Projection screen or video goggles as stimulus modality in functional magnetic resonance imaging

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) by using either a projection screen or video goggles as stimulus modality. A sequence of visual stimuli were presented to the same subject at different occasions. The sequence was optimized with a genetic algorithm. In five sessions the stimuli were presented using a projection screen viewed through a mirror in the head coil and in five sessions using video goggles. Failure to detect visual activation in the medial left hemisphere was observed in sessions using the projection screen as stimulus modality. Decreased thresholds for P values and cluster size resulted in activation outside the occipital lobe and did not significantly increase activated areas in this region. Results in this study indicate that presentation of fMRI tasks with visual routes is more reliable with direct input through video goggles than with the conventional use of projection screens. Failure to detect crucial visual areas has severe consequences for tumor surgery in the visual cortex. Inferior visual impression might also have negative consequences for cognitive tests with high demand on attention and perception.     

Interaction of NO with nanosized Ru-, Pd-, and Pt-Doped SnO2: electron paramagnetic resonance, Mössbauer, and electrical investigation

The mechanism of NO interaction with nanosized Ru(Pd,Pt)-doped SnO(2) was studied by electron paramagnetic resonance, M?ssbauer, and electric resistance measurements. Three steps were proposed for the reaction between the semiconductor oxide and the gaseous component: (i) the formation of bielectronic oxygen vacancies (V(o)) in SnO(2); (ii) their single-ionization (V(o)(*)) with injection of electrons into the SnO(2) conduction band; (iii) the subsequent transfer of electrons from V(o)(*) to [Ru(Pd,Pt)](4+). The last process induces the formation of further oxygen vacancies which reduce the transition metal centers to lower oxidation states; the redox processes is enhanced and the electrical resistance in transition metal-doped SnO(2) is stronger modified with respect to the undoped material.     

An adiabatic linearized path integral approach for quantum time correlation functions: electronic transport in metal-molten salt solutions

We generalize the linearized path integral approach to evaluate quantum time correlation functions for systems best described by a set of nuclear and electronic degrees of freedom, restricting ourselves to the adiabatic approximation. If the operators in the correlation function are nondiagonal in the electronic states, then this adiabatic linearized path integral approximation for the thermal averaged quantum dynamics presents interesting and distinctive features, which we derive and explore in this paper. The capability of these approximations to accurately reproduce the behavior of physical systems is demonstrated by calculating the diffusion constant for an excess electron in a metal-molten salt solution.     

Flavonoids and iridoids from Stachys corsica

Two flavonoid glycosides containing acetylated allose, and two iridoid glucosides were obtained from a EtOH extract of Stachys corsica, an endemic plant of Sardinia and Corsica. All the compounds have previously been isolated from other species of Stachys.     

LiI-doped N,N-dimethyl-pyrrolidinium iodide, an archetypal rotator-phase ionic conductor

N,N-Dimethyl-pyrrolidinium iodide, and the effect of doping with LiI, has been investigated using DSC, NMR, and impedance spectroscopy. It was found that the addition of a small amount of LiI enhances the ionic conductivity by up to 3 orders of magnitude for this ionic solid. Furthermore, a slight decrease in phase transition onset temperatures, as well as the appearance of a superimposed narrow line in the (1)H NMR spectra with dopant, suggest that the LiI facilitates the mobility of the matrix material, possibly by the introduction of vacancies within the lattice. (7)Li NMR line width measurements reveal a narrow Li line width, decreasing in width and increasing in intensity with temperature, indicating mobile Li ions.