Female surgeons earned 24% less per hour while operating compared to male surgeons

Female surgeons earned 24 per cent less per hour while operating compared to male surgeons, finds a new study, which also noted that female surgeons performed fewer of the highest-paid primary procedures than male surgeons. The study identified over 1.5 million surgical procedures claimed by 3,275 surgeons in Ontario from the beginning of 2014 until the end of 2016.

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Exploring the brain in a new way: Researcher records neurons to understand cognition

Whether we're searching for Waldo or our keys in a room of clutter, we tap into a part of the frontal region of the brain when performing visual, goal-related tasks. Some of us do it well, whereas for others it's a bit challenging. One researcher set out to investigate why, and what specifically this part of the brain, called the pre-supplementary motor area, does during searching.

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Neuroimaging reveals hidden communication between brain layers during reading

Language involves many different regions of the brain. Researchers have discovered previously hidden connections between brain layers during reading, in a neuroimaging study. The team used laminar Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (lfMRI) to investigate what happens when people read Dutch words like ''zalm'' (salmon) compared to pseudowords (''rorf''), revealing top-down influences on deep brain layers for the first time.

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Epilepsy: Function of 'brake cells' disrupted

In some forms of epilepsy, the function of certain ''brake cells'' in the brain is presumed to be disrupted. This may be one of the reasons why the electrical malfunction is able to spread from the point of origin across large parts of the brain. A current study points in this direction.

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Is this brain cell your 'mind's eye'?

No-one knows what connects awareness — the state of consciousness — with its contents, i.e. thoughts and experiences. Now researchers propose an elegant solution: a literal, structural connection via 'L5p neurons'. The group offers evidence – and caveats. Their challenge to experimentalists: if consciousness requires L5p neurons, all brain activity without them must be unconscious.

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