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The Journal of Neuroscience : the... Nov 2018When entering an environment, we can use the present visual information from the scene to either recognize the kind of place it is (e.g., a kitchen or a bedroom) or...
When entering an environment, we can use the present visual information from the scene to either recognize the kind of place it is (e.g., a kitchen or a bedroom) or navigate through it. Here we directly test the hypothesis that these two processes, what we call "scene categorization" and "visually-guided navigation", are supported by dissociable neural systems. Specifically, we manipulated task demands by asking human participants (male and female) to perform a scene categorization, visually-guided navigation, and baseline task on images of scenes, and measured both the average univariate responses and multivariate spatial pattern of responses within two scene-selective cortical regions, the parahippocampal place area (PPA) and occipital place area (OPA), hypothesized to be separably involved in scene categorization and visually-guided navigation, respectively. As predicted, in the univariate analysis, PPA responded significantly more during the categorization task than during both the navigation and baseline tasks, whereas OPA showed the complete opposite pattern. Similarly, in the multivariate analysis, a linear support vector machine achieved above-chance classification for the categorization task, but not the navigation task in PPA. By contrast, above-chance classification was achieved for both the navigation and categorization tasks in OPA. However, above-chance classification for both tasks was also found in early visual cortex and hence not specific to OPA, suggesting that the spatial patterns of responses in OPA are merely inherited from early vision, and thus may be epiphenomenal to behavior. Together, these results are evidence for dissociable neural systems involved in recognizing places and navigating through them. It has been nearly three decades since Goodale and Milner demonstrated that recognizing objects and manipulating them involve distinct neural processes. Today we show the same is true of our interactions with our environment: recognizing places and navigating through them are neurally dissociable. More specifically, we found that a scene-selective region, the parahippocampal place area, is active when participants are asked to categorize a scene, but not when asked to imagine navigating through it, whereas another scene-selective region, the occipital place area, shows the exact opposite pattern. This double dissociation is evidence for dissociable neural systems within scene processing, similar to the bifurcation of object processing described by Goodale and Milner (1992).
Topics: Adult; Eye Movements; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Occipital Lobe; Parahippocampal Gyrus; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Photic Stimulation; Recognition, Psychology; Spatial Behavior; Young Adult
PubMed: 30348675
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1200-18.2018 -
The Canadian Geographer. Geographe... 2022Eldercare and places of eldercare have been radicalized with the advent of COVID-19. Growing concerns about the safety of long-term care homes, coupled with the...
Eldercare and places of eldercare have been radicalized with the advent of COVID-19. Growing concerns about the safety of long-term care homes, coupled with the continuation of stay-at-home orders, mean that carers are reconstructing new meanings and places of care provision. Increasingly for many Canadians, the home is rapidly becoming the nexus of one's domestic, work, and caregiving world. By interviewing working carers (n = 5) living throughout Canada, this study investigates the changing meanings of home as a place for care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing upon lived experiences of informal carers engaged in the workforce, we observe a blurring of spatial and temporal boundaries between places of work and places of care. Specifically, we note that the integration of carescapes and workscapes into a single domain presents both benefits and tensions to carers, such as increased schedule flexibility and disruptions at work, respectively. Parallel to this, we also explore how previous places of safety and respite, such as independent senior residences and long-term care homes, are perceived as sites of danger and anxiety due to the vulnerability of seniors to COVID-19. This dynamic is likely to continue well into the future, as long-term care homes fall out of favour and carers adopt a more integrated approach to caregiving within their daily lives.
PubMed: 35909794
DOI: 10.1111/cag.12740 -
BMC Medical Imaging Sep 2022Calcaneal fractures, especially those involving the articular surface, should be anatomically reduced as much as possible. Fixing the fracture by placing a screw into...
INTRODUCTION
Calcaneal fractures, especially those involving the articular surface, should be anatomically reduced as much as possible. Fixing the fracture by placing a screw into the sustentaculum tali from the lateral side of the calcaneus is generally considered to be the key to successful surgery. However, due to the limited visibility during surgery, it is not easy to place screws into the sustentaculum tali accurately. The purpose of this study was to explore a new fluoroscopy method for the sustentaculum tali and verify the value of this method in improving screw placement accuracy.
METHODS
In this study, a total of 42 human foot and ankle specimens were dissected and measured. The shape and position of the sustentaculum tali were observed, and the influence of adjacent bones on imaging findings was analysed. The axial and frontal X-ray fluoroscopy method to view the sustentaculum tali was formulated, and the appropriate projection angle through anatomical and image measurements was explored. Thirty specimens were randomly selected for screw placement, and the direction of the screw was dynamically adjusted under the new imaging method. The success rate of sustentacular screw placement was evaluated.
RESULTS
The anteversion angles of the sustentaculum tali were 30.81 ± 2.21° and 30.68 ± 2.86° by anatomical and imaging measurements, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the anteversion angle between the two measurement methods. Harris heel views should be obtained at 30° to identify the sustentaculum tali on axial X-ray images. Frontal X-ray imaging was performed perpendicular to this projection angle. Through frontal and axial X-ray imaging, the position and shape of the sustentaculum tali can be clearly observed, and these factors are seldom affected by adjacent bones. Under the new fluoroscopy method, the screws were placed from the anterior region of the lateral wall of the calcaneus to the sustentaculum tali. A total of 60 screws were placed in the 30 specimens; of these, 54 screws were in good position, 2 screws penetrated the cortical bone, and 4 screws did not enter the sustentaculum tali. The success rate of sustentacular screw placement was 90% (54/60).
CONCLUSIONS
Axial and frontal X-ray images of the sustentaculum tali can clearly show the shape of the structure, which improves sustentacular screw placement accuracy.
Topics: Bone Screws; Calcaneus; Fluoroscopy; Fracture Fixation, Internal; Fractures, Bone; Humans; X-Rays
PubMed: 36175879
DOI: 10.1186/s12880-022-00898-z -
Journal of Health Communication Apr 2023Trust and mistrust influence the utilization of health services, the quality of overall healthcare, and the prevalence of health disparities. Trust has significant...
Trust and mistrust influence the utilization of health services, the quality of overall healthcare, and the prevalence of health disparities. Trust has significant bearing on how communities, and the individuals within them, perceive health information and recommendations. The People and Places Framework is utilized to answer what attributes of place threaten community trust in public health and medical recommendations.Augusta-Richmond County is ranked among the least healthy counties in Georgia despite being home to the best healthcare-to-residence ratios and a vast array of healthcare services. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 neighborhood residents. Data were analyzed using the Sort & Sift, Think & Shift method. Threats to community trust were identified within four local-level attributes of place: availability of products and services, social structures, physical structures, and cultural and media messages. We found a broader web of services, policies, and institutions, beyond interactions with health care, that influence the trust placed in health officials and institutions. Participants spoke to both a potential lack of trust (e.g. needs not being met, as through lack of access to services) and mistrust (e.g. negative motives, such as profit seeking or experimentation). Across the four attributes of place, residents expressed opportunities to build trust. Our findings highlight the importance of examining trust at the community level, providing insight into an array of factors that impact trust at a local level, and extend the work on trust and its related constructs (e.g. mistrust). Implications for improving pandemic-related communication through community relationship building are presented.
Topics: Humans; Communication; Delivery of Health Care; Pandemics; Trust; Georgia; Southeastern United States; Healthcare Disparities; Health Status Disparities; Facilities and Services Utilization
PubMed: 36896640
DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2023.2187484 -
Acta Psychologica Jan 2020This paper offers a new way of considering places as special types of categories, in human cognition of larger-scale environments. This may provide an explanatory...
This paper offers a new way of considering places as special types of categories, in human cognition of larger-scale environments. This may provide an explanatory cognitive model for a range of known phenomena from environmental psychology and human geography - notably places' semantic salience and vague, unstable boundaries. Using such a model to apply suitable classification approaches may enhance geographic information (GI) for key public-facing users, such as emergency services and planners. Two empirical studies confirmed that a spatially extended place (e.g., suburban locality or neighborhood) may be stored as a category whose exemplars are memorable individual locations or scenes. Using a questionnaire-based method to partly replicate key findings from the semantic memory literature (Barsalou, 1985; Lynch et al., 2000), the studies tested the relevance to such places of known semantic memory phenomena including graded membership, typicality versus ideals, expertise and context effects. The discussion considers the link between semantic and spatial vagueness of places.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Cognition; Female; Fuzzy Logic; Humans; Male; Memory; Middle Aged; Photic Stimulation; Random Allocation; Semantics; Young Adult
PubMed: 31805480
DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102937 -
Chembiochem : a European Journal of... Mar 2022Monoterpene synthases are often promiscuous enzymes, yielding product mixtures rather than pure compounds due to the nature of the branched reaction mechanism involving...
Monoterpene synthases are often promiscuous enzymes, yielding product mixtures rather than pure compounds due to the nature of the branched reaction mechanism involving reactive carbocations. Two previously identified bacterial monoterpene synthases, a linalool synthase (bLinS) and a cineole synthase (bCinS), produce nearly pure linalool and cineole from geranyl diphosphate, respectively. We used a combined experimental and computational approach to identify critical residues involved in bacterial monoterpenoid synthesis. Phe77 is essential for bCinS activity, guiding the linear carbocation intermediate towards the formation of the cyclic α-terpinyl intermediate; removal of the aromatic ring results in variants that produce acyclic products only. Computational chemistry confirmed the importance of Phe77 in carbocation stabilisation. Phe74, Phe78 and Phe179 are involved in maintaining the active site shape in bCinS without a specific role for the aromatic ring. Phe295 in bLinS, and the equivalent Ala301 in bCinS, are essential for linalool and cineole formation, respectively. Where Phe295 places steric constraints on the carbocation intermediates, Ala301 is essential for bCinS initial cyclisation and activity. Our multidisciplinary approach gives unique insights into how carefully placed amino acid residues in the active site can direct carbocations down specific paths, by placing steric constraints or offering stabilisation via cation-π interactions.
Topics: Catalytic Domain; Cyclization; Eucalyptol
PubMed: 35005823
DOI: 10.1002/cbic.202100688 -
International Urogynecology Journal May 2016Sacrocolpopexy is the gold standard treatment for vault prolapse. Current reported standards regarding surgical approach and technique vary. Our aim was to evaluate the...
INTRODUCTION
Sacrocolpopexy is the gold standard treatment for vault prolapse. Current reported standards regarding surgical approach and technique vary. Our aim was to evaluate the surgical techniques used and identify any consistency.
METHODS
Electronic surveys were sent to 148 candidates enrolled in a sacrocolpopexy workshop at the 2012 American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS) annual meeting and as a link in the International Urogynecology Association (IUGA) e-magazine. The survey assessed demographics, specific surgical steps including dissection techniques, number and type of sutures, graft materials, and the approach to intraoperative complications.
RESULTS
Within the AUGS group, 61 candidates responded (41 %). From the IUGA membership, 128 responded for a total of 189. Overall, 59 % identified their primary practice as urogynaecology, 43 % having completed a fellowship. Only 33 % reported performing sacrocolpopexy as the primary surgery for vault prolapse. Technical aspects: 99.4 % used polypropylene mesh, with 57 % attaching it to the vagina using non-absorbable monofilament sutures. An average of 3-4 sutures were used on the anterior and posterior walls respectively. Suture location: 22.5 % reported not placing apical sutures and 55.7 % place their anterior wall sutures midway down the vagina. Posteriorly, 47 (30 %) placed sutures through the uterosacral ligaments, 19 (12.4 %) through the levator ani and 15 % extend the mesh to the perineal body. The mesh was attached to the sacrum using permanent sutures by 75 %. Dissection of the sacrum was deemed the most technically difficult aspect.
CONCLUSION
Surgical technique varies widely despite the level of expertise and training. This study highlights the need for an evaluation of the effect of surgical technique on outcomes.
Topics: Female; Gynecologic Surgical Procedures; Gynecology; Humans; Pelvic Organ Prolapse; Practice Patterns, Physicians'; Sacrum; Surgical Mesh; Surveys and Questionnaires; Suture Techniques; Sutures; Urology; Vagina
PubMed: 26564217
DOI: 10.1007/s00192-015-2880-9 -
Developmental Psychology Feb 2023The relation between perceptual and conceptual knowledge is a longstanding research question in developmental psychology. Here we tested children's dependence on...
The relation between perceptual and conceptual knowledge is a longstanding research question in developmental psychology. Here we tested children's dependence on figurative information with a reaction time/accuracy task. A sample of 151 children from 5 to 10 years were assessed from two multicultural and multiracial schools in the London (UK) boroughs City of London and Harrow. A quarter of children in both schools were eligible for free school meals (national average 18.5%). The same 3 × 3 grid with nine individually colored places and a uniform black star as placeholder was tested in three different retrieval conditions: (a) same array as during presentation, (b) one place at a time with placeholder, and (c) one place at a time without placeholder. In a (d) control condition, individual shapes were of the same color as the colorful places. Bayes Factor analyses showed a more unified response toward figurative placeholders in 5- to 6-year-olds. Independently of age, colorful places without a placeholder were hardest to remember. Places were better remembered when a placeholder was added and still better when the spatial context of the entire array was available. Yet unique shapes with distinctive contours and colors as placeholders optimized place memory the most. While place memory accuracy increased with age, reaction times did not become faster. Instead, latencies were longer, the more visual information was available in the retrieval array. A larger perceptual effect was caused by the dynamic where-delay interference task, the sparser the amount of visual information in the retrieval array. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Humans; Child; Bayes Theorem; Mental Recall; Reaction Time; Form Perception; London
PubMed: 36342440
DOI: 10.1037/dev0001483 -
PloS One 2023Individuals usually develop a sense of place through lived experiences or travel. Here we introduce new and innovative tools to measure sense of place for remote,...
Individuals usually develop a sense of place through lived experiences or travel. Here we introduce new and innovative tools to measure sense of place for remote, far-away locations, such as Greenland. We apply this methodology within place-based education to study whether we can distinguish a sense of place between those who have visited Greenland or are otherwise strongly connected to the place from those who never visited. Place-based education research indicates that an increased sense of place has a positive effect on learning outcomes. Thus, we hypothesize that vicarious experiences with a place result in a measurably stronger sense of place when compared to the sense of place of those who have not experienced the place directly. We studied two distinct groups; the first are people with a strong Greenland connection (experts, n = 93). The second are students who have never been there (novices, n = 142). Using i) emotional value attribution of words, ii) thematic analysis of phrases and iii) categorization of words, we show significant differences between novice's and expert's use of words and phrases to describe Greenland as a proxy of sense of place. Emotional value of words revealed statistically significant differences between experts and novices such as word power (dominance), feeling pleasantness (valence), and degree of arousal evoked by the word. While both groups have an overall positive impression of Greenland, 31% of novices express a neutral view with little to no awareness of Greenland (experts 4% neutral). We found differences between experts and novices along dimensions such as natural features; cultural attributes; people of Greenland; concerns, importance, or interest in and feeling connected to Greenland. Experts exhibit more complex place attributes, frequently using emotional words, while novices present a superficial picture of Greenland. Engaging with virtual environments may shift novice learners to a more expert-like sense of place, for a far-away places like Greenland, thus, we suggest virtual field trips can supplement geoscience teaching of concepts in far-away places like Greenland and beyond.
Topics: Humans; Learning; Students; Clinical Competence; Educational Status; Greenland
PubMed: 37883501
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293003 -
Journal of Environmental Management Sep 2021Connectedness to nature (CNT) is likely to be a strong influence on how local communities and stakeholders respond to designation and management of protected areas. This...
Connectedness to nature (CNT) is likely to be a strong influence on how local communities and stakeholders respond to designation and management of protected areas. This study explores relationships between CNT and location, using the Maltese Islands as a case study. The intensity of CNT, as expressed by a sample of household respondents across the islands (n = 401), was measured using the Nature Relatedness Scale (NRS). Respondents were also asked to indicate places that are significant for their own connection with nature. Results were mapped and analysed with respect to the location of two types of protected areas: Natura 2000 sites and Urban Conservation Areas. The bulk of special places of high CNT identified by respondents were located in or very close to Natura 2000 sites, regardless of respondents' place of residence and regardless of protected area size. Protected natural areas are therefore important loci of community attachment with nature. Managers of such sites can potentially leverage this attachment to enhance community engagement in conservation and to contribute to increased nature connectedness in the community. However, this study also noted a not-insignificant contribution to CNT from urban or non-protected sites, providing support for adoption of landscape approaches that focus holistically on spaces that provide a context for daily life.
Topics: Biodiversity; Conservation of Natural Resources
PubMed: 34087649
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112771