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Effects of cone adaptation on variability in S-cone increment thresholds.

PURPOSE: Short-wavelength automated perimetry (SWAP) has gained popularity as a clinical tool for the assessment of short-wavelength-sensitive (S)-cone visual function, but has also been shown to have higher threshold variability than conventional achromatic perimetry, possibly due to an imbalance between S-cone adaptation and long (L)- and medium (M)-wavelength-sensitive cone adaptation. To investigate potential causes for this relatively high variability, we studied the effects of luminance and S-cone adaptation on variability in S-cone increment thresholds. METHODS: Foveal S-cone increment thresholds were measured on adapting backgrounds ranging from 1.17 to 4.17 log troland (Td) and from -0.16 to 3.66 log S-cone trolands (Td(S)). Within-session variability (slope of the psychometric function) was evaluated in 2 trained and 15 inexperienced normal observers. Test-retest variability was evaluated in the 2 trained observers, and interobserver variability in the group of 15 observers. Multiple linear regression was used to model the effects of log luminance, log S-cone adaptation, and second-site polarization (ratio of luminance and S-cone adaptation; log [Td/Td(S)]). RESULTS: Test-retest variability was lower for conditions with higher levels of S-cone adaptation (F = 9.04, P = 0.013, for the trained observers). Adaptation conditions with lower levels of polarization were associated with lower within-session variability (F = 6.9, P = 0.011; trained observers) and interobserver variability (F = 33.7, P = 0.004; group of 15 observers). CONCLUSIONS: Variability of S-cone increment thresholds can be reduced by using adaptation conditions with a higher level of S-cone adaptation and/or a more balanced ratio between luminance and S-cone adaptation than is used for SWAP.

Adaptation, Ocular↗

Eye position specificity of saccadic adaptation.

PURPOSE: The accuracy of saccadic eye movements is maintained throughout life by adaptive mechanisms. With the double-step target paradigm, eight human subjects were investigated to determine whether saccadic adaptation depends only on the eye-displacement vector, or also on eye position as a context cue when two saccades of identical vector are adapted simultaneously. METHODS: First, bidirectional adaptations (BDAs) of horizontal saccades of the same vector were induced in a single training phase. Each direction of adaptation in BDAs (backward and forward) was linked to one vertical eye position (e.g., forward adaptation performed with the eyes directed 12.5 degrees upward and backward adaptation with the eyes 25 degrees downward) and alternated from trial to trial. Second, unidirectional adaptations (UDAs) were tested in two control conditions in which training trials of a single direction (backward or forward) were presented at both 12.5 degrees and -25 degrees eye elevations. RESULTS: Opposite changes in saccade amplitude could develop simultaneously in BDA, indicating that saccadic adaptation depends on orbital eye position. Comparing these data with the control conditions further indicated that eye position specificity was complete for backward, but not for forward, adaptation. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that saccadic adaptation mechanisms use vectorial eye displacement signals, but can also take eye position signals into account as a contextual cue when the training involves conflicting saccade amplitude changes.

Adaptation, Ocular↗

Selective adaptation to noxious foods by a herbivorous insect.

When animals repeatedly sample a noxious food over a period of 1-4 days, they can markedly reduce their aversive behavioral response to the diet's unpleasant taste (e.g. 'bitterness') or toxic effects. This long-term adaptation process is selective, however, permitting insects to adapt physiologically to some but not all noxious foods. We hypothesized (i) that the selective nature of this adaptation process stems from the fact that some unpalatable foods are toxic while others are harmless and (ii) that insects have more difficulty adapting to foods that are both unpalatable and toxic. Our model system consisted of Manduca sexta caterpillars and two compounds that taste bitter to humans and elicit an aversive behavioral response in this insect (salicin and aristolochic acid). We found that 2 days of exposure to a salicin diet completely adapted the aversive response of the caterpillars to salicin, but that exposure to an aristolochic acid diet failed to adapt the aversive response to aristolochic acid. We determined that M. sexta could not adapt to the aristolochic acid diet because it lacked mechanisms for reducing the compound's toxicity. In contrast, the salicin diet did not produce any apparent toxic effects, and the caterpillars adapted to its aversive taste within 12 h of exposure. We also found that the salicin adaptation phenomenon (i) was mediated by the central gustatory system, (ii) generalized to salicin concentrations that were twice those in the adapting diet and (iii) offset spontaneously when the caterpillar was transferred to a salicin-free diet. We propose that toxicity is a more significant barrier to dietary adaptation than 'bitterness' in this insect.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Input-driven components of spike-frequency adaptation can be unmasked in vivo.

Spike-frequency adaptation affects the response characteristics of many sensory neurons, and different biophysical processes contribute to this phenomenon. Many cellular mechanisms underlying adaptation are triggered by the spike output of the neuron in a feedback manner (e.g., specific potassium currents that are primarily activated by the spiking activity). In contrast, other components of adaptation may be caused by, in a feedforward way, the sensory or synaptic input, which the neuron receives. Examples include viscoelasticity of mechanoreceptors, transducer adaptation in hair cells, and short-term synaptic depression. For a functional characterization of spike-frequency adaptation, it is essential to understand the dependence of adaptation on the input and output of the neuron. Here, we demonstrate how an input-driven component of adaptation can be uncovered in vivo from recordings of spike trains in an insect auditory receptor neuron, even if the total adaptation is dominated by output-driven components. Our method is based on the identification of different inputs that yield the same output and sudden switches between these inputs. In particular, we determined for different sound frequencies those intensities that are required to yield a predefined steady-state firing rate of the neuron. We then found that switching between these sound frequencies causes transient deviations of the firing rate. These firing-rate deflections are evidence of input-driven adaptation and can be used to quantify how this adaptation component affects the neural activity. Based on previous knowledge of the processes in auditory transduction, we conclude that for the investigated auditory receptor neurons, this adaptation phenomenon is of mechanical origin.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Memory of learning facilitates saccadic adaptation in the monkey.

A motor learning mechanism called saccadic adaptation ensures accuracy of saccades throughout life despite growth, aging, and some pathologies of the oculomotor plant or nervous system. The present study investigates effects of preceding adaptation on the speed of subsequent adaptation during single experiments. Adaptive changes in gain (movement size divided by target eccentricity) were induced by intrasaccadic step (ISS) of the target. After the gain was altered (control block), we reversed the direction of ISS to bring the gain back to approximately 1.0 (recovery). We then reversed ISS direction again to induce another adaptation (test block). Analyses revealed that the gain changed at a higher rate in the early part of test adaptation than in the corresponding part of control. After approximately 100-300 saccades in the test block, adaptation slowed down. The gain value at which adaptation slowed was correlated with the gain achieved in the control. We further examined effects of a 30 min intervention inserted between recovery and test blocks. When zero-visual-error trials ( approximately 700 saccades) were repeated during this period, the rate of test adaptation was similar to that of control. In contrast, when the animal was deprived of visual inputs during this period, test adaptation was still influenced by preceding learning. We conclude that a memory of previous learning remains during recovery to facilitate subsequent adaptation and that such a memory does not disappear merely with time but is erased actively by repeated zero-error movements. Our results, which cannot be explained by a single mechanism, suggest that the saccadic system is equipped with more than one plasticity process.

Adaptation, Ocular↗

Light and dark adaptation of visually perceived eye level controlled by visual pitch.

The pitch of a visual field systematically influences the elevation at which a monocularly viewing subject sets a target so as to appear at visually perceived eye level (VPEL). The deviation of the setting from true eye level average approximately 0.6 times the angle of pitch while viewing a fully illuminated complexly structured visual field and is only slightly less with one or two pitched-from-vertical lines in a dark field (Matin & Li, 1994a). The deviation of VPEL from baseline following 20 min of dark adaptation reaches its full value less than 1 min after the onset of illumination of the pitched visual field and decays exponentially in darkness following 5 min of exposure to visual pitch, either 30 degrees topbackward or 20 degrees topforward. The magnitude of the VPEL deviation measured with the dark-adapted right eye following left-eye exposure to pitch was 85% of the deviation that followed pitch exposure of the right eye itself. Time constants for VPEL decay to the dark baseline were the same for same-eye and cross-adaptation conditions and averaged about 4 min. The time constants for decay during dark adaptation were somewhat smaller, and the change during dark adaptation extended over a 16% smaller range following the viewing of the dim two-line pitched-from-vertical stimulus than following the viewing of the complex field. The temporal course of light and dark adaptation of VPEL is virtually identical to the course of light and dark adaptation of the scotopic luminance threshold following exposure to the same luminance. We suggest that, following rod stimulation along particular retinal orientations by portions of the pitched visual field, the storage of the adaptation process resides in the retinogeniculate system and is manifested in the focal system as a change in luminance threshold and in the ambient system as a change in VPEL. The linear model previously developed to account for VPEL, which was based on the interaction of influences from the pitched visual field and extraretinal influences from the body-referenced mechanism, was employed to incorporate the effects of adaptation. Connections between VPEL adaptation and other cases of perceptual adaptation of visual direction are described.

Adult↗

[Flexibility in the adaptation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex to modified visual inputs in humans].

The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) serves to stabilize images on the retina. To maintain appropriate performance and minimize image slippage throughout life, the VOR is subject to long-term adaptive regulation in response to visual input. Adaptive changes in VOR gain (eye velocity/head velocity) can be evoked either by fitting subjects with magnifying, miniaturizing, or reversing spectacles during normal behavior or by moving a large visual field in or out of phase relative to the subject's head movement. These changes exhibit frequency-selectivity. Here, we examine the flexibility of VOR gains by causing VOR in similar directions to undergo different behavioral gain changes. Nine healthy adults, ranging in age from 24 to 38 (mean 28.5) with no history of neurotological symptoms participated in the study. All subjects demonstrated clinically normal functioning on a screening battery of tests that included combined neurologic and otologic physical examinations. Horizontal and vertical eye positions were recorded by bitemporal DC coupled electrooculography (EOG). The subject sat in a rotating chair. The axis of rotation of the body was always earth-vertical, the interaural axis crossing the axis of rotation of the chair. The head was positioned at 20 degrees down in all experiments and was stabilized in this position using a chin rest. The chair was 78 cm in diameter and was shielded by a half-cylindrical optokinetic screen positioned in front of the subjects. Random dot patterns were projected onto this screen. During per- and post-adaptation periods, goggles were fitted to ensure that the subject was in complete darkness and the chair was rotated sinusoidally. The amplitude of the rotating chair was 30 degrees and 60 degrees. Frequencies of rotation were 0.1 Hz, 0.2 Hz, 0.3 Hz and 0.4 Hz for amplitudes of 30 degrees and 0.1 Hz, 0.2 Hz, and 0.3 Hz for amplitudes of 60 degrees. To induce VOR adaptation, the retinal slippage velocity caused by the visual input of a large field was changed for short-term; the change was produced by a combination of sinusoidal head rotation and random dot patterns. During each adaptation session, the frequencies of sinusoidal head rotation were either 0.1 Hz or 0.3 Hz and the amplitude was 30 degrees. The random dot patterns were synchronized with the sinusoidal head rotation in the same direction to make the retinal slippage zero (x0 experiment) and in the opposite direction to double the retinal slippage (x2 experiment). Therefore, a total of four adaptation protocols were tested. The subjects were asked to fix their eyes on a single dot by looking straight ahead in the x0 experiment and to follow the dot in the random dot pattern in the x2 experiment. Each adaptation session lasted for 30 minutes. Each subject participated in couple of adaptation experiments everyday. The average VOR gain and phase lag were calculated using a Fourier transformation. Out of all the subjects who participated in the x2 adaptation experiment at 0.3 Hz with an amplitude of 30 degrees, seven subjects showed a steady increase in VOR gain during a couple of the trials. One out of the remaining two subjects showed a decrease in VOR gain in all three trials. Another subject showed an increase in VOR gain during three trials and a decrease in two trials. In the x2 adaptation experiment with a range of 30 degrees at 0.3 Hz (peak velocity: 28 degrees/s), the percent change in gain (post-pre/pre) was 133% at the same stimulation and 100% at 0.4 Hz (peak velocity: 37 degrees/s). The percent change in gain was 65% for amplitudes of 60 degrees at 0.1 Hz (peak velocity: 18 degrees/s) and 64% for amplitudes 60 degrees at 0.2 Hz (peak velocity: 37 degrees/s). In the x1 adaptation experiment (30 degrees at 0.3 Hz), the percent change in gain was -62% for the same conditions and -50% for amplitude of 60 degrees at 0.1 Hz and -30% for amplitudes of 60 degrees at 0.2 Hz. No change, in VOR gain was observed at the other frequencies. The

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Adaptive modification of disparity vergence components: an independent component analysis study.

PURPOSE: Although a disparity vergence stimulus produces a smooth exponential-like response, considerable experimental evidence indicates that it is the product of at least two motor components: a pulselike transient component and a steplike sustained component. Recently, a new application of independent component analysis (ICA) has been used to decompose the vergence step response into these underlying components. Other recent experiments have shown that the vergence system is capable of rapidly modifying its dynamic characteristics (short-term adaptation) when exposed to specially designed "adapting" stimuli. Adapted responses were characterized by faster dynamics, often featuring large overshoots. In this study, ICA was used to examine changes in the underlying components produced by dynamic adaptation. METHODS: Disparity vergence eye movements in response to identical step stimuli were obtained from four subjects both in normal (baseline) conditions and after modification by adaptive training stimuli. ICA-based component decomposition was applied to vergence step-response data sets in both normal and adapted conditions to estimate, and compare activation patterns of the two underlying components. RESULTS: An eigenvector analysis indicated that both normal and adapted vergence responses contained two major components. ICA analysis showed that the enhanced dynamics seen in adapted responses was due to an increase in pulse component amplitude. In addition, the step component of adapted responses often showed double-step behavior in the later portion of the response. Finally, the magnitude of adaptation appeared to be related to the unadapted response dynamics. CONCLUSIONS: The adaptive process does not evoke additional components, but modifies the two components that are present under normal conditions. Double steps seen in the step component were attributed to an interaction between pulse and step neural mechanisms. The generation of an enhanced pulse component interfered with the production of the step component. Under this scenario, the reduced initial-step component was then compensated by the generation of a second-step component, probably mediated by an internal feedback mechanism.

Adaptation, Ocular↗

The effect of acid adaptation conditions on heat resistance of Escherichia coli O157: H7.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of acid adaptation conditions on heat resistance of E. coli O157: H7 932. E. coli O157: H7 was adapted to acid by exposing the cells to pH 4.5 (2h), pH 5.0 (1 h), and pH 5.5 (1 h) in tryptic soy broth. D and z values of the acid adapted and control cultures at 54 degrees C, 56 degrees C, and 58 degrees C were determined in E buffer. The heat resistance of E. coli O157: H7 increased significantly (p<0.05) after acid adaptation at pH 4.5 or pH 5.0. E. coli O157: H7 adapted to acid at pH 4.5 for 2 h had the highest D values at all temperatures tested (20.3-10.7-3.3 min) while D values of culture adapted to acid at pH 5.0 for 1 h were 18.2, 7.9, and 2.6 min at 54 degrees C, 56 degrees C and 58 degrees C, respectively. Heat resistance of culture adapted to acid at pH 5.5 for 1 h and the control culture was not significantly different (P<0.05). Culture adapted to acid at pH 4.5 had the highest z value (5.10 degrees C), whereas control culture had the lowest z value (4.33 degrees C). This study showed that the magnitude of heat tolerance changed with the adaptation pH and at low adaptation pH, E. coli O157: H7 showed maximum heat resistance. Acid adaptation at pH 4.5 or 5.0 provides E. coli O157: H7 with cross-protection against heat treatments, and that this factor must be considered to estimate this pathogen's thermal tolerance accurately.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Asymmetrical adaptation of human saccades to anisometropic spectacles.

We report the extent to which effective asymmetrical saccadic adaptation was achieved by a myopic subject, who was exposed to "long-term" adaptation as he wore anisometropic corrective spectacles for about 40 years and also the extent of "short-term" adaptation in this subject and two other subjects, who initially made conjugate saccades, when they wore newly fitted anisometropic spectacles for about 8 hr. Two-dimensional binocular eye positions were measured with an accurate and precise revolving magnetic field-sensor coil technique. We found that long-term adaptation of vertical saccades was virtually perfect (almost 100% of the asymmetry introduced by the spectacles was corrected). Long-term adaptation of horizontal saccades was less complete and increased with target separation from about 40% for saccadic amplitudes of 5 degrees to about 75% for amplitudes of 60 degrees. Short-term adaptation of vertical saccades was virtually complete (100%) in one newly fitted subject and only partially complete (40%) in the other two subjects. The persistence of the adaptive asymmetry of saccades during monocular viewing showed that adaptation derived from plasticity in the programming of saccades and not from modification of vergence responses. Without the anisometropic spectacles, 30 min of self-paced, one per second changes in binocular fixation between two targets, which required a version change of 45 degrees in combination with a vergence change of 11 degrees, did not induce any asymmetrical adaptation. This result shows that a specific repeated association of version and vergence eye movements was not sufficient to induce asymmetrical adaptation, leading us to suggest that the transient fixation disparities at saccade-offset might be the necessary stimulus for the asymmetrical saccadic adaptation we observed.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Visuomotor adaptation to displacing prisms by adult and baby barn owls.

The capacity of barn owls to adapt visuomotor behavior in response to prism-induced displacement of the visual field was tested in babies and adults. Matched, binocular Fresnel prisms, which displaced the visual field 11 degrees, 23 degrees, or 34 degrees to the right, were placed on owls for periods of up to 99 d. Seven baby owls wore the prisms from the day the eyelids first opened; 2 owls wore them as adults. Prism adaptation was measured by the accuracy with which a target was approached and struck with the talons, a behavior similar to pointing behavior used commonly to assess prism adaptation in primates. Baby and adult owls exhibited a limited capacity to adapt this visuomotor behavior. Acquisition of adapted behavior was slow, taking place over a period of weeks, and was never complete even for owls that were raised viewing the world through relatively weak (11 degrees) displacing prisms. When the prisms were removed from adapted owls, they struck to the opposite side of the target. The recovery of strike accuracy following prism removal was rapid; 7 of 9 owls recovered normal accuracy within 30 min of prism removal, despite having worn the prisms for months. This limited capacity for adaptation contrasts dramatically with the extensive and rapid adaptation exhibited by adult primates exposed to comparable prismatic displacements. The mechanism of adaptation used by the owls was to alter the movements employed for approaching targets. Instead of moving straight ahead, the head and body moved diagonally relative to the orientation of the head. Thus, in contrast to prism adaptation by humans that can involve reinterpretation of eye, head, and limb position, prism adaptation by owls is based on changes in the motor commands that underlie approach behavior.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Mechanoelectrical transduction and adaptation in hair cells of the mouse utricle, a low-frequency vestibular organ.

Hair cells of inner ear organs sensitive to frequencies above 10 Hz adapt to maintained hair bundle deflections at rates that reduce their responses to lower frequencies. Mammalian vestibular organs detect head movements at frequencies well below 10 Hz. We asked whether hair cells of the mouse utricle adapt, and if so, whether the adaptation was similar to that in higher frequency organs such as the frog saccule. Whole-cell transduction currents were recorded from hair cells in the epithelium of the mouse utricle. Hair bundles were deflected by a fluid jet or a stiff probe. The transduction currents evoked by step deflections adapted over 10-100 msec. The mean operating range was 1.5 micron (deflection of the tip of the bundle), approximately threefold larger than in frog saccule. Taller and more compact bundles of the mouse utricle account for this difference. As in frog saccular hair cells, adaptation shifted the current-deflection (I(X)) relation along the deflection axis. These adaptive shifts had time constants of 10-20 msec and reached 60-80% of stimulus amplitude. The adaptive shift and voltage-dependent bundle movement are consistent with the motor model of adaptation. When the fluid jet was used, adaptation also broadened the I(X) relation and reduced the maximum current. Adaptation attenuated the transduction currents evoked by sinusoidal bundle deflections below 5 Hz, within the frequency range of the utricle, but because it was incomplete, substantial responses remained. Moreover, the adaptive shift mechanism preserves sensitivity even in the presence of large stimuli that would otherwise saturate transduction.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Nipped in the bud: why regional scale adaptive management is not blooming.

Adaptive management is an approach to managing natural resources that emphasizes learning from the implementation of policies and strategies. Adaptive management appears to offer a solution to the management gridlock caused by increasing complexity and uncertainty. The concept of adaptive management has been embraced by natural resource managers worldwide, but there are relatively few published examples of adaptive management in use. In this article, we explore two watershed management projects in southeastern Australia to better understand the potential of adaptive management in regional scale programs through qualitative, case study-based investigation. The program logic of one case implies the use of passive adaptive management, whereas the second case claims to be based on active adaptive management. Data were created using participant observation, semistructured interviews with individuals and groups, and document review. Using thematic content and metaphor analysis to explore the case data, we found that each case was successful as an implementation project. However, the use of both passive and active adaptive management was constrained by deeply entrenched social norms and institutional frameworks. We identified seven "imperatives" that guided the behavior of project stakeholders, and that have consequences for the use of adaptive management. Reference to recent evaluations of the Adaptive Management Areas of the Pacific Northwest of the United States suggests that some of these imperatives and their consequences have broad applicability. The implications of our findings are discussed, and suggestions for improving the outcomes of regional scale adaptive management are provided.

Australia↗

Adaptation to temporal modulation can enhance differential speed sensitivity.

During adaptation to a moving pattern, perceived speed decreases. Thus we know that the adapted visual system does not simply code the absolute speed of a stimulus. We hypothesised that adaptation to a moving stimulus serves to optimise coding of changes in speed at the expense of maintaining an accurate representation of absolute speed. In this case we would expect discrimination of speeds around the adapted level to be preserved or enhanced by motion adaptation. Speed discrimination thresholds were measured for sinusoidal gratings (1.25 cpd; 12.5 Hz; 40% contrast) with and without prior adaptation to moving, static, and flickering stimuli. After adaptation to motion in the same direction as the test, seven of eight subjects showed a reduction of perceived speed in the adapted region, and seven showed enhanced discrimination. Similar effects were found for adaptation to motion in the opposite direction to the test and to counter-phase flicker, suggesting that adaptation is driven by temporal modulation rather than by motion per se. We conclude that motion adaptation preserves or enhances differential speed sensitivity at the expense of an accurate representation of absolute speed.

Accommodation, Ocular↗

An adaptive interval-based algorithm for withholding ICD therapy during sinus tachycardia.

Avoiding inappropriate ICD therapy during supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) while assuring 100% sensitivity for VT/VF remains a challenge. Inappropriate VT/VF therapy during sinus tachycardia (ST) is particularly distressing to the patient because the full sequence of ICD therapies is often delivered. ST or 1:1 atrial tachycardia (AT) with long PR intervals and ST or AT with atrial oversensing of far-field R waves cause the majority of inappropriate therapy in the Medtronic GEM DR (Model 7271) ICD. The goals of the present effort were to define an adaptive interval-based algorithm for withholding VT/VF therapy in dual chamber ICDs during ST and to compare performance of the adaptive algorithm with that of the original ST withholding algorithm in the GEM DR. The adaptive algorithm uses a combination of 1:1 atrial to ventricular conduction pattern, changes in RR intervals and changes in intrinsic PR intervals to establish evidence for or against the presence of ST. Performances of the adaptive and original ST withholding algorithms were compared on 3 databases collected by implanted GEM DR devices. The first database included 684 spontaneous VT/VF episodes. The second database included 216 spontaneous SVT episodes that received inappropriate VT/VF therapy. These databases included up to 2,000 atrial or ventricular sensed or paced events preceding the spontaneous tachycardias. The third database included 320 spontaneous ST/AT episodes for which therapy was appropriately withheld by the GEM DR. Performance of the adaptive algorithm on the third database was predicted rather than directly computed because of record length limitations. VT/VF therapy was classified as "withheld" if evidence of ST remained high for one algorithm (i.e., at least 7 more beats to VT/VF detection) at the point of VT/VF detection by the other algorithm. For the 684 true VT/VF episodes, the original algorithm withheld VT/VF therapy in 5 episodes and the adaptive algorithm withheld VT/VF therapy in 3 episodes. The 95% confidence interval for the difference in VT/VF sensitivity between the adaptive and original algorithms was [-0.5 to + 1.1%]. Twelve of the 320 ST/AT episodes (3.8%) that were appropriately classified by the original algorithm were predicted to receive inappropriate therapy by the adaptive algorithm. However, relative to the original algorithm, the adaptive algorithm appropriately withheld VT/VF therapy for 76 of 216 true SVT episodes (i.e., incremental specificity of 35.2%). For the specific SVT episodes that were the targets for improvement by the adaptive ST algorithm (ST/AT with long PR intervals and ST/AT with intermittent atrial oversensing of far-field R waves), the adaptive algorithm reduced inappropriate therapy by 63.2%.

Algorithms↗

Effects of movement duration and visual feedback on visual and proprioceptive components of prism adaptation.

While looking through laterally displacing prisms, subjects pointed sagittally 80 times at an objectively straight-ahead target, completing a reciprocal out-and-back pointing movement ever 1, 3, or 6 s. Visual feedback was available early in the pointing movement or only late at the end of the movement. Aftereffect measures of adaptive shift (obtained after every 10 pointing trials) showed adaptive change only in limb position sense (i.e., proprioceptive adaptation) when movement duration was 1 s, regardless of visual feedback condition; but as movement duration increased, adaptive change in the eye position sense (i.e., visual adaptation) increased while proprioceptive adaptation decreased, especially for the late visual feedback condition. Regardless of visual feedback condition, proprioceptive adaptation showed the maximal rate of growth with the 1-s movement duration, whereas visual adaptation showed maximal growth with the 6-s movement duration. These results provide additional support for a model of adaptive spatial mapping in which the direction of strategically flexible coordination (guidance) between eye and limb (and consequently the locus of adaptive spatial mapping) is jointly determined by movement duration and timing of visual feedback. An additional effect of movement duration is to determine the rate of discordant inputs. Maximal growth of adaptation occurs when the input rate matches the response time of the spatial mapping function.

Journal Article↗

Changes in potentiation and timing of sensorimotor transmission after adaptation of a postsynaptic transient outward current in a simulated cortical neuron.

How adaptation of a postsynaptic transient outward current might affect the efficacy of sensorimotor transmission was investigated. The transmission signals that were studied were a 5 ms conditioned stimulus (CS) and a 60 ms US drawn from intracellularly recorded, depolarizing postsynaptic potentials (PSPs) elicited in pyramidal neurons of the cat motor cortex by a click CS and a glabella tap US, respectively. SPICE, a program used to analyze electrical circuits, was used to simulate the cortical neuron containing the adaptive outward current. Changes in the magnitude and latency of rise to firing threshold of the PSPs were compared i) after presynaptic augmentation of a CS input in the absence of an adaptive postsynaptic current and ii) after decreasing the magnitude of an adaptive postsynaptic current that was rapidly activated by depolarization. Effects of short (6 ms) and long (24 ms) inactivation time constants of the postsynaptic current were also studied. In both presynaptic adaptation and postsynaptic adaptation, the potentiation of the magnitude of the CS-induced PSP was similar, with the latency to threshold being reduced by < or = 1 ms in both cases. The effects on the US PSP differed. Presynaptic adaptation affecting the CS had no effect on the US. Adaptation of the CS by a postsynaptic outward current with a 6 ms inactivation time constant, reduced the latency to threshold of an EPSP from a nearby US synapse by up to 6 ms by augmenting the initial portion of the slowly rising US-induced PSP. Adaptation of a postsynaptic current with a 24 ms inactivation time constant reduced the latency of response to the US PSP by up to 16 ms. When the US synapse was relocated to the soma, the reduction in US latency caused by adaptation of the outward current at the CS synapse was reduced by up to one half. The latency of slowly rising components of integrated synaptic responses to compound CSs of > 5 ms duration from multiple synaptic inputs would be expected to show reductions corresponding to those of the US. We conclude that potentiation of synaptic transmission by adaptation of a postsynaptic outward current can result in reductions of latency of sensorimotor transmission that can significantly affect the timing and accuracy of controlled motor tasks. These effects depend significantly on the locations of the synaptic inputs within the cell.

Cerebral Cortex↗

Can adapting the homes of older people and providing assistive technology pay its way?

BACKGROUND: Adaptations and assistive technology (AT) have an important role in enabling older people to remain in their own homes. OBJECTIVE: To measure the feasibility and cost of adaptations and AT, and the scope for these to substitute and supplement formal care. DESIGN: Detailed design studies to benchmark the adaptability of 82 properties against the needs of seven notional users. SETTING: Social rented housing sector. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Measures of the adaptability of properties, costs of care, adaptations and AT, and relationships between these costs. RESULTS: The adaptability of properties varies according to many design factors and the needs of occupiers. The most adaptable properties were ground floor flats and bungalows; the least were houses, maisonettes and flats in converted houses. Purpose-built sheltered properties were generally more adaptable than corresponding mainstream properties but the opposite was the case for bungalows. Adaptations and AT can substitute for and supplement formal care, and in most cases the initial investment in adaptations and AT is recouped through subsequently lower care costs within the average life expectancy of a user. CONCLUSION: Appropriately selected adaptations and AT can make a significant contribution to the provision of living environments which facilitate independence. They can both substitute for traditional formal care services and supplement these services in a cost-effective way.

Activities of Daily Living↗