered in connection with these emotions even decades later. Yet, the brain correlates of episodic memory for highly emotional music compared with less emotional music have not been examined. We therefore used fMRI to investigate brain structures activated by emotional processing of short excerpts of film music successfully retrieved from episodic long-term memory. Eighteen non-musicians volunteers were exposed to 60 structurally similar pieces of film music of 10 s length with high arousal ratings and either less positive or very positive valence ratings. Two similar sets of 30 pieces were created. Each of these was presented to half of the participants during the encoding session outside of the scanner, while all stimuli were used during the second recognition session inside the MRI-scanner. During fMRI each stimulation period (10 s) was followed by a 20 s resting period during which participants pressed either the "old" or the "new" button to indicate whether they had heard the piece before. Musical stimuli vs. silence activated the bilateral superior temporal gyrus, right insula, right middle frontal gyrus, bilateral medial frontal gyrus and the left anterior cerebellum. Old pieces led to activation in the left medial dorsal thalamus and left midbrain compared to new pieces. For recognized vs. not recognized old pieces a focused activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus and the left cerebellum was found. Positive pieces activated the left medial frontal gyrus, the left precuneus, the right superior frontal gyrus, the left posterior cingulate, the bilateral middle temporal gyrus, and the left thalamus compared to less positive pieces. Specific brain networks related to memory retrieval and emotional processing of symphonic film music were identified. The results imply that the valence of a music piece is important for memory performance and is recognized very fast.

Play it again, Sam: brain correlates of emotional music recognition

PubMed Central

Altenmüller, Eckart; Siggel, Susann; Mohammadi, Bahram; Samii, Amir; Münte, Thomas F.

2014-01-01

Background: Music can elicit strong emotions and can be remembered in connection with these emotions even decades later. Yet, the brain correlates of episodic memory for highly emotional music compared with less emotional music have not been examined. We therefore used fMRI to investigate brain structures activated by emotional processing of short excerpts of film music successfully retrieved from episodic long-term memory. Methods: Eighteen non-musicians volunteers were exposed to 60 structurally similar pieces of film music of 10 s length with high arousal ratings and either less positive or very positive valence ratings. Two similar sets of 30 pieces were created. Each of these was presented to half of the participants during the encoding session outside of the scanner, while all stimuli were used during the second recognition session inside the MRI-scanner. During fMRI each stimulation period (10 s) was followed by a 20 s resting period during which participants pressed either the “old” or the “new” button to indicate whether they had heard the piece before. Results: Musical stimuli vs. silence activated the bilateral superior temporal gyrus, right insula, right middle frontal gyrus, bilateral medial frontal gyrus and the left anterior cerebellum. Old pieces led to activation in the left medial dorsal thalamus and left midbrain compared to new pieces. For recognized vs. not recognized old pieces a focused activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus and the left cerebellum was found. Positive pieces activated the left medial frontal gyrus, the left precuneus, the right superior frontal gyrus, the left posterior cingulate, the bilateral middle temporal gyrus, and the left thalamus compared to less positive pieces. Conclusion: Specific brain networks related to memory retrieval and emotional processing of symphonic film music were identified. The results imply that the valence of a music piece is important for memory performance and is recognized very fast. PMID:24634661

Assessment of the Hemispheric Lateralization of Grapheme-Color Synesthesia with Stroop-Type Tests

PubMed Central

Ruiz, Mathieu J.; Hupé, Jean-Michel

2015-01-01

Grapheme-color synesthesia, the idiosyncratic, arbitrary association of colors to letters or numbers, develops in childhood once reading is mastered. Because language processing is strongly left-lateralized in most individuals, we hypothesized that grapheme-color synesthesia could be left-lateralized as well. We used synesthetic versions of the Stroop test with colored letters and numbers presented either in the right or the left visual field of thirty-four synesthetes. Interference by synesthetic colors was stronger for stimuli in the right hemifield (first experiment, color naming task). Synesthetes were also faster in the right hemifield when naming the synesthetic color of graphemes (second experiment). Overall, the lateralization effect was 7 ms (the 95% confidence interval was [1.5 12] ms), a delay compatible with an additional callosal transfer for stimuli presented in the left hemifield. Though weak, this effect suggests that the association of synesthetic colors to graphemes may be preferentially processed in the left hemisphere. We speculate that this left-lateralization could be a landmark of synesthetic grapheme-color associations, if not found for color associations learnt by non-synesthete adults. PMID:25793307

Rapid Categorization of Foveal and Extrafoveal Natural Images: Associated ERPs and Effects of Lateralization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fize, Denis; Fabre-Thorpe, Michele; Richard, Ghislaine; Doyon, Bernard; Thorpe, Simon J.

2005-01-01

Humans are fast and accurate at performing an animal categorization task with natural photographs briefly flashed centrally. Here, this central categorization task is compared to a three position task in which photographs could appear randomly either centrally, or at 3.6 [degrees] eccentricity (right or left) of the fixation point. A mild…

Influence of standing positions and beam projections on effective dose and eye lens dose of anaesthetists in interventional procedures.

PubMed

Kong, Y; Struelens, L; Vanhavere, F; Vargas, C S; Schoonjans, W; Zhuo, W H

2015-02-01

More and more anaesthetists are getting involved in interventional radiology procedures and so it is important to know the radiation dose and to optimise protection for anaesthetists. In this study, based on Monte Carlo simulations and field measurements, both the whole-body doses and eye lens dose of anaesthetists were studied. The results showed that the radiation exposure to anaesthetists not only depends on their workload, but also largely varies with their standing positions and beam projections during interventional procedures. The simulation results showed that the effective dose to anaesthetists may vary with their standing positions and beam projections to more than a factor of 10, and the eye lens dose may vary with the standing positions and beam projections to more than a factor of 200. In general, a close position to the bed and the left lateral (LLAT) beam projection will bring a high exposure to anaesthetists. Good correlations between the eye lens dose and the doses at the neck, chest and waist over the apron were observed from the field measurements. The results indicate that adequate arrangements of anaesthesia device or other monitoring equipment in the fluoroscopy rooms are useful measures to reduce the radiation exposure to anaesthetists, and anaesthetists should be aware that they will receive the highest doses under left lateral beam projection. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Cortical language lateralization in right handed normal subjects using functional magnetic resonance imaging.

PubMed

Vikingstad, E M; George, K P; Johnson, A F; Cao, Y

2000-04-01

In 95% of right handed individuals the left hemisphere is dominant for speech and language function. The evidence for this is accumulated primarily from clinical populations. We investigated cortical topography of language function and lateralization in a sample of the right handed population using functional magnetic resonance imaging and two lexical-semantic paradigms. Activated cortical language networks were assessed topographically and quantitatively by using a lateralization index. As a group, we observed left hemispheric language dominance. Individually, the lateralization index varied continuously from left hemisphere dominant to bilateral representation. In males, language primarily lateralized to left, and in females, approximately half had left lateralization and the other half had bilateral representation. Our data indicate that a previous view of female bilateral hemispheric dominance for language (McGlone, 1980. Sex differences in human brain asymmetry: a critical survey. Behav Brain Sci 3:215-263; Shaywitz et al., 1995. Sex differences in the functional organization of the brain for language. Nature 373:607-609) simplifies the complexity of cortical language distribution in this population. Analysis of the distribution of the lateralization index in our study allowed us to make this difference in females apparent.

Weights and measures: a new look at bisection behaviour in neglect.

PubMed

McIntosh, Robert D; Schindler, Igor; Birchall, Daniel; Milner, A David

2005-12-01

Horizontal line bisection is a ubiquitous task in the investigation of visual neglect. Patients with left neglect typically make rightward errors that increase with line length and for lines at more leftward positions. For short lines, or for lines presented in right space, these errors may 'cross over' to become leftward. We have taken a new approach to these phenomena by employing a different set of dependent and independent variables for their description. Rather than recording bisection error, we record the lateral position of the response within the workspace. We have studied how this varies when the locations of the left and right endpoints are manipulated independently. Across 30 patients with left neglect, we have observed a characteristic asymmetry between the 'weightings' accorded to the two endpoints, such that responses are less affected by changes in the location of the left endpoint than by changes in the location of the right. We show that a simple endpoint weightings analysis accounts readily for the effects of line length and spatial position, including cross-over effects, and leads to an index of neglect that is more sensitive than the standard measure. We argue that this novel approach is more parsimonious than the standard model and yields fresh insights into the nature of neglect impairment.

Learning to read an alphabet of human faces produces left-lateralized training effects in the fusiform gyrus.

PubMed

Moore, Michelle W; Durisko, Corrine; Perfetti, Charles A; Fiez, Julie A

2014-04-01

Numerous functional neuroimaging studies have shown that most orthographic stimuli, such as printed English words, produce a left-lateralized response within the fusiform gyrus (FG) at a characteristic location termed the visual word form area (VWFA). We developed an experimental alphabet (FaceFont) comprising 35 face-phoneme pairs to disentangle phonological and perceptual influences on the lateralization of orthographic processing within the FG. Using functional imaging, we found that a region in the vicinity of the VWFA responded to FaceFont words more strongly in trained versus untrained participants, whereas no differences were observed in the right FG. The trained response magnitudes in the left FG region correlated with behavioral reading performance, providing strong evidence that the neural tissue recruited by training supported the newly acquired reading skill. These results indicate that the left lateralization of the orthographic processing is not restricted to stimuli with particular visual-perceptual features. Instead, lateralization may occur because the anatomical projections in the vicinity of the VWFA provide a unique interconnection between the visual system and left-lateralized language areas involved in the representation of speech.

Emotion-related hemisphere asymmetry: subjective emotional responses to laterally presented films.

PubMed

Wittling, W; Roschmann, R

1993-09-01

To investigate whether the cerebral hemispheres differ in their subjective emotional responses 54 adult subjects were presented two films of different emotion-related qualities (positive and negative film) either to their left or right hemisphere. The films were exposed by means of a technique for the lateralization of visual input that allows prolonged viewing while permitting free ocular scanning. Subjective emotional responses were assessed by means of a continuous rating of emotional arousal experienced during the movie as well as by retrospective ratings of ten different emotional qualities. Presenting both films to the right hemisphere resulted in stronger subjective responses in the continuous emotion rating as well as in some retrospectively assessed ratings compared to left-hemispheric presentation. The effects were more pronounced for the negative film. Taken together, the findings suggest a higher responsiveness of the right hemisphere in subjective emotional experience.

[Rare case of upper respiratory tract obstruction secondary to massive hematoma of pharynx, larynx and trachea].

PubMed

Kozakiewicz, Jacek; Gierlotka, Agata; Dec, Maciej; Stockfish, Jerzy

2010-01-01

The rare case of 75-years-old female patient was presented in this paper. She reported hoarseness in addition to pharyngeal pain, dysphagia and medium level dyspnea. Her exploration revealed a wide hematoma of the left lateral wall of orohypopharynx spreading to the left aryepiglottic fold, left aryepiglottic cartilage, false and true vocal fold and later to left lateral and posterior tracheal wall. The patient did not require a control of airway by intubation or tracheotomy according to quick relief after pharmacological treatment.

Ultrasonography in the diagnosis of nasal bone fractures: a comparison with conventional radiography and computed tomography.

PubMed

Lee, In Sook; Lee, Jung-Hoon; Woo, Chang-Ki; Kim, Hak Jin; Sol, Yu Li; Song, Jong Woon; Cho, Kyu-Sup

2016-02-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the diagnostic efficacy of ultrasonography (US) with radiography and multi-detector computed tomography (CT) for the detection of nasal bone fractures. Forty-one patients with a nasal bone fracture who underwent prospective US examinations were included. Plain radiographs and CT images were obtained on the day of trauma. For US examinations, radiologist used a linear array transducer (L17-5 MHz) in 24 patients and hockey-stick probe (L15-7 MHz) in 17. The bony component of the nose was divided into three parts (right and left lateral nasal walls, and midline of nasal bone). Fracture detection by three modalities was subjected to analysis. Furthermore, findings made by each modality were compared with intraoperative findings. Nasal bone fractures were located in the right lateral wall (n = 28), midline of nasal bone (n = 31), or left lateral wall (n = 31). For right and left lateral nasal walls, CT had greater sensitivity and specificity than US or radiography, and better agreed with intraoperative findings. However, for midline fractures of nasal bone, US had higher specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value than CT. Although two US evaluations showed good agreements at all three sites, US findings obtained by the hockey-stick probe showed closer agreement with intraoperative findings for both lateral nasal wall and midline of nasal bone. Although CT showed higher sensitivity and specificity than US or radiography, US found to be helpful for evaluating the midline of nasal bone. Furthermore, for US examinations of the nasal bone, a smaller probe and higher frequency may be required.

The evolutionary psychology of left and right: costs and benefits of lateralization.

PubMed

Vallortigara, Giorgio

2006-09-01

Why do the left and right sides of the vertebrate brain play different functions? Having a lateralized brain, in which each hemisphere carries out different functions, is ubiquitous among vertebrates. The different specialization of the left and right side of the brain may increase brain efficiency--and some evidence for that is reported here. However, lateral biases due to brain lateralization (such as preferences in the use of a limb or, in animals with laterally placed eyes, of a visual hemifield) usually occur at the population level, with most individuals showing similar direction of bias. Individual brain efficiency does not require the alignment of lateralization in the population. Why then are not left--and right-type individuals equally common? Not only humans, but most vertebrates show a similar pattern. For instance, in the paper I report evidence that most toads, chickens, and fish react faster when a predator approaches from the left. I argue that invoking individual brain efficiency (lateralization may increase fitness), evolutionary chance or direct genetic mechanisms cannot explain this widespread pattern. Instead, using concepts from mathematical theory of games, I show that alignment of lateralization at the population level may arise as an "evolutionarily stable strategy" when individually asymmetrical organisms must coordinate their behavior with that of other asymmetrical organisms. Thus, the population structure of lateralization may result from genes specifying the direction of asymmetries which have been selected under "social" pressures.

Right-to-left shunt detection sensitivity with air-saline and air-succinil gelatin transcranial Doppler.

PubMed

Puledda, Francesca; Toscano, Massimiliano; Pieroni, Alessio; Veneroso, Gabriele; Di Piero, Vittorio; Vicenzini, Edoardo

2016-02-01

Air-saline transcranial Doppler is nowadays the first-choice examination to identify right-to-left shunt. To increase right-to-left shunt detection in echocardiography, cardiologists also use air-gelatin mixtures, which are more stable, more echogenic, and easier to be prepared. We assessed the sensitivity of air-gelatin compared with air-saline for transcranial Doppler right-to-left shunt detection. Air-saline transcranial Doppler, during unilateral middle cerebral artery monitoring at rest and after Valsalva maneuver, was performed in patients referred to our neurosonology laboratory for right-to-left shunt detection. The same transcranial Doppler protocol was repeated with air-gelatin. To consider transcranial Doppler positive for cardiac right-to-left shunt, at least one embolic signal had to be detected within 20″ from contrast injection. Later signals were interpreted of pulmonary origin. Trans-thoracic echocardiography was repeated with both air-saline and air-gelatin. A total of 97 patients were enrolled; 46 had negative transcranial Doppler for cardiac right-to-left shunt with both air-saline and air-gelatin; out of these, four patients with air-saline plus two more patients with air-gelatin presented late, isolated microemboli, slightly more numerous with air-gelatin: these were interpreted as pulmonary shunts and confirmed with trans-thoracic echocardiography. In 28 patients with already early positive air-saline transcranial Doppler at rest, air-gelatin induced a marked right-to-left shunt increase, facilitating its visualization at trans-thoracic echocardiography. In 23 patients in whom air-saline transcranial Doppler was negative at rest and positive for cardiac right-to-left shunt only after Valsalva maneuver, air-gelatin was able to reveal shunt also at rest. Air-gelatin increases right-to-left shunt detection sensitivity with transcranial Doppler in particular at rest, even in patients in whom air-saline mixture fails to identify the shunt. The choice of air-gelatin mixture should be considered for multicentric, clinical, and research trials. © 2016 World Stroke Organization.

Mechanical Strain Determines Cilia Length, Motility, and Planar Position in the Left-Right Organizer.

PubMed

Chien, Yuan-Hung; Srinivasan, Shyam; Keller, Ray; Kintner, Chris

2018-05-07

The Xenopus left-right organizer (LRO) breaks symmetry along the left-right axis of the early embryo by producing and sensing directed ciliary flow as a patterning cue. To carry out this process, the LRO contains different ciliated cell types that vary in cilia length, whether they are motile or sensory, and how they position their cilia along the anterior-posterior (A-P) planar axis. Here, we show that these different cilia features are specified in the prospective LRO during gastrulation, based on anisotropic mechanical strain that is oriented along the A-P axis, and graded in levels along the medial-lateral axis. Strain instructs ciliated cell differentiation by acting on a mesodermal prepattern present at blastula stages, involving foxj1. We propose that differential strain is a graded, developmental cue, linking the establishment of an A-P planar axis to cilia length, motility, and planar location during formation of the Xenopus LRO. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Handedness is related to neural mechanisms underlying hemispheric lateralization of face processing

PubMed Central

Frässle, Stefan; Krach, Sören; Paulus, Frieder Michel; Jansen, Andreas

2016-01-01

While the right-hemispheric lateralization of the face perception network is well established, recent evidence suggests that handedness affects the cerebral lateralization of face processing at the hierarchical level of the fusiform face area (FFA). However, the neural mechanisms underlying differential hemispheric lateralization of face perception in right- and left-handers are largely unknown. Using dynamic causal modeling (DCM) for fMRI, we aimed to unravel the putative processes that mediate handedness-related differences by investigating the effective connectivity in the bilateral core face perception network. Our results reveal an enhanced recruitment of the left FFA in left-handers compared to right-handers, as evidenced by more pronounced face-specific modulatory influences on both intra- and interhemispheric connections. As structural and physiological correlates of handedness-related differences in face processing, right- and left-handers varied with regard to their gray matter volume in the left fusiform gyrus and their pupil responses to face stimuli. Overall, these results describe how handedness is related to the lateralization of the core face perception network, and point to different neural mechanisms underlying face processing in right- and left-handers. In a wider context, this demonstrates the entanglement of structurally and functionally remote brain networks, suggesting a broader underlying process regulating brain lateralization. PMID:27250879

Handedness is related to neural mechanisms underlying hemispheric lateralization of face processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frässle, Stefan; Krach, Sören; Paulus, Frieder Michel; Jansen, Andreas

2016-06-01

While the right-hemispheric lateralization of the face perception network is well established, recent evidence suggests that handedness affects the cerebral lateralization of face processing at the hierarchical level of the fusiform face area (FFA). However, the neural mechanisms underlying differential hemispheric lateralization of face perception in right- and left-handers are largely unknown. Using dynamic causal modeling (DCM) for fMRI, we aimed to unravel the putative processes that mediate handedness-related differences by investigating the effective connectivity in the bilateral core face perception network. Our results reveal an enhanced recruitment of the left FFA in left-handers compared to right-handers, as evidenced by more pronounced face-specific modulatory influences on both intra- and interhemispheric connections. As structural and physiological correlates of handedness-related differences in face processing, right- and left-handers varied with regard to their gray matter volume in the left fusiform gyrus and their pupil responses to face stimuli. Overall, these results describe how handedness is related to the lateralization of the core face perception network, and point to different neural mechanisms underlying face processing in right- and left-handers. In a wider context, this demonstrates the entanglement of structurally and functionally remote brain networks, suggesting a broader underlying process regulating brain lateralization.

fMRI activation in the middle frontal gyrus as an indicator of hemispheric dominance for language in brain tumor patients: a comparison with Broca's area

PubMed Central

Dong, Jian W.; Brennan, Nicole M. Petrovich; Izzo, Giana; Peck, Kyung K.; Holodny, Andrei I.

2016-01-01

Introduction Functional MRI (fMRI) can assess language lateralization in brain tumor patients; however, this can be limited if the primary language area—Broca's area (BA)—is affected by the tumor. We hypothesized that the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) can be used as a clinical indicator of hemispheric dominance for language during presurgical workup. Methods Fifty-two right-handed subjects with solitary left-hemispheric primary brain tumors were retrospectively studied. Subjects performed a verbal fluency task during fMRI. The MFG was compared to BA for fMRI voxel activation, language laterality index (LI), and the effect of tumor grade on the LI. Results Language fMRI (verbal fluency) activated more voxels in MFG than in BA (MFG = 315, BA = 216, p < 0.001). Voxel activations in the left-hemispheric MFG and BA were positively correlated (r = 0.69, p < 0.001). Mean LI in the MFG was comparable to that in BA (MFG = 0.48, BA = 0.39, p = 0.06). LIs in MFG and BA were positively correlated (r = 0.62, p < 0.001). Subjects with high-grade tumors demonstrate lower language lateralization than those with low-grade tumors in both BA and MFG (p = 0.02, p = 0.02, respectively). Conclusion MFG is comparable to BA in its ability to indicate hemispheric dominance for language using a measure of verbal fluency and may be an adjunct measure in the clinical determination of language laterality for presurgical planning. PMID:26847705

fMRI activation in the middle frontal gyrus as an indicator of hemispheric dominance for language in brain tumor patients: a comparison with Broca's area.

PubMed

Dong, Jian W; Brennan, Nicole M Petrovich; Izzo, Giana; Peck, Kyung K; Holodny, Andrei I

2016-05-01

Functional MRI (fMRI) can assess language lateralization in brain tumor patients; however, this can be limited if the primary language area-Broca's area (BA)-is affected by the tumor. We hypothesized that the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) can be used as a clinical indicator of hemispheric dominance for language during presurgical workup. Fifty-two right-handed subjects with solitary left-hemispheric primary brain tumors were retrospectively studied. Subjects performed a verbal fluency task during fMRI. The MFG was compared to BA for fMRI voxel activation, language laterality index (LI), and the effect of tumor grade on the LI. Language fMRI (verbal fluency) activated more voxels in MFG than in BA (MFG = 315, BA = 216, p < 0.001). Voxel activations in the left-hemispheric MFG and BA were positively correlated (r = 0.69, p < 0.001). Mean LI in the MFG was comparable to that in BA (MFG = 0.48, BA = 0.39, p = 0.06). LIs in MFG and BA were positively correlated (r = 0.62, p < 0.001). Subjects with high-grade tumors demonstrate lower language lateralization than those with low-grade tumors in both BA and MFG (p = 0.02, p = 0.02, respectively). MFG is comparable to BA in its ability to indicate hemispheric dominance for language using a measure of verbal fluency and may be an adjunct measure in the clinical determination of language laterality for presurgical planning.

Adrenal venous sampling in primary aldosteronism: multinomial regression modeling to detect aldosterone secretion lateralization when right adrenal sampling is missing.

PubMed

Durivage, Camille; Blanchette, Rémi; Soulez, Gilles; Chagnon, Miguel; Gilbert, Patrick; Giroux, Marie-France; Bourdeau, Isabelle; Oliva, Vincent L; Lacroix, André; Therasse, Eric

2017-02-01

Difficulty to recognize or canulate the right adrenal vein is the most frequent cause of adrenal venous sampling (AVS) failure. We aimed to assess multinomial regression modeling (MRM) of peripheral and left adrenal vein samplings to detect lateralization of aldosterone secretion when the right AVS is missing. Simultaneous bilateral AVS samplings were performed before (basal) and after intravenous cosyntropin injection in 188 consecutive patients between December 1989 and September 2015. Different reference standards for lateralization of aldosterone secretion were defined for basal and for postcosyntropin AVS and according to lateralization index cutoffs at least 2 and at least 4. MRMs were built to detect lateralization of aldosterone secretion according to these reference standards using only peripheral and left adrenal veins samplings (without the right AVS). Detection accuracy was assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves and detection sensitivities were reported for specificity at least 95%. For basal AVS with lateralization index at least 2, AUROC were respectively 0.931 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.894-0.968] and 0.922 (95% CI 0.882-0.962) for right and left lateralization of aldosterone secretion detection and MRM could detect respectively 65.5 and 62.7% of the right and left lateralization of aldosterone secretion. For AVS after cosyntropin with lateralization index at least 4, AUROC were respectively 0.964 (95% CI: 0.940-0.987) and 0.955 (95% CI: 0.927-0.983) for right and left lateralization of aldosterone secretion, and MRM could detect respectively 77.2 and 72.9% of the right and left lateralization of aldosterone secretion. MRM can detect lateralization of aldosterone secretion without the right AVS in most patients and could eliminate the need for repeat AVS when right adrenal vein canulation is nonselective or impossible.

Effect of familial sinistrality on planum temporale surface and brain tissue asymmetries.

PubMed

Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie; Simon, Gregory; Crivello, Fabrice; Jobard, Gael; Zago, Laure; Perchey, Guy; Hervé, Pierre-Yves; Joliot, Marc; Petit, Laurent; Mellet, Emmanuel; Mazoyer, Bernard

2010-06-01

The impact of having left-handers (LHs) among one's close relatives, called familial sinistrality (FS), on neuroanatomical markers of left-hemisphere language specialization was studied in 274 normal adults, including 199 men and 75 women, among whom 77 men and 27 women were positive for FS. Measurements of the surface of a phonological cortical area, the "planum temporale" (PT), and gray and white matter hemispheric volumes and asymmetries were made using brain magnetic resonance images. The size of the left PT of subjects with left-handed close relatives (FS+) was reduced by 10%, decreasing with the number of left-handed relatives, and lowest when the subject's mother was left-handed. Such findings had no counterparts in the right hemisphere, and the subject's handedness and sex were found to have no significant effect or interaction with FS on the left PT size. The FS+ subjects also exhibited increased gray matter volume, reduced hemispheric gray matter leftward asymmetry, and, in LHs, reduced strength of hand preference. These results add to the increasing body of evidence suggesting multiple and somewhat independent mechanisms for the inheritance of hand and language lateralization.

Degree, but not direction of grip strength asymmetries, is related to depression and anxiety in an elderly population.

PubMed

Yu, Junhong; Rawtaer, Iris; Mahendran, Rathi; Kua, Ee-Heok; Feng, Lei

2017-05-01

Despite the abundance of studies on asymmetries in manual laterality, a marker for atypical brain lateralization in depression and anxiety, findings in this area are mixed. Traditionally, research have looked at individual differences in depression and anxiety as a function of the direction of asymmetry. However, recent research has emphasized on studying the degree of asymmetry in addition to its direction. To these ends, the present study aims to unravel the associations between the degree and direction of manual lateralization, and depression/anxiety. Cognitively healthy elderlies (N = 326, 91 males, M age  = 68) were administered grip strength assessments on both hands and self-report measures of depression and anxiety. Partial correlation analyses controlling for age, education and sex revealed significant positive associations between degree of lateralization and anxiety in the overall sample and among right-dominant participants, as well as a significant positive relationship between degree of lateralization and depression among right-dominant participants. None of the correlations involving the direction of lateralization yielded significance, neither was there significant differences between left- and right-dominant participants on depression and anxiety scores. These findings suggest that the degree of manual lateralization, but not direction, is related to depression and anxiety at least among right-dominant individuals.

Evaluation of Pleasure-Displeasure Induced by Use of Lipsticks with Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS): Usefulness of 2-Channel NIRS in Neuromarketing.

PubMed

Tanida, M; Okabe, M; Tagai, K; Sakatani, K

2017-01-01

In order to examine whether near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) would be a useful neuromarketing tool, we employed NIRS to evaluate the difference of pleasure-displeasure in women, induced by the use of different types of lipsticks. The subjects used lipsticks A and B; A is softer than B. Concentration changes of oxy-Hb were measured in the bilateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) during use of lipsticks A and B. We evaluated the right and left dominancy of PFC activity by calculating the Laterality Index (LI) (LI = leftΔoxy-Hb - rightΔoxy-Hb); positive LI indicates left-dominant activity while negative LI indicate right-dominant activity. We found a significant interaction between the use of lipsticks A and B, using a two-way factorial analysis of variance [F(1,13) = 9.63, p < 0.01]; Δoxy-Hb in the left PFC was larger than that in the right PFC during the use of lipstick A, while Δoxy-Hb in the right PFC tended to be larger than that in the left PFC during the use of lipstick B (p < 0.1). The LI of lipstick A was larger than that of lipstick B (paired T-test, p = 0.0083). We suggest that lipstick A caused a more positive emotional response than lipstick B, since greater left than right frontal cortical activity is associated with positive affect. These results suggest that 2-channel NIRS may be a useful neuromarketing tool, since it allows objective assessment of pleasure-unpleasure.

Language and arithmetic--a study using the intracarotid amobarbital procedure.

PubMed

Delazer, Margarete; Karner, Elfriede; Unterberger, Iris; Walser, Gerald; Waldenberger, Peter; Trinka, Eugen; Benke, Thomas

2005-08-22

The intracarotid amobarbital procedure is used as a standard procedure in presurgical evaluation to assess hemispheric lateralization of language and memory, but has not been applied to investigate numerical processing. Patients with medically intractable epilepsy (n=20) were consecutively recruited during a presurgical evaluation programme. All 14 patients with left-lateralized language showed better arithmetic performance with the left hemisphere (intracarotid amobarbital procedure right), while five out of six patients with bilateral or right-hemispheric language representation showed better performance with the right hemisphere (intracarotid amobarbital procedure left). Furthermore, in patients with left-lateralized language, an interaction between intracarotid amobarbital procedure and type of arithmetic operation was found. The study suggests a close association between language lateralization and hemispheric specialization for arithmetic processing.

Tract-Specific Diffusion Tensor Imaging Reveals Laterality of Neurological Symptoms in Patients with Cervical Compression Myelopathy.

PubMed

Maki, Satoshi; Koda, Masao; Saito, Junya; Takahashi, Sho; Inada, Taigo; Kamiya, Koshiro; Ota, Mitsutoshi; Iijima, Yasushi; Masuda, Yoshitada; Matsumoto, Koji; Kojima, Masatoshi; Takahashi, Kazuhisa; Obata, Takayuki; Yamazaki, Masashi; Furuya, Takeo

2016-12-01

Patients with cervical compression myelopathy (CCM) generally present bilateral neurological symptoms in their extremities. However, a substantial portion of patients with CCM exhibit laterality of neurological symptoms. The aim of this study was to assess the correlation between intrinsic structural damage and laterality of symptoms using spinal cord diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of the corticospinal tract. We enrolled 10 healthy volunteers and 40 patients with CCM in this study. We evaluated motor function using the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) motor score for left and right extremities. For DTI acquisitions, a 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging system with diffusion-weighted spin-echo sequence was used. Regions-of-interest in the lateral column tracts were determined. We determined the correlations between fractional anisotropy (FA) and ASIA motor scores. An FA asymmetry index was calculated using left and right regions-of-interest. Four patients exhibited laterality of symptoms in their extremities, for which left and right ASIA scores correlated moderately with FA in the left and right lateral columns, respectively (left: ρ = 0.64, P < 0.001; right: ρ = 0.67, P < 0.001). The area under the receiver-operator characteristic curve showed that the FA asymmetry index indicated laterality of symptoms. Using tract-specific DTI, we demonstrated that microstructural damages in the left and right corticospinal tracts correlated with corresponding neurological symptoms in the ipsilateral side and the FA asymmetry index could indicate laterality in neurological symptoms of patients with CCM. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How brain asymmetry relates to performance – a large-scale dichotic listening study

PubMed Central

Hirnstein, Marco; Hugdahl, Kenneth; Hausmann, Markus

2014-01-01

All major mental functions including language, spatial and emotional processing are lateralized but how strongly and to which hemisphere is subject to inter- and intraindividual variation. Relatively little, however, is known about how the degree and direction of lateralization affect how well the functions are carried out, i.e., how lateralization and task performance are related. The present study therefore examined the relationship between lateralization and performance in a dichotic listening task for which we had data available from 1839 participants. In this task, consonant-vowel syllables are presented simultaneously to the left and right ear, such that each ear receives a different syllable. When asked which of the two they heard best, participants typically report more syllables from the right ear, which is a marker of left-hemispheric speech dominance. We calculated the degree of lateralization (based on the difference between correct left and right ear reports) and correlated it with overall response accuracy (left plus right ear reports). In addition, we used reference models to control for statistical interdependency between left and right ear reports. The results revealed a u-shaped relationship between degree of lateralization and overall accuracy: the stronger the left or right ear advantage, the better the overall accuracy. This u-shaped asymmetry-performance relationship consistently emerged in males, females, right-/non-right-handers, and different age groups. Taken together, the present study demonstrates that performance on lateralized language functions depends on how strongly these functions are lateralized. The present study further stresses the importance of controlling for statistical interdependency when examining asymmetry-performance relationships in general. PMID:24427151

Neural competition as a developmental process: early hemispheric specialization for word processing delays specialization for face processing.

PubMed

Li, Su; Lee, Kang; Zhao, Jing; Yang, Zhi; He, Sheng; Weng, Xuchu

2013-04-01

Little is known about the impact of learning to read on early neural development for word processing and its collateral effects on neural development in non-word domains. Here, we examined the effect of early exposure to reading on neural responses to both word and face processing in preschool children with the use of the Event Related Potential (ERP) methodology. We specifically linked children's reading experience (indexed by their sight vocabulary) to two major neural markers: the amplitude differences between the left and right N170 on the bilateral posterior scalp sites and the hemispheric spectrum power differences in the γ band on the same scalp sites. The results showed that the left-lateralization of both the word N170 and the spectrum power in the γ band were significantly positively related to vocabulary. In contrast, vocabulary and the word left-lateralization both had a strong negative direct effect on the face right-lateralization. Also, vocabulary negatively correlated with the right-lateralized face spectrum power in the γ band even after the effects of age and the word spectrum power were partialled out. The present study provides direct evidence regarding the role of reading experience in the neural specialization of word and face processing above and beyond the effect of maturation. The present findings taken together suggest that the neural development of visual word processing competes with that of face processing before the process of neural specialization has been consolidated. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Laterality related to the successive selection of Dutch national youth soccer players.

PubMed

Verbeek, Jan; Elferink-Gemser, Marije T; Jonker, Laura; Huijgen, Barbara C H; Visscher, Chris

2017-11-01

In the general population, estimates of left-foot preference are around 20%. In soccer, specific tasks create positional demands, requiring 40% of the players to be left-footed. Whether and how this is related to the selection of players is unknown. To examine the successive selection of soccer players for Dutch national youth teams in relation to foot preference, 280 youth players (age = 16.2 ± 1.08 years) were monitored from the U16 through the U19 teams over the last 5 years. No difference in successive selection between left- and right-footed players was found (p < 0.05). Regardless of foot preference, more than 50% of the selected players were deselected out of a national youth team after 2 years. On average, 31% of the national youth players were left-footed, which is higher than expected, based on population estimates (χ 2 (1) = 37.49, p < 0.001, w = 0.27). However, there was an under-representation of left-footed players, based on expected positional demands (i.e., attack, midfield, defence) (χ 2 (1) = 16.83, p < 0.001, w = 0.18). The conclusion is that left-foot preference increases the probability of selection in Dutch national youth soccer teams.

Further Evidence of Asymmetrical Processing of Tachistoscopic Inputs in Undergraduates across Sex, Handedness, Field-Side, and Fixation Instructions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iaccino, James F.

A study examined laterality effects observed in previous studies in which men as well as right-handers show a right-visual field (RVF) advantage for letter recall and a left-visual field (LVF) advantage for letter position recall, suggesting asymmetrical brain organization for these groups. Subjects, 96 undergraduates equally divided by sex and…

Transvenous pacemaker electrodes placed unintentionally in the left ventricle: three cases.

PubMed Central

Winner, S. J.; Boon, N. A.

1989-01-01

Three patients are described in whom pacemaker electrodes were unintentionally placed within the left ventricle, followed by considerable delay before the error was recognized. In two cases temporary pacemaker wires were inserted into the subclavian artery and passed along a retrograde course. One patient required urgent surgery for acute arterial obstruction on removal of the wire. In the third case, a permanent wire was inserted correctly into a vein but traversed the atrial septum, probably via a patent foramen ovale, to enter the left ventricle. Twelve lead electrocardiograms in all three patients showed paced complexes with right bundle branch block configuration. This appearance should raise suspicion that the pacemaker electrode might be in the left ventricle, in which case its position should be defined by chest radiographs (including a lateral view) and echocardiography. Images Figure 1 Figure 3 Figure 4 PMID:2780472

Language Lateralization Shifts with Learning by Adults

PubMed Central

Plante, Elena; Almryde, Kyle; Patterson, Dianne K.; Vance, Christopher J.; Asbjørnsen, Arve E.

2014-01-01

For the majority of the population, language is a left hemisphere lateralized function. During childhood, a pattern of increasing left lateralization for language has been described in brain imaging studies, suggesting this trait develops. This development could reflect change due to brain maturation or change due to skill acquisition, given that children acquire and refine language skills as they mature. We test the possibility that skill acquisition, independent of age-associated maturation can result in shifts in language lateralization in classic language cortex. We imaged adults exposed to unfamiliar language during three successive fMRI scans. Participants were then asked to identify specific words embedded in Norwegian sentences. Exposure to these sentences, relative to complex tones, resulted in consistent activation in the left and right superior temporal gyrus. Activation in this region became increasingly left lateralized with repeated exposure to the unfamiliar language. These results demonstrate that shifts in lateralization can be produced in the short-term within a learning context, independent of maturation. PMID:25285756

Learning to Read an Alphabet of Human Faces Produces Left-lateralized Training Effects in the Fusiform Gyrus

PubMed Central

Moore, Michelle W.; Durisko, Corrine; Perfetti, Charles A.; Fiez, Julie A.

2014-01-01

Numerous functional neuroimaging studies have shown that most orthographic stimuli, such as printed English words, produce a left-lateralized response within the fusiform gyrus (FG) at a characteristic location termed the visual word form area (VWFA). We developed an experimental alphabet (FaceFont) comprising 35 face–phoneme pairs to disentangle phonological and perceptual influences on the lateralization of orthographic processing within the FG. Using functional imaging, we found that a region in the vicinity of the VWFA responded to FaceFont words more strongly in trained versus untrained participants, whereas no differences were observed in the right FG. The trained response magnitudes in the left FG region correlated with behavioral reading performance, providing strong evidence that the neural tissue recruited by training supported the newly acquired reading skill. These results indicate that the left lateralization of the orthographic processing is not restricted to stimuli with particular visual-perceptual features. Instead, lateralization may occur because the anatomical projections in the vicinity of the VWFA provide a unique interconnection between the visual system and left-lateralized language areas involved in the representation of speech. PMID:24168219

Physiological Laterality of Superficial Cerebral Veins on Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging.

PubMed

Matsushima, Satoshi; Shimizu, Tetsuya; Gomi, Taku; Fukuda, Kunihiko

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether laterality of the superficial cerebral veins can be seen on susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) in patients with no intracranial lesions that affect venous visualization. We retrospectively evaluated 386 patients who underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging including SWI in our institute. Patients with a lesion with the potential to affect venous visualization on SWI were excluded. Two neuroradiologists visually evaluated the findings and scored the visualization of the superficial cerebral veins. Of the 386 patients, 315 (81.6%) showed no obvious laterality on venous visualization, 64 (16.6%) showed left-side dominant laterality, and 7 (1.8%) showed right-side dominant laterality. Left-side dominant physiological laterality exists in the visualization of the superficial cerebral veins on SWI. Therefore, when recognizing left-side dominant laterality of the superficial cerebral veins on SWI, the radiologist must also consider the possibility of physiological laterality.

Retroperitoneal ectopic pregnancy: a case report and review of the literature.

PubMed

Yang, Man; Cidan, Lamu; Zhang, Dan

2017-10-16

Retroperitoneal ectopic pregnancy (REP) is an extremely rare type of ectopic pregnancy, with a total of less than 20 cases reported in the English literature. However, failure to recognize REP may result in severe consequences. We report a case of 32-year-old woman with REP. She had amenorrhea, left lower abdominal pain, but no vaginal bleeding. Her urine human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) test was positive and blood HCG level was 1880 m-international units per milliliter (mIU/mL). Transvaginal ultrasound sonography showed a left adnexal mass. Laparoscopy found an enlarged uterus, normal right uterine tube and ovary, and normal left uterine tube. The left ovary was partly covered by a blood clot, but appeared normal after removing the clot. There was a 10-mm circular peritoneal defect located lateral to the left sacrocervical ligament, anterior to the left ovarian fossa, and next to the lower edge of the left broad ligament. The patient was diagnosed of having REP with the gestational tissues covered by the peritoneum. The REP was removed by laparoscopic surgery. Bleeding was stopped by bipolar coagulation and absorbable hemostatic cellulose. The patient recovered smoothly and was discharged on the next day after surgery. Her blood HCG returned to normal range 29 days after surgery. REP is very rare, but in any suspected case of ectopic pregnancy, caution must be paid to find signs of REP when the common sites of ectopic pregnancy do not have any positive findings.

Behavioural laterality as a factor in emotional regulation.

PubMed

Rempala, Daniel M

2014-01-01

Individuals who perform a variety of tasks using one side of their bodies (i.e., high-dominance people) are thought to differ from individuals who perform a variety of tasks with both sides of their body (i.e., low-dominance people) in several neurological and cognitive characteristics. We examined whether behavioural laterality predicted the efficacy of different emotional regulation strategies. Specifically, we thought that behavioural laterality would influence verbal strategies (associated with left hemisphere activation) when regulating anxiety (associated with right hemisphere activation). In three studies participants presented in front of small audiences. Behavioural laterality (as measured by a modified handedness inventory) positively correlated with presentation anxiety, such that "low-dominance" participants reported less anxiety than "high-dominance" participants, but only when using cognitive reappraisal (a verbal strategy), not attention deployment or response modulation (behavioural strategies). These results provide preliminary evidence that individual differences in behavioural laterality mediate the efficacy of certain emotional regulation strategies.

Using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography to assess language lateralisation: Influence of task and difficulty level

PubMed Central

Badcock, Nicholas A.; Nye, Abigail; Bishop, Dorothy V. M.

2011-01-01

Language is lateralised to the left hemisphere in most people, but it is unclear whether the same degree and direction of lateralisation is found for all verbal tasks and whether laterality is affected by task difficulty. We used functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (fTCD) to assess the lateralisation of language processing in 27 young adults using three tasks: word generation (WG), auditory naming (AN), and picture story (PS). WG and AN are active tasks requiring behavioural responses whereas PS is a passive task that involves listening to an auditory story accompanied by pictures. We also examined the effect of task difficulty by a post hoc behavioural categorisation of trials in the WG task and a word frequency manipulation in the AN task. fTCD was used to measure task-dependent blood flow velocity changes in the left and right middle cerebral arteries. All of these tasks were significantly left lateralised: WG, 77% of individuals left, 5% right; AN, 72% left: 4% right; PS, 56% left: 0% right. There were significant positive relationships between WG and AN (r = 0.56) as well as AN and PS (r = .76) but not WG and PS (r = −0.22). The task difficulty manipulation affected accuracy in both WG and AN tasks, as well as reaction time in the AN task, but did not significantly influence laterality indices in either task. It is concluded that verbal tasks are not interchangeable when assessing cerebral lateralisation, but that differences between tasks are not a consequence of task difficulty. PMID:23098198

Mandibular kinematic changes after unilateral cross-bite with lateral shift correction.

PubMed

Venancio, F; Alarcon, J A; Lenguas, L; Kassem, M; Martin, C

2014-10-01

The aim of this randomised prospective study was to evaluate the effects of slow maxillary expansion with expansion plates and Hyrax expanders on the kinematics of the mandible after cross-bite correction. Thirty children (15 boys and 15 girls), aged 7·1-11·8, with unilateral cross-bite and functional shift were divided into two groups: expansion plate (n = 15) and Hyrax expander (n = 15). Thirty children with normal occlusion (14 boys and 16 girls, aged 7·3-11·6) served as control group. The maximum vertical opening, lateral mandibular shift (from maximum vertical opening to maximum intercuspation, from rest position to maximum intercuspation and from maximum vertical opening to rest position) and lateral excursions were recorded before and 4 months after treatment. After treatment, the expansion plate group showed a greater lateral shift from rest position to maximum intercuspation than did the control group. The expansion plate patients also presented greater left/contralateral excursion than did the control group. Comparisons of changes after treatment in the cross-bite groups showed significant decreases in the lateral shift from the maximum vertical opening to maximum intercuspation and from the maximum vertical opening to rest position, a significant increase in the homolateral excursion and a significant decrease in the contralateral excursion in the Hyrax expander group, whereas no significant differences were found in the expansion plate group. In conclusion, the Hyrax expander showed better results than did the expansion plate. The Hyrax expander with acrylic occlusal covering significantly improved the mandibular lateral shift and normalised the range of lateral excursion. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Tics are caused by alterations in prefrontal areas, thalamus and putamen, while changes in the cingulate gyrus reflect secondary compensatory mechanisms.

PubMed

Müller-Vahl, Kirsten R; Grosskreutz, Julian; Prell, Tino; Kaufmann, Jörn; Bodammer, Nils; Peschel, Thomas

2014-01-07

Despite strong evidence that the pathophysiology of Tourette syndrome (TS) involves structural and functional disturbances of the basal ganglia and cortical frontal areas, findings from in vivo imaging studies have provided conflicting results. In this study we used whole brain diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate the microstructural integrity of white matter pathways and brain tissue in 19 unmedicated, adult, male patients with TS "only" (without comorbid psychiatric disorders) and 20 age- and sex-matched control subjects. Compared to normal controls, TS patients showed a decrease in the fractional anisotropy index (FA) bilaterally in the medial frontal gyrus, the pars opercularis of the left inferior frontal gyrus, the middle occipital gyrus, the right cingulate gyrus, and the medial premotor cortex. Increased apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps were detected in the left cingulate gyrus, prefrontal areas, left precentral gyrus, and left putamen. There was a negative correlation between tic severity and FA values in the left superior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus bilaterally, cingulate gyrus bilaterally, and ventral posterior lateral nucleus of the right thalamus, and a positive correlation in the body of the corpus callosum, left thalamus, right superior temporal gyrus, and left parahippocampal gyrus. There was also a positive correlation between regional ADC values and tic severity in the left cingulate gyrus, putamen bilaterally, medial frontal gyrus bilaterally, left precentral gyrus, and ventral anterior nucleus of the left thalamus. Our results confirm prior studies suggesting that tics are caused by alterations in prefrontal areas, thalamus and putamen, while changes in the cingulate gyrus seem to reflect secondary compensatory mechanisms. Due to the study design, influences from comorbidities, gender, medication and age can be excluded.

Effect of maternal position on fetal behavioural state and heart rate variability in healthy late gestation pregnancy

PubMed Central

Burgess, Wendy; McIntyre, Jordan P. R.; Gunn, Alistair J.; Lear, Christopher A.; Bennet, Laura; Mitchell, Edwin A.; Thompson, John M. D.

2016-01-01

Key points Fetal behavioural state in healthy late gestation pregnancy is affected by maternal position.Fetal state 1F is more likely to occur in maternal supine or right lateral positions.Fetal state 4F is less likely to occur when the woman lies supine or semi‐recumbent.Fetal state change is more likely when the woman is supine or semi‐recumbent.Fetal heart rate variability is affected by maternal position with variability reduced in supine and semi‐recumbent positions. Abstract Fetal behavioural states (FBS) are measures of fetal wellbeing. In acute hypoxaemia, the human fetus adapts to a lower oxygen consuming state with changes in the cardiotocograph and reduced fetal activity. Recent studies of late gestation stillbirth described the importance of sleep position in the risk of intrauterine death. We designed this study to assess the effects of different maternal positions on FBS in healthy late gestation pregnancies under controlled conditions. Twenty‐nine healthy women had continuous fetal ECG recordings under standardized conditions in four randomly allocated positions, left lateral, right lateral, supine and semi‐recumbent. Two blinded observers, assigned fetal states in 5 min blocks. Measures of fetal heart rate variability were calculated from ECG beat to beat data. Compared to state 2F, state 4F was less likely to occur when women were semi‐recumbent [odds ratio (OR) = 0.11, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.02, 0.55], and supine (OR = 0.27, 95% CI 0.07, 1.10). State 1F was more likely on the right (OR = 2.36, 95% CI 1.11, 5.04) or supine (OR = 4.99, 95% CI 2.41, 10.43) compared to the left. State change was more likely when the mother was semi‐recumbent (OR = 2.17, 95% CI 1.19, 3.95) or supine (OR = 2.67, 95% CI 1.46, 4.85). There was a significant association of maternal position to mean fetal heart rate. The measures of heart rate variability (SDNN and RMSSD) were reduced in both semi‐recumbent and supine positions. In healthy late gestation pregnancy, maternal position affects FBS and heart rate variability. These effects are likely fetal adaptations to positions which may produce a mild hypoxic stress. PMID:27871127

Effect of maternal position on fetal behavioural state and heart rate variability in healthy late gestation pregnancy.

PubMed

Stone, Peter R; Burgess, Wendy; McIntyre, Jordan P R; Gunn, Alistair J; Lear, Christopher A; Bennet, Laura; Mitchell, Edwin A; Thompson, John M D

2017-02-15

Fetal behavioural state in healthy late gestation pregnancy is affected by maternal position. Fetal state 1F is more likely to occur in maternal supine or right lateral positions. Fetal state 4F is less likely to occur when the woman lies supine or semi-recumbent. Fetal state change is more likely when the woman is supine or semi-recumbent. Fetal heart rate variability is affected by maternal position with variability reduced in supine and semi-recumbent positions. Fetal behavioural states (FBS) are measures of fetal wellbeing. In acute hypoxaemia, the human fetus adapts to a lower oxygen consuming state with changes in the cardiotocograph and reduced fetal activity. Recent studies of late gestation stillbirth described the importance of sleep position in the risk of intrauterine death. We designed this study to assess the effects of different maternal positions on FBS in healthy late gestation pregnancies under controlled conditions. Twenty-nine healthy women had continuous fetal ECG recordings under standardized conditions in four randomly allocated positions, left lateral, right lateral, supine and semi-recumbent. Two blinded observers, assigned fetal states in 5 min blocks. Measures of fetal heart rate variability were calculated from ECG beat to beat data. Compared to state 2F, state 4F was less likely to occur when women were semi-recumbent [odds ratio (OR) = 0.11, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.02, 0.55], and supine (OR = 0.27, 95% CI 0.07, 1.10). State 1F was more likely on the right (OR = 2.36, 95% CI 1.11, 5.04) or supine (OR = 4.99, 95% CI 2.41, 10.43) compared to the left. State change was more likely when the mother was semi-recumbent (OR = 2.17, 95% CI 1.19, 3.95) or supine (OR = 2.67, 95% CI 1.46, 4.85). There was a significant association of maternal position to mean fetal heart rate. The measures of heart rate variability (SDNN and RMSSD) were reduced in both semi-recumbent and supine positions. In healthy late gestation pregnancy, maternal position affects FBS and heart rate variability. These effects are likely fetal adaptations to positions which may produce a mild hypoxic stress. © 2016 The Authors. The Journal of Physiology © 2016 The Physiological Society.

Differential impact of body position on the severity of disordered breathing in heart failure patients with obstructive vs. central sleep apnoea.

PubMed

Pinna, Gian Domenico; Robbi, Elena; La Rovere, Maria Teresa; Taurino, Anna Eugenia; Bruschi, Claudio; Guazzotti, Giampaolo; Maestri, Roberto

2015-12-01

Obstructive (OSA) and central sleep apnoea (CSA) are a common comorbidity in patients with heart failure. The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the impact of body position on the severity of sleep apnoea in these two groups of patients. Standard polysomnography was performed in consecutive, clinically stable, optimally treated patients with moderate-to-severe heart failure and systolic dysfunction. Patients with an apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI) ≥15/h (n = 120) were included in the study. The severity of sleep-disordered breathing was quantified by the AHI, the mean value of oxygen desaturations (O2 desat) and the apnoea ratio. Data from the right and left positions were combined into a single lateral position. Positional sleep apnoea was defined as a >50% reduction in the AHI between the supine and the lateral position. Twenty-nine and 91 subjects had dominant OSA and CSA, respectively. The AHI markedly decreased from the supine to the lateral position in both groups [OSA: (median [q1,q3]) 50.3 [36.9, 67.6]/h vs. 10.4 [7.0, 18.5]/h, P < 0.0001; CSA: 47.4 [37.6, 56.0]/h vs. 19.3 [11.9, 33.3]/h]. The reduction was greater in OSA patients (p = 0.027). Similarly, O2 desat and the apnoea ratio decreased in the lateral position (P < 0.0001). Positional sleep apnoea was observed in 76% of OSA and 53% of CSA patients (P = 0.028). This study demonstrates that the lateral sleeping position has a major beneficial effect on the severity of sleep-disordered breathing in heart failure patients, and that this improvement is greater in subjects with OSA than in those with CSA. © 2015 The Authors European Journal of Heart Failure © 2015 European Society of Cardiology.

Oblique Loading in Post Mortem Human Surrogates from Vehicle Lateral Impact Tests using Chestbands.

PubMed

Yoganandan, Narayan; Humm, John R; Pintar, Frank A; Arun, Mike W J; Rhule, Heather; Rudd, Rodney; Craig, Matthew

2015-11-01

While numerous studies have been conducted to determine side impact responses of Post Mortem Human Surrogates (PMHS) using sled and other equipment, experiments using the biological surrogate in modern full-scale vehicles are not available. The present study investigated the presence of oblique loading in moving deformable barrier and pole tests. Threepoint belt restrained PMHS were positioned in the left front and left rear seats in the former and left front seat in the latter condition and tested according to consumer testing protocols. Three chestbands were used in each specimen (upper, middle and lower thorax). Accelerometers were secured to the skull, shoulder, upper, middle and lower thoracic vertebrae, sternum, and sacrum. Chestband signals were processed to determine magnitudes and angulations of peak deflections. The magnitude and timing of various signal peaks are given. Vehicle accelerations, door velocities, and seat belt loads are also given. Analysis of deformation contours, peak deflections, and angulations indicated that the left rear seated specimen were exposed to anterior oblique loading while left front specimens in both tests sustained essentially pure lateral loading to the torso. These data can be used to validate human body computational models. The occurrence of oblique loading in full-scale testing, hitherto unrecognized, may serve to stimulate the exploration of its role in injuries to the thorax and lower extremities in modern vehicles. It may be important to continue research in this area because injury metrics have a lower threshold for angled loading.

Does cerebral lateralization develop? A study using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound assessing lateralization for language production and visuospatial memory

PubMed Central

Groen, Margriet A; Whitehouse, Andrew J O; Badcock, Nicholas A; Bishop, Dorothy V M

2012-01-01

In the majority of people, language production is lateralized to the left cerebral hemisphere and visuospatial skills to the right. However, questions remain as to when, how, and why humans arrive at this division of labor. In this study, we assessed cerebral lateralization for language production and for visuospatial memory using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound in a group of 60 typically developing children between the ages of six and 16 years. The typical pattern of left-lateralized activation for language production and right-lateralized activation for visuospatial memory was found in the majority of the children (58%). No age-related change in direction or strength of lateralization was found for language production. In contrast, the strength of lateralization (independent of direction) for visuospatial memory function continued to increase with age. In addition, boys showed a trend for stronger right-hemisphere lateralization for visuospatial memory than girls, but there was no gender effect on language laterality. We tested whether having language and visuospatial functions in the same hemisphere was associated with poor cognitive performance and found no evidence for this “functional crowding” hypothesis. We did, however, find that children with left-lateralized language production had higher vocabulary and nonword reading age-adjusted standard scores than other children, regardless of the laterality of visuospatial memory. Thus, a link between language function and left-hemisphere lateralization exists, and cannot be explained in terms of maturational change. PMID:22741100

Atrial electromechanical coupling intervals in pregnant subjects.

PubMed

Altun, Burak; Tasolar, Hakan; Gazï, Emïne; Gungor, Aysenur Cakir; Uysal, Ahmet; Temïz, Ahmet; Barutcu, Ahmet; Acar, Gurkan; Colkesen, Yucel; Ozturk, Ufuk; Akkoy, Murat

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate atrial conduction abnormalities obtained by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and electrocardiogram analysis in pregnant subjects. A total of 30 pregnant subjects (28 ± 4 years) and 30 controls (28 ± 3 years) were included. Systolic and diastolic left ventricular (LV) function was measured using conventional echocardiography and TDI. Inter-atrial, intraatrial and intra-left atrial electromechanical coupling (PA) intervals were measured with TDI. P-wave dispersion (PD) was calculated from a 12-lead electrocardiogram. Atrial electromechanical coupling at the septal and left lateral mitral annulus (PA septal, PA lateral) was significantly prolonged in pregnant subjects (62.1 ± 2.7 vs 55.3 ±3.2 ms, p < 0.001; 45.7 ± 2.5 vs 43.1 ± 2.7 ms, p < 0.001, respectively). Inter-atrial (PA lateral - PA tricuspid), intra-atrial (PA septum - PA tricuspid) and intra-left atrial (PA lateral - PA septum) electromechanical coupling intervals, maximum P-wave (Pmax) duration and PD were significantly longer in the pregnant subjects (26.4 ± 4.0 vs 20.2 ± 3.6 ms, p < 0.001; 10.0 ± 2.0 vs 8.0 ± 2.6 ms, p = 0.002; 16.4 ± 3.3 vs 12.2 ± 3.0 ms, p < 0.001; 103.1 ± 5.4 vs 96.8 ± 7.4 ms, p ± 0.001; 50.7 ± 6.8 vs 41.6 ± 5.5 ms, p < 0.001, respectively). We found a significant positive correlation between inter-atrial and intraleft atrial electromechanical coupling intervals and Pmax (r = 0.282, p = 0.029, r = 0.378, p = 0.003, respectively). This study showed that atrial electromechanical coupling intervals and PD, which are predictors of AF, were longer in pregnant subjects and this may cause an increased risk of AF in pregnancy.

Event-related potentials in response to emotional words in patients with major depressive disorder and healthy controls.

PubMed

Liu, Hong; Yin, Hui-fang; Wu, Da-xing; Xu, Shu-jing

2014-01-01

Dysfunctional cognitive processing and abnormal brain activation in response to emotional stimuli have long been recognized as core features of the major depressive disorder (MDD). The aim of this study was to examine how Chinese patients with MDD process Chinese emotional words presented to either the left (LH) or right hemisphere (RH). Reaction time (RT) and the late positive component of the event-related potential were measured while subjects judged the valence (positive or negative) of emotional words written in Chinese. Compared to healthy controls, patients with MDD exhibited slower RTs in response to negative words. In all subjects, the RTs in response to negative words were significantly faster than RTs in response to positive words presented to the LH, as well as significantly faster than responses to negative words presented to the RH. Compared to healthy controls, MDD patients exhibited reduced activation of the central and left regions of the brain in response to both negative and positive words. In healthy controls, the posterior brain areas were more active than the anterior brain areas when responding to negative words. All individuals showed faster RTs in response to negative words compared to positive words. In addition, MDD patients showed lateralization of brain activity in response to emotional words, whereas healthy individuals did not show this lateralization. Posterior brain areas appear to play an especially important role in discriminating and experiencing negative emotional words. This study provides further evidence in support of the negative bias hypothesis and the emotional processing theory.

Feasibility of radiosurgery for patients with spinal tumors treated in lateral decubitus position: A case series from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

PubMed Central

Lovelock, D. Michael; Zatcky, Joan; Yamada, Josh

2017-01-01

Introduction Often in clinical practice radiation oncologists encounter patients who require treatment to the spine commonly in the setting of metastatic disease. These metastases usually cause pain, immobility, or neurologic deficits mandating expedited therapy to alleviate the suffering of our patients. Spine radiosurgery techniques have been used extensively for palliation purposes; however, given the patients’ deteriorating condition or pain and inability to tolerate anesthesia the radiation oncologist is often left with the conundrum of how to best set up his or her patient in preparation for radiosurgery if supine is not a viable option. In the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center several patients have been treated successfully in the lateral decubitus position to overcome this set-up issue. In this report, the feasibility of the lateral decubitus set-up for patients who benefit from radiosurgery to the spine when and if they cannot tolerate standard supine position is explored. Objective To report on a retrospective case series of three patients with a total of four lesions who were treated with radiosurgery for spinal metastases while set up in the lateral decubitus position. Methods and materials This is a retrospective case series of 3 patients who were treated with radiosurgery to the spine for palliation of painful metastatic foci. Patients were treated in the lateral decubitus position in 1-5 fractions in order to be eligible for this retrospective case series. Their set-up data, and clinical outcomes were then compared with historic controls. Results Patients who were treated in the lateral decubitus position were set up reliably and reproducibly. Additionally clinical outcomes on routine follow-up and imaging, and toxicity profiles also corroborated the utility of this treatment set-up. Conclusions Routinely employing optical surface tracking during patient setup followed by KVCBCT prior to treatment delivery along with intra-fractional monitoring is safe and effective while utilizing the lateral decubitus position for the treatment of spinal metastases for patients who cannot tolerate the supine position. Finally the patient follow-up also corroborated that treatments were successful thus lending credence to the safety, ease, effectiveness, and feasibility of this patient set-up. PMID:29296455

Feasibility of radiosurgery for patients with spinal tumors treated in lateral decubitus position: A case series from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

PubMed

Navo, Elliot B; Lovelock, D Michael; Zatcky, Joan; Yamada, Josh

2017-01-01

Often in clinical practice radiation oncologists encounter patients who require treatment to the spine commonly in the setting of metastatic disease. These metastases usually cause pain, immobility, or neurologic deficits mandating expedited therapy to alleviate the suffering of our patients. Spine radiosurgery techniques have been used extensively for palliation purposes; however, given the patients' deteriorating condition or pain and inability to tolerate anesthesia the radiation oncologist is often left with the conundrum of how to best set up his or her patient in preparation for radiosurgery if supine is not a viable option. In the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center several patients have been treated successfully in the lateral decubitus position to overcome this set-up issue. In this report, the feasibility of the lateral decubitus set-up for patients who benefit from radiosurgery to the spine when and if they cannot tolerate standard supine position is explored. To report on a retrospective case series of three patients with a total of four lesions who were treated with radiosurgery for spinal metastases while set up in the lateral decubitus position. This is a retrospective case series of 3 patients who were treated with radiosurgery to the spine for palliation of painful metastatic foci. Patients were treated in the lateral decubitus position in 1-5 fractions in order to be eligible for this retrospective case series. Their set-up data, and clinical outcomes were then compared with historic controls. Patients who were treated in the lateral decubitus position were set up reliably and reproducibly. Additionally clinical outcomes on routine follow-up and imaging, and toxicity profiles also corroborated the utility of this treatment set-up. Routinely employing optical surface tracking during patient setup followed by KVCBCT prior to treatment delivery along with intra-fractional monitoring is safe and effective while utilizing the lateral decubitus position for the treatment of spinal metastases for patients who cannot tolerate the supine position. Finally the patient follow-up also corroborated that treatments were successful thus lending credence to the safety, ease, effectiveness, and feasibility of this patient set-up.

Pelvic lymph node dissection in early ovarian cancer: success of retrieval of lymph nodes by individual lymph node groups in respect to pelvic laterality.

PubMed

Mujezinović, Faris; Takac, Iztok

2010-08-01

To evaluate the differences in number of harvested retroperitoneal pelvic lymph nodes by specific lymph node regions in respect to pelvic laterality. We extracted cases of early ovarian cancer (EOC) with lymphadenectomy from the medical database which were treated at our institution in the period between 1994 and 2008. Recommendations of FIGO and EGSOC (European Guidelines for Staging in Ovarian Cancer) for staging of ovarian malignancies were followed. Stage of the disease was established on the basis of intra-abdominal condition which we found during surgery and histopathologic status of retroperitoneal lymph nodes (LN). For each case and every LN group, we subtracted the number of dissected lymph nodes on the left side from the number of dissected lymph nodes on the right side of the pelvis. The result would represent the difference between number of removed LN on each side of the pelvis for specific LN group. A negative difference means that a greater number of LN was extracted from the left side and a positive difference that the greater number of LN was extracted from the right side of the pelvis. We used Wilcoxon signed-rank test for statistical analysis of differences. 48 cases with EOC underwent lymphadenectomy. In three cases, metastatic retroperitoneal pelvic lymph nodes were found. There were 79.1%, 50.0%, 45.8%, 93.8%, 52.1%, 60.4% and 70.8% of cases with left-right difference in number of removed lymph nodes in external iliac region, common iliac region, presacralic, above obturator nerve, under obturator nerve, lateral from the external ilac vessels and lateral from the common iliac vessels nodal group, respectively. The mean differences between left and right groups were in the range from 2 to 4 lymph nodes. There was no identifiable bias toward either side of the pelvis for any of the analyzed lymph node groups. There is a right and left prevalence of retrieved LN by individual LN regions in the pelvis that could be influenced by asymmetry in right-left pelvic LN distribution. However, we did not find any evidence that the observed imbalance is, on average, directed toward either side of the pelvis. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Framing susceptibility in a risky choice game is altered by galvanic vestibular stimulation.

PubMed

Preuss, Nora; Kalla, Roger; Müri, Rene; Mast, Fred W

2017-06-07

Recent research provides evidence that galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) has a modulating effect on somatosensory perception and spatial cognition. However, other vestibular stimulation techniques have induced changes in affective control and decision making. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of GVS on framing susceptibility in a risky-choice game. The participants were to decide between a safe and a risky option. The safe option was framed either positively or negatively. During the task, the participants were exposed to either left anodal/right cathodal GVS, right anodal/left cathodal GVS, or sham stimulation (control condition). While left anodal/right cathodal GVS activated more right-hemispheric vestibular brain areas, right anodal/left cathodal GVS resulted in more bilateral activation. We observed increased framing susceptibility during left anodal/right cathodal GVS, but no change in framing susceptibility during right anodal/left cathodal GVS. We propose that GVS results in increased reliance on the affect heuristic by means of activation of cortical and subcortical vestibular-emotional brain structures and that this effect is modulated by the lateralization of the vestibular cortex.

Lateralized behaviour as indicator of affective state in dairy cows

PubMed Central

Barrett, David C.; Murrell, Joanna C.; Whay, Helen R.

2017-01-01

In humans, there is evidence that sensory processing of novel or threatening stimuli is right hemisphere dominated, especially in people experiencing negative affective states. There is also evidence for similar lateralization in a number of non-human animal species. Here we investigate whether this is also the case in domestic cattle that may experience long-term negative states due to commonly occurring conditions such as lameness. Health and welfare implications associated with pain in lame cows are a major concern in dairy farming. Behavioural tests combining animal behaviour and cognition could make a meaningful contribution to our understanding of disease-related changes in sensory processing in animals, and consequently enhance their welfare. We presented 216 lactating Holstein-Friesian cows with three different unfamiliar objects which were placed either bilaterally (e.g. two yellow party balloons, two black/white checkerboards) or hung centrally (a Kong™) within a familiar area. Cows were individually exposed to the objects on three consecutive days, and their viewing preference/eye use, exploration behaviour/nostril use, and stop position during approach was assessed. Mobility (lameness) was repeatedly scored during the testing period. Overall, a bias to view the right rather than the left object was found at initial presentation of the bilateral objects. More cows also explored the right object rather than the left object with their nose. There was a trend for cows appearing hesitant in approaching the objects by stopping at a distance to them, to then explore the left object rather than the right. In contrast, cows that approached the objects directly had a greater tendency to contact the right object. No significant preference in right or left eye/nostril use was found when cows explored the centrally-located object. We found no relationship between lameness and lateralized behaviour. Nevertheless, observed trends suggesting that lateralized behaviour in response to bilaterally located unfamiliar objects may reflect an immediate affective response are discussed. Further study is needed to understand the impact of long-term affective states on hemispheric dominance and lateralized behaviour. PMID:28910416

Lateralized behaviour as indicator of affective state in dairy cows.

PubMed

Kappel, Sarah; Mendl, Michael T; Barrett, David C; Murrell, Joanna C; Whay, Helen R

2017-01-01

In humans, there is evidence that sensory processing of novel or threatening stimuli is right hemisphere dominated, especially in people experiencing negative affective states. There is also evidence for similar lateralization in a number of non-human animal species. Here we investigate whether this is also the case in domestic cattle that may experience long-term negative states due to commonly occurring conditions such as lameness. Health and welfare implications associated with pain in lame cows are a major concern in dairy farming. Behavioural tests combining animal behaviour and cognition could make a meaningful contribution to our understanding of disease-related changes in sensory processing in animals, and consequently enhance their welfare. We presented 216 lactating Holstein-Friesian cows with three different unfamiliar objects which were placed either bilaterally (e.g. two yellow party balloons, two black/white checkerboards) or hung centrally (a Kong™) within a familiar area. Cows were individually exposed to the objects on three consecutive days, and their viewing preference/eye use, exploration behaviour/nostril use, and stop position during approach was assessed. Mobility (lameness) was repeatedly scored during the testing period. Overall, a bias to view the right rather than the left object was found at initial presentation of the bilateral objects. More cows also explored the right object rather than the left object with their nose. There was a trend for cows appearing hesitant in approaching the objects by stopping at a distance to them, to then explore the left object rather than the right. In contrast, cows that approached the objects directly had a greater tendency to contact the right object. No significant preference in right or left eye/nostril use was found when cows explored the centrally-located object. We found no relationship between lameness and lateralized behaviour. Nevertheless, observed trends suggesting that lateralized behaviour in response to bilaterally located unfamiliar objects may reflect an immediate affective response are discussed. Further study is needed to understand the impact of long-term affective states on hemispheric dominance and lateralized behaviour.

Effects of induced placental and fetal growth restriction, size at birth and early neonatal growth on behavioural and brain structural lateralization in sheep.

PubMed

Hunter, Damien Seth; Hazel, Susan J; Kind, Karen L; Liu, Hong; Marini, Danila; Giles, Lynne C; De Blasio, Miles J; Owens, Julie A; Pitcher, Julia B; Gatford, Kathryn L

2017-09-01

Poor perinatal growth in humans results in asymmetrical grey matter loss in fetuses and infants and increased functional and behavioural asymmetry, but specific contributions of pre- and postnatal growth are unclear. We therefore compared strength and direction of lateralization in obstacle avoidance and maze exit preference tasks in offspring of placentally restricted (PR: 10M, 13F) and control (CON: 23M, 17F) sheep pregnancies at 18 and 40 weeks of age, and examined gross brain structure of the prefrontal cortex at 52 weeks of age (PR: 14M, 18F; CON: 23M, 25F). PR did not affect lateralization direction, but 40-week-old PR females had greater lateralization strength than CON (P = .021). Behavioural lateralization measures were not correlated with perinatal growth. PR did not alter brain morphology. In males, cross-sectional areas of the prefrontal cortex and left hemisphere correlated positively with skull width at birth, and white matter area correlated positively with neonatal growth rate of the skull (all P < .05). These studies reinforce the need to include progeny of both sexes in future studies of neurodevelopmental programming, and suggest that restricting in utero growth has relatively mild effects on gross brain structural or behavioural lateralization in sheep.

Colateralization of Broca's area and the visual word form area in left-handers: fMRI evidence.

PubMed

Van der Haegen, Lise; Cai, Qing; Brysbaert, Marc

2012-09-01

Language production has been found to be lateralized in the left hemisphere (LH) for 95% of right-handed people and about 75% of left-handers. The prevalence of atypical right hemispheric (RH) or bilateral lateralization for reading and colateralization of production with word reading laterality has never been tested in a large sample. In this study, we scanned 57 left-handers who had previously been identified as being clearly left (N=30), bilateral (N=7) or clearly right (N=20) dominant for speech on the basis of fMRI activity in the inferior frontal gyrus (pars opercularis/pars triangularis) during a silent word generation task. They were asked to perform a lexical decision task, in which words were contrasted against checkerboards, to test the lateralization of reading in the ventral occipitotemporal region. Lateralization indices for both tasks correlated significantly (r=0.59). The majority of subjects showed most activity during lexical decision in the hemisphere that was identified as their word production dominant hemisphere. However, more than half of the sample (N=31) had bilateral activity for the lexical decision task without a clear dominant role for either the LH or RH, and three showed a crossed frontotemporal lateralization pattern. These findings have consequences for neurobiological models relating phonological and orthographic processes, and for lateralization measurements for clinical purposes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Left-Lateralized Contributions of Saccades to Cortical Activity During a One-Back Word Recognition Task.

PubMed

Chang, Yu-Cherng C; Khan, Sheraz; Taulu, Samu; Kuperberg, Gina; Brown, Emery N; Hämäläinen, Matti S; Temereanca, Simona

2018-01-01

Saccadic eye movements are an inherent component of natural reading, yet their contribution to information processing at subsequent fixation remains elusive. Here we use anatomically-constrained magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine cortical activity following saccades as healthy human subjects engaged in a one-back word recognition task. This activity was compared with activity following external visual stimulation that mimicked saccades. A combination of procedures was employed to eliminate saccadic ocular artifacts from the MEG signal. Both saccades and saccade-like external visual stimulation produced early-latency responses beginning ~70 ms after onset in occipital cortex and spreading through the ventral and dorsal visual streams to temporal, parietal and frontal cortices. Robust differential activity following the onset of saccades vs. similar external visual stimulation emerged during 150-350 ms in a left-lateralized cortical network. This network included: (i) left lateral occipitotemporal (LOT) and nearby inferotemporal (IT) cortex; (ii) left posterior Sylvian fissure (PSF) and nearby multimodal cortex; and (iii) medial parietooccipital (PO), posterior cingulate and retrosplenial cortices. Moreover, this left-lateralized network colocalized with word repetition priming effects. Together, results suggest that central saccadic mechanisms influence a left-lateralized language network in occipitotemporal and temporal cortex above and beyond saccadic influences at preceding stages of information processing during visual word recognition.

Left-Lateralized Contributions of Saccades to Cortical Activity During a One-Back Word Recognition Task

PubMed Central

Chang, Yu-Cherng C.; Khan, Sheraz; Taulu, Samu; Kuperberg, Gina; Brown, Emery N.; Hämäläinen, Matti S.; Temereanca, Simona

2018-01-01

Saccadic eye movements are an inherent component of natural reading, yet their contribution to information processing at subsequent fixation remains elusive. Here we use anatomically-constrained magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine cortical activity following saccades as healthy human subjects engaged in a one-back word recognition task. This activity was compared with activity following external visual stimulation that mimicked saccades. A combination of procedures was employed to eliminate saccadic ocular artifacts from the MEG signal. Both saccades and saccade-like external visual stimulation produced early-latency responses beginning ~70 ms after onset in occipital cortex and spreading through the ventral and dorsal visual streams to temporal, parietal and frontal cortices. Robust differential activity following the onset of saccades vs. similar external visual stimulation emerged during 150–350 ms in a left-lateralized cortical network. This network included: (i) left lateral occipitotemporal (LOT) and nearby inferotemporal (IT) cortex; (ii) left posterior Sylvian fissure (PSF) and nearby multimodal cortex; and (iii) medial parietooccipital (PO), posterior cingulate and retrosplenial cortices. Moreover, this left-lateralized network colocalized with word repetition priming effects. Together, results suggest that central saccadic mechanisms influence a left-lateralized language network in occipitotemporal and temporal cortex above and beyond saccadic influences at preceding stages of information processing during visual word recognition. PMID:29867372

Right away: A late, right-lateralized category effect complements an early, left-lateralized category effect in visual search.

PubMed

Constable, Merryn D; Becker, Stefanie I

2017-10-01

According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, learned semantic categories can influence early perceptual processes. A central finding in support of this view is the lateralized category effect-namely, the finding that categorically different colors (e.g., blue and green hues) can be discriminated faster than colors within the same color category (e.g., different hues of green), especially when they are presented in the right visual field. Because the right visual field projects to the left hemisphere, this finding has been popularly couched in terms of the left-lateralization of language. However, other studies have reported bilateral category effects, which has led some researchers to question the linguistic origins of the effect. Here we examined the time course of lateralized and bilateral category effects in the classical visual search paradigm by means of eyetracking and RT distribution analyses. Our results show a bilateral category effect in the manual responses, which is combined of an early, left-lateralized category effect and a later, right-lateralized category effect. The newly discovered late, right-lateralized category effect occurred only when observers had difficulty locating the target, indicating a specialization of the right hemisphere to find categorically different targets after an initial error. The finding that early and late stages of visual search show different lateralized category effects can explain a wide range of previously discrepant findings.

Examining the contribution of motor movement and language dominance to increased left lateralization during sign generation in native signers.

PubMed

Gutierrez-Sigut, Eva; Payne, Heather; MacSweeney, Mairéad

2016-08-01

The neural systems supporting speech and sign processing are very similar, although not identical. In a previous fTCD study of hearing native signers (Gutierrez-Sigut, Daws, et al., 2015) we found stronger left lateralization for sign than speech. Given that this increased lateralization could not be explained by hand movement alone, the contribution of motor movement versus 'linguistic' processes to the strength of hemispheric lateralization during sign production remains unclear. Here we directly contrast lateralization strength of covert versus overt signing during phonological and semantic fluency tasks. To address the possibility that hearing native signers' elevated lateralization indices (LIs) were due to performing a task in their less dominant language, here we test deaf native signers, whose dominant language is British Sign Language (BSL). Signers were more strongly left lateralized for overt than covert sign generation. However, the strength of lateralization was not correlated with the amount of time producing movements of the right hand. Comparisons with previous data from hearing native English speakers suggest stronger laterality indices for sign than speech in both covert and overt tasks. This increased left lateralization may be driven by specific properties of sign production such as the increased use of self-monitoring mechanisms or the nature of phonological encoding of signs. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploring laterality and memory effects in the haptic discrimination of verbal and non-verbal shapes.

PubMed

Stoycheva, Polina; Tiippana, Kaisa

2018-03-14

The brain's left hemisphere often displays advantages in processing verbal information, while the right hemisphere favours processing non-verbal information. In the haptic domain due to contra-lateral innervations, this functional lateralization is reflected in a hand advantage during certain functions. Findings regarding the hand-hemisphere advantage for haptic information remain contradictory, however. This study addressed these laterality effects and their interaction with memory retention times in the haptic modality. Participants performed haptic discrimination of letters, geometric shapes and nonsense shapes at memory retention times of 5, 15 and 30 s with the left and right hand separately, and we measured the discriminability index d'. The d' values were significantly higher for letters and geometric shapes than for nonsense shapes. This might result from dual coding (naming + spatial) or/and from a low stimulus complexity. There was no stimulus-specific laterality effect. However, we found a time-dependent laterality effect, which revealed that the performance of the left hand-right hemisphere was sustained up to 15 s, while the performance of the right-hand-left hemisphere decreased progressively throughout all retention times. This suggests that haptic memory traces are more robust to decay when they are processed by the left hand-right hemisphere.

Self-Described Differences Between Legs in Ballet Dancers: Do They Relate to Postural Stability and Ground Reaction Force Measures?

PubMed

Mertz, Laura; Docherty, Carrie

2012-12-01

Ballet technique classes are designed to train dancers symmetrically, but they may actually create a lateral bias. It is unknown whether dancers in general are functionally asymmetrical, or how an individual dancer's perceived imbalance between legs might manifest itself. The purpose of this study was to examine ballet dancers' lateral preference by analyzing their postural stability and ground reaction forces in fifth position when landing from dance-specific jumps. Thirty university ballet majors volunteered to participate in this study. The subjects wore their own ballet technique shoes and performed fundamental ballet jumps out of fifth position on a force plate. The force plate recorded center of pressure (COP) and ground reaction force (GRF) data. Each subject completed a laterality questionnaire that determined his or her preferred landing leg for ballet jumps, self-identified stronger leg, and self-identified leg with better balance. All statistical comparisons were made between the leg indicated on the laterality questionnaire and the other leg (i.e., if the dancer's response to a question was "left," the comparison was made with the left leg as the "preferred" leg and the right leg as the "non-preferred leg"). No significant differences were identified between the limbs in any of the analyses conducted (all statistical comparisons produced p values > 0.05). The results of this study indicate that a dancer's preferential use of one limb over the other has no bearing on GRFs or balance ability after landing jumps in ballet. Similarly, dancers' opinions of their leg characteristics (such as one leg being stronger than the other) seem not to correlate with the dancers' actual ability to absorb GRFs or to balance when landing from ballet jumps.

How absolute EIT reflects the dependence of unilateral lung aeration on hyper-gravity and weightlessness?

PubMed

Hahn, G; Just, A; Hellige, G; Dittmar, J; Quintel, M

2013-09-01

We studied the influence of three gravity levels (0, 1 and 1.8 g) on unilateral lung aeration in a left lateral position by the application of absolute electrical impedance tomography. The electrical resistivity of the lung tissue was considered to be a meaningful indicator for lung aeration since changes in resistivity have already been validated in other studies to be proportional to changes in lung volume. Twenty-two healthy volunteers were studied during parabolic flights with three phases of different gravity, each lasting ∼20-22 s. Spontaneous breathing at normal tidal volume VT and at increased VT was performed. During transition to hyper-gravity mean expiratory resistivities (±SD in Ωm) increased at normal VT in the upper (right) lung from 7.6 ± 1.5 to 8.0 ± 1.7 and decreased from 5.8 ± 1.2 to 5.7 ± 1.2 in the lower (left) lung. Inspiratory resistivity values are 8.3 ± 1.6 to 8.8 ± 1.8 (right) and 6.3 ± 1.3 to 6.0 ± 1.3 (left). At increased VT, the changes in resistivities at end-expiration were 7.7 ± 1.5 to 8.0 ± 1.7 (right) and 5.8 ± 1.2 to 5.7 ± 1.2 (left). Corresponding end-inspiratory values are 9.9 ± 1.9 to 10.0 ± 2.0 (right) and 8.6 ± 2.1 to 7.9 ± 2.0 (left). During weightlessness, the distortion in the lungs disappeared and both lungs showed a nearly identical aeration, which was between the levels displayed at normal gravity. The small increase in resistivity for the upper lung during transition to hyper-gravity from 1 to 1.8 g at increased VT suggests that the degressive part of the pressure-volume curve has already been reached at end-inspiration. The results for a left lateral position are in agreement with West's lung model which has been introduced for cranio-caudal gravity dependence in the lungs.

Electrophysiological Evidence for Domain-General Processes in Task-Switching

PubMed Central

Capizzi, Mariagrazia; Ambrosini, Ettore; Arbula, Sandra; Mazzonetto, Ilaria; Vallesi, Antonino

2016-01-01

The ability to flexibly switch between tasks is a hallmark of cognitive control. Despite previous studies that have investigated whether different task-switching types would be mediated by distinct or overlapping neural mechanisms, no definitive consensus has been reached on this question yet. Here, we aimed at directly addressing this issue by recording the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by two types of task-switching occurring in the context of spatial and verbal cognitive domains. Source analysis was also applied to the ERP data in order to track the spatial dynamics of brain activity underlying task-switching abilities. In separate blocks of trials, participants had to perform either spatial or verbal switching tasks both of which employed the same type of stimuli. The ERP analysis, which was carried out through a channel- and time-uninformed mass univariate approach, showed no significant differences between the spatial and verbal domains in the modulation of switch and repeat trials. Specifically, relative to repeat trials, switch trials in both domains were associated with a first larger positivity developing over left parieto-occipital electrodes and with a subsequent larger negativity distributed over mid-left fronto-central sites. The source analysis reconstruction for the two ERP components complemented these findings by highlighting the involvement of left-lateralized prefrontal areas in task-switching. Overall, our results join and extend recent research confirming the existence of left-lateralized domain-general task-switching processes. PMID:27047366

Meningeal hemangiopericytoma with delayed multiple distant metastases.

PubMed

Chang, Chiung-Chih; Chang, Yung-Yee; Lui, Chun-Chung; Huang, Chao-Cheng; Liu, Jia-Shou

2004-10-01

A 43-year-old housewife suffered from an occipital headache, and brain computed tomography (CT) showed an occipital meningeal tumor. She received a complete tumor excision and the tumor pathology was interpreted as atypical meningioma. Five years later, a subacute left neck pain with radiation to the left arm occurred. A tumor invading the second and third cervical vertebrae with compression on the dural sac was found. Angiography revealed hypervascular tumor staining supplied from the left vertebral artery. CT-guided biopsy was performed and nests of atypical spindle cells accompanied by staghorn vascular pattern were revealed histologically. Immunohistochemical studies showed positive vimentin staining but negative reactions to epithelial membrane antigen, cytokeratin low molecular weight, cytokeratin high molecular weight, CD34 and S-100 protein. Estimation of the Ki-67 proliferative (mitotic) index by using MIB-1 monoclonal antibody was 12%. Later on, a systemic survey revealed lesions in the left lung, liver and kidney. The diagnosis was revised to hemangiopericytoma. Distant metastasis is common in this tumor. However, the delayed multiple metastases without local recurrence were relatively rare. The clinical course in this patient also supported that a high mitotic activity may correlate with a poor prognosis even if the pathology is taken from the metastatic tissue, and that long-term follow-up is mandatory. Detailed immunohistochemical staining is helpful in avoiding misdiagnosis of meningioma.

Adaptation of primate vestibuloocular reflex to altered peripheral vestibular inputs. II Spatiotemporal properties of the adapted slow-phase eye velocity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Angelaki, D. E.; Hess, B. J.

1996-01-01

1. The ability of the vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) to undergo adaptive modification after selective changes in the peripheral vestibular system was investigated in rhesus monkeys by recording three-dimensional eye movements before and after inactivation of selective semicircular canals. In the preceding paper we showed that the horizontal VOR gain evoked by passive yaw oscillations after lateral semicircular canal inactivation recovers gradually over time in a frequency-specific manner. Here we present the spatial tuning of the adapted slow-phase eye velocity and describe its spatiotemporal properties as a function of time after canal inactivation. 2. The spatial organization of the VOR was investigated during oscillations at different head positions in the pitch, roll, and yaw planes, as well as in the right anterior/left posterior and left anterior/right posterior canal planes. Acutely after bilateral inactivation of the lateral semicircular canals, a small horizontal response could still be elicited that peaked during rotations in pitched head positions that would maximally stimulate vertical semicircular canals. In addition, the phase of horizontal slow-phase velocity abruptly reversed through 180 degrees at positions close to upright, similarly to torsional slow-phase velocity. These spatial response properties suggest that the small, residual horizontal response components that are present acutely after plugging of both lateral canals originate from vertical semicircular canal signals. 3. As the horizontal response amplitude increased over time, consistent changes were also observed in the spatiotemporal tuning of horizontal slow-phase velocity. 1) The spatiotemporal response properties of horizontal slow-phase velocity acquired noncosine tuning characteristics, primarily in the pitch plane, in the right anterior/left posterior and left anterior/right posterior canal planes. Accordingly, horizontal response amplitude was nonzero during rotation in any head position in these planes and response phase varied significantly as a function of head orientation. 2) The peak horizontal response amplitude shifted spatially over time, such that 5-10 mo after plugging it was maximal during rotations at head positions close to upright. 4. In parallel to these unique spatiotemporal response properties characterizing the adapted horizontal VOR, torsional slow-phase velocity also exhibited small spatiotemporal changes after lateral canal inactivation that tended to precede in time the changes associated with the horizontal response components. In contrast, vertical slow-phase velocity in the plugged animals was unaltered and continued to be characterized by cosine-tuned spatial properties in three dimensions. 5. Recovery of the horizontal response gain during yaw oscillations in upright position, as well as the unique, noncosine spatiotemporal characteristics of the adapted horizontal VOR, were also observed in an animal with all but one vertical semicircular canals inactivated. There was, however, no sign of VOR gain recovery up to 2 mo after all semicircular canals were inactivated. These results suggest that the observed recovery of horizontal VOR is at least partly due to signals originating from the remaining intact vertical canal(s). Even in the presence of a single intact vertical canal, the improvement in horizontal gaze stability is at least partly restored through spatiotemporal changes in the processing of vestibuloocular signals that improve the gain and spatial tuning of horizontal VOR at the expense of temporal response properties.

Modified Lung Ultrasonographic Technique for Evaluation of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Lateral Decubitus Position.

PubMed

Vassalou, Evangelia E; Raissaki, Maria; Magkanas, Eleftherios; Antoniou, Katerina M; Karantanas, Apostolos H

2017-12-01

To compare lung ultrasonography (US) in the sitting or supine positions and the lateral decubitus position, with regard to the feasibility, duration, patient convenience, and assessment of B-lines, in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Twenty consecutive patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis were prospectively enrolled. Lung US included scanning of 56 intercostal spaces. Each patient was examined twice by 2 protocols. During protocol 1, patients were examined in the supine and sitting positions for the anterior and dorsal chest, respectively. During protocol 2, patients were examined in the left lateral decubitus position for the evaluation of the right hemithorax and the reverse. Total, anterior, and posterior US scores resulted from the sum of B-lines at the whole, anterior, and posterior chest, respectively. High-resolution computed tomography (CT) was considered the reference standard. The duration of each protocol was recorded. Patients were questioned about which protocol they preferred. There was no difference regarding feasibility between the protocols. A significant correlation was found between total US scores for both protocols and high-resolution CT findings (P < .0001), with protocol 2 showing a slightly higher correlation. A positive correlation was found between the protocols regarding total, anterior, and posterior US scores (P < .0001). The mean duration of protocol 2 was less than that of protocol 1 (P < .005). Nineteen patients (95%) reported a preference for protocol 2. Lung US in the lateral decubitus position seems to be faster and more convenient. There appears to be no difference regarding feasibility and the number of B-lines, whereas it shows slightly higher correlation with high-resolution CT, compared with the sitting or supine positions in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. © 2017 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.

Does right lateral decubitus position change retroperitoneal oblique corridor? A radiographic evaluation from L1 to L5.

PubMed

Zhang, Fan; Xu, Haocheng; Yin, Bo; Tao, Hongyue; Yang, Shuo; Sun, Chi; Wang, Yitao; Yin, Jun; Shao, Minghao; Wang, Hongli; Xia, Xinlei; Ma, Xiaosheng; Lu, Feizhou; Jiang, Jianyuan

2017-03-01

To determine if the retroperitoneal oblique corridor will be affected by right lateral decubitus position. Forty volunteers were randomly enrolled and MRI scan was performed from L1 to L5 in supine and right lateral decubitus positions, respectively. In images across the center of each disc, O was defined as the center of a disc and A (supine) or A' (right lateral decubitus) was located in left lateral border of the aorta or the iliac artery; B (supine) or B' (right lateral decubitus) was on the anterior medial border of the psoas. The distance of AB and A'B' (Recorded as A-Ps and A-Pr, respectively) at each level was recorded and compared to each other. The relationships between A-Pr, sex, BMI and relative psoas cross-sectional area (PCSA) at each level were also evaluated. A-Pr was significantly smaller than A-Ps at L1/2, L2/3 and L3/4 (All p < 0.05); there was no significantly difference of A-Pr between all levels (p = 0.105), but L1/2 seemed to be larger than L3/4, followed by L2/3 and L4/5; A-Pr at each level was not affected by sex (All p > 0.05); linear relationships were found between A-Pr, BMI and PCSA at L1/2 and L3/4. ROC at L1/2, L2/3 and L3/4 will significantly decrease from supine to right lateral decubitus position and the reason may be due to the relaxed psoas deformation. Using MRI images in supine position for pre-operatively ROC evaluation is not accurate. Spine surgeon should also be more cautious when OLIF is performed at L4/5 where ROC is the smallest. Patients from Asia and those with strong psoas major at L1/2 and L3/4 are also associated with relatively narrow ROC.

Operational Definitions of Ambulatory Care Nursing Activities; Phase 2 of the Workload Management System for Nursing Ambulatory Care Project.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-04-01

around the extremity, assess measurement, mark area for future measurement (S 0M04) x206 FETAL HEART ’NES, DOPPLER: expose abdominal area, assess fetal ... heart tones utilizing the doptone with lubricant, clean abdomen (S 2413) x209 FETAL HEART TONES, LANUAL: position patient in left lateral or semi...recumbent position, find best quadrant for FHT’s, place fingers over mother’s raoial pulse; count fetal heart tones for one minute (S 2412) x210 HEAD

Lateralization of brain activity pattern during unilateral movement in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Wu, Tao; Hou, Yanan; Hallett, Mark; Zhang, Jiarong; Chan, Piu

2015-05-01

We investigated the lateralization of brain activity pattern during performance of unilateral movement in drug-naïve Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with only right hemiparkinsonian symptoms. Functional MRI was obtained when the subjects performed strictly unilateral right hand movement. A laterality index was calculated to examine the lateralization. Patients had decreased activity in the left putamen and left supplementary motor area, but had increased activity in the right primary motor cortex, right premotor cortex, left postcentral gyrus, and bilateral cerebellum. The laterality index was significantly decreased in PD patients compared with controls (0.41 ± 0.14 vs. 0.84 ± 0.09). The connectivity from the left putamen to cortical motor regions and cerebellum was decreased, while the interactions between the cortical motor regions, cerebellum, and right putamen were increased. Our study demonstrates that in early PD, the lateralization of brain activity during unilateral movement is significantly reduced. The dysfunction of the striatum-cortical circuit, decreased transcallosal inhibition, and compensatory efforts from cortical motor regions, cerebellum, and the less affected striatum are likely reasons contributing to the reduced motor lateralization. The disruption of the lateralized brain activity pattern might be a reason underlying some motor deficits in PD, like mirror movements or impaired bilateral motor coordination. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Influence of the right- versus left-sided sleeping position on the apnea-hypopnea index in patients with sleep apnea.

PubMed

Ozeke, Ozcan; Erturk, Ozcan; Gungor, Mutlu; Hızel, Serap Bılen; Aydın, Dilek; Celenk, Mehmet Kutlu; Dıncer, Hazim; Ilıcın, Gurler; Ozgen, Fuat; Ozer, Can

2012-09-01

Sleep and sleep position have a significant impact on physical, cardiac and mental health, and have been evaluated in numerous studies particularly in terms of lateral sleeping positions and their association with diseases. We retrospectively examined the relationship between the sleeping position and position-specific apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) in obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea (OSA) patients. We assessed the sleeping body position and the body position-specific AHI score in patients who were referred for suspected OSA and underwent diagnostic nocturnal polysomnography. In order to eliminate inter-individual differences, only those who had a similar percentage of time spent in the LSSP and RSSP for each patient were enrolled. To provide this validity, only subjects that had a similar percentage of left and right lateral sleep time (±10%) were included in the analysis. A total of 864 patients had nocturnal diagnostic PSG. Of them, 131 patients met the inclusion criteria. The percent rate spent in the supine sleeping position (SSP) was 31.3 ± 18.7%, in the LSSP was 31.8 ± 10% and in the RSSP was 32.6 ± 10.8%. Whereas the SSP-specific AHI score was the highest with 60.4 ± 36.2/h among all the sleeping position-specific AHI scores (p < 0.001), the LSSP-specific AHI score was statistically higher than that for RSSP (30.2 ± 32.6/h vs. 23.6 ± 30.1/h; p < 0.001). When comparing individuals sub-grouped based on OSA severity, there was a statistically significant difference between the LSSP-specific AHI score and RSSP-specific AHI score in patients with severe (p = 0.002) and moderate (p = 0.026), but not mild (p = 0.130) OSA. We found that the sleeping position had a significant influence on apneic events and RSSP decreased the frequency of obstructive respiratory events in patients with moderate and severe disease.

Multimodal imaging of language reorganization in patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy.

PubMed

Chang, Yu-Hsuan A; Kemmotsu, Nobuko; Leyden, Kelly M; Kucukboyaci, N Erkut; Iragui, Vicente J; Tecoma, Evelyn S; Kansal, Leena; Norman, Marc A; Compton, Rachelle; Ehrlich, Tobin J; Uttarwar, Vedang S; Reyes, Anny; Paul, Brianna M; McDonald, Carrie R

2017-07-01

This study explored the relationships among multimodal imaging, clinical features, and language impairment in patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy (LTLE). Fourteen patients with LTLE and 26 controls underwent structural MRI, functional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and neuropsychological language tasks. Laterality indices were calculated for each imaging modality and a principal component (PC) was derived from language measures. Correlations were performed among imaging measures, as well as to the language PC. In controls, better language performance was associated with stronger left-lateralized temporo-parietal and temporo-occipital activations. In LTLE, better language performance was associated with stronger right-lateralized inferior frontal, temporo-parietal, and temporo-occipital activations. These right-lateralized activations in LTLE were associated with right-lateralized arcuate fasciculus fractional anisotropy. These data suggest that interhemispheric language reorganization in LTLE is associated with alterations to perisylvian white matter. These concurrent structural and functional shifts from left to right may help to mitigate language impairment in LTLE. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Laterality of foetal self-touch in relation to maternal stress.

PubMed

Reissland, Nadja; Aydin, Ezra; Francis, Brian; Exley, Kendra

2015-01-01

This longitudinal observational study investigated whether foetuses change their hand preference with gestational age, and also examined the effects of maternal stress on lateralized foetal self-touch. Following ethical approval, fifteen healthy foetuses (eight girls and seven boys) were scanned four times from 24 to 36 weeks gestation. Self-touch behaviours which resulted in a touch of the foetal face/head were coded in 60 scans for 10 min and analysed in terms of frequency of the foetuses using left and right hands to touch their face. The joint effects of foetal age, stress and sex on laterality were assessed. We modelled the proportion of right self-touches for each foetal scan using a generalized linear mixed model, taking account of the repeated measures design. There was substantial variability in hand preference between foetuses. However, there was no significant increase in the proportion of right-handed touches with foetal age. No sex differences in handedness were identified. However, maternally reported stress level was significantly positively related to foetal left-handed self-touches (odds ratio 0.915; p < .0001). This longitudinal study provides important new insights into the effect of recent maternal stress on foetal predominant hand use during self-touch.

A variant of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (Fgfr2) regulates left-right asymmetry in zebrafish.

PubMed

Liu, Da-Wei; Hsu, Chia-Hao; Tsai, Su-Mei; Hsiao, Chung-Der; Wang, Wen-Pin

2011-01-01

Many organs in vertebrates are left-right asymmetrical located. For example, liver is at the right side and stomach is at the left side in human. Fibroblast growth factor (Fgf) signaling is important for left-right asymmetry. To investigate the roles of Fgfr2 signaling in zebrafish left-right asymmetry, we used splicing blocking morpholinos to specifically block the splicing of fgfr2b and fgfr2c variants, respectively. We found that the relative position of the liver and the pancreas were disrupted in fgfr2c morphants. Furthermore, the left-right asymmetry of the heart became random. Expression pattern of the laterality controlling genes, spaw and pitx2c, also became random in the morphants. Furthermore, lefty1 was not expressed in the posterior notochord, indicating that the molecular midline barrier had been disrupted. It was also not expressed in the brain diencephalon. Kupffer's vesicle (KV) size became smaller in fgfr2c morphants. Furthermore, KV cilia were shorter in fgfr2c morphants. We conclude that the fgfr2c isoform plays an important role in the left-right asymmetry during zebrafish development.

A Variant of Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 2 (Fgfr2) Regulates Left-Right Asymmetry in Zebrafish

PubMed Central

Liu, Da-Wei; Hsu, Chia-Hao; Tsai, Su-Mei; Hsiao, Chung-Der; Wang, Wen-Pin

2011-01-01

Many organs in vertebrates are left-right asymmetrical located. For example, liver is at the right side and stomach is at the left side in human. Fibroblast growth factor (Fgf) signaling is important for left-right asymmetry. To investigate the roles of Fgfr2 signaling in zebrafish left-right asymmetry, we used splicing blocking morpholinos to specifically block the splicing of fgfr2b and fgfr2c variants, respectively. We found that the relative position of the liver and the pancreas were disrupted in fgfr2c morphants. Furthermore, the left-right asymmetry of the heart became random. Expression pattern of the laterality controlling genes, spaw and pitx2c, also became random in the morphants. Furthermore, lefty1 was not expressed in the posterior notochord, indicating that the molecular midline barrier had been disrupted. It was also not expressed in the brain diencephalon. Kupffer's vesicle (KV) size became smaller in fgfr2c morphants. Furthermore, KV cilia were shorter in fgfr2c morphants. We conclude that the fgfr2c isoform plays an important role in the left-right asymmetry during zebrafish development. PMID:21747958

Occurrence of phrenic nerve stimulation in cardiac resynchronization therapy patients: the role of left ventricular lead type and placement site.

PubMed

Biffi, Mauro; Exner, Derek V; Crossley, George H; Ramza, Brian; Coutu, Benoit; Tomassoni, Gery; Kranig, Wolfgang; Li, Shelby; Kristiansen, Nina; Voss, Frederik

2013-01-01

Unwanted phrenic nerve stimulation (PNS) has been reported in ∼1 in 4 patients undergoing left ventricular (LV) pacing. The occurrence of PNS over mid-term follow-up and the significance of PNS are less certain. Data from 1307 patients enrolled in pre-market studies of LV leads manufactured by Medtronic (models 4193 and 4195 unipolar, 4194, 4196, 4296, and 4396 bipolar) were pooled. Left ventricular lead location was recorded at implant using a common classification scheme. Phrenic nerve stimulation symptoms were either spontaneously reported or identified at scheduled follow-up visits. A PNS-related complication was defined as PNS resulting in invasive intervention or the termination of LV pacing. Average follow-up was 14.9 months (range 0.0-46.6). Phrenic nerve stimulation symptoms occurred in 169 patients (12.9%). Phrenic nerve stimulation-related complications occurred in 21 of 1307 patients (1.6%); 16 of 738 (2.2%) in the unipolar lead studies, and 5 of 569 (0.9%) in the bipolar lead studies (P = 0.08). Phrenic nerve stimulation was more frequent at middle-lateral/posterior, and apical LV sites (139/1010) vs. basal-posterior/lateral/anterior, and middle-anterior sites (20/297; P= 0.01). As compared with an anterior LV lead position, a lateral LV pacing site was associated with over a four-fold higher risk of PNS (P= 0.005) and an apical LV pacing site was associated with over six-fold higher risk of PNS (P= 0.001). Phrenic nerve stimulation occurred in 13% of patients undergoing LV lead placement and was more common at mid-lateral/posterior, and LV apical sites. Most cases (123/139; 88%) of PNS were mitigated via electrical reprogramming, without the need for invasive intervention.

Lateralization of the human mirror neuron system.

PubMed

Aziz-Zadeh, Lisa; Koski, Lisa; Zaidel, Eran; Mazziotta, John; Iacoboni, Marco

2006-03-15

A cortical network consisting of the inferior frontal, rostral inferior parietal, and posterior superior temporal cortices has been implicated in representing actions in the primate brain and is critical to imitation in humans. This neural circuitry may be an evolutionary precursor of neural systems associated with language. However, language is predominantly lateralized to the left hemisphere, whereas the degree of lateralization of the imitation circuitry in humans is unclear. We conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study of imitation of finger movements with lateralized stimuli and responses. During imitation, activity in the inferior frontal and rostral inferior parietal cortex, although fairly bilateral, was stronger in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the visual stimulus and response hand. This ipsilateral pattern is at variance with the typical contralateral activity of primary visual and motor areas. Reliably increased signal in the right superior temporal sulcus (STS) was observed for both left-sided and right-sided imitation tasks, although subthreshold activity was also observed in the left STS. Overall, the data indicate that visual and motor components of the human mirror system are not left-lateralized. The left hemisphere superiority for language, then, must be have been favored by other types of language precursors, perhaps auditory or multimodal action representations.

Case report of a p16INK4A-positive branchial cleft cyst.

PubMed

McLean, T; Iseli, C; Amott, D; Taylor, M

2015-06-01

To report the occurrence of a concurrent oropharyngeal papilloma and branchial cleft cyst linked by p16(INK4A) and human papillomavirus immunohistochemistry. A 42-year-old woman presented with a 1-month history of a left lateral neck mass. Contrast enhanced computed tomography showed a hypodense lesion 20 mm in diameter anteromedial to the left sternocleidomastoid muscle. Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration suggested a branchial cleft cyst. Panendoscopy was performed at the time of neck mass removal, and a papillomatous lesion was removed from the left hypopharynx. Histopathological analysis showed the neck lesion to be a branchial cyst containing lymphoid tissue, and the oral lesion to be a squamous papilloma. Immunohistochemical analysis showed both the branchial cleft cyst and papilloma to be positive for p16(INK4A) expression and human papillomavirus DNA. Histological and immunohistochemical analyses support the cystic transformation of lymph nodes, or the 'Inclusion Theory', as the aetiology of branchial apparatus anomalies, and raise the possibility that human papillomavirus infection may play a much larger role in disease of the head and neck than previously supposed.

Human herpesvirus 6 encephalitis followed by acute disseminated encephalomyelitis in an immunocompetent adult.

PubMed

Horie, Junichi; Suzuki, Keisuke; Nakamura, Toshiki; Okamura, Madoka; Iwasaki, Akio; Hirata, Koichi

2017-04-28

A 26-year-old, otherwise healthy man presented with visual abnormality followed by loss of consciousness and convulsion. The patient then developed headache and fever 14 days later. Brain MRI showed hyperintensities in the left cingulate cortex. The cerrebrospinal fluid examinations showed mononuclear pleocytosis and positive PCR results for human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6). A diagnosis of HHV-6 encephalitis and symptomatic epilepsy was made. The patient's clinical symptoms improved promptly following acyclovir treatment. However, 3 months later the patient noticed dysesthesia in the trunk, the left upper limb and the right lower limb. Brain and spine MRI showed multiple brain white matter lesions, the middle cerebellar peduncle and cervical spinal lesions. The symptoms resolved following methylprednisolone pulse therapy only. We report an adult patient with HHV-6 encephalitis followed by acute disseminated encephalomyelitis whose initial presentation was epilepsy. HHV-6 encephalitis should be included in the differential diagnosis of encephalitis of unknown etiology in an immunocompetent adult.

A new species of Procyrnea (Nematoda: Habronematidae) parasitic in Rhea pennata (Aves: Rheidae) from Patagonia, Argentina, with a key to species of the genus.

PubMed

Bagnato, E; Frixione, M; Digiani, M C; Cremonte, F

2017-07-31

Procyrnea choique n. sp. is described from the lesser rhea, Rhea pennata d´Orbigny (Aves: Rheidae), from the Protected Natural Area Península Valdés, Chubut province, Argentina. The new species resembles P. ficheuri, P. murrayi, P. excisiformis, P. dollfusi, P. haliasturi, P. anterovulvata, P. graculae, P. brevicaudata, P. uncinipenis, P. javaensis, P. ameerae, P. ornata, P. aegotheles, P. spiralis, P. ruschii and P. aptera, mainly in the absence of lateral alae; but differs from its congeners by having a left spicule without barbs, the position of the vulva which is post-equatorial, the absence of lateral ridges, absent median precloacal papilla, asymmetrical caudal alae, males more than 6 mm long, left spicule 1 mm long and spicule ratio 1:3. Our results extend the taxonomy of Procyrnea Chabaud, 1958 and comprise the first report of a habronematid from R. pennata. A key to species of Procyrnea is presented.

Print-specific N170 involves multiple subcomponents for Japanese Hiragana.

PubMed

Uno, Tomoki; Okumura, Yasuko; Kasai, Tetsuko

2017-05-22

Print-specific N170 in event-related potentials is generally considered to reflect relatively automatic processing for letter strings, which is crucial for fluent reading. However, our previous studies demonstrated that print-specific N170 for transparent Japanese Hiragana script consists of at least two subcomponents under rapid stimulus presentation: an attention-related left-lateralized N170 and a bilateral N170 associated with more automatic orthographic processes (Okumura, Kasai & Murohashi, 2014, 2015). The present study aimed to confirm the latter component by controlling presentation frequency of letters and nonlinguistic visual controls (i.e., symbols), but found a quite different pattern of results; an enhanced occipito-temporal positivity for words (80-120ms poststimulus) followed by the typical left-lateralized N170 and an enhanced parietal negativity for nonwords (150-200ms). These results should provide further insights into the interaction processes between attention and early stages of print processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Orbital nerve seath myxoma with extraocular muscle involvement: a rare case.

PubMed

Rodríguez-Uña, Ignacio; Troyano-Rivas, Juan A; González-García, Cristina; Chícharo-de-Freitas, Reinaldo; Ortiz-Zapata, Juan J; Ortega-Medina, Luis; Toledano-Fernández, Nicolás; García-Feijoo, Julián

2015-07-01

A 66-year-old woman with breast cancer presented with a painless mass in the left orbit. MRI revealed a well-defined intraconal mass in the temporal quadrant of the orbit. Fifteen months later, a further MRI indicated the mass had grown, displacing the left optic nerve and making contact with the lateral rectus muscle, suggesting its possible intramuscular origin. Despite the clinical and radiological characteristics of the lesion and its slow growth, a PET/CT study was developed because of the history of malignant disease. No metabolic activity of the mass or malignant lesion in other locations was observed. After surgical excision, histopathological examination revealed an abundant myxoid matrix with few spindle-shaped cells and no signs of malignancy. The cells were immunopositive for CD34, positive for S-100 protein, and negative for EMA, actin, and CD57. A diagnosis was made of a nerve sheath myxoma. The orbital location of these tumors is extremely rare.

Sexual dimorphism in relations of blood growth-hormone levels to body and brain weights in newborn rats.

PubMed

Elalmis, Derya Deniz; Tan, Uner

2007-12-01

The growth promoting effects of growth hormone (GH) are well-known. However, the studies in this respect did not consider the sexual dimorphism. The adverse--growth limiting--GH effects were also reported in human newborns (see Tan, 1992, 1995; Tan et al., 1998). A similar study was replicated in the newborn rat pups in the present work. The serum GH level, body weight, body height, right- and left-brain weights were measured just after birth in rat pups. The relations of the serum GH levels to the bodily measurements were found to be sexually dimorphic. Namely, there were no significant correlations between the serum GH levels and the body size (weight and height) in males, whereas there were inverse relations between these parameters in females. The GH level negatively linearly related to the right-, left-, and right- minus left-brain weights in females, whereas only the right-brain weight positively linearly correlated with the serum GH level, the right- minus left-brain weight being also positively linearly correlated with the serum GH level in males. The results suggested that the sexual dimorphism should be taken into consideration in studies concerning the global GH effects. The relation of the serum GH level to the right-left brain asymmetry, also sexually dimorphic, suggests a role of GH in cerebral lateralization.

Reduced sensitivity of the N400 and late positive component to semantic congruity and word repetition in left temporal lobe epilepsy.

PubMed

Olichney, John M; Riggins, Brock R; Hillert, Dieter G; Nowacki, Ralph; Tecoma, Evelyn; Kutas, Marta; Iragui, Vicente J

2002-07-01

We studied 14 patients with well-characterized refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), 7 with right temporal lobe epilepsy (RTE) and 7 with left temporal lobe epilepsy (LTE), on a word repetition ERP experiment. Much prior literature supports the view that patients with left TLE are more likely to develop verbal memory deficits, often attributable to left hippocampal sclerosis. Our main objectives were to test if abnormalities of the N400 or Late Positive Component (LPC, P600) were associated with a left temporal seizure focus, or left temporal lobe dysfunction. A minimum of 19 channels of EEG/EOG data were collected while subjects performed a semantic categorization task. Auditory category statements were followed by a visual target word, which were 50% "congruous" (category exemplars) and 50% "incongruous" (non-category exemplars) with the preceding semantic context. These auditory-visual pairings were repeated pseudo-randomly at time intervals ranging from approximately 10-140 seconds later. The ERP data were submitted to repeated-measures ANOVAs, which showed the RTE group had generally normal effects of word repetition on the LPC and the N400. Also, the N400 component was larger to incongruous than congruous new words, as is normally the case. In contrast, the LTE group did not have statistically significant effects of either word repetition or congruity on their ERPs (N400 or LPC), suggesting that this ERP semantic categorization paradigm is sensitive to left temporal lobe dysfunction. Further studies are ongoing to determine if these ERP abnormalities predict hippocampal sclerosis on histopathology, or outcome after anterior temporal lobectomy.

Subthalamic nucleus stimulation and spontaneous language production in Parkinson's disease: A double laterality problem.

PubMed

Batens, Katja; De Letter, Miet; Raedt, Robrecht; Duyck, Wouter; Vanhoutte, Sarah; Van Roost, Dirk; Santens, Patrick

2015-08-01

Asymmetric degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, are characteristic for Parkinson's disease (PD). Despite the lateralized representation of language, the correlation of asymmetric degeneration of nigrostriatal networks in PD with language performance has scarcely been examined. The laterality of dopamine depletion influences language deficits in PD and thus modulates the effects of subthalamic nucleus (STN) stimulation on language production. The spontaneous language production of patients with predominant dopamine depletion of the left (PD-left) and right (PD-right) hemisphere was compared in four stimulation conditions. PD-right made comparatively more verb inflection errors than PD-left. Bilateral STN stimulation improves spontaneous language production only for PD-left. The laterality of dopamine depletion influences spontaneous language production and the effect of STN stimulation on linguistic functions. However, it is probably only one of the many variables influencing the effect of STN stimulation on language production. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Transesophageal Echocardiography-Guided Epicardial Left Ventricular Lead Placement by Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery in Nonresponders to Biventricular Pacing and Previous Chest Surgery.

PubMed

Schroeder, Carsten; Chung, Jane M; Mackall, Judith A; Cakulev, Ivan T; Patel, Aaron; Patel, Sunny J; Hoit, Brian D; Sahadevan, Jayakumar

2018-06-14

The aim of the study was to study the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of transesophageal echocardiography-guided intraoperative left ventricular lead placement via a video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery approach in patients with failed conventional biventricular pacing. Twelve patients who could not have the left ventricular lead placed conventionally underwent epicardial left ventricular lead placement by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. Eight patients had previous chest surgery (66%). Operative positioning was a modified far lateral supine exposure with 30-degree bed tilt, allowing for groin and sternal access. To determine the optimal left ventricular location for lead placement, the left ventricular surface was divided arbitrarily into nine segments. These segments were transpericardially paced using a hand-held malleable pacing probe identifying the optimal site verified by transesophageal echocardiography. The pacing leads were screwed into position via a limited pericardiotomy. The video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery approach was successful in all patients. Biventricular pacing was achieved in all patients and all reported symptomatic benefit with reduction in New York Heart Association class from III to I-II (P = 0.016). Baseline ejection fraction was 23 ± 3%; within 1-year follow-up, the ejection fraction increased to 32 ± 10% (P = 0.05). The mean follow-up was 566 days. The median length of hospital stay was 7 days with chest tube removal between postoperative days 2 and 5. In patients who are nonresponders to conventional biventricular pacing, intraoperative left ventricular lead placement using anatomical and functional characteristics via a video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery approach is effective in improving heart failure symptoms. This optimized left ventricular lead placement is feasible and safe. Previous chest surgery is no longer an exclusion criterion for a video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery approach.

[New Insights into Maternal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation--Significance of Simulation Research and Training].

PubMed

Komasawa, Nobuyasu; Fujiwara, Shunsuke; Majima, Nozomi; Minami, Toshiaki

2015-08-01

Pregnancy-related mortality, estimated to occur in approximately 1: 50,000 deliveries, is rare in developed countries. The 2010 American Heart Association (AHA) Guidelines for Resuscitation emphasize the importance of high-quality chest compression as a key determinant of successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation. During pregnancy, the uterus can compress the inferior vena cava, impeding venous return and thereby reducing stroke volume and cardiac output. To maximize the effectiveness of chest compressions in pregnancy, the AHA guidelines recommend the 27-30 degrees left-lateral tilt (LLT) position. When CPR is performed on parturients in the LLT position, chest compressions will probably be more effective if performed with the operator standing on the left side of the patient. The videolaryngoscope Pentax-AWS Airwayscope (AWS) was found to be an effective tool for airway management during chest compressions in 27 LLT simulations, suggesting that the AWS may be a useful device for airway management during maternal resuscitation.

Determining the anatomy of the descending palatine artery and pterygoid plates with computed tomography in Class III patients.

PubMed

Ueki, Koichiro; Hashiba, Yukari; Marukawa, Kohei; Nakagawa, Kiyomasa; Okabe, Katsuhiko; Yamamoto, Etsuhide

2009-12-01

Understanding the anatomy of the pterygomaxillary junction region helps prevent blood loss in Le Fort I osteotomy. Here, we determined the location of the descending palatine artery and the structure of the pterygomaxillary region. The study group consisted of 82 Japanese patients with mandibular prognathism and asymmetry, with and without maxillary retrognathism or asymmetry. A total of 164 sides were measured and divided into right versus left, men versus women, and bimaxillary osteotomy (B) versus mandibular osteotomy (S). Lateral and frontal cephalograms and computed tomography (CT) were analysed for all patients. The relationship between the cephalometric measurements and the measurements of the descending palatine artery and pterygoid plate (PP) were assessed. There were no significant correlations between measurements of cephalograms and those of the descending palatine artery and PPs. There were significant differences between right and left in lateral plate length (p=0.0014) and thickness of PP (p=0.0047). There were significant differences between men and women in right width of PP (p=0.0034), right thickness of PP (p=0.0063), left posterior length (p=0.0196), and left thickness of PP (p=0.0279). The B group had a shorter anterior length than the S group (right: p<0.0001, left: p=0.0027). These results suggest that the location of the descending palatine artery and the morphology of the PPs were not significantly associated with any cephalometric measurements. CT examination is necessary to recognize the anatomy of pterygomaxillary region and the exact positions of descending palatine artery before Le Fort I osteotomy.

Endourethral MRI Guidance for Prostatic RF Ablation

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-06-01

head (3 cm wide) attached to a 24-cm plastic handle,. Copper tape and then covered with a coat of protective plastic. In addition, bazooka baluns made...in the perineum , advanced posterior surface. This arrangement was used to mimic the into the prostatic urethra, and fixated in the prostate by...are inserted through the perineum placed in the left lateral decubitus position to maximize and into the prostate gland, commonly under ultrasound

Lateral and medial prefrontal contributions to emotion generation by semantic elaboration during episodic encoding.

PubMed

Kaneda, Takumi; Shigemune, Yayoi; Tsukiura, Takashi

2017-02-01

Memories for emotion-laden stimuli are remembered more accurately than those for neutral stimuli. Although this enhancement reflects stimulus-driven modulation of memory by emotions, functional neuroimaging evidence of the interacting mechanisms between emotions generated by intentional processes, such as semantic elaboration, and memory is scarce. The present fMRI study investigated how encoding-related activation is modulated by emotions generated during the process of semantic elaboration. During encoding with fMRI, healthy young adults viewed neutral (target) pictures either passively or with semantic elaboration. In semantic elaboration, participants imagined background stories related to the pictures. Encoding trials with semantic elaboration were subdivided into conditions in which participants imagined negative, positive, or neutral stories. One week later, memories for target pictures were tested. In behavioral results, memories for target pictures were significantly enhanced by semantic elaboration, compared to passive viewing, and the memory enhancement was more remarkable when negative or positive stories were imagined. fMRI results demonstrated that activations in the left inferior frontal gyrus and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) were greater during the encoding of target pictures with semantic elaboration than those with passive viewing, and that these activations further increased during encoding with semantic elaboration of emotional stories than of neutral stories. Functional connectivity between the left inferior frontal gyrus and dmPFC/hippocampus during encoding significantly predicted retrieval accuracies of memories encoded with self-generated emotional stories. These findings suggest that networks including the left inferior frontal region, dmPFC, and hippocampus could contribute to the modulation of memories encoded with the emotion generation.

Language lateralization of hearing native signers: A functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD) study of speech and sign production

PubMed Central

Gutierrez-Sigut, Eva; Daws, Richard; Payne, Heather; Blott, Jonathan; Marshall, Chloë; MacSweeney, Mairéad

2016-01-01

Neuroimaging studies suggest greater involvement of the left parietal lobe in sign language compared to speech production. This stronger activation might be linked to the specific demands of sign encoding and proprioceptive monitoring. In Experiment 1 we investigate hemispheric lateralization during sign and speech generation in hearing native users of English and British Sign Language (BSL). Participants exhibited stronger lateralization during BSL than English production. In Experiment 2 we investigated whether this increased lateralization index could be due exclusively to the higher motoric demands of sign production. Sign naïve participants performed a phonological fluency task in English and a non-sign repetition task. Participants were left lateralized in the phonological fluency task but there was no consistent pattern of lateralization for the non-sign repetition in these hearing non-signers. The current data demonstrate stronger left hemisphere lateralization for producing signs than speech, which was not primarily driven by motoric articulatory demands. PMID:26605960

rTMS on left prefrontal cortex contributes to memories for positive emotional cues: a comparison between pictures and words.

PubMed

Balconi, M; Cobelli, C

2015-02-26

The present research explored the cortical correlates of emotional memories in response to words and pictures. Subjects' performance (Accuracy Index, AI; response times, RTs; RTs/AI) was considered when a repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) was applied on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDLPFC). Specifically, the role of LDLPFC was tested by performing a memory task, in which old (previously encoded targets) and new (previously not encoded distractors) emotional pictures/words had to be recognized. Valence (positive vs. negative) and arousing power (high vs. low) of stimuli were also modulated. Moreover, subjective evaluation of emotional stimuli in terms of valence/arousal was explored. We found significant performance improving (higher AI, reduced RTs, improved general performance) in response to rTMS. This "better recognition effect" was only related to specific emotional features, that is positive high arousal pictures or words. Moreover no significant differences were found between stimulus categories. A direct relationship was also observed between subjective evaluation of emotional cues and memory performance when rTMS was applied to LDLPFC. Supported by valence and approach model of emotions, we supposed that a left lateralized prefrontal system may induce a better recognition of positive high arousal words, and that evaluation of emotional cue is related to prefrontal activation, affecting the recognition memories of emotions. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developmental instability and schizotypy.

PubMed

Rosa, A; van Os, J; Fañanás, L; Barrantes, N; Caparrós, B; Gutiérrez, B; Obiols, J

2000-06-16

It has been suggested that evidence of developmental disturbance of cognition and lateralisation in schizophrenia can be best understood from the perspective of developmental stability (DS), an indicator of the extent to which an individual develops according to a specified ontogenic programme in the presence of environmental noise. Higher levels of fluctuating asymmetry (FA; the difference between right and left side of a quantitative morphological trait such as dermatoglyphics) are thought to reflect less DS. We examined this issue for dimensions of schizotypy. Associations between FA, measures of laterality and cognitive function on the one hand, and negative and positive dimensions of schizotypy on the other, were examined in a sample of 260 healthy adolescents aged 11.9-15.6years. FA was measured as a-b ridge count right-left differences. Neuropsychological measures yielded a general cognitive ability score and a frontal function score. Laterality was assessed with the Annett scale. Measures of psychosis proneness were normally distributed. Negative schizotypy was associated with more FA and lower general cognitive ability in a dose-response fashion. The association with FA was more apparent in boys. No associations existed with laterality or frontal function. The negative dimension of schizotypy may be associated with early developmental instability, resembling the pattern seen in the negative symptom dimension of schizophrenia. Measures of fluctuating asymmetry may be more sensitive with regard to the schizotypy phenotype than measures of laterality.

Age-Dependent Mesial Temporal Lobe Lateralization in Language FMRI

PubMed Central

Sepeta, Leigh N.; Berl, Madison M.; Wilke, Marko; You, Xiaozhen; Mehta, Meera; Xu, Benjamin; Inati, Sara; Dustin, Irene; Khan, Omar; Austermuehle, Alison; Theodore, William H.; Gaillard, William D.

2015-01-01

Objective FMRI activation of the mesial temporal lobe (MTL) may be important for epilepsy surgical planning. We examined MTL activation and lateralization during language fMRI in children and adults with focal epilepsy. Methods 142 controls and patients with left hemisphere focal epilepsy (Pediatric: epilepsy, n = 17, mean age = 9.9 ± 2.0; controls, n = 48; mean age = 9.1 ± 2.6; Adult: epilepsy, n = 20, mean age = 26.7 ± 5.8; controls, n = 57, mean age = 26.2 ± 7.5) underwent 3T fMRI using a language task (auditory description decision task). Image processing and analyses were conducted in SPM8; ROIs included MTL, Broca’s area, and Wernicke’s area. We assessed group and individual MTL activation, and examined degree of lateralization. Results Patients and controls (pediatric and adult) demonstrated group and individual MTL activation during language fMRI. MTL activation was left lateralized for adults but less so in children (p’s < 0.005). Patients did not differ from controls in either age group. Stronger left-lateralized MTL activation was related to older age (p = 0.02). Language lateralization (Broca’s and Wernicke’s) predicted 19% of the variance in MTL lateralization for adults (p = 0.001), but not children. Significance Language fMRI may be used to elicit group and individual MTL activation. The developmental difference in MTL lateralization and its association with language lateralization suggests a developmental shift in lateralization of MTL function, with increased left lateralization across the age span. This shift may help explain why children have better memory outcomes following resection compared to adults. PMID:26696589

Indirect carotid cavernous fistula mimicking ocular myasthenia.

PubMed

Leishangthem, Lakshmi; Satti, Sudhakar Reddy

2017-10-19

71-year-old woman with progressive left-sided, monocular diplopia and ptosis. Her symptoms mimicked ocular myasthenia, but she had an indirect carotid cavernous fistula (CCF). She was diagnosed with monocular myasthenia gravis (negative acetylcholinesterase antibody) after a positive ice test and started on Mestinon and underwent a thymectomy complicated by a brachial plexus injury. Months later, she developed left-sided proptosis and ocular bruit. She was urgently referred to neuro-interventional surgery and was diagnosed with an indirect high-flow left CCF, which was treated with Onyx liquid and platinum coil embolisation. Mestinon was discontinued. Her ophthalmic symptoms resolved. However, she was left with a residual left arm and hand hemiparesis and dysmetria secondary to a brachial plexus injury. Indirect CCF usually can present with subtle and progressive symptoms leading to delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis. It is important for ophthalmologists to consider this differential in a patient with progressive ocular symptoms. © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Vertebrate Left-Right Asymmetry: What Can Nodal Cascade Gene Expression Patterns Tell Us?

PubMed

Schweickert, Axel; Ott, Tim; Kurz, Sabrina; Tingler, Melanie; Maerker, Markus; Fuhl, Franziska; Blum, Martin

2017-12-29

Laterality of inner organs is a wide-spread characteristic of vertebrates and beyond. It is ultimately controlled by the left-asymmetric activation of the Nodal signaling cascade in the lateral plate mesoderm of the neurula stage embryo, which results from a cilia-driven leftward flow of extracellular fluids at the left-right organizer. This scenario is widely accepted for laterality determination in wildtype specimens. Deviations from this norm come in different flavors. At the level of organ morphogenesis, laterality may be inverted (situs inversus) or non-concordant with respect to the main body axis (situs ambiguus or heterotaxia). At the level of Nodal cascade gene activation, expression may be inverted, bilaterally induced, or absent. In a given genetic situation, patterns may be randomized or predominantly lacking laterality (absence or bilateral activation). We propose that the distributions of patterns observed may be indicative of the underlying molecular defects, with randomizations being primarily caused by defects in the flow-generating ciliary set-up, and symmetrical patterns being the result of impaired flow sensing, on the left, the right, or both sides. This prediction, the reasoning of which is detailed in this review, pinpoints functions of genes whose role in laterality determination have remained obscure.

S-Ketamine-Induced NMDA Receptor Blockade during Natural Speech Production and Its Implications for Formal Thought Disorder in Schizophrenia: A Pharmaco-fMRI Study.

PubMed

Nagels, Arne; Cabanis, Maurice; Oppel, Andrea; Kirner-Veselinovic, Andre; Schales, Christian; Kircher, Tilo

2018-05-01

Structural and functional changes in the lateral temporal language areas have been related to formal thought disorder (FTD) in schizophrenia. Continuous, natural speech production activates the right lateral temporal lobe in schizophrenia, as opposed to the left in healthy subjects. Positive and negative FTD can be elicited in healthy subjects by glutamatergic NMDA blockade with ketamine. It is unclear whether the glutamate system is related to the reversed hemispheric lateralization during speaking in patients. In a double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled study, 15 healthy, male, right-handed volunteers overtly described 7 pictures for 3 min each while BOLD signal changes were acquired with fMRI. As a measure of linguistic demand, the number of words within 20 s epochs was correlated with BOLD responses. Participants developed S-ketamine-induced psychotic symptoms, particularly positive FTD. Ketamine vs placebo was associated with enhanced neural responses in the right middle and inferior temporal gyri. Similar to a previous fMRI study in schizophrenia patients vs healthy controls applying the same design, S-ketamine reversed functional lateralization during speech production in healthy subjects. Results demonstrate an association between glutamatergic imbalance, dysactivations in lateral temporal brain areas, and FTD symptom formation.

Lateralized goal framing: how selective presentation impacts message effectiveness.

PubMed

McCormick, Michael; Seta, John J

2012-11-01

We tested whether framing a message as a gain or loss would alter its effectiveness by using a dichotic listening procedure to selectively present a health related message to the left or right hemisphere. A significant goal framing effect (losses > gains) was found when right, but not left, hemisphere processing was initially enhanced. The results support the position that the contextual processing style of the right hemisphere is especially sensitive to the associative implications of the frame. We discussed the implications of these findings for goal framing research, and the valence hypothesis. We also discussed how these findings converge with prior valence framing research and how they can be of potential use to health care providers.

Differential mesolimbic and prefrontal alterations during reward anticipation and consummation in positive and negative schizotypy.

PubMed

Yan, Chao; Wang, Yi; Su, Li; Xu, Ting; Yin, Da-Zhi; Fan, Ming-Xia; Deng, Ci-Ping; Wang, Zhao-Xin; Lui, Simon S Y; Cheung, Eric F C; Chan, Raymond C K

2016-08-30

Schizotypy is associated with anhedonia. However, previous findings on the neural substrates of anhedonia in schizotypy are mixed. In the present study, we measured the neural substrates associated with reward anticipation and consummation in positive and negative schizotypy using functional MRI. The Monetary Incentive Delay task was administered to 33 individuals with schizotypy (18 positive schizotypy (PS),15 negative schizotypy (NS)) and 22 healthy controls. Comparison between schizotypy individuals and controls were performed using two-sample T tests for contrast images involving gain versus non-gain anticipation condition and gain versus non-gain consummation condition. Multiple comparisons were corrected using Monte Carlo Simulation correction of p<.05. The results showed no significant difference in brain activity between controls and schizotypy individuals as a whole during gain anticipation or consummation. However, during the consummatory phase, NS individuals rather than PS individuals showed diminished left amygdala and left putamen activity compared with controls. We observed significantly weaker activation at the left ventral striatum during gain anticipation in NS individuals compared with controls. PS individuals, however, exhibited enhanced right ventral lateral prefrontal activity. These findings suggest that different dimensions of schizotypy may be underlied by different neural dysfunctions in reward anticipation and consummation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hemispheric Asymmetries during Processing of Immoral Stimuli

PubMed Central

Cope, Lora M.; Borg, Jana Schaich; Harenski, Carla L.; Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter; Lieberman, Debra; Nyalakanti, Prashanth K.; Calhoun, Vince D.; Kiehl, Kent A.

2010-01-01

Evolutionary approaches to dissecting our psychological architecture underscore the importance of both function and structure. Here we focus on both the function and structure of our neural circuitry and report a functional bilateral asymmetry associated with the processing of immoral stimuli. Many processes in the human brain are associated with functional specialization unique to one hemisphere. With respect to emotions, most research points to right-hemispheric lateralization. Here we provide evidence that not all emotional stimuli share right-hemispheric lateralization. Across three studies employing different paradigms, the processing of negative morally laden stimuli was found to be highly left-lateralized. Regions of engagement common to the three studies include the left medial prefrontal cortex, left temporoparietal junction, and left posterior cingulate. These data support the hypothesis that processing of immoral stimuli preferentially engages left hemispheric processes and sheds light on our evolved neural architecture. PMID:21344009

Maintaining the feelings of others in working memory is associated with activation of the left anterior insula and left frontal-parietal control network

PubMed Central

Lane, Richard D.; Alkozei, Anna; Bao, Jennifer; Smith, Courtney; Sanova, Anna; Nettles, Matthew; Killgore, William D. S.

2017-01-01

Abstract The maintenance of social/emotional information in working memory (SWM/EWM) has recently been the topic of multiple neuroimaging studies. However, some studies find that SWM/EWM involves a medial frontal-parietal network while others instead find lateral frontal-parietal activations similar to studies of verbal and visuospatial WM. In this study, we asked 26 healthy volunteers to complete an EWM task designed to examine whether different cognitive strategies— maintaining emotional images, words, or feelings— might account for these discrepant results. We also examined whether differences in EWM performance were related to general intelligence (IQ), emotional intelligence (EI), and emotional awareness (EA). We found that maintaining emotional feelings, even when accounting for neural activation attributable to maintaining emotional images/words, still activated a left lateral frontal-parietal network (including the anterior insula and posterior dorsomedial frontal cortex). We also found that individual differences in the ability to maintain feelings were positively associated with IQ and EA, but not with EI. These results suggest that maintaining the feelings of others (at least when perceived exteroceptively) involves similar frontal-parietal control networks to exteroceptive WM, and that it is similarly linked to IQ, but that it also may be an important component of EA. PMID:28158779

Cutaneous Rosai-Dorfman disease: a case report.

PubMed

Pappo, Eden; Schupbach, Adrienne; Worobec, Sophie M

2012-11-15

A 40-year-old female presented with a 2-year history of asymptomatic nodules on her lower extremity. Symptoms began with a small dark spot on the right thigh, which progressively enlarged. She then developed similar nodules on her right leg and a lesion on her left buttock. On physical exam, her right proximal lateral thigh revealed a 10 cm x 6 cm indurated, pink-brown, heterogeneous plaque with a hyperpigmented rim. A similar 8 cm x 4 cm indurated plaque was on the distal right thigh. There was also a 3 to 4 cm hyperpigmented, thin plaque on the left posterior lower extremity and on the left inferior lateral buttock. Exam revealed no cervical or supraclavicular lymphadenopathy or organomegaly. Preliminary work-up by her primary physicians included serology for Lyme disease, systemic lupus erythematous, thyroid function tests, blood cultures for mycobacteria, and angiotensin-converting enzyme, which were all negative or within normal limits. Biopsies demonstrated a nodular inflammatory infiltrate within the dermis consisting of histiocytes with local aggregates of plasma cells and lymphocytes. Histiocytes were enlarged with vesicular nuclei. Some plasma cells had prominent Russell bodies, and emperipolesis was observed. Histiocytes stained positively for S-100, CD68 and CD45, while CD1A, CD30, and CD21; microorganism stains were negative.

Gender-specific effects of emotional modulation on visual temporal order thresholds.

PubMed

Liang, Wei; Zhang, Jiyuan; Bao, Yan

2015-09-01

Emotions affect temporal information processing in the low-frequency time window of a few seconds, but little is known about their effect in the high-frequency domain of some tens of milliseconds. The present study aims to investigate whether negative and positive emotional states influence the ability to discriminate the temporal order of visual stimuli, and whether gender plays a role in temporal processing. Due to the hemispheric lateralization of emotion, a hemispheric asymmetry between the left and the right visual field might be expected. Using a block design, subjects were primed with neutral, negative and positive emotional pictures before performing temporal order judgment tasks. Results showed that male subjects exhibited similarly reduced order thresholds under negative and positive emotional states, while female subjects demonstrated increased threshold under positive emotional state and reduced threshold under negative emotional state. Besides, emotions influenced female subjects more intensely than male subjects, and no hemispheric lateralization was observed. These observations indicate an influence of emotional states on temporal order processing of visual stimuli, and they suggest a gender difference, which is possibly associated with a different emotional stability.

Direct dating of left-lateral deformation along the Red River shear zone, China and Vietnam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gilley, Lisa D.; Harrison, T. Mark; Leloup, P. H.; Ryerson, F. J.; Lovera, Oscar M.; Wang, Jiang-Hai

2003-02-01

Exposures of high-grade, midcrustal rocks within the Red River shear zone (RRSZ), which separates the Indochina and South China blocks, exhibit clear evidence of left-lateral, ductile deformation. Assuming that the South China Sea represents a pull-apart basin formed at the southeastern termination of the RRSZ, it has been argued that seafloor magnetic anomalies constrain the timing of sinistral slip accommodated by the RRSZ between ˜32 and 17 Ma at a rate of ˜4 cm/yr. While 40Ar/39Ar thermochronometry indicates that left-lateral slip occurred along the RRSZ between 25 and 17 Ma, the timing of earlier high-temperature deformation has not been directly constrained. In situ Th-Pb ion microprobe dating of monazite inclusions in garnets allows direct assessment of the timing of amphibolite-grade metamorphism and synchronous left-lateral shearing. Results from northern segments of the RRSZ in Yunnan, China, indicate that synkinematic garnet growth occurred between 34 and 21 Ma and are the first to document late Oligocene metamorphism and left-lateral shearing. Data from the southern RRSZ within Vietnam are complicated by Tertiary overprinting of rocks that experienced amphibolite facies metamorphism during the Indosinian orogeny (˜220 Ma). The period during which sinistral deformation is now constrained to have occurred along the RRSZ (i.e., 34-17 Ma) is essentially coincident with spreading of the South China seafloor (32-17 Ma). This temporal and kinematic link between left-lateral shearing along the RRSZ and opening of the South China Sea supports the view that Indochina was extruded from Asia as a block along lithospheric-scale strike-slip faults.

Relationship Between Laryngeal Electromyography and Video Laryngostroboscopy in Vocal Fold Paralysis.

PubMed

Maamary, Joel A; Cole, Ian; Darveniza, Paul; Pemberton, Cecilia; Brake, Helen Mary; Tisch, Stephen

2017-09-01

The objective of this study was to better define the relationship of laryngeal electromyography and video laryngostroboscopy in the diagnosis of vocal fold paralysis. Retrospective diagnostic cohort study with cross-sectional data analysis METHODS: Data were obtained from 57 patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis who attended a large tertiary voice referral center. Electromyographic findings were classified according to recurrent laryngeal nerve, superior laryngeal nerve, and high vagal/combined lesions. Video laryngostroboscopy recordings were classified according to the position of the immobile fold into median, paramedian, lateral, and a foreshortened/hooded vocal fold. The position of the paralyzed vocal fold was then analyzed according to the lesion as determined by electromyography. The recurrent laryngeal nerve was affected in the majority of cases with left-sided lesions more common than right. Vocal fold position differed between recurrent laryngeal and combined vagal lesions. Recurrent laryngeal nerve lesions were more commonly associated with a laterally displaced immobile fold. No fold position was suggestive of a combined vagal lesion. The inter-rater reliability for determining fold position was high. Laryngeal electromyography is useful in diagnosing neuromuscular dysfunction of the larynx and best practice recommends its continued implementation along with laryngostroboscopy. While recurrent laryngeal nerve lesions are more likely to present with a lateral vocal fold, this does not occur in all cases. Such findings indicate that further unknown mechanisms contribute to fold position in unilateral paralysis. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Language and Memory Improvements following tDCS of Left Lateral Prefrontal Cortex.

PubMed

Hussey, Erika K; Ward, Nathan; Christianson, Kiel; Kramer, Arthur F

2015-01-01

Recent research demonstrates that performance on executive-control measures can be enhanced through brain stimulation of lateral prefrontal regions. Separate psycholinguistic work emphasizes the importance of left lateral prefrontal cortex executive-control resources during sentence processing, especially when readers must override early, incorrect interpretations when faced with temporary ambiguity. Using transcranial direct current stimulation, we tested whether stimulation of left lateral prefrontal cortex had discriminate effects on language and memory conditions that rely on executive-control (versus cases with minimal executive-control demands, even in the face of task difficulty). Participants were randomly assigned to receive Anodal, Cathodal, or Sham stimulation of left lateral prefrontal cortex while they (1) processed ambiguous and unambiguous sentences in a word-by-word self-paced reading task and (2) performed an n-back memory task that, on some trials, contained interference lure items reputed to require executive-control. Across both tasks, we parametrically manipulated executive-control demands and task difficulty. Our results revealed that the Anodal group outperformed the remaining groups on (1) the sentence processing conditions requiring executive-control, and (2) only the most complex n-back conditions, regardless of executive-control demands. Together, these findings add to the mounting evidence for the selective causal role of left lateral prefrontal cortex for executive-control tasks in the language domain. Moreover, we provide the first evidence suggesting that brain stimulation is a promising method to mitigate processing demands encountered during online sentence processing.

Language and Memory Improvements following tDCS of Left Lateral Prefrontal Cortex

PubMed Central

Hussey, Erika K.; Ward, Nathan; Christianson, Kiel; Kramer, Arthur F.

2015-01-01

Recent research demonstrates that performance on executive-control measures can be enhanced through brain stimulation of lateral prefrontal regions. Separate psycholinguistic work emphasizes the importance of left lateral prefrontal cortex executive-control resources during sentence processing, especially when readers must override early, incorrect interpretations when faced with temporary ambiguity. Using transcranial direct current stimulation, we tested whether stimulation of left lateral prefrontal cortex had discriminate effects on language and memory conditions that rely on executive-control (versus cases with minimal executive-control demands, even in the face of task difficulty). Participants were randomly assigned to receive Anodal, Cathodal, or Sham stimulation of left lateral prefrontal cortex while they (1) processed ambiguous and unambiguous sentences in a word-by-word self-paced reading task and (2) performed an n-back memory task that, on some trials, contained interference lure items reputed to require executive-control. Across both tasks, we parametrically manipulated executive-control demands and task difficulty. Our results revealed that the Anodal group outperformed the remaining groups on (1) the sentence processing conditions requiring executive-control, and (2) only the most complex n-back conditions, regardless of executive-control demands. Together, these findings add to the mounting evidence for the selective causal role of left lateral prefrontal cortex for executive-control tasks in the language domain. Moreover, we provide the first evidence suggesting that brain stimulation is a promising method to mitigate processing demands encountered during online sentence processing. PMID:26528814

[Adaptation to effort in patients with chronic cardiac insufficiency; study by post-exercise Doppler echocardiography, comparative results with a control population].

PubMed

Pouillart, F; Perchet, H; Duval-Moulin, A M; Heintz, J F; Hittinger, L; Brun, P; Castaigne, A; Dubois-Randé, J L

1995-04-01

Adaptation to exercise was studied by post-exercise Doppler echocardiography in patients with chronic cardiac failure and an apparently healthy control population matched for age. This post-exercise Doppler echocardiographic method initially introduced for the detection of myocardial ischaemia has already been validated in normal subjects for the analysis of haemodynamic changes caused by exercise providing the data is recorded in the first 5 minutes following recovery in the recumbent position. Eleven patients with chronic cardiac failure in NYHA classes II or III with a mean age of 54 +/- 11 years and 6 controls (mean age: 46 +/- 9 years) were investigated. The patients had been stabilised for at least 3 months with a vasodilator and diuretic therapy: the control subjects had no medication. After bicycle ergometry performed to 70% of maximum capacity, the subjects were positioned in the left lateral recumbent position. Doppler echocardiography was then performed in the immediate recovery phase. When compared to the control population, the patients with cardiac failure had a reduced chronotropic reserve, a smaller increase in the parameters of myocardial contractility (maximal aortic velocity, maximal aortic acceleration and left ventricular fractional shortening) without an increase in left ventricular end diastolic dimensions in subjects with severe dilatation under basal conditions (left ventricular end diastolic dimension 69 +/- 3 mm). This result suggests the absence of a Frank-Starling effect. The lack of adaptation of the peripheral vascular system was demonstrated by the lack of reduction of left ventricular end systolic stress, already greatly increased at rest (176 vs 77 +/- 10 g/cm2 for patients, compared with controls; p < 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Air embolism after central venous catheterization.

PubMed

Kashuk, J L; Penn, I

1984-09-01

Air embolism--the most dangerous complication of central venous catheterization--may occur in several ways. The most frequent is from disconnection of the catheter from the related intravenous tubing. An embolism may present with a sucking sound, tachypnea, air hunger, wheezing, hypotension and a "mill wheel" murmur. A later manifestation is severe pulmonary edema. In a review of 24 patients, the mortality was 50 per cent. Among the survivors, five (42 per cent) had neurologic damage. Immediate treatment includes placing the patient in the left lateral and Trendelenberg positions, administration of oxygen and aspiration of air from the heart. Cardiac massage and emergency cardiopulmonary bypass may be necessary. Most instances can be prevented by inserting the cannula with the patient in the Trendelenberg position, occluding the cannula hub except briefly while the catheter is inserted, fixation of the catheter hub to its connections and occlusive dressing over the track after removal of the catheter.

Gender differences in post-temporal lobectomy verbal memory and relationships between MRI hippocampal volumes and preoperative verbal memory.

PubMed

Trenerry, M R; Jack, C R; Cascino, G D; Sharbrough, F W; Ivnik, R J

1995-01-01

Thirty-three men and 42 women who underwent left, and 26 men and 24 women who underwent right temporal lobectomy (TL) were studied retrospectively to determine if there were sex differences in (1) verbal memory outcome, and (2) relationships between verbal memory and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) hippocampal volumes. All patients were left hemisphere language dominant. The surgical specimen and MRI were consistent only with mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS). Verbal memory was evaluated by Logical Memory percent retention (LMPER) from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R). Women experienced a significant improvement while men experienced a significant decline in postoperative LMPER. The difference between right and left hippocampal volumes predicted verbal memory outcome in both men and women. Preoperative LMPER was positively correlated with both the left and right hippocampal volumes in left TL women only. No verbal memory sex differences or correlations between LMPER and MRI data were found in the right TL group. The data support the presence of human neurocognitive sexual dimorphism. Verbal memory abilities supported by the hippocampus are less lateralized in women with left temporal lobe epilepsy and mesial temporal sclerosis. Women appear to have greater verbal memory plasticity following early left mesial temporal lobe insult.

Minimal Invasive Left Ventricular Lead Repositioning is Safe and Effective in Distal Left Ventricular Lead Positions.

PubMed

Osztheimer, István; Szilágyi, Szabolcs; Pongor, Zsuzsanna; Zima, Endre; Molnár, Levente; Tahin, Tamás; Merkely, Béla; Gellér, László

2017-05-01

Treatment of left ventricular electrode dislocation and phrenic nerve stimulation remains an issue in the era of new electrode designs. Safety and efficacy of minimal invasive lead repositioning and pocket opening reposition procedures were evaluated between December 2005 and December 2012 at our center. Minimal invasive method was developed and widely utilized at our center to treat phrenic nerve stimulation. The distally positioned left ventricular lead is looped around by a deflectable catheter in the right atrium introduced from the femoral vein access and then pulled back. Coronary stent implantation was used afterwards for lead stabilization in some patients. 42 minimal invasive and 48 electrode repositions with pacemaker pocket opening were performed at 77 patients for left ventricular lead problems. Minimal invasive reposition could be carried out successfully in 69% of (29 patients) cases. Note that in 14.3% of the cases (six patients) minimal invasive procedures were acutely unsuccessful and crossover was necessary. In 16.6% of the cases (seven patients) lead issues were noted later during follow-up. Opening of the pocket could be carried out successfully in 81.2% (39 patients) and was unsuccessful acutely in 6.25% (three patients). Repeated dislocation was noticed, 12.5%, in this group (six patients). Complication during minimal invasive procedures was electrode injury in one case. Pocket openings were associated with several complications: atrial fibrillation, pericardial effusion, fever, hematoma, and right ventricular electrode dislodgement. Minimal invasive procedure-as the first line approach-is safe and feasible for left ventricular electrode repositioning in selected cases. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Left Ventricular Dilatation Assessed on the Lateral Chest Radiograph: The Classic Hoffman and Rigler Sign Falls Short in a Modern-Day Population.

PubMed

Spaziano, Marco; Marquis-Gravel, Guillaume; Ramsay, Isabelle; Romanelli, Giovanni; Marchand, Émilie; Tournoux, François

2016-03-01

The classic Hoffman and Rigler (H&R) sign, originally described in 1965, suggests that left ventricular (LV) dilatation is present if the left ventricle extends more than 18 mm posterior to the inferior vena cava at a level 2 cm above their crossing on a lateral chest radiograph. This sign is still widely used by radiologists but has not been well evaluated against modern methods of noninvasive assessment. This study investigated the sensitivity and specificity of the H&R sign in a modern population. A sample of 145 patients with LV dilatation based on current echocardiographic criteria was matched for age and sex with 145 patients without LV dilatation. Patients were required to have undergone a lateral chest radiograph in the 3 months before or after undergoing echocardiography; the H&R sign and the cardiothoracic index were assessed on the radiograph independently by 2 blinded physicians. Using the threshold value of 18 mm, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative likelihood ratios of the H&R sign were 54.9%, 59.2%, 1.34, and 0.76, respectively (area under the curve [AUC], 0.58). In comparison, the cardiothoracic index provided better prediction of LV dilatation (sensitivity, 87.9%; specificity, 47.5%; AUC, 0.72). The H&R sign is a poor marker of LV enlargement when compared with echocardiography and should not be used as a radiologic index of LV enlargement. Copyright © 2016 Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Asymmetric projections of the arcuate fasciculus to the temporal cortex underlie lateralized language function in the human brain

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Takaya, Shigetoshi; Kuperberg, Gina R.; Tufts Univ., Medford, MA

The arcuate fasciculus (AF) in the human brain has asymmetric structural properties. However, the topographic organization of the asymmetric AF projections to the cortex and its relevance to cortical function remain unclear. Here we mapped the posterior projections of the human AF in the inferior parietal and lateral temporal cortices using surface-based structural connectivity analysis based on diffusion MRI and investigated their hemispheric differences. We then performed the cross-modal comparison with functional connectivity based on resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) and task-related cortical activation based on fMRI using a semantic classification task of single words. Structural connectivity analysis showed that themore » left AF connecting to Broca's area predominantly projected in the lateral temporal cortex extending from the posterior superior temporal gyrus to the mid part of the superior temporal sulcus and the middle temporal gyrus, whereas the right AF connecting to the right homolog of Broca's area predominantly projected to the inferior parietal cortex extending from the mid part of the supramarginal gyrus to the anterior part of the angular gyrus. The left-lateralized projection regions of the AF in the left temporal cortex had asymmetric functional connectivity with Broca's area, indicating structure-function concordance through the AF. During the language task, left-lateralized cortical activation was observed. Among them, the brain responses in the temporal cortex and Broca's area that were connected through the left-lateralized AF pathway were specifically correlated across subjects. These results suggest that the human left AF, which structurally and functionally connects the mid temporal cortex and Broca's area in asymmetrical fashion, coordinates the cortical activity in these remote cortices during a semantic decision task. As a result, the unique feature of the left AF is discussed in the context of the human capacity for language.« less

Asymmetric projections of the arcuate fasciculus to the temporal cortex underlie lateralized language function in the human brain

DOE PAGES

Takaya, Shigetoshi; Kuperberg, Gina R.; Tufts Univ., Medford, MA; ...

2015-09-15

The arcuate fasciculus (AF) in the human brain has asymmetric structural properties. However, the topographic organization of the asymmetric AF projections to the cortex and its relevance to cortical function remain unclear. Here we mapped the posterior projections of the human AF in the inferior parietal and lateral temporal cortices using surface-based structural connectivity analysis based on diffusion MRI and investigated their hemispheric differences. We then performed the cross-modal comparison with functional connectivity based on resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) and task-related cortical activation based on fMRI using a semantic classification task of single words. Structural connectivity analysis showed that themore » left AF connecting to Broca's area predominantly projected in the lateral temporal cortex extending from the posterior superior temporal gyrus to the mid part of the superior temporal sulcus and the middle temporal gyrus, whereas the right AF connecting to the right homolog of Broca's area predominantly projected to the inferior parietal cortex extending from the mid part of the supramarginal gyrus to the anterior part of the angular gyrus. The left-lateralized projection regions of the AF in the left temporal cortex had asymmetric functional connectivity with Broca's area, indicating structure-function concordance through the AF. During the language task, left-lateralized cortical activation was observed. Among them, the brain responses in the temporal cortex and Broca's area that were connected through the left-lateralized AF pathway were specifically correlated across subjects. These results suggest that the human left AF, which structurally and functionally connects the mid temporal cortex and Broca's area in asymmetrical fashion, coordinates the cortical activity in these remote cortices during a semantic decision task. As a result, the unique feature of the left AF is discussed in the context of the human capacity for language.« less

[Study of anatomy of the lateral attachment of the renal fascia in adult with multidetector computed tomography].

PubMed

Qi, Rui; Zhou, Xianping; Yu, Jianqun; Chen, Weixia; Li, Zhenlin; Zhang, Chunle

2012-08-01

The present paper is aimed to observe the lateral attachment of the renal fascia (RF) in vivo with multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) scanning, and to discuss its diagnostic value. 121 healthy adults were adopted into this experiment. All images were obtained with MDCT and double phase enhancement scanning. Then we observed the lateral attachment of RF. In addition, we mad a fresh body specimen as anatomical basis. The study found that above the renal hilar plane (RHP), the anterior renal fascia laterally fused with the peritoneum of the liver on the right and the peritoneum of the spleen on the left,and the posterior renal fascia fused with the subdiaphragmatic fascia. The lateral attachment of the RF at the RHP and the lower renal pole(LRP)is divided into three types. The RF in Type I is about 47.9% (58/121) at the left RHP, while about 33.9% (41/121) at the right RHP. At the LRP of the kidney is about 55.3% (67/121) on the left, and about 42.1% (51/121) on the right. The RF in Type I is about 38.8% (47/121) on the left side at the RHP, about 26.4% (32/121) on the right side. At the LRP, left side about 27.3% (33/121), right side about 13.3%(16/121). The RF in Type III at the RHP is 13.3% (16/121) on the left side, and on the right side is about 39.7% (48/121). At the LRP, it is about 17.4% (21/121) on the left side, and about 44.6% (54/121) on the right side. MDCT can display the lateral attachment of the RF better as well as the outside connection of the retroperitoneal space.

End-to-side neurorrhaphy with and without perineurium.

PubMed

Viterbo, F; Teixeira, E; Hoshino, K; Padovani, C R

1998-01-01

We compared end-to-side neurorraphy with and without the perineural sheath. Twenty rats were used. The peroneal nerve was sectioned and the distal end was sutured to the lateral face of the tibial nerve. We removed the perineural sheath only on the right side, but not on the left side. The proximal end of the peroneal nerve was curved back approximately at a 100 degrees angle and implanted into the adductor muscle. Six months later, the 14 surviving animals were submitted to electrophysiological tests, sacrificed, and the nerves and muscles were taken for histological exams. On the right side, the muscles that had positive response needed an average of 258.89 mV (+/- 92.31) of electric stimulus and on the left side 298.34 mV (+/- 139.32). The average weight of the tibial cranial muscles of the right side was 0.47 g (0.18) and for the left side 0.45 g (0.15). The distal end of the peroneal nerve showed averages of 310.29 (+/- 191.34) nerve fibers on the right side and 287.71 (+/- 183.60) on the left side. The tibial nerve above the neurorraphy showed averages of 939.46 (+/- 223.51) nerve fibers on the right side and 959.46 (+/- 327.48) on the left side. The tibial nerve below the neurorraphy showed averages of 935.17 (+/- 298.65) nerve fibers on the right side and 755.31 (+/- 323.26) on the left side. The average areas of the right tibial cranial muscles were 0.0162 m2 (+/- 0.008), after 230 magnification, and 0.0152 m2 (0.0064) for the left tibial cranial muscles. The histological features of the tibial cranial muscles, taking normal as 100%, were 78.21 (+/- 20.75) on the right side and 82.14 (+/- 15.89) on the left side. The statistical analysis (Student's t test) did not reveal any difference (p > 0.05) among right and left sides for all variables. The authors concluded that the two neurorraphies (with and without perineurium) did not show any difference regarding morphological and electrophysiological features studied.

Finding line of action of the force exerted on erect spine based on lateral bending test in personalization of scoliotic spine models.

PubMed

Jalalian, Athena; Tay, Francis Eng Hock; Arastehfar, Soheil; Gibson, Ian; Liu, Gabriel

2017-04-01

In multi-body models of scoliotic spine, personalization of mechanical properties of joints significantly improves reconstruction of the spine shape. In personalization methods based on lateral bending test, simulation of bending positions is an essential step. To simulate, a force is exerted on the spine model in the erect position. The line of action of the force affects the moment of the force about the joints and thus, if not correctly identified, causes over/underestimation of mechanical properties. Therefore, we aimed to identify the line of action, which has got little attention in previous studies. An in-depth analysis was performed on the scoliotic spine movement from the erect to four spine positions in the frontal plane by using pre-operative X-rays of 18 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients. To study the movement, the spine curvature was considered as a 2D chain of micro-scale motion segments (MMSs) comprising rigid links and 1-degree-of-freedom (DOF) rotary joints. It was found that two MMSs representing the inflection points of the erect spine had almost no rotation (0.0028° ± 0.0021°) in the movement. The small rotation can be justified by weak moment of the force about these MMSs due to very small moment arm. Therefore, in the frontal plane, the line of action of the force to simulate the left/right bending position was defined as the line that passes through these MMSs in the left/right bending position. Through personalization of a 3D spine model for our patients, we demonstrated that our line of action could result in good estimates of the spine shape in the bending positions and other positions not included in the personalization, supporting our proposed line of action.

Infant VEPs reveal neural correlates of implicit naming: Lateralized differences between lexicalized versus name-unknown pictures.

PubMed

Styles, Suzy J; Plunkett, Kim; Duta, Mihaela D

2015-10-01

Recent behavioural studies with toddlers have demonstrated that simply viewing a picture in silence triggers a cascade of linguistic processing which activates a representation of the picture's name (Mani and Plunkett, 2010, 2011). Electrophysiological studies have also shown that viewing a picture modulates the auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) triggered by later speech, from early in the second year of life (Duta et al., 2012; Friedrich and Friederici, 2005; Mani et al., 2011) further supporting the notion that picture viewing gives rise to a representation of the picture's name against which later speech can be matched. However, little is known about how and when the implicit name arises during picture viewing, or about the electrophysiological activity which supports this linguistic process. We report differences in the visual evoked potentials (VEPs) of fourteen-month-old infants who saw photographs of animals and objects, some of which were name-known (lexicalized), while waiting for an auditory label to be presented. During silent picture viewing, lateralized neural activity was selectively triggered by lexicalized items, as compared to nameless items. Lexicalized items generated a short-lasting negative-going deflection over frontal, left centro-temporal, and left occipital regions shortly after the picture appeared (126-225 ms). A positive deflection was also observed over the right hemisphere (particularly centro-temporal regions) in a later, longer-lasting window (421-720 ms). The lateralization of these differences in the VEP suggests the possible involvement of linguistic processes during picture viewing, and may reflect activity involved in the implicit activation of the picture's name. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Infant VEPs reveal neural correlates of implicit naming: Lateralized differences between lexicalized versus name-unknown pictures

PubMed Central

Styles, Suzy J.; Plunkett, Kim; Duta, Mihaela D.

2015-01-01

Recent behavioural studies with toddlers have demonstrated that simply viewing a picture in silence triggers a cascade of linguistic processing which activates a representation of the picture’s name (Mani and Plunkett, 2010, 2011). Electrophysiological studies have also shown that viewing a picture modulates the auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) triggered by later speech, from early in the second year of life (Duta et al., 2012; Friedrich and Friederici, 2005; Mani et al., 2011) further supporting the notion that picture viewing gives rise to a representation of the picture’s name against which later speech can be matched. However, little is known about how and when the implicit name arises during picture viewing, or about the electrophysiological activity which supports this linguistic process. We report differences in the visual evoked potentials (VEPs) of fourteen-month-old infants who saw photographs of animals and objects, some of which were name-known (lexicalized), while waiting for an auditory label to be presented. During silent picture viewing, lateralized neural activity was selectively triggered by lexicalized items, as compared to nameless items. Lexicalized items generated a short-lasting negative-going deflection over frontal, left centro-temporal, and left occipital regions shortly after the picture appeared (126–225 ms). A positive deflection was also observed over the right hemisphere (particularly centro-temporal regions) in a later, longer-lasting window (421–720 ms). The lateralization of these differences in the VEP suggests the possible involvement of linguistic processes during picture viewing, and may reflect activity involved in the implicit activation of the picture’s name. PMID:26232744

Issues in localization of brain function: The case of lateralized frontal cortex in cognition, emotion, and psychopathology.

PubMed

Miller, Gregory A; Crocker, Laura D; Spielberg, Jeffrey M; Infantolino, Zachary P; Heller, Wendy

2013-01-01

The appeal of simple, sweeping portraits of large-scale brain mechanisms relevant to psychological phenomena competes with a rich, complex research base. As a prominent example, two views of frontal brain organization have emphasized dichotomous lateralization as a function of either emotional valence (positive/negative) or approach/avoidance motivation. Compelling findings support each. The literature has struggled to choose between them for three decades, without success. Both views are proving untenable as comprehensive models. Evidence of other frontal lateralizations, involving distinctions among dimensions of depression and anxiety, make a dichotomous view even more problematic. Recent evidence indicates that positive valence and approach motivation are associated with different areas in the left-hemisphere. Findings that appear contradictory at the level of frontal lobes as the units of analysis can be accommodated because hemodynamic and electromagnetic neuroimaging studies suggest considerable functional differentiation, in specialization and activation, of subregions of frontal cortex, including their connectivity to each other and to other regions. Such findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of functional localization that accommodates aspects of multiple theoretical perspectives.

Issues in localization of brain function: The case of lateralized frontal cortex in cognition, emotion, and psychopathology

PubMed Central

Miller, Gregory A.; Crocker, Laura D.; Spielberg, Jeffrey M.; Infantolino, Zachary P.; Heller, Wendy

2013-01-01

The appeal of simple, sweeping portraits of large-scale brain mechanisms relevant to psychological phenomena competes with a rich, complex research base. As a prominent example, two views of frontal brain organization have emphasized dichotomous lateralization as a function of either emotional valence (positive/negative) or approach/avoidance motivation. Compelling findings support each. The literature has struggled to choose between them for three decades, without success. Both views are proving untenable as comprehensive models. Evidence of other frontal lateralizations, involving distinctions among dimensions of depression and anxiety, make a dichotomous view even more problematic. Recent evidence indicates that positive valence and approach motivation are associated with different areas in the left-hemisphere. Findings that appear contradictory at the level of frontal lobes as the units of analysis can be accommodated because hemodynamic and electromagnetic neuroimaging studies suggest considerable functional differentiation, in specialization and activation, of subregions of frontal cortex, including their connectivity to each other and to other regions. Such findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of functional localization that accommodates aspects of multiple theoretical perspectives. PMID:23386814

The relationships between age, associative memory performance and the neural correlates of successful associative memory encoding

PubMed Central

de Chastelaine, Marianne; Mattson, Julia T.; Wang, Tracy H.; Donley, Brian E.; Rugg, Michael D.

2016-01-01

Using fMRI, subsequent memory effects (greater activity for later remembered than later forgotten study items) predictive of associative encoding were compared across samples of young, middle-aged and older adults (total n = 136). During scanning, participants studied visually presented word pairs. In a later test phase, they discriminated between studied pairs, ‘rearranged’ pairs (items studied on different trials) and new pairs. Subsequent memory effects were identified by contrasting activity elicited by study pairs that went on to be correctly judged intact or incorrectly judged rearranged. Effects in the hippocampus were age-invariant and positively correlated across participants with associative memory performance. Subsequent memory effects in the right IFG were greater in the older than the young group. In older participants only, both left and, in contrast to prior reports, right IFG subsequent memory effects correlated positively with memory performance. We suggest that the IFG is especially vulnerable to age-related decline in functional integrity, and that the relationship between encoding-related activity in right IFG and memory performance depends on the experimental context. PMID:27143433

Language lateralization of hearing native signers: A functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD) study of speech and sign production.

PubMed

Gutierrez-Sigut, Eva; Daws, Richard; Payne, Heather; Blott, Jonathan; Marshall, Chloë; MacSweeney, Mairéad

2015-12-01

Neuroimaging studies suggest greater involvement of the left parietal lobe in sign language compared to speech production. This stronger activation might be linked to the specific demands of sign encoding and proprioceptive monitoring. In Experiment 1 we investigate hemispheric lateralization during sign and speech generation in hearing native users of English and British Sign Language (BSL). Participants exhibited stronger lateralization during BSL than English production. In Experiment 2 we investigated whether this increased lateralization index could be due exclusively to the higher motoric demands of sign production. Sign naïve participants performed a phonological fluency task in English and a non-sign repetition task. Participants were left lateralized in the phonological fluency task but there was no consistent pattern of lateralization for the non-sign repetition in these hearing non-signers. The current data demonstrate stronger left hemisphere lateralization for producing signs than speech, which was not primarily driven by motoric articulatory demands. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Clinical, radiological, and morphological evaluations of posterior horn tears of the lateral meniscus left in situ during anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

PubMed

Lee, Dhong Won; Jang, Hyoung Won; Lee, Sung Rak; Park, Jung Ho; Ha, Jeong Ku; Kim, Jin Goo

2014-02-01

Recent studies have shown that lateral menisci have a higher healing potential and that they can be treated successfully without symptoms by being left in situ during anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. However, few studies have reported morphological results. Stable posterior horn tears of the lateral meniscus left in situ during ACL reconstruction could be healed spontaneously and would result in not only successful clinical outcomes but also morphological restoration. Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Among 367 patients who underwent primary ACL reconstruction between 2008 and 2010, 53 patients who had lateral meniscus tears that were left in situ were analyzed. These patients were evaluated subjectively and radiologically and compared with a matched control group that underwent ACL reconstruction without any other structural disorders. Of the 53 patients with stable posterior horn tears of the lateral meniscus left in situ, 28 patients were assessed by second-look arthroscopic surgery and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The mean follow-up of the study group and the control group was 36.47 and 37.26 months, respectively. There were no statistical differences in postoperative clinical outcomes between the 2 groups. Clinical results of both groups including the Lysholm score, Tegner activity score, and International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score significantly improved. In the subgroup composed of 28 patients, follow-up MRI showed 25 (89%) and 24 (86%) healed menisci in sagittal and coronal views, respectively. Twenty-one (75%) were considered to be completely healed, and 5 (18%) were incompletely healed on second-look arthroscopic surgery. Stable posterior horn tears of the lateral meniscus left in situ at the time of ACL reconstruction revealed successful clinical outcomes compared with isolated ACL injuries and showed considerable healing and functional restoration of tears with repeat MRI and second-look arthroscopic surgery. Therefore, leaving stable posterior horn tears of the lateral meniscus in situ during ACL reconstruction should be considered.

Vertebrate Left-Right Asymmetry: What Can Nodal Cascade Gene Expression Patterns Tell Us?

PubMed Central

Schweickert, Axel; Ott, Tim; Kurz, Sabrina; Tingler, Melanie; Maerker, Markus; Fuhl, Franziska; Blum, Martin

2017-01-01

Laterality of inner organs is a wide-spread characteristic of vertebrates and beyond. It is ultimately controlled by the left-asymmetric activation of the Nodal signaling cascade in the lateral plate mesoderm of the neurula stage embryo, which results from a cilia-driven leftward flow of extracellular fluids at the left-right organizer. This scenario is widely accepted for laterality determination in wildtype specimens. Deviations from this norm come in different flavors. At the level of organ morphogenesis, laterality may be inverted (situs inversus) or non-concordant with respect to the main body axis (situs ambiguus or heterotaxia). At the level of Nodal cascade gene activation, expression may be inverted, bilaterally induced, or absent. In a given genetic situation, patterns may be randomized or predominantly lacking laterality (absence or bilateral activation). We propose that the distributions of patterns observed may be indicative of the underlying molecular defects, with randomizations being primarily caused by defects in the flow-generating ciliary set-up, and symmetrical patterns being the result of impaired flow sensing, on the left, the right, or both sides. This prediction, the reasoning of which is detailed in this review, pinpoints functions of genes whose role in laterality determination have remained obscure. PMID:29367579

Language laterality in autism spectrum disorder and typical controls: a functional, volumetric, and diffusion tensor MRI study.

PubMed

Knaus, Tracey A; Silver, Andrew M; Kennedy, Meaghan; Lindgren, Kristen A; Dominick, Kelli C; Siegel, Jeremy; Tager-Flusberg, Helen

2010-02-01

Language and communication deficits are among the core features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Reduced or reversed asymmetry of language has been found in a number of disorders, including ASD. Studies of healthy adults have found an association between language laterality and anatomical measures but this has not been systematically investigated in ASD. The goal of this study was to examine differences in gray matter volume of perisylvian language regions, connections between language regions, and language abilities in individuals with typical left lateralized language compared to those with atypical (bilateral or right) asymmetry of language functions. Fourteen adolescent boys with ASD and 20 typically developing adolescent boys participated, including equal numbers of left- and right-handed individuals in each group. Participants with typical left lateralized language activation had smaller frontal language region volume and higher fractional anisotropy of the arcuate fasciculus compared to the group with atypical language laterality, across both ASD and control participants. The group with typical language asymmetry included the most right-handed controls and fewest left-handers with ASD. Atypical language laterality was more prevalent in the ASD than control group. These findings support an association between laterality of language function and language region anatomy. They also suggest anatomical differences may be more associated with variation in language laterality than specifically with ASD. Language laterality therefore may provide a novel way of subdividing samples, resulting in more homogenous groups for research into genetic and neurocognitive foundations of developmental disorders. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Left-Right Asymmetry of Maturation Rates in Human Embryonic Neural Development.

PubMed

de Kovel, Carolien G F; Lisgo, Steven; Karlebach, Guy; Ju, Jia; Cheng, Gang; Fisher, Simon E; Francks, Clyde

2017-08-01

Left-right asymmetry is a fundamental organizing feature of the human brain, and neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia sometimes involve alterations of brain asymmetry. As early as 8 weeks postconception, the majority of human fetuses move their right arms more than their left arms, but because nerve fiber tracts are still descending from the forebrain at this stage, spinal-muscular asymmetries are likely to play an important developmental role. We used RNA sequencing to measure gene expression levels in the left and right spinal cords, and the left and right hindbrains, of 18 postmortem human embryos aged 4 to 8 weeks postconception. Genes showing embryonic lateralization were tested for an enrichment of signals in genome-wide association data for schizophrenia. The left side of the embryonic spinal cord was found to mature faster than the right side. Both sides transitioned from transcriptional profiles associated with cell division and proliferation at earlier stages to neuronal differentiation and function at later stages, but the two sides were not in synchrony (p = 2.2 E-161). The hindbrain showed a left-right mirrored pattern compared with the spinal cord, consistent with the well-known crossing over of function between these two structures. Genes that showed lateralization in the embryonic spinal cord were enriched for association signals with schizophrenia (p = 4.3 E-05). These are the earliest stage left-right differences of human neural development ever reported. Disruption of the lateralized developmental program may play a role in the genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia. Copyright © 2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Alterations in the stomatognathic system due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

PubMed

Gonçalves, Lígia Maria Napolitano; Palinkas, Marcelo; Hallak, Jaime Eduardo Cecilio; Marques Júnior, Wilson; Vasconcelos, Paulo Batista de; Frota, Nicolly Parente Ribeiro; Regalo, Isabela Hallak; Siéssere, Selma; Regalo, Simone Cecilio Hallak

2018-06-11

To compare the molar bite force, electromyographic activity, chewing efficiency and thickness of the masseter and temporalis muscles in individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and healthy individuals. Thirty individuals enrolled in the study were divided into the study group (with ALS, n=15) and control group (healthy individuals, n=15). Data regarding molar bite force (right and left), electromyographic activity (mandibular rest, right and left laterality, protrusion, and maximum voluntary contraction), chewing efficiency (habitual and non-habitual), and masticatory muscle thickness (rest and maximum voluntary contraction) were tabulated and subjected to statistical analysis (Student's t-test, p≤0.05). Comparisons between the groups demonstrated a statistically significant increase in the electromyographic activity of the right masseter (p=0.03) and left masseter (p=0.03) muscles during mandibular rest; left masseter (p=0.00), right temporalis (p=0.00), and left temporalis (p=0.03) muscles during protrusion; and right masseter (p=0.00), left masseter (p=0.00), and left temporalis (p=0.00) muscles during left laterality, in individuals with ALS as compared with healthy individuals. A statistically significant decrease was observed in the habitual chewing efficiency of the right masseter (p=0.00) and right temporalis (p=0.04) muscles in individuals with ALS. No statistically significant difference between the groups was found the masticatory muscle thickness and maximal molar bite force. ALS may lead to modifications in the activities of the stomatognathic system, including muscular hyperactivity and reduction in chewing efficiency; however, no change has been observed in the masticatory muscle thickness and molar bite force.

From antenna to antenna: lateral shift of olfactory memory recall by honeybees.

PubMed

Rogers, Lesley J; Vallortigara, Giorgio

2008-06-04

Honeybees, Apis mellifera, readily learn to associate odours with sugar rewards and we show here that recall of the olfactory memory, as demonstrated by the bee extending its proboscis when presented with the trained odour, involves first the right and then the left antenna. At 1-2 hour after training using both antennae, recall is possible mainly when the bee uses its right antenna but by 6 hours after training a lateral shift has occurred and the memory can now be recalled mainly when the left antenna is in use. Long-term memory one day after training is also accessed mainly via the left antenna. This time-dependent shift from right to left antenna is also seen as side biases in responding to odour presented to the bee's left or right side. Hence, not only are the cellular events of memory formation similar in bees and vertebrate species but also the lateralized networks involved may be similar. These findings therefore seem to call for remarkable parallel evolution and suggest that the proper functioning of memory formation in a bilateral animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, requires lateralization of processing.

Right hemispheric reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome in a patient with left hemispheric partial seizures.

PubMed

Perez, Gina S; McCaslin, Justin; Shamim, Sadat

2017-04-01

We report a right-handed 19-year-old girl who developed reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) lateralized to the right hemisphere with simultaneous new-onset left hemispheric seizures. RCVS, typically more diffuse, was lateralized to one of the cerebral hemispheres.

Neural correlates of preparatory and regulatory control over positive and negative emotion.

PubMed

Seo, Dongju; Olman, Cheryl A; Haut, Kristen M; Sinha, Rajita; MacDonald, Angus W; Patrick, Christopher J

2014-04-01

This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate brain activation during preparatory and regulatory control while participants (N = 24) were instructed either to simply view or decrease their emotional response to, pleasant, neutral or unpleasant pictures. A main effect of emotional valence on brain activity was found in the right precentral gyrus, with greater activation during positive than negative emotion regulation. A main effect of regulation phase was evident in the bilateral anterior prefrontal cortex (PFC), precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, right putamen and temporal and occipital lobes, with greater activity in these regions during preparatory than regulatory control. A valence X regulation interaction was evident in regions of ventromedial PFC and anterior cingulate cortex, reflecting greater activation while regulating negative than positive emotion, but only during active emotion regulation (not preparation). Conjunction analyses revealed common brain regions involved in differing types of emotion regulation including selected areas of left lateral PFC, inferior parietal lobe, temporal lobe, right cerebellum and bilateral dorsomedial PFC. The right lateral PFC was additionally activated during the modulation of both positive and negative valence. Findings demonstrate significant modulation of brain activity during both preparation for, and active regulation of positive and negative emotional states.

Mediolateral hoof balance in relation to the handedness of apprentice farriers.

PubMed

Ronchetti, A; Day, P; Weller, R

2011-01-15

Horses that had been trimmed and shod by apprentice farriers were sourced from the Royal School of Military Engineering, Melton Mowbray (37 horses) and from the Household Cavalry, Knightsbridge (54 horses). The lateral and medial hoof wall angles of both forelimbs were measured using a Ruidoso hoof gauge by the same operator. The difference between the lateral and medial hoof wall angles for each horse was calculated and the results were compared between right-handed and left-handed farriers using the Mann-Whitney U test (P<0.05). There was a significant difference in the mediolateral hoof balance obtained between right-handed and left-handed farriers for each forelimb (P<0.001). Right-handed farriers were shown to create an imbalance in 47 per cent of left forelimbs and 46 per cent of right forelimbs assessed, while left-handed farriers created an imbalance in 41 per cent of left forelimbs and 71 per cent of right forelimbs. The tendency was for right-handed farriers to over-trim the medial (inner) aspect of the left forelimb and the lateral (outer) aspect of the right forelimb; the reverse was demonstrated for left-handed farriers. Performing a risk ratio confirmed these findings.

A ryanodine receptor-dependent Ca(i)(2+) asymmetry at Hensen's node mediates avian lateral identity.

PubMed

Garic-Stankovic, Ana; Hernandez, Marcos; Flentke, George R; Zile, Maija H; Smith, Susan M

2008-10-01

In mouse, the establishment of left-right (LR) asymmetry requires intracellular calcium (Ca(i)(2+)) enrichment on the left of the node. The use of Ca(i)(2+) asymmetry by other vertebrates, and its origins and relationship to other laterality effectors are largely unknown. Additionally, the architecture of Hensen's node raises doubts as to whether Ca(i)(2+) asymmetry is a broadly conserved mechanism to achieve laterality. We report here that the avian embryo uses a left-side enriched Ca(i)(2+) asymmetry across Hensen's node to govern its lateral identity. Elevated Ca(i)(2+) was first detected along the anterior node at early HH4, and its emergence and left-side enrichment by HH5 required both ryanodine receptor (RyR) activity and extracellular calcium, implicating calcium-induced calcium release (CICR) as the novel source of the Ca(i)(2+). Targeted manipulation of node Ca(i)(2+) randomized heart laterality and affected nodal expression. Bifurcation of the Ca(i)(2+) field by the emerging prechordal plate may permit the independent regulation of LR Ca(i)(2+) levels. To the left of the node, RyR/CICR and H(+)V-ATPase activity sustained elevated Ca(i)(2+). On the right, Ca(i)(2+) levels were actively repressed through the activities of H(+)K(+) ATPase and serotonin-dependent signaling, thus identifying a novel mechanism for the known effects of serotonin on laterality. Vitamin A-deficient quail have a high incidence of situs inversus hearts and had a reversed calcium asymmetry. Thus, Ca(i)(2+) asymmetry across the node represents a more broadly conserved mechanism for laterality among amniotes than had been previously believed.

Dissociable Temporo-Parietal Memory Networks Revealed by Functional Connectivity during Episodic Retrieval

PubMed Central

Hirose, Satoshi; Kimura, Hiroko M.; Jimura, Koji; Kunimatsu, Akira; Abe, Osamu; Ohtomo, Kuni; Miyashita, Yasushi; Konishi, Seiki

2013-01-01

Episodic memory retrieval most often recruits multiple separate processes that are thought to involve different temporal regions. Previous studies suggest dissociable regions in the left lateral parietal cortex that are associated with the retrieval processes. Moreover, studies using resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) have provided evidence for the temporo-parietal memory networks that may support the retrieval processes. In this functional MRI study, we tested functional significance of the memory networks by examining functional connectivity of brain activity during episodic retrieval in the temporal and parietal regions of the memory networks. Recency judgments, judgments of the temporal order of past events, can be achieved by at least two retrieval processes, relational and item-based. Neuroimaging results revealed several temporal and parietal activations associated with relational/item-based recency judgments. Significant RSFC was observed between one parahippocampal region and one left lateral parietal region associated with relational recency judgments, and between four lateral temporal regions and another left lateral parietal region associated with item-based recency judgments. Functional connectivity during task was found to be significant between the parahippocampal region and the parietal region in the RSFC network associated with relational recency judgments. However, out of the four tempo-parietal RSFC networks associated with item-based recency judgments, only one of them (between the left posterior lateral temporal region and the left lateral parietal region) showed significant functional connectivity during task. These results highlight the contrasting roles of the parahippocampal and the lateral temporal regions in recency judgments, and suggest that only a part of the tempo-parietal RSFC networks are recruited to support particular retrieval processes. PMID:24009657

Left-right asymmetry is required for the habenulae to respond to both visual and olfactory stimuli.

PubMed

Dreosti, Elena; Vendrell Llopis, Nuria; Carl, Matthias; Yaksi, Emre; Wilson, Stephen W

2014-02-17

Left-right asymmetries are most likely a universal feature of bilaterian nervous systems and may serve to increase neural capacity by specializing equivalent structures on left and right sides for distinct roles. However, little is known about how asymmetries are encoded within vertebrate neural circuits and how lateralization influences processing of information in the brain. Consequently, it remains unclear the extent to which lateralization of the nervous system is important for normal cognitive and other brain functions and whether defects in lateralization contribute to neurological deficits. Here we show that sensory responses to light and odor are lateralized in larval zebrafish habenulae and that loss of brain asymmetry leads to concomitant loss of responsiveness to either visual or olfactory stimuli. We find that in wild-type zebrafish, most habenular neurons responding to light are present on the left, whereas neurons responding to odor are more frequent on the right. Manipulations that reverse the direction of brain asymmetry reverse the functional properties of habenular neurons, whereas manipulations that generate either double-left- or double-right-sided brains lead to loss of habenular responsiveness to either odor or light, respectively. Our results indicate that loss of brain lateralization has significant consequences upon sensory processing and circuit function. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Association of PKD2 (polycystin 2) mutations with left-right laterality defects.

PubMed

Bataille, Stanislas; Demoulin, Nathalie; Devuyst, Olivier; Audrézet, Marie-Pierre; Dahan, Karin; Godin, Michel; Fontès, Michel; Pirson, Yves; Burtey, Stéphane

2011-09-01

Mutations in the PKD1 (polycystin 1) and PKD2 (polycystin 2) genes cause autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Most Pkd2-null mouse embryos present with left-right laterality defects. For the first time, we report the association of ADPKD resulting from a mutation in PKD2 and left-right asymmetry defects. PKD1 and PKD2 were screened for mutations or large genomic rearrangements in 3 unrelated patients with ADPKD presenting with laterality defects: dextrocardia in one and situs inversus totalis in 2 others. A large gene deletion, a single-exon duplication, and an in-frame duplication respectively, were found in the 3 patients. These polymorphisms were found in all tested relatives with ADPKD, but were absent in unaffected related individuals. No left-right anomalies were found in other members of the 3 families. A possible association between heterotaxia and a PKD2 mutation in our 3 patients is suggested by: (1) the existence of laterality defects in Pkd2-null mouse and zebrafish models and (2) detection of a pathogenic PKD2 mutation in the 3 probands, although PKD2 mutations account for only 15% of ADPKD families. The presence of left-right laterality defects should be systematically screened in larger cohorts of patients with ADPKD harboring PKD2 mutations. Copyright © 2011 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effectiveness of cricoid pressure for occluding the esophageal entrance in anesthetized and paralyzed patients: an experimental and observational glidescope study.

PubMed

Zeidan, Ahed M; Salem, M Ramez; Mazoit, Jean-Xavier; Abdullah, Mohamad Ali; Ghattas, Tharwat; Crystal, George J

2014-03-01

In the last 2 decades, the effectiveness of cricoid pressure (CP) in occluding the esophageal entrance has been questioned. Recent magnetic resonance imaging studies yielded conflicting conclusions. We used real-time visual and mechanical means to assess the patency of the esophageal entrance with and without CP in anesthetized and paralyzed adult patients. One hundred seven, nonobese ASA physical status I and II patients were recruited for the study. A cricoid force of 30 N was used. This force was standardized by using a weighing scale before application of CP in each patient. After oxygen administration, anesthetic induction, neuromuscular blockade, and establishment of manual ventilation with FIO2 = 1.0, the view of the glottis and esophageal entrance was visualized, and video recordings were obtained by using a Glidescope video laryngoscope. Attempts to insert 2 gastric tubes (GTs), size 12 and 20 F, into the esophagus were made by a "blinded" operator without and with CP, the timing of which was randomized. A successful insertion of a GT in the presence of CP was considered evidence of a patent esophageal entrance (ineffective CP), whereas an unsuccessful insertion of a GT was considered evidence of an occluded esophageal entrance (effective CP). After the attempts to insert the GTs were completed, tracheal intubation was performed while CP was applied. The position of the esophageal entrance in relation to the glottis (midline versus lateral) was assessed from the video recordings, with and without CP. We stopped the study when 79 patients (41 men and 38 women) qualified for and completed the study (2-sided Clopper-Pearson confidence interval (CI) 95% to 100%, n = 72). Advancement of either size GT into the esophagus could not be accomplished during CP in any patient but was easily done in all subjects when CP was not applied. This occurred whether the esophageal entrance was in a midline position or in a left or right lateral position relative to the glottis. Esophageal patency was visually observed in the absence of CP, whereas occlusion of the esophageal entrance was observed during CP in all patients. Without CP, the esophageal entrance was in a left lateral position in relation to the glottis in 57% ([95 % CI, 45%-68%)] of patients, at midline in 32% (CI, 22%-43%), and in a right lateral position in 11% (CI, 5%-21%). The position did not change with CP. The current study provides additional visual and mechanical evidence supporting a success rate of at least 95% by using a cricoid force of 30 N to occlude the esophageal entrance in anesthetized and paralyzed normal adult patients. The efficacy of the maneuver was independent of the position of the esophageal entrance relative to the glottis, whether midline or lateral.

The Effect of Hock Injury Laterality and Lameness on Lying Behaviors and Lying Laterality in Holstein Dairy Cows

PubMed Central

Krawczel, Peter D.

2017-01-01

Simple Summary Dairy cattle may experience discomfort in a myriad of ways throughout their life cycle, particularly when sustaining hock injuries or suboptimal locomotion. Lactating dairy cattle divide their lying time equally between left and right sides; however, discomfort experienced during pregnancy or following cannulation can cause a shift in the normal lying laterality. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of hock injuries and lameness on the lying behaviors of dairy cattle, particularly lying laterality. Lying laterality did not differ from the expected 50% (left side lying time) in cattle with hock injuries, lameness, or both. The current results suggest that lying laterality does not differ between varying levels of hock injury or lameness severity. Going forward, further research could determine if lying laterality shifts over the course of the animal developing a hock injury or lameness. Abstract Lactating dairy cattle divide their lying equally between their left side and their right side. However, discomfort, such as pregnancy and cannulation, can cause a cow to shift lying side preference. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of lameness and hock injuries on lying behaviors, particularly lying laterality, of lactating dairy cows. Cows from four commercial farms in eastern Croatia that had lying behavior data, health score data, and production records were used in the study. Health scores including hock injuries and locomotion were collected once per cow. Severely lame cows had greater daily lying time compared to sound cows and moderately lame cows. Overall, cows spent 51.3 ± 1.2% of their daily lying time on the left side. Maximum hock score, locomotion score, hock injury laterality, or parity did not result in lying laterality differing from 50%. PMID:29149044

[A case of lupus myocarditis and nephritis with transient foramen jugular syndrome].

PubMed

Kohro-Kawata, J; Nakamura, H; Yamamoto, T; Fukuta, S; Matsuzaki, M

1997-10-01

A 46-year-old man was admitted to our clinic because of acute heart failure. Six years before admission he was pointed out cardiomegary and hematuria. One year later, he was diagnosed as having jugular foramen syndrome. On admission, he had a fever and dyspnea. Pansystolic blowing murmur was audible at the apex. The chest ratio on his chest X-ray was 52.5%. An electrocardiogram showed left ventricular hypertrophy. An echocardiogram showed marked dilatation and severe dysfunction of left ventricle. Radionuclide scanning with technetium 99 m pyrophosphate identified inflammatory change in the apex. Myocardial biopsy showed fibrotic degeneration and IgG deposits in myocardium. Blood examination showed anemia, lymphopenia. positive anti-nuclear antibody (1000 times, shaggy pattern), positive anti ds-DNA antibody and hypocomplementemia. Furthermore, proteinuria was pointed out. Renal biopsy showed focal segmental glomerulonephritis with active necrotizing lesion (type III nephritis). Lupus myocarditis and nephritis was diagnosed. After prednisolone (80 mg/day) was administered. left ventricular function and hypocomplementemia improved. The ACE inhibitor was also used for proteinuria. In spite of a little amount of blood transfusion, he showed hepatic hemosiderosis. We suspect that the cause of hemosiderosis was related chronic inflammation of active lupus. It was treated with Erythropoietin.

Occupant Kinematics in Simulated Autonomous Driving Vehicle Collisions: Influence of Seating Position, Direction and Angle.

PubMed

Kitagawa, Yuichi; Hayashi, Shigeki; Yamada, Katsunori; Gotoh, Mitsuaki

2017-11-01

This two-part study analyzed occupant kinematics in simulated collisions of future automated driving vehicles in terms of seating configuration. In part one, a frontal collision was simulated with four occupants with the front seats reversed. The left front seat occupant was unbelted while the others were belted. In part two of the study, occupant restraint was examined in various seating configurations using a single seat model with a three-point seatbelt. The seat direction with respect to impact was considered as forward, rearward, and lateral facing in 45 degree increments. The effect of seat recline was also studied in the forward-facing and rear-facing cases by assuming three positions: driving position, resting position and relaxed position. Occupants were represented by human body finite element models. The results of part one showed that the front seat (rear-facing) occupants were restrained by the seatback, resulting in T1 forward displacement less than 100 mm; the rear seat occupants were restrained by the seatbelt resulting larger T1 forward displacement more than 500 mm. The results of the part two showed the directional dependence of occupant restraint. Greater T1 displacements were observed when the occupant faced lateral or front oblique. However, the seatbelt provided some restraint in all directions considered. The seatback generated contact force to the occupant when it was in the impact direction, including the lateral directions. The relaxed position allowed increased excursion compared to the driving position when the occupant faced rearward, but the magnitude of this increase was lower with lower impact speed.

Bbs8, together with the planar cell polarity protein Vangl2, is required to establish left-right asymmetry in zebrafish.

PubMed

May-Simera, Helen L; Kai, Masatake; Hernandez, Victor; Osborn, Daniel P S; Tada, Masazumi; Beales, Philip L

2010-09-15

Laterality defects such as situs inversus are not uncommonly encountered in humans, either in isolation or as part of another syndrome, but can have devastating developmental consequences. The events that break symmetry during early embryogenesis are highly conserved amongst vertebrates and involve the establishment of unidirectional flow by cilia within an organising centre such as the node in mammals or Kupffer's vesicle (KV) in teleosts. Disruption of this flow can lead to the failure to successfully establish left-right asymmetry. The correct apical-posterior cellular position of each node/KV cilium is critical for its optimal radial movement which serves to sweep fluid (and morphogens) in the same direction as its neighbours. Planar cell polarity (PCP) is an important conserved process that governs ciliary position and posterior tilt; however the underlying mechanism by which this occurs remains unclear. Here we show that Bbs8, a ciliary/basal body protein important for intraciliary/flagellar transport and the core PCP protein Vangl2 interact and are required for establishment and maintenance of left-right asymmetry during early embryogenesis in zebrafish. We discovered that loss of bbs8 and vangl2 results in laterality defects due to cilia disruption at the KV. We showed that perturbation of cell polarity following abrogation of vangl2 causes nuclear mislocalisation, implying defective centrosome/basal body migration and apical docking. Moreover, upon loss of bbs8 and vangl2, we observed defective actin organisation. These data suggest that bbs8 and vangl2 act synergistically on cell polarization to establish and maintain the appropriate length and number of cilia in the KV and thereby facilitate correct LR asymmetry. (c) 2010. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Lateralized mechanisms for encoding of object. Behavioral evidence from an animal model: the domestic chick (Gallus gallus)

PubMed Central

Rugani, Rosa; Rosa Salva, Orsola; Regolin, Lucia

2014-01-01

In our previous research we reported a leftward-asymmetry in domestic chicks required to identify a target element, on the basis of its ordinal position, in a series of identical elements. Here we re-coded behavioral data collected in previous studies from chicks tested in a task involving a different kind of numerical ability, to study lateralization in dealing with an arithmetic task. Chicks were reared with a set of identical objects representing artificial social companions. On day 4, chicks underwent a free-choice test in which two sets, each composed of a different number of identical objects (5 vs.10 or 6 vs. 9, Experiment 1), were hidden behind two opaque screens placed in front of the chick, one on the left and one on the right side. Objects disappeared, one by one, behind either screen, so that, for example, one screen occluded 5 objects and the other 10 objects. The left-right position of the larger set was counterbalanced between trials. Results show that chicks, in the attempt to rejoin the set with the higher number of social companions, performed better when this was located to the right. However, when the number of elements in the two sets was identical (2 vs. 2, in Experiment 2) and they differed only in the coloration of the objects, this bias was not observed, suggesting a predisposition to map the numerical magnitude from left to right. Future studies should be devoted to the direct investigation of this phenomenon, possibly employing an identical number of mono-chromatic imprinting stimuli in both conditions involving a numerical discrimination and conditions not involving any numerosity difference. PMID:24605106

Right hemispheric reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome in a patient with left hemispheric partial seizures

PubMed Central

Perez, Gina S.; McCaslin, Justin

2017-01-01

We report a right-handed 19-year-old girl who developed reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) lateralized to the right hemisphere with simultaneous new-onset left hemispheric seizures. RCVS, typically more diffuse, was lateralized to one of the cerebral hemispheres. PMID:28405089

Lateralized dual task interference in left-handers: initial value differences do not affect the outcome.

PubMed

McBride, D M; Cherry, B J; Kee, D W; Neale, P L

1995-07-01

The study was conducted to clarify factors involved in dual-task finger-tapping interference. Left-handers, as assessed by hand-writing preference and left-hand baseline tapping advantage, tapped both alone and while solving anagrams. Even though the left-hand baseline tapping advantage was experimentally removed on some (adjusted) trials, greater left- than right-hand tapping interference was observed during concurrent task performance. This result coupled with previous findings for right-handed subjects [Kee and Cherry, Neuropsychologia, Vol. 28, pp. 313-316, 1990] indicates that lateralized interference effects are not merely due to initial baseline tapping differences as proposed by Willis and Goodwin [Neuropsychologia, Vol. 25, pp. 719-724, 1987].

The difference in spatiotemporal dynamics between modus ponens and modus tollens in the Wason selection task: an event-related potential study.

PubMed

Li, Bingbing; Zhang, Meng; Luo, Junlong; Qiu, Jiang; Liu, Yijun

2014-06-13

High-density, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded to explore differences in spatiotemporal dynamics between modus ponens (MP) and modus tollens (MT) in the Wason selection task. Results showed that MP elicits a more positive P3b-like component than MT from 400 to 800 ms. MP appeared to occur earlier than MT in various stages of proposition testing, such as stimulus processing and response selection. ERP results showed that MT has a longer duration and more negative later negative component (LNC) than MP at 2,000 ms. This result suggests that MT occupies more cognitive resources than MP in the final stages of proposition testing. The short and small left frontal LNC obtained by MP implies examination of the expectable conclusion, whereas the long and large left frontal LNC elicited by MT may be involved in the retention operation of the card in working memory from the monitoring and inspecting putative conclusion in the later stages of proposition testing. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On the Processing of Japanese Wh-Questions: An ERP Study

PubMed Central

Ueno, Mieko; Kluender, Robert

2009-01-01

The processing of Japanese wh-questions was investigated using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Unlike in English or German, a wh-element in Japanese need not be displaced from its canonical position, but instead needs a corresponding Q(uestion)-particle to indicate its interrogative scope. We tested to see if there were any processing correlates specific to these features of Japanese wh-questions. Both mono-clausal and bi-clausal Japanese wh-questions elicited right-lateralized anterior negativity (RAN) between wh-words and corresponding Q-particles, relative to structurally-equivalent yes/no-question control conditions. These results suggest a reliable neural processing correlate of the dependency between wh-elements and Q-particles in Japanese, which is similar to effects of (left) anterior negativity seen between wh-fillers and gaps in English and German, but with a right- rather than left-lateralized distribution. It is suggested that wh-in-situ questions in Japanese are processed by the incremental formation of a long-distance dependency between wh-elements and their Q-particles, resulting in a working memory load for keeping track of the scopeless wh-elements. PMID:19501576

Optic radiation structure and anatomy in the normally developing brain determined using diffusion MRI and tractography.

PubMed

Dayan, Michael; Munoz, Monica; Jentschke, Sebastian; Chadwick, Martin J; Cooper, Janine M; Riney, Kate; Vargha-Khadem, Faraneh; Clark, Chris A

2015-01-01

The optic radiation (OR) is a component of the visual system known to be myelin mature very early in life. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and its unique ability to reconstruct the OR in vivo were used to study structural maturation through analysis of DTI metrics in a cohort of 90 children aged 5-18 years. As the OR is at risk of damage during epilepsy surgery, we measured its position relative to characteristic anatomical landmarks. Anatomical distances, DTI metrics and volume of the OR were investigated for age, gender and hemisphere effects. We observed changes in DTI metrics with age comparable to known trajectories in other white matter tracts. Left lateralization of DTI metrics was observed that showed a gender effect in lateralization. Sexual dimorphism of DTI metrics in the right hemisphere was also found. With respect to OR dimensions, volume was shown to be right lateralised and sexual dimorphism demonstrated for the extent of the left OR. The anatomical results presented for the OR have potentially important applications for neurosurgical planning.

Motivation and motor control: hemispheric specialization for approach motivation reverses with handedness.

PubMed

Brookshire, Geoffrey; Casasanto, Daniel

2012-01-01

According to decades of research on affective motivation in the human brain, approach motivational states are supported primarily by the left hemisphere and avoidance states by the right hemisphere. The underlying cause of this specialization, however, has remained unknown. Here we conducted a first test of the Sword and Shield Hypothesis (SSH), according to which the hemispheric laterality of affective motivation depends on the laterality of motor control for the dominant hand (i.e., the "sword hand," used preferentially to perform approach actions) and the nondominant hand (i.e., the "shield hand," used preferentially to perform avoidance actions). To determine whether the laterality of approach motivation varies with handedness, we measured alpha-band power (an inverse index of neural activity) in right- and left-handers during resting-state electroencephalography and analyzed hemispheric alpha-power asymmetries as a function of the participants' trait approach motivational tendencies. Stronger approach motivation was associated with more left-hemisphere activity in right-handers, but with more right-hemisphere activity in left-handers. The hemispheric correlates of approach motivation reversed between right- and left-handers, consistent with the way they typically use their dominant and nondominant hands to perform approach and avoidance actions. In both right- and left-handers, approach motivation was lateralized to the same hemisphere that controls the dominant hand. This covariation between neural systems for action and emotion provides initial support for the SSH.

Lateralization of brain activation in fluent and non-fluent preschool children: a magnetoencephalographic study of picture-naming.

PubMed

Sowman, Paul F; Crain, Stephen; Harrison, Elisabeth; Johnson, Blake W

2014-01-01

The neural causes of stuttering remain unknown. One explanation comes from neuroimaging studies that have reported abnormal lateralization of activation in the brains of people who stutter. However, these findings are generally based on data from adults with a long history of stuttering, raising the possibility that the observed lateralization anomalies are compensatory rather than causal. The current study investigated lateralization of brain activity in language-related regions of interest in young children soon after the onset of stuttering. We tested 24 preschool-aged children, half of whom had a positive diagnosis of stuttering. All children participated in a picture-naming experiment whilst their brain activity was recorded by magnetoencephalography. Source analysis performed during an epoch prior to speech onset was used to assess lateralized activation in three regions of interest. Activation was significantly lateralized to the left hemisphere in both groups and not different between groups. This study shows for the first time that significant speech preparatory brain activation can be identified in young children during picture-naming and supports the contention that, in stutterers, aberrant lateralization of brain function may be the result of neuroplastic adaptation that occurs as the condition becomes chronic.

Attention and material-specific memory in children with lateralized epilepsy.

PubMed

Engle, Jennifer A; Smith, Mary Lou

2010-01-01

Epilepsy is frequently associated with attention and memory problems. In adults, lateralization of seizure focus impacts the type of memory affected (left-sided lesions primarily impact verbal memory, while right-sided lesions primarily impact visual memory), but the relationship between seizure focus and the nature of the memory impairment is less clear in children. The current study examines the correlation between parent-reported attention problems and material-specific memory (verbal or visual-spatial) in 65 children (ages 6-16) with medically intractable lateralized epilepsy. There were no significant differences in attention and memory between those with left-lateralized epilepsy (n=25) and those with right-lateralized epilepsy (n=40). However, in the left-lateralized group attention problems were significantly negatively correlated only with delayed visual memory (r=-.450, p<.05), while the right-lateralized group demonstrated the opposite pattern (attention problems significantly negatively correlated with delayed verbal memory; r=-.331, p<.05). These findings suggest that lateralization of seizure focus may in fact impact children's memory in a material-specific manner, while problems with attention may impact memory more globally. Therefore, interventions designed to improve attention in children with epilepsy may have utility in improving certain aspects of memory, but further suggest that in children with lateralized epilepsy, material-specific memory deficits may not resolve with such interventions.

Effect of body repositioning after venous air embolism. An echocardiographic study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Geissler, H. J.; Allen, S. J.; Mehlhorn, U.; Davis, K. L.; Morris, W. P.; Butler, B. D.

1997-01-01

BACKGROUND: Current therapy for massive venous air embolism (VAE) may include the use of the left lateral recumbent (LLR) position, although its effectiveness has been questioned. This study used transesophageal echocardiography to evaluate the effect of body repositioning on intracardiac air and acute cardiac dimension changes. METHODS: Eighteen anesthetized dogs in the supine position received a venous air injection of 2.5 ml/kg at a rate of 5 ml/ s. After 1 min the dogs were repositioned into either the LLR, LLR 10 degrees head down (LLR-10 degrees), right lateral recumbence, or remained in the supine position. RESULTS: Repositioning after VAE resulted in relocation of intracardiac air to nondependent areas of the right heart. Peak right ventricular (RV) diameter increase and mean arterial pressure decrease were greater in the repositioned animals compared with those in the supine position (P < 0.05). Right ventricular diameter and mean arterial pressure showed an inverse correlation (r = 0.81). Peak left atrial diameter decrease was greater in the LLR and LLR-10 degrees positions compared with the supine position (P < 0.05). Repositioning did not influence peak pulmonary artery pressure increase, and no correlation was found between RV diameter and pulmonary artery pressure. All animals showed electrocardiogram and echocardiographic changes reconcilable with myocardial ischemia. CONCLUSIONS: In dogs, body repositioning after VAE provided no benefit in hemodynamic performance or cardiac dimension changes, although relocation of intracardiac air was demonstrated. Right ventricular air did not appear to result in significant RV outflow obstruction, as pulmonary artery pressure increased uniformly in all groups and was not influenced by the relocation of intracardiac air. The combination of increased RV afterload and arterial hypotension, possibly with subsequent RV ischemia rather than RV outflow obstruction by an airlock appeared to be the primary mechanism for cardiac dysfunction after VAE.

Laterality and Left-sidedness in the Nose, Face, and Body: A New Finding.

PubMed

Hafezi, Farhad; Javdani, Ali; Naghibzadeh, Bijan; Ashtiani, Abbas Kazemi

2017-12-01

Asymmetry is a common occurrence in bilaterian animals, particularly human beings. Through examination of patients and their photographs during rhinoplasty, we noted wider left-sided nasal and facial features in most patients. This observation led us to hypothesize that this might be consistent to the whole body. We conducted a study in 3 parts to test the question above. First, we analyzed operating notes of 50 rhinoplasty patients to determine the wider side of the upper, middle, and lower thirds of the nose. Second, we analyzed the width of the face and chest wall in 31 patients to discern any correlation between facial and bodily asymmetry. Third, computerized tomographic scans of the thorax and body of 48 patients were studied to measure the width of the hemithorax and hemipelvic bone. (1) Upper vault width was wider on left side (78%). Left middle vault width was wider (88%). The lower lateral cartilage, lateral crura convexity was more prominent on left side (48%), and a wider scroll area was found and trimmed in 21 (left) and 0 (right) cases. The alar base was wider on left side (56%). (2) In the body and face analysis, 64.5% had a wider left-sided face and body. (3) In the computed tomographic scan analysis, same-sided thorax and pelvis asymmetry was seen (85.35%), 33 and 7 of which were left- and right-sided, respectively. We observed generalized asymmetry of the face and body with left-sided predominance.

Transmembrane proteins UNC-40/DCC, PTP-3/LAR, and MIG-21 control anterior-posterior neuroblast migration with left-right functional asymmetry in Caenorhabditis elegans.

PubMed

Sundararajan, Lakshmi; Lundquist, Erik A

2012-12-01

Migration of neurons and neural crest cells is of central importance to the development of nervous systems. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the QL neuroblast on the left migrates posteriorly, and QR on the right migrates anteriorly, despite similar lineages and birth positions with regard to the left-right axis. Initial migration is independent of a Wnt signal that controls later anterior-posterior Q descendant migration. Previous studies showed that the transmembrane proteins UNC-40/DCC and MIG-21, a novel thrombospondin type I repeat containing protein, act redundantly in left-side QL posterior migration. Here we show that the LAR receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase PTP-3 acts with MIG-21 in parallel to UNC-40 in QL posterior migration. We also show that in right-side QR, the UNC-40 and PTP-3/MIG-21 pathways mutually inhibit each other's role in posterior migration, allowing anterior QR migration. Finally, we present evidence that these proteins act autonomously in the Q neuroblasts. These studies indicate an inherent left-right asymmetry in the Q neuroblasts with regard to UNC-40, PTP-3, and MIG-21 function that results in posterior vs. anterior migration.

Decoding rule search domain in the left inferior frontal gyrus

PubMed Central

Babcock, Laura; Vallesi, Antonino

2018-01-01

Traditionally, the left hemisphere has been thought to extract mainly verbal patterns of information, but recent evidence has shown that the left Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG) is active during inductive reasoning in both the verbal and spatial domains. We aimed to understand whether the left IFG supports inductive reasoning in a domain-specific or domain-general fashion. To do this we used Multi-Voxel Pattern Analysis to decode the representation of domain during a rule search task. Thirteen participants were asked to extract the rule underlying streams of letters presented in different spatial locations. Each rule was either verbal (letters forming words) or spatial (positions forming geometric figures). Our results show that domain was decodable in the left prefrontal cortex, suggesting that this region represents domain-specific information, rather than processes common to the two domains. A replication study with the same participants tested two years later confirmed these findings, though the individual representations changed, providing evidence for the flexible nature of representations. This study extends our knowledge on the neural basis of goal-directed behaviors and on how information relevant for rule extraction is flexibly mapped in the prefrontal cortex. PMID:29547623

Beyond hemispheric dominance: brain regions underlying the joint lateralization of language and arithmetic to the left hemisphere.

PubMed

Pinel, Philippe; Dehaene, Stanislas

2010-01-01

Language and arithmetic are both lateralized to the left hemisphere in the majority of right-handed adults. Yet, does this similar lateralization reflect a single overall constraint of brain organization, such an overall "dominance" of the left hemisphere for all linguistic and symbolic operations? Is it related to the lateralization of specific cerebral subregions? Or is it merely coincidental? To shed light on this issue, we performed a "colateralization analysis" over 209 healthy subjects: We investigated whether normal variations in the degree of left hemispheric asymmetry in areas involved in sentence listening and reading are mirrored in the asymmetry of areas involved in mental arithmetic. Within the language network, a region-of-interest analysis disclosed partially dissociated patterns of lateralization, inconsistent with an overall "dominance" model. Only two of these areas presented a lateralization during sentence listening and reading which correlated strongly with the lateralization of two regions active during calculation. Specifically, the profile of asymmetry in the posterior superior temporal sulcus during sentence processing covaried with the asymmetry of calculation-induced activation in the intraparietal sulcus, and a similar colateralization linked the middle frontal gyrus with the superior posterior parietal lobule. Given recent neuroimaging results suggesting a late emergence of hemispheric asymmetries for symbolic arithmetic during childhood, we speculate that these colateralizations might constitute developmental traces of how the acquisition of linguistic symbols affects the cerebral organization of the arithmetic network.

The anatomical location and laterality of orbital cavernous haemangiomas.

PubMed

McNab, Alan A; Selva, Dinesh; Hardy, Thomas G; O'Donnell, Brett

2014-10-01

To determine the anatomical location and laterality of orbital cavernous haemangiomas (OCH). Retrospective case series. The records of 104 patients with OCH were analyzed. The anatomical location of each OCH defined by the location of a point at the centre of the lesion, and its laterality. There were 104 patients included in the study. No patient had more than one lesion. Sixteen (15.4%) were located in the anterior third of the orbit, 74 (71.2%) were in the middle third, and 14 (13.5%) in the posterior third. In the middle third, 10 of 74 (13.5%) were extraconal and 64 intraconal (86.5%), with 30 of 64 (46.9%) middle third intraconal lesions lying lateral to the optic nerve. Of 104 lesions, 56 (53.8%) were left sided, showing a trend towards a predilection for the left side (p = 0.065). If data from other published series which included data on laterality is added to our own data and analysed, 270 of 468 (57.7%) OCH occurred in the left orbit (p < 0.005). OCH may occur at almost any location within the orbit. The commonest location is the middle third of the orbit, in the intraconal space lateral to the optic nerve. This may reflect an origin of these lesions from the arterial side of the circulation, as there are more small arteries in the intraconal space lateral to the optic nerve than in other locations. A predilection for the left orbit remains unexplained.

Effect of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction on left atrial appendage function and thrombotic potential in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.

PubMed

Demirçelik, Muhammed Bora; Çetin, Mustafa; Çiçekcioğlu, Hülya; Uçar, Özgül; Duran, Mustafa

2014-05-01

We aimed to investigate effects of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction on left atrial appendage functions, spontaneous echo contrast and thrombus formation in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. In 58 patients with chronic nonvalvular atrial fibrilation and preserved left ventricular systolic function, left atrial appendage functions, left atrial spontaneous echo contrast grading and left ventricular diastolic functions were evaluated using transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiogram. Patients divided in two groups: Group D (n=30): Patients with diastolic dysfunction, Group N (n=28): Patients without diastolic dysfunction. Categorical variables in two groups were evaluated with Pearson's chi-square or Fisher's exact test. The significance of the lineer correlation between the degree of spontaneous echo contrast (SEC) and clinical measurements was evaluated with Spearman's correlation analysis. Peak pulmonary vein D velocity of the Group D was significantly higher than the Group N (p=0.006). However, left atrial appendage emptying velocity, left atrial appendage lateral wall velocity, peak pulmonary vein S, pulmonary vein S/D ratio were found to be significantly lower in Group D (p=0.028, p<0.001, p<0.001; p<0.001). Statistically significant negative correlation was found between SEC in left atrium and left atrial appendage emptying, filling, pulmonary vein S/D levels and lateral wall velocities respectively (r=-0.438, r=-0.328, r=-0.233, r=-0.447). Left atrial appendage emptying, filling, pulmonary vein S/D levels and lateral wall velocities were significantly lower in SEC 2-3-4 than SEC 1 (p=0.003, p=0.029, p<0.001, p=0.002). In patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction, left atrial appendage functions are decreased in patients with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction may constitute a potential risk for formation of thrombus and stroke.

Laterality and unilateral deafness: Patients with congenital right ear deafness do not develop atypical language dominance.

PubMed

Van der Haegen, Lise; Acke, Frederic; Vingerhoets, Guy; Dhooge, Ingeborg; De Leenheer, Els; Cai, Qing; Brysbaert, Marc

2016-12-01

Auditory speech perception, speech production and reading lateralize to the left hemisphere in the majority of healthy right-handers. In this study, we investigated to what extent sensory input underlies the side of language dominance. We measured the lateralization of the three core subprocesses of language in patients who had profound hearing loss in the right ear from birth and in matched control subjects. They took part in a semantic decision listening task involving speech and sound stimuli (auditory perception), a word generation task (speech production) and a passive reading task (reading). The results show that a lack of sensory auditory input on the right side, which is strongly connected to the contralateral left hemisphere, does not lead to atypical lateralization of speech perception. Speech production and reading were also typically left lateralized in all but one patient, contradicting previous small scale studies. Other factors such as genetic constraints presumably overrule the role of sensory input in the development of (a)typical language lateralization. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Left hemispheric dominance of vestibular processing indicates lateralization of cortical functions in rats.

PubMed

Best, Christoph; Lange, Elena; Buchholz, Hans-Georg; Schreckenberger, Mathias; Reuss, Stefan; Dieterich, Marianne

2014-11-01

Lateralization of cortical functions such as speech dominance, handedness and processing of vestibular information are present not only in humans but also in ontogenetic older species, e.g. rats. In human functional imaging studies, the processing of vestibular information was found to be correlated with the hemispherical dominance as determined by the handedness. It is located mainly within the right hemisphere in right handers and within the left hemisphere in left handers. Since dominance of vestibular processing is unknown in animals, our aim was to study the lateralization of cortical processing in a functional imaging study applying small-animal positron emission tomography (microPET) and galvanic vestibular stimulation in an in vivo rat model. The cortical and subcortical network processing vestibular information could be demonstrated and correlated with data from other animal studies. By calculating a lateralization index as well as flipped region of interest analyses, we found that the vestibular processing in rats follows a strong left hemispheric dominance independent from the "handedness" of the animals. These findings support the idea of an early hemispheric specialization of vestibular cortical functions in ontogenetic older species.

Lateralization of tool use in New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides).

PubMed Central

Weir, Alex A S; Kenward, Ben; Chappell, Jackie; Kacelnik, Alex

2004-01-01

We studied laterality of tool use in 10 captive New Caledonian (NC) crows (Corvus moneduloides). All subjects showed near-exclusive individual laterality, but there was no overall bias in either direction (five were left-lateralized and five were right-lateralized). This is consistent with results in non-human primates, which show strong individual lateralization for tool use (but not for other activities), and also with observations of four wild NC crows by Rutledge & Hunt. Jointly, these results contrast with observations that the crows have a population-level bias for manufacturing tools from the left edges of Pandanus sp. leaves, and suggest that the manufacture and use of tools in this species may have different neural underpinnings. PMID:15504013

[Cerebral dominance. A study on left-handedness in a Mexican population group].

PubMed

Silva-Rodríguez, A; Escobar-Izquierdo, A

1996-01-01

The term "cerebral dominance" suggests that one hemisphere is leader and the other subordinate; however, cerebral dominance concerning all psychic functions is less frequent than we could suppose. Among the functions in which cerebral dominance is manifested the most notorious is the manual preference. Thus according to the hand being used for general motor activities the persons are named right-handers or left-handers; nevertheless people are less lateralized than we could suppose, and most right-handers may have hidden left-handedness. In order to obtain some data on this subject in Mexican population, a study was done in 300 university students. Of the 275 right-handers only 144 fulfilled the requirements to qualify as such after performing the complementary tests; 25 left-handers came to a mere amount of 5. The data indicate that partial lateralization is more frequent than total lateralization.

Regional cerebral blood flow changes associated with clitorally induced orgasm in healthy women.

PubMed

Georgiadis, Janniko R; Kortekaas, Rudie; Kuipers, Rutger; Nieuwenburg, Arie; Pruim, Jan; Reinders, A A T Simone; Holstege, Gert

2006-12-01

There is a severe lack of knowledge regarding the brain regions involved in human sexual performance in general, and female orgasm in particular. We used [15O]-H2O positron emission tomography to measure regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in 12 healthy women during a nonsexual resting state, clitorally induced orgasm, sexual clitoral stimulation (sexual arousal control) and imitation of orgasm (motor output control). Extracerebral markers of sexual performance and orgasm were rectal pressure variability (RPstd) and perceived level of sexual arousal (PSA). Sexual stimulation of the clitoris (compared to rest) significantly increased rCBF in the left secondary and right dorsal primary somatosensory cortex, providing the first account of neocortical processing of sexual clitoral information. In contrast, orgasm was mainly associated with profound rCBF decreases in the neocortex when compared with the control conditions (clitoral stimulation and imitation of orgasm), particularly in the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex, inferior temporal gyrus and anterior temporal pole. Significant positive correlations were found between RPstd and rCBF in the left deep cerebellar nuclei, and between PSA and rCBF in the ventral midbrain and right caudate nucleus. We propose that decreased blood flow in the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex signifies behavioural disinhibition during orgasm in women, and that deactivation of the temporal lobe is directly related to high sexual arousal. In addition, the deep cerebellar nuclei may be involved in orgasm-specific muscle contractions while the involvement of the ventral midbrain and right caudate nucleus suggests a role for dopamine in female sexual arousal and orgasm.

Metabolic changes of cerebrum by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over lateral cerebellum: a study with FDG PET.

PubMed

Cho, Sang Soo; Yoon, Eun Jin; Bang, Sung Ae; Park, Hyun Soo; Kim, Yu Kyeong; Strafella, Antonio P; Kim, Sang Eun

2012-09-01

To better understand the functional role of cerebellum within the large-scale cerebellocerebral neural network, we investigated the changes of neuronal activity elicited by cerebellar repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and positron emission tomography (PET). Twelve right-handed healthy volunteers were studied with brain FDG PET under two conditions: active rTMS of 1 Hz frequency over the left lateral cerebellum and sham stimulation. Compared to the sham condition, active rTMS induced decreased glucose metabolism in the stimulated left lateral cerebellum, the areas known to be involved in voluntary motor movement (supplementary motor area and posterior parietal cortex) in the right cerebral hemisphere, and the areas known to be involved in cognition and emotion (orbitofrontal, medial frontal, and anterior cingulate gyri) in the left cerebral hemisphere. Increased metabolism was found in cognition- and language-related brain regions such as the left inferior frontal gyrus including Broca's area, bilateral superior temporal gyri including Wernicke's area, and bilateral middle temporal gyri. Left cerebellar rTMS also led to increased metabolism in the left cerebellar dentate nucleus and pons. These results demonstrate that rTMS over the left lateral cerebellum modulates not only the target region excitability but also excitability of remote, but interconnected, motor-, language-, cognition-, and emotion-related cerebral regions. They provide further evidence that the cerebellum is involved not only in motor-related functions but also in higher cognitive abilities and emotion through the large-scale cerebellocereberal neural network.

Integrating functional and anatomical information to facilitate cardiac resynchronization therapy.

PubMed

Tournoux, Francois B; Manzke, Robert; Chan, Raymond C; Solis, Jorge; Chen-Tournoux, Annabel A; Gérard, Olivier; Nandigam, Veena; Allain, Pascal; Reddy, Vivek; Ruskin, Jeremy N; Weyman, Arthur E; Picard, Michael H; Singh, Jagmeet P

2007-08-01

Multiple imaging modalities are required in patients receiving cardiac resynchronization therapy. We have developed a strategy to integrate echocardiographic and angiographic information to facilitate left ventricle (LV) lead position. Full three-dimensional LV-volumes (3DLVV) and dyssynchrony maps were acquired before and after resynchronization. At the time of device implantation, 3D-rotational coronary venous angiography was performed. 3D-models of the veins were then integrated with the pre- and post-3DLVV. In the case displayed, prior to implantation, the lateral wall was delayed compared to the septum. The LV lead was positioned into the vein over the most delayed region, resulting in improved LV synchrony.

Embryonic left-right separation mechanism allows confinement of mutation-induced phenotypes to one lateral body half of bilaterians.

PubMed

Ma, Kun

2013-12-01

A fundamental question in developmental biology is how a chimeric animal such as a bilateral gynandromorphic animal can have different phenotypes confined to different lateral body halves, and how mutation-induced phenotypes, such as genetic diseases, can be confined to one lateral body half in patients. Here, I propose that embryos of many, if not all, bilaterian animals are divided into left and right halves at a very early stage (which may vary among different types of animals), after which the descendants of the left-sided and right-sided cells will almost exclusively remain on their original sides, respectively, throughout the remaining development. This embryonic left-right separation mechanism allows (1) mutations and the mutation-induced phenotypes to be strictly confined to one lateral body half in animals and humans; (2) mothers with bilateral hereditary primary breast cancer to transmit their disease to their offspring at twofold of the rate compared to mothers with unilateral hereditary breast cancer; and (3) a mosaic embryo carrying genetic or epigenetic mutations to develop into either an individual with the mutation-induced phenotype confined unilaterally, or a pair of twins displaying complete, partial, or mirror-image discordance for the phenotype. Further, this left-right separation mechanism predicts that the two lateral halves of a patient carrying a unilateral genetic disease can each serve as a case and an internal control, respectively, for genetic and epigenetic comparative studies to identify the disease causations. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Klf8 regulates left-right asymmetric patterning through modulation of Kupffer's vesicle morphogenesis and spaw expression.

PubMed

Lin, Che-Yi; Tsai, Ming-Yuan; Liu, Yu-Hsiu; Lu, Yu-Fen; Chen, Yi-Chung; Lai, Yun-Ren; Liao, Hsin-Chi; Lien, Huang-Wei; Yang, Chung-Hsiang; Huang, Chang-Jen; Hwang, Sheng-Ping L

2017-07-17

Although vertebrates are bilaterally symmetric organisms, their internal organs are distributed asymmetrically along a left-right axis. Disruption of left-right axis asymmetric patterning often occurs in human genetic disorders. In zebrafish embryos, Kupffer's vesicle, like the mouse node, breaks symmetry by inducing asymmetric expression of the Nodal-related gene, spaw, in the left lateral plate mesoderm (LPM). Spaw then stimulates transcription of itself and downstream genes, including lft1, lft2, and pitx2, specifically in the left side of the diencephalon, heart and LPM. This developmental step is essential to establish subsequent asymmetric organ positioning. In this study, we evaluated the role of krüppel-like factor 8 (klf8) in regulating left-right asymmetric patterning in zebrafish embryos. Zebrafish klf8 expression was disrupted by both morpholino antisense oligomer-mediated knockdown and a CRISPR-Cas9 system. Whole-mount in situ hybridization was conducted to evaluate gene expression patterns of Nodal signalling components and the positions of heart and visceral organs. Dorsal forerunner cell number was evaluated in Tg(sox17:gfp) embryos and the length and number of cilia in Kupffer's vesicle were analyzed by immunocytochemistry using an acetylated tubulin antibody. Heart jogging, looping and visceral organ positioning were all defective in zebrafish klf8 morphants. At the 18-22 s stages, klf8 morphants showed reduced expression of genes encoding Nodal signalling components (spaw, lft1, lft2, and pitx2) in the left LPM, diencephalon, and heart. Co-injection of klf8 mRNA with klf8 morpholino partially rescued spaw expression. Furthermore, klf8 but not klf8△zf overexpressing embryos showed dysregulated bilateral expression of Nodal signalling components at late somite stages. At the 10s stage, klf8 morphants exhibited reductions in length and number of cilia in Kupffer's vesicle, while at 75% epiboly, fewer dorsal forerunner cells were observed. Interestingly, klf8 mutant embryos, generated by a CRISPR-Cas9 system, showed bilateral spaw expression in the LPM at late somite stages. This observation may be partly attributed to compensatory upregulation of klf12b, because klf12b knockdown reduced the percentage of klf8 mutants exhibiting bilateral spaw expression. Our results demonstrate that zebrafish Klf8 regulates left-right asymmetric patterning by modulating both Kupffer's vesicle morphogenesis and spaw expression in the left LPM.

A Surface-based Analysis of Language Lateralization and Cortical Asymmetry

PubMed Central

Greve, Douglas N.; Van der Haegen, Lise; Cai, Qing; Stufflebeam, Steven; Sabuncu, Mert R.; Fischl, Bruce; Bysbaert, Marc

2013-01-01

Among brain functions, language is one of the most lateralized. Cortical language areas are also some of the most asymmetrical in the brain. An open question is whether the asymmetry in function is linked to the asymmetry in anatomy. To address this question, we measured anatomical asymmetry in 34 participants shown with fMRI to have language dominance of the left hemisphere (LLD) and 21 participants shown to have atypical right hemisphere dominance (RLD). All participants were healthy and left-handed, and most (80%) were female. Gray matter (GM) volume asymmetry was measured using an automated surface-based technique in both ROIs and exploratory analyses. In the ROI analysis, a significant difference between LLD and RLD was found in the insula. No differences were found in planum temporale (PT), pars opercularis (POp), pars triangularis (PTr), or Heschl’s gyrus (HG). The PT, POp, insula, and HG were all significantly left lateralized in both LLD and RLD participants. Both the positive and negative ROI findings replicate a previous study using manually labeled ROIs in a different cohort [Keller, S. S., Roberts, N., Garcia-Finana, M., Mohammadi, S., Ringelstein, E. B., Knecht, S., et al. Can the language-dominant hemisphere be predicted by brain anatomy? Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23, 2013–2029, 2011]. The exploratory analysis was accomplished using a new surface-based registration that aligns cortical folding patterns across both subject and hemisphere. A small but significant cluster was found in the superior temporal gyrus that overlapped with the PT. A cluster was also found in the ventral occipitotemporal cortex corresponding to the visual word recognition area. The surface-based analysis also makes it possible to disentangle the effects of GM volume, thickness, and surface area while removing the effects of curvature. For both the ROI and exploratory analyses, the difference between LLD and RLD volume laterality was most strongly driven by differences in surface area and not cortical thickness. Overall, there were surprisingly few differences in GM volume asymmetry between LLD and RLD indicating that gross morphometric asymmetry is only subtly related to functional language laterality. PMID:23701459

Arcuate fasciculus laterality by diffusion tensor imaging correlates with language laterality by functional MRI in preadolescent children.

PubMed

Sreedharan, Ruma Madhu; Menon, Amitha C; James, Jija S; Kesavadas, Chandrasekharan; Thomas, Sanjeev V

2015-03-01

Language lateralization is unique to humans. Functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) enable the study of language areas and white matter fibers involved in language, respectively. The objective of this study was to correlate arcuate fasciculus (AF) laterality by diffusion tensor imaging with that by fMRI in preadolescent children which has not yet been reported. Ten children between 8 and 12 years were subjected to fMRI and DTI imaging using Siemens 1.5 T MRI. Two language fMRI paradigms--visual verb generation and word pair task--were used. Analysis was done using SPM8 software. In DTI, the fiber volume of the arcuate fasciculus (AFV) and fractional anisotropy (FA) was measured. The fMRI Laterality Index (fMRI-LI) and DTI Laterality Index (DTI-LI) were calculated and their correlation assessed using the Pearson Correlation Index. Of ten children, mean age 10.6 years, eight showed left lateralization while bilateral language lateralization was seen in two. AFV by DTI was more on the left side in seven of the eight children who had left lateralization by fMRI. DTI could not trace the AF in one child. Of the two with bilateral language lateralization on fMRI, one showed larger AFV on the right side while the other did not show any asymmetry. There was a significant correlation (p < 0.02) between fMRI-LI and DTI-LI. Group mean of AFV by DTI was higher on the left side (2659.89 ± 654.75 mm(3)) as compared to the right (1824.11 ± 582.81 mm(3)) (p < 0.01). Like fMRI, DTI also reveals language laterality in children with a high degree of correlation between the two imaging modalities.

[Effects of acupuncture at left and right Hegu (LI 4) for cerebral function laterality].

PubMed

Wang, Linying; Xu, Chunsheng; Zhu, Yifang; Li, Chuanfu; Yang, Jun

2015-08-01

To explore the cerebral function laterality of acupuncture at left and right Hegu (LI 4) by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and provide objective evidences for side selection of Hegu (LI 4) in the clinical application. Eighty healthy volunteers were randomly divided into a left-acupoint group and a right-acupoint group, and they were treated with acupuncture at left Hegu (LI 4) and right Hegu (LI 4) respectively. After the arrival of qi, the task-state fMRI data in both groups was collected, and analysis of functional neuroimages (AFNI) software was used to perform intra-group and between-group comparisons. After acupuncture, acupuncture feelings were recorded and MGH acupuncture sensation scale (MASS) was recorded. The difference of MASS between the two groups was not significant (P>0. 05). The result of left-acupoint group showed an increased signal on right cerebral hemisphere, while the right-acupoint group showed extensive signal changes in both cerebral hemispheres. The analysis between left-acupoint group and retroflex right-acupoint group showed differences in brain areas. The central effect of acupuncture at left and right Hegu (LI 4) is dissymmetry, indicating right hemisphere laterality. The right lobus insularis and cingulate gyrus may be the key regions in the acupuncture at Hegu (LI 4).

Corticospinal tract asymmetry and handedness in right- and left-handers by diffusion tensor tractography.

PubMed

Seizeur, Romuald; Magro, Elsa; Prima, Sylvain; Wiest-Daesslé, Nicolas; Maumet, Camille; Morandi, Xavier

2014-03-01

Cerebral hemispheres represent both structural and functional asymmetry, which differs among right- and left-handers. The left hemisphere is specialised for language and task execution of the right hand in right-handers. We studied the corticospinal tract in right- and left-handers by diffusion tensor imaging and tractography. The present study aimed at revealing a morphological difference resulting from a region of interest (ROI) obtained by functional MRI (fMRI). Twenty-five healthy participants (right-handed: 15, left-handed: 10) were enrolled in our assessment of morphological, functional and diffusion tensor MRI. Assessment of brain fibre reconstruction (tractography) was done using a deterministic algorithm. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were studied on the tractography traces of the reference slices. We observed a significant difference in number of leftward fibres based on laterality. The significant difference in regard to FA and MD was based on the slices obtained at different levels and the laterality index. We found left-hand asymmetry and right-hand asymmetry, respectively, for the MD and FA. Our study showed the presence of hemispheric asymmetry based on laterality index in right- and left-handers. These results are inconsistent with some studies and consistent with others. The reported difference in hemispheric asymmetry could be related to dexterity (manual skill).

Hippocampal activations in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy due to hippocampal sclerosis- an observational study on intramural encoding-delayed recall paradigms using task-based memory fMRI.

PubMed

Rajesh, P G; Thomas, Bejoy; Pammi, V S Chandrasekhar; Kesavadas, C; Alexander, Aley; Radhakrishnan, Ashalatha; Thomas, S V; Menon, R N

2018-05-26

To validate concurrent utility of within-scanner encoding and delayed recognition-memory paradigms to ascertain hippocampal activations during task-based memory fMRI. Memory paradigms were designed for faces, word-pairs and abstract designs. A deep-encoding task was designed comprising of a total of 9 cycles run within a 1.5T MRI scanner. A recall session was performed after 1 h within the scanner using an event-related design. Group analysis was done with 'correct-incorrect' responses applied as parametric modulators in Statistical Parametric Mapping version 8 using boot-strap method to enable estimation of laterality indices (LI) using custom anatomical masks involving the medio-basal temporal structures. Twenty seven subjects with drug-resistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy due to hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS) [17 patients of left-MTLE and 10 patients of right-MTLE] and 21 right handed age-matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited. For the encoding paradigm blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) responses in HC demonstrated right laterality for faces, left laterality for word pairs, and bilaterality for design encoding over the regions of interest. Both right and left MTLE-HS groups revealed left lateralisation for word-pair encoding, bilateral activation for face encoding, with design encoding in right MTLE-HS demonstrating a left shift. As opposed to lateralization shown in controls, group analysis of cued-recall BOLD signals acquired within scanner in left MTLE-HS demonstrated right lateralization for word-pairs with bilaterality for faces and designs. The right MTLE-HS group demonstrated bilateral activations for faces, word-pairs and designs. Recall-based fMRI paradigms indicate hippocampal plasticity in MTLE-HS, maximal for word-pair associate recall tasks. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Laterality in the first Neolithic and Chalcolithic farming communities in northern Iberia.

PubMed

Dominguez-Ballesteros, Eder; Arrizabalaga, Alvaro

2015-05-01

Laterality is a quality, widespread throughout the vertebrate kingdom. It consists in assigning different roles to each side of the body by granting predominance to one of the sides. Humans too display this quality and the specialization of each hemisphere in our brain was already present in the first vertebrates. We usually refer to right-handed and left-handed people depending on the upper limb that is assigned the dominant role. For a long time, it has been thought that the proportion of left-handed people in a population has remained constant in all cultures and during our evolution. However, laterality is affected by sociocultural influences and varies geographically and chronologically. Using archaeological remains, it is possible to obtain information about the laterality of our ancestors and determine laterality indices for past populations. We developed an experimental programme to determine which characteristics of a polished axe indicate the laterality of its maker. We describe a method based on the orientation of the edge and we study the Neolithic and Chalcolithic farming communities in northern Iberia to evaluate the laterality in those populations. The right/left laterality ratio for the Neolithic and Chalcolithic populations is very similar to the range detected for modern non-industrial societies.

Central and Divided Visual Field Presentation of Emotional Images to Measure Hemispheric Differences in Motivated Attention.

PubMed

O'Hare, Aminda J; Atchley, Ruth Ann; Young, Keith M

2017-11-16

Two dominant theories on lateralized processing of emotional information exist in the literature. One theory posits that unpleasant emotions are processed by right frontal regions, while pleasant emotions are processed by left frontal regions. The other theory posits that the right hemisphere is more specialized for the processing of emotional information overall, particularly in posterior regions. Assessing the different roles of the cerebral hemispheres in processing emotional information can be difficult without the use of neuroimaging methodologies, which are not accessible or affordable to all scientists. Divided visual field presentation of stimuli can allow for the investigation of lateralized processing of information without the use of neuroimaging technology. This study compared central versus divided visual field presentations of emotional images to assess differences in motivated attention between the two hemispheres. The late positive potential (LPP) was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs) methodologies to assess motivated attention. Future work will pair this paradigm with a more active behavioral task to explore the behavioral impacts on the attentional differences found.

An amphioxus nodal gene (AmphiNodal) with early symmetrical expression in the organizer and mesoderm and later asymmetrical expression associated with left-right axis formation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yu, Jr-Kai; Holland, Linda Z.; Holland, Nicholas D.

2002-01-01

The full-length sequence and zygotic expression of an amphioxus nodal gene are described. Expression is first detected in the early gastrula just within the dorsal lip of the blastopore in a region of hypoblast that is probably comparable with the vertebrate Spemann's organizer. In the late gastrula and early neurula, expression remains bilaterally symmetrical, limited to paraxial mesoderm and immediately overlying regions of the neural plate. Later in the neurula stage, all neural expression disappears, and mesodermal expression disappears from the right side. All along the left side of the neurula, mesodermal expression spreads into the left side of the gut endoderm. Soon thereafter, all expression is down-regulated except near the anterior and posterior ends of the animal, where transcripts are still found in the mesoderm and endoderm on the left side. At this time, expression also begins in the ectoderm on the left side of the head, in the region where the mouth later forms. These results suggest that amphioxus and vertebrate nodal genes play evolutionarily conserved roles in establishing Spemann's organizer, patterning the mesoderm rostrocaudally and setting up the asymmetrical left-right axis of the body.

Right sided weakness with right subdural hematoma: motor deafferentation of left hemisphere resulted in paralysis of the right side.

PubMed

Derakhshan, Iraj

2009-08-01

A right handed man with trauma to the head was admitted with headache and seizures. A severe right sided weakness was noted after a blunt trauma to the right side of his head. MRI of brain revealed a right-sided subdural hematoma and a normal left hemisphere and downstream motor pathways. Bimanual simultaneous drawing and manual reaction times indicated that the patient was right hemispheric in laterality of his major hemisphere. The right sided weakness in this patient was due to temporary transcallosal disconnection (diaschisis) of the minor hemisphere (left, in this case) from the excitatory signals arising from those structures of his major hemisphere devoted to movements occurring on nondominant side, transmitted via the corpus callosum to his left hemisphere. This case draws attention to disparity between neural and behavioral handedness (laterality of major hemisphere versus that of the preferred hand). Drawing longer lines by the left hand in simultaneous bimanual tasks and a slower simple reaction time to central visual stimuli by the ostensible dominant hand permitted lateralization of the major hemisphere to the right. Thus, the neurally nondominant side (right) lagged behind the dominant (left) by an interval equal to interhemispheric transfer time.

Interpersonal dynamics and relative positioning to scoring target of performers in 1 vs. 1 sub-phases of team sports.

PubMed

Esteves, Pedro T; Araújo, Duarte; Davids, Keith; Vilar, Luís; Travassos, Bruno; Esteves, Carlos

2012-01-01

In this study, we examined the effects of relative positioning of attacker-defender dyads to the basket on interpersonal coordination tendencies in basketball. To achieve this aim, four right-hand dominant basketball players performed in a 1 vs. 1 sub-phase, at nine different playing locations relative to the basket (from 0° to 180°, in 20° increments). Performers' movement displacement trajectories were video-recorded and digitized in 162 trials. Results showed that interpersonal coordination tendencies changed according to the scaling of the relative position of performers to the basket. Stable in-phase modes of coordination were observed between performers' longitudinal and lateral displacements (50.47% and 43.02%) on the left side of the court. On the right side of the court, a shift in the dominant mode of coordination was observed to a defender lead-lag of -30°, both for longitudinal and lateral displacements (30.51% and 32.65%). These results suggest how information about dribbler hand dominance and relative position to the basket may have constrained attacker-defender coordination tendencies in 1 vs. 1 sub-phases of basketball.

Lateralization of Sucrose Responsiveness and Non-associative Learning in Honeybees

PubMed Central

Baracchi, David; Rigosi, Elisa; de Brito Sanchez, Gabriela; Giurfa, Martin

2018-01-01

Lateralization is a fundamental property of the human brain that affects perceptual, motor, and cognitive processes. It is now acknowledged that left–right laterality is widespread across vertebrates and even some invertebrates such as fruit flies and bees. Honeybees, which learn to associate an odorant (the conditioned stimulus, CS) with sucrose solution (the unconditioned stimulus, US), recall this association better when trained using their right antenna than they do when using their left antenna. Correspondingly, olfactory sensilla are more abundant on the right antenna and odor encoding by projection neurons of the right antennal lobe results in better odor differentiation than those of the left one. Thus, lateralization arises from asymmetries both in the peripheral and central olfactory system, responsible for detecting the CS. Here, we focused on the US component and studied if lateralization exists in the gustatory system of Apis mellifera. We investigated whether sucrose sensitivity is lateralized both at the level of the antennae and the fore-tarsi in two independent groups of bees. Sucrose sensitivity was assessed by presenting bees with a series of increasing concentrations of sucrose solution delivered either to the left or the right antenna/tarsus and measuring the proboscis extension response to these stimuli. Bees experienced two series of stimulations, one on the left and the other on the right antenna/tarsus. We found that tarsal responsiveness was similar on both sides and that the order of testing affects sucrose responsiveness. On the contrary, antennal responsiveness to sucrose was higher on the right than on the left side, and this effect was independent of the order of antennal stimulation. Given this asymmetry, we also investigated antennal lateralization of habituation to sucrose. We found that the right antenna was more resistant to habituation, which is consistent with its higher sucrose sensitivity. Our results reveal that the gustatory system presents a peripheral lateralization that affects stimulus detection and non-associative learning. Contrary to the olfactory system, which is organized in two distinct brain hemispheres, gustatory receptor neurons converge into a single central region termed the subesophagic zone (SEZ). Whether the SEZ presents lateralized gustatory processing remains to be determined. PMID:29643828

A Multi-institutional Comparison of Adrenal Venous Sampling in Patients with Primary Aldosteronism: Caution Advised if Successful Bilateral Adrenal Vein Sampling is Not Achieved.

PubMed

Wang, Tracy S; Kline, Greg; Yen, Tina W; Yin, Ziyan; Liu, Ying; Rilling, William; So, Benny; Findling, James W; Evans, Douglas B; Pasieka, Janice L

2018-02-01

In patients with primary aldosteronism (PA), adrenal venous sampling (AVS) is recommended to differentiate between unilateral (UNI) or bilateral (BIL) adrenal disease. A recent study suggested that lateralization could be predicted, based on the ratio of aldosterone/cortisol levels (A/C) between the left adrenal vein (LAV) and inferior vena cava (IVC), with a 100% positive predictive value (PPV). This study aimed to validate those findings utilizing a larger, multi-institutional cohort. A retrospective review was performed of patients with PA who underwent AVS from 2 tertiary-care institutions. Laterality was predicted by an A/C ratio of >3:1 between the dominant and non-dominant adrenal. AVS results were compared to LAV/IVC ratios utilizing the published criteria (Lt ≥ 5.5; Rt ≤ 0.5). Of 222 patients, 124 (57%) had UNI and 98 (43%) had BIL disease based on AVS. AVS and LAV/IVC findings were concordant for laterality in 141 (64%) patients (69 UNI, 72 BIL). Using only the LAV/IVC ratio, 54 (24%) patients with UNI disease on AVS who underwent successful surgery would have been assumed to have BAH unless AVS was repeated, and 24 (11%) patients with BIL disease on AVS may have been incorrectly offered surgery (PPV 70%). Based on median LAV/IVC ratios (left 5.26; right 0.31; BIL 2.84), no LAV/IVC ratio accurately predicted laterality. This multi-institutional study of patients with both UNI and BIL PA failed to validate the previously reported PPV of LAV/IVC ratio for lateralization. Caution should be used in interpreting incomplete AVS data to differentiate between UNI versus BIL disease and strong consideration given to repeat AVS prior to adrenalectomy.

New constraints on the structure, thermochronology, and timing of the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone, SE Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leloup, P. H.; Arnaud, N.; Lacassin, R.; Kienast, J. R.; Harrison, T. M.; Trong, T. T. Phan; Replumaz, A.; Tapponnier, P.

2001-04-01

New structural, petrographic, and 40Ar/39Ar data constrain the kinematics of the ASRR (Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone). In the XueLong Shan (XLS), geochronological data reveal Triassic, Early Tertiary, and Oligo-Miocene thermal events. The latter event (33-26 Ma) corresponds to cooling during left-lateral shear. In the FanSiPan (FSP) range, thrusting of the SaPa nappe, linked to left-lateral deformation, and cooling of the FSP granite occurred at ≈35 Ma. Rapid cooling resumed at 25-29 Ma as a result of uplift within the transtensive ASRR. In the DayNuiConVoi (DNCV), foliation trends NW-SE, but is deflected near large-scale shear planes. Stretching lineation is nearly horizontal. On steep foliations, shear criteria indicate left-lateral shear sense. Zones with flatter foliations show compatible shear senses. Petrographic data indicate decompression from ≈6.5 kbar during left-lateral shear (temperatures >700°C). 40Ar/39Ar data imply rapid cooling from above 350°C to below 150°C between 25 and 22 Ma without diachronism along strike. Along the whole ASRR cooling histories show two main episodes: (1) rapid cooling from peak metamorphism during left-lateral shear; (2) rapid cooling from greenschist conditions during right-lateral reactivation of the ASRR. In the NW part of the ASRR (XLS, Diancang Shan), we link rapid cooling 1 to local denudations in a transpressive environment. In the SW part (Ailao Shan and DNCV), cooling 1 resulted from regional denudation by zipper-like tectonics in a transtensive regime. The induced cooling diachronism observed in the Ailao Shan suggests left-lateral rates of 4 to 5 cm/yr from 27 Ma until ≈17 Ma. DNCV rocks always stayed in a transtensive regime and do not show cooling diachronism. The similarities of deformation kinematics along the ASRR and in the South China Sea confirms the causal link between continental strike-slip faulting and marginal basin opening.

Camouflage treatment for class III malocclusion combined with traction of an impacted maxillary central incisor.

PubMed

Closs, Luciane Quadrado; Mundstock, Karina Santos; Ribeiro, Darlene Santos; Reston, Eduardo Galia; Silva, Aurelício Novaes

2010-01-01

This case report describes the treatment of a patient with an unerupted maxillary left central incisor, class III malocclusion with crossbite of the maxillary posterior teeth and lateral open bite. Treatment consisted of rapid maxillary expansion followed by anterior space opening, maxillary protraction and traction of the unerupted teeth with a light force system. Favorable results were obtained in terms of correcting incisor position and class III malocclusion. The results achieved remained stable throughout a 4-year retention period.

Colonic, ureteral, and vascular injuries secondary to stick impalement in a dog.

PubMed

Menard, Julie; Schoeffler, Gretchen L

2011-08-01

To report the surgical repair, case management, and outcome of a dog with sepsis and severe intraabdominal trauma secondary to a penetrating stick injury. A 1.5-year-old, spayed female, mixed-breed dog was presented to the emergency service after incurring a small laceration on the medial aspect of the left pelvic limb while running in the woods. The wound was surgically explored and a primary closure achieved. The patient was discharged the same day with oral antimicrobial therapy. The following morning the dog was represented to the emergency service for acute vomiting. Abdominal radiographs were performed and demonstrated loss of serosal detail and pneumoperitoneum. An emergency celiotomy was performed and revealed distal colonic perforation, left ureteral laceration, and lacerations of the left common iliac vein. Ureteronephrectomy, as well as primary closure of the distal colonic perforation and left common iliac vein lacerations, were performed. The patient recovered and was ultimately discharged from the hospital 5 days later. Follow-up 1 year later revealed no significant physical exam or biochemical abnormalities. A seemingly benign penetrating stick injury initially deemed to be superficial in nature was later demonstrated to have resulted in sepsis following severe intraabdominal trauma that included lacerations of the distal colon, left ureter, and left common iliac vein in a dog. Successful surgical management and intensive care led to a full recovery without any residual impairment noted a year later. © Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society 2011.

Hemispheric Lateralization of Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Anterior Insula: Association with Age, Gender, and a Novelty-Seeking Trait

PubMed Central

Kann, Sarah; Zhang, Sheng; Manza, Peter; Leung, Hoi-Chung

2016-01-01

Abstract Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) is widely used to examine cerebral functional organization. The imaging literature has described lateralization of insula activations during cognitive and affective processing. Evidence appears to support a role of the right-hemispheric insula in attentional orientation to salient stimulus, interoception, and physiological arousal, and a role of the left-hemispheric insula in cognitive and affective control, as well as perspective taking. In this study, in a large data set of healthy adults, we examined lateralization of the rsFC of the anterior insula (AI) by computing a laterality index (LI) of connectivity with 54 regions from the Automated Anatomic Labeling atlas. At a corrected threshold (p < 0.001), the AI is left lateralized in connectivity with the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, superior frontal gyrus, inferior frontal cortex, and posterior orbital gyrus and right lateralized in connectivity with the postcentral gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and superior parietal lobule. In gender differences, women, but not men, showed right-lateralized connectivity to the thalamus. Furthermore, in a subgroup of participants assessed by the tridimensional personality questionnaire, novelty seeking is correlated with the extent of left lateralization of AI connectivity to the pallidum and putamen in men and with the extent of right lateralization of AI connectivity to the parahippocampal gyrus in women. These findings support hemispheric functional differentiation of the AI. PMID:27604154

Hemispheric Lateralization of Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Anterior Insula: Association with Age, Gender, and a Novelty-Seeking Trait.

PubMed

Kann, Sarah; Zhang, Sheng; Manza, Peter; Leung, Hoi-Chung; Li, Chiang-Shan R

2016-11-01

Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) is widely used to examine cerebral functional organization. The imaging literature has described lateralization of insula activations during cognitive and affective processing. Evidence appears to support a role of the right-hemispheric insula in attentional orientation to salient stimulus, interoception, and physiological arousal, and a role of the left-hemispheric insula in cognitive and affective control, as well as perspective taking. In this study, in a large data set of healthy adults, we examined lateralization of the rsFC of the anterior insula (AI) by computing a laterality index (LI) of connectivity with 54 regions from the Automated Anatomic Labeling atlas. At a corrected threshold (p < 0.001), the AI is left lateralized in connectivity with the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, superior frontal gyrus, inferior frontal cortex, and posterior orbital gyrus and right lateralized in connectivity with the postcentral gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and superior parietal lobule. In gender differences, women, but not men, showed right-lateralized connectivity to the thalamus. Furthermore, in a subgroup of participants assessed by the tridimensional personality questionnaire, novelty seeking is correlated with the extent of left lateralization of AI connectivity to the pallidum and putamen in men and with the extent of right lateralization of AI connectivity to the parahippocampal gyrus in women. These findings support hemispheric functional differentiation of the AI.

Comments on Lindesay: laterality shift in homosexual men.

PubMed

Annett, M

1988-01-01

The raised incidences of strong left-handedness and of mixed-handedness in homosexual men, as in dyslexics, are mutually consistent under the normal distribution function, as expected by the right shift theory of handedness. It is argued that atypical laterality in these groups is better described as a "reduction of right shift" than as a "left shift".

Early Cerebral Constraints on Reading Skills in School-Age Children: An MRI Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borst, G.; Cachia, A.; Tissier, C.; Ahr, E.; Simon, G.; Houdé, O.

2016-01-01

Reading relies on a left-lateralized network of brain areas that include the pre-lexical processing regions of the ventral stream. Specifically, a region in the left lateral occipitotemporal sulcus (OTS) is consistently more activated for visual presentations of words than for other categories of stimuli. This region undergoes dramatic changes at…

Investigating language lateralization during phonological and semantic fluency tasks using functional transcranial Doppler sonography

PubMed Central

Gutierrez-Sigut, Eva; Payne, Heather; MacSweeney, Mairéad

2015-01-01

Although there is consensus that the left hemisphere plays a critical role in language processing, some questions remain. Here we examine the influence of overt versus covert speech production on lateralization, the relationship between lateralization and behavioural measures of language performance and the strength of lateralization across the subcomponents of language. The present study used functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD) to investigate lateralization of phonological and semantic fluency during both overt and covert word generation in right-handed adults. The laterality index (LI) was left lateralized in all conditions, and there was no difference in the strength of LI between overt and covert speech. This supports the validity of using overt speech in fTCD studies, another benefit of which is a reliable measure of speech production. PMID:24875468

Laterotopic representation of left-right information onto the dorso-ventral axis of a zebrafish midbrain target nucleus.

PubMed

Aizawa, Hidenori; Bianco, Isaac H; Hamaoka, Takanori; Miyashita, Toshio; Uemura, Osamu; Concha, Miguel L; Russell, Claire; Wilson, Stephen W; Okamoto, Hitoshi

2005-02-08

The habenulae are part of an evolutionarily highly conserved limbic-system conduction pathway that connects telencephalic nuclei to the interpeduncular nucleus (IPN) of the midbrain . In zebrafish, unilateral activation of the Nodal signaling pathway in the left brain specifies the laterality of the asymmetry of habenular size . We show "laterotopy" in the habenulo-interpeduncular projection in zebrafish, i.e., the stereotypic, topographic projection of left-sided habenular axons to the dorsal region of the IPN and of right-sided habenular axons to the ventral IPN. This asymmetric projection is accounted for by a prominent left-right (LR) difference in the size ratio of the medial and lateral habenular sub-nuclei, each of which specifically projects either to ventral or dorsal IPN targets. Asymmetric Nodal signaling directs the orientation of laterotopy but is dispensable for the establishment of laterotopy itself. Our results reveal a mechanism by which information distributed between left and right sides of the brain can be transmitted bilaterally without loss of LR coding, which may play a crucial role in functional lateralization of the vertebrate brain .

Biomechanical analysis of anterior versus posterior instrumentation following a thoracolumbar corpectomy: Laboratory investigation.

PubMed

Viljoen, Stephanus V; DeVries Watson, Nicole A; Grosland, Nicole M; Torner, James; Dalm, Brian; Hitchon, Patrick W

2014-10-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate the biomechanical properties of lateral instrumentation compared with short- and long-segment pedicle screw constructs following an L-1 corpectomy and reconstruction with an expandable cage. Eight human cadaveric T10-L4 spines underwent an L-1 corpectomy followed by placement of an expandable cage. The spines then underwent placement of lateral instrumentation consisting of 4 monoaxial screws and 2 rods with 2 cross-connectors, short-segment pedicle screw fixation involving 1 level above and below the corpectomy, and long-segment pedicle screw fixation (2 levels above and below). The order of instrumentation was randomized in the 8 specimens. Testing was conducted for each fixation technique. The spines were tested with a pure moment of 6 Nm in all 6 degrees of freedom (flexion, extension, right and left lateral bending, and right and left axial rotation). In flexion, extension, and left/right lateral bending, posterior long-segment instrumentation had significantly less motion compared with the intact state. Additionally, posterior long-segment instrumentation was significantly more rigid than short-segment and lateral instrumentation in flexion, extension, and left/right lateral bending. In axial rotation, the posterior long-segment construct as well as lateral instrumentation were not significantly more rigid than the intact state. The posterior long-segment construct was the most rigid in all 6 degrees of freedom. In the setting of highly unstable fractures requiring anterior reconstruction, and involving all 3 columns, long-segment posterior pedicle screw constructs are the most rigid.

Assessing hemispheric specialization for processing arithmetic skills in adults: A functional transcranial doppler ultrasonography (fTCD) study.

PubMed

Connaughton, Veronica M; Amiruddin, Azhani; Clunies-Ross, Karen L; French, Noel; Fox, Allison M

2017-05-01

A major model of the cerebral circuits that underpin arithmetic calculation is the triple-code model of numerical processing. This model proposes that the lateralization of mathematical operations is organized across three circuits: a left-hemispheric dominant verbal code; a bilateral magnitude representation of numbers and a bilateral Arabic number code. This study simultaneously measured the blood flow of both middle cerebral arteries using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography to assess hemispheric specialization during the performance of both language and arithmetic tasks. The propositions of the triple-code model were assessed in a non-clinical adult group by measuring cerebral blood flow during the performance of multiplication and subtraction problems. Participants were 17 adults aged between 18-27 years. We obtained laterality indices for each type of mathematical operation and compared these in participants with left-hemispheric language dominance. It was hypothesized that blood flow would lateralize to the left hemisphere during the performance of multiplication operations, but would not lateralize during the performance of subtraction operations. Hemispheric blood flow was significantly left lateralized during the multiplication task, but was not lateralized during the subtraction task. Compared to high spatial resolution neuroimaging techniques previously used to measure cerebral lateralization, functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography is a cost-effective measure that provides a superior temporal representation of arithmetic cognition. These results provide support for the triple-code model of arithmetic processing and offer complementary evidence that multiplication operations are processed differently in the adult brain compared to subtraction operations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Intra-hemispheric intrinsic connectivity asymmetry and its relationships with handedness and language Lateralization.

PubMed

Joliot, M; Tzourio-Mazoyer, N; Mazoyer, B

2016-12-01

Asymmetry in intra-hemispheric intrinsic connectivity, and its association with handedness and hemispheric dominance for language, were investigated in a sample of 290 healthy volunteers enriched in left-handers (52.7%). From the resting-state FMRI data of each participant, we derived an intra-hemispheric intrinsic connectivity asymmetry (HICA) matrix as the difference between the left and right intra-hemispheric matrices of intrinsic correlation computed for each pair of the AICHA atlas ROIs. We defined a similarity measure between the HICA matrices of two individuals as the correlation coefficient of their corresponding elements, and computed for each individual an index of intra-hemispheric intrinsic connectivity asymmetry as the average similarity measure of his HICA matrix to those of the other subjects of the sample (HICAs). Gaussian-mixture modeling of the age-corrected HICAs sample distribution revealed that two types of HICA patterns were present, one (Typical_HICA) including 92.4% of the participants while the other (Atypical_HICA) included only 7.6% of them, mostly left-handers. In addition, we investigated the relationship between asymmetry in intra-hemispheric intrinsic connectivity and language hemispheric dominance, including a potential effect of handedness on this relationship, thanks to an FMRI acquisition during language production from which an hemispheric functional lateralization index for language (HFLI) and a type of hemispheric dominance for language, namely leftward, ambilateral, or rightward, were derived for each individual. There was a significant association between the types of language hemispheric dominance and of intra-hemispheric intrinsic connectivity asymmetry, occurrence of Atypical_HICAs individuals being very high in the group of individuals rightward-lateralized for language (80%), reduced in the ambilateral group (19%) and rare in individuals leftward-lateralized for language (less than 3%). Quantitatively, we found a significant positive linear relationship between the HICAs and HFLI indices, with an effect of handedness on the intercept but not on the slope of this relationship. These findings demonstrate that handedness and hemispheric dominance for language are significantly but independently associated with the asymmetry of intra-hemispheric intrinsic connectivity. These findings suggest that asymmetry in intra-hemispheric connectivity is a variable phenotype shaped in part by hemispheric lateralization for language, but possibly also depending on other lateralized functions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cortical venous thrombosis following exogenous androgen use for bodybuilding.

PubMed

Sveinsson, Olafur; Herrman, Lars

2013-02-05

There are only a few reports of patients developing cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) after androgen therapy. We present a young man who developed cortical venous thrombosis after using androgens to increase muscle mass. He was hospitalised for parasthesia and dyspraxia in the left hand followed by a generalised tonic-clonic seizure. At admission, he was drowsy, not fully orientated, had sensory inattention, pronation drift and a positive extensor response, all on the left side. The patient had been using anabolic steroids (dainabol 20 mg/day) for the last month for bodybuilding. CT angiography showed a right cortical venous thrombosis. Anticoagulation therapy was started with intravenous heparin for 11 days and oral anticoagulation (warfarin) thereafter. A control CT angiography 4 months later showed resolution of the thrombosis. He recovered fully.

Scanning of speechless comics changes spatial biases in mental model construction.

PubMed

Román, Antonio; Flumini, Andrea; Santiago, Julio

2018-08-05

The mental representation of both time and number shows lateral spatial biases, which can be affected by habitual reading and writing direction. However, this effect is in place before children begin to read. One potential early cause is the experiences of looking at picture books together with a carer, as those images also follow the directionality of the script. What is the underlying mechanism for this effect? In the present study, we test the possibility that such experiences induce spatial biases in mental model construction, a mechanism which is a good candidate to induce the biases observed with numbers and times. We presented a speechless comic in either standard (left-to-right) or mirror-reversed (right-to-left) form to adult Spanish participants. We then asked them to draw the scene depicted by sentences like 'the square is between the cross and the circle'. The position of the lateral objects in these drawings reveals the spatial biases at work when building mental models in working memory. Under conditions of highly consistent directionality, the mirror comic changed pre-existing lateral biases. Processes of mental model construction in working memory stand as a potential mechanism for the generation of spatial biases for time and number.This article is part of the theme issue 'Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Relating Lateralization of Eye Use to Body Motion in the Avoidance Behavior of the Chameleon (Chamaeleo chameleon)

PubMed Central

Lustig, Avichai; Ketter-Katz, Hadas; Katzir, Gadi

2013-01-01

Lateralization is mostly analyzed for single traits, but seldom for two or more traits while performing a given task (e.g. object manipulation). We examined lateralization in eye use and in body motion that co-occur during avoidance behaviour of the common chameleon, Chamaeleo chameleon. A chameleon facing a moving threat smoothly repositions its body on the side of its perch distal to the threat, to minimize its visual exposure. We previously demonstrated that during the response (i) eye use and body motion were, each, lateralized at the tested group level (N = 26), (ii) in body motion, we observed two similar-sized sub-groups, one exhibiting a greater reduction in body exposure to threat approaching from the left and one – to threat approaching from the right (left- and right-biased subgroups), (iii) the left-biased sub-group exhibited weak lateralization of body exposure under binocular threat viewing and none under monocular viewing while the right-biased sub-group exhibited strong lateralization under both monocular and binocular threat viewing. In avoidance, how is eye use related to body motion at the entire group and at the sub-group levels? We demonstrate that (i) in the left-biased sub-group, eye use is not lateralized, (ii) in the right-biased sub-group, eye use is lateralized under binocular, but not monocular viewing of the threat, (iii) the dominance of the right-biased sub-group determines the lateralization of the entire group tested. We conclude that in chameleons, patterns of lateralization of visual function and body motion are inter-related at a subtle level. Presently, the patterns cannot be compared with humans' or related to the unique visual system of chameleons, with highly independent eye movements, complete optic nerve decussation and relatively few inter-hemispheric commissures. We present a model to explain the possible inter-hemispheric differences in dominance in chameleons' visual control of body motion during avoidance. PMID:23967099

Relating lateralization of eye use to body motion in the avoidance behavior of the chameleon (Chamaeleo chameleon).

PubMed

Lustig, Avichai; Ketter-Katz, Hadas; Katzir, Gadi

2013-01-01

Lateralization is mostly analyzed for single traits, but seldom for two or more traits while performing a given task (e.g. object manipulation). We examined lateralization in eye use and in body motion that co-occur during avoidance behaviour of the common chameleon, Chamaeleo chameleon. A chameleon facing a moving threat smoothly repositions its body on the side of its perch distal to the threat, to minimize its visual exposure. We previously demonstrated that during the response (i) eye use and body motion were, each, lateralized at the tested group level (N = 26), (ii) in body motion, we observed two similar-sized sub-groups, one exhibiting a greater reduction in body exposure to threat approaching from the left and one--to threat approaching from the right (left- and right-biased subgroups), (iii) the left-biased sub-group exhibited weak lateralization of body exposure under binocular threat viewing and none under monocular viewing while the right-biased sub-group exhibited strong lateralization under both monocular and binocular threat viewing. In avoidance, how is eye use related to body motion at the entire group and at the sub-group levels? We demonstrate that (i) in the left-biased sub-group, eye use is not lateralized, (ii) in the right-biased sub-group, eye use is lateralized under binocular, but not monocular viewing of the threat, (iii) the dominance of the right-biased sub-group determines the lateralization of the entire group tested. We conclude that in chameleons, patterns of lateralization of visual function and body motion are inter-related at a subtle level. Presently, the patterns cannot be compared with humans' or related to the unique visual system of chameleons, with highly independent eye movements, complete optic nerve decussation and relatively few inter-hemispheric commissures. We present a model to explain the possible inter-hemispheric differences in dominance in chameleons' visual control of body motion during avoidance.

Hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity of 3-bromopyruvate in mice.

PubMed

Pan, Qiong; Sun, Yiming; Jin, Qili; Li, Qixiang; Wang, Qing; Liu, Hao; Zhao, Surong

2016-11-01

To investigate the hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity of 3-Bromopyruvate (3BP) in mice. Fifteen nude mice were grafted subcutaneously in the left flank with MDA-MB-231 cells, then all mice were divided into control group (PBS), 3BP group (8 mg/kg), positive group (DNR: 0.8 mg/kg) when tumor volume reached approximately 100 mm3. 28 days later, tumors, livers and kidneys were stored in 4 % formalin solution and stained with hematoxylin and eosin staining. The Kunming mice experiment included control group (PBS), 3BP group (4mg/kg; 8mg/kg; 16mg/kg), positive group (DNR: 0.8 mg/kg). 24 hours later, the blood were used for the determination of hepatic damage serum biomarkers. Livers were stored in 4 % formalin solution for the later detection. 3BP at the dose of 8mg/kg had a good effect on inhibiting tumor growth in nude mice and did not damage liver and kidney tissues. Kunming mice experiment showed 3BP at the dose of 16mg/kg did damage to liver tissues. 3-Bromopyruvate at the dose of suppressing tumor growth did not exhibit hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity in nude mice, and the effect on liver was confirmed in Kunming mice.

Visioning in the brain: an fMRI study of inspirational coaching and mentoring.

PubMed

Jack, Anthony I; Boyatzis, Richard E; Khawaja, Masud S; Passarelli, Angela M; Leckie, Regina L

2013-01-01

Effective coaching and mentoring is crucial to the success of individuals and organizations, yet relatively little is known about its neural underpinnings. Coaching and mentoring to the Positive Emotional Attractor (PEA) emphasizes compassion for the individual's hopes and dreams and has been shown to enhance a behavioral change. In contrast, coaching to the Negative Emotional Attractor (NEA), by focusing on externally defined criteria for success and the individual's weaknesses in relation to them, does not show sustained change. We used fMRI to measure BOLD responses associated with these two coaching styles. We hypothesized that PEA coaching would be associated with increased global visual processing and with engagement of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), while the NEA coaching would involve greater engagement of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Regions showing more activity in PEA conditions included the lateral occipital cortex, superior temporal cortex, medial parietal, subgenual cingulate, nucleus accumbens, and left lateral prefrontal cortex. We relate these activations to visioning, PNS activity, and positive affect. Regions showing more activity in NEA conditions included medial prefrontal regions and right lateral prefrontal cortex. We relate these activations to SNS activity, self-trait attribution and negative affect.

Valence and arousal influence the late positive potential during central and lateralized presentation of images.

PubMed

O'Hare, Aminda J; Atchley, Ruth Ann; Young, Keith M

2017-09-01

The motivated attention network is believed to be the system that allocates attention toward motivationally relevant, emotional stimuli in order to better prepare an organism for action [Lang, P. J., Bradley, M. M., & Cuthbert, B. N. (1997). Motivated attention: Affect, activation, and action. In P. J. Lang, R. F. Simons, M. Balaban, & R. Simons (Eds.), Attention and orienting: Sensory and motivational processes (pp. 97-135). Psychology Press]. The late positive potential (LPP), an event-related potential (ERP) that is a manifestation of the motivated attention network, has not been found to reliably differentiate the valence of emotionally relevant stimuli. In two studies, we systematically varied epoch, stimulus arousal, stimulus valence, and hemisphere of presentation (Study 2) to investigate valence effects in the LPP. Both central and divided visual field presentations of emotional stimuli found the LPP to be sustained in later windows for high-arousing unpleasant images compared to pleasant images. Further, this effect was driven by sustained LPP responses following left hemisphere presentations of unpleasant stimuli compared to right. Findings are discussed regarding hemispheric processing of emotion and how lateralized emotion processes might contribute to psychopathology.

Cat scratch disease and lymph node tuberculosis in a colon patient with cancer.

PubMed

Matias, M; Marques, T; Ferreira, M A; Ribeiro, L

2013-12-12

A 71-year-old man operated for a sigmoid tumour remained in the surveillance after adjuvant chemotherapy. After 3 years, a left axillary lymph node was visible on CT scan. The biopsy revealed a necrotising and abscessed granulomatous lymphadenitis, suggestive of cat scratch disease. The patient confirmed having been scratched by a cat and the serology for Bartonella henselae was IgM+/IgG-. Direct and culture examinations for tuberculosis were negative. The patient was treated for cat scratch disease. One year later, the CT scan showed increased left axillary lymph nodes and a left pleural effusion. Direct and cultural examinations to exclude tuberculosis were again negative. Interferon-γ release assay testing for tuberculosis was undetermined and then positive. Lymph node and pleural tuberculosis were diagnosed and treated with a good radiological response. This article has provides evidence of the importance of continued search for the right diagnosis and that two diagnoses can happen in the same patient.

The Occurrence of Apparent Bilateral Aldosterone Suppression in Adrenal Vein Sampling for Primary Aldosteronism

PubMed Central

Shibayama, Yui; Wada, Norio; Naruse, Mitsuhide; Kurihara, Isao; Ito, Hiroshi; Yoneda, Takashi; Takeda, Yoshiyu; Umakoshi, Hironobu; Tsuiki, Mika; Ichijo, Takamasa; Fukuda, Hisashi; Katabami, Takuyuki; Yoshimoto, Takanobu; Ogawa, Yoshihiro; Kawashima, Junji; Ohno, Yuichi; Sone, Masakatsu; Fujita, Megumi; Takahashi, Katsutoshi; Shibata, Hirotaka; Kamemura, Kohei; Fujii, Yuichi; Yamamoto, Koichi; Suzuki, Tomoko

2018-01-01

Abstract Context In adrenal venous sampling (AVS) for patients with primary aldosteronism (PA), apparent bilateral aldosterone suppression (ABAS), defined as lower aldosterone/cortisol ratios in the bilateral adrenal veins than that in the inferior vena cava, is occasionally experienced. ABAS is uninterpretable with respect to lateralization of excess aldosterone production. We previously reported that ABAS was not a rare phenomenon and was significantly reduced after adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) administration. Objective To validate the effects of ACTH administration and adding sampling positions in the left adrenal vein on the prevalence of ABAS in the larger Japan Primary Aldosteronism Study. Patients The data from 1689 patients with PA who underwent AVS between January 2006 and October 2016 were studied. All patients in the previous study, the West Japan Adrenal Vein Sampling study, were excluded. Outcome Measurements The prevalence of ABAS was investigated at two sampling positions in the left adrenal vein, the central vein and the common trunk, without and with ACTH administration. Results The prevalence of ABAS with ACTH administration was significantly lower than that without ACTH administration [without ACTH vs with ACTH: 79/440 (18.0%) vs 45/591 (7.6%); P < 0.001]. With ACTH administration, the prevalence of ABAS was not different between the sampling position, at the central vein and at the common trunk [33/591 (5.6%) vs 32/591 (5.4%); P = 1.00]. Conclusions The effectiveness of ACTH administration for the reduction of ABAS in AVS regardless of the sampling position in the left adrenal vein was confirmed in the larger cohort. PMID:29687091

A Voluntary Breath-Hold Treatment Technique for the Left Breast With Unfavorable Cardiac Anatomy Using Surface Imaging

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gierga, David P., E-mail: dgierga@partners.org; Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Turcotte, Julie C.

2012-12-01

Purpose: Breath-hold (BH) treatments can be used to reduce cardiac dose for patients with left-sided breast cancer and unfavorable cardiac anatomy. A surface imaging technique was developed for accurate patient setup and reproducible real-time BH positioning. Methods and Materials: Three-dimensional surface images were obtained for 20 patients. Surface imaging was used to correct the daily setup for each patient. Initial setup data were recorded for 443 fractions and were analyzed to assess random and systematic errors. Real time monitoring was used to verify surface placement during BH. The radiation beam was not turned on if the BH position difference wasmore » greater than 5 mm. Real-time surface data were analyzed for 2398 BHs and 363 treatment fractions. The mean and maximum differences were calculated. The percentage of BHs greater than tolerance was calculated. Results: The mean shifts for initial patient setup were 2.0 mm, 1.2 mm, and 0.3 mm in the vertical, longitudinal, and lateral directions, respectively. The mean 3-dimensional vector shift was 7.8 mm. Random and systematic errors were less than 4 mm. Real-time surface monitoring data indicated that 22% of the BHs were outside the 5-mm tolerance (range, 7%-41%), and there was a correlation with breast volume. The mean difference between the treated and reference BH positions was 2 mm in each direction. For out-of-tolerance BHs, the average difference in the BH position was 6.3 mm, and the average maximum difference was 8.8 mm. Conclusions: Daily real-time surface imaging ensures accurate and reproducible positioning for BH treatment of left-sided breast cancer patients with unfavorable cardiac anatomy.« less

Acute hemodynamic effects of right and left ventricular lead positions during the implantation of cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators.

PubMed

Stockinger, Jochem; Staier, Klaus; Schiebeling-Römer, Jochen; Keyl, Cornelius

2011-11-01

To evaluate the acute hemodynamic effects of different right (RV) and left ventricular (LV) pacing sites in patients undergoing the implantation of a cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D). Stroke volume index (SVI), assessed via pulse contour analysis, and dp/dt max, obtained in the abdominal aorta, were analyzed in 21 patients with New York Heart Association class III heart failure and left bundle branch block (mean ejection fraction of 24 ± 6%), scheduled for CRT-D implantation under general anesthesia. We compared the hemodynamic effects of RV apical (A), RV septal (B), and biventricular pacing using the worst (lowest SVI; C) and best (highest SVI; D) coronary sinus lead positions. Mean arterial pressure, SVI, and dp/dt max did not differ significantly between RV apical and septal pacing. Dp/dt max and SVI increased significantly during biventricular pacing (dp/dt max: B, 588 ± 160 mmHg/s; C, 651 ± 218 mmHg/s, P = 0.03 vs B; D, 690 ± 220 mmHg/s, P = 0.02 vs C; SVI: B, 33.6 ± 5.5 mL/m², C, 34.8 ± 6.1 mL/m², P = 0.08 vs B, D 36.0 ± 6.0 mL/m², P < 0.001 vs C). The best hemodynamic response was associated with lateral or inferior lead positions in 15 patients. Other LV lead positions were most effective in six patients. The optimal LV lead position varies significantly among patients and should be individually determined during CRT-D implantation. The impact of the RV stimulation site in patients with intraventricular conduction delay, undergoing CRT-D implantation, has to be investigated in further studies.

Functional and structural comparison of visual lateralization in birds – similar but still different

PubMed Central

Ströckens, Felix

2014-01-01

Vertebrate brains display physiological and anatomical left-right differences, which are related to hemispheric dominances for specific functions. Functional lateralizations likely rely on structural left-right differences in intra- and interhemispheric connectivity patterns that develop in tight gene-environment interactions. The visual systems of chickens and pigeons show that asymmetrical light stimulation during ontogeny induces a dominance of the left hemisphere for visuomotor control that is paralleled by projection asymmetries within the ascending visual pathways. But structural asymmetries vary essentially between both species concerning the affected pathway (thalamo- vs. tectofugal system), constancy of effects (transient vs. permanent), and the hemisphere receiving stronger bilateral input (right vs. left). These discrepancies suggest that at least two aspects of visual processes are influenced by asymmetric light stimulation: (1) visuomotor dominance develops within the ontogenetically stronger stimulated hemisphere but not necessarily in the one receiving stronger bottom-up input. As a secondary consequence of asymmetrical light experience, lateralized top-down mechanisms play a critical role in the emergence of hemispheric dominance. (2) Ontogenetic light experiences may affect the dominant use of left- and right-hemispheric strategies. Evidences from social and spatial cognition tasks indicate that chickens rely more on a right-hemispheric global strategy whereas pigeons display a dominance of the left hemisphere. Thus, behavioral asymmetries are linked to a stronger bilateral input to the right hemisphere in chickens but to the left one in pigeons. The degree of bilateral visual input may determine the dominant visual processing strategy when redundant encoding is possible. This analysis supports that environmental stimulation affects the balance between hemispheric-specific processing by lateralized interactions of bottom-up and top-down systems. PMID:24723898

Differential impact of continuous theta-burst stimulation over left and right DLPFC on planning.

PubMed

Kaller, Christoph P; Heinze, Katharina; Frenkel, Annekathrein; Läppchen, Claus H; Unterrainer, Josef M; Weiller, Cornelius; Lange, Rüdiger; Rahm, Benjamin

2013-01-01

Most neuroimaging studies on planning report bilateral activations of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Recently, these concurrent activations of left and right dlPFC have been shown to double dissociate with different cognitive demands imposed by the planning task: Higher demands on the extraction of task-relevant information led to stronger activation in left dlPFC, whereas higher demands on the integration of interdependent information into a coherent action sequence entailed stronger activation of right dlPFC. Here, we used continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) to investigate the supposed causal structure-function mapping underlying this double dissociation. Two groups of healthy subjects (left-lateralized stimulation, n = 26; right-lateralized stimulation, n = 26) were tested within-subject on a variant of the Tower of London task following either real cTBS over dlPFC or sham stimulation over posterior parietal cortex. Results revealed that, irrespective of specific task demands, cTBS over left and right dlPFC was associated with a global decrease and increase, respectively, in initial planning times compared to sham stimulation. Moreover, no interaction between task demands and stimulation type (real vs. sham) and/or stimulation side (left vs. right hemisphere) were found. Together, against expectations from previous neuroimaging data, lateralized cTBS did not lead to planning-parameter specific changes in performance, but instead revealed a global asymmetric pattern of faster versus slower task processing after left versus right cTBS. This global asymmetry in the absence of any task-parameter specific impact of cTBS suggests that different levels of information processing may span colocalized, but independent axes of functional lateralization in the dlPFC. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Reorganization of the cerebro-cerebellar network of language production in patients with congenital left-hemispheric brain lesions.

PubMed

Lidzba, K; Wilke, M; Staudt, M; Krägeloh-Mann, I; Grodd, W

2008-09-01

Patients with congenital lesions of the left cerebral hemisphere may reorganize language functions into the right hemisphere. In these patients, language production is represented homotopically to the left-hemispheric language areas. We studied cerebellar activation in five patients with congenital lesions of the left cerebral hemisphere to assess if the language network is reorganized completely in these patients, i.e. including also cerebellar language functions. As compared to a group of controls matched for age, sex, and verbal IQ, the patients recruited an area not in the right but in the left cerebellar hemisphere. The extent of laterality of the cerebellar activation correlated significantly with the laterality of the frontal activation. We suggest that the developing brain reacts to early focal lesions in the left hemisphere with a mirror-image organization of the entire cerebro-cerebellar network engaged in speech production.

Ureaplasma parvum causing life-threatening disease in a susceptible patient.

PubMed

Korytny, Alexander; Nasser, Roni; Geffen, Yuval; Friedman, Tom; Paul, Mical; Ghanem-Zoubi, Nesrin

2017-08-16

A 56-year-old man with lymphoma developed orchitis followed by septic arthritis of his right glenohumeral joint. Synovial fluid cultures were negative but PCR amplification test was positive for Ureaplasmaparvum. The patient was treated with doxycycline. Two and a half years later, the patient presented with shortness of breath and grade III/IV diastolic murmur on auscultation. Echocardiography revealed severely dilated left heart chambers, severe aortic regurgitation and several mobile masses on the aortic valve cusps suspected to be vegetations. He underwent valve replacement; valve tissue culture was negative but the 16S rRNA gene amplification test was positive for U. parvum He was treated again with doxycycline. In an outpatient follow-up 1 year and 3 months later, the patient was doing well. Repeated echocardiography showed normal aortic prosthesis function. © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Social environment elicits lateralized behaviors in gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Quaresmini, Caterina; Forrester, Gillian S; Spiezio, Caterina; Vallortigara, Giorgio

2014-08-01

The influence of the social environment on lateralized behaviors has now been investigated across a wide variety of animal species. New evidence suggests that the social environment can modulate behavior. Currently, there is a paucity of data relating to how primates navigate their environmental space, and investigations that consider the naturalistic context of the individual are few and fragmented. Moreover, there are competing theories about whether only the right or rather both cerebral hemispheres are involved in the processing of social stimuli, especially in emotion processing. Here we provide the first report of lateralized social behaviors elicited by great apes. We employed a continuous focal animal sampling method to record the spontaneous interactions of a captive zoo-living colony of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and a biological family group of peer-reared western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). We specifically focused on which side of the body (i.e., front, rear, left, right) the focal individual preferred to keep conspecifics. Utilizing a newly developed quantitative corpus-coding scheme, analysis revealed both chimpanzees and gorillas demonstrated a significant group-level preference for focal individuals to keep conspecifics positioned to the front of them compared with behind them. More interestingly, both groups also manifested a population-level bias to keep conspecifics on their left side compared with their right side. Our findings suggest a social processing dominance of the right hemisphere for context-specific social environments. Results are discussed in light of the evolutionary adaptive value of social stimulus as a triggering factor for the manifestation of group-level lateralized behaviors.

Attention that covers letters is necessary for the left-lateralization of an early print-tuned ERP in Japanese hiragana.

PubMed

Okumura, Yasuko; Kasai, Tetsuko; Murohashi, Harumitsu

2015-03-01

Extensive experience with reading develops expertise in acquiring information from print, and this is reflected in specific enhancement of the left-lateralized N170 component in event-related potentials. The N170 is generally considered to reflect visual/orthographic processing; while modulations of its left-lateralization related to phonological processes have also been indicated. However, in our previous study, N170-like response to Hiragana strings lacked left-lateralization when the stimuli were completely task-irrelevant in rapid-presentation sequences [Okumura et al. (2014). Early print-tuned ERP response with minimal involvement of linguistic processing in Japanese Hiragana strings. Neuroreport 25, 410-414]. This suggests that, despite the highly transparent character-to-syllable correspondence, the phonological mapping of Hiragana strings requires some kind of attention toward print. To verify this notion, the present study examined ERPs under the same experimental condition as in the previous study, except that the task required attention to a stimulus attribute (i.e., color). As a result, Hiragana words and nonwords elicited left-lateralized negative deflection in the occipito-temporal region during 130-170ms post-stimulus in comparison to symbol strings, but only when the print had a narrow intercharacter spacing. Moreover, we observed the enhancement of very early occipital ERP in response to words during 70-100ms. The present results suggest that visual attention plays a role in early print processing, which may contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie expert as well as impaired reading. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Unusual developmental pattern of brain lateralization in young boys with autism spectrum disorder: Power analysis with child-sized magnetoencephalography.

PubMed

Hiraishi, Hirotoshi; Kikuchi, Mitsuru; Yoshimura, Yuko; Kitagawa, Sachiko; Hasegawa, Chiaki; Munesue, Toshio; Takesaki, Natsumi; Ono, Yasuki; Takahashi, Tsutomu; Suzuki, Michio; Higashida, Haruhiro; Asada, Minoru; Minabe, Yoshio

2015-03-01

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often described as comprising an unusual brain growth pattern and aberrant brain lateralization. Although it is important to study the pathophysiology of the developing ASD cortex, examples of physiological brain lateralization in young children with ASD have yet to be well examined. Thirty-eight boys with ASD (aged 3-7 years) and 38 typically developing (TD) boys (aged 3-8 years) concentrated on video programs and their brain activities were measured non-invasively. We employed a customized child-sized magnetoencephalography system in which the sensors were located as close to the brain as possible for optimal recording in young children. To produce a credible laterality index of the brain oscillations, we defined two clusters of sensors corresponding to the right and left hemispheres. We focused on the laterality index ([left - right]/[left+right]) of the relative power band in seven frequency bands. The TD group displayed significantly rightward lateralized brain oscillations in the theta-1 frequency bands compared to the ASD group. This is the first study to demonstrate unusual brain lateralization of brain oscillations measured by magnetoencephalography in young children with ASD. © 2014 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2014 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

The Blue Marble 43 Years Later

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2017-05-16

article title:  The Blue Marble 43 Years Later View larger image ... points over more than four decades apart. The iconic "Blue Marble" view on the left was taken 43 years ago on December 7, 1972 from ... points over more than four decades apart. The iconic "Blue Marble" view on the left was taken 43 years ago on December 7, 1972 from ...

Visual Similarity of Words Alone Can Modulate Hemispheric Lateralization in Visual Word Recognition: Evidence from Modeling Chinese Character Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsiao, Janet H.; Cheung, Kit

2016-01-01

In Chinese orthography, the most common character structure consists of a semantic radical on the left and a phonetic radical on the right (SP characters); the minority, opposite arrangement also exists (PS characters). Recent studies showed that SP character processing is more left hemisphere (LH) lateralized than PS character processing.…

An ERP investigation of the co-development of hemispheric lateralization of face and word recognition

PubMed Central

Dundas, Eva M.; Plaut, David C.; Behrmann, Marlene

2014-01-01

The adult human brain would appear to have specialized and independent neural systems for the visual processing of words and faces. Extensive evidence has demonstrated greater selectivity for written words in the left over right hemisphere, and, conversely, greater selectivity for faces in the right over left hemisphere. This study examines the emergence of these complementary neural profiles, as well as the possible relationship between them. Using behavioral and neurophysiological measures, in adults, we observed the standard finding of greater accuracy and a larger N170 ERP component in the left over right hemisphere for words, and conversely, greater accuracy and a larger N170 in the right over the left hemisphere for faces. We also found that, although children aged 7-12 years revealed the adult hemispheric pattern for words, they showed neither a behavioral nor a neural hemispheric superiority for faces. Of particular interest, the magnitude of their N170 for faces in the right hemisphere was related to that of the N170 for words in their left hemisphere. These findings suggest that the hemispheric organization of face recognition and of word recognition do not develop independently, and that word lateralization may precede and drive later face lateralization. A theoretical account for the findings, in which competition for visual representations unfolds over the course of development, is discussed. PMID:24933662

An ERP investigation of the co-development of hemispheric lateralization of face and word recognition.

PubMed

Dundas, Eva M; Plaut, David C; Behrmann, Marlene

2014-08-01

The adult human brain would appear to have specialized and independent neural systems for the visual processing of words and faces. Extensive evidence has demonstrated greater selectivity for written words in the left over right hemisphere, and, conversely, greater selectivity for faces in the right over left hemisphere. This study examines the emergence of these complementary neural profiles, as well as the possible relationship between them. Using behavioral and neurophysiological measures, in adults, we observed the standard finding of greater accuracy and a larger N170 ERP component in the left over right hemisphere for words, and conversely, greater accuracy and a larger N170 in the right over the left hemisphere for faces. We also found that although children aged 7-12 years revealed the adult hemispheric pattern for words, they showed neither a behavioral nor a neural hemispheric superiority for faces. Of particular interest, the magnitude of their N170 for faces in the right hemisphere was related to that of the N170 for words in their left hemisphere. These findings suggest that the hemispheric organization of face recognition and of word recognition does not develop independently, and that word lateralization may precede and drive later face lateralization. A theoretical account for the findings, in which competition for visual representations unfolds over the course of development, is discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selective hypertrophy of the lobus caudatus as a novel approach enabling extended right hepatectomy in the presence of a non-perfused left lateral liver lobe.

PubMed

Atanasov, Georgi; Schmelzle, Moritz; Thelen, Armin; Wiltberger, Georg; Hau, Hans-Michael; Krenzien, Felix; Petersen, Tim-Ole; Moche, Michael; Jonas, Sven

2014-08-01

Portal vein embolization (PVE) is a well-established technique to enhance functional hepatic reserves of segments II and III before curative extended right hepatectomy for tumors of the right liver lobe. However, an adequate hepatopetal flow of the left lateral portal vein branches is required for a sufficient PVE-associated hypertrophy. Here, we report a 65-year old patient suffering from a locally advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma in the right liver lobe and segment IV. A curative extended right hepatectomy after preoperative PVE of liver segments IV-VIII was initially impossible because of partial thrombosis of the left lateral portal vein branches resulting in an ischemic-type atrophy of segments II and III. However, due to a massive hypertrophy of the caudate lobe following PVE of liver segments IV-VIII, subsequent extended right hepatectomy with intraoperative thrombectomy of segments II and III was made possible. To our knowledge this is the first case in which an extended right hepatectomy for a liver malignancy, in the presence of atrophic left lateral section, was made possible by a massive PVE-associated hypertrophy of the caudate lobe.

Lateralized ultradian rhythms: evidence from tactile discrimination of either hand.

PubMed

Meier-Koll, A

1998-12-01

Endogenous ultradian rhythms with periods of one or a few hours affect not only on physiological and behavioural functions but also perception and cognition. In particular, lateralized ultradian rhythms which seem to operate separately in the right and left hemispheres of the brain can be monitored by testing the tactile discrimination of the contralateral hand. The present paper is based on two subsequent studies: First, ultradian rhythms in tactile discrimination of either hand were examined in German subjects under laboratory conditions. Considerably different ultradian periods of right and left-handed tactile error rate were found in men but not in women. In a second study, a group of Kenyan Masai shepherds were tested while the subjects were leading herds on daily feeding routes through a savanna habitat. They showed ultradian periods of about 2 hours in tactile discrimination of either hand. Since the right hemisphere is specialized for visuospatial, the left for verbal processing lateralized ultradian rhythms may serve for a long-scale timing of neural processes underlying spatial and semantic mapping of the environment. Sex difference in German subjects and lateral differences found in left-handed (right-hemispheric) ultradian rhythms of German and Masai subjects are discussed from this point of view.

Lateralization of noise-burst trains based on onset and ongoing interaural delays.

PubMed

Freyman, Richard L; Balakrishnan, Uma; Zurek, Patrick M

2010-07-01

The lateralization of 250-ms trains of brief noise bursts was measured using an acoustic pointing technique. Stimuli were designed to assess the contribution of the interaural time delay (ITD) of the onset binaural burst relative to that of the ITDs in the ongoing part of the train. Lateralization was measured by listeners' adjustments of the ITD of a pointer stimulus, a 50-ms burst of noise, to match the lateral position of the target train. Results confirmed previous reports of lateralization dominance by the onset burst under conditions in which the train is composed of frozen tokens and the ongoing part contains multiple ambiguous interaural delays. In contrast, lateralization of ongoing trains in which fresh noise tokens were used for each set of two alternating (left-leading/right-leading) binaural pairs followed the ITD of the first pair in each set, regardless of the ITD of the onset burst of the entire stimulus and even when the onset burst was removed by gradual gating. This clear lateralization of a long-duration stimulus with ambiguous interaural delay cues suggests precedence mechanisms that involve not only the interaural cues at the beginning of a sound, but also the pattern of cues within an ongoing sound.

Lumbar artery perforators: an anatomical study based on computed tomographic angiography imaging.

PubMed

Sommeling, Casper Emile; Colebunders, Britt; Pardon, Heleen E; Stillaert, Filip B; Blondeel, Phillip N; van Landuyt, Koenraad

2017-08-01

The free lumbar artery perforator flap has recently been introduced as a potentially valuable option for autologous breast reconstruction in a subset of patients. Up to date, few anatomical studies, exploring the lumbar region as a donor site for perforator- based flaps, have been conducted. An anatomical study of the position of the dominant lumbar artery perforator was performed, using the preoperative computed tomographic angiography images of 24 autologous breast reconstruction patients. In total, 61 dominant perforators were determined, 28 on the left and 33 on the right side. A radiologist defined the position of the perforator as coordinates in an xy-grid. Dominant perforators were shown to originate from the lumbar arteries at the level of lumbar vertebrae three or four. Remarkably, approximately 85% of these lumbar artery perforators enter the skin at 7-10 cm lateral from the midline (mean left 8.6 cm, right 8.2 cm). This study concludes a rather constant position of the dominant perforator. Therefore, preoperative-computed tomographic angiography is not always essential to find this perforator and Doppler ultrasound could be considered as an alternative, thereby carefully assessing all advantages and disadvantages inherent to either of these imaging methods.

Effect of a halo-type structure on neck muscle activation of an open-cockpit race car driver training under qualifying conditions.

PubMed

Rosalie, Simon M; Malone, James M

2018-06-07

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile recently mandated the use of the halo frontal cockpit protection system to mitigate the risk of impact to the driver's head. Here we describe the effect of a halo-type structure on the neck muscle activity of one of the authors, who is a national-level amateur racing driver, during a full qualifying session. We found that the workload of sternocleidomastoid increased and the workload of cervical erector spinae decreased with the halo fitted which is indicative of a forward head position. Left sternocleidomastoid and right cervical erector spinae fatigued more rapidly; whereas, left cervical erector spinae fatigued more slowly. There was no change in the rate of fatigue of right sternocleidomastoid. In combination with a forward head position, this suggests an increase in lateral flexion during head rotation which may affect accuracy of navigation. Thus, drivers may need to be trained to adapt to the halo to mitigate the effects on head position and movement. © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Lateral eye-movement responses to visual stimuli.

PubMed

Wilbur, M P; Roberts-Wilbur, J

1985-08-01

The association of left lateral eye-movement with emotionality or arousal of affect and of right lateral eye-movement with cognitive/interpretive operations and functions was investigated. Participants were junior and senior students enrolled in an undergraduate course in developmental psychology. There were 37 women and 13 men, ranging from 19 to 45 yr. of age. Using videotaped lateral eye-movements of 50 participants' responses to 15 visually presented stimuli (precategorized as neutral, emotional, or intellectual), content and statistical analyses supported the association between left lateral eye-movement and emotional arousal and between right lateral eye-movement and cognitive functions. Precategorized visual stimuli included items such as a ball (neutral), gun (emotional), and calculator (intellectual). The findings are congruent with existing lateral eye-movement literature and also are additive by using visual stimuli that do not require the explicit response or implicit processing of verbal questioning.

Polysplenia syndrome with duodenal and pancreatic dysplasia in a Holstein calf: a case report.

PubMed

Kondoh, Daisuke; Kawano, Tomomi; Kikuchi, Tomoaki; Hatate, Kaoru; Watanabe, Kenichi; Sasaki, Motoki; Yamagishi, Norio; Inokuma, Hisashi; Kitamura, Nobuo

2017-09-29

Laterality disorders of the abdominal organs include situs inversus totalis that mirrors the arrangements of all internal organs and heterotaxy syndrome (situs ambiguus) in which the thoracic or abdominal organs are abnormally arranged. Heterotaxy is often accompanied by multiple congenital malformations, and it generally comprises asplenia and polysplenia syndromes. To our knowledge, polysplenia syndrome has been reported in only three cattle, and computerized tomographic (CT) images of these animals were not obtained. A six-month-old Holstein heifer had ruminal tympani and right abdominal distension. CT imaging showed that the rumen occupied the right side of the abdominal cavity, the omasum and abomasum occupied the left ventral side and the liver was positioned on the left. The colon and cecum were located at the left dorsum of the cavity, and the left kidney was located more cranially than the right. Postmortem findings revealed two spleens attached to the rumen. Significantly, the duodenum was too short to be divided into segments, except the cranial and descending parts, or flexures, except the cranial flexure, and the pancreas, which lacked a left lobe, was covered with mesojejunum. The liver comprised a relatively large right lobe and a small left lobe without quadrate and caudate lobes. The caudal vena cava that connected to the left azygous vein passed irregularly through the aortic hiatus of the diaphragm, and the common hepatic vein without the caudal vena cava passed through the caval foramen. Although the lungs and heart were morphologically normal, the right atrium received three major systemic veins. Polysplenia syndrome was diagnosed based on the CT and postmortem findings. We defined the positions of the abdominal organs and morphological abnormalities in various organs of a calf with polysplenia syndrome based on CT and postmortem findings. These findings will improve understanding of the malpositioning and malformations that can occur in the organs of cattle with polysplenia syndrome.

Cervix regression and motion during the course of external beam chemoradiation for cervical cancer.

PubMed

Beadle, Beth M; Jhingran, Anuja; Salehpour, Mohammad; Sam, Marianne; Iyer, Revathy B; Eifel, Patricia J

2009-01-01

To evaluate the magnitude of cervix regression and motion during external beam chemoradiation for cervical cancer. Sixteen patients with cervical cancer underwent computed tomography scanning before, weekly during, and after conventional chemoradiation. Cervix volumes were calculated to determine the extent of cervix regression. Changes in the center of mass and perimeter of the cervix between scans were used to determine the magnitude of cervix motion. Maximum cervix position changes were calculated for each patient, and mean maximum changes were calculated for the group. Mean cervical volumes before and after 45 Gy of external beam irradiation were 97.0 and 31.9 cc, respectively; mean volume reduction was 62.3%. Mean maximum changes in the center of mass of the cervix were 2.1, 1.6, and 0.82 cm in the superior-inferior, anterior-posterior, and right-left lateral dimensions, respectively. Mean maximum changes in the perimeter of the cervix were 2.3 and 1.3 cm in the superior and inferior, 1.7 and 1.8 cm in the anterior and posterior, and 0.76 and 0.94 cm in the right and left lateral directions, respectively. Cervix regression and internal organ motion contribute to marked interfraction variations in the intrapelvic position of the cervical target in patients receiving chemoradiation for cervical cancer. Failure to take these variations into account during the application of highly conformal external beam radiation techniques poses a theoretical risk of underdosing the target or overdosing adjacent critical structures.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beadle, Beth M.; Jhingran, Anuja; Salehpour, Mohammad

Purpose: To evaluate the magnitude of cervix regression and motion during external beam chemoradiation for cervical cancer. Methods and Materials: Sixteen patients with cervical cancer underwent computed tomography scanning before, weekly during, and after conventional chemoradiation. Cervix volumes were calculated to determine the extent of cervix regression. Changes in the center of mass and perimeter of the cervix between scans were used to determine the magnitude of cervix motion. Maximum cervix position changes were calculated for each patient, and mean maximum changes were calculated for the group. Results: Mean cervical volumes before and after 45 Gy of external beam irradiationmore » were 97.0 and 31.9 cc, respectively; mean volume reduction was 62.3%. Mean maximum changes in the center of mass of the cervix were 2.1, 1.6, and 0.82 cm in the superior-inferior, anterior-posterior, and right-left lateral dimensions, respectively. Mean maximum changes in the perimeter of the cervix were 2.3 and 1.3 cm in the superior and inferior, 1.7 and 1.8 cm in the anterior and posterior, and 0.76 and 0.94 cm in the right and left lateral directions, respectively. Conclusions: Cervix regression and internal organ motion contribute to marked interfraction variations in the intrapelvic position of the cervical target in patients receiving chemoradiation for cervical cancer. Failure to take these variations into account during the application of highly conformal external beam radiation techniques poses a theoretical risk of underdosing the target or overdosing adjacent critical structures.« less

PIERCE1 is critical for specification of left-right asymmetry in mice.

PubMed

Sung, Young Hoon; Baek, In-Jeoung; Kim, Yong Hwan; Gho, Yong Song; Oh, S Paul; Lee, Young Jae; Lee, Han-Woong

2016-06-16

The specification of left-right asymmetry of the visceral organs is precisely regulated. The earliest breakage of left-right symmetry occurs as the result of leftward flow generated by asymmetric beating of nodal cilia, which eventually induces asymmetric Nodal/Lefty/Pitx2 expression on the left side of the lateral plate mesoderm. PIERCE1 has been identified as a p53 target gene involved in the DNA damage response. In this study, we found that Pierce1-null mice exhibit severe laterality defects, including situs inversus totalis and heterotaxy with randomized situs and left and right isomerisms. The spectrum of laterality defects was closely correlated with randomized expression of Nodal and its downstream genes, Lefty1/2 and Pitx2. The phenotype of Pierce1-null mice most closely resembled that of mutant mice with impaired ciliogenesis and/or ciliary motility of the node. We also found the loss of asymmetric expression of Cerl2, the earliest flow-responding gene in the node of Pierce1-null embryos. The results suggest that Pierce1-null embryos have defects in generating a symmetry breaking signal including leftward nodal flow. This is the first report implicating a role for PIERCE1 in the symmetry-breaking step of left-right asymmetry specification.

Lateral comparisons using Fishman's skeletal maturation assessment.

PubMed

Safer, Abraham N; Homel, Peter; Chung, David D

2015-05-01

To assess lateral differences between ossification events and stages of bone development in the hands and wrists utilizing Fishman's skeletal maturation indicators (SMIs). The skeletal ages of 125 subjects, aged 8 to 20 years, were determined with left and right hand-wrist radiographs using Fishman's SMI assessment. Each subject was also given the Edinburgh Handedness Questionnaire to assess handedness. The skeletal ages of both hand-wrist radiographs were analyzed against each other, handedness, chronologic age, and gender. There were no significant differences overall in right and left SMI scores (P  =  .70); 79% of all patients showed no difference in right and left SMI scores, regardless of handedness, gender, or age. However, when patients were categorized based on clinical levels of SMI score for the right hand-wrist, there was a significant difference (P  =  .01) between the SMI 1-3 group and the SMI 11 group. Subjects in the SMI 1-3 group were more likely to show a left > right SMI score, while subjects in the SMI 11 group were likely to show a right > left SMI score. Although no significant overall lateral differences in SMI scores were noted, it may be advisable to obtain a left hand-wrist radiograph and/or additional diagnostic information to estimate completion of growth in young surgical patients.

SU-F-T-323: A Post-Mastectomy Radiation Therapy Dose Distribution Study Using Nanodots and Films

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Qian, X; Vaidya, K; Puckett, L

Purpose: In post-mastectomy radiation therapy (RT), skin dose must be accurately estimated to assess skin reactions such as erythema, desquamation and necrosis. Planning systems cannot always provide accurate dosimetry for target volumes distal to skin. Therefore, in-vivo dosimetry is necessary. A female anthropomorphic phantom was used with optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters (nanoDots) to measure dose to chest wall skin. In addition, EBT2 films was employed to measure dose to left lung and heart in post-mastectomy RT. Methods: Films and nanoDots were calibrated under full buildup conditions at 100cm SAD for 6MV photons. Five pieces of films were placed between slabsmore » of Rando phantom to assess dose to left lung and heart. Two layers of 0.5cm thick bolus were used to cover the whole left chest. Six pairs of nanoDots were placed at medical and lateral aspects on the bolus surface, between the 0.5cm bolus layers, and under the bolus. Three control nanoDots were placed on chest wall to quantify imaging dose. The phantom was CT scanned with all dosimeters in place, and treatment planning was performed with tangential fields (200cGy). All dosimeters were contoured on CT and dose was extracted. NanoDots were read using nanoDot reader and films were scanned using film scanner. The measured and calculated doses were tabulated. Results: Dose to 12 nanoDots were evaluated. Dose variance for surface nanoDots were +3.8%, +2.7%, −5% and −9.8%. Those at lateral positions, with greater beam obliquity had larger variance than the medial positions. A similar trend was observed for other nanoDots (Table1). Point doses from films for heart and the left lung were 112.7cGy and 108.7cGy, with +10.2% and +9.04% deviation from calculated values, respectively. Conclusion: Dosimetry provided by the advanced planning system was verified using NanoDots and films. Both nanoDots and films provided good estimation of dose distribution in post-mastectomy RT.« less

Laterality of basic auditory perception.

PubMed

Sininger, Yvonne S; Bhatara, Anjali

2012-01-01

Laterality (left-right ear differences) of auditory processing was assessed using basic auditory skills: (1) gap detection, (2) frequency discrimination, and (3) intensity discrimination. Stimuli included tones (500, 1000, and 4000 Hz) and wide-band noise presented monaurally to each ear of typical adult listeners. The hypothesis tested was that processing of tonal stimuli would be enhanced by left ear (LE) stimulation and noise by right ear (RE) presentations. To investigate the limits of laterality by (1) spectral width, a narrow-band noise (NBN) of 450-Hz bandwidth was evaluated using intensity discrimination, and (2) stimulus duration, 200, 500, and 1000 ms duration tones were evaluated using frequency discrimination. A left ear advantage (LEA) was demonstrated with tonal stimuli in all experiments, but an expected REA for noise stimuli was not found. The NBN stimulus demonstrated no LEA and was characterised as a noise. No change in laterality was found with changes in stimulus durations. The LEA for tonal stimuli is felt to be due to more direct connections between the left ear and the right auditory cortex, which has been shown to be primary for spectral analysis and tonal processing. The lack of a REA for noise stimuli is unexplained. Sex differences in laterality for noise stimuli were noted but were not statistically significant. This study did establish a subtle but clear pattern of LEA for processing of tonal stimuli.

Laterality of Basic Auditory Perception

PubMed Central

Sininger, Yvonne S.; Bhatara, Anjali

2010-01-01

Laterality (left-right ear differences) of auditory processing was assessed using basic auditory skills: 1) gap detection 2) frequency discrimination and 3) intensity discrimination. Stimuli included tones (500, 1000 and 4000 Hz) and wide-band noise presented monaurally to each ear of typical adult listeners. The hypothesis tested was: processing of tonal stimuli would be enhanced by left ear (LE) stimulation and noise by right ear (RE) presentations. To investigate the limits of laterality by 1) spectral width, a narrow band noise (NBN) of 450 Hz bandwidth was evaluated using intensity discrimination and 2) stimulus duration, 200, 500 and 1000 ms duration tones were evaluated using frequency discrimination. Results A left ear advantage (LEA) was demonstrated with tonal stimuli in all experiments but an expected REA for noise stimuli was not found. The NBN stimulus demonstrated no LEA and was characterized as a noise. No change in laterality was found with changes in stimulus durations. The LEA for tonal stimuli is felt to be due to more direct connections between the left ear and the right auditory cortex which has been shown to be primary for spectral analysis and tonal processing. The lack of a REA for noise stimuli is unexplained. Sex differences in laterality for noise stimuli were noted but were not statistically significant. This study did establish a subtle but clear pattern of LEA for processing of tonal stimuli. PMID:22385138

Impairments in proverb interpretation following focal frontal lobe lesions☆

PubMed Central

Murphy, Patrick; Shallice, Tim; Robinson, Gail; MacPherson, Sarah E.; Turner, Martha; Woollett, Katherine; Bozzali, Marco; Cipolotti, Lisa

2013-01-01

The proverb interpretation task (PIT) is often used in clinical settings to evaluate frontal “executive” dysfunction. However, only a relatively small number of studies have investigated the relationship between frontal lobe lesions and performance on the PIT. We compared 52 patients with unselected focal frontal lobe lesions with 52 closely matched healthy controls on a proverb interpretation task. Participants also completed a battery of neuropsychological tests, including a fluid intelligence task (Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices). Lesions were firstly analysed according to a standard left/right sub-division. Secondly, a finer-grained analysis compared the performance of patients with medial, left lateral and right lateral lesions with healthy controls. Thirdly, a contrast of specific frontal subgroups compared the performance of patients with medial lesions with patients with lateral frontal lesions. The results showed that patients with left frontal lesions were significantly impaired on the PIT, while in patients with right frontal lesions the impairments approached significance. Medial frontal patients were the only frontal subgroup impaired on the PIT, relative to healthy controls and lateral frontal patients. Interestingly, an error analysis indicated that a significantly higher number of concrete responses were found in the left lateral subgroup compared to healthy controls. We found no correlation between scores on the PIT and on the fluid intelligence task. Overall our results suggest that specific regions of the frontal lobes contribute to the performance on the PIT. PMID:23850600

Efficiency of timing delays and electrode positions in optimization of biventricular pacing: a simulation study.

PubMed

Miri, Raz; Graf, Iulia M; Dössel, Olaf

2009-11-01

Electrode positions and timing delays influence the efficacy of biventricular pacing (BVP). Accordingly, this study focuses on BVP optimization, using a detailed 3-D electrophysiological model of the human heart, which is adapted to patient-specific anatomy and pathophysiology. The research is effectuated on ten heart models with left bundle branch block and myocardial infarction derived from magnetic resonance and computed tomography data. Cardiac electrical activity is simulated with the ten Tusscher cell model and adaptive cellular automaton at physiological and pathological conduction levels. The optimization methods are based on a comparison between the electrical response of the healthy and diseased heart models, measured in terms of root mean square error (E(RMS)) of the excitation front and the QRS duration error (E(QRS)). Intra- and intermethod associations of the pacing electrodes and timing delays variables were analyzed with statistical methods, i.e., t -test for dependent data, one-way analysis of variance for electrode pairs, and Pearson model for equivalent parameters from the two optimization methods. The results indicate that lateral the left ventricle and the upper or middle septal area are frequently (60% of cases) the optimal positions of the left and right electrodes, respectively. Statistical analysis proves that the two optimization methods are in good agreement. In conclusion, a noninvasive preoperative BVP optimization strategy based on computer simulations can be used to identify the most beneficial patient-specific electrode configuration and timing delays.

The influence of officer equipment and protection on short sprinting performance.

PubMed

Lewinski, William J; Dysterheft, Jennifer L; Dicks, Nathan D; Pettitt, Robert W

2015-03-01

As advances in protective equipment are made, it has been observed that the weight law enforcement officers must carry every day is greatly increasing. Many investigations have noted the health risks of these increases, yet none have looked at its effects on officer mobility. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the influence of both the weight of officer safety equipment, as well as a lateral focal point (FP), on the stride length, stride velocity, and acceleration of the first six strides of a short sprint. Twenty male law enforcement students performed two maximal effort sprint trials, in the participating college's gymnasium, from each of four starting positions: forwards (control position), backwards, 90° left, and 90° right. Subjects placed in the FP group (n = 9) were required to maintain focus on lateral FP during the 90° left and 90° right trials, and a forwards FP during the backwards trials. On a second testing date, subjects repeated the sprint tests while wearing a 9.07 kg weight belt, simulating officer equipment and protective gear. The belt averaged 11.47 ± 1.64% of subject body mass. A significant main effect of weight belt trials was found (F = 20.494, p < 0.01), in which significant decreases were found for velocity and acceleration. No other significant effects were found as a result of starting position or focal point and no significant interactions were found between independent variables. Conclusively, the results of this study show the increasing weights of duty gear and protective equipment have detrimental effects on officer velocity and acceleration, impeding their mobility, which may be dangerous in use of force or threatening situations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

A comparison of brain activity associated with language production in brain tumor patients with left and right sided language laterality.

PubMed

Jansma, J M; Ramsey, N; Rutten, G J

2015-12-01

Language dominance is an important factor for clinical decision making in brain tumor surgery. Functional MRI can provide detailed information about the organization of language in the brain. One often used measure derived from fMRI data is the laterality index (LI). The LI is typically based on the ratio between left and right brain activity in a specific region associated with language. Nearly all fMRI language studies show language-related activity in both hemispheres, and as a result the LI shows a large range of values. The clinical significance of the variation in language laterality as measured with the LI is still under debate. In this study, we tested two hypotheses in relation to the LI, measured in Broca's region, and it's right hemisphere homologue: 1: the level of activity in Broca's and it's right hemisphere homologue is mirrored for subjects with an equal but opposite LI; 2: the whole brain language activation pattern differs between subjects with an equal but opposite LI. One hundred sixty-three glioma and meningioma patients performed a verb generation task as part of a standard clinical protocol. We calculated the LI in the pars orbitalis, pars triangularis and pars opercularis of the left inferior frontal gyrus, referred to as Broca's region from here on. In our database, 21 patients showed right lateralized activity, with a moderate average level (-0.32). A second group of 21 patients was selected from the remaining group, for equal but opposite LI (0.32). We compared the level and distribution of activity associated with language production in the left and right hemisphere in these two groups. Patients with left sided laterality showed a significantly higher level of activity in Broca's region than the patients with right sided laterality. However, both groups showed no difference in level of activity in Broca's homologue region in the right hemisphere. Also, we did not see any difference in the pattern of activity between patients with left-sided and right-sided laterality, outside of the regions used to calculate the LI. Our results indicate that an equal but opposite moderate LI is not associated with mirrored left and right hemisphere levels of activity in Broca's region and its right hemisphere homologue, nor in any other region of the brain. These results suggest that the LI as measured with fMRI should be interpreted with caution as a measure of organization of language in the brain. For moderate LI values based on Broca's region, it appears that variation in the LI value is predominantly a result of variation in the level of activity in the left hemisphere. Our results suggest that several factors may contribute to variation in the level of laterality, that may be unrelated to hemispheric dominance, such as task performance as well as efficiency of language processing, by affecting the level of activity in Broca's region.

Two distinct forms of functional lateralization in the human brain

PubMed Central

Gotts, Stephen J.; Jo, Hang Joon; Wallace, Gregory L.; Saad, Ziad S.; Cox, Robert W.; Martin, Alex

2013-01-01

The hemispheric lateralization of certain faculties in the human brain has long been held to be beneficial for functioning. However, quantitative relationships between the degree of lateralization in particular brain regions and the level of functioning have yet to be established. Here we demonstrate that two distinct forms of functional lateralization are present in the left vs. the right cerebral hemisphere, with the left hemisphere showing a preference to interact more exclusively with itself, particularly for cortical regions involved in language and fine motor coordination. In contrast, right-hemisphere cortical regions involved in visuospatial and attentional processing interact in a more integrative fashion with both hemispheres. The degree of lateralization present in these distinct systems selectively predicted behavioral measures of verbal and visuospatial ability, providing direct evidence that lateralization is associated with enhanced cognitive ability. PMID:23959883

Cortical thickness and surface area in neonates at high risk for schizophrenia.

PubMed

Li, Gang; Wang, Li; Shi, Feng; Lyall, Amanda E; Ahn, Mihye; Peng, Ziwen; Zhu, Hongtu; Lin, Weili; Gilmore, John H; Shen, Dinggang

2016-01-01

Schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with subtle abnormal cortical thickness and cortical surface area. However, it is unclear whether these abnormalities exist in neonates associated with genetic risk for schizophrenia. To this end, this preliminary study was conducted to identify possible abnormalities of cortical thickness and surface area in the high-genetic-risk neonates. Structural magnetic resonance images were acquired from offspring of mothers (N = 21) who had schizophrenia (N = 12) or schizoaffective disorder (N = 9), and also matched healthy neonates of mothers who were free of psychiatric illness (N = 26). Neonatal cortical surfaces were reconstructed and parcellated as regions of interest (ROIs), and cortical thickness for each vertex was computed as the shortest distance between the inner and outer surfaces. Comparisons were made for the average cortical thickness and total surface area in each of 68 cortical ROIs. After false discovery rate (FDR) correction, it was found that the female high-genetic-risk neonates had significantly thinner cortical thickness in the right lateral occipital cortex than the female control neonates. Before FDR correction, the high-genetic-risk neonates had significantly thinner cortex in the left transverse temporal gyrus, left banks of superior temporal sulcus, left lingual gyrus, right paracentral cortex, right posterior cingulate cortex, right temporal pole, and right lateral occipital cortex, compared with the control neonates. Before FDR correction, in comparison with control neonates, male high-risk neonates had significantly thicker cortex in the left frontal pole, left cuneus cortex, and left lateral occipital cortex; while female high-risk neonates had significantly thinner cortex in the bilateral paracentral, bilateral lateral occipital, left transverse temporal, left pars opercularis, right cuneus, and right posterior cingulate cortices. The high-risk neonates also had significantly smaller cortical surface area in the right pars triangularis (before FDR correction), compared with control neonates. This preliminary study provides the first evidence that early development of cortical thickness and surface area might be abnormal in the neonates at genetic risk for schizophrenia.

Surface feature-guided mapping of cerebral metabolic changes in cognitively normal and mildly impaired elderly.

PubMed

Apostolova, Liana G; Thompson, Paul M; Rogers, Steve A; Dinov, Ivo D; Zoumalan, Charleen; Steiner, Calen A; Siu, Erin; Green, Amity E; Small, Gary W; Toga, Arthur W; Cummings, Jeffrey L; Phelps, Michael E; Silverman, Daniel H

2010-04-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the longitudinal positron emission tomography (PET) metabolic changes in the elderly. Nineteen nondemented subjects (mean Mini-Mental Status Examination 29.4 +/- 0.7 SD) underwent two detailed neuropsychological evaluations and resting 2-deoxy-2-[F-18]fluoro-D: -glucose (FDG)-PET scan (interval 21.7 +/- 3.7 months), baseline structural 3T magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, and apolipoprotein E4 genotyping. Cortical PET metabolic changes were analyzed in 3-D using the cortical pattern matching technique. Baseline vs. follow-up whole-group comparison revealed significant metabolic decline bilaterally in the posterior temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes and the left lateral frontal cortex. The declining group demonstrated 10-15% decline in bilateral posterior cingulate/precuneus, posterior temporal, parietal, and occipital cortices. The cognitively stable group showed 2.5-5% similarly distributed decline. ApoE4-positive individuals underwent 5-15% metabolic decline in the posterior association cortices. Using 3-D surface-based MR-guided FDG-PET mapping, significant metabolic changes were seen in five posterior and the left lateral frontal regions. The changes were more pronounced for the declining relative to the cognitively stable group.

Left-lateralization of resting state functional connectivity between the presupplementary motor area and primary language areas.

PubMed

Lou, William; Peck, Kyung K; Brennan, Nicole; Mallela, Arka; Holodny, Andrei

2017-07-05

An abundance of evidence points to the role of a presupplementary motor area (pre-SMA) in human language. This study explores the pre-SMA resting state connectivity network and the nature of its connections to known language areas. We tested the hypothesis that by seeding the pre-SMA, one would be able to establish language laterality to known cortical and subcortical language areas. We analyzed data from 30 right-handed healthy controls and performed the resting state functional MRI. A seed-based analysis using a manually drawn pre-SMA region of interest template was applied. Time-course signals in the pre-SMA region of interest were averaged and cross-correlated to every voxel in the brain. Results show that the pre-SMA has significant left-lateralized functional connectivity to the pars opercularis within Broca's area. Among cortical regions, pre-SMA functional connectivity is strongest to the pars opercularis In addition, pre-SMA connectivity was shown to exist to other cortical language-association regions, including Wernicke's Area, supramarginal gyri, angular gyri, and middle frontal gyri. Among subcortical areas, considerable left-lateralized functional connectivity occurs to the caudate and thalamus, whereas cerebellar subregions show right lateralization. The current study shows that the pre-SMA most strongly connects to the pars opercularis within Broca's area and that cortical connections to language areas are left lateralized among a sample of right-handed patients. We provide resting state functional MRI evidence that the functional connectivity of the pre-SMA is involved in semantic language processing and that this identification may be useful for establishing language laterality in preoperative neurosurgical planning.

From cytoskeletal dynamics to organ asymmetry: a nonlinear, regulative pathway underlies left-right patterning.

PubMed

McDowell, Gary; Rajadurai, Suvithan; Levin, Michael

2016-12-19

Consistent left-right (LR) asymmetry is a fundamental aspect of the bodyplan across phyla, and errors of laterality form an important class of human birth defects. Its molecular underpinning was first discovered as a sequential pathway of left- and right-sided gene expression that controlled positioning of the heart and visceral organs. Recent data have revised this picture in two important ways. First, the physical origin of chirality has been identified; cytoskeletal dynamics underlie the asymmetry of single-cell behaviour and patterning of the LR axis. Second, the pathway is not linear: early disruptions that alter the normal sidedness of upstream asymmetric genes do not necessarily induce defects in the laterality of the downstream genes or in organ situs Thus, the LR pathway is a unique example of two fascinating aspects of biology: the interplay of physics and genetics in establishing large-scale anatomy, and regulative (shape-homeostatic) pathways that correct molecular and anatomical errors over time. Here, we review aspects of asymmetry from its intracellular, cytoplasmic origins to the recently uncovered ability of the LR control circuitry to achieve correct gene expression and morphology despite reversals of key 'determinant' genes. We provide novel functional data, in Xenopus laevis, on conserved elements of the cytoskeleton that drive asymmetry, and comparatively analyse it together with previously published results in the field. Our new observations and meta-analysis demonstrate that despite aberrant expression of upstream regulatory genes, embryos can progressively normalize transcriptional cascades and anatomical outcomes. LR patterning can thus serve as a paradigm of how subcellular physics and gene expression cooperate to achieve developmental robustness of a body axis.This article is part of the themed issue 'Provocative questions in left-right asymmetry'. © 2016 The Author(s).

Contribution of the posterior parietal cortex in reaching, grasping, and using objects and tools

PubMed Central

Vingerhoets, Guy

2014-01-01

Neuropsychological and neuroimaging data suggest a differential contribution of posterior parietal regions during the different components of a transitive gesture. Reaching requires the integration of object location and body position coordinates and reaching tasks elicit bilateral activation in different foci along the intraparietal sulcus. Grasping requires a visuomotor match between the object's shape and the hand's posture. Lesion studies and neuroimaging confirm the importance of the anterior part of the intraparietal sulcus for human grasping. Reaching and grasping reveal bilateral activation that is generally more prominent on the side contralateral to the hand used or the hemifield stimulated. Purposeful behavior with objects and tools can be assessed in a variety of ways, including actual use, pantomimed use, and pure imagery of manipulation. All tasks have been shown to elicit robust activation over the left parietal cortex in neuroimaging, but lesion studies have not always confirmed these findings. Compared to pantomimed or imagined gestures, actual object and tool use typically produces activation over the left primary somatosensory region. Neuroimaging studies on pantomiming or imagery of tool use in healthy volunteers revealed neural responses in possibly separate foci in the left supramarginal gyrus. In sum, the parietal contribution of reaching and grasping of objects seems to depend on a bilateral network of intraparietal foci that appear organized along gradients of sensory and effector preferences. Dorsal and medial parietal cortex appears to contribute to the online monitoring/adjusting of the ongoing prehensile action, whereas the functional use of objects and tools seems to involve the inferior lateral parietal cortex. This functional input reveals a clear left lateralized activation pattern that may be tuned to the integration of acquired knowledge in the planning and guidance of the transitive movement. PMID:24634664

Measuring emotion in advertising research: prefrontal brain activity.

PubMed

Silberstein, Richard B; Nield, Geoffrey E

2012-01-01

With the current interest in the role of emotion in advertising and advertising research, there has been an increasing interest in the use of various brain activity measures to access nonverbal emotional responses. One such approach relies on measuring the difference between left and right hemisphere prefrontal cortical activity to assess like and dislike. This approach is based on electroencephalography (EEG) and neuroimaging work, suggesting that the approach/withdrawal (frequently but not always associated with like/dislike) dimension of emotion is indicated by the balance of activity between the left and right prefrontal cortex. Much of this work was initiated by Richard Davidson in the early 1990s. An early study by Davidson et al. measured brain electrical activity to assess patterns of activation during the experience of happiness and disgust. The authors reported that disgust was found to be associated with increased right-sided activation in the frontal and anterior temporal regions compared with happiness. In contrast, happiness was found to be accompanied by left-sided activation in the anterior temporal region compared with disgust. Early reports suggested that frontal laterality indexes motivational valence with positive emotions (happy, like) associated with left greater than the right frontal activity and vice versa. Although these findings appear to be consistent with personality traits (e.g., optimism pessimism), state changes in frontal laterality appears to index approach withdraw rather than emotional valence. Interestingly, the behavioral and motivational correlates of prefrontal asymmetric activity are not restricted to humans or even primates but have been observed in numerous species such as birds and fish (see [4]). Henceforth, we use the term motivational valence (MV) rather than the more cumbersome term approach withdraw.

Contribution of the posterior parietal cortex in reaching, grasping, and using objects and tools.

PubMed

Vingerhoets, Guy

2014-01-01

Neuropsychological and neuroimaging data suggest a differential contribution of posterior parietal regions during the different components of a transitive gesture. Reaching requires the integration of object location and body position coordinates and reaching tasks elicit bilateral activation in different foci along the intraparietal sulcus. Grasping requires a visuomotor match between the object's shape and the hand's posture. Lesion studies and neuroimaging confirm the importance of the anterior part of the intraparietal sulcus for human grasping. Reaching and grasping reveal bilateral activation that is generally more prominent on the side contralateral to the hand used or the hemifield stimulated. Purposeful behavior with objects and tools can be assessed in a variety of ways, including actual use, pantomimed use, and pure imagery of manipulation. All tasks have been shown to elicit robust activation over the left parietal cortex in neuroimaging, but lesion studies have not always confirmed these findings. Compared to pantomimed or imagined gestures, actual object and tool use typically produces activation over the left primary somatosensory region. Neuroimaging studies on pantomiming or imagery of tool use in healthy volunteers revealed neural responses in possibly separate foci in the left supramarginal gyrus. In sum, the parietal contribution of reaching and grasping of objects seems to depend on a bilateral network of intraparietal foci that appear organized along gradients of sensory and effector preferences. Dorsal and medial parietal cortex appears to contribute to the online monitoring/adjusting of the ongoing prehensile action, whereas the functional use of objects and tools seems to involve the inferior lateral parietal cortex. This functional input reveals a clear left lateralized activation pattern that may be tuned to the integration of acquired knowledge in the planning and guidance of the transitive movement.

Left-Deviating Prism Adaptation in Left Neglect Patient: Reflexions on a Negative Result

PubMed Central

Luauté, Jacques; Jacquin-Courtois, Sophie; O'Shea, Jacinta; Christophe, Laure; Rode, Gilles; Boisson, Dominique; Rossetti, Yves

2012-01-01

Adaptation to right-deviating prisms is a promising intervention for the rehabilitation of patients with left spatial neglect. In order to test the lateral specificity of prism adaptation on left neglect, the present study evaluated the effect of left-deviating prism on straight-ahead pointing movements and on several classical neuropsychological tests in a group of five right brain-damaged patients with left spatial neglect. A group of healthy subjects was also included for comparison purposes. After a single session of exposing simple manual pointing to left-deviating prisms, contrary to healthy controls, none of the patients showed a reliable change of the straight-ahead pointing movement in the dark. No significant modification of attentional paper-and-pencil tasks was either observed immediately or 2 hours after prism adaptation. These results suggest that the therapeutic effect of prism adaptation on left spatial neglect relies on a specific lateralized mechanism. Evidence for a directional effect for prism adaptation both in terms of the side of the visuomanual adaptation and therefore possibly in terms of the side of brain affected by the stimulation is discussed. PMID:23050168

Individual performance and leader's laterality in interactive contests.

PubMed

Mukherjee, Satyam

2017-05-01

Left-handedness is known to provide an intrinsic and tactical advantage at top level in many sports involving interactive contests. Again, most of the renowned leaders of the world are known to have been left-handed. Leadership plays an important role in politics, sports and mentorship. In this paper we show that Cricket captains who bat left-handed have a strategic advantage over the right-handed captains in One Day International (ODI) and Test matches. The present study involving 46 left-handed captains and 148 right-handed captains in ODI matches, reveal a strong relation between leader's laterality and team member performance, demonstrating the critical importance of left-handedness and successful leadership. The odds for superior batting performance in an ODI match under left-handed captains are 89% higher than the odds under right-handed captains. Our study shows that left-handed captains are more successful in extracting superior performance from the batsmen and bowlers in ODI and Test matches; perhaps indicating left-handed leaders are better motivators as leaders when compared to right-handed captains.

Glenoid fossa responses to mandibular lateral shift in growing rats.

PubMed

Liu, Chang; Kaneko, Sawa; Soma, Kunimichi

2007-07-01

To evaluate the morphological and histological responses of the glenoid fossa to mandibular lateral shift in growing rats. A resin plate was placed on the upper incisors of 4-week-old rats in the experimental groups to displace the mandible to the left during closure. The rats were killed after 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks. The morphometric measurements were performed on dry skulls, and tissue blocks were processed for periodic acid and Schiff's reagent (PAS) staining to examine the new bone formation. Gross measurements showed asymmetry in both the position and size of the fossae between the two sides after 4 weeks of lateral shift. The glenoid fossa on the ipsilateral side was repositioned relatively backward, outward and upward compared with the contralateral side and control group, whereas the fossa on the contralateral side was relocated relatively forward and downward compared with the control group. The length of the fossa was smaller on the ipsilateral side than on contralateral side and control group. At 2 weeks, the amount of newly formed bone in the posterior region of the fossa was higher in the experimental group than the control group. It is suggested that the mandibular lateral shift causes asymmetry in the position and size of the glenoid fossa and that this phenomenon can be related to different bilateral directional new bone formation in the posterior region.

[DEFORMITY OF LEFT VENTRICLE WALLS IN PATIENTS WITH AORTAL VALVE STENOSIS].

PubMed

Trembovetskaya, E M

2015-04-01

Parameters of longitudinal deformity of left ventricle walls in patients, suffering aortal valve stenosis (AVS), were analyzed. While the process of heart contraction in norm and in AVS occurs, longitudinal deformity is expressed maximally in its apical divisions. AVS deformity of apical divisions of left ventricle, as well as middle divisions of interventricular septum and lower wall, practically did not differ from such in norm, and deformity of basal divisions of all walls and middle divisions of posterior, lateral and anterior walls of left ventricle was trustworthy less than a norm. Thus, a reduction of the deformity indices in basal divisions of left ventricle and middle segments of its posterior, lateral and anterior walls in patients, suffering AVS with preserved output fraction, precedes the disorders of its hemodynamics and constitutes a predictor for the cardiac output reduction.

Lateralization for dynamic facial expressions in human superior temporal sulcus.

PubMed

De Winter, François-Laurent; Zhu, Qi; Van den Stock, Jan; Nelissen, Koen; Peeters, Ronald; de Gelder, Beatrice; Vanduffel, Wim; Vandenbulcke, Mathieu

2015-02-01

Most face processing studies in humans show stronger activation in the right compared to the left hemisphere. Evidence is largely based on studies with static stimuli focusing on the fusiform face area (FFA). Hence, the pattern of lateralization for dynamic faces is less clear. Furthermore, it is unclear whether this property is common to human and non-human primates due to predisposing processing strategies in the right hemisphere or that alternatively left sided specialization for language in humans could be the driving force behind this phenomenon. We aimed to address both issues by studying lateralization for dynamic facial expressions in monkeys and humans. Therefore, we conducted an event-related fMRI experiment in three macaques and twenty right handed humans. We presented human and monkey dynamic facial expressions (chewing and fear) as well as scrambled versions to both species. We studied lateralization in independently defined face-responsive and face-selective regions by calculating a weighted lateralization index (LIwm) using a bootstrapping method. In order to examine if lateralization in humans is related to language, we performed a separate fMRI experiment in ten human volunteers including a 'speech' expression (one syllable non-word) and its scrambled version. Both within face-responsive and selective regions, we found consistent lateralization for dynamic faces (chewing and fear) versus scrambled versions in the right human posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), but not in FFA nor in ventral temporal cortex. Conversely, in monkeys no consistent pattern of lateralization for dynamic facial expressions was observed. Finally, LIwms based on the contrast between different types of dynamic facial expressions (relative to scrambled versions) revealed left-sided lateralization in human pSTS for speech-related expressions compared to chewing and emotional expressions. To conclude, we found consistent laterality effects in human posterior STS but not in visual cortex of monkeys. Based on our results, it is tempting to speculate that lateralization for dynamic face processing in humans may be driven by left-hemispheric language specialization which may not have been present yet in the common ancestor of human and macaque monkeys. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of quarantine on cats and their owners.

PubMed

Rochlitz, I; Podberscek, A L; Broom, D M

1998-08-15

The effects of quarantine on 16 cats and their owners were assessed by means of four questionnaires completed by the owners at the beginning of their cat's stay in quarantine, three months later, and two weeks and three months after the cats left quarantine. Changes in body condition were evident in two-thirds of the cats during and at the end of quarantine but not three months later. Mid-way through quarantine, the owners considered their cats were less attached to them, less relaxed, more excitable, more aggressive, more nervous and less playful than before quarantine. When they left quarantine the cats were friendlier, more affectionate and more timid, and three months later they were more affectionate, more nervous and more vocal than before quarantine. When they left quarantine and three months later the cats spent more time with their owners than before quarantine. Most owners visited their cats once or twice a month; the location of the cattery and the limited opening hours restricted the number of visits they made.

Distinctive laterality of neural networks supporting action understanding in left- and right-handed individuals: An EEG coherence study.

PubMed

Kelly, Rachel; Mizelle, J C; Wheaton, Lewis A

2015-08-01

Prior work has demonstrated that perspective and handedness of observed actions can affect action understanding differently in right and left-handed persons, suggesting potential differences in the neural networks underlying action understanding between right and left-handed individuals. We sought to evaluate potential differences in these neural networks using electroencephalography (EEG). Right- and left-handed participants observed images of tool-use actions from egocentric and allocentric perspectives, with right- and left-handed actors performing the actions. Participants judged the outcome of the observed actions, and response accuracy and latency were recorded. Behaviorally, the highest accuracy and shortest latency was found in the egocentric perspective for right- and left-handed observers. Handedness of subject showed an effect on accuracy and latency also, where right-handed observers were faster to respond than left-handed observers, but on average were less accurate. Mu band (8-10 Hz) cortico-cortical coherence analysis indicated that right-handed observers have coherence in the motor dominant left parietal-premotor networks when looking at an egocentric right or allocentric left hands. When looking in an egocentric perspective at a left hand or allocentric right hand, coherence was lateralized to right parietal-premotor areas. In left-handed observers, bilateral parietal-premotor coherence patterns were observed regardless of actor handedness. These findings suggest that the cortical networks involved in understanding action outcomes are dependent on hand dominance, and notably right handed participants seem to utilize motor systems based on the limb seen performing the action. The decreased accuracy for right-handed participants on allocentric images could be due to asymmetrical lateralization of encoding action and motoric dominance, which may interfere with translating allocentric limb action outcomes. Further neurophysiological studies will determine the specific processes of how left- and right-handed participants understand actions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Right anterior superior temporal activation predicts auditory sentence comprehension following aphasic stroke.

PubMed

Crinion, Jenny; Price, Cathy J

2005-12-01

Previous studies have suggested that recovery of speech comprehension after left hemisphere infarction may depend on a mechanism in the right hemisphere. However, the role that distinct right hemisphere regions play in speech comprehension following left hemisphere stroke has not been established. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate narrative speech activation in 18 neurologically normal subjects and 17 patients with left hemisphere stroke and a history of aphasia. Activation for listening to meaningful stories relative to meaningless reversed speech was identified in the normal subjects and in each patient. Second level analyses were then used to investigate how story activation changed with the patients' auditory sentence comprehension skills and surprise story recognition memory tests post-scanning. Irrespective of lesion site, performance on tests of auditory sentence comprehension was positively correlated with activation in the right lateral superior temporal region, anterior to primary auditory cortex. In addition, when the stroke spared the left temporal cortex, good performance on tests of auditory sentence comprehension was also correlated with the left posterior superior temporal cortex (Wernicke's area). In distinct contrast to this, good story recognition memory predicted left inferior frontal and right cerebellar activation. The implication of this double dissociation in the effects of auditory sentence comprehension and story recognition memory is that left frontal and left temporal activations are dissociable. Our findings strongly support the role of the right temporal lobe in processing narrative speech and, in particular, auditory sentence comprehension following left hemisphere aphasic stroke. In addition, they highlight the importance of the right anterior superior temporal cortex where the response was dissociated from that in the left posterior temporal lobe.

Correlating subcortical interhemispheric connectivity and cortical hemispheric dominance in brain tumor patients: A repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation study.

PubMed

Sollmann, Nico; Ille, Sebastian; Tussis, Lorena; Maurer, Stefanie; Hauck, Theresa; Negwer, Chiara; Bauer, Jan S; Ringel, Florian; Meyer, Bernhard; Krieg, Sandro M

2016-02-01

The present study aims to investigate the relationship between transcallosal interhemispheric connectivity (IC) and hemispheric language lateralization by using a novel approach including repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), hemispheric dominance ratio (HDR) calculation, and rTMS-based diffusion tensor imaging fiber tracking (DTI FT). 31 patients with left-sided perisylvian brain lesions underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and rTMS language mapping. Cortical language-positive rTMS spots were used to calculate HDRs (HDR: quotient of the left-sided divided by right-sided naming error rates for corresponding left- and right-sided cortical regions) and to create regions of interest (ROIs) for DTI FT. Then, fibers connecting the rTMS-based ROIs of both hemispheres were tracked, and the correlation of IC to HDRs was calculated via Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rs). Fibers connecting rTMS-based ROIs of both hemispheres were detected in 12 patients (38.7%). Within the patients in which IC was detected, the mean number of subcortical IC fibers ± standard deviation (SD) was 138.0 ± 346.5 (median: 7.5; range: 1-1,217 fibers). Regarding rs for the correlation of HDRs and fiber numbers of patients that showed IC, only moderate correlation was revealed. Our approach might be beneficial and technically feasible for further investigation of the relationship between IC and language lateralization. However, only moderate correlation was revealed in the present study. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Interlead distance and left ventricular lead electrical delay predict reverse remodeling during cardiac resynchronization therapy.

PubMed

Merchant, Faisal M; Heist, E Kevin; Nandigam, K Veena; Mulligan, Lawrence J; Blendea, Dan; Riedl, Lindsay; McCarty, David; Orencole, Mary; Picard, Michael H; Ruskin, Jeremy N; Singh, Jagmeet P

2010-05-01

Both anatomic interlead separation and left ventricle lead electrical delay (LVLED) have been associated with outcomes following cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). However, the relationship between interlead distance and electrical delay in predicting CRT outcomes has not been defined. We studied 61 consecutive patients undergoing CRT for standard clinical indications. All patients underwent intraprocedural measurement of LVLED. Interlead distances in the horizontal (HD), vertical (VD), and direct (DD) dimensions were measured from postprocedure chest radiographs (CXR). Remodeling indices [percent change in left ventricle (LV) ejection fraction, end-diastolic, end-systolic dimensions] were assessed by transthoracic echocardiogram. There was a positive correlation between corrected LVLED and HD on lateral CXR (r = 0.361, P = 0.004) and a negative correlation between LVLED and VD on posteroanterior (PA) CXR (r =-0.281, P = 0.028). To account for this inverse relationship, we developed a composite anatomic distance (defined as: lateral HD-PA VD), which correlated most closely with LVLED (r = 0.404, P = 0.001). Follow-up was available for 48 patients. At a mean of 4.1 +/- 3.2 months, patients with optimal values for both corrected LVLED (>or=75%) and composite anatomic distance (>or=15 cm) demonstrated greater reverse LV remodeling than patients with either one or neither of these optimized values. We identified a significant correlation between LV-right ventricular interlead distance and LVLED; additionally, both parameters act synergistically in predicting LV anatomic reverse remodeling. Efforts to optimize both interlead distance and electrical delay may improve CRT outcomes.

Visually Guided Avoidance in the Chameleon (Chamaeleo chameleon): Response Patterns and Lateralization

PubMed Central

Lustig, Avichai; Ketter-Katz, Hadas; Katzir, Gadi

2012-01-01

The common chameleon, Chamaeleo chameleon, is an arboreal lizard with highly independent, large-amplitude eye movements. In response to a moving threat, a chameleon on a perch responds with distinct avoidance movements that are expressed in its continuous positioning on the side of the perch distal to the threat. We analyzed body-exposure patterns during threat avoidance for evidence of lateralization, that is, asymmetry at the functional/behavioral levels. Chameleons were exposed to a threat approaching horizontally from the left or right, as they held onto a vertical pole that was either wider or narrower than the width of their head, providing, respectively, monocular or binocular viewing of the threat. We found two equal-sized sub-groups, each displaying lateralization of motor responses to a given direction of stimulus approach. Such an anti-symmetrical distribution of lateralization in a population may be indicative of situations in which organisms are regularly exposed to crucial stimuli from all spatial directions. This is because a bimodal distribution of responses to threat in a natural population will reduce the spatial advantage of predators. PMID:22685546

Visually guided avoidance in the chameleon (Chamaeleo chameleon): response patterns and lateralization.

PubMed

Lustig, Avichai; Ketter-Katz, Hadas; Katzir, Gadi

2012-01-01

The common chameleon, Chamaeleo chameleon, is an arboreal lizard with highly independent, large-amplitude eye movements. In response to a moving threat, a chameleon on a perch responds with distinct avoidance movements that are expressed in its continuous positioning on the side of the perch distal to the threat. We analyzed body-exposure patterns during threat avoidance for evidence of lateralization, that is, asymmetry at the functional/behavioral levels. Chameleons were exposed to a threat approaching horizontally from the left or right, as they held onto a vertical pole that was either wider or narrower than the width of their head, providing, respectively, monocular or binocular viewing of the threat. We found two equal-sized sub-groups, each displaying lateralization of motor responses to a given direction of stimulus approach. Such an anti-symmetrical distribution of lateralization in a population may be indicative of situations in which organisms are regularly exposed to crucial stimuli from all spatial directions. This is because a bimodal distribution of responses to threat in a natural population will reduce the spatial advantage of predators.

Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy observed in a patient with sepsis and transient hyperthyroidism.

PubMed

Sarullo, Filippo M; Americo, Luigi; Accardo, Salvatore; Cicero, Sergio; Schicchi, Rossella; Schirò, Maria; Castello, Antonio

2009-03-01

A 55-years-old woman, with a history of hypertension and ischemic stroke with residual left hemiparesis, was admitted to our hospital because of dyspnoea with clinical evidence of acute pulmonary edema. She was found to have a sinus tachycardia with ST-elevation in leads D1, aVL and V1-V4 in the electrocardiogram, and akinesis of the left ventricular apex with overall left ventricular systolic function being severely impaired and an ejection fraction of 28% on echocardiography. Orotracheal intubation was performed and mechanical ventilation was immediately started. Emergency cardiac catheterization was performed 2 h after the symptom onset. Coronary angiography showed no significant coronary artery disease. Blood analysis revealed an increase in the creatine kinase MB fraction, a significant positive detection in troponin T, a white blood cell count of 35000 per microliter, C-reactive protein of 59,9 mg/dl, and transient elevation in the concentration of free triiodothyronine, free thyroxine, thyroid globulin antibody, and thyroid peroxidase antibody. The symptoms improved during the next days, and follow-up echocardiography 18 days later showed complete resolution of the left ventricular dysfunction. These data suggest that tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy may be induced in patients with sepsis and transient hyperthyroidism.

Strengthening of Existing Episodic Memories Through Non-invasive Stimulation of Prefrontal Cortex in Older Adults with Subjective Memory Complaints

PubMed Central

Manenti, Rosa; Sandrini, Marco; Gobbi, Elena; Cobelli, Chiara; Brambilla, Michela; Binetti, Giuliano; Cotelli, Maria

2017-01-01

Episodic memory is critical to daily life functioning. This type of declarative memory declines with age and is the earliest cognitive function to be compromised in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Subjective memory complaints are commonly reported by older adults and have been considered a risk factor for developing AD. The possibilities for prevention of memory disorders in older adults have increased substantially in recent years. Previous studies have shown that anodal transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) applied over the left lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) after a contextual reminder strengthened existing verbal episodic memories, conceivably through reconsolidation, in elderly people. In this study, we hypothesized that anodal tDCS applied over the left lateral PFC after a contextual reminder would improve delayed memory retrieval relative to placebo (sham) stimulation in elderly individuals with SMC. Twenty-two subjects learned a list of words. Twenty-four hour later, tDCS (anodal or placebo) was applied over the left lateral PFC after a contextual reminder. Memory retrieval was tested 48h and 30 days later. These findings showed that anodal tDCS over the left lateral PFC strengthened existing episodic memories, a behavioral effect documented by improved recognition up to 30 days, relative to placebo stimulation. This study suggests that tDCS after a contextual reminder can induce long-lasting beneficial effects by facilitating the consolidation processes and opens up the possibility to design specific non-invasive interventions aimed at preventing memory decline in this at-risk population. PMID:29259554

Detection of pneumothorax and pleural effusion with horizontal beam radiography.

PubMed

Lynch, Katherine C; Oliveira, Cintia R; Matheson, Jodi S; Mitchell, Mark A; O'Brien, Robert T

2012-01-01

Forty-seven patients with a known history of thoracic trauma or clinical suspicion of pneumothorax were selected for thoracic imaging. The patient population was composed of 42 dogs and five cats. Standard vertical beam (VB) left and right lateral and ventrodorsal/dorsoventral (VD/DV) projections were obtained for each patient, and at least one horizontal beam (HB) projection (VD projection made in lateral recumbency). A total of 240 images were reviewed. Subjective assessment for the presence and degree of pneumothorax and pleural effusion was made more confidently with HB projections. Pneumothorax was identified in at least one projection in 26 patients (26 dogs) and pleural effusion in 21 patients (19 dogs and two cats). Pneumothorax and pleural effusion were present concurrently in 17 dogs. Pneumothorax and pleural effusion were graded for each image as absent, mild, moderate, or severe. Right (P < 0.001) and left (P < 0.05) lateral HB VD projections and the standard VB left lateral projection (P < 0.05) were significantly more likely to detect and grade pneumothorax severely than the VB VD/DV views. The right lateral HB projection had the highest rate of detection and gradation of severity for pneumothorax compared with other views. VD/DV projections had the lowest sensitivity for detection of the pneumothorax and gradation of severity for pneumothorax and pleural effusion. No significant difference in diagnosis (P = 0.9149) and grade (P = 0.7757) of pleural effusion were seen between views, although the left lateral HB had both the highest rate of detection and grade of severity.

An anthropological perspective on the evolution and lateralization of the brain.

PubMed

Dawson, J L

1977-09-30

The purpose of this paper is to review the anthropological evidence relating to the cultural determinants of the right-hand first postaulted by Hertz in his classic study. Also a genetic/cultural conformity model of handedness is presented that postulates that the incidence of handedness in a society is held to result both from the genetic expression of handedness interacting with cultural pressures towards conformity. The evolutionary basis for the hemispheric functional organization into cognitive and perceptual hemispheric functions is discussed in terms of "right-handed dominant homozygotes, DD," "heterozygotes, DR," mixed-handers, and "left-handed recessive homozygotes, RR." The cross-cultural distribution of handedness provides support for this model since the more conforming agriculturalists as measured by the Asch Test have a significantly lower incidence of left-handedness (0.59%, 1.5% and 3.4%), while the more permissively socialized Eskimo and Arunta hunters, who are seen to be more independent on the Asch Test, have 11.3% and 10.5% left-handers, respectively. Also, due to the greater pressures for females to conform in agricultural societies, the incidence of female left-handedness in agricultural societies is 0% out of 330 female Ss, with 3.8%, 0.79%, and 2.5% in agricultural males, as contrasted with the Eskimo hunters who have 12.5% left-handed males and 10.3% left-handed females, showing no significant sex difference. A further Hong Kong-English study also supports the genetic/cultural conformity model with a significantly lower incidence of Hong Kong Chinese left-handers (RR: male = 2.7%, and female = 4.2%). The next section, concerned with the neonatal sex-hormone differentiation and lateralization processes, provides a neuropsychologic theory relating to spatial and linguistic skills that is relevant to the following section, which deals with relationships between laterality and cognitive style. The results are also presented for the Alaskan Eskimo in relation to hand, eye, auditory dominance and cognitive style. The analysis of Eskimo fixed-versus mixed-laterality data also confirms, as predicted, that both within and across a modality (e.g., right hand/right eye/right ear) fixed right-dominance Eskimo Ss are more field-independent than mixed-dominance Ss, while the fixed left-dominance Ss are the most field-dependent and have lower spatial skills. The discussion section reviews the papers relating to the genetic/conformity model of handedness, as well as laterality and cognitive style. The evolutionary adaptive significance of sex differences in gonadal differentiation and lateralization of the brain on spatial and linguistic skills are also reviewed. The conclusions are concerned with the implications for biosocial theory and the rapidly changing incidence of left-handedness due to accompanying changes in cultural pressures both within and across cultures.

Postural lung recruitment assessed by lung ultrasound in mechanically ventilated children.

PubMed

Tusman, Gerardo; Acosta, Cecilia M; Böhm, Stephan H; Waldmann, Andreas D; Ferrando, Carlos; Marquez, Manuel Perez; Sipmann, Fernando Suarez

2017-10-13

Atelectasis is a common finding in mechanically ventilated children with healthy lungs. This lung collapse cannot be overcome using standard levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) and thus for only individualized lung recruitment maneuvers lead to satisfactory therapeutic results. In this short communication, we demonstrate by lung ultrasound images (LUS) the effect of a postural recruitment maneuver (P-RM, i.e., a ventilatory strategy aimed at reaerating atelectasis by changing body position under constant ventilation). Data was collected in the operating room of the Hospital Privado de Comunidad, Mar del Plata, Argentina. Three anesthetized children undergoing mechanical ventilation at constant settings were sequentially subjected to the following two maneuvers: (1) PEEP trial in the supine position PEEP was increased to 10 cmH 2 O for 3 min and then decreased to back to baseline. (2) P-RM patient position was changed from supine to the left and then to the right lateral position for 90 s each before returning to supine. The total P-RM procedure took approximately 3 min. LUS in the supine position showed similar atelectasis before and after the PEEP trial. Contrarily, atelectasis disappeared in the non-dependent lung when patients were placed in the lateral positions. Both lungs remained atelectasis free even after returning to the supine position. We provide LUS images that illustrate the concept and effects of postural recruitment in children. This maneuver has the advantage of achieving recruitment effects without the need to elevate airways pressures.

[Prevalence of tumors in the left breast].

PubMed

Aareleĭd, T P; Khint, E K

1987-01-01

The present investigation was undertaken to study the laterality of breast tumors on the basis of the Estonian Cancer Registry data for the period of 1968-1981 and special breast screening data for 1974-1983. The ratio of the patients with the left- and right-sided disease was 1.12 (p less than 0.001) for breast cancer, 1.75 (p less than 0.001)--for fibroadenomatosis of the mammary gland, and 1.43 (p less than 0.001)--for mastodynia. Left-sided carcinoma was more common in patients with left nipple discharge which was accompanied by "early menarche" more often than discharge from the right nipple (p less than 0.05). There was no significant difference in the patients' survival versus the laterality of breast cancer.

Endovascular Repair of a Ruptured Mycotic Aneurysm of the Common Iliac Artery

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mofidi, R., E-mail: rmofidi@doctors.net.uk; Bhat, R.; Nagy, J.

2007-09-15

This report describes the case of a ruptured mycotic aneurysm of the left common iliac artery, successfully treated with endovascular stent-grafting. A 64-year-old woman underwent diagnostic coronary angiography complicated by an infected hematoma of the left groin. Seven days later, she developed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus septicemia and CT scan evidence of perivascular inflammation around the left common iliac artery. This was followed by rupture of a mycotic aneurysm of the left common iliac artery. The lesion was successfully treated with a stent-graft and prolonged antibiotic therapy, and the patient remains free of infection 10 months later. Accumulating evidence suggests thatmore » endovascular repair can be used safely for the repair of ruptured infected aneurysms.« less

Left ventricular systolic dysfunction after transcatheter closure of a large patent ductus arteriosus.

PubMed

Galal, Mohammed Omar; Arfi, Muhammed Amin; Nicole, Sekarski; Payot, Maurice; Hussain, Arif; Qureshi, Shakeel

2005-11-01

A 12-year-old boy reported in outpatient department with history of shortness of breath and dyspnoea on moderate exertion. Physical examination was significant for bounding pulses and for a continuous murmur III/VI, best heard at the left upper sternal border. Echocardiography confirmed a large patent arterial duct with shortening fraction of 33%. He underwent successful transcatheter closure of the patent arterial, using Amplatzer duct occluder 12/10. Few hours later echocardiography revealed an unexpected, yet important depression of left ventricular systolic function with shortening fraction decreasing to 24% and then two weeks later decreasing further to 20%. At a follow-up after four months, he had improved clinically but left ventricular dysfunction still persisted with shortening fraction of 24%.

Lateral epicondylosis and calcific tendonitis in a golfer: a case report and literature review

PubMed Central

Yuill, Erik A.; Lum, Grant

2011-01-01

Objective To detail the progress of a young female amateur golfer who developed chronic left arm pain while playing golf 8 months prior to her first treatment visit. Clinical Features Findings included pain slightly distal to the lateral epicondyle of the elbow, decreased grip strength, and positive orthopedic testing. Diagnostic ultrasound showed thickening of the common extensor tendon origin indicating lateral epicondylosis. Radiographs revealed an oval shaped calcified density in the soft tissue adjacent to the lateral humeral epicondyle, indicating calcific tendonitis of the common extensor tendon origin. Intervention and Outcome Conventional care was aimed at decreasing the repetitive load on the common extensor tendon, specifically the extensor carpi radialis brevis. Soft tissue techniques, exercises and stretches, and an elbow brace helped to reduce repetitive strain. Outcome measures included subjective pain ratings, and follow up imaging 10 weeks after treatment began. Conclusion A young female amateur golfer with chronic arm pain diagnosed as lateral epicondylosis and calcific tendonitis was relieved of her pain after 7 treatments over 10 weeks of soft tissue and physical therapy focusing specifically on optimal healing and decreasing the repetitive load on the extensor carpi radialis brevis. PMID:22131570

Lesion evidence for a critical role of left posterior but not frontal areas in alpha-beta power decreases during context-driven word production.

PubMed

Piai, Vitória; Rommers, Joost; Knight, Robert T

2017-09-09

Different frequency bands in the electroencephalogram are postulated to support distinct language functions. Studies have suggested that alpha-beta power decreases may index word-retrieval processes. In context-driven word retrieval, participants hear lead-in sentences that either constrain the final word ('He locked the door with the') or not ('She walked in here with the'). The last word is shown as a picture to be named. Previous studies have consistently found alpha-beta power decreases prior to picture onset for constrained relative to unconstrained sentences, localised to the left lateral-temporal and lateral-frontal lobes. However, the relative contribution of temporal versus frontal areas to alpha-beta power decreases is unknown. We recorded the electroencephalogram from patients with stroke lesions encompassing the left lateral-temporal and inferior-parietal regions or left-lateral frontal lobe and from matched controls. Individual participant analyses revealed a behavioural sentence context facilitation effect in all participants, except for in the two patients with extensive lesions to temporal and inferior parietal lobes. We replicated the alpha-beta power decreases prior to picture onset in all participants, except for in the two same patients with extensive posterior lesions. Thus, whereas posterior lesions eliminated the behavioural and oscillatory context effect, frontal lesions did not. Hierarchical clustering analyses of all patients' lesion profiles, and behavioural and electrophysiological effects identified those two patients as having a unique combination of lesion distribution and context effects. These results indicate a critical role for the left lateral-temporal and inferior parietal lobes, but not frontal cortex, in generating the alpha-beta power decreases underlying context-driven word production. © 2017 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Left-lateralized N170 Effects of Visual Expertise in Reading: Evidence from Japanese Syllabic and Logographic Scripts

PubMed Central

Maurer, Urs; Zevin, Jason D.; McCandliss, Bruce D.

2015-01-01

The N170 component of the event-related potential (ERP) reflects experience-dependent neural changes in several forms of visual expertise, including expertise for visual words. Readers skilled in writing systems that link characters to phonemes (i.e., alphabetic writing) typically produce a left-lateralized N170 to visual word forms. This study examined the N170 in three Japanese scripts that link characters to larger phonological units. Participants were monolingual English speakers (EL1) and native Japanese speakers (JL1) who were also proficient in English. ERPs were collected using a 129-channel array, as participants performed a series of experiments viewing words or novel control stimuli in a repetition detection task. The N170 was strongly left-lateralized for all three Japanese scripts (including logographic Kanji characters) in JL1 participants, but bilateral in EL1 participants viewing these same stimuli. This demonstrates that left-lateralization of the N170 is dependent on specific reading expertise and is not limited to alphabetic scripts. Additional contrasts within the moraic Katakana script revealed equivalent N170 responses in JL1 speakers for familiar Katakana words and for Kanji words transcribed into novel Katakana words, suggesting that the N170 expertise effect is driven by script familiarity rather than familiarity with particular visual word forms. Finally, for English words and novel symbol string stimuli, both EL1 and JL1 subjects produced equivalent responses for the novel symbols, and more left-lateralized N170 responses for the English words, indicating that such effects are not limited to the first language. Taken together, these cross-linguistic results suggest that similar neural processes underlie visual expertise for print in very different writing systems. PMID:18370600

Progressive alterations of the auditory association areas in young non-psychotic offspring of schizophrenia patients.

PubMed

Bhojraj, Tejas S; Sweeney, John A; Prasad, Konasale M; Eack, Shaun; Rajarethinam, Rajaprabhakaran; Francis, Alan N; Montrose, Debra M; Keshavan, Matcheri S

2011-02-01

Schizophrenia may involve progressive alterations of structure and hemispheric lateralization of auditory association areas (AAA) within the superior temporal gyrus. These alterations may be greater in male patients. It is unclear if these deficits are state-dependent or whether they predate illness onset and reflect familial diathesis. We sought to compare AAA cortical thickness, surface area and lateralization across adolescent and young adult non-psychotic offspring of schizophrenia patients (OS) and healthy controls at baseline and one year follow-up. We also assessed the moderating effect of gender on these measures. Fifty-six OS and thirty-six control subjects were assessed at baseline and at follow-up on AAA surface area and thickness using FreeSurfer to process T1-MRI-images. We used repeated measures ANCOVAs, controlling intra cranial volume and age with assessment-time and side as within-subject factors and gender and study group as between-subject factors. Surface area deficit in OS was greater on the left than on the right, as reflected in a lower surface area laterality-index (left-right/left + right × 100) in OS compared to controls. Left, but not right surface area and surface area laterality-index showed a longitudinal decline in OS compared to controls. Male OS declined more than controls on surface area and thickness. Left AAA surface area may progressively decline in young non-psychotic offspring at familial diathesis for schizophrenia causing a continuing reversal of the leftward AAA lateralization. Progressive surface area reduction and thinning of AAA may be more prominent in young non-psychotic male offspring at risk for schizophrenia. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cortical venous thrombosis following exogenous androgen use for bodybuilding

PubMed Central

Sveinsson, Olafur; Herrman, Lars

2013-01-01

There are only a few reports of patients developing cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) after androgen therapy. We present a young man who developed cortical venous thrombosis after using androgens to increase muscle mass. He was hospitalised for parasthesia and dyspraxia in the left hand followed by a generalised tonic–clonic seizure. At admission, he was drowsy, not fully orientated, had sensory inattention, pronation drift and a positive extensor response, all on the left side. The patient had been using anabolic steroids (dainabol 20 mg/day) for the last month for bodybuilding. CT angiography showed a right cortical venous thrombosis. Anticoagulation therapy was started with intravenous heparin for 11 days and oral anticoagulation (warfarin) thereafter. A control CT angiography 4 months later showed resolution of the thrombosis. He recovered fully. PMID:23389726

Callosal involvement in a lateralized stroop task in alcoholic and healthy subjects.

PubMed

Schulte, T; Müller-Oehring, E M; Salo, R; Pfefferbaum, A; Sullivan, E V

2006-11-01

To investigate the role of interhemispheric attentional processes, 25 alcoholic and 28 control subjects were tested with a Stroop match-to-sample task and callosal areas were measured with magnetic resonance imaging. Stroop color-word stimuli were presented to the left or right visual field (VF) and were preceded by a color cue that did or did not match the word's color. For matching colors, both groups showed a right VF advantage; for nonmatching colors, controls showed a left VF advantage, whereas alcoholic subjects showed no VF advantage. For nonmatch trials, VF advantage correlated with callosal splenium area in controls but not alcoholic subjects, supporting the position that information presented to the nonpreferred hemisphere is transmitted via the splenium to the hemisphere specialized for efficient processing. The authors speculate that alcoholism-associated callosal thinning disrupts this processing route.

Intraspecific gestural laterality in chimpanzees and gorillas and the impact of social propensities.

PubMed

Prieur, Jacques; Pika, Simone; Barbu, Stéphanie; Blois-Heulin, Catherine

2017-09-01

A relevant approach to address the mechanisms underlying the emergence of the right-handedness/left-hemisphere language specialization of humans is to investigate both proximal and distal causes of language lateralization through the study of non-human primates' gestural laterality. We carried out the first systematic, quantitative comparison of within-subjects' and between-species' laterality by focusing on the laterality of intraspecific gestures of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) living in six different captive groups. We addressed the following two questions: (1) Do chimpanzees and gorillas exhibit stable direction of laterality when producing different types of gestures at the individual level? If yes, is it related to the strength of laterality? (2) Is there a species difference in gestural laterality at the population level? If yes, which factors could explain this difference? During 1356 observation hours, we recorded 42335 cases of dyadic gesture use in the six groups totalling 39 chimpanzees and 35 gorillas. Results showed that both species could exhibit either stability or flexibility in their direction of gestural laterality. These results suggest that both stability and flexibility may have differently modulated the strength of laterality depending on the species social structure and dynamics. Furthermore, a multifactorial analysis indicates that these particular social components may have specifically impacted gestural laterality through the influence of gesture sensory modality and the position of the recipient in the signaller's visual field during interaction. Our findings provide further support to the social theory of laterality origins proposing that social pressures may have shaped laterality through natural selection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Overlapping Networks Engaged during Spoken Language Production and Its Cognitive Control

PubMed Central

Wise, Richard J.S.; Mehta, Amrish; Leech, Robert

2014-01-01

Spoken language production is a complex brain function that relies on large-scale networks. These include domain-specific networks that mediate language-specific processes, as well as domain-general networks mediating top-down and bottom-up attentional control. Language control is thought to involve a left-lateralized fronto-temporal-parietal (FTP) system. However, these regions do not always activate for language tasks and similar regions have been implicated in nonlinguistic cognitive processes. These inconsistent findings suggest that either the left FTP is involved in multidomain cognitive control or that there are multiple spatially overlapping FTP systems. We present evidence from an fMRI study using multivariate analysis to identify spatiotemporal networks involved in spoken language production in humans. We compared spoken language production (Speech) with multiple baselines, counting (Count), nonverbal decision (Decision), and “rest,” to pull apart the multiple partially overlapping networks that are involved in speech production. A left-lateralized FTP network was activated during Speech and deactivated during Count and nonverbal Decision trials, implicating it in cognitive control specific to sentential spoken language production. A mirror right-lateralized FTP network was activated in the Count and Decision trials, but not Speech. Importantly, a second overlapping left FTP network showed relative deactivation in Speech. These three networks, with distinct time courses, overlapped in the left parietal lobe. Contrary to the standard model of the left FTP as being dominant for speech, we revealed a more complex pattern within the left FTP, including at least two left FTP networks with competing functional roles, only one of which was activated in speech production. PMID:24966373

Overlapping networks engaged during spoken language production and its cognitive control.

PubMed

Geranmayeh, Fatemeh; Wise, Richard J S; Mehta, Amrish; Leech, Robert

2014-06-25

Spoken language production is a complex brain function that relies on large-scale networks. These include domain-specific networks that mediate language-specific processes, as well as domain-general networks mediating top-down and bottom-up attentional control. Language control is thought to involve a left-lateralized fronto-temporal-parietal (FTP) system. However, these regions do not always activate for language tasks and similar regions have been implicated in nonlinguistic cognitive processes. These inconsistent findings suggest that either the left FTP is involved in multidomain cognitive control or that there are multiple spatially overlapping FTP systems. We present evidence from an fMRI study using multivariate analysis to identify spatiotemporal networks involved in spoken language production in humans. We compared spoken language production (Speech) with multiple baselines, counting (Count), nonverbal decision (Decision), and "rest," to pull apart the multiple partially overlapping networks that are involved in speech production. A left-lateralized FTP network was activated during Speech and deactivated during Count and nonverbal Decision trials, implicating it in cognitive control specific to sentential spoken language production. A mirror right-lateralized FTP network was activated in the Count and Decision trials, but not Speech. Importantly, a second overlapping left FTP network showed relative deactivation in Speech. These three networks, with distinct time courses, overlapped in the left parietal lobe. Contrary to the standard model of the left FTP as being dominant for speech, we revealed a more complex pattern within the left FTP, including at least two left FTP networks with competing functional roles, only one of which was activated in speech production. Copyright © 2014 Geranmayeh et al.

Surgical Anatomy of the Left Lateral Segment as Applied to Living-Donor and Split-Liver Transplantation

PubMed Central

Reichert, Paulo R.; Renz, John F.; D’Albuquerque, Luiz A. C.; Rosenthal, Philip; Lim, Robert C.; Roberts, John P.; Ascher, Nancy L.; Emond, Jean C.

2000-01-01

Objective To evaluate intrahepatic vascular and biliary anatomy of the left lateral segment (LLS) as applied to living-donor and split-liver transplantation. Summary Background Data Living-donor and split-liver transplantation are innovative surgical techniques that have expanded the donor pool. Fundamental to the application of these techniques is an understanding of intrahepatic vascular and biliary anatomy. Methods Pathologic data obtained from cadaveric liver corrosion casts and liver dissections were clinically correlated with the anatomical findings obtained during split-liver, living-donor, and reduced-liver transplants. Results The anatomical relation of the left bile duct system with respect to the left portal venous system was constant, with the left bile duct superior to the extrahepatic transverse portion of the left portal vein. Four specific patterns of left biliary anatomy and three patterns of left hepatic venous drainage were identified and described. Conclusions Although highly variable, the biliary and hepatic venous anatomy of the LLS can be broadly categorized into distinct patterns. The identification of the LLS duct origin lateral to the umbilical fissure in segment 4 in 50% of cast specimens is significant in the performance of split-liver and living-donor transplantation, because dissection of the graft pedicle at the level of the round ligament will result in separate ducts from segments 2 and 3 in most patients, with the further possibility of an anterior segment 4 duct. A connective tissue bile duct plate, which can be clinically identified, is described to guide dissection of the segment 2 and 3 biliary radicles. PMID:11066137

The Role of Left Hemispheric Structures for Emotional Processing as a Monitor of Bodily Reaction and Felt Chill - a Case-Control Functional Imaging Study.

PubMed

Grunkina, Viktoria; Holtz, Katharina; Klepzig, Kai; Neubert, Jörg; Horn, Ulrike; Domin, Martin; Hamm, Alfons O; Lotze, Martin

2016-01-01

Background: The particular function of the left anterior human insula on emotional arousal has been illustrated with several case studies. Only after left hemispheric insula lesions, patients lose their pleasure in habits such as listening to joyful music. In functional magnetic resonance imaging studies (fMRI) activation in the left anterior insula has been associated with both processing of emotional valence and arousal. Tight interactions with different areas of the prefrontal cortex are involved in bodily response monitoring and cognitive appraisal of a given stimulus. Therefore, a large left hemispheric lesion including the left insula should impair the bodily response of chill experience (objective chill response) but leave the cognitive aspects of chill processing (subjective chill response) unaffected. Methods: We investigated a patient (MC) with a complete left hemispheric media cerebral artery stroke, testing fMRI representation of pleasant (music) and unpleasant (harsh sounds) chill response. Results: Although chill response to both pleasant and unpleasant rated sounds was confirmed verbally at passages also rated as chilling by healthy participants, skin conductance response was almost absent in MC. For a healthy control (HC) objective and subjective chill response was positively associated. Bilateral prefrontal fMRI-response to chill stimuli was sustained in MC whereas insula activation restricted to the right hemisphere. Diffusion imaging together with lesion maps revealed that left lateral tracts were completely damaged but medial prefrontal structures were intact. Conclusion: With this case study we demonstrate how bodily response and cognitive appraisal are differentially participating in the internal monitor of chill response.

Lateralization and Binaural Interaction of Middle-Latency and Late-Brainstem Components of the Auditory Evoked Response.

PubMed

Dykstra, Andrew R; Burchard, Daniel; Starzynski, Christian; Riedel, Helmut; Rupp, Andre; Gutschalk, Alexander

2016-08-01

We used magnetoencephalography to examine lateralization and binaural interaction of the middle-latency and late-brainstem components of the auditory evoked response (the MLR and SN10, respectively). Click stimuli were presented either monaurally, or binaurally with left- or right-leading interaural time differences (ITDs). While early MLR components, including the N19 and P30, were larger for monaural stimuli presented contralaterally (by approximately 30 and 36 % in the left and right hemispheres, respectively), later components, including the N40 and P50, were larger ipsilaterally. In contrast, MLRs elicited by binaural clicks with left- or right-leading ITDs did not differ. Depending on filter settings, weak binaural interaction could be observed as early as the P13 but was clearly much larger for later components, beginning at the P30, indicating some degree of binaural linearity up to early stages of cortical processing. The SN10, an obscure late-brainstem component, was observed consistently in individuals and showed linear binaural additivity. The results indicate that while the MLR is lateralized in response to monaural stimuli-and not ITDs-this lateralization reverses from primarily contralateral to primarily ipsilateral as early as 40 ms post stimulus and is never as large as that seen with fMRI.

Left cortical specialization for visual letter strings predicts rudimentary knowledge of letter-sound association in preschoolers

PubMed Central

Lochy, Aliette; Van Reybroeck, Marie; Rossion, Bruno

2016-01-01

Reading, one of the most important cultural inventions of human society, critically depends on posterior brain areas of the left hemisphere in proficient adult readers. In children, this left hemispheric cortical specialization for letter strings is typically detected only after approximately 1 y of formal schooling and reading acquisition. Here, we recorded scalp electrophysiological (EEG) brain responses in 5-y-old (n = 40) prereaders presented with letter strings appearing every five items in rapid streams of pseudofonts (6 items per second). Within 2 min of recording only, letter strings evoked a robust specific response over the left occipito-temporal cortex at the predefined frequency of 1.2 Hz (i.e., 6 Hz/5). Interindividual differences in the amplitude of this electrophysiological response are significantly related to letter knowledge, a preschool predictor of later reading ability. These results point to the high potential of this rapidly collected behavior-free measure to assess reading ability in developmental populations. These findings were replicated in a second experiment (n = 26 preschool children), where familiar symbols and line drawings of objects evoked right-lateralized and bilaterally specific responses, respectively, showing the specificity of the early left hemispheric dominance for letter strings. Collectively, these findings indicate that limited knowledge of print in young children, before formal education, is sufficient to develop specialized left lateralized neuronal circuits, thereby pointing to an early onset and rapid impact of left hemispheric reentrant sound mapping on posterior cortical development. PMID:27402739

The effect of mental alerting on peripheral vestibular nystagmus during spontaneous, gaze (30 degrees left, 30 degrees right) and body positional (left & right lateral lying) testing using electronystagmography (ENG).

PubMed

McGovern, Tracey N; Fitzgerald, John E

2008-10-01

The performance of mental alerting during caloric testing has always been considered important, however its use/benefit during electronystagmography (ENG)/videonystagmography (VNG) testing has been questioned. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of mental alerting tasks on peripheral type vestibular nystagmus recorded during ENG. Thirty patients with significant spontaneous/gaze or positional nystagmus (slow phase velocity >or= 6 degrees /s) were recruited from consecutive referrals for vestibular assessment. Nystagmus was recorded by ENG both in the presence and absence of mental alerting for each patient. Investigation of nystagmus by analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significantly larger nystagmus (higher value SPV) with mental alerting than with no alerting (p<0.001), and for some patients nystagmus traces were reduced to a flat line (no nystagmus) with no alerting. The study demonstrates the importance of mental alerting in helping overcome central suppression of nystagmus and highlights its importance to help identify peripheral type nystagmus during ENG.

2. A 1993 'rephotograph' of the 1917 context view (WA203A1) ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

2. A 1993 're-photograph' of the 1917 context view (WA-203-A-1) looking east along Farragut Avenue. Building 78 is the brick building on right. Building 59 (Pattern Shop) is the brick building on left side of street, just beyond the tallest modern building. The 1917 view was taken from a hill which was later removed. The 1993 view was taken from a lift at the estimated height/position of the former hill. - Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Administration Building, Farragut Avenue, Bremerton, Kitsap County, WA

Formal thought disorders: from phenomenology to neurobiology.

PubMed

Kircher, Tilo; Bröhl, Henrike; Meier, Felicitas; Engelen, Jennifer

2018-06-01

Formal thought disorder (FTD) is present in most psychiatric disorders and in some healthy individuals. In this Review, we present a comprehensive, integrative, and multilevel account of what is known about FTD, covering genetic, cellular, and neurotransmitter effects, environmental influences, experimental psychology and neuropsychology, brain imaging, phenomenology, linguistics, and treatment. FTD is a dimensional, phenomenologically defined construct, which can be clinically subdivided into positive versus negative and objective versus subjective symptom clusters. Because FTDs have been traditionally linked to schizophrenia, studies in other diagnoses are scarce. Aetiologically, FTD is the only symptom under genetic influence in schizophrenia as shown in linkage studies, but familial communication patterns (allusive thinking) have also been associated with the condition. Positive FTDs are related to synaptic rarefication in the glutamate system of the superior and middle lateral temporal cortices. Cortical volume of the left superior temporal gyrus is decreased in patients with schizophrenia who have positive FTD in structural MRI studies and shows reversed hemispheric (right more than left) activation in functional MRI experiments during speech production. Semantic network dysfunction in positive FTD has been demonstrated in experiments of indirect semantic hyperpriming (reaction time). In acute positive FTD, antipsychotics are effective, but a subgroup of patients have treatment-resistant, chronic, positive or negative FTD. Specific psychotherapy as treatment for FTD has not yet been developed. With this solid data on the pathogenesis of FTD, we can now implement clinical studies to treat this condition. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Muscle strength of the cervical and lumbar spine in triathletes].

PubMed

Miltner, O; Siebert, C H; Müller-Rath, R; Kieffer, O

2010-12-01

The goal of this study was to analyse the muscle strength of the cervical and lumbar spine in ironman triathletes. The values were compared to the results obtained from a reference group. The test of the triathletes was carried out in an attempt to define a specific strength profile for these athletes. In this study, 20 long-distance triathletes (∅ 37.3 ± 7.6 years of age, ∅ 1.80 ± 0.1 m, ∅ 73.7 ± 6.0 kg) were evaluated with regard to their individual and sport-specific strengths of the cervical spine in 2 planes and of the trunk strengths in all 3 planes of motion. The trunk strength profile of the triathletes revealed good average results in the trunk extensors and the lateral flexors of the left trunk. The reference group is the data base of the company Proxomed®, Alzenau. It is based on results of 1045 untrained, symptom-free subjects of different ages. Lumbar extension: The extension of the force values shows no significant difference from the reference group. Lumbar flexion: The flexion tests show highly significantly lower force values (5.025 ± 0.81 N/kg vs. 6.67 ± 0.6 N/kg) than the reference group. Flexion/extension: In the sagittal plane values for the triathletes demonstrate an imbalance in muscle strength ratios. The abdominal muscles turn in relation to the back extensor muscles too weakly to be very significant. Lumbar rotation: The force values of the athletes in both directions (right: 6.185 ± 1.46 N/kg, left: 7.1 ± 1.57 N/kg vs. 10.05 ± 0.34 N/kg) are highly significantly (p ≤ 0.001) lower than the reference values. Ratio of rotation left/right: The ratio of left/right rotation in the reference group is set at 1 and thus shows an equally strong force level between the two sides. Lumbar lateral flexion: The triathletes do not show any significant differences between the force values. Compared to the reference group there is no significant difference to the left side flexion. In the lateral bending the athletes have significantly better values than the reference group. Ratio of lateral left/right: In the reference group the ratio is set at 1. For triathletes, it shows an average value of 0.93. This difference is not significant. Cervical extension: The extension of the force values (1.96 ± 0.59 N/kg vs. 3.03 ± 0.24 N/kg) shows a highly significant difference from the reference group. Cervical flexion: In flexion (1.3 ± 0.42 N/kg vs. 2.17 ± 0.22 N/kg) triathletes have highly significantly lower strength values than the reference group. Flexion/extension: The triathletes did not differ significantly from the reference values (0.69 ± 0.23 and 0.72 ± 0.08). Lateral cervical spine: In comparison to the reference group (left: 1.67 ± 0.48 N/kg, right: 1.55 ± 0.46 N/kg vs. 2.36 ± 0.15 N/kg) in which there is left/right lateral flexion, there is a highly significant difference. Right lateral flexion is weaker than the left. Ratio of lateral left/right: The triathletes have a significant imbalance in the lateral flexion of the cervical spine compared to the reference group (1.07 ± 0.15 to 1). In conclusion, in the triathlon there is a specific stress that is obviously not an adequate stimulus for the muscles of the cervical spine in order to achieve a balanced musculature and the athletes should be advised to practice a preventive approach with regard to these areas. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Effect of rolling bed on decubitus in bedridden nursing home patients.

PubMed

Izutsu, T; Matsui, T; Satoh, T; Tsuji, T; Sasaki, H

1998-02-01

Decubitus is one of the most difficult management problems encountered in bedridden elderly patients. Relief of pressure over decubitus is the most important principle of the management. We developed a rolling air cushion bed which turns the patient to a 15-degree inclined lateral position with an inflating ripple mattress, a longitudinally aligned air inflatable tube. The position of the patients was changed between right and left laterals and to supine every 15 minutes automatically. Nineteen bedridden patients with decubitus used the rolling air cushion bed for 3 months and 12 bedridden patients with decubitus used a conventional bed and had their position changes every 2 hours by care givers. Severity of decubitus was divided into 4 grades and the decubitus significantly improved from 2.8 (S.E. 0.2) to 2.0 (S.E. 0.3) after 3 months in patients using the rolling air cushion bed, while in patients with conventional beds it changed from 3.0 (S.E. 0.2) to 3.2 (S.E. 0.2) (not statistically significant). We suggest that the rolling air cushion bed would be beneficial to decubitus relief in bedridden elderly and may relieve labor by care givers.

Long-term evaluation of posterior lateral meniscus root tears left in situ at the time of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

PubMed

Shelbourne, K Donald; Roberson, Troy A; Gray, Tinker

2011-07-01

The long-term radiographic and subjective results of patients with posterior lateral meniscus root tears left in situ at the time of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction has not been reported. The authors hypothesized that patients who had posterior lateral meniscus root tears left in situ would have statistically significantly lower subjective scores and greater joint-space narrowing as compared with a control group. Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Thirty-three patients who had isolated posterior lateral meniscus root tear and >5 years objective and subjective follow-up were evaluated and compared with a matched control group without meniscal tears based on sex, chronicity of tear, age, and follow-up time. Patients were evaluated subjectively and objectively using the International Knee Documentation Committee criteria. The mean objective follow-up time was 10.6 ± 4.5 years. The mean subjective total score was 84.6 ± 14 in the study group versus 90.5 ± 13 in the control group (P = .09). Radiographs showed lateral joint-space narrowing rated as normal in 19, mild in 10, moderate in 3, and severe in 1 versus the control group, which was normal in 28 and mild in 5 patients. The measured amount of lateral joint-space narrowing compared with the other knee was 1.0 ± 1.6 mm in the study group versus 0 ± 1.1 mm in the controls on 45° flexed posteroanterior radiographs (P < .006). At a mean of 10 years' follow-up of posterior lateral meniscus root tears left in situ, mild lateral joint-space narrowing was measured without significant differences in subjective or objective scores compared with controls. This study provides a baseline that can be used to compare the results of procedures used to treat these tears in other manners.

Where is your shoulder? Neural correlates of localizing others' body parts.

PubMed

Felician, Olivier; Anton, Jean-Luc; Nazarian, Bruno; Roth, Muriel; Roll, Jean-Pierre; Romaiguère, Patricia

2009-07-01

Neuropsychological studies, based on pointing to body parts paradigms, suggest that left posterior parietal lobe is involved in the visual processing of other persons' bodies. In addition, some patients have been found with mild deficit when dealing with abstract human representations but marked impairment with realistically represented bodies, suggesting that this processing could be modulated by the abstraction level of the body to be analyzed. These issues were examined in the present fMRI experiment, designed to evaluate the effects of visually processing human bodies of different abstraction levels on brain activity. The human specificity of the studied processes was assessed using whole-body representations of humans and of dogs, while the effects of the abstraction level of the representation were assessed using drawings, photographs, and videos. To assess the effect of species and stimulus complexity on BOLD signal, we performed a two-way ANOVA with factors species (human versus animal) and stimulus complexity (drawings, photographs and videos). When pointing to body parts irrespective of the stimulus complexity, we observed a positive effect of humans upon animals in the left angular gyrus (BA 39), as suggested by lesion studies. This effect was also present in midline cortical structures including mesial prefrontal, anterior cingulate and precuneal regions. When pointing to body parts irrespective of the species to be processed, we observed a positive effect of videos upon photographs and drawings in the right superior parietal lobule (BA 7), and bilaterally in the superior temporal sulcus, the supramarginal gyrus (BA 40) and the lateral extrastriate visual cortex (including the "extrastriate body area"). Taken together, these data suggest that, in comparison with other mammalians, the visual processing of other humans' bodies is associated with left angular gyrus activity, but also with midline structures commonly implicated in self-reference. They also suggest a role of the lateral extrastriate cortex in the processing of dynamic and biologically relevant body representations.

Regional Changes in Word-Production Laterality after a Naming Treatment Designed to Produce a Rightward Shift in Frontal Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crosson, Bruce; Moore, Anna Bacon; McGregor, Keith M.; Chang, Yu-Ling; Benjamin, Michelle; Gopinath, Kaundinya; Sherod, Megan E.; Wierenga, Christina E.; Peck, Kyung K.; Briggs, Richard W.; Rothi, Leslie J. Gonzalez; White, Keith D.

2009-01-01

Five nonfluent aphasia patients participated in a picture-naming treatment that used an intention manipulation (opening a box and pressing a button on a device in the box with the left hand) to initiate naming trials and was designed to re-lateralize word production mechanisms from the left to the right frontal lobe. To test the underlying…

Unilateral external and internal ophthalmoplegia caused by intracranial meningioma in a dog.

PubMed

Larocca, R.D.

2000-01-01

Unilateral internal and external ophthalmoplegia caused by an intracranial meningioma occurred in a 15-year-old Belgian Sheepdog. The dog initially presented with ventro-lateral strabismus of the left eye, and ptosis of the left upper eyelid. Anisocoria was present with the left pupil fixed and dilated. Both eyes were visual. Neuro-ophthalmic evaluation revealed a lesion located in the left oculomotor nerve. Pharmacological testing with dilute pilocarpine (0.1% in artificial tears) revealed evidence of parasympathetic denervation of the left eye. Further evaluation via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a well-defined mass to the left of midline and lateral to the sella turcica. An attempt was made to excise/debulk the mass due to worsening conditions and the dog died the following day. Necropsy revealed a mass of randomly arranged bundles and streams of spindle cells. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated a strong avidity for vimentin and a negative response for S-100 protein. These findings suggest a diagnosis of meningioma.

Lateralization of visually guided detour behaviour in the common chameleon, Chamaeleo chameleon, a reptile with highly independent eye movements.

PubMed

Lustig, Avichai; Ketter-Katz, Hadas; Katzir, Gadi

2013-11-01

Chameleons (Chamaeleonidae, reptilia), in common with most ectotherms, show full optic nerve decussation and sparse inter-hemispheric commissures. Chameleons are unique in their capacity for highly independent, large-amplitude eye movements. We address the question: Do common chameleons, Chamaeleo chameleon, during detour, show patterns of lateralization of motion and of eye use that differ from those shown by other ectotherms? To reach a target (prey) in passing an obstacle in a Y-maze, chameleons were required to make a left or a right detour. We analyzed the direction of detours and eye use and found that: (i) individuals differed in their preferred detour direction, (ii) eye use was lateralized at the group level, with significantly longer durations of viewing the target with the right eye, compared with the left eye, (iii) during left side, but not during right side, detours the durations of viewing the target with the right eye were significantly longer than the durations with the left eye. Thus, despite the uniqueness of chameleons' visual system, they display patterns of lateralization of motion and of eye use, typical of other ectotherms. These findings are discussed in relation to hemispheric functions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Global topological dominance in the left hemisphere.

PubMed

Wang, Bo; Zhou, Tian Gang; Zhuo, Yan; Chen, Lin

2007-12-26

A series of experiments with right-handers demonstrated that the left hemisphere (LH) is reliably and consistently superior to the right hemisphere (RH) for global topological perception. These experiments generalized the topological account of lateralization to different kinds of topological properties (including holes, inside/outside relation, and "presence vs. absence") in comparison with a broad spectrum of geometric properties, including orientation, distance, size, mirror-symmetry, parallelism, collinearity, etc. The stimuli and paradigms used were also designed to prevent subjects from using various nontopological properties in performing the tasks of topological discrimination. Furthermore, task factors commonly considered in the study of hemispheric asymmetry, such as response latency vs. accuracy, vertical vs. horizontal presentation, detection vs. recognition, and simultaneous vs. sequential judgment, were manipulated to not be confounding factors. Moreover, left-handed subjects were tested and showed the right lateralization of topological perception, in the opposite direction of lateralization compared with right-handers. In addition, the functional magnetic resonance imaging measure revealed that only a region in the left temporal gyrus was consistently more activated across subjects in the task of topological discrimination, consistent with the behavioral results. In summary, the global topological dominance in the LH is well supported by the converging evidence from the variety of paradigms and techniques, and it suggests a unified solution to the current major controversies on visual lateralization.

Initiation of forward gait with lateral occurrence of emotional stimuli: general findings and relevance for pedestrians crossing roads.

PubMed

Caffier, D; Gillet, C; Heurley, L P; Bourrelly, A; Barbier, F; Naveteur, J

2017-03-01

With reference to theoretical models regarding links between emotions and actions, the present study examined whether the lateral occurrence of an emotional stimulus influences spatial and temporal parameters of gait initiation in 18 younger and 18 older healthy adults. In order to simulate road-crossing hazard for pedestrians, slides of approaching cars were used and they were presented in counterbalanced order with threatening slides from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) and control slides of safe walking areas. Each slide was presented on the left side of the participant once the first step was initiated. The results evidenced medio-lateral shifts to the left for the first step (right foot) and to the right for the second step (left foot). These shifts were both modulated by the slide contents in such a way that the resulting distance between the screen and the foot (right or left) was larger with the IAPS and traffic slides than with the control slides. The slides did not affect the base of support, step length, step velocity and time of double support. Advancing age influenced the subjective impact of the slides and gait characteristics, but did not modulate medio-lateral shifts. The data extend evidence of fast, emotional modulation of stepping, with theoretical and applied consequences.

Lateralized theta wave connectivity and language performance in 2- to 5-year-old children.

PubMed

Kikuchi, Mitsuru; Shitamichi, Kiyomi; Yoshimura, Yuko; Ueno, Sanae; Remijn, Gerard B; Hirosawa, Tetsu; Munesue, Toshio; Tsubokawa, Tsunehisa; Haruta, Yasuhiro; Oi, Manabu; Higashida, Haruhiro; Minabe, Yoshio

2011-10-19

Recent neuroimaging studies support the view that a left-lateralized brain network is crucial for language development in children. However, no previous studies have demonstrated a clear link between lateralized brain functional network and language performance in preschool children. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a noninvasive brain imaging technique and is a practical neuroimaging method for use in young children. MEG produces a reference-free signal, and is therefore an ideal tool to compute coherence between two distant cortical rhythms. In the present study, using a custom child-sized MEG system, we investigated brain networks while 78 right-handed preschool human children (32-64 months; 96% were 3-4 years old) listened to stories with moving images. The results indicated that left dominance of parietotemporal coherence in theta band activity (6-8 Hz) was specifically correlated with higher performance of language-related tasks, whereas this laterality was not correlated with nonverbal cognitive performance, chronological age, or head circumference. Power analyses did not reveal any specific frequencies that contributed to higher language performance. Our results suggest that it is not the left dominance in theta oscillation per se, but the left-dominant phase-locked connectivity via theta oscillation that contributes to the development of language ability in young children.

Alexia and agraphia with lesions of the angular and supramarginal gyri: evidence for the disruption of sequential processing.

PubMed

Sakurai, Yasuhisa; Asami, Masahiko; Mannen, Toru

2010-01-15

To determine the features of alexia or agraphia with a left angular or supramarginal gyrus lesion. We assessed the reading and writing abilities of three patients using kanji (Japanese morphograms) and kana (Japanese syllabograms). Patient 1 showed kana alexia and kanji agraphia following a hemorrhage in the left angular gyrus and the adjacent lateral occipital gyri. Patient 2 presented with minimal pure agraphia for both kanji and kana after an infarction in the left angular gyrus involving part of the supramarginal gyrus. Patient 3 also showed moderate pure agraphia for both kanji and kana after an infarction in the left supramarginal and postcentral gyri. All three patients made transposition errors (changing of sequential order of kana characters) in reading. Patient 1 showed letter-by-letter reading and a word-length effect and made substitution errors (changing hiragana [one form of kana] characters in a word to katakana [another form of kana] characters and vice versa) in writing. Alexia occurs as "angular" alexia only when the lesion involves the adjacent lateral occipital gyri. Transposition errors suggest disrupted sequential phonological processing from the angular and lateral occipital gyri to the supramarginal gyrus. Substitution errors suggest impaired allographic conversion between hiragana and katakana attributable to a dysfunction in the angular/lateral occipital gyri.

Motor-symptom laterality affects acquisition in Parkinson's disease: A cognitive and functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

PubMed

Huang, Pei; Tan, Yu-Yan; Liu, Dong-Qiang; Herzallah, Mohammad M; Lapidow, Elizabeth; Wang, Ying; Zang, Yu-Feng; Gluck, Mark A; Chen, Sheng-Di

2017-07-01

Asymmetric onset of motor symptoms in PD can affect cognitive function. We examined whether motor-symptom laterality could affect feedback-based associative learning and explored its underlying neural mechanism by functional magnetic resonance imaging in PD patients. We recruited 63 early-stage medication-naïve PD patients (29 left-onset medication-naïve patients, 34 right-onset medication-naïve patients) and 38 matched normal controls. Subjects completed an acquired equivalence task (including acquisition, retention, and generalization) and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. Learning accuracy and response time in each phase of the task were recorded for behavioral measures. Regional homogeneity was used to analyze resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data, with regional homogeneity lateralization to evaluate hemispheric functional asymmetry in the striatum. Left-onset patients made significantly more errors in acquisition (feedback-based associative learning) than right-onset patients and normal controls, whereas right-onset patients performed as well as normal controls. There was no significant difference among these three groups in the accuracy of either retention or generalization phase. The three groups did not show significant differences in response time. In the left-onset group, there was an inverse relationship between acquisition errors and regional homogeneity in the right dorsal rostral putamen. There were no significant regional homogeneity changes in either the left or the right dorsal rostral putamen in right-onset patients when compared to controls. Motor-symptom laterality could affect feedback-based associative learning in PD, with left-onset medication-naïve patients being selectively impaired. Dysfunction in the right dorsal rostral putamen may underlie the observed deficit in associative learning in patients with left-sided onset.© 2016 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. © 2017 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Asymmetry in the epithalamus of vertebrates

PubMed Central

L. CONCHA, MIGUEL; W. WILSON, STEPHEN

2001-01-01

The epithalamus is a major subdivision of the diencephalon constituted by the habenular nuclei and pineal complex. Structural asymmetries in this region are widespread amongst vertebrates and involve differences in size, neuronal organisation, neurochemistry and connectivity. In species that possess a photoreceptive parapineal organ, this structure projects asymmetrically to the left habenula, and in teleosts it is also situated on the left side of the brain. Asymmetries in size between the left and right sides of the habenula are often associated with asymmetries in neuronal organisation, although these two types of asymmetry follow different evolutionary courses. While the former is more conspicuous in fishes (with the exception of teleosts), asymmetries in neuronal organisation are more robust in amphibia and reptiles. Connectivity of the parapineal organ with the left habenula is not always coupled with asymmetries in habenular size and/or neuronal organisation suggesting that, at least in some species, assignment of parapineal and habenular asymmetries may be independent events. The evolutionary origins of epithalamic structures are uncertain but asymmetry in this region is likely to have existed at the origin of the vertebrate, perhaps even the chordate, lineage. In at least some extant vertebrate species, epithalamic asymmetries are established early in development, suggesting a genetic regulation of asymmetry. In some cases, epigenetic factors such as hormones also influence the development of sexually dimorphic habenular asymmetries. Although the genetic and developmental mechanisms by which neuroanatomical asymmetries are established remain obscure, some clues regarding the mechanisms underlying laterality decisions have recently come from studies in zebrafish. The Nodal signalling pathway regulates laterality by biasing an otherwise stochastic laterality decision to the left side of the epithalamus. This genetic mechanism ensures a consistency of epithalamic laterality within the population. Between species, the laterality of asymmetry is variable and a clear evolutionary picture is missing. We propose that epithalamic structural asymmetries per se and not the laterality of these asymmetries are important for the behaviour of individuals within a species. A consistency of the laterality within a population may play a role in social behaviours between individuals of the species. PMID:11523830

Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia associated with metastatic breast cancer: case report and literature review.

PubMed

Takabatake, Daisuke; Oishi, Kazuyuki

2016-01-01

Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (MAHA) is a mechanical hemolytic anemia characterized by the emergence of fragmented red cells in peripheral blood. Here, we report a case of breast cancer associated with cancer-related (CR)-MAHA along with a literature review. The patient was a 54-year-old woman who made an emergency visit to our hospital because of low back pain, shoulder pain, visual impairment, and anemia. She was diagnosed with stage IV, ER-positive, PgR-positive, HER2-negative left breast cancer (invasive lobular carcinoma), with left axillary adenopathy, metastasis to the soft tissue of the orbital region, multiple bone metastases, pleural dissemination, and metastasis to the stomach and para-aortic lymph nodes. Chemotherapy was initiated successfully; tumor marker levels normalized and the visceral metastases almost disappeared. Hormone therapy was administered for maintenance. Two and a half years later, rapid elevation in tumor marker levels and severe anemia were noted, and fragmented red cells and poikilocytes emerged in the peripheral blood. Positron emission tomography-computed tomography and bone scintigraphy revealed multiple bone metastases, but no evidence of visceral metastasis. CR-MAHA associated with multiple bone metastases was diagnosed, and Paclitaxel chemotherapy was initiated with frequent blood transfusions. Her anemia gradually improved, with a decrease in tumor marker levels and the number of blood transfusions. Three months later, tumor marker levels increased again. Because the anemia was also exacerbated, chemotherapy was changed to eribulin. Tumor marker levels temporally decreased, and the anemia tended to improve, but 3 months later, the levels were elevated again and the anemia was exacerbated. A switch to another regimen was planned, but best supportive care was chosen instead because of rapid deterioration of liver function. The patient died a month later. CR-MAHA is thought to have a different pathologic mechanism from TTP or HUS. Although CR-MAHA is a clinical condition associated with a very poor prognosis, we consider it controllable for long period by rapid introduction of chemotherapy in many cases. CR-MAHA is a nearly oncologic emergency that medical oncologists need to be able to recognize even though it rarely occurs in breast cancer.

Sexual dimorphism of sulcal length asymmetry in the cerebrum of adult cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis).

PubMed

Imai, Noritaka; Sawada, Kazuhiko; Fukunishi, Katsuhiro; Sakata-Haga, Hiromi; Fukui, Yoshihiro

2011-12-01

The present study aimed to quantitatively clarify the gross anatomical asymmetry and sexual dimorphism of the cerebral hemispheres of cynomolgus monkeys. While the fronto-occipital length of the right and left cerebral hemispheres was not different between sexes, a statistically significant rightward asymmetry was detected in the cerebral width at the perisylvian region in females, but not in males (narrower width of the left side in the females). An asymmetry quotient of the sulcal lengths revealed a rightward asymmetry in the inferior occipital sulcus and a leftward asymmetry in the central and intraparietal sulci in both sexes. However, the laterality of the lengths of other sulci was different for males and females. The arcuate sulcus was directed rightward in males but there was no rightward bias in females. Interestingly, the principle sulcus and lateral fissure were left-lateralized in the males, but right-lateralized in the females. The results suggest that lateralization patterns are regionally and sexually different in the cerebrum of cynomolgus monkeys. The present results provide a reference for quantitatively evaluating the normality of the cerebral cortical morphology in cynomolgus monkeys. © 2011 The Authors. Congenital Anomalies © 2011 Japanese Teratology Society.

In the face of emotions: event-related potentials in supraliminal and subliminal facial expression recognition.

PubMed

Balconi, Michela; Lucchiari, Claudio

2005-02-01

Is facial expression recognition marked by specific event-related potentials (ERPs) effects? Are conscious and unconscious elaborations of emotional facial stimuli qualitatively different processes? In Experiment 1, ERPs elicited by supraliminal stimuli were recorded when 21 participants viewed emotional facial expressions of four emotions and a neutral stimulus. Two ERP components (N2 and P3) were analyzed for their peak amplitude and latency measures. First, emotional face-specificity was observed for the negative deflection N2, whereas P3 was not affected by the content of the stimulus (emotional or neutral). A more posterior distribution of ERPs was found for N2. Moreover, a lateralization effect was revealed for negative (right lateralization) and positive (left lateralization) facial expressions. In Experiment 2 (20 participants), 1-ms subliminal stimulation was carried out. Unaware information processing was revealed to be quite similar to aware information processing for peak amplitude but not for latency. In fact, unconscious stimulation produced a more delayed peak variation than conscious stimulation.

Combined lateral rectus augmented transposition and inferior rectus recession for monocular elevation deficiency.

PubMed

Jayakumar, Manjula; Kumar, Dhivya Ashok; Agarwal, Amar

2018-04-01

We report the case of a 21-year-old woman who presented with a drooping right upper eyelid and smaller-appearing right eye, evident since birth. Her visual acuity was 20/30 in the right eye and 20/20 in the left eye. In primary gaze she had a hypotropia of 25 Δ , with a marked elevation limitation and associated true upper lid ptosis of 3 mm. Under local anesthesia, the lateral rectus muscle was transposed to the superior rectus muscle and was augmented by a nonabsorbable suture attaching the superior rectus muscle and lateral rectus muscle 8 mm posterior to the insertion, accompanied by an inferior rectus recession. One year after surgery she was orthophoric in primary position and showed improvement in elevation. The surgical procedure can be performed at the same time as the inferior rectus recession and reduces the risk of anterior segment ischemia. Copyright © 2018 American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Levels of integration in cognitive control and sequence processing in the prefrontal cortex.

PubMed

Bahlmann, Jörg; Korb, Franziska M; Gratton, Caterina; Friederici, Angela D

2012-01-01

Cognitive control is necessary to flexibly act in changing environments. Sequence processing is needed in language comprehension to build the syntactic structure in sentences. Functional imaging studies suggest that sequence processing engages the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC). In contrast, cognitive control processes additionally recruit bilateral rostral lateral PFC regions. The present study aimed to investigate these two types of processes in one experimental paradigm. Sequence processing was manipulated using two different sequencing rules varying in complexity. Cognitive control was varied with different cue-sets that determined the choice of a sequencing rule. Univariate analyses revealed distinct PFC regions for the two types of processing (i.e. sequence processing: left ventrolateral PFC and cognitive control processing: bilateral dorsolateral and rostral PFC). Moreover, in a common brain network (including left lateral PFC and intraparietal sulcus) no interaction between sequence and cognitive control processing was observed. In contrast, a multivariate pattern analysis revealed an interaction of sequence and cognitive control processing, such that voxels in left lateral PFC and parietal cortex showed different tuning functions for tasks involving different sequencing and cognitive control demands. These results suggest that the difference between the process of rule selection (i.e. cognitive control) and the process of rule-based sequencing (i.e. sequence processing) find their neuronal underpinnings in distinct activation patterns in lateral PFC. Moreover, the combination of rule selection and rule sequencing can shape the response of neurons in lateral PFC and parietal cortex.

Levels of Integration in Cognitive Control and Sequence Processing in the Prefrontal Cortex

PubMed Central

Bahlmann, Jörg; Korb, Franziska M.; Gratton, Caterina; Friederici, Angela D.

2012-01-01

Cognitive control is necessary to flexibly act in changing environments. Sequence processing is needed in language comprehension to build the syntactic structure in sentences. Functional imaging studies suggest that sequence processing engages the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC). In contrast, cognitive control processes additionally recruit bilateral rostral lateral PFC regions. The present study aimed to investigate these two types of processes in one experimental paradigm. Sequence processing was manipulated using two different sequencing rules varying in complexity. Cognitive control was varied with different cue-sets that determined the choice of a sequencing rule. Univariate analyses revealed distinct PFC regions for the two types of processing (i.e. sequence processing: left ventrolateral PFC and cognitive control processing: bilateral dorsolateral and rostral PFC). Moreover, in a common brain network (including left lateral PFC and intraparietal sulcus) no interaction between sequence and cognitive control processing was observed. In contrast, a multivariate pattern analysis revealed an interaction of sequence and cognitive control processing, such that voxels in left lateral PFC and parietal cortex showed different tuning functions for tasks involving different sequencing and cognitive control demands. These results suggest that the difference between the process of rule selection (i.e. cognitive control) and the process of rule-based sequencing (i.e. sequence processing) find their neuronal underpinnings in distinct activation patterns in lateral PFC. Moreover, the combination of rule selection and rule sequencing can shape the response of neurons in lateral PFC and parietal cortex. PMID:22952762

Optic chiasm in the species of order Clupeiformes, family Clupeidae: optic chiasm of Spratelloides gracilis shows an opposite laterality to that of Etrumeus teres.

PubMed

Mogi, Kazue; Misawa, Kazuya; Utsunomiya, Kentaro; Kawada, Yuta; Yamazaki, Toshihisa; Takeuchi, Shigeo; Toyoizumi, Ryuji

2009-09-01

In most teleost fishes, the optic nerves decussate completely as they project to the mesencephalic region. Examination of the decussation pattern of 25 species from 11 different orders in Pisces revealed that each species shows a specific chiasmic type. In 11 species out of the 25, laterality of the chiasmic pattern was not determined; in half of the individuals examined, the left optic nerve ran dorsally to the right optic nerve, while in the other half, the right optic nerve was dorsal. In eight other species the optic nerves from both eyes branched into several bundles at the chiasmic point, and intercalated to form a complicated decussation pattern. In the present study we report our findings that Spratelloides gracilis, of the order Clupeiformes, family Clupeidae, shows a particular laterality of decussation: the left optic nerve ran dorsally to the right (n=200/202). In contrast, Etrumeus teres, of the same order and family, had a strong preference of the opposite (complementary) chiasmic pattern to that of S. gracilis (n=59/59), revealing that these two species display opposite left-right optic chiasm patterning. As far as we investigated, other species of Clupeiformes have not shown left-right preference in the decussation pattern. We conclude that the opposite laterality of the optic chiasms of these two closely related species, S. gracilis and E. teres, enables investigation of species-specific laterality in fishes of symmetric shapes.

Impairments in proverb interpretation following focal frontal lobe lesions.

PubMed

Murphy, Patrick; Shallice, Tim; Robinson, Gail; MacPherson, Sarah E; Turner, Martha; Woollett, Katherine; Bozzali, Marco; Cipolotti, Lisa

2013-09-01

The proverb interpretation task (PIT) is often used in clinical settings to evaluate frontal "executive" dysfunction. However, only a relatively small number of studies have investigated the relationship between frontal lobe lesions and performance on the PIT. We compared 52 patients with unselected focal frontal lobe lesions with 52 closely matched healthy controls on a proverb interpretation task. Participants also completed a battery of neuropsychological tests, including a fluid intelligence task (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices). Lesions were firstly analysed according to a standard left/right sub-division. Secondly, a finer-grained analysis compared the performance of patients with medial, left lateral and right lateral lesions with healthy controls. Thirdly, a contrast of specific frontal subgroups compared the performance of patients with medial lesions with patients with lateral frontal lesions. The results showed that patients with left frontal lesions were significantly impaired on the PIT, while in patients with right frontal lesions the impairments approached significance. Medial frontal patients were the only frontal subgroup impaired on the PIT, relative to healthy controls and lateral frontal patients. Interestingly, an error analysis indicated that a significantly higher number of concrete responses were found in the left lateral subgroup compared to healthy controls. We found no correlation between scores on the PIT and on the fluid intelligence task. Overall our results suggest that specific regions of the frontal lobes contribute to the performance on the PIT. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Head rotation during internal jugular vein cannulation and the risk of carotid artery puncture.

PubMed

Sulek, C A; Gravenstein, N; Blackshear, R H; Weiss, L

1996-01-01

We undertook a prospective laboratory study to examine the effect of head position on the relative positions of the carotid artery and the internal jugular vein (IJV). Volunteers (n = 12) from departmental staff, 18-60 yr of age, who had never undergone cannulation of the IJV underwent imaging of their IJV and carotid artery. With the subject in a 15 degrees Trendelenburg position, two-dimensional ultrasound images of the IJV and the carotid artery were obtained on the left and right sides of the neck at 2 and 4 cm from the clavicle along the lateral border of the sternal head of the sternocleidomastoid muscle at 0 degrees, 40 degrees, and 80 degrees of head rotation from the midline. The percent overlap of the carotid artery and IJV increased significantly at 40 degrees and 80 degrees head rotation to both the right and left (P < 0.05). Data from 2 and 4 cm above the clavicle did not differ and were pooled. The percent overlap was larger on the left than the right only with 80 degrees of head rotation (P < 0.05). The increased overlap of carotid artery and IJV with head rotation > 40 degrees increases the risk of inadvertent puncture of the carotid artery associated with the common occurrence of transfixion of the IJV before it is identified during needle withdrawal. The IJV frequently collapses with needle insertion. This may result in puncture of the posterior wall of the vessel, and thus of the carotid artery when the two vessels overlap. To decrease this risk, the head should be kept in as neutral a position as possible, that is < 40 degrees rotation, during IJV cannulation.

Laterality and mental disorders in the postgenomic age--A closer look at schizophrenia and language lateralization.

PubMed

Ocklenburg, Sebastian; Güntürkün, Onur; Hugdahl, Kenneth; Hirnstein, Marco

2015-12-01

Most people are right-handed and show left-hemispheric language lateralization, but a minority exhibits left-handedness and right-hemispheric language lateralization. This atypical laterality pattern is observed significantly more often in schizophrenia patients than in the general population, which led several authors to conclude that there is a genetic link between laterality and schizophrenia. It has even been suggested that a failure in the lateralization process, orchestrated by genes, could be the primary cause of schizophrenia. However, the molecular genetic evidence for a link between laterality and schizophrenia is weak. Recent genetic evidence indicates that schizophrenia is not a single disorder but a group of heritable disorders caused by different genotypic networks leading to distinct clinical symptoms. To uncover the link between schizophrenia and laterality we therefore suggest a paradigm shift where genetics are not mapped on schizophrenia as a whole but on discrete schizophrenia symptoms. In addition, we provide a critical evaluation of current theories on the genetic link between schizophrenia and brain asymmetry. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Behavioral Lateralization and Optimal Route Choice in Flying Budgerigars

PubMed Central

Bhagavatula, Partha S.; Claudianos, Charles; Ibbotson, Michael R.; Srinivasan, Mandyam V.

2014-01-01

Birds flying through a cluttered environment require the ability to choose routes that will take them through the environment safely and quickly. We have investigated some of the strategies by which they achieve this. We trained budgerigars to fly through a tunnel in which they encountered a barrier that offered two passages, positioned side by side, at the halfway point. When one of the passages was substantially wider than the other, the birds tended to fly through the wider passage to continue their transit to the end of the tunnel, regardless of whether this passage was on the right or the left. Evidently, the birds were selecting the safest and quickest route. However, when the two passages were of equal or nearly equal width, some individuals consistently preferred the left-hand passage, while others consistently preferred the passage on the right. Thus, the birds displayed idiosyncratic biases when choosing between alternative routes. Surprisingly - and unlike most of the instances in which behavioral lateralization has previously been discovered - the bias was found to vary from individual to individual, in its direction as well as its magnitude. This is very different from handedness in humans, where the majority of humans are right-handed, giving rise to a so-called ‘population’ bias. Our experimental results and mathematical model of this behavior suggest that individually varying lateralization, working in concert with a tendency to choose the wider aperture, can expedite the passage of a flock of birds through a cluttered environment. PMID:24603285

Social hierarchies and emotions: cortical prefrontal activity, facial feedback (EMG), and cognitive performance in a dynamic interaction.

PubMed

Balconi, Michela; Pagani, Silvia

2015-04-01

In the present research, we manipulated the perceived superior/inferior status during a competitive cognitive task. In two experiments, we created an explicit and strongly reinforced social hierarchy based on incidental rating on an attentional task. Based on our hypotheses, social rank may influence nonverbal cues (such as facial mimic related to emotional response), cortical lateralized activity in frontal areas (brain oscillations), and cognitive outcomes in response to rank modulation. Thus, the facial mimic (corrugators vs. zygomatic muscle activity), frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha, beta), and real cognitive performance [(error rate (ER); response times (RTs)] were considered. Specifically, a peer-group comparison was enrolled and an improved (experiment 1, N = 29) or decreased (experiment 2, N = 31) performance was artificially manipulated by the experimenter. Results showed a significant improved cognitive performance (decreased ER and RTs), an increased zygomatic activity (positive emotions), and a more prefrontal left-lateralized cortical response in the case of a perceived increased social ranking. On the contrary, a significant decreased cognitive performance (increased ER and RTs), an increased corrugators activity (negative emotions), and a less left-lateralized cortical response were observed as a consequence of a perceived decreased social ranking. Moreover, the correlational values revealed a consistent trend between behavioral (RTs) and EMG and EEG measures for both experiments. The present results suggest that social status not only guides social behavior, but it also influences cognitive processes and subjects' performance.

Sex Differences in Cerebral Laterality of Language and Visuospatial Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clements, A. M.; Rimrodt, S. L.; Abel, J. R.; Blankner, J. G.; Mostofsky, S. H.; Pekar, J. J.; Denckla, M. B.; Cutting, L. E.

2006-01-01

Sex differences on language and visuospatial tasks are of great interest, with differences in hemispheric laterality hypothesized to exist between males and females. Some functional imaging studies examining sex differences have shown that males are more left lateralized on language tasks and females are more right lateralized on visuospatial…

Individual differences in the preferred neck-resting position of Caribbean flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber).

PubMed

Anderson, Matthew J; Williams, Sarah A; O'Brien, Edward H

2009-01-01

When resting, flamingos often lay their heads along their backs. While in this position they must curve their necks to either the right or left of their midline. Observations of captive Caribbean flamingos at the Philadelphia Zoo (Philadelphia, PA, USA) were conducted in order to determine if individual birds would display consistent preferences in neck-resting position over multiple observations. While individual birds were shown to vary greatly in regards to the strength and direction of their preferences, a significant flock-level preference towards neck resting to the right was obtained. Analysis of individual flamingos revealed that 5 out of 17 birds displayed preferences that significantly differed from chance, with each of these birds preferring to rest their necks to the right. From the present data we can conclude that flamingos display behavioural laterality of neck-resting position at both the level of the group and that of the individual.

Partitioned transpression in the Triassic Aghdarband basin: evidence for a Cimmerian deformation in NE IRAN:

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zanchi, Andrea; Zanchetta, Stefano; Balini, Marco; Ghassemi, Mohammad Reza

2014-05-01

The Lower-Middle Triassic Aghdarband Basin, NE Iran, consists of a strongly deformed arc-related marine succession deposited along the southern margin of Eurasia (Turan domain) in a highly mobile tectonic context. The marine deposits are unconformably covered by Upper Triassic continental beds, marking the Cimmerian collision of Iran with Eurasia. The Aghdarband Basin is a key-area for the study of the Cimmerian events, as the Triassic units were severely folded and thrust short time after the collision and were unconformably covered by the gently deformed Middle Jurassic succession which seals the Cimmerian structures. The Triassic deposits form a north-verging thrust stack interacting with an important left-lateral strike-slip shear zone exposed in the northernmost part of the basin. Transpressional structures as strike-slip faults and vertical folds are here associated with high angle reverse faults forming intricate positive flower structures. Systematic asymmetry of major and parasitic folds, as well as their geometrical features indicate that they generated in a left-lateral transpressional regime roughly coeval to thrust imbrication to the south, as a consequence of a marked strain partitioning. Aim of this presentation is to describe in detail the deformational structures of the Aghdarband region, based on structural mapping and detailed original mesoscopic field analyses, resuming from the excellent work performed in the '70s by Ruttner (1991). Our work is focused on the pre mid-Jurassic structures which can be related to the final stages of the Cimmerian deformation resulting from the oblique collision of the Iranian microplate with the southern margin of Eurasia, the so-called Turan domain. We will finally discuss the kinematic significance of the Late Triassic oblique convergence zone of Aghdarband in the frame of strain partitioning in transpressional deformation. Structural weakness favouring strain partitioning can be related to inversion of syn-sedimentary faults active during the Triassic, resulting from the reactivation of previous Palaeozoic structural lineaments which characterize the Turan domain. A right-lateral reactivation of the main left-lateral fault zone followed during Neogene and Quaternary as a consequence of the Arabia collision to the south

Structural features of northern Tarim basin: Implications for regional tectonics and petroleum traps

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dong Jia; Juafu Lu; Dongsheng Cai

1998-01-01

The rhombus-shaped Tarim basin in northwestern China is controlled mainly by two left-lateral strike-slip systems: the northeast-trending Altun fault zone along its southeastern side and the northeast-trending Aheqi fault zone along its northwestern side. In this paper, we discuss the northern Tarim basin`s structural features, which include three main tectonic units: the Kalpin uplift, the Kuqa depression, and the North Tarim uplift along the northern margin of the Tarim basin. Structural mapping in the Kalpin uplift shows that a series of imbricated thrust sheets have been overprinted by strike-slip faulting. The amount of strike-slip displacement is estimated to be 148more » km by restoration of strike-slip structures in the uplift. The Kuqa depression is a Mesozoic-Cenozoic foredeep depression with well-developed flat-ramp structures and fault-related folds. The Baicheng basin, a Quaternary pull-apart basin, developed at the center of the Kuqa depression. Subsurface structures in the North Tarim uplift can be divided into the Mesozoic-Cenozoic and the Paleozoic lithotectonic sequences in seismic profiles. The Paleozoic litho-tectonic sequence exhibits the interference of earlier left-lateral and later right-lateral strike-slip structures. Many normal faults in the Mesozoic-Cenozoic litho-tectonic sequence form the negative flower structures in the North Tarim uplift; these structures commonly directly overlie the positive flower structures in the Paleozoic litho-tectonic sequence. The interference regions of the northwest-trending and northeast-trending folds in the Paleozoic tectonic sequence have been identified to have the best trap structures. Our structural analysis indicates that the Tarim basin is a transpressional foreland basin rejuvenated during the Cenozoic.« less

Creep, dike intrusion, and magma chamber deflation model for the 2000 Miyake eruption and the Izu islands earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozawa, S.; Miyazaki, S.; Nishimura, T.; Murakami, M.; Kaidzu, M.; Imakiire, T.; Ji, X.

2004-02-01

Analysis of Global Positioning System data shows shrinkage of Miyake Island and the widening between Nijima and Kozu Islands during the period of the Miyake island volcanic activity and the ensuing Izu islands earthquakes in 2000. The estimated time evolution of a model consisting of a dike, creeping faults, and a Mogi source suggests that a crack opening on Miyake Island occurred immediately after the start of the seismic activities on 26 June and ended within several days at the west coast of Miyake Island. After the seabed eruption on 27 June, magma migrated from Miyake Island to Kozu and Nijima Islands within several days. The estimated volume of intruded magma totals around 1.2 × 109 m3. Associated with the magma intrusion between Miyake and Kozu Islands, left-lateral and right-lateral creep motions occurred in regions off the west coast of Miyake Island and near Kozu Island. The accumulated moment energy is equivalent to an earthquake of Mw 6.6 and 6.6 for right-lateral and left-lateral creeping faults, respectively. The estimated magma chamber continued deflation beneath the southwestern part of Miyake Island from 26 June, totaling around 0.12 × 109 m3 in volume change, in addition to the collapse volume of 0.6 × 109 m3 at the summit of Mount Oyama on Miyake Island. The volume change on Miyake Island can be compensated by the migrated magma toward Kozu Island from the deflation source beneath Miyake Island. The deflation speed of the magma chamber beneath Miyake Island decreased and increased before and after the eruption of 14-15 July and 18 August, suggesting a change in balance of mass influx and draining out rate of the magma chamber.

Unilateral lag screw fixation of isolated non-union atlas lateral mass fracture: a new technical note.

PubMed

Farrokhi, Majid Reza; Kiani, Arash; Rezaei, Hamid

2018-01-15

We describe a novel and new technique of posterior unilateral lag screw fixation of non-union atlas lateral mass fracture. A 46-year-old man presented with cervical pain and tenderness after a vehicle turn over accident and he was diagnosed to have left atlas lateral mass fracture. He was initially treated by immobilization using Minerva orthosis. About 2 months later, he developed severe neck pain and limitation of motion and thus he was scheduled for operation due to non-union atlas lateral mass fracture. A 28 mm lag screw was inserted under anterior-posterior and lateral fluoroscopic views. The entrance point was at the dorsal aspect of left atlas posterior arc at its junction to the lateral mass, and by using the trajectory of 10 degrees medial and 22 degrees cephalad fracture reduction was achieved. Unilateral lag screw fixation of atlas fractures is an appropriate, safe and effective surgical technique for the management of unilateral atlas fractures.

Uplifted Yellow river terraces across the Haiyuan fault, China and their implications to geometrical complexity of strike-slip fault system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, J.; van der Woerd, J.; Li, Z.; Klinger, Y.; Matrau, R.; Shao, Y.; Zhang, J.; Wang, P.

2016-12-01

Geometrical complexities and discontinues, such as fault bends, splays and step-overs, are common along large strike-slip faults. Numerical and observational studies show that geometrical complexities above some threshold degree may inhibit thoroughgoing rupture, limiting rupture length and the size of the resulting earthquake. Studying the fine structure and long-term evolution of fault step-overs would help us better understand their effect on earthquake ruptures. In this study, we focus on a prominent geometrical "knot" on the left-lateral Haiyuan fault, where the fault curves with multi-strand splays bounding the Mijia Shan-Hasi Shan ranges. Incidentally, the Yellow river flows between the Mijia Shan and Hasi Shan and cuts a deep gorge when crossing the fault. On the western bank of the river, a series of at least twelve levels of fluvial strath terraces perch above river bed, and are capped with no more than 5 meters of alluvial deposits. We measured the terrace heights above river bed, using RTK and UAV surveys. We collected quartz-rich pebbles of yellow river gravel for cosmogenic radio nuclide (CRN), and silt layers within gravel and the overlying loess cap for optimally stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to constrain the terrace formation ages. Quartz-rich pebbles were sampled both in hand-dug pit for depth-profile method and surface samples on terrace surfaces. The CRN age results were corrected in terms of inheritance and shielding by loess. The dates and heights of serial terraces yielded an average uplift rate of 2±0.34 mm/yr, which represents the late Quaternary uplifting rate of the Mijia Shan. The uplift of the Mijia Shan-Hasi Shan may result from the oblique shear of positive flower in the deep crust of the left-lateral Haiyuan fault. We further speculate that with progressively uplifted mountain ranges, the active fault trace shifts with time among the multi-strands of the fault system. In addition, the coincidence of prominent uplifted mountains at the position where the Yellow river cut across the left-lateral strike-slip fault suggests that Yellow river may play a role in enhancing the uplifting rate, though efficient mass unloading.

Patients with left bundle branch block and left axis deviation show a specific left ventricular asynchrony pattern: Implications for left ventricular lead placement during CRT implantation.

PubMed

Sciarra, Luigi; Golia, Paolo; Palamà, Zefferino; Scarà, Antonio; De Ruvo, Ermenegildo; Borrelli, Alessio; Martino, Anna Maria; Minati, Monia; Fagagnini, Alessandro; Tota, Claudia; De Luca, Lucia; Grieco, Domenico; Delise, Pietro; Calò, Leonardo

Left bundle branch block (LBBB) and left axis deviation (LAD) patients may have poor response to resynchronization therapy (CRT). We sought to assess if LBBB and LAD patients show a specific pattern of mechanical asynchrony. CRT candidates with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy and LBBB were categorized as having normal QRS axis (within -30° and +90°) or LAD (within -30° and -90°). Patients underwent tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) to measure time interval between onset of QRS complex and peak systolic velocity in ejection period (Q-peak) at basal segments of septal, inferior, lateral and anterior walls, as expression of local timing of mechanical activation. Thirty patients (mean age 70.6years; 19 males) were included. Mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 0.28±0.06. Mean QRS duration was 172.5±13.9ms. Fifteen patients showed LBBB with LAD (QRS duration 173±14; EF 0.27±0.06). The other 15 patients had LBBB with a normal QRS axis (QRS duration 172±14; EF 0.29±0.05). Among patients with LAD, Q-peak interval was significantly longer at the anterior wall in comparison to each other walls (septal 201±46ms, inferior 242±58ms, lateral 267±45ms, anterior 302±50ms; p<0.0001). Conversely, in patients without LAD Q-peak interval was longer at lateral wall, when compared to each other (septal 228±65ms, inferior 250±64ms, lateral 328±98ms, anterior 291±86ms; p<0.0001). Patients with heart failure, presenting LBBB and LAD, show a specific pattern of ventricular asynchrony, with latest activation at anterior wall. This finding could affect target vessel selection during CRT procedures in these patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Fate of Meniscus Tears Left in situ at the time of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A 6-year Follow-up Study from the MOON Cohort

PubMed Central

Duchman, Kyle R.; Westermann, Robert W.; Spindler, Kurt P.; Reinke, Emily K.; Huston, Laura J.; Amendola, Annunziato; Wolf, Brian R.

2016-01-01

Background The management of meniscus tears identified at the time of primary ACL reconstruction is highly variable and includes repair, meniscectomy, and non-treatment. Hypothesis/Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine the reoperation rate for meniscus tears left untreated at the time of ACL reconstruction with minimum follow-up of 6 years. We hypothesize that small, peripheral tears identified at the time of ACL reconstruction managed with “no treatment” will have successful clinical outcomes. Study Design Retrospective study of a prospective cohort; Level of Evidence, 3 Methods Patients with meniscus tears left untreated at the time of primary ACL reconstruction were identified from a multicenter study group with minimum 6-year follow-up. Patient, tear, and reoperation data were obtained for analysis. Need for reoperation was used as the primary endpoint, with analysis performed to determine patient and tear characteristics associated with reoperation. Results There were 194 patients with 208 meniscus tears (71 medial; 137 lateral) left in situ without treatment with complete follow-up for analysis. Of these, 97.8% of lateral and 94.4% of medial untreated tears required no reoperation. Sixteen tears (7.7%) left in situ without treatment underwent subsequent reoperation: 9 tears (4.3%) underwent reoperation in the setting of revision ACL reconstruction and 7 tears (3.4%) underwent reoperation for isolated meniscus pathology. Patient age was significantly lower in patients requiring reoperation, while tears measuring ≥ 10 mm more frequently required reoperation. Conclusions Lateral and medial meniscus tears left in situ at the time of ACL reconstruction did not require reoperation at minimum 6-year follow-up for 97.8% and 94.4% of tears, respectively. These findings reemphasize the low reoperation rate following non-treatment of small, peripheral lateral meniscus tears while noting less predictable results for medial meniscus tears left without treatment. PMID:26430058

The Fate of Meniscus Tears Left In Situ at the Time of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A 6-Year Follow-up Study From the MOON Cohort.

PubMed

Duchman, Kyle R; Westermann, Robert W; Spindler, Kurt P; Reinke, Emily K; Huston, Laura J; Amendola, Annunziato; Wolf, Brian R

2015-11-01

The management of meniscus tears identified at the time of primary anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is highly variable and includes repair, meniscectomy, and nontreatment. The purpose of this study was to determine the reoperation rate for meniscus tears left untreated at the time of ACL reconstruction with a minimum follow-up of 6 years. The hypothesis was that small peripheral tears identified at the time of ACL reconstruction managed with "no treatment" would have successful clinical outcomes. Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Patients with meniscus tears left untreated at the time of primary ACL reconstruction were identified from a multicenter study group with a minimum 6-year follow-up. Patient, tear, and reoperation data were obtained for analysis. The need for reoperation was used as the primary endpoint, with analysis performed to determine patient and tear characteristics associated with reoperation. There were 194 patients with 208 meniscus tears (71 medial, 137 lateral) left in situ without treatment with a complete follow-up for analysis. Of these, 97.8% of lateral and 94.4% of medial untreated tears required no reoperation. Sixteen tears (7.7%) left in situ without treatment underwent subsequent reoperation: 9 tears (4.3%) underwent reoperation in the setting of revision ACL reconstruction, and 7 tears (3.4%) underwent reoperation for an isolated meniscus injury. The patient age was significantly lower in patients requiring reoperation, while tears measuring ≥10 mm more frequently required reoperation. Lateral and medial meniscus tears left in situ at the time of ACL reconstruction did not require reoperation at a minimum 6-year follow-up for 97.8% and 94.4% of tears, respectively. These findings re-emphasize the low reoperation rate after the nontreatment of small, peripheral lateral meniscus tears while noting less predictable results for medial meniscus tears left without treatment. © 2015 The Author(s).

Left frontal hub connectivity delays cognitive impairment in autosomal-dominant and sporadic Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Franzmeier, Nicolai; Düzel, Emrah; Jessen, Frank; Buerger, Katharina; Levin, Johannes; Duering, Marco; Dichgans, Martin; Haass, Christian; Suárez-Calvet, Marc; Fagan, Anne M; Paumier, Katrina; Benzinger, Tammie; Masters, Colin L; Morris, John C; Perneczky, Robert; Janowitz, Daniel; Catak, Cihan; Wolfsgruber, Steffen; Wagner, Michael; Teipel, Stefan; Kilimann, Ingo; Ramirez, Alfredo; Rossor, Martin; Jucker, Mathias; Chhatwal, Jasmeer; Spottke, Annika; Boecker, Henning; Brosseron, Frederic; Falkai, Peter; Fliessbach, Klaus; Heneka, Michael T; Laske, Christoph; Nestor, Peter; Peters, Oliver; Fuentes, Manuel; Menne, Felix; Priller, Josef; Spruth, Eike J; Franke, Christiana; Schneider, Anja; Kofler, Barbara; Westerteicher, Christine; Speck, Oliver; Wiltfang, Jens; Bartels, Claudia; Araque Caballero, Miguel Ángel; Metzger, Coraline; Bittner, Daniel; Weiner, Michael; Lee, Jae-Hong; Salloway, Stephen; Danek, Adrian; Goate, Alison; Schofield, Peter R; Bateman, Randall J; Ewers, Michael

2018-04-01

Patients with Alzheimer's disease vary in their ability to sustain cognitive abilities in the presence of brain pathology. A major open question is which brain mechanisms may support higher reserve capacity, i.e. relatively high cognitive performance at a given level of Alzheimer's pathology. Higher functional MRI-assessed functional connectivity of a hub in the left frontal cortex is a core candidate brain mechanism underlying reserve as it is associated with education (i.e. a protective factor often associated with higher reserve) and attenuated cognitive impairment in prodromal Alzheimer's disease. However, no study has yet assessed whether such hub connectivity of the left frontal cortex supports reserve throughout the evolution of pathological brain changes in Alzheimer's disease, including the presymptomatic stage when cognitive decline is subtle. To address this research gap, we obtained cross-sectional resting state functional MRI in 74 participants with autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease, 55 controls from the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Network and 75 amyloid-positive elderly participants, as well as 41 amyloid-negative cognitively normal elderly subjects from the German Center of Neurodegenerative Diseases multicentre study on biomarkers in sporadic Alzheimer's disease. For each participant, global left frontal cortex connectivity was computed as the average resting state functional connectivity between the left frontal cortex (seed) and each voxel in the grey matter. As a marker of disease stage, we applied estimated years from symptom onset in autosomal dominantly inherited Alzheimer's disease and cerebrospinal fluid tau levels in sporadic Alzheimer's disease cases. In both autosomal dominant and sporadic Alzheimer's disease patients, higher levels of left frontal cortex connectivity were correlated with greater education. For autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease, a significant left frontal cortex connectivity × estimated years of onset interaction was found, indicating slower decline of memory and global cognition at higher levels of connectivity. Similarly, in sporadic amyloid-positive elderly subjects, the effect of tau on cognition was attenuated at higher levels of left frontal cortex connectivity. Polynomial regression analysis showed that the trajectory of cognitive decline was shifted towards a later stage of Alzheimer's disease in patients with higher levels of left frontal cortex connectivity. Together, our findings suggest that higher resilience against the development of cognitive impairment throughout the early stages of Alzheimer's disease is at least partially attributable to higher left frontal cortex-hub connectivity.

Sex differences in amygdala activation during the perception of facial affect.

PubMed

Killgore, W D; Yurgelun-Todd, D A

2001-08-08

The cognitive and affective systems of the cerebral cortex are often more lateralized in males than females, but it is unclear whether these differences extend to subcortical systems. We used fMRI to examine sex differences in lateralized amygdala activity during happy and fearful face perception. Amygdala activation differed for men and women depending on the valence of the expression. Overall, males were more lateralized than females, but the direction differed between valence conditions. Happy faces produced greater right than left amygdala activation for males but not females. Both sexes showed greater left amygdala activation for fearful faces. These findings suggest that the lateralization of affective function may extend beyond the cortex to subcortical regions such as the amygdala.

Choosing words: left hemisphere, right hemisphere, or both? Perspective on the lateralization of word retrieval

PubMed Central

Ries, Stephanie K.; Dronkers, Nina F.; Knight, Robert T.

2015-01-01

Language is considered to be one of the most lateralized human brain functions. Left hemisphere dominance for language has been consistently confirmed in clinical and experimental settings and constitutes one of the main axioms of neurology and neuroscience. However, functional neuroimaging studies are finding that the right hemisphere also plays a role in diverse language functions. Critically, the right hemisphere may also compensate for the loss or degradation of language functions following extensive stroke-induced damage to the left hemisphere. Here, we review studies that focus on our ability to choose words as we speak. Although fluidly performed in individuals with intact language, this process is routinely compromised in aphasic patients. We suggest that parceling word retrieval into its sub-processes—lexical activation and lexical selection—and examining which of these can be compensated for after left hemisphere stroke can advance the understanding of the lateralization of word retrieval in speech production. In particular, the domain-general nature of the brain regions associated with each process may be a helpful indicator of the right hemisphere's propensity for compensation. PMID:26766393

Electrophysiological evidence for the left-lateralized effect of language on preattentive categorical perception of color

PubMed Central

Mo, Lei; Xu, Guiping; Kay, Paul; Tan, Li-Hai

2011-01-01

Previous studies have shown that the effect of language on categorical perception of color is stronger when stimuli are presented in the right visual field than in the left. To examine whether this lateralized effect occurs preattentively at an early stage of processing, we monitored the visual mismatch negativity, which is a component of the event-related potential of the brain to an unfamiliar stimulus among a temporally presented series of stimuli. In the oddball paradigm we used, the deviant stimuli were unrelated to the explicit task. A significant interaction between color-pair type (within-category vs. between-category) and visual field (left vs. right) was found. The amplitude of the visual mismatch negativity component evoked by the within-category deviant was significantly smaller than that evoked by the between-category deviant when displayed in the right visual field, but no such difference was observed for the left visual field. This result constitutes electroencephalographic evidence that the lateralized Whorf effect per se occurs out of awareness and at an early stage of processing. PMID:21844340

Anosognosia for hemiparesis after left-sided stroke.

PubMed

Baier, Bernhard; Vucurevic, Goran; Müller-Forell, Wibke; Glassl, Oliver; Geber, Christian; Dieterich, Marianne; Karnath, Hans-Otto

2014-12-01

In patients with left-sided lesions, anosognosia for hemiparesis (AHP) seems to be a rare phenomenon. It has been discussed whether this rareness might be due to an inevitable bias due to language dysfunction and whether the left hemisphere's role for our self-awareness of motor actions thus is underestimated. By applying functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we examined whether patients with AHP following a left hemisphere stroke show a regular, left-sided or a reversed, right-sided lateralization of language functions. Only the former observation would argue for an original role of the left hemisphere in self-awareness about limb function. In a consecutive series of 44 acute left-sided stroke patients, only one patient (=2%) was identified showing AHP. In this case, we could verify by using fMRI that lateralization of AHP and spatial neglect on the one hand and of language functions on the other hand were reversed. The present single case observation thus argues against an original role of the left hemisphere in self-awareness about limb function. We discuss the data in the context of previous observations in the literature. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dental implants placement in paranoid squizofrenic patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder: A case report

PubMed Central

Castellanos-Cosano, Lizett; Corcuera-Flores, José-Ramón; Mesa-Cabrera, María; Cabrera-Domínguez, José; Torres-Lagares, Daniel; Machuca-Portillo, Guillermo

2017-01-01

Background Paranoid schizophrenia is a mental illness that involves no observable anatomical alteration. Main characteristic affects the personality of the individual, as well as areas of his own psychology. Case Report A 33-year-old man with paranoid schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder in treatment with Haloperidol, Oxcarbazepine, Olanzapine and Seroquel is presented. Dental exploration showed widespread decay mostly cervical with numerous root fragments, agenesis of lateral incisors, impacted wisdom teeth, missing teeth and malocclusion. Treatment plan included restoration of teeth decay, extractions of root fragments and implant-supported prostheses in bilateral upper lateral incisors for aesthetics reason. A previous consultation with a psychiatric specialist was performed and no contraindication were observed. A preliminary radiological examination was performed previous dental treatment and implant placement. Due to patient refusal to replace dental abscenses with implants, inform consent was signed up from his parents. After local anesthesia, first implant was placed at upper right lateral positions (Straumann Bone Level Ø 3.3 mm, length 10 mm). Two weeks later a second implant was placed at upper left lateral position (Straumann Bone Level Ø 3.3 mm, length 12 mm). The patient showed no postoperative complications. After implant placement, the patient attended scheduled review appointments. The prosthesis was placed after a 3-month period of osseointegration. Conclusions Implant placement can be considered a suitable option for people with mental disorders. A previous consultation with psychiatric specialists for conducting a good patient management is necessaire. Key words:Paranoid schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, dental implants. PMID:29302292

[Left-handedness and health].

PubMed

Milenković, Sanja; Belojević, Goran; Kocijancić, Radojka

2010-01-01

Hand dominance is defined as a proneness to use one hand rather than another in performing the majority of activities and this is the most obvious example of cerebral lateralization and an exclusive human characteristic. Left-handed people comprise 6-14% of the total population, while in Serbia, this percentage is 5-10%, moving from undeveloped to developed environments, where a socio-cultural pressure is less present. There is no agreement between investigators who in fact may be considered a left-handed person, about the percentage of left-handers in the population and about the etiology of left-handedness. In the scientific literature left-handedness has been related to health disorders (spine deformities, immunological disorders, migraine, neurosis, depressive psychosis, schizophrenia, insomnia, homosexuality, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, sleep apnea, enuresis nocturna and Down Syndrome), developmental disorders (autism, dislexia and sttutering) and traumatism. The most reliable scientific evidences have been published about the relationship between left-handedness and spinal deformities in school children in puberty and with traumatism in general population. The controversy of other results in up-to-now investigations of health aspects of left-handedness may partly be explained by a scientific disagreement whether writing with the left hand is a sufficient criterium for left-handedness, or is it necessary to investigate other parameters for laterality assessment. Explanation of health aspects of left-handedness is dominantly based on Geschwind-Galaburda model about "anomalous" cerebral domination, as a consequence of hormonal disbalance.

Holocene earthquakes and right-lateral slip on the left-lateral Darrington-Devils Mountain fault zone, northern Puget Sound, Washington

USGS Publications Warehouse

Personius, Stephen F.; Briggs, Richard W.; Nelson, Alan R.; Schermer, Elizabeth R; Maharrey, J. Zebulon; Sherrod, Brian; Spaulding, Sarah A.; Bradley, Lee-Ann

2014-01-01

Sources of seismic hazard in the Puget Sound region of northwestern Washington include deep earthquakes associated with the Cascadia subduction zone, and shallow earthquakes associated with some of the numerous crustal (upper-plate) faults that crisscross the region. Our paleoseismic investigations on one of the more prominent crustal faults, the Darrington–Devils Mountain fault zone, included trenching of fault scarps developed on latest Pleistocene glacial sediments and analysis of cores from an adjacent wetland near Lake Creek, 14 km southeast of Mount Vernon, Washington. Trench excavations revealed evidence of a single earthquake, radiocarbon dated to ca. 2 ka, but extensive burrowing and root mixing of sediments within 50–100 cm of the ground surface may have destroyed evidence of other earthquakes. Cores in a small wetland adjacent to our trench site provided stratigraphic evidence (formation of a laterally extensive, prograding wedge of hillslope colluvium) of an earthquake ca. 2 ka, which we interpret to be the same earthquake documented in the trenches. A similar colluvial wedge lower in the wetland section provides possible evidence for a second earthquake dated to ca. 8 ka. Three-dimensional trenching techniques revealed evidence for 2.2 ± 1.1 m of right-lateral offset of a glacial outwash channel margin, and 45–70 cm of north-side-up vertical separation across the fault zone. These offsets indicate a net slip vector of 2.3 ± 1.1 m, plunging 14° west on a 286°-striking, 90°-dipping fault plane. The dominant right-lateral sense of slip is supported by the presence of numerous Riedel R shears preserved in two of our trenches, and probable right-lateral offset of a distinctive bedrock fault zone in a third trench. Holocene north-side-up, right-lateral oblique slip is opposite the south-side-up, left-lateral oblique sense of slip inferred from geologic mapping of Eocene and older rocks along the fault zone. The cause of this slip reversal is unknown but may be related to clockwise rotation of the Darrington–Devils Mountain fault zone into a position more favorable to right-lateral slip in the modern N-S compressional stress field.

Lane Level Localization; Using Images and HD Maps to Mitigate the Lateral Error

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hosseinyalamdary, S.; Peter, M.

2017-05-01

In urban canyon where the GNSS signals are blocked by buildings, the accuracy of measured position significantly deteriorates. GIS databases have been frequently utilized to improve the accuracy of measured position using map matching approaches. In map matching, the measured position is projected to the road links (centerlines) in this approach and the lateral error of measured position is reduced. By the advancement in data acquision approaches, high definition maps which contain extra information, such as road lanes are generated. These road lanes can be utilized to mitigate the positional error and improve the accuracy in position. In this paper, the image content of a camera mounted on the platform is utilized to detect the road boundaries in the image. We apply color masks to detect the road marks, apply the Hough transform to fit lines to the left and right road boundaries, find the corresponding road segment in GIS database, estimate the homography transformation between the global and image coordinates of the road boundaries, and estimate the camera pose with respect to the global coordinate system. The proposed approach is evaluated on a benchmark. The position is measured by a smartphone's GPS receiver, images are taken from smartphone's camera and the ground truth is provided by using Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) technique. Results show the proposed approach significantly improves the accuracy of measured GPS position. The error in measured GPS position with average and standard deviation of 11.323 and 11.418 meters is reduced to the error in estimated postion with average and standard deviation of 6.725 and 5.899 meters.

Positive and negative symptom scores are correlated with activation in different brain regions during facial emotion perception in schizophrenia patients: a voxel-based sLORETA source activity study.

PubMed

Kim, Do-Won; Kim, Han-Sung; Lee, Seung-Hwan; Im, Chang-Hwan

2013-12-01

Schizophrenia is one of the most devastating of all mental illnesses, and has dimensional characteristics that include both positive and negative symptoms. One problem reported in schizophrenia patients is that they tend to show deficits in face emotion processing, on which negative symptoms are thought to have stronger influence. In this study, four event-related potential (ERP) components (P100, N170, N250, and P300) and their source activities were analyzed using EEG data acquired from 23 schizophrenia patients while they were presented with facial emotion picture stimuli. Correlations between positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) scores and source activations during facial emotion processing were calculated to identify the brain areas affected by symptom scores. Our analysis demonstrates that PANSS positive scores are negatively correlated with major areas of the left temporal lobule for early ERP components (P100, N170) and with the right middle frontal lobule for a later component (N250), which indicates that positive symptoms affect both early face processing and facial emotion processing. On the other hand, PANSS negative scores are negatively correlated with several clustered regions, including the left fusiform gyrus (at P100), most of which are not overlapped with regions showing correlations with PANSS positive scores. Our results suggest that positive and negative symptoms affect independent brain regions during facial emotion processing, which may help to explain the heterogeneous characteristics of schizophrenia. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Brain activity in near-death experiencers during a meditative state.

PubMed

Beauregard, Mario; Courtemanche, Jérôme; Paquette, Vincent

2009-09-01

To measure brain activity in near-death experiencers during a meditative state. In two separate experiments, brain activity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) during a Meditation condition and a Control condition. In the Meditation condition, participants were asked to mentally visualize and emotionally connect with the "being of light" allegedly encountered during their "near-death experience". In the Control condition, participants were instructed to mentally visualize the light emitted by a lamp. In the fMRI experiment, significant loci of activation were found during the Meditation condition (compared to the Control condition) in the right brainstem, right lateral orbitofrontal cortex, right medial prefrontal cortex, right superior parietal lobule, left superior occipital gyrus, left anterior temporal pole, left inferior temporal gyrus, left anterior insula, left parahippocampal gyrus and left substantia nigra. In the EEG experiment, electrode sites showed greater theta power in the Meditation condition relative to the Control condition at FP1, F7, F3, T5, P3, O1, FP2, F4, F8, P4, Fz, Cz and Pz. In addition, higher alpha power was detected at FP1, F7, T3 and FP2, whereas higher gamma power was found at FP2, F7, T4 and T5. The results indicate that the meditative state was associated with marked hemodynamic and neuroelectric changes in brain regions known to be involved either in positive emotions, visual mental imagery, attention or spiritual experiences.

[Thick and thin zones of the neurocranium, impressiones gyrorum and foramina parietalia in children and adults (author's transl)].

PubMed

Lang, J; Brückner, B

1981-01-01

At 102 skulls from adults and 67 skulls from children we have investigated 1) The postnatal changes of the thickness from basal parts of the Fossae craniales ant., med. et post. 2) The postnatal thickening and lateral shifting of the Processus clinoideus anterior. 3) The postnatal development at the superior side of the Canalis opticus. 4) Between the Os sphenoidale Clivus angle from newborn age to 17 years of life at 67 skulls. 5) The postnatal changes of the lateral angle at the Pars petrosa and its right-left-differences. 6) The postnatal thickening of the Calvaria (Squama frontalis - Tuber frontale, Os parietale - Tuber parietale). 7) The development, size and position of the Foramina parietalia. 8) The postnatal development of the Protuberantiae gyrorum and Sulci meningei.

Computerized tomography-based anatomic description of the porcine liver.

PubMed

Bekheit, Mohamed; Bucur, Petru O; Wartenberg, Mylene; Vibert, Eric

2017-04-01

The knowledge of the anatomic features is imperative for successful modeling of the different surgical situations. This study aims to describe the anatomic features of the porcine using computerized tomography (CT) scan. Thirty large, white, female pigs were included in this study. The CT image acquisition was performed in four-phase contrast study. Subsequently, analysis of the images was performed using syngo.via software (Siemens) to subtract mainly the hepatic artery and its branches. Analysis of the portal and hepatic veins division pattern was performed using the Myrian XP-Liver 1.14.1 software (Intrasense). The mean total liver volume was 915 ± 159 mL. The largest sector in the liver was the right medial one representing around 28 ± 5.7% of the total liver volume. Next in order is the right lateral sector constituting around 24 ± 5%. Its volume is very close to the volume of the left medial sector, which represents around 22 ± 4.7% of the total liver volume. The caudate lobe represents around 8 ± 2% of the total liver volume.The portal vein did not show distinct right and left divisions rather than consecutive branches that come off the main trunk. The hepatic artery frequently trifurcates into left trunk that gives off the right gastric artery and the artery to the left lateral sector, the middle hepatic artery that supplies both the right and the left medial sectors and the right hepatic artery trunk that divides to give anterior branch to the right lateral lobe, branch to the right medial lobe, and at least a branch to the caudate lobe. Frequently, there is a posterior branch that crosses behind the portal vein to the right lateral lobe. The suprahepatic veins join the inferior vena cava in three distinct openings. There are communications between the suprahepatic veins that drain the adjacent sectors. The vein from the right lateral and the right medial sectors drains into a common trunk. The vein from the left lateral and from the left medial sectors drains into a common trunk. A separate opening is usually encountered draining the right medial sector. The caudate lobe drains separately into inferior vena cava caudal to the other veins. Knowledge of the anatomic features of the porcine liver is crucial to the performance of a successful surgical procedure. We herein describe the CT-depicted anatomic features of the porcine liver. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the effects of a VEGFR-2 inhibitor compound on alanine aminotransferase gene expression and enzymatic activity in the rat liver

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Traditional assessment of drug-induced hepatotoxicity includes morphological examination of the liver and evaluation of liver enzyme activity in serum. The objective of the study was to determine the origin of drug-related elevation in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity in the absence of morphologic changes in the liver by utilizing molecular and immunohistochemical techniques. Methods Sixteen female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 2 groups (control and treated, n = 4 per group) and treated rats were dosed orally twice daily (400 mg/kg/day) for 7 days with a VEGFR-2 compound (AG28262), which in a previous study caused ALT elevation without morphological changes. Serum of both treated and control animals were evaluated on day 3 of treatment and at day 8. Three separate liver lobes (caudate, right medial, and left lateral) were examined for determination of ALT tissue activity, ALT gene expression and morphological changes. Results ALT activity was significantly (p < 0.01) elevated on day 3 and further increased on day 8. Histologic changes or increase in TUNEL and caspase3 positive cells were not observed in the liver lobes examined. ALT gene expression in the caudate lobe was significantly up-regulated by 63%. ALT expression in the left lateral lobe was not significantly affected. Statistically significant increased liver ALT enzymatic activity occurred in the caudate (96%) and right medial (41%) lobes but not in the left lateral lobe. Conclusions AG28262, a VEFG-r2 inhibitor, causes an increase in serum ALT, due in part to both gene up-regulation. Differences between liver lobes may be attributable to differential distribution of blood from portal circulation. Incorporation of molecular data, such as gene and protein expression, and sampling multiple liver lobes may shed mechanistic insight to the evaluation of hepatotoxicity. PMID:21846403

Evaluation of the effects of a VEGFR-2 inhibitor compound on alanine aminotransferase gene expression and enzymatic activity in the rat liver.

PubMed

Fuentealba, Carmen; Bera, Monali; Jessen, Bart; Sace, Fred; Stevens, Greg J; Trajkovic, Dusko; Yang, Amy H; Evering, Winston

2011-08-17

Traditional assessment of drug-induced hepatotoxicity includes morphological examination of the liver and evaluation of liver enzyme activity in serum. The objective of the study was to determine the origin of drug-related elevation in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity in the absence of morphologic changes in the liver by utilizing molecular and immunohistochemical techniques. Sixteen female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 2 groups (control and treated, n = 4 per group) and treated rats were dosed orally twice daily (400 mg/kg/day) for 7 days with a VEGFR-2 compound (AG28262), which in a previous study caused ALT elevation without morphological changes. Serum of both treated and control animals were evaluated on day 3 of treatment and at day 8. Three separate liver lobes (caudate, right medial, and left lateral) were examined for determination of ALT tissue activity, ALT gene expression and morphological changes. ALT activity was significantly (p < 0.01) elevated on day 3 and further increased on day 8. Histologic changes or increase in TUNEL and caspase3 positive cells were not observed in the liver lobes examined. ALT gene expression in the caudate lobe was significantly up-regulated by 63%. ALT expression in the left lateral lobe was not significantly affected. Statistically significant increased liver ALT enzymatic activity occurred in the caudate (96%) and right medial (41%) lobes but not in the left lateral lobe. AG28262, a VEFG-r2 inhibitor, causes an increase in serum ALT, due in part to both gene up-regulation. Differences between liver lobes may be attributable to differential distribution of blood from portal circulation. Incorporation of molecular data, such as gene and protein expression, and sampling multiple liver lobes may shed mechanistic insight to the evaluation of hepatotoxicity.

Revisiting Geschwind's hypothesis on brain lateralisation: a functional MRI study of digit ratio (2D:4D) and sex interaction effects on spatial working memory.

PubMed

Kalmady, Sunil Vasu; Agarwal, Sri Mahavir; Shivakumar, Venkataram; Jose, Dania; Venkatasubramanian, Ganesan; Reddy, Y C Janardhan

2013-01-01

The Geschwind-Behan-Galaburda (GBG) hypothesis links cerebral lateralisation with prenatal testosterone exposure. Digit ratio measures in adults have been established as potential markers of foetal sex hormonal milieu. The aim of the study was to evaluate the sex-dependent interaction of digit ratio measures and cerebral lateralization as well as their neurohemodynamic correlates using functional MRI (fMRI). Digit ratio measures-ratio of index finger (2D) length to ring finger (4D) length (2D:4D) and difference between 2D:4D of two hands, i.e., right minus left (DR-L)-were calculated using high resolution digital images in 70 right-handed participants (42 men) based on reliable and valid method. fMRI was acquired during the performance of a spatial working memory task in a subset of 25 individuals (14 men), and analysed using Statistical Parametric Mapping 8 (SPM8) and the Laterality Index toolbox for SPM8. Men had significantly less bilateral 2D:4D than women. There was a significant negative correlation between right 2D:4D and 2-Back task accuracy (2BACC) in women. A significant sex-by-right 2D:4D interaction was observed in left parahippocampal gyrus activation. Additionally, sex-by-DR-L interaction was observed in left IPL activation. DR-L showed a significant positive correlation with the whole brain Laterality Index (LI), and LI, in turn, demonstrated a significant negative correlation with 2BACC. Our study observations suggest several novel sex-differential relationships between 2D:4D measures and fMRI activation during spatial working memory task performance. Given the pre-existing background data supporting digit ratio measures as putative indicator of prenatal sex hormonal milieu, our study findings add support to the Geschwind-Behan-Galaburda (GBG) hypothesis.