An analytical framework to assess SDG targets within the context of WEFE nexus in the Mediterranean region

Understanding the complex relationships amongst Water, Energy, Food and Ecosystems (WEFE nexus) together with the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is critical for the development of a sustainable and secure future in the Mediterranean area. In this study, we analysed 29 case studies across the Mediterranean region which describe potential success stories for the implementation of good nexus practices. We developed an analytical framework for investigating the impacts on 15 SDG targets and we also explicitly quantified the magnitude of interconnection of nexus pillars with SDGs. Our findings showed that renewable energies have a predominant role on sustainability. Moreover, to achieve the highest positive impacts on economy, environment and society, it is necessary to ensure that both people and ecosystems benefit from a minimum amount of goods/qualities as expected by specific targets like SDG 6.1-4 (clean water and sanitation) and 15.1-3 (life on land), as well as 7.2-3 (affordable and clean energy) that are strongly linked with 13.1 (climate action). We showed also that the strongest interconections between SDG and WEFE are present for the categories of renewable energy system (RED and REW). However, the analysis showed that there is a tendency to focus on a specific sector (e.g. agriculture) and that the good nexus practices implementation is not enough to understand the achievement and progress towards the SDGs. For that reason, we recommended that a more holistic nexus approach including end of supply chain options should be systematically integrated into the project design or evaluation.

Peripheral Proinsulin Expression Controls Low-Avidity Proinsulin-Reactive CD8 T Cells in Type 1 Diabetes

Low-avidity autoreactive CD8 T cells (CTLs) escape from thymic negative selection, and peripheral tolerance mechanisms are essential for their regulation. We report the role of proinsulin (PI) expression on the development and activation of insulin-specific CTLs in the NOD mouse model of type 1 diabetes. We studied insulin B-chain-specific CTL from different T-cell receptor transgenic mice (G9Cα^-/-) expressing normal PI1 and PI2 or altered PI expression levels. In the absence of PI2 (Ins2^-/-), CTL in pancreatic lymph nodes (PLNs) were more activated, and male G9Cα^-/- mice developed T1D. Furthermore, when the insulin-specific CTLs developed in transgenic mice lacking their specific PI epitope, the CTLs demonstrated increased cytotoxicity and proliferation in vitro and in vivo in the PLNs after adoptive transfer into NOD recipients. Dendritic cell-stimulated proliferation of insulin-specific T cells was reduced in the presence of lymph node stromal cells (LNSCs) from NOD mice but not from mice lacking the PI epitope. Our study shows that LNSCs regulate CTL activation and suggests that exposure to PI in the periphery is very important in maintenance of tolerance of autoreactive T cells. This is relevant for human type 1 diabetes and has implications for the use of antigen-specific therapy in tolerance induction.

Anti-BSA antibodies are a major cause of non-specific binding in insulin autoantibody radiobinding assays

Insulin autoantibodies (IAA) are usually the first risk-markers detected during the type 1 diabetes prodrome, but precise measurement is difficult as insulin binding is often low. Non-specific binding (NSB) of (125)I-labelled insulin necessitates competitive displacement with unlabelled insulin to demonstrate specificity. NSB varies with different batches of label, suggesting that it is caused by impurities in the label. Addition of bovine serum albumin (BSA) can reduce NSB, so we investigated whether BSA antibodies cause lack of specificity in IAA assays. Samples from patients with newly-diagnosed type 1 diabetes, healthy schoolchildren previously found to have raised (125)I-insulin binding (≥ 0.4 units) and IAA-negative schoolchildren were re-assayed for IAA by radiobinding microassay using commercial (125)I-insulin with and without 1g/dl BSA added to the buffer. Of 100 patients, 68 were IAA-positive on re-assay with BSA compared to 72 without BSA (p=0.125). Of 154 schoolchildren who previously had raised (125)I-insulin binding, only 45 had (125)I-insulin binding ≥ 0.4 units on re-assay with BSA compared to 90 without BSA (p<0.001). Following competitive displacement with unlabelled insulin, 40 were IAA-positive with BSA compared to 48 without BSA (p=0.02). No IAA-negative schoolchildren were IAA-positive on re-assay. Levels of NSB were associated with antibodies binding (125)I-BSA and purification of labelled insulin reduced NSB. Addition of BSA to assay buffer improves the screening efficiency of the IAA assay without reducing disease sensitivity in patients. High titre BSA antibodies interfere with IAA measurement because of (125)I-BSA present in some insulin labels. Improved purification of insulin labels should obviate the need for competitive displacement.

Consciousness and cognition may be mediated by multiple independent coherent ensembles

Short-term or working memory (WM) provides temporary storage of information in the brain after an experience and is associated with conscious awareness. Neurons sensitive to the multiple stimulus attributes comprising an experience are distributed within many brain regions. Such distributed cell assemblies, activated by an event, are the most plausible system to represent the WM of that event. Studies with a variety of imaging technologies have implicated widespread brain regions in the mediation of WM for different categories of information. Each kind of WM may thus be expected to involve many brain regions rather than a local, uniquely dedicated set of cells. Neurons in a distributed "cell assembly" may be self-selected by their temporally coherent activations. The process by which this fragmented representation of the recent past is reassembled to accomplish essentially automatic and reliable recognition of a recurrent event constitutes an important problem. One plausible mechanism to achieve the identification of past with previous events would require that the representational system mediating WM must coexist in spatial extent and somehow overlap in temporal activation with cell ensembles registering input from subsequent events. The detection of such a postulated mechanism required an experimental approach which would focus upon spatial patterns of coherent activation while information about different events was stored in WM and retrieved, rather than focusing upon the temporal sequences of activation in localized regions of interest. For this purpose, the familiar delayed matching from sample (DMS) task was modified. A series of information-free flashes, or "noncontingent probes," was presented before an initial series of visual information items, the Priming Sample, which were to be held in WM during a Delay Period. A second series of visual information items were then presented, the Matching Sample. The task required detection of any item in the second series which had been absent from the initial series. Thirty such trials with a particular category of visual information constituted a single task. Several DMS tasks with this standardized design, but with different categories of visual information, were presented within each test session. The information categories included letters of the alphabet, single digit numbers, or faces from a school yearbook. Event-related potentials (ERPs), were computed from 21 standardized electrode placements, separately for information-free probes and for information items in each interval of the trials within a task. Because each electrode is particularly sensitive to coherent activation of neurons in the immediately underlying brain regions, topographic maps were constructed and interpolated across the surface of the scalp. The momentary fluctuations of the resulting voltage "landscapes" throughout the task were then subjected to quantitative analysis. Distinctive landscapes sometimes persisted for prolonged periods, implying sustained engagement of very large populations of neurons. "Difference landscapes" were constructed by subtraction of topographic maps evoked by noncontingent probes during the Delay Period from maps of probe ERPs before the presentation of the initial information in the Priming Sample. Such probe difference landscapes displayed recurrent high similarity to momentary landscapes elicited during subsequent presentation of the information items in the Matching Sample. It seemed as if the distributed cell assembly continuously engaged by mediation of WM of the diverse attributes of the initial stimuli was being dynamically compared to the ensembles engaged by registration of the subsequent stimuli. Spatial Principal Component Analysis was applied to the sequences of momentary voltage landscapes observed throughout trials of each task. This method sought a small number of spatial patterns with which these large sets of inhomogeneous spatial distributions of voltage co

Electrophysiological analysis of the registration, storage and retrieval of information in delayed matching from samples

Brain processes of registration, storage in working memory and retrieval of different kinds of information were studied by analysis of EEG and ERP activity recorded during two delayed matches from sample tasks: (1) matching the digits in two series of six numbers, and (2) matching the sums of the same two series of six numbers. each trial was composed of six intervals continuing six equally spaced visual stimuli: (1) control--observing a series of six fixation points, P1, on a computer monitor; (2) priming--viewing a series, S1, of six numbers; (3) delay--observing a second series of six fixation points, P2; (4) matching--viewing a second series, S2, of six numbers; (5) response selection--selecting the left button to press if S1 contained all the items in S2 or the right button if any item appeared only in S2, while observing six fixation points; (6) feedback--six color coded fixation points indicate correct or error. Each interval was 4 s in duration and 20 trials were presented in each task. During each interval the visual field flickered at a tracer frequency of 1.5/s, whether numbers or fixation points were on the monitor screen. Very narrow band power spectra (VNB), ERPs elicited by presentation of S1 or S2 information items, and non-contingent probes (NCP) elicited by presentation of fixation points were used to trace the processing of information by neural populations activated by the visual stimulation. Global field power maxima identified latencies at which functional landscapes were analyzed. VNB, ERP, NCP and landscape differences were found between digits and sums. However, though these differences were highly significant within each subject (p < 0.001), no consistency was found across individuals for the electrophysiological changes during the tasks. This suggests that utilization of brain resources in cognition varies greatly with individual cognitive styles and strategies.

Quantitative electrophysiological studies of mental tasks

A number of pilot studies were performed to evaluate the utility in human studies of the so-called 'tracer strategy' previously used extensively in numerous experiments by the senior author of this paper. This strategy utilized presentation of visual or auditory information intensity modulated at some specific repetition rate or 'tracer frequency'. Representation, storage and retrieval by the brain of information thus presented is identified by the appearance of 'labelled responses' defined as power in the EEG spectrum at the tracer frequency or averaged ERP waveshapes extracted from brain electrical activity by triggering on the onset of the modulation cycle. This method has been applied to scalp recordings obtained during performance of (1) audio-visual continuous pursuit tasks in which the target and pursuer were labelled at different frequencies and (2) delayed match from sample tasks in which sets of letters, numbers or faces modulated at a specific frequency had to be retrieved from working memory. Results showed statistically significant appearance of labelled responses in different scalp regions, depending upon the nature of the cognitive task.

Quantitative electrophysiological characteristics and subtyping of schizophrenia

Quantitative descriptors of resting electroencephalogram (EEG) (QEEG) and event-related potentials (QERP) to visual and auditory stimuli were obtained from normal subjects and 94 chronic schizophrenic patients on medication, 25 chronic schizophrenics off medication, and 15 schizophrenics with no history of medication. These schizophrenic groups showed a high incidence of neurometric features that were significantly deviant from normative values. Multivariate discriminant analysis using these features successfully separated the schizophrenic patients from normals with high accuracy in independent replication. The data from the medicated group were subjected to cluster analysis. Newly developed algorithms were used for objective selection of the most effective set of variables for clustering and the optimum number of clusters to be sought. Five clusters were obtained, containing roughly equivalent proportions of the sample with markedly different QEEG profiles. The whole sample was then classified into these clusters. Each cluster contained patients both on and off medication, but patients who had never been medicated were classified into only three of these clusters. No significant clinical or demographic differences were found between members of the five clusters; however, clear differences in QERP profiles were seen. These results are described in detail and possible physiological and pharmacological implications are discussed.

Standardized varimax descriptors of event related potentials: evaluation of psychiatric patients

A large normative data base of visual and auditory event related potentials (ERPs) was collected. Factor analysis (PCVA) was used to extract factor wave shapes that accurately reconstructed these normal ERPs with appropriate "factor scores." The mean value and standard deviation (SD) of the normative factor score distribution were computed separately for each stimulus, factor, and electrode. This enabled reconstruction of any individual ERP as a combination of these standardized Varimax descriptors, with z-transformation of the required factor scores giving objective statistical assessment of ERP wave shape. Statistical probability factor z-score topographic maps were constructed, color coded in SDs from the normative means. The incidence of significant individual deviations from these normative mean values was at or near chance levels in test groups of normal subjects. For many of these new ERP descriptors, significant deviations from the norms were found for single features in from 20% to as much as 63% of the patients in particular diagnostic categories. Factor z-scores were used to construct multivariate discriminant functions that accurately and replicably separated (1) normal from schizophrenic from demented subjects and (2) schizophrenic from bipolar depressed subjects.

Standardized varimax descriptors of event related potentials: basic considerations

This paper describes a set of proposed standardized quantitative descriptors of event-related potentials, based upon principal component varimax analysis (PCVA). No claim is made that these mathematical descriptors correspond to discrete neurophysiological processes which generate the ERP. However, adoption and prospective evaluation of such a set of precise, standardized descriptors of the quantitative ERP may eventually result in advances like those which resulted from adoption of equally arbitrary standardized descriptors for QEEG. PCVA was performed on data from normal subjects and from groups of patients with a wide variety of psychiatric disorders ("Abnormals"). This yielded two sets of factor waveshapes, Normal and Abnormal, which were closely similar. Reconstruction of the normal and abnormal ERP data with either set of factors yielded almost identical allocation of variance. These results gave acceptable reassurance that factors derived from normal population could reasonably be used to describe ERP waveshapes from patients. The ERPs at each electrode of the 10/20 System in a "training group" of normal subjects were then reconstructed. The resulting distributions of factor scores were transformed to achieve Gaussianity. Mean values and standard deviations were obtained for the normative distribution of each factor score, the root mean square deviation, the residual and the absolute ERP power at each electrode. Individual ERPs could then be reconstructed with the normal factors, and the resulting factor scores rescaled to "probability of abnormal morphology" by Z-transformation. Statistical probability maps could be generated by using a color scale in standard deviation units. These methods were used to evaluate visual and auditory ERPs from an independent normal "test group" and the patients in the Abnormal sample. High specificity and sensitivity were obtained for many factor Z- scores. Multiple discriminant functions were constructed which separated normal from abnormal patients with high, replicable accuracy. Further development and testing of these descriptors may make them clinically useful.

Amnesia for dental procedures and mood change following treatment with nitrous oxide or midazolam

Fifty-eight patients undergoing restorative dental treatment at Guy's Hospital had been previously allocated on the basis of clinical assessment, including that of their dental anxiety, to treatment under local anaesthetic alone or in combination with i.v. midazolam or inhalation nitrous oxide. They were tested before and after dental treatment to determine their memory of dental procedures and changes in mood and bodily symptoms. The patients allocated to the midazolam treatment had significantly higher pre-treatment scores on the Bond & Lader mood factors of "anxiety" and "discontent". All the groups showed significant pre- to post-treatment reductions in sweating, palpitations, restlessness, dry mouth, muscular tension, nausea, loss of appetite and upset stomach and the extent of these reductions were not different for the different treatments. Midazolam treatment resulted in significantly greater reductions in self-ratings of bodily symptoms of anxiety, shaking and trembling compared with the control (local anaesthetic) group. Nitrous oxide resulted in a significant reduction in irritability, compared with controls. Both midazolam and nitrous oxide significantly reduced the patients' memory of the dental procedures and the impairments in memory were independent of any changes in anxiety or sedation. Of the items remembered there were no differences between the groups in their ratings of how well explained, how pleasant or unpleasant, or how painful the procedures were.

A sensitive radioimmunoassay measuring endothelin-like immunoreactivity in human plasma: comparison of levels in patients with essential hypertension and normotensive control subjects

1. A radioimmunoassay has been developed for measuring endothelin-like immunoreactivity in human plasma using an antibody raised against endothelin-1 which also cross-reacts with big endothelin-1 and endothelin-2 but not endothelin-3. 2. The sensitivity of the assay was 1 fmol/tube with inter- and intra-assay coefficients of variation of 13% and 9%, respectively. Cross-reactivity with endothelin-3 and non-endothelin peptides was less than 1%. 3. Endothelin-like immunoreactivity was present in the plasma of hypertensive patients (n = 25) at a concentration of 5.7 +/- 0.5 pmol/l (mean +/- SEM), which was not significantly different from that of age-matched control subjects (5.1 +/- 0.5 pmol/l). At these levels, endothelin-1 is unlikely to function as a circulating hormone. 4. Within the normotensive group, the concentration of endothelin-like immunoreactivity in plasma was positively correlated with mean arterial blood pressure, but in hypertensive patients it showed a significant negative correlation.

Neurometrics: computer-assisted differential diagnosis of brain dysfunctions

Normative developmental equations provide reliable descriptors of brain electrical activity in people 6 to 90 years old. Healthy persons display only chance deviations beyond predicted ranges. Patients with neurological impairment, subtle cognitive dysfunctions, or psychiatric disorders (including dementia and primary depression) show a high incidence of abnormal values. The magnitude of the deviations increases with clinical severity. Different disorders are characterized by distinctive profiles of abnormal values of brain electrical features. Computerized differential classification of some of these disorders can be achieved with high accuracy. Such classification, providing objective corroboration of brain dysfunctions, may be a useful adjunct to psychiatric diagnosis, which relies primarily on subjective clinical impressions. These methods may provide independent criteria for diagnostic validity, evaluations of treatment efficacy, and more individualized therapy.

Stabilization of Hebbian neural nets by inhibitory learning

In Hebbian neural models synaptic reinforcement occurs when the pre- and post-synaptic neurons are simultaneously active. This causes an instability toward unlimited growth of excitatory synapses. The system can be stabilized by recurrent inhibition via modifiable inhibitory synapses. When this process is included, it is possible to dispense with the non-linear normalization or cut-off conditions which were necessary for stability in previous models. The present formulation is response-linear if synaptic changes are slow. It is self-consistent because the stabilizing effects will tend to keep most neural activity in the middle range, where neural response is approximately linear. The linearized equations are tensor invariant under a class of rotations of the state space. Using this, the response to stimulation may be derived as a set of independent modes of activity distributed over the net, which may be identified with cell assemblies. A continuously infinite set of equivalent solutions exists.