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Recent studies demonstrated that beta oscillations are elicited during cognitive processes. To investigate their potential as electrophysiological markers of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), we recorded beta EEG activity during resting and during an omitted tone task in patients and healthy elderly. Thirty participants were enrolled (15 patients, 15 healthy controls). In particular, we investigated event-related spectral perturbation and intertrial coherence indices. Analyses showed that ( a) healthy elderly presented greater beta power at rest than patients with aMCI patients; ( b) during the task, healthy elderly were more accurate than aMCI patients and presented greater beta power than aMCI patients; ( c) both groups showed qualitatively similar spectral perturbation responses during the task, but different spatiotemporal response patterns; and ( d) aMCI patients presented greater beta phase locking than healthy elderly during the task. Results indicate that beta activity in healthy elderly differs from that of patients with aMCI. Furthermore, the analysis of task-related EEG activity extends evidences obtained during resting and suggests that during the prodromal phase of Alzheimer's disease there is a reduced efficiency in information exchange by large-scale neural networks. The study for the first time shows the potential of task-related beta responses as early markers of aMCI impairments.

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An experimental campaign aiming to investigate electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma X-ray emission has been recently carried out at the ECRISs-Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Sources laboratory of Atomki based on a collaboration between the Debrecen and Catania ECR teams. In a first series, the X-ray spectroscopy was performed through silicon drift detectors and high purity germanium detectors, characterizing the volumetric plasma emission. The on-purpose developed collimation system was suitable for direct plasma density evaluation, performed "on-line" during beam extraction and charge state distribution characterization. A campaign for correlating the plasma density and temperature with the output charge states and the beam intensity for different pumping wave frequencies, different magnetic field profiles, and single-gas/gas-mixing configurations was carried out. The results reveal a surprisingly very good agreement between warm-electron density fluctuations, output beam currents, and the calculated electromagnetic modal density of the plasma chamber. A charge-coupled device camera coupled to a small pin-hole allowing X-ray imaging was installed and numerous X-ray photos were taken in order to study the peculiarities of the ECRIS plasma structure.

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The Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Sources (ECRISs) development is strictly related to the availability of new diagnostic tools, as the existing ones are not adequate to such compact machines and to their plasma characteristics. Microwave interferometry is a non-invasive method for plasma diagnostics and represents the best candidate for plasma density measurement in hostile environment. Interferometry in ECRISs is a challenging task mainly due to their compact size. The typical density of ECR plasmas is in the range 10(11)-10(13) cm(-3) and it needs a probing beam wavelength of the order of few centimetres, comparable to the chamber radius. The paper describes the design of a microwave interferometer developed at the LNS-INFN laboratories based on the so-called "frequency sweep" method to filter out the multipath contribution in the detected signals. The measurement technique and the preliminary results (calibration) obtained during the experimental tests will be presented.

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There is evidence that theta responses reflect cognitive performance: good performances are associated with a decrease in tonic theta power as well as an increase in phasic theta power. In the present study, both tonic and phasic theta activity were analysed in 22 patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 16 healthy elderly controls. Single-trial theta power responses were evaluated by an active auditory oddball paradigm along an early poststimulus window (0-250 ms) and a late time window (250-500 ms), and then compared to prestimulus theta power during both target tone and standard tone processing. The main findings were: (1) in AD patients, there was an increased prestimulus theta power, as well as no significant poststimulus theta power increase upon both target and non-target stimulus processing; (2) in healthy aged controls, only during target tone processing, an enhancement of both early and late theta responses relative to the prestimulus baseline was found. Moreover, healthy controls had a frontal dominance of theta power. The results might indicate that, during target processing, theta response is not functionally sensitive in AD and cannot be involved in processing demands as efficiently as in healthy controls. From a psychophysiological point of view, this might suggest an impairment of attentional allocation resources. The psychological implications might be related to selective attention/working-memory impairment from the early stage of the disease. Our data confirm that both tonic and phasic theta are relevant indicators of cognitive performance: the lack of a phasic theta and an increase in tonic theta are congruous findings in cognitive decline. Another factor worth noting is that in AD patients theta response is not dominant at the frontal site (as observed in healthy controls), indicating a weaker frontal lobe network reactivity during stimulus processing.

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