Language Experience Affects Grouping of Musical Instrument Sounds

Language experience clearly affects the perception of speech, but little is known about whether these differences in perception extend to non-speech sounds. In this study, we investigated rhythmic perception of non-linguistic sounds in speakers of French and German using a grouping task, in which complexity (variability in sounds, presence of pauses) was manipulated. In this task, participants grouped sequences of auditory chimeras formed from musical instruments. These chimeras mimic the complexity of speech without being speech. We found that, while showing the same overall grouping preferences, the German speakers showed stronger biases than the French speakers in grouping complex sequences. Sound variability reduced all participants' biases, resulting in the French group showing no grouping preference for the most variable sequences, though this reduction was attenuated by musical experience. In sum, this study demonstrates that linguistic experience, musical experience, and complexity affect rhythmic grouping of non-linguistic sounds and suggests that experience with acoustic cues in a meaningful context (language or music) is necessary for developing a robust grouping preference that survives acoustic variability.

The validity of the MacNew Quality of Life Questionnaire in heart disease.

Background A previous review suggested that the MacNew Quality of Life Questionnaire was the most appropriate disease-specific measure of health-related quality of life among people with ischaemic heart disease. However, there is ambiguity about the allocation of items to the three factors underlying the MacNew and the factor structure has not been confirmed previously among the people in the UK. Methods The MacNew Questionnaire and the SF-36 were administered to 117 newly admitted patients to a tertiary referral centre in Northern Ireland. All patients had been diagnosed with ischaemic heart disease. Results A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the factor structure of the MacNew and the model was found to be an inadequate fit of the data. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the items suggested that a five factor solution was more appropriate and this was validated by confirmatory factor analysis. This new structure also displayed strong evidence of concurrent validity when compared to the SF-36. Conclusion We recommend that researchers should submit scores obtained from items on the MacNew to secondary analyses after being grouped according to the factor structure proposed in this paper, in order to explore further the most appropriate grouping of items.

Visual functioning and quality of life in the subfoveal radiotherapy study (SFRADS): SFRADS report 2

Aims: To determine whether or not self reported visual functioning and quality of life in patients with choroidal neovascularisation caused by age related macular degeneration (AMD) is better in those treated with 12 Gy external beam radiotherapy in comparison with untreated subjects. Methods: A multicentre single masked randomised controlled trial of 12 Gy of external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) delivered as 6x2 Gy fractions to the macula of an affected eye versus observation. Patients with AMD, aged 60 years or over, in three UK hospital units, who had subfoveal CNV and a visual acuity equal to or better than 6/60 (logMAR 1.0). Methods: Data from 199 eligible participants who were randomly assigned to 12 Gy teletherapy or observation were available for analysis. Visual function assessment, ophthalmic examination, and fundus fluorescein angiography were undertaken at baseline and at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after study entry. To assess patient centred outcomes, subjects were asked to complete the Daily Living Tasks Dependent on Vision (DLTV) and the SF-36 questionnaires at baseline, 6, 12, and 24 months after enrolment to the study. Cross sectional and longitudinal analyses were conducted using arm of study as grouping variable. Regression analysis was employed to adjust for the effect of baseline co-variates on outcome at 12 months and 24 months. Results: Both control and treated subjects had significant losses in visual functioning as seen by a progressive decline in mean scores in the four dimensions of the DLTV. There were no statistically significant differences between treatment and control subjects in any of dimensions of the DLTV at 12 months or 24 months after study entry. Regression analysis confirmed that treatment status had no effect on the change in DLTV dimensional scores. Conclusions: The small benefits noted in clinical measures of vision in treated eyes did not translate into better self reported visual functioning in patients who received treatment when compared with the control arm. These findings have implications for the design of future clinical trials and studies.

Synthesis, Kinetic Evaluation and Utilization of a Biotinylated Dipeptide Proline Diphenyl Phosphonate for the Disclosure of Dipeptidyl Peptidase IV-like Serine Proteases

In this study, we report on the synthesis, kinetic characterisation, and application of a novel biotinylated and active site-directed inactivator of dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV). Thus, the dipeptide-derived proline diphenyl phosphonate NH(2)-Glu(biotinyl-PEG)-Pro(P)(OPh)(2) has been prepared by a combination of classical solution- and solid-phase methodologies and has been shown to be an irreversible inhibitor of porcine DPP-IV, exhibiting an over all second-order rate constant (k(i)/K(i)) for inhibition of 1.57 x 10(3) M(-1) min(-1). This value compares favourably with previously reported rates of inactivation of DPP-IV by dipeptides containing a P(1) proline diphenyl phosphonate grouping [B. Boduszek, J. Oleksyszyn, C.M. Kam, J. Selzler, R.E. Smith, J.C. Powers, Dipeptide phophonates as inhibitors of dipeptidyl peptidase IV, J. Med. Chem. 37 (1994) 3969-3976; B.F. Gilmore, J.F. Lynas, C.J. Scott, C. McGoohan, L. Martin, B. Walker, Dipeptide proline diphenyl phosphonates are potent, irreversible inhibitors of seprase (FAPalpha), Biochem, Biophys. Res. Commun. 346 (2006) 436-446.], thus demonstrating that the incorporation of the side-chain modified (N-biotinyl-3-(2-(2-(3-aminopropyloxy)-ethoxy)-ethoxy)-propyl) glutamic acid residue at the P(2) position is compatible with inhibitor efficacy. The utilisation of this probe for the detection of both purified dipeptidyl peptidase IV and the disclosure of a dipeptidyl peptidase IV-like activity from a clinical isolate of Porphyromonas gingivalis, using established electrophoretic and Western blotting techniques previously developed by our group, is also demonstrated.

Synthesis of Peptidyl Ene Diones: Selective Inactivators of the Cysteine Proteinases

A series of synthetic peptides in which the C-terminal carboxyl grouping (-CO2H) of each has been chemically converted into a variety of ene dione derivatives (-CO-CH CH-CO-X; X -H, -Me, -OBut, - OEt, -OMe, -CO-OMe), have been prepared and tested as inactivators against typical members of the serine and cysteine protease families. For example, the sequences Cbz-Pro-Phe-CH CH-CO-OEt (I) which fulfils the known primary and secondary specificity requirements of the serine protease chymotrypsin, and Cbz-Phe-Ala-CH CH-CO-OEt (II) which represents a general recognition sequence for cysteine proteases such as cathepsins B, L and S, have been tested as putative irreversible inactivators of their respective target proteases. It was found that, whereas II, for example, functioned as a time-dependent, irreversible inactivator of each of the cysteine proteases, I behaved only as a modest competitive reversible inhibitor of chymotrypsin. Within the simple ester sequences Cbz- Phe-Ala-CH CH-CO-R, the rank order of inhibitor effectiveness decreases in the order R -OMe > - OEt >> -OBut. It was also found that the presence of both an unsaturated double bond and an ester (or a-keto ester) moiety were indispensable for obtaining irreversible inactivators. Of the irreversible inactivators synthesized, Cbz-Phe-Ala-CH CHCO- CO-OEt (which contains a highly electrophilic a-keto ester grouping) was found to be the most effective exhibiting, for example, second-order rate constants of approximately 1.7 106/M/min and approximately 4.9 104/M/min against recombinant human cathepsin S and human spleenic cathepsin B, respectively. This initial study thus holds out the promise that this class of inactivator may well be specific for the cysteine protease subclass.

Breast is Best? Reasons Why Mothers Decide to Breastfeed or Bottlefeed their Babies and Factors Influencing the Duration of Breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding is known to confer benefits, both in the short term and long term, to the child and also to the mother. Various health-promotion initiatives have aimed to increase breastfeeding rates and duration in the United Kingdom over the past decade. In order to assist in these endeavours, it is essential to understand the reasons why women decide whether to breastfeed and the factors that influence the duration of breastfeeding. This study reports breastfeeding initiation and duration rates of mothers participating in the Growth, Learning and Development study undertaken by the Child Health & Welfare Recognised Research Group. Although this study cannot provide prevalence data for all mothers in Greater Belfast, it can provide useful information on trends within particular groups of the population. In addition, it examines maternally reported reasons for choosing to breastfeed and for breastfeeding cessation. The likelihood of mothers initiating breastfeeding is influenced by factors such as increased age, higher educational attainment and higher socio-economic grouping. The most common reason cited for breastfeeding is that it is “best for baby”. Returning to work is the most important factor in influencing whether mothers continued to breastfeed. Women report different reasons for cessation depending on the age of their child when they stopped breastfeeding. This information should inform health-promotion initiatives and interventions.

Pollinators of an endemic and endangered species, Mammillaria gaumeri (Cactaceae), in its natural habitat (coastal dune) and in a botanical garden.

Mammillaria gaumeri (Britton & Ross) Orcutt (Cactaceae), an endemic plant of the Yucatan Peninsula, is included by the Mexican government in the list of species that require special protection. Its natural habitat is now restricted to fragmented areas and protection programs involve botanical gardens in growing individuals rescued from disturbed areas. Little information is available on the reproductive characteristics of this species and nothing is known of its pollinators. We investigated the visitors of M. gaumeri flowers, collecting and observing bee species in its natural habitat (i.e., coastal dune) and in a botanical garden, where coastal dune vegetation had been created. Observations were made on plants whose density was artificially increased by grouping flowering individuals. At each site, we: 1) collected insects visiting the flowers; 2) recorded number of visits; and 3) video-recorded bee movements on the flowers. As expected, the number of bee species and visitation frequency were higher at the botanical garden than at the coastal dune. After landing on a flower, bees either inspected the anthers or dived among them. These behaviors, carried out by all observed species, seemed related to the state of the anthers (full or empty of pollen) and stigma lobes (opened or closed). Specifically, visits lasted longer when anthers were full of pollen and stigma lobes were opened. The same bee species recorded on the dune were also recorded at the botanical garden, suggesting that the artificial dune at the botanical garden offered suitable conditions for the natural pollinators of this endangered cactus.

Studying genetic relationships among coconut varieties/populations using microsatellite markers

The extent of genetic diversity and the genetic relationships among 94 coconut varieties/populations (51 Talls and 43 Dwarfs) representing the entire geographic range of cultivation/distribution of the coconut was assessed using 12 pairs of coconut microsatellite primers. A high level of genetic diversity was observed in the collection with the mean gene diversity of 0.647+/-0.139, with that of the mean gene diversity of Talls 0.703+/-0.125 and 0.374+/-0.204 of Dwarfs. A phenetic tree based on DAD genetic distances clustered all the 94 varieties/ populations into two main groups, with one group composed of all the Talls from southeast Asia, the Pacific, west coast of Panama, and all Dwarfs and the other of all Talls from south Asia, Africa, and the Indian Ocean coast of Thailand. The allele distribution of Dwarfs highlighted a unique position of Dwarf palms from the Philippines exhibiting as much variation as that in the Tall group. The grouping of all Dwarfs representing the entire geographic distribution of the crop with Talls from southeast Asia and the Pacific and the allele distribution between the Tall and Dwarf suggest that the Dwarfs originated from the Tall forms and that too from the Talls of southeast Asia and the Pacific. Talls from Pacific Islands recorded the highest level of genetic diversity (0.6+/-0.26) with the highest number of alleles (51) among all the regions.

SPECK-Based Lossless Multispectral Image Coding

This letter proposes an efficient extension of the set partitioning embedded block (SPECK) algorithm to lossless multispectral image coding. Such a wavelet-based coder is widely referred to in the literature, especially for lossless image coding, and is considered to be one of the most efficient techniques exhibiting very low computational complexity when compared with other state-of-the-art coders. The modification proposed in this letter is simple and provides significant improvement over the conventional SPECK. The key idea is to join each group of two consecutive wavelet-transformed spectral bands during the SPECK coding since they show high similarities with respect to insignificant sets at the same locations. Simulation results, carried out on a number of test images, demonstrate that this grouping procedure considerably saves on the bit budget for encoding the multispectral images.

Demographics and landscape features determine intrariver population structure in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.): the case of the River Moy in Ireland

Contemporary genetic structure of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) in the River Moy in Ireland is shown here to be strongly related to landscape features and population demographics, with populations being defined largely by their degree of physical isolation and their size. Samples of juvenile salmon were collected from the 17 major spawning areas on the river Moy and from one spawning area in each of five smaller nearby rivers. No temporal allele frequency differences were observed within locations for 12 microsatellite loci, whereas nearly all spatial samples differed significantly, suggesting that each was a separate population. Bayesian clustering and landscape genetic analyses suggest that these populations can be combined hierarchically into five genetically informative larger groupings. Lakes were found to be the single most important determinant of the observed population structure. Spawning area size was also an important factor. The salmon population of the closest nearby river resembled genetically the largest Moy population grouping. In addition, we showed that anthropogenic influences on spawning habitats, in this case arterial drainage, can affect relationships between populations. Our results show that Atlantic salmon biodiversity can be largely defined by geography, and thus, knowledge of landscape features (for example, as characterized within Geographical Information Systems) has the potential to predict population structure in other rivers without an intensive genetic survey, or at least to help direct sampling. This approach of combining genetics and geography, for sampling and in subsequent statistical analyses, has wider application to the investigation of population structure in other freshwater/anadromous fish species and possibly in marine fish and other organisms.

Assessment of the benefits of Discrete Conditional Survival Models in modelling ambulance response times

Many of the challenges faced in health care delivery can be informed through building models. In particular, Discrete Conditional Survival (DCS) models, recently under development, can provide policymakers with a flexible tool to assess time-to-event data. The DCS model is capable of modelling the survival curve based on various underlying distribution types and is capable of clustering or grouping observations (based on other covariate information) external to the distribution fits. The flexibility of the model comes through the choice of data mining techniques that are available in ascertaining the different subsets and also in the choice of distribution types available in modelling these informed subsets. This paper presents an illustrated example of the Discrete Conditional Survival model being deployed to represent ambulance response-times by a fully parameterised model. This model is contrasted against use of a parametric accelerated failure-time model, illustrating the strength and usefulness of Discrete Conditional Survival models.

From Aspiration to Action: A Learning Intentions Model to Promote Critical Engagement with Science in the Print-Based Media

Science programmes which prepare students to read critically and respond thoughtfully to science-based reports in the media could play an important role in promoting informed participation in the public debate about issues relating to science, technology and society. Evidence based guidance about the practice and pattern of use of science-based media in the classroom is limited. This study sought to identify learning intentions that teachers believe ought to underpin the development of programmes of study designed to achieve this end-result. Teachers views of knowledge, skills and attitudes required to engage critically with science-based news served as a basis for this study. Teachers developed a pedagogical model by selecting appropriate statements of learning intentions, grouping these into coherent and manageable themes and coding them according to perceived level of difficulty. The model is largely compatible with current curricular provision in the UK, highlights opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and illustrates the developmental nature of the topic.

Tissue microarray study for classification of breast tumors

Clinical and pathological heterogeneity of breast cancer hinders selection of appropriate treatment for individual cases. Molecular profiling at gene or protein levels may elucidate the biological variance of tumors and provide a new classification system that correlates better with biological, clinical and prognostic parameters. We studied the immunohistochemical profile of a panel of seven important biomarkers using tumor tissue arrays. The tumor samples were then classified with a monothetic (binary variables) clustering algorithm. Two distinct groups of tumors are characterized by the estrogen receptor (ER) status and tumor grade (p = 0.0026). Four biomarkers, c-erbB2, Cox-2, p53 and VEGF, were significantly overexpressed in tumors with the ER-negative (ER-) phenotype. Eight subsets of tumors were further identified according to the expression status of VEGF, c-erbB2 and p53. The malignant potential of the ER-/VEGF+ subgroup was associated with the strong correlations of Cox-2 and c-erb132 with VEGF. Our results indicate that this molecular classification system, based on the statistical analysis of immunohistochemical profiling, is a useful approach for tumor grouping. Some of these subgroups have a relative genetic homogeneity that may allow further study of specific genetically-controlled metabolic pathways. This approach may hold great promise in rationalizing the application of different therapeutic strategies for different subgroups of breast tumors. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Efficient advanced encryption standard implementation using lookup and normal basis

A new type of advanced encryption standard (AES) implementation using a normal basis is presented. The method is based on a lookup technique that makes use of inversion and shift registers, which leads to a smaller size of lookup for the S-box than its corresponding implementations. The reduction in the lookup size is based on grouping sets of inverses into conjugate sets which in turn leads to a reduction in the number of lookup values. The above technique is implemented in a regular AES architecture using register files, which requires less interconnect and area and is suitable for security applications. The results of the implementation are competitive in throughput and area compared with the corresponding solutions in a polynomial basis.