Five topographically organized fields in the somatosensory cortex of the flying fox: microelectrode maps, myeloarchitecture, and cortical modules.

Five somatosensory fields were defined in the grey-headed flying fox by using microelectrode mapping procedures. These fields are: the primary somatosensory area, SI or area 3b; a field caudal to area 3b, area 1/2; the second somatosensory area, SII; the parietal ventral area, PV; and the ventral somatosensory area, VS. A large number of closely spaced electrode penetrations recording multiunit activity revealed that each of these fields had a complete somatotopic representation. Microelectrode maps of somatosensory fields were related to architecture in cortex that had been flattened, cut parallel to the cortical surface, and stained for myelin. Receptive field size and some neural properties of individual fields were directly compared. Area 3b was the largest field identified and its topography was similar to that described in many other mammals. Neurons in 3b were highly responsive to cutaneous stimulation of peripheral body parts and had relatively small receptive fields. The myeloarchitecture revealed patches of dense myelination surrounded by thin zones of lightly myelinated cortex. Microelectrode recordings showed that myelin-dense and sparse zones in 3b were related to neurons that responded consistently or habituated to repetitive stimulation respectively. In cortex caudal to 3b, and protruding into 3b, a complete representation of the body surface adjacent to much of the caudal boundary of 3b was defined. Neurons in this area habituated rapidly to repetitive stimulation. We termed this caudal field area 1/2 because it had properties of both area 1 and area 2 of primates. In cortex caudolateral to 3b and lateral to area 1/2 (cortex traditionally defined as SII) we describe three separate representations of the body surface coextensive with distinct myeloarchitectonic appearances. The second somatosensory area, SII, shared a congruent border with 3b at the representation of the nose. In SII, the overall orientation of the body representation was erect. The lips were represented rostrolaterally, the digits were represented laterally, and the toes were caudolateral to the digits. The trunk was represented caudally and the head was represented medially. A second complete representation, PV, had an inverted body representation with respect to SII and bordered SII at the representation of the distal limbs. The proximal body parts were represented rostrolaterally in PV. Finally, caudal to both SII and PV, an additional representation, VS, shared a congruent border with the distal hindlimb representation of both SII and PV. VS had a crude topography, and receptive fields of neurons in VS were relatively large. Many neurons in VS responded to both somatosensory and auditory stimulation.     

Cells of origin of crossed and uncrossed corticospinal fibers in the cat

Summary The cortical distribution of the cells of origin of the dorsolateral and the ventral corticospinal tracts was studied in cat. This was done by making subtotal spinal transections, which in different experiments spared different portions of one ventral or one lateral funiculus at C5–C7. One week later horseradish peroxidase (HRP) injections were made one segment caudal to the lesion and the cortical distribution of the HRP labeled neurons was studied.Thus, it was found that the dorsolateral corticospinal tract at C5–C7 is composed of crossed and uncrossed fibers in a ratio of about 10 1, while the ventral corticospinal tract, which contains much fewer cortical fibers, is composed of crossed and uncrossed fibers in a ratio of approximately 1 1. Further, the primary motor cortex (area 4) was found to contribute fibers to both the crossed and the uncrossed dorsolateral corticospinal tract as well as to both the crossed and the uncrossed ventral corticospinal tract. The primary somatosensory cortex (area 3a, 3b, 1–2, 5a, 5b) as well as the secondary somatosensory cortex (area 2 pre-insularis), on the other hand, were found to contribute fibers mainly to the crossed dorsolateral tract. Area 4 was found to display a further organization, such that it contains a medial and a lateral part, both of which contribute mainly fibers to the crossed dorsolateral tract, while the remainder of area 4 contributes fibers to the crossed and uncrossed dorsolateral as well as to the crossed and uncrossed ventral tracts.This study was in part supported by grant 13.46.15 of the FUNGO/ZWO (Dutch Organization for Fundamental Research in Medicine) and grant C.R.L. 79.4.337.6.INT. of the INSERM (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale)     

全身免疫炎症指数（SII）对胶质瘤患者临床预后的影响及与p53突变的关系

目的:探讨全身免疫炎症指数（SII）对胶质瘤患者临床预后的影响及与p53突变的关系。方法:收集2006年8月至2015年11月于我院脑外科行手术治疗的80例神经胶质瘤患者。应用ROC曲线确定SII最佳临床分界值,并依此分组。采用Kaplan-Meier和Log-rank法分析两组患者术后生存情况。COX比例风险模型分析临床预后因素。应用免疫组织化学方法检测p53基因突变情况。结果:SII是神经胶质瘤的独立预后因素,最佳临床分界值为500×109/L。低SII组术后中位无病生存时间（disease free survival,DFS)和中位总生存时间（overall survival,OS)分别为43.85个月和56.69个月,而高SII组术后中位DFS和中位OS分别为29.10个月和45.10个月,两组DFS和OS比较,差异具有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。经单因素和多因素分析,年龄、手术情况、WHO分级、SII、p53突变是神经胶质瘤的独立预后因素。未发生p53突变的低SII组神经胶质瘤患者预后好于其他情况。结论:SII是神经胶质瘤的独立预后因素,具有简单方便、可重复性强、非侵袭性等特点,可用来预测神经胶质瘤患者的预后,未发生p53突变的低SII组神经胶质瘤患者预后较好。     

C-Deoxyglucose mapping of the monkey brain during reaching to visual targets

The strategies used by the macaca monkey brain in controlling the performance of a reaching movement to a visual target have been studied by the quantitative autoradiographic ¹⁴C-DG method.Experiments on visually intact monkeys reaching to a visual target indicate that V1 and V2 convey visuomotor information to the cortex of the superior temporal and parietoccipital sulci which may encode the position of the moving forelimb, and to the cortex in the ventral part and lateral bank of the intraparietal sulcus which may encode the location of the visual target. The involvement of the medial bank of the intraparietal sulcus in proprioceptive guidance of movement is also suggested on the basis of the parallel metabolic effects estimated in this region and in the forelimb representations of the primary somatosensory and motor cortices. The network including the inferior postarcuate skeletomotor and prearcuate oculomotor cortical fields and the caudal periprincipal area 46 may participate in sensory-to-motor and oculomotor-to-skeletomotor transformations, in parallel with the medial and lateral intraparietal cortices.Experiments on split brain monkeys reaching to visual targets revealed that reaching is always controlled by the hemisphere contralateral to the moving forelimb whether it is visually intact or ‘blind'. Two supplementary mechanisms compensate for the ‘blindness' of the hemisphere controlling the moving forelimb. First, the information about the location of the target is derived from head and eye movements and is sent to the ‘blind' hemisphere via inferior parietal cortical areas, while the information about the forelimb position is derived from proprioceptive mechanisms and is sent via the somatosensory and superior parietal cortices. Second, the cerebellar hemispheric extensions of vermian lobules V, VI and VIII, ipsilateral to the moving forelimb, combine visual and oculomotor information about the target position, relayed by the ‘seeing' cerebral hemisphere, with sensorimotor information concerning cortical intended and peripheral actual movements of the forelimb, and then send this integrated information back to the motor cortex of the ‘blind' hemisphere, thus enabling it to guide the contralateral forelimb to the target.     

A fronto-parietal circuit for object manipulation in man: evidence from an fMRI-study

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to localize brain areas active during manipulation of complex objects. In one experiment subjects were required to manipulate complex objects for exploring their macrogeometric features as compared to manipulation of a simple smooth object (a sphere). In a second experiment subjects were asked to manipulate complex objects and to silently name them upon recognition as compared to manipulation of complex not recognizable objects without covert naming. Manipulation of complex objects resulted in an activation of ventral premotor cortex [Brodmann's area (BA) 44], of a region in the intraparietal sulcus (most probably corresponding to the anterior intraparietal area in the monkey), of area SII and of a sector of the superior parietal lobule. When the objects were covertly named additional activations were found in the opercular part of BA 44 and in the pars triangularis of the inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45). We suggest that a fronto-parietal circuit for manipulation of objects exists in humans and involves basically the same areas as in the monkey. It is proposed that area SII analyses the intrinsic object characteristics whilst the superior parietal lobule is related to kinaesthesia.     

Prognostic value of systemic immune-inflammatory index in survival outcome in gastric cancer: a meta-analysis

BackgroundIn recent years, many studies have reported that the systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII) can be used to predict the prognosis of cancer patients; however, this finding remains controversial in gastric cancer (GC). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to systematically and comprehensively probe the prognostic role of SII in GC.MethodsRelevant publications were extracted from PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library databases, and WANFANG DATA (Chinese database). The included studies had patients with pathologically confirmed GC and long-term follow-up data. The patient''s outcome was death, recurrence, or status at the end of follow-up. The studies included randomized controlled tests, case-control studies, or cohort studies using a multivariate proportional hazard model adjusted for survival outcomes. Cochran’s Q test and Higgins’ I-squared statistic were performed to assess heterogeneity. Publication bias was assessed by visual inspection of a Begg’s funnel plot.ResultsA total of 6,925 patients in 11 studies were included. The pooled hazard ratio (HR) indicated that a higher SII value was significantly associated with worse overall survival (OS) [HR: 1.53, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.27–1.83] and worse disease-free survival (DFS) (HR: 1.57, 95% CI: 1.24–1.97) in GC patients. In the subgroup analysis, the HR was 1.72 (95% CI: 1.51–1.95) and 1.27 (95% CI: 0.96–1.67) in the group of patients aged <59 and ≥59 years, respectively.ConclusionsThe pooled HR indicates that a higher SII in younger patients with GC predicts a poor prognosis. In elderly patients with GC, the prognostic role of SII needs further research.     

外周血NLR、MLR、SII在甲状腺髓样癌中的应用价值

目的:探讨外周血中性粒细胞与淋巴细胞比值（NLR）、单核细胞与淋巴细胞比值（MLR）、系统免疫炎症指数（SII）在甲状腺髓样癌（MTC）中的应用价值。方法:以我院2012年2月至2020年7月收治的MTC患者50例（MTC组）、甲状腺乳头状癌患者50例（PTC组）、健康体检者50例（健康对照组）为研究对象,比较三组患者外周血NLR、MLR、SII水平的差异,并采用受试者工作特征曲线（ROC）分析上述三个指标及其联合检测在MTC中的诊断效能,进一步根据上述三个指标在诊断MTC中的最佳诊断界值分析其与MTC临床病理特征的相关性。结果:比较各组间外周血NLR、MLR、SII水平示:MTC组NLR显著高于PTC组,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）;MTC组MLR、SII水平显著高于PTC组与HC组,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。通过ROC曲线分析发现, NLR、MLR、SII单独诊断MTC患者的ROC曲线下面积分别为0.620、0.681、0.634,NLR、MLR、SII三者联合检测ROC曲线下面积为0.726。MLR单独检测及联合检测对MTC的诊断效能高于NLR、SII单独检测（P＜0.05)。MTC患者MLR与淋巴结转移及TNM分期有关,比较差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。结论:NLR、MLR、SII对MTC具有诊断价值,MLR单独检测及联合检测对MTC的诊断效能高于NLR、SII单独检测。MLR与MTC患者淋巴结转移及TNM分期有关。     

Matrix sentence intelligibility prediction using an automatic speech recognition system

Objective: The feasibility of predicting the outcome of the German matrix sentence test for different types of stationary background noise using an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system was studied. Design: Speech reception thresholds (SRT) of 50% intelligibility were predicted in seven noise conditions. The ASR system used Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients as a front-end and employed whole-word Hidden Markov models on the back-end side. The ASR system was trained and tested with noisy matrix sentences on a broad range of signal-to-noise ratios. Study sample: The ASR-based predictions were compared to data from the literature (Hochmuth et al, 2015 Hochmuth S., Jürgens T., Brand T. & Kollmeier B. 2015. Influence of noise type on speech reception thresholds across four languages measured with matrix sentence tests. Int J Audiol., 54, doi: 10.3109/14992027.2015.1046502. [22 June 2015][Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) obtained with 10 native German listeners with normal hearing and predictions of the speech intelligibility index (SII). Results: The ASR-based predictions showed a high and significant correlation (R² = 0.95, p < 0.001) with the empirical data across different noise conditions, outperforming the SII-based predictions which showed no correlation with the empirical data (R² = 0.00, p = 0.987). Conclusions: The SRTs for the German matrix test for listeners with normal hearing in different stationary noise conditions could well be predicted based on the acoustical properties of the speech and noise signals. Minimum assumptions were made about human speech processing already incorporated in a reference-free ordinary ASR system.     

Prognostic significance of systemic immune-inflammation index-based nomogram for early stage hepatocellular carcinoma after radiofrequency ablation

BackgroundRadiofrequency ablation (RFA) is the recommended treatment for early stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and the prognostic value of systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) in early stage HCC is not discussed. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to explore the prognostic value of SII based on lymphocyte, neutrophil, and platelet counts in patients with HCC after RFA.MethodsWe retrospectively evaluated the prognostic value of the SII in training and validation cohorts, and then established an effective nomogram for HCC after RFA based on SII. The C-index, and area under the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve (t-AUC) were used to evaluate the discrimination and calibration value of the nomogram.ResultsAn optimal cut-off value for the SII of 324.55×10⁹ stratified the patients with HCC into high- and low-SII groups. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that SII was an independent predictor for overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Moreover, SII was an independent prognostic factor for early-stage HCC with normal alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels. The t-AUC of the SII was higher for OS and RFS than for neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR). A high preoperative SII was associated with multiple tumors, larger tumors, and higher levels of AFP. A well-discriminated and calibrated nomogram was constructed to predict the probability of 1-, 2-, 3-, and 5-year RFS with C-indexes of 0.80, which was significantly higher than that obtained with other prognostic clinical indexes.ConclusionsThe SII is an independent prognostic factor affecting the survival outcomes of patients with early-stage HCC. The comprehensive nomogram based on SII presented in this study is a promising model for predicting RFS in HCC patients after RFA.     

系统免疫炎症指数对激素受体阴性乳腺癌新辅助化疗后病理完全缓解的预测价值

目的:探讨化疗前系统免疫炎症指数(systemic immune-inflammation index, SII)与激素受体阴性乳腺癌新辅助化疗(neoadjuvant chemotherapy, NAC)后病理完全缓解(pathological complete response, pCR)的关系。方法:回顾性分析2013年1月-2017年1月在我院接受新辅助化疗并行手术的278例女性乳腺癌临床病理资料,组间分析通过Pearson’sχ²进行评估。使用Logistic回归模型进行单因素和多因素分析。结果:本研究共91例(32.7%)患者接受新辅助化疗后获得pCR,其中低SII组55例,高SII组36例,SII与pCR相关(P=0.015)。单因素分析显示：T₁+T₂组(pCR率37.10%)较T₃+T₄组(pCR率15.79%)更易获得pCR(P=0.003);低SII组(pCR率39.57%)较高SII组(pCR率25.90%)更易获得pCR(P=0.016);将单因素分析...