Now or later? Striatum and insula activation to immediate versus delayed rewards.

Neuroimaging studies on delay discounting tasks that use reward delays ranging from minutes to days have implicated the insula and striatum in the processing of intertemporal decisions. This study aimed at assessing whether these brain regions would also be involved in decision-making when subjects have to wait through the delays within the range of seconds. Using functional MRI in 13 healthy volunteers, we repeatedly presented monetary options with delays that differed within the range of multiple seconds. Using a region-of-interest approach, we found significant activation in the bilateral anterior insula and striatum when subjects chose either the immediate (smaller) or delayed (larger) option. In particular, insular activation was observed after the response and the delay, when the outcome of the immediate or the delayed choice was shown. Significantly greater activation was observed in the ventroanterior striatum while subjects chose the immediate, as opposed to the delayed, options and also after receiving the outcome of waiting through the longer delay option. The evidence presented here indicates that both the ventral striatum and the insula are involved in the processing of choosing delay options as well as the consequences of choices with delays in the seconds' range. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

SF6在微水微氧下放电分解机理的研究

从微观方面和能量角度,对在微水微氧作用下SF6放电分解的研究较少。故文中基于密度泛函理论,对在常温常压下含有微水微氧的SF6放电分解过程进行仿真研究。首先,对SF6分子及其主要放电分解产物进行模型构建,对SF6分子放电分解为低氟硫化物的反应进行仿真计算,得出反应前后的能量变化;其次,分析低氟硫化物与微水微氧的反应;最后,计算SF6放电分解主要产物的电离参数,比较产物的相关电离参数与SF6气体的差异。研究表明,在常温常压下SF6分解的低氟硫化物SF3·、SF4、SF5·与微水微氧反应,为SF6放电分解的主要途径;SF6放电分解产物的电离能量均大于11 eV,高于低温等离子体中多数电子的能量,具有较好的耐电强度,但大部分分子耐电强度和结构稳定性弱于SF6,由此GIS/GIL等气体绝缘设备中的SF6分解后整体绝缘性能弱于分解之前。     

中国先进研究堆低温管路冷损模拟试验研究

对CARR中CNS系统使用的低温氦气管路的冷损进行了模拟试验研究,采用热平衡法确定了低温管路的最大可能冷损值,给制冷系统设计提供了可靠的数据支持.结合试验结果,分析了冷损产生途径,提出了减小冷损的办法.     

非线性有限元法在出线装置复合绝缘结构电场计算中的应用

极性反转是换流变压器出线结构复合绝缘的一种特殊工作状态,极性反转时由于空间电荷作用可导致绝缘介质内部及界面处电场畸变。另一方面,绝缘介质电性能参数是温度的函数,因此温度梯度导致的电性能参数改变同样会影响绝缘结构在极性反转过程中的瞬态电场分布。基于此,为了较准确地模拟复合绝缘结构在考虑温度分布条件下的极性反转瞬态电场,提出应用非线性有限元法对以上2种瞬态电场影响因素进行耦合分析。首先研究了油浸纸复合绝缘体系电性能参数与温度的关系;然后详细介绍了基于非线性有限元法的瞬态电场计算流程,并通过双层同轴复合绝缘结构模型验证了其有效性;最后对实际换流变压器出线装置的油纸-环氧浸渍典型复合绝缘结构建立了二维轴对称仿真计算模型,在考虑材料非线性的条件下对其极性反转瞬态电场变化过程进行了仿真分析。计算结果表明传统模拟方法与考虑材料非线性时的结果存在较大差异,且极性反转过程中复合绝缘结构易出现畸变严重的局部高场强区。     

Biomarkers of Dementia with Lewy Bodies: Differential Diagnostic with Alzheimer’s Disease

Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) is a common form of cognitive neurodegenerative disease. Only one third of patients are correctly diagnosed due to the clinical similarity mainly with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In this review, we evaluate the interest of different biomarkers: cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), brain MRI, FP-CIT SPECT, MIBG SPECT, PET by focusing more specifically on differential diagnosis between DLB and AD. FP-CIT SPECT is of high interest to discriminate DLB and AD, but not at the prodromal stage (i.e., MCI). MIBG SPECT with decreased cardiac sympathetic activity, perfusion SPECT with occipital hypoperfusion, FDG PET with occipital hypometabolism and cingulate island signs are of interest at the dementia stage but with a lower validity. Brain MRI has shown differences in group study with lower grey matter concentration of the Insula in prodromal DLB, but its interest in clinical routines is not demonstrated. Concerning CSF biomarkers, many studies have already examined the relevance of AD biomarkers but also alpha-synuclein assays in DLB, so we will focus as comprehensively as possible on other biomarkers (especially those that do not appear to be directly related to synucleinopathy) that may be of interest in the differential diagnosis between AD and DLB. Furthermore, we would like to highlight the growing interest in CSF synuclein RT-QuIC, which seems to be an excellent discrimination tool but its application in clinical routine remains to be demonstrated, given the non-automation of the process.     

Self-reflection and the psychosis-prone brain: An fMRI study.

Objective: The Cortical Midline Structures (CMS) play a critical role in self-reflection, together with the insula. Abnormalities in self-referential processing and its neural underpinnings have been reported in schizophrenia and at-risk populations, suggesting they might be markers of psychotic vulnerability. Psychometric measures of schizotypal traits may be used to index psychosis proneness (PP) in nonclinical samples. It remains an unresolved question whether differences in self-reflective processing are associated with PP. Method: Six hundred students completed the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences Questionnaire, positive subscale. Two groups were formed from the extremes of the distribution (total N = 36). fMRI was used to examine CMS/insula function during a self-reflection task. Participants judged personality trait sentences about self and about an acquaintance. Results: High PP subjects attributed less positive traits to others (i.e., acquaintances) than subjects with low PP. Across groups, the contrasts self > semantic and self > other induced activation in CMS and insula, whereas other > semantic did not produce insula activation. Other > self induced posterior cingulate cortex activation in low PP but not in high PP. In addition, high PP subjects showed stronger activation than low PP in left insula during self > semantic. Examining valence effects revealed that high PP individuals showed increased activation in left insula, right dMPFC, and left vMPFC for positive self-related traits, and in bilateral insula, ACC, and right dMPFC for negative self-related traits. Conclusions: The findings suggest that aspects of self-referential processing and underlying brain mechanisms are similar in clinical and subclinical (high PP) forms of psychosis, suggesting that these may be associated with vulnerability to psychosis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inferior frontal gyrus activity triggers anterior insula response to emotional facial expressions.

The observation of movies of facial expressions of others has been shown to recruit similar areas involved in experiencing one's own emotions: the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), the anterior insula and adjacent frontal operculum (IFO). The causal link between activity in these 2 regions, associated with motor and emotional simulation, respectively, has remained unknown. Here using psychophysiological interaction and Granger Causality Modeling, we show that activity in the IFO is causally triggered by activity in the IFG, and that this effective connectivity is specific to the IFG. These findings shed new light on the intricate relationship between motor and affective components of emotional empathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)