Public health decision-makers do not appear to have a standard process for crisis decision-making and would benefit from having an organized decision-making model. The survey showed that ethical, logistical, and political criteria were considered but were not prioritized in any meaningful way. A new decision-making tool kit for public health decision-makers plus implementation training is warranted.

In the visual system, signals from the two eyes are combined to form a coherent representation through the convergence of synaptic input populations onto individual cortical neurons. As individual synapses originate from either monocular (representing one eye) or binocular (representing both eyes) cortical networks, it has been unclear how these inputs are integrated coherently. Here, we imaged dendritic spines on layer 2/3 binocular cells in ferret visual cortex with in vivo two-photon microscopy to examine how monocular and binocular synaptic networks contribute to the interocular alignment of orientation tuning. We found that binocular synapses varied in degree of "congruency", namely response correlation between left and right eye visual stimulation. Binocular congruent inputs were functionally distinct from binocular noncongruent and monocular inputs, exhibiting greater tuning selectivity and connection specificity. Using correlative light and electron microscopy, we found no difference in ultrastructural anatomy and instead, observed strength in numbers using a simple model simulating aggregate synaptic input. This model demonstrated a predominate contribution of binocular congruent inputs in sculpting somatic orientation preference and interocular response alignment. Our study suggests that, in layer 2/3 cortical neurons, a binocular network is responsible for forming a coherent representation in individual neurons through recurrent intracortical interactions.

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Objective. To assess the utility of the modulation of motor cortex (M1) excitability by continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) as a physiologic biomarker for adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and to evaluate the influences of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and apolipoprotein E (APOE) polymorphisms on cTBS aftereffects. Methods. 44 neurotypical individuals (NT; age 21-65, 34 males) and 19 age-matched adults with high-functioning ASD (age 21-58, 17 males) underwent M1 cTBS. Cortico-motor reactivity was assessed before cTBS and thereafter every 5-10 minutes for 60 minutes (T5-T60). Results. Logistic regressions found cTBS-induced change in amplitude of motor evoked potentials (ΔMEP) at T15 was a significant predictor of ASD diagnosis (p=0.04). ΔMEP at T15 remained a significant predictor of diagnosis among BDNF Met+ subjects and APOEε4- subjects (p-values < 0.05) but not BDNF Met- subjects. ΔMEP at T30 was the best predictor of diagnosis among APOEε4+ subjects (p = 0.08). Conclusions. We confirm previous findings on the utility of cTBS measures of plasticity for adults with ASD, and we find the diagnostic utility of cTBS is modulated by BDNF and APOE SNPs. Significance. It is important to control for BDNF and APOE polymorphisms when comparing TBS aftereffects in ASD and NT individuals.