Tamami Fukushi

Incidental Findings of Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study in a Pediatric Cohort in Japan and Recommendation for a Model Management Protocol

Background The increasing use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in brain researches has led to growing concern over incidental findings (IFs). To establish a practical management protocol for IFs, it is useful to know the actual prevalence and problems of IF management. In the present study, we report the prevalence proportion and some handling problems of IFs in healthy Japanese children, and suggest a management protocol from ethical and practical standpoints. Methods Between 2006 and 2008, 120 healthy children aged 5–8 years participated in a structural MRI study conducted in a pediatric cohort in Japan. All MRI images were reviewed by a pediatric neurologist, and detected IFs were classified into 4 categories. Results IFs of all categories were detected in 40 of the 110 participants (36.4%) for whom T2-weighted or 3D-T1-weighted images were available. Findings of sinusitis and/or otitis media were most frequent (26.4%). Excluding these findings, the prevalence of IFs was still 10.9% (12 findings): 9 findings were categorized as “no referral” (8.2%), 2 as “routine referral” (1.8%), 1 as “urgent referral” (0.9%), and 0 as “immediate referral” (0.0%). In “routine referral” category, only one participant was referred for further examinations. Conclusions Although the prevalence of IFs was high, the proportion of those requiring further examination was low. This result revealed a fairly high false-positive rate and suggested that evaluating equivocal findings was the most difficult part of IF management. A management protocol needs to include a process to properly assess the clinical importance of findings.

Neural representation of response category and motor parameters in monkey prefrontal cortex

Conditional motor behavior, in which the relationship between stimuli and responses changes arbitrarily, is an important component of cognitive motor function in primates. It is still unclear how cognitive processing for conditional motor control determines movement parameters to directly specify motor output. To address this issue, we studied the neuronal representation of motor variables relating to conditional motor control and also directly to the metrics of motor output in prefrontal cortex (PFC). Monkeys were required to generate a force that fell within one of two categories (“small” and “large”). We found that most PFC neurons were activated as a function of force category, suggesting a role in conditional motor control. At the same time, we found that activity in many PFC neurons varied continuously with the force that was eventually produced, suggesting they participated in specifying the metrics of movements as they were executed. The results suggest that the PFC neural population encodes both “what” motor response should be performed and “how” the selected movement should be realized immediately after the visual instruction.

Neuroethics in Taiwan: Could There Be a Confucian Solution?

Latecomers to neuroscience, Taiwanese scientists and humanities scholars have yet to develop a distinctive discourse of neuroethics. It is important to involve the public in the discussion of science policy early on, so the results of a survey of attitudes toward the establishment of a brain bank in Taiwan are used here to explore Taiwanese thinking about the brain. Finally, the possibility of developing a Confucian neuroethic is discussed as an alternative to Western approaches.

Neuroethics Questions to Guide Ethical Research in the International Brain Initiatives

Increasingly, national governments across the globe are prioritizing investments in neuroscience. Currently, seven active or in-development national-level brain research initiatives exist, spanning four continents. Engaging with the underlying values and ethical concerns that drive brain research across cultural and continental divides is critical to future research. Culture influences what kinds of science are supported and where science can be conducted through ethical frameworks and evaluations of risk. Neuroscientists and philosophers alike have found themselves together encountering perennial questions; these questions are engaged by the field of neuroethics, related to the nature of understanding the self and identity, the existence and meaning of free will, defining the role of reason in human behavior, and more. With this Perspective article, we aim to prioritize and advance to the foreground a list of neuroethics questions for neuroscientists operating in the context of these international brain initiatives.

Neuronal processes that link object vision with motor preparation in the monkey dorsal premotor cortex

To examine the process that prepares for forthcoming movement associated with object vision in the dorsal premotor cortex (dorsal PM), we investigated neuronal activities in the dorsal PM of two rhesus monkeys that performed a delayed-isometric force exertion task. In this task, the subject exerted one of two magnitudes of force by isometric wrist flexion after a 3-s preparatory period; each force condition was instructed by one of two different cue objects prior to the preparatory period. Of 112 neurons with preparatory-period activity, 41 showed a visual preference; i.e., the magnitude of the preparatoryperiod activity varied significantly with the different visual cues associated with the same force condition. Furthermore, half of these (n = 19/41,46%) showed both a visual preference and a significant, independent correlation(s) with one or more movement-related parameter(s). This group of neurons may be involved in motor-preparation processes associated with object vision. Thus, the dorsal PM appears to play a role in linking object vision with the process of preparing for movements associated with the visual object.

1568 Neuronal process for increasing the “fineness” of force-coding in the monkey dorsal premotor cortex

ERI NAKAN0’12, HIROSHI IMAMIZU3, RIEKO OSU3, YOJI UN04, HIROAKI GOMI’> TOSHINORI YOSHIOKA3, ,ZIITSUO KAWATO’,3 We quantitatively examined the validity of the three criteria for trajectory planning; 1) minimum hand jerk model, 2) minimum angle jerk model and 3) minimum torque change model, based on many data of trajectories in point to point multi-joint movements. The measured trajectories for unconstrained and constrained movements in horizontal and vertical plane were compared with the predicted trajectories for each criterion in aspects of arm posture, hand path and tangential velocity. The results suggested that, in particular for skilled movement, minimum torque change model was most valid as criterion for trajectory planning.