Neural Mechanisms in Eating Behaviors: A Pilot fMRI Study of Emotional Processing

Rosa M. Molina-Ruiz,T. García-Saiz,Jeffrey C.L. Looi,E. Via Virgili,M. Rincón Zamorano,Laura de Anta Tejado,Helena Trebbau López,Jose Luis Carrasco Perera,Marina Díaz-Marsá 대한신경정신의학회 2020 PSYCHIATRY INVESTIGATION Vol.17 No.3

Objective Emotional processing dysfunction evident in eating disorders (ED) such as anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN), is considered relevant to the development and maintenance of these disorders. The purpose of the current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to pilot a comparison of the activity of the fronto-limbic and fronto-striatal brain areas during an emotion processing task in persons with ED. Methods 24 women patients with ED were scanned, while showing emotionally stimulating (pleasant, unpleasant) and neutral images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). Results During the pleasant condition, significant differences in Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) activations were found with AN participants presenting greater activation compared to BN and ED comorbid groups (EDc) and healthy controls also showing greater activation of this brain area compared to BN and EDc. Left putamen was less activated in EDc compared to both controls (C) and AN. During the unpleasant condition, AN participants showed hyperactivation of the Orbito-Frontal Cortex (OFC) when compared to EDc. Conclusion This study highlights the potential functional relevance of brain areas that have been associated with self-control. These findings should help advance understanding the neural substrate of ED, though they should be considered as preliminary and be cautiously interpreted.

AzTEC millimetre survey of the COSMOS field – I. Data reduction and source catalogue

Scott, K. S.,Austermann, J. E.,Perera, T. A.,Wilson, G. W.,Aretxaga, I.,Bock, J. J.,Hughes, D. H.,Kang, Y.,Kim, S.,Mauskopf, P. D.,Sanders, D. B.,Scoville, N.,Yun, M. S. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2008 MONTHLY NOTICES- ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY Vol.385 No.4

<P>ABSTRACT</P><P>We present a 1.1 mm wavelength imaging survey covering 0.3 deg<SUP>2</SUP> in the COSMOS field. These data, obtained with the AzTEC continuum camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, were centred on a prominent large-scale structure overdensity which includes a rich X-ray cluster at <I>z</I>≈ 0.73. A total of 50 mm-galaxy candidates, with a significance ranging from 3.5 to 8.5σ, are extracted from the central 0.15 deg<SUP>2</SUP> area which has a uniform sensitivity of ∼1.3 mJy beam<SUP>−1</SUP>. 16 sources are detected with S/N ≥ 4.5, where the expected false-detection rate is zero, of which a surprisingly large number (9) have intrinsic (deboosted) fluxes ≥5 mJy at 1.1 mm. Assuming the emission is dominated by radiation from dust, heated by a massive population of young, optically obscured stars, then these bright AzTEC sources have far-infrared luminosities >6 × 10<SUP>12</SUP> L<SUB>⊙</SUB> and star formation rates >1100 M<SUB>⊙</SUB> yr<SUP>−1</SUP>. Two of these nine bright AzTEC sources are found towards the extreme peripheral region of the X-ray cluster, whilst the remainder are distributed across the larger scale overdensity. We describe the AzTEC data reduction pipeline, the source-extraction algorithm, and the characterization of the source catalogue, including the completeness, flux deboosting correction, false-detection rate and the source positional uncertainty, through an extensive set of Monte Carlo simulations. We conclude with a preliminary comparison, via a stacked analysis, of the overlapping MIPS 24-μm data and radio data with this AzTEC map of the COSMOS field.</P>

Design of a Track-Leg Hybrid Locomotive Mobile Robot

K. N. M. Perera,D. L. F. M. Liyanage,P. V. K. Asanka,D. N. Rajapaksha,Y. W. R. Amarasinghe,R. A. R. C. Gopura,S. A. Nanayakkara 제어로봇시스템학회 2020 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2020 No.10

The use of robotic platforms for operations in harsh and high risk environments such as mining sites has become more popular with the advancements within the field of mobile robotics. In this paper, the designing of a hybrid locomotive mobile platform that utilizes both tracked locomotion and legged-like movements to achieve mobility is presented. The proposed track-leg mechanism and power transmission methodology are discussed in detail along with the overall design framework. The functionality validation and analysis of the legged locomotion was done in a simulation environment using MSC ADAMS with open-loop track-leg velocity control. The designed mobile robot demonstrated the ability to traverse a flat terrain and overcome a semi-cylindrical obstacle without tipping over in the simulations for the selected gait. The mobile robot also consists of 3 degrees of freedom (DOF) robotic arm which facilitates total human replacement by enabling the ability to perform any sample collecting, inspecting, pick and place tasks. The design of the robotic arm is also presented within this paper.

Characterization of a Toxocara canis species-specific excretory-secretory antigen (TcES-57) and development of a double sandwich ELISA for diagnosis of visceral larva migrans

R.D. IDDAWELA,R.P.V.J. RAJAPAKSE,N.A.N.D. PERERA,Takeshi AGATSUMA 대한기생충학열대의학회 2007 The Korean Journal of Parasitology Vol.45 No.1

Characterization of a 1-cysteine peroxiredoxin from big-belly seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis); insights into host antioxidant defense, molecular profiling and its expressional response to septic conditions

Godahewa, G.I.,Perera, N.C.N.,Elvitigala, D.A.S.,Jayasooriya, R.G.P.T.,Kim, G.Y.,Lee, J. Academic Press 2016 Fish & Shellfish Immunology Vol.57 No.-

1-cysteine peroxiredoxin (Prx6) is an antioxidant enzyme that protects cells by detoxifying multiple peroxide species. This study aimed to describe molecular features, functional assessments and potential immune responses of Prx6 identified from the big-belly seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis (HaPrx6). The complete ORF (666 bp) of HaPrx6 encodes a polypeptide (24 kDa) of 222 amino acids, and harbors a prominent peroxiredoxin super-family domain, a peroxidatic catalytic center, and a peroxidatic cysteine. The deduced amino acid sequence of HaPrx6 shares a relatively high amino acid sequence similarity and close evolutionary relationship with Oplegnathus fasciatus Prx6. The purified recombinant HaPrx6 protein (rHaPrx6) was shown to protect plasmid DNA in the Metal Catalyzed Oxidation (MCO) assay and, together with 1,4-Dithiothreitol (DTT), protected human leukemia THP-1 cells from extracellular H<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>2</SUB>-mediated cell death. In addition, quantitative real-time PCR revealed that HaPrx6 mRNA was constitutively expressed in 14 different tissues, with the highest expression observed in liver tissue. Inductive transcriptional responses were observed in liver and kidney tissues of fish after treating them with bacterial stimuli, including LPS, Edwardsiella tarda, and Streptococcus iniae. These results suggest that HaPrx6 may play an important role in the immune response of the big-belly seahorse against microbial infection. Collectively, these findings provide structural and functional insights into HaPrx6.

AzTEC Millimetre Survey of the COSMOS field – II. Source count overdensity and correlations with large-scale structure

Austermann, J. E.,Aretxaga, I.,Hughes, D. H.,Kang, Y.,Kim, S.,Lowenthal, J. D.,Perera, T. A.,Sanders, D. B.,Scott, K. S.,Scoville, N.,Wilson, G. W.,Yun, M. S. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2009 Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol.393 No.4

<P>ABSTRACT</P><P>We report an overdensity of bright submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) in the 0.15 deg<SUP>2</SUP> AzTEC/COSMOS survey and a spatial correlation between the SMGs and the optical-IR galaxy density at <I>z</I>≲ 1.1. This portion of the COSMOS field shows a ∼3σ overdensity of robust SMG detections when compared to a background, or ‘blank-field’, population model that is consistent with SMG surveys of fields with no extragalactic bias. The SMG overdensity is most significant in the number of very bright detections (14 sources with measured fluxes <I>S</I><SUB>1.1 mm</SUB> > 6 mJy), which is entirely incompatible with sample variance within our adopted blank-field number densities and infers an overdensity significance of ≫ 4σ. We find that the overdensity and spatial correlation to optical-IR galaxy density are most consistent with lensing of a background SMG population by foreground mass structures along the line of sight, rather than physical association of the SMGs with the <I>z</I>≲ 1.1 galaxies/clusters. The SMG positions are only weakly correlated with weak-lensing maps, suggesting that the dominant sources of correlation are individual galaxies and the more tenuous structures in the survey region, and not the massive and compact clusters. These results highlight the important roles cosmic variance and large-scale structure can play in the study of SMGs.</P>

NOX-VOC-O3 Sensitivity in Urban Environments of Sri Lanka

Perera G.B.S.,Manthilake M.M.I.D.,Sugathapala A.G.T.,Huy L.N.,Lee S.C. 한국대기환경학회 2019 Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment (AJAE) Vol.13 No.1

Physical phenomenon of the relation among the ground level O3, NOX and VOC governed by complex nonlinear photochemistry in urban environments is explained in detail using the ambient pollutant concentration data of eleven cities in Sri Lanka. The time-series analysis was conducted using the 24-hour average ambient concentrations of PM10, NO2, CO, O3 and SO2 air pollutants obtained from fixed air pollution monitoring station located in Colombo since 2008. Further analysis was carried out from the mobile air pollution monitoring station for eleven cities. The hourly averaged ambient real time air quality data i.e. VOC, NO2, NO, O3 pollutants and the corresponding meteorological parameters were analyzed and presented in weekly results for the base year 2013, 2014 and 2015. It was identified that there exist two regimes of NOX-VOC-O3 sensitivity among these cities. Colombo, Kurunegala, Jaffna, Matara, Badulla, Pollonnaruwa, and Gampaha are the NOX-sensitive regime. While Rathnapura, Anuradhapura, Kandy and Nuwaraelliya are the VOC-sensitive regime. In the NOX-sensitive regime (with relatively low NOX and high VOC), O3 increases with the increasing NOX and slightly changes in response to the increasing VOC levels. In the NOX-saturated or VOC-sensitive regime, O3 decreases with increasing NOX level and increases with increasing VOC levels. In the immediate vicinity of very large emissions of NO, O3 concentrations are depressed through the process of NOX titration. Mathematical relationships were developed to calculate the steady state ozone concentration (O3ss) that gives the values for both NOX-sensitive regime and the VOC-sensitive regime. Establishment of these relationships are essential for Sri Lanka to develop the appropriate interventions for controlling O3 pollution in each city.