However, the mean response is blind to many important patterns of cortical modulation, which severely limits the formulation and evaluation of linking hypotheses between neural activity, BOLD responses, and behavior. More recently, multivariate pattern classification analysis (MVPA) has been
applied to fMRI data to evaluate the information content of spatially distributed activation patterns. This approach has been remarkably successful at detecting selleck inhibitor the presence of specific information in targeted brain regions, and provides an extremely flexible means of extracting that information without a precise generative model for the underlying neural activity. However, this flexibility comes at a cost: since MVPA relies on pooling information MK-0518 cell line across voxels that are selective for many different stimulus attributes, it is difficult to infer how specific sub-sets of
tuned neurons are modulated by an experimental manipulation. In contrast, recently developed encoding models can produce more precise estimates of feature-selective tuning functions, and can support the creation of explicit linking hypotheses between neural activity and behavior. Although these encoding models depend on strong – and often untested – assumptions about the response properties of underlying neural generators, they also provide a unique opportunity to evaluate population-level computational theories of perception and cognition that have previously been difficult to assess using either single-unit recording or conventional neuroimaging techniques. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.”
“Aim: Chromobacterium are saprophytes that cause highly fatal opportunistic infections. Identification and strain differentiation
were performed to identify the strain variability among the environmental samples. We have evaluated the suitability of individual and combined methods to detect the strain variations of the samples collected in different seasons.
Methods and Results: Selumetinib Amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiles were obtained using four different restriction enzyme digestions (AluI, HaeIII, MspI and RsaI) and five random primers. A matrix of dice similarity coefficients was calculated and used to compare these restriction patterns. ARDRA showed rapid differentiation of strains based on 16S rDNA, but the combined RAPD and ARDRA gave a more reliable differentiation than when either of them was analysed individually.
Conclusion: A high level of genetic diversity was observed, which indicates that the Kolli Hills’ C. violaceum isolates would fall into at least three new clusters.
Significance and Impact of the Study: Results showed a noteworthy bacterial variation and genetic diversity of C. violaceum in the unexplored, virgin forest area.