Long-term phonological learning begins at the level of word form

Incidental learning of phonological structures through repeated exposure is an important component of native and foreign-language vocabulary acquisition that is not well understood at the neurophysiological level. It is also not settled when this type of learning occurs at the level of word forms as opposed to phoneme sequences. Here, participants listened to and repeated back foreign phonological forms (Korean words) and new native-language word forms (Finnish pseudowords) on two days. Recognition performance was improved, repetition latency became shorter and repetition accuracy increased when phonological forms were encountered multiple times. Cortical magnetoencephalography responses occurred bilaterally but the experimental effects only in the left hemisphere. Superior temporal activity at 300-600ms, probably reflecting acoustic-phonetic processing, lasted longer for foreign phonology than for native phonology. Formation of longer-term auditory-motor representations was evidenced by a decrease of a spatiotemporally separate left temporal response and correlated increase of left frontal activity at 600-1200ms on both days. The results point to item-level learning of novel whole-word representations.     

Normal differential renal function does not indicate a normal kidney after partial ureteropelvic obstruction and subsequent relief in 2-week-old piglets

Purpose  We investigated the functional consequences of relieving ureteric obstruction in young pigs with experimental hydronephrosis (HN) induced by partial unilateral ureteropelvic obstruction. Materials and methods  Three groups of animals were followed from the age of 2 weeks to the age of 14 weeks: Eight animals had severe or grades 3–4 HN throughout the study. Six animals had relief of the obstruction after 4 weeks. Six animals received sham operations at both ages. Morphological and functional examinations were performed at age 6 weeks and again at age 14 weeks and consisted of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), technetium-diethylenetriaminepentaaceticacid (^99mTc-DTPA) renography, renal technetium-dimercaptosuccinicacid (^99mTc-DMSA) scintigraphy, and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) measurement. Results  After relief of the partial obstruction, there was reduction of the pelvic diameter and improvement of urinary drainage. Global and relative kidney function was not significantly affected by either obstruction or its relief. Renal ^99mTc-DMSA scintigraphy showed a change in both the appearance of the kidney and a change in the distribution within kidneys even after relief of obstruction. Conclusion  This study shows that partial ureteric obstruction in young pigs may be associated with little effect on global and differential kidney function. However, even after relief of HN, the distribution of ^99mTc-DMSA in the kidney remains abnormal suggesting that a normal differential renal function may not represent a normal kidney.     

Alcohol Biomarkers: Clinical Significance and Biochemical Basis

This article represents the proceedings of a symposium at the 2000 ISBRA Meeting in Yokohama, Japan. The chairs were Raj Lakshman and Mikihiro Tsutsumi. The presentations were (1) Sialic acid index of apolipoprotein J: A new marker for chronic alcohol consumption, by P. Ghosh and M. R. Lakshman; (2) Microheterogeneity of serum glycoproteins in alcoholics, by M. Tsutsumi and S. Takase; (3) Probing protein-ethanol adducts with combinatorial peptide libraries displayed by filamentous phage, by H. Anni, O. Nikolaeva, and Y. Israel Y; (4) Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin as a marker for heavy alcohol use: What have we learned; Where do we go from here, by R. F. Anton; (5) Sensitivity and specificity of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in drinking experiments and different patient groups, by O. M. Lesch; (6), Transferrin variants interfere with the measurement of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin, by A. Helender, G. Eriksson, and J-O. Jeppson; and (7) Chronic ethanol on protein trafficking in liver, by P. Marmillot, M. N. Rao, and M. R. Lakshman.     

The Intersection of Age and Influenza Severity: Utility of Ferrets for Dissecting the Age-Dependent Immune Responses and Relevance to Age-Specific Vaccine Development

Many factors impact the host response to influenza virus infection and vaccination. Ferrets have been an indispensable reagent for influenza virus research for almost one hundred years. One of the most significant and well-known factors affecting human disease after infection is host age. Another significant factor is the virus, as strain-specific disease severity is well known. Studying age-related impacts on viral infection and vaccination outcomes requires an animal model that reflects both the physiological and immunological changes that occur with human aging, and sensitivity to differentially virulent influenza viruses. The ferret is uniquely susceptible to a plethora of influenza viruses impacting humans and has proven extremely useful in studying the clinical and immunological pictures of influenza virus infection. Moreover, ferrets developmentally have several of the age-related physiological changes that occur in humans throughout infancy, adulthood, old age, and pregnancy. In this review, we discuss ferret susceptibility to influenza viruses, summarize previous influenza studies using ferrets as models of age, and finally, highlight the application of ferret age models in the pursuit of prophylactic and therapeutic agents to address age-related influenza disease severity.     

Clozapine cases with fatal,toxic or therapeutic concentrations

Summary The neuroleptic drug clozapine is used in the treatment of schizophrenia and is characterized by not having the extrapyrimidal side-effects usually shown by neuroleptics. Unfortunately clozapine has other side-effects, which limit its use. This study presents methods for the analysis of clozapine and desmethylclozapine in whole blood and tissue. Case histories and pathology findings are described for 3 autopsy cases with fatal concentrations of clozapine, 5 with toxic concentrations and 2 with therapeutic concentrations together with the concentrations found in a living person.     

川藏高原武警战士遂行任务后两周疲劳情况分析

目的调查川藏高原地区武警战士遂行任务后两周生理心理疲劳状况,比较不同海拔高度、年内执行任务次数对疲劳状态的影响,为制订有效干预措施、迅速恢复执行任务武警战士精神状态提供参考。方法采用整群抽样方式对川藏高原地区某部武警战士160人遂行任务后两周后疲劳状态进行中文版多维疲劳量表(MFI-20)问卷调查。采用SPSS 17.0统计软件进行数据分析。结果虽然同为高原,四川某部海拔明显低于西藏某部,因此战士疲劳状态也有所不同,其总得分48.87±6.39明显低于西藏地区的51.72±7.86;4个维度中,除了活动减少差别无统计学意义外,其余3个维度得分均比西藏地区战士低(P0.05)。海拔越高,疲劳状态越明显;年内执行任务次数越多,各维度和总分越高,高海拔比低海拔差异更为显著,提示高海拔加上任务次数增加会加剧疲劳感。结论高原武警战士遂行任务两周后生理心理疲劳问题值得关注;海拔越高,年内执行任务次数越多,疲劳状态越显著,需采取针对性干预措施。     

EGFR signaling patterns are regulated by its different ligands

Abstract

EGF receptor (EGFR) and its signaling have been investigated for many years, but how its different ligands regulate signaling has not been thoroughly explored. When investigating EGFR activation and downstream signaling in HeLa cells using a panel of ligands, we found a ligand-dependent differential activation of EGFR and the signaling pathways Akt, PLCγ and STAT with HB-EGF and BTC being the most potent ligands. All the tested ligands induced full activation of Erk signaling at 1?nM, whereas only HB-EGF and partly BTC and EGF induced strong activation of Akt, STAT3 and PLCγ at this concentration. Interestingly, we also found that the high activation potencies of HB-EGF and BTC could only partially be explained by their binding affinities, and are therefore likely to be regulated by other mechanisms. We thus suggest that the signaling pathways initiated from the EGFR vary depending on the ligands bound in a cell specific manner.