Early processing in the human lateral occipital complex is highly responsive to illusory contours but not to salient regions.

Human electrophysiological studies support a model whereby sensitivity to so-called illusory contour stimuli is first seen within the lateral occipital complex. A challenge to this model posits that the lateral occipital complex is a general site for crude region-based segmentation, based on findings of equivalent hemodynamic activations in the lateral occipital complex to illusory contour and so-called salient region stimuli, a stimulus class that lacks the classic bounding contours of illusory contours. Using high-density electrical mapping of visual evoked potentials, we show that early lateral occipital cortex activity is substantially stronger to illusory contour than to salient region stimuli, whereas later lateral occipital complex activity is stronger to salient region than to illusory contour stimuli. Our results suggest that equivalent hemodynamic activity to illusory contour and salient region stimuli probably reflects temporally integrated responses, a result of the poor temporal resolution of hemodynamic imaging. The temporal precision of visual evoked potentials is critical for establishing viable models of completion processes and visual scene analysis. We propose that crude spatial segmentation analyses, which are insensitive to illusory contours, occur first within dorsal visual regions, not the lateral occipital complex, and that initial illusory contour sensitivity is a function of the lateral occipital complex.

Intra-bone marrow injection of mesenchymal stem cells improves the femur bone mass of osteoporotic female rats

The effect of intra-bone injection of differentiated rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) into the femur of osteoporotic female rats was studied. Osteoporosis was induced in Wistar female rats by bilateral ovariectomy. Then, 0.75 million BMMSCs isolated from healthy rats were injected into the femurs of osteoporotic rats. Histomorphometric analysis and histology clearly revealed improvements in the treated group as compared to untreated group. In 2 months, the femurs of treated rats, unlike untreated rats, showed trabecular bone percentage almost similar to the femurs from control healthy rats. To confirm the origin of newly formed bone, the experiment was repeated with BMMSCs isolated from green fluorescent protein transgenic rats. Confocal microscopy demonstrated green fluorescent protein-positive cells at the surface of trabecular bone of the treated rats. We investigated in vitro osteogenic differentiation of BMMSCs isolated from osteoporotic rats by studying alkaline phosphatase activity, collagen synthesis, and the ability to form mineralized nodules. Osteoporotic BMMSCs showed less differentiation capabilities as compared to those isolated from healthy rats. The results clearly demonstrated the importance of BMMSCs in osteoporosis and that the disease can be treated by injection of BMMSCs.

Cohabitation with a sick cage mate: Effects on ascitic form of Ehrlich tumor growth and macrophage activity

The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of mice cohabitation with a sick conspecific cage mate on peritoneal macrophage activity and on resistance to Ehrlich tumor growth. Female mice housed in pairs were divided into control and experimental groups. One mouse of each control pair was inoculated with NaCl (0.1 ml/10 g) intraperitoneally and the other, called `companion of healthy partner` (CHP), was kept undisturbed. One animal of each experimental pair of mice was inoculated with 5.0 x 10(6) Ehrlich tumor cells intraperitoneally and the other, the subject of this study, was called `companion of sick partner` (CSP). Peritoneal macrophages were removed from CSP and CHP mice to analyze resident macrophage activity (experiment 1), macrophage activity after Mycobacterium bovis (experiment 2) or Ehrlich tumor cells (experiment 3) in vivo inoculations. The resistance of CSP and CHP mice to Ehrlich tumor growth was also analyzed (experiment 4). Differences between groups were not found on resident macrophage activity. However, Onco-BCG- and Ehrlich tumor-activated macrophages from CSP mice presented a decreased intensity and percentage of phagocytosis and an increased respiratory burst in the presence of Staphylococcus aureus stimulation in vitro. CSP animals at the same time displayed a decreased resistance to Ehrlich tumor growth. These data were discussed in light of a possible psychological stress effect imposed by the housing condition on mice`s peritoneal macrophage activity and, as a consequence, on their resistance to Ehrlich tumor growth. Copyright (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Expression of human estrogen receptor mutants in Xenopus oocytes: correlation between transcriptional activity and ability to form protein-DNA complexes.

The human estrogen receptor (hER) is a trans-acting regulatory protein composed of a series of discrete functional domains. We have microinjected an hER expression vector (HEO) into Xenopus oocyte nuclei and demonstrate, using Western blot assay, that the hER is synthesized. When nuclear extracts from oocytes were prepared and incubated in the presence of a 2.7 kb DNA fragment comprising the 5' end of the vitellogenin gene B2, formation of estrogen-dependent complexes could be visualized by electron microscopy over the estrogen responsive element (ERE). Of crucial importance is the observation that the complex formation is inhibited by the estrogen antagonist tamoxifen, is restored by the addition of the hormone and does not take place with extracts from control oocytes injected with the expression vector lacking the sequences encoding the receptor. The presence of the biologically active hER is confirmed in co-injection experiments, in which HEO is co-introduced with a CAT reporter gene under the control of a vitellogenin promoter containing or lacking the ERE. CAT assays and primer extensions analyses reveal that both the receptor and the ERE are essential for estrogen induced stimulation of transcription. The same approach was used to analyze selective hER mutants. We find that the DNA binding domain (region C) is essential for protein--DNA complex formation at the ERE but is not sufficient by itself to activate transcription from the reporter gene. In addition to region C, both the hormone binding (region E) and amino terminal (region A/B) domains are needed for an efficient transcription activation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Female- and male-specific signals of quality in the barn owl

Most bird studies of female signalling have been confined to species in which females display a male-ornament in a vestigial form. However, a great deal of benefit may be gained from considering phenotypic traits that are specific to females. This is because (1) sex-specific traits may signal sex-specific qualities and (2) females may develop a male-ornament not because they are selected to do so, but because fathers transmit to daughters the underlying genes for its expression (genetic correlation between the sexes). We investigated these two propositions in the barn owl Tyto alba, a species in which male plumage is lighter in colour and less marked with black spots than that of females. Firstly, we present published evidence that female plumage spottiness reflects parasite resistance ability. We also show that male plumage coloration is correlated with reproductive success, male feeding rate and heart mass. Secondly, cross-fostering experiments demonstrate that plumage coloration and spottiness are genetically correlated between the sexes. This implies that if a given trait value is selected in one sex, the other sex will indirectly evolve towards a similar value. This prediction is supported by the observation that female plumage coloration and spottiness resembled that of males, in comparisons at the level of Tyto alba alba populations, Tyto alba subspecies and Tyto species. Our results therefore support the hypothesis that sex-specific traits signal sex-specific qualities and that a gene for a sex-specific trait can be expressed in the other sex as the consequence of a genetic correlation between the sexes.

The European Respiratory Society spirometry tent: a unique form of screening for airway obstruction.

In order to raise public awareness of the importance of early detection of airway obstruction and to enable many people who had not been tested previously to have their lung function measured, the European Lung Foundation and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) organised a spirometry testing tent during the annual ERS Congresses in 2004-2009. Spirometry was performed during the ERS Congresses in volunteers; all participants answered a simple, brief questionnaire on their descriptive characteristics, smoking and asthma. Portable spirometers were freely provided by the manufacturer. Nurses and doctors from pulmonary departments of local hospitals/universities gave their service for free. Lower limit of normal (LLN) and Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria for diagnosing and grading airway obstruction were used. Of 12,448 participants in six congress cities, 10,395 (83.5%) performed acceptable spirometry (mean age 51.0 ± 18.4 yrs; 25.5% smokers; 5.5% asthmatic). Airway obstruction was present in 12.4% of investigated subjects according to LLN criteria and 20.3% according to GOLD criteria. Through multinomial logistic regression analysis, age, smoking habits and asthma were significant risk factors for airway obstruction. Relative risk ratio and 95% confidence interval for LLN stage I, for example, was 2.9 (2.0-4.1) for the youngest age (≤ 19 yrs), 1.9 (1.2-3.0) for the oldest age (≥ 80 yrs), 2.4 (2.0-2.9) for current smokers and 2.8 (2.2-3.6) for reported asthma diagnosis. In addition to being a useful advocacy tool, the spirometry tent represents an unusual occasion for early detection of airway obstruction in large numbers of city residents with an important public health perspective.

Leaving the labour market: event-history analysis of the female workers' transition to housework in Denmark, Germany, Great Britain and Spain

This paper is aimed at exploring the determinants of female activity from a dynamic perspective. An event-history analysis of the transition form employment to housework has been made resorting to data from the European Household Panel Survey. Four countries representing different welfare regimes and, more specifically, different family policies, have been selected for the analysis: Britain, Denmark, Germany and Spain. The results confirm the importance of individual-level factors, which is consistent with an economic approach to female labour supply. Nonetheless, there are significant cross-national differences in how these factors act over the risk of abandoning the labour market. First, the number of trnasitions is much lower among Danish working women than among British, German or Spanish ones, revealing the relative importance of universal provision of childcare services, vis-à-vis other elements of the family policy, as time or money.

A new highly penetrant form of obesity due to deletions on chromosome 16p11.2.

Obesity has become a major worldwide challenge to public health, owing to an interaction between the Western 'obesogenic' environment and a strong genetic contribution. Recent extensive genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified numerous single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with obesity, but these loci together account for only a small fraction of the known heritable component. Thus, the 'common disease, common variant' hypothesis is increasingly coming under challenge. Here we report a highly penetrant form of obesity, initially observed in 31 subjects who were heterozygous for deletions of at least 593 kilobases at 16p11.2 and whose ascertainment included cognitive deficits. Nineteen similar deletions were identified from GWAS data in 16,053 individuals from eight European cohorts. These deletions were absent from healthy non-obese controls and accounted for 0.7% of our morbid obesity cases (body mass index (BMI) >or= 40 kg m(-2) or BMI standard deviation score >or= 4; P = 6.4 x 10(-8), odds ratio 43.0), demonstrating the potential importance in common disease of rare variants with strong effects. This highlights a promising strategy for identifying missing heritability in obesity and other complex traits: cohorts with extreme phenotypes are likely to be enriched for rare variants, thereby improving power for their discovery. Subsequent analysis of the loci so identified may well reveal additional rare variants that further contribute to the missing heritability, as recently reported for SIM1 (ref. 3). The most productive approach may therefore be to combine the 'power of the extreme' in small, well-phenotyped cohorts, with targeted follow-up in case-control and population cohorts.

Female labour supply in Spain: The importance of behavioural assumptions and unobserved heterogeneity specification

We estimate four models of female labour supply using a Spanish sampleof married women from 1994, taking into account the complete form of theindividual s budget set. The models differ in the hypotheses relating tothe presence of optimisation errors and/or the way non-workers contributeto the likelihood function. According to the results, the effects of wagesand non-labour income on the labour supply of Spanish married women dependon the specification used. The model which has both preference andoptimisation errors and allows for both voluntarily and involuntarilyunemployed females desiring to participate seems to better fit the evidencefor Spanish married women.

Comparative morphology of the mandibles of female polistine social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae)

Comparative morphology of the mandibles of female polistine social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae). Diversity of mandibular forms in female polistines is explored and compared among 116 species of all polistine genera. Inferences about function are made and discussed based on observed form differences. Mandible length and width measurements are analyzed for a subset of polistine species plus two vespines and two eumenines. A variable expressing the ratio between these variables is also considered in morphometric analyses. The following mechanical interactions among mandible structural elements are highlighted: opposition and crossing of mandibles' apical teeth at the middle of the closing trajectory; shearing action of the apical teeth against mesial denticles of the opposite mandible; shearing action of the mandible anterior margin against the ventral margin of the clypeus. In the genera Agelaia and Angiopolybia, exceptionally developed mesial mandibular structures may be related to necrophagy. In some epiponine genera, poorly developed mesial denticles and strong torsion of mandibles may be partially related to use of short wood fibers in nest construction as advanced by Sarmiento (2004). The considerable morphological variation found across the subfamily Polistinae is certain to be important in taxonomic and phylogenetic studies at the genus and species levels.

Overexpression of a mutant form of TGFBI/BIGH3 induces retinal degeneration in transgenic mice.

PURPOSE: Despite ubiquitous expression of the keratoepithelin (KE) protein encoded by the transforming growth factor beta induced/beta induced gene human clone 3 (TGFBI/BIGH3) gene, corneal dystrophies are restricted to the cornea, and no other tissues are affected. We investigated the role of TGFBI/BIGH3 in Groenouw corneal dystrophies by generating transgenic mice overexpressing TGFBI/BIGH3 containing the R555W mutation. METHODS: Transgenic animals expressing the Groenouw mutation of human TGFBI/BIGH3 were generated using lentiviral vectors. The line expressed TGFBI/BIGH3 containing the R555W mutation under the control of the phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) promoter. Expression of the transgene was monitored by Southern and western blotting and by RT-PCR. Electroretinogram analysis was performed and four mice were subjected to complete necroscopy. RESULTS: Transgene expression was observed in different organs although without specific expression in the cornea. The overall morphology of the transgenic animals was not severely affected by KE overexpression. However, we observed an age-dependent retinal degeneration both functionally and histologically. Female-specific follicular hyperplasia in the spleen and increased levels of lipofuscin in the adrenal gland were also seen in transgenic animals. CONCLUSIONS: Cellular degeneration in the retina of transgenic animals suggest that perturbation of the transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) family regulation may affect photoreceptor survival and may induce possible accelerated aging in several tissues. No corneal phenotype could be observed, probably due to the lack of transgene expression in this tissue.

Validation of the Mini Nutritional Assessment short-form (MNA-SF): a practical tool for identification of nutritional status.

OBJECTIVE: To validate a revision of the Mini Nutritional Assessment short-form (MNA(R)-SF) against the full MNA, a standard tool for nutritional evaluation. METHODS: A literature search identified studies that used the MNA for nutritional screening in geriatric patients. The contacted authors submitted original datasets that were merged into a single database. Various combinations of the questions on the current MNA-SF were tested using this database through combination analysis and ROC based derivation of classification thresholds. RESULTS: Twenty-seven datasets (n=6257 participants) were initially processed from which twelve were used in the current analysis on a sample of 2032 study participants (mean age 82.3y) with complete information on all MNA items. The original MNA-SF was a combination of six questions from the full MNA. A revised MNA-SF included calf circumference (CC) substituted for BMI performed equally well. A revised three-category scoring classification for this revised MNA-SF, using BMI and/or CC, had good sensitivity compared to the full MNA. CONCLUSION: The newly revised MNA-SF is a valid nutritional screening tool applicable to geriatric health care professionals with the option of using CC when BMI cannot be calculated. This revised MNA-SF increases the applicability of this rapid screening tool in clinical practice through the inclusion of a "malnourished" category.

A homozygous missense mutation in SCNN1A is responsible for a transient neonatal form of pseudohypoaldosteronism type 1.

Pseudohypoaldosteronism type 1 (PHA1) is a monogenic disorder of mineralocorticoid resistance characterized by salt wasting, hyperkalemia, high aldosterone levels, and failure to thrive. An autosomal recessive form (AR-PHA1) is caused by mutations in the epithelial sodium channel ENaC with usually severe and persisting multiorgan symptoms. The autosomal dominant form of PHA1 (AD-PHA1) is due to mutations in the mineralocorticoid receptor causing milder and transient symptoms restricted to the kidney. We identified a homozygous missense mutation in the SCNN1A gene (c.727T>C/p.Ser(243)Pro), encoding α-subunit of ENaC (α-ENaC) in a prematurely born boy with a severe salt-losing syndrome. The patient improved rapidly under treatment, and dietary salt supplementation could be stopped after 6 mo. Interestingly, the patient's sibling born at term and harboring the same homozygous Ser(243)Pro mutation showed no symptom of salt-losing nephropathy. In vitro expression of the αSer(243)Pro ENaC mutant revealed a slight but significant decrease in ENaC activity that is exacerbated in the presence of high Na(+) load. Our study provides the first evidence that ENaC activity is critical for the maintenance of salt balance in the immature kidney of preterm babies. Together with previous studies, it shows that, when the kidney is fully mature, the severity of the symptoms of AR-PHA1 is related to the degree of the ENaC loss of function. Finally, this study identifies a novel functional domain in the extracellular loop of ENaC.