(Press-News.org) An article demonstrating how tools for modeling traffic on the Internet and telephone systems can be used to study information flow in brain networks will be published in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology on 2nd June 2011.
The brain functions as a complex system of regions that must communicate with each other to enable everyday activities such as perception and cognition. This need for networked computation is a challenge common to multiple types of communication systems. Thus, important questions about how information is routed and emitted from individual brain regions may be addressed by drawing parallels with other well-known types of communication systems, such as the Internet.
The authors, from the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Canada, showed that – similar to other communication networks – the timing pattern of information emission is highly indicative of information traffic flow through the network. In this study the output of information was sensitive to subtle differences between individual subjects, cognitive states and brain regions.
The researchers recorded electrical activity from the brain and used signal processing techniques to precisely determine exactly when units of information get emitted from different regions. They then showed that the times between successive departures are distributed according to a specific distribution. For instance, when research study participants were asked to open their eyes in order to allow visual input, emission times became significantly more variable in parts of the brain responsible for visual processing, reflecting and indicating increased neural "traffic" through the underlying brain regions.
This method can be broadly applied in neuroscience and may potentially be used to study the effects of neural development and aging, as well as neurodegenerative disease, where traffic flow would be compromised by the loss of certain nodes or disintegration of pathways.
###
Funding: This research was funded by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Santa Fe Institute Consortium to TP and a J.S. McDonnel Foundation grant to ARM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Citation: Mišić B, Vakorin VA, Kovačević N, Paus T, McIntosh AR (2011) Extracting Message Inter-Departure Time Distributions from the Human Electroencephalogram. PLoS Comput Biol 7(6): e1002065. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002065
CONTACT:
Bratislav Mišić
Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Email: bmisic@rotman-baycrest.on.ca
Disclaimer
This press release refers to an upcoming article in PLoS Computational Biology. The release is provided by journal staff, or by the article authors and/or their institutions. Any opinions expressed in this release or article are the personal views of the journal staff and/or article contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLoS. PLoS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the releases and articles and your use of such information.
Media Permissions
PLoS Journals publish under a Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/), which permits free reuse of all materials published with the article, so long as the work is cited (e.g., Kaltenbach LS et al. (2007) Huntingtin Interacting Proteins Are Genetic Modifiers of Neurodegeneration. PLoS Genet 3(5): e82. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.0030082). No prior permission is required from the authors or publisher. For queries about the license, please contact the relative journal contact indicated here: http://www.plos.org/journals/embargopolicy.php
About PLoS Computational Biology
PLoS Computational Biology (www.ploscompbiol.org) features works of exceptional significance that further our understanding of living systems at all scales through the application of computational methods. All works published in PLoS Computational Biology are open access. Everything is immediately available subject only to the condition that the original authorship and source are properly attributed. Copyright is retained.
About the Public Library of Science
The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information, visit http://www.plos.org.
Examining the brain as a neural information super-highway
2011-06-03
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Sexual health of men with chronic heart failure significantly improves with CRT
2011-06-03
A new study published in the journal Clinical Cardiology reveals that in men with chronic heart failure, cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) improves patients' libido, erectile dysfunction, and sexual performance.
Chronic heart failure (HF) is a common, complex clinical syndrome characterized by fatigue and exercise intolerance. HF patients experience decreased libido and erectile dysfunction (ED). CRT, which is a type of pacemaker that paces the right and left ventricle, is used to treat patients with HF.
Led by Ahmet Vural of Kocaeli University, researchers investigated ...
Single moms entering midlife may lead to public health crisis
2011-06-03
WASHINGTON, DC, May 26, 2011 — Unwed mothers face poorer health at midlife than do women who have children after marriage, according to a new nationwide study, which appears in the June 2011 issue of the American Sociological Review.
Researchers found that women who had their first child outside of marriage described their health as poorer at age 40 than did other moms.
This is the first U.S. study to document long-term negative health consequences for unwed mothers, and it has major implications for our society, said Kristi Williams, lead author of the study and associate ...
Use of clot busters for stroke increased from 2005 to 2009, but still low
2011-06-03
The use of clot-busting drugs to treat acute ischemic stroke increased from 2005 through 2009 — but is still low, according to research reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Clot-busting drugs are known as thrombolytics, and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is the only FDA-approved thrombolytic for treating acute ischemic stroke, which is caused by a blood clot in the brain.
Although the study didn't follow patients after hospital discharge, "we believe that the increased treatment rate has the potential to reduce the overall burden of stroke ...
U of T scientist leads international team in quantum physics first
2011-06-03
TORONTO, ON - Quantum mechanics is famous for saying that a tree falling in a forest when there's no one there doesn't make a sound. Quantum mechanics also says that if anyone is listening, it interferes with and changes the tree. And so the famous paradox: how can we know reality if we cannot measure it without distorting it?
An international team of researchers, led by University of Toronto physicist Aephraim Steinberg of the Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control, have found a way to do just that by applying a modern measurement technique to the historic ...
Work by UH evolutionary biologist may one day help with chronic diseases
2011-06-03
HOUSTON, June 2, 2011 – Working to better predict general patterns of evolution, a University of Houston (UH) biologist and his team have discovered some surprising things about gene mutations that might one day make it possible to predict the progression of chronic disease.
UH evolutionary biologist Timothy Cooper and his colleagues describe their findings in a paper titled "Negative Epistasis Between Beneficial Mutations in an Evolving Bacterial Population." The report appears June 3 in Science, the world's leading journal of original scientific research, global news ...
Trans-Atlantic team announces Huntington's disease breakthrough
2011-06-03
Medical researchers may have uncovered a novel approach to treat an incurable and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects hundreds of thousands of people.
Two international studies, one led by the University of Leicester, and the other a collaboration with Leicester led by scientists in the USA, hold out promise for slowing down the development of Huntington's disease – and potentially, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. The research, which is in its early stages, represents an important milestone in understanding these debilitating conditions.
Huntington's ...
Rett protein needed for adult neuron function
2011-06-03
HOUSTON (June 2, 2011) – The protein MeCP2 is porridge to the finicky neuron. Like Goldilocks, the neuron or brain cell needs the protein in just the right amount. Girls born with dysfunctional MeCP2 (methyl-CpG-binding protein 2) develop Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder. Too much MeCP2 can cause spasticity or developmental delay with autism-like symptoms in boys.
Now, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) and Texas Children's Hospital (www.texaschildrens.org) have found that the neuron needs a steady supply of this protein for its entire existence. ...
Robotic mine vehicles successfully reanimated by UA engineering students using industry support
2011-06-03
TUCSON, Ariz. (June 2, 2011) -- In just 10 weeks, a group of University of Arizona engineering students took five crates of surplus hardware and two heavy-duty test vehicles, which didn't run, and mixed them with youthful enthusiasm, tenacity and many long hours to build two robotic vehicles that successfully drove themselves around UA's test mine.
It was no easy task, and predicted by some as too big a project for a one semester course: ENGR 450/550, autonomous vehicle systems. But the naysayers didn't factor in the can-do attitude of 23 undergraduate and graduate students ...
Mega Wins at Sun Vegas Casino
2011-06-03
2 players have struck it lucky at Sun Vegas Internet Casino on Monday the 30th May 2011. JK won CAD 23,373.50 playing on the video slot game Thunderstruck; CAD 21,453.50 on the 5-reel slot, Ladies Nite; and CAD 9,995.00 on the Egyptian-themed game, ISIS. Thus JK walked away with total winnings of CAD 54,822.00. Another winner, NJ, won $16,187.40 on Break Da Bank Again and $5,868.00 on Mega Moolah Summertime Progressive, giving her a total of $22,055.40.
Casino Manager at Sun Vegas Casino, Austin Green, said, "Two winners in one day is what makes Sun Vegas Casino ...
Scientists identify mutations that cause congenital cataracts
2011-06-03
New research identifies genetic mutations that cause an inherited form of cataracts in humans. The study, published online June 2 by Cell Press in the American Journal of Genetics, provides new insight into the understanding of lens transparency and the development of cataracts in humans.
A cataract is a clouding of the crystalline lens in the eye. Opacity of the normally transparent lens obstructs the passage of light into the eye and can lead to blindness. Congenital cataracts (CCs) are a significant cause of vision loss worldwide and underlie about one-third of the ...