bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
RNA splicing mediated by YB‐1 is inhibited by TLS/CHOP in human myxoid liposarcoma cells
Authors: Rapp Timothy B. , Yang Liu , Conrad Ernest U. , Mandahl Nils , Chansky Howard A.
Published: October 2002

Human myxoid liposarcoma contains a characteristic t(12;16) chromosomal translocation that results in fusion of the N‐terminal domain of the translocated in liposarcoma (TLS) protein to the C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP). TLS possesses structural motifs that suggest it may participate in RNA processing. We demonstrate that in human myxoid liposarcoma cells, wild‐type TLS binds to RNA polymerase II (Pol II) via its N‐terminal domain and to the transcription and translation factor Y‐box binding protein‐1 (YB‐1) through its C‐terminal domain. The liposarcoma fusion protein TLS/CHOP retains the ability to bind RNA Pol II but lacks the ability to recruit YB‐1 due to replacement of the C‐terminal domain of TLS by CHOP. In an in vivo splicing assay, YB‐1 promotes splicing of adenovirus E1A pre‐mRNA predominantly to the 13S isoform. The oncogenic TLS/CHOP fusion protein inhibits this splicing function of YB‐1 in a dominant negative manner. When considered in conjunction with studies on other sarcoma fusion proteins, these data suggest that aberrant RNA splicing may be a common feature of human sarcomas. © 2002 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Gzα deficient mice: enzyme levels in the autonomic nervous system, neuronal survival and effect of genetic background
Authors: Powell Kim L. , Matthaei Klaus I. , Heydon Katharina , Hendry Ian A.
Published: October 2002

Our laboratory has generated a genetically mutant mouse in which the alpha subunit of the heterotrimeric GTP binding protein, Gz has been made dysfunctional by homologous recombination to determine its in vivo function. These animals show a characteristic failure to thrive phenotype. Gzα is expressed in a variety of nervous system tissues as well as in the adrenal medulla. We therefore examined the autonomic nervous system of the Gzα deficient mouse by measuring the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase and choline acetyltransferase in the superior cervical ganglia, submaxillary gland and the adrenal medulla. Preliminary results using animals of mixed BALB/c and C57BL/6 strains gave inconsistent results. Further experiments demonstrated differences in the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase and choline acetyltransferase between BALB/c and C57BL/6 mouse strains. The analysis of the pure strains showed a reduction in the size and enzyme levels of the adrenal gland and submaxillary glands of the Gzα deficient mouse suggesting a role for adrenal insufficiency and/or nutritional disorders for the failure to thrive phenotype. The survival of sympathetic and sensory neurons was also examined in the Gzα deficient mouse and in the presence of pertussis toxin, sympathetic but not sensory neuronal survival in Gzα deficient mice was significantly attenuated. This suggests that in vivo other pertussis toxin sensitive G proteins may be recruited to compensate for the loss of Gzα.
“Please invest in our country”—how successful were the tax incentives for foreign investment in transition countries?
Authors: Beyer J.
Published: October 2002

Because of the scarcity of capital the attraction of FDI became an objective which was followed with topmost priority in many post-socialist countries. But how effective were the introduced incentives? The comparative analysis shows that in spite of the advantageous effects of FDI on the transition process, the introduction of tax concessions appears to be of little value. No significant relationship between tax incentives and the level of FDI could be found. This, however, does not mean that the development of FDI was detached from political control. The way in which privatization took place had a big impact and a comparatively low general level of taxes influenced investments positively. Beyond this the general success of transformation was of importance for the attractiveness of a country.
Hemodynamic and plasma atrial natriuretic peptide responses to acute digitalis therapy in patients with normal and impaired left ventricular function
Authors: Miller Wayne L. , Bailey Kent R. , Weston Susan A. , Burnett John C. , Rodeheffer Richard J.
Published: October 2002

Background:

Digitalis has a long history in the treatment of heart failure but its effects on cardiac hemodynamics and neurohormonal modulation are not well characterized.

Aims:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and the hemodynamic responses to acute digitalis administration in patients with normal and impaired left ventricular function (LVD).

Methods and Results:

Thirty patients were enrolled in the study, 20 with LVD (LVEF‐22±8%) and 10 control subjects (LVEF‐77±10%). Hemodynamics and plasma ANP concentrations were measured supine and with leg elevation before and after digitalis. In patients with normal ventricular function, the hemodynamic stress of leg elevation in the pre‐digitalis state resulted in significant (P<0.05) increases in PAWP and MPAP. Digitalis administration in the supine position produced reductions in heart rate, PAWP, MPAP and CI; SVR was increased. In LVD patients leg elevation further increased PAWP, RAP and MPAP. Digitalis in the supine position, however, reduced RAP, MPAP and PAWP and increased CI. These improved hemodynamics were preserved during the stress of leg elevation. Leg elevation following digitalis resulted in increased ANP concentrations despite decreased cardiac filling pressures.

Conclusions:

Acute digitalis administration results in hemodynamic improvement in LVD patients which may in part result from digitalis stimulated release of myocardial ANP under conditions of hemodynamic stress.
Normokinesia adjacent to left ventricular aneurysm: a differential risk for sudden cardiac death
Authors: Hassapoyannes Constantine A. , McLaurin Brent T. , Hornung Carlton A. , Chavda Kiran , Giurgiutiu Dan‐Victor
Published: October 2002

Background:

Following myocardial infarction, the ejection fraction (EF) is an indiscriminate predictor of both non‐sudden cardiac death (NSCD) and sudden cardiac death (SCD). However, development of a left ventricular aneurysm (LVA) confers independent risk only for SCD. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that mechanical factors, other than the global left ventricular performance, are causally related to SCD in the presence of LVA.

Methods:

A secondary analysis was conducted from a longitudinal, prospective, long‐term follow‐up cohort study of 66 patients with LVA (diastolic eccentricity and systolic dyskinesia) diagnosed by ventriculography. The left ventricular contour was divided into five segments and contractility scores for the residual myocardium and the segments adjacent to the aneurysm were allocated along with assessment of the EF. A normal adjacent segment was considered present when at least one segment adjacent to the aneurysm exhibited normokinesia. Presence of ventricular tachycardia was documented by Holter recording.

Results:

At a 5.2‐year median follow‐up, there were 12 NSCD and 8 SCD. The EF was lower among patients who died vs. survivors (31.5% vs. 39.7%, P‐0.01). Patients with NSCD and SCD, exhibited similar EF but disparate residual contractility scores (3.0 vs. 4.1, P<0.004). Among cardiac deaths, a decreasing residual contractility score differentially predicted NSCD (odds ratio‐17.06, P<0.03), while a normokinetic adjacent segment differentially predicted SCD (odds ratio‐21, P<0.02). Albeit a predictor of both NSCD and SCD, ventricular tachycardia increased markedly the model significance (P<0.004) only when tested with a normokinetic adjacent segment vis‐à‐vis SCD.

Conclusions:

In the presence of LVA, the contractility of the non‐aneurysmal myocardium is a differential predictor of death from pump failure. In contrast, a normal segment adjacent to LVA constitutes an independent and discriminate predictor of SCD, possibly through an arrhythmic substrate linked to the motion discordance between the expanding aneurysm and a normokinetic adjacent myocardium.
Identification and validation of selective upregulation of ventricular myosin light chain type 2 mRNA in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy
Authors: Haase Daniela , Lehmann Michael H. , Körner Michael M. , Körfer Reiner , Sigusch Holger H. , Figulla Hans R.
Published: October 2002

Background and aims:

the etiology of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) is unknown, methods such as suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) and DNA microarray technology can help to identify genes which might be involved in the pathogenesis of this disease.

Methods and results:

we used SSH which compared mRNA populations extracted from the left ventricular tissue of IDCM hearts and from the control tissue to identify sequences which correspond to genes up‐regulated in IDCM. We identified ventricular myosin light chain type 2 (MLC2V), skeletal α‐actin, long‐chain‐acyl‐CoA‐synthetase and mRNA for the protein KIAA0465 as differentially up‐regulated genes. Expression of MLC2V mRNA was determined by RT‐PCR in patients with end‐stage heart failure caused by IDCM (n‐11) or coronary artery disease (CAD, n‐9) who underwent heart transplantation as well as the controls (n‐6). MLC2V/GAPDH ratios were 2.95±0.32, 0.69±0.03 and 0.28±0.08 (arbitrary unit) for the IDCM group, the CAD group and controls, respectively (P<0.05). DNA microarray analysis confirmed the finding of MLC2V upregulation in IDCM (3.7‐ and 1.8‐fold increase in MLC2V mRNA).

Conclusions:

we have demonstrated that SSH is a useful method to identify differential myocardial upregulation of genes. Upregulation of MLC2V can be judged as a specific IDCM related feature, which might be clinically helpful.
Angiotensin II subtype 1 (AT1) receptors contribute to ischemic contracture and regulate chemomechanical energy transduction in isolated transgenic rat (αMHC‐hAT1)594–17 hearts
Authors: Han Hong , Hoffmann Sigrid , Hu Kai , Ertl Georg
Published: October 2002

Background:

The role of AT1 receptors in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury is unclear. We, therefore, investigated the effects of the AT1 receptor antagonist irbesartan (Irb) in isolated hearts of selective myocardial AT1 overexpressing transgenic [transgenic(αMHC‐hAT1)594–17] and Sprague–Dawley rats (SD) subjected to ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Methods and results:

Hearts of 4‐week‐old male SD or transgenic rats were isolated and perfused with Krebs–Henseleit buffer with or without 10 μM Irb in Langendorff mode. After 15 min of stabilization, pressure–volume curves were obtained and the hearts subjected to 20 min ischemia followed by 30 min reperfusion. A second set of pressure–volume curves was obtained thereafter. Left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP), end‐diastolic pressure (LVEDP), total coronary flow (CF) and oxygen consumption (MVO2) were recorded continuously. Myocardial efficiency was derived from the slope of relations of MVO2 to pressure/volume area. After 20 min ischemia, LVEDP was significantly higher in transgenic than in SD (35.7±1.8 vs. 29.2±1.0 mmHg, P<0.05) or Irb treated transgenic hearts (24.3±1.6 mmHg, P<0.05). Myocardial efficiency was increased by Irb before ischemia. Ischemia increased efficiency in SD but not in transgenic rats, Irb increased efficiency in transgenic hearts post‐ischemia.

Conclusion:

Transgenic hearts developed ischemic contracture more rapidly than SD hearts as indicated by higher LVEDP during ischemia. This response was antagonized by Irb, indicating a role of AT1 receptors in ischemic contracture, AT1‐receptors also appear to be involved in the control of myocardial efficiency.
Lactic acidosis following heart transplantation: a common phenomenon?
Authors: Mohacsi Paul , Pedrazzini Giovanni , Tanner Hildegard , Tschanz Hans‐Ueli , Hullin Roger , Carrel Thierry
Published: October 2002

Background:

Lactic acidosis (LAc) is a common form of metabolic acidosis early after heart transplantation (HTX). The mechanism remains unclear. This study analyzed 13 patients who developed severe LAc after HTX.

Methods:

From a series of 60 consecutive heart transplant patients, we identified 13 patients with LAc in the first hours following HTX. Nine patients with normal or mildly elevated lactate levels (<5.0 mmol/l) were investigated as controls.

Results:

Thirteen patients developed a moderate or severe LAc (up to 14.6 mmol/l) after HTX. Serum lactate levels increased immediately following surgery with a peak after 6.3±1.4 h, spontaneously returning to normal values within 24 h. In contrast to the control group, a significant correlation was found between the maximal serum lactate level and the maximal dosage of inotropic drugs (r‐0.93, P<0.02), administered during the reperfusion phase and continued for 12–24 h postoperatively. No correlation was found between LAc and blood gas analysis during extracorporeal perfusion period.

Conclusion:

LAc can occur after HTX and seems to be related to the inotropic support of the graft. In contrast to other forms, LAc after HTX has an excellent prognosis and resolves rapidly and spontaneously without treatment. The fact that inotropic support during and immediately after cardiac transplantation can enhance preexisting severe peripheral metabolic cellular dysfunction remains hypothetical.
Social-Capital Mobilization and Income Returns to Entrepreneurship: The Case of Return Migration in Rural China
Authors: Ma Zhongdong
Published: October 2002

Temporary labor migration in developing countries is an important urban–rural linkage that has a potential impact on rural development. According to the new economies of labor migration, it is often a strategy used by families with small farms to acquire investment capital for future business formation. In this paper, I argue further that human-capital accretion during migration reinforces the mobilization of local social capital, which in turn enhances a returnee's entrepreneurship. By using the results of an in-depth survey of returned labor migrants in rural China, I seek to explain the mobilization of social capital and income return to entrepreneurship in a multivariate framework. I find that skilled returnees are indeed more prone to mobilize social capital. The income return to local social capital is as considerable as that to investment capital and skills acquired at the urban destination. The findings suggest that the consequences of labor migration can be better understood through the integration of the new economics of labor migration and social capital
Białowieża Forest, Poland: Representation, Myth, and the Politics of Dispossession
Authors: Franklin Stuart
Published: October 2002

This paper uses a continuing dispute over the management of Białowieża Forest, Poland to raise concerns over the power of representation and myth to sideline minority interests or to prioritise one social perspective over another. It is felt that this inquiry is particularly relevant in the context of European unification. It poses the question: to what extent does state power adequately protect its people against the specious but powerfully presented claims of local actors (in this case biological scientists) who employ potent representational practices and Internet networking to pressurise the state in an attempt to impair inclusive democratic processes?
Transformation of the Central and East European Passenger Car Industry: Selective Peripheral Integration through Foreign Direct Investment
Authors: Pavlínek Petr
Published: October 2002

The Central and East European (CEE) passenger car industry underwent major transformations through foreign direct investment (FDI) in the 1990s. The author demonstrates that the effects of FDI on the passenger car industry have been profound, but geographically uneven. To understand the different regional and local strategies of foreign car producers better, the author introduces a classification of FDI in the passenger car industry based on the degree of embeddedness in local economies and relationships to path dependency in the 1990s. The effects of FDI on selective peripheral integration of parts of CEE into the European car production system, as well as the role of Central Europe in the division of labour in the European passenger car industry, are also considered.
From ‘Leading the Masses’ to ‘Serving the Consumers’? Newspaper Reporting in Contemporary Urban China
Authors: Smith Christopher J
Published: October 2002

This paper examines and evaluates the content of news items reported in a sample of daily newspapers in China's biggest cities. Using three ‘Western’ media sources, an inventory of news items directly or indirectly related to the ‘downside’ of the economic reforms was generated. A simultaneous analysis of mainland newspapers finds that many of the same themes were reported, although the coverage tends to be thinner and less detailed. Some China scholars have suggested that the Party/state is losing control of the communications system in contemporary China, and the results of this study support such arguments; city-level newspapers are now publishing what is most interesting to their consumers and likely to win them a larger share of the market. The regime still manages the dissemination of sensitive political information, but the parallel dictates of commercialization result in the disorderly and unpredictable circulation of communications messages. Mainland newspapers still steer clear of stories considered too politically ‘sensitive’, but the margins of acceptability have been expanded to include news items that only a few years ago would have been excised. The state maintains control over what is included in the daily news as well as what is excluded, although it is unclear to what extent publishing decisions result from a process of state cooptation and self-censorship, as opposed to specific directives from Beijing.
Planning for Open Storage of Containers in a Major International Container Trade Centre: An Analysis of Hong Kong Development Control Statistics Using Probit Modelling
Authors: Lai Lawrence W C , Ho Winky K O
Published: October 2002

The authors describe the nature of the planning policies relating to the container industry of Hong Kong, a major international container trade centre, at territorial and district planning levels. Informed by the concepts of transaction costs, the authors attempt to ascertain whether the planning permission system in Hong Kong is promarket, antimarket, or market-neutral with respect to the container industry, and whether the stated statutory district planning policy of permitting and concentrating open storage in specifically designated Open Storage (OS) zones has been followed. A probit model is developed to evaluate 195 sets of nonaggregate and cross-sectional data regarding planning applications to the Town Planning Board for the years 1991 to 1998. The evaluation is conducted in terms of two refutable empirical hypotheses regarding the container industry. The findings suggest that the Hong Kong planning permission mechanism is market neutral towards the container industry and that the statutory district forward planning policy for that industry has not been followed in the development control process.
Accessibility Evaluation: The Effects of the Free Return System on Choice Behaviour for Public Libraries
Authors: Osaragi Toshihiro
Published: October 2002

In the field of public library study, travel costs incurred when returning books is an important issue for the spatial distribution of users, as well as the load necessary in the process of book borrowing. In recent years, the Free Return System, which is a subsystem of Library Services, has been developed so that users can return books to any library. In this paper, a model for describing the users' choice behaviour of facilities is constructed, and a method for evaluating travel costs accrued when travelling from home to facilities is proposed. The proposed model is applied to actual data of the choice behaviour of users of public libraries. The results of numerical analyses show that the Free Return System can reduce travel costs by 20% on average, and this value is equivalent to a growth of approximately 8% in the user base.
The Changing Regulation of Mobile-Phone Mast Development in a Devolved United Kingdom
Authors: Walton William
Published: October 2002

In 1985, the Thatcher Conservative Government granted the newly deregulated mobile-phone companies permitted development rights to erect telecommunications masts up to 15 m in height. This dilution of planning control led to a proliferation of insensitively sited mobile-phone masts across the United Kingdom, prompting large-scale public hostility. After the publication of the Stewart Report in 2000, which pointed to the possible risks to people's psychological health from antennae radiation emissions, the newly devolved planning administrations of the United Kingdom conducted reviews of these permitted development rights. The author examines these reviews and the decisions that emerged from them. It is argued that the differentiated approach to mobile phone mast control that has resulted represents an early and important departure from what was, arguably, a unified planning system within the United Kingdom.
Policy Planning Using Genetic Algorithms Combined with Simulation: The Case of Municipal Solid Waste
Authors: Linton Jonathan D , Yeomans Julian Scott , Yoogalingam Reena
Published: October 2002

Previous research had introduced a genetic algorithm procedure for creating alternative policy options for municipal solid waste (MSW) management planning. These alternatives were generated during the design phase of planning, with the final policy determined in subsequent comparative analysis. However, because of the many uncertain factors that exist within MSW systems, this earlier procedure cannot be applied to situations containing such stochastic components. In this paper, it is shown that a generic algorithm approach can be simultaneously combined with simulation to incorporate these stochastic elements in the policy option generation phase; thereby permitting uncertainty to be directly integrated into the construction of the alternatives during the planning-design phase. This procedure is applied to case data taken from the Regional Municipality of Hamilton–Wentworth in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It can be shown that this procedure extends the earlier approach and provides many practical planning benefits for problems when uncertain conditions are present.
Effects of Geometric Distortions on Face-Recognition Performance
Authors: Hole Graham J , George Patricia A , Eaves Karen , Rasek Ayman
Published: October 2002

The importance of ‘configural’ processing for face recognition is now well established, but it remains unclear precisely what it entails. Through four experiments we attempted to clarify the nature of configural processing by investigating the effects of various affine transformations on the recognition of familiar faces. Experiment 1 showed that recognition was markedly impaired by inversion of faces, somewhat impaired by shearing or horizontally stretching them, but unaffected by vertical stretching of faces to twice their normal height. In experiment 2 we investigated vertical and horizontal stretching in more detail, and found no effects of either transformation.

Two further experiments were performed to determine whether participants were recognising stretched faces by using configural information. Experiment 3 showed that nonglobal vertical stretching of faces (stretching either the top or the bottom half while leaving the remainder undistorted) impaired recognition, implying that configural information from the stretched part of the face was influencing the process of recognition — ie that configural processing involves global facial properties. In experiment 4 we examined the effects of Gaussian blurring on recognition of undistorted and vertically stretched faces. Faces remained recognisable even when they were both stretched and blurred, implying that participants were basing their judgments on configural information from these stimuli, rather than resorting to some strategy based on local featural details. The tolerance of spatial distortions in human face recognition suggests that the configural information used as a basis for face recognition is unlikely to involve information about the absolute position of facial features relative to each other, at least not in any simple way
Are Spatial Frequencies Integrated from Coarse to Fine?
Authors: McSorley Eugene , Findlay John M
Published: October 2002

The existence of a temporal anisotropy in the integration of spatial frequencies, such that spatial frequencies are integrated more effectively if they are available from low to high through time, has been examined in a series of experiments. In the first experiment, the first three harmonics of a square wave were presented in a low-to-high or a high-to-low sequence in a temporal two-interval forced-choice experiment. Subjects were asked to indicate which sequence appeared to resemble a square wave more. A high-to-low sequence of spatial frequencies was judged to more resemble the target than the low-to-high sequence. These results support a temporal anisotropy in the integration of spatial frequencies of exactly the opposite form to that suggested from previous results. Further experiments established that this was not due to task differences or to subjects basing their decision on the final spatial frequency shown. An interpretation is offered in which an isotropic mechanism for spatial-frequency integration is combined with a recency bias.
Perceived Internal Depth in Rotating and Translating Objects
Authors: Braunstein Myron L , Sauer Craig W , Feria Cary Strumpf , Andersen George J
Published: October 2002

Previous research has indicated that observers use differences between velocities and ratios of velocities to judge the depth within a moving object, although depth cannot in general be determined from these quantities. In four experiments we examined the relative effects of velocity difference and velocity ratio on judged depth within a transparent object that was rotating about a vertical axis and translating horizontally, examined the effects of the velocity difference for pure rotations and pure translations, and examined the effect of the velocity difference for objects that varied in simulated internal depth. Both the velocity difference and the velocity ratio affected judged depth, with difference having the larger effect. The effect of velocity difference was greater for pure rotations than for pure translations. Simulated depth did not affect judged depth unless there was a corresponding change in the projected width of the object. Observers appear to use the velocity difference, the velocity ratio, and the projected width of the object heuristically to judge internal object depth, rather than using image information from which relative depth could potentially be recovered.
Perceived Eye Size is Larger in Happy Faces than in Surprised Faces
Authors: Seyama Jun'ichiro , Nagayama Ruth S
Published: October 2002

We demonstrated that perceived eye size is affected by facial expression. Stimuli were composite photographs generated from happy, surprised, and neutral faces. The top halves of the original photographs were separated from the bottom halves by a horizontal line below the eyes, and were pasted onto the superior areas of the happy and the surprised faces. Thus, the composites were happy faces and surprised faces with happy eyes, neutral eyes, and surprised eyes. When the eyes of the happy and the surprised face composites with the same top halves were compared by 142 naïve observers, the happy face composites were judged to have larger eyes than the surprised face composites.
Representation of the Gender of Human Faces by Infants: A Preference for Female
Authors: Quinn Paul C , Yahr Joshua , Kuhn Abbie , Slater Alan M , Pascalis Olivier
Published: October 2002

Six experiments based on visual preference procedures were conducted to examine gender categorization of female versus male faces by infants aged 3 to 4 months. In experiment 1, infants familiarized with male faces preferred a female face over a novel male face, but infants familiarized with female faces divided their attention between a male face and a novel female face. Experiment 2 demonstrated that these asymmetrical categorization results were likely due to a spontaneous preference for females. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that the preference for females was based on processing of the internal facial features in their upright orientation, and not the result of external hair cues or higher-contrast internal facial features. While experiments 1 through 4 were conducted with infants reared with female primary caregivers, experiment 5 provided evidence that infants reared with male primary caregivers tend to show a spontaneous preference for males. Experiment 6 showed that infants reared with female primary caregivers displayed recognition memory for individual females, but not males. These results suggest that representation of information about human faces by young infants may be influenced by the gender of the primary caregiver.
The Haptic Müller-Lyer Illusion in Sighted and Blind People
Authors: Heller Morton A , Brackett Deneen D , Wilson Kathy , Yoneyama Keiko , Boyer Amanda , Steffen Heather
Published: October 2002

We examined the effect of visual experience on the haptic Müller-Lyer illusion. Subjects made size estimates of raised lines by using a sliding haptic ruler. Independent groups of blindfolded-sighted, late-blind, congenitally blind, and low-vision subjects judged the sizes of wings-in and wings-out stimuli, plain lines, and lines with short vertical ends. An illusion was found, since the wings-in stimuli were judged as shorter than the wings-out patterns and all of the other stimuli. Subjects generally underestimated the lengths of lines. In a second experiment we found a nonsignificant difference between length judgments of raised lines as opposed to smooth wooden dowels. The strength of the haptic illusion depends upon the angles of the wings, with a much stronger illusion for more acute angles. The effect of visual status was nonsignificant, suggesting that spatial distortion in the haptic Müller-Lyer illusion does not depend upon visual imagery or visual experience.
Global Visual Completion of Quasi-Regular Shapes
Authors: de Wit Tessa C J , van Lier Rob J
Published: October 2002

The topic of amodal completion has often been investigated by using partly occluded shapes that are regular. In research that has typically been done with displays such as these regular shapes, it has been shown that global aspects of a shape can determine completion. To see how robust these global influences in the completion process are, we investigated quasi-regular shapes, ie shapes with a certain overall regularity but not based on metrical identities. First, in experiment 1 participants had to complete quasi-regular shapes in a drawing task. Then, in experiment 2 the primed-matching paradigm was used. Results from both experiments provided evidence for global completions. In experiment 3 we found that multiple global completions can be primed, which, as a control experiment showed, cannot be explained by some inability of the visual system to see the difference between the different completions. These data support the notion that global influences on visual occlusion are apparent even when the partly occluded stimulus is outside the domain of regular shapes. Implications for a global approach are provided.
Perception of Objects That are Translating and Rotating
Authors: Yang Zhiyong , Shimpi Amita , Purves Dale
Published: October 2002

The motion of objects that are both translating and rotating can be decomposed into an infinite number of translational and rotational combinations. How, then, do such stimuli routinely elicit specific percepts and behavioral responses that are usually appropriate? A possible answer is that motion percepts are fully determined by the probability distributions of all the possible correspondences and differences in the stimulus sequence. To test the merits of this conceptual framework, we investigated the perceived motion elicited by a line that is both translating and rotating behind an aperture. When stimuli are presented such that a particular sequence of appearance and disappearance occurs at the aperture boundary, subjects report that the line is rotating only; furthermore, the perceived centers of rotation appear to describe a cycloidal trajectory, even when one aperture shape is replaced by another. These and other perceptual effects elicited by translating and rotating stimuli are all accurately predicted by the probability distribution of the possible sources of the physical movements, supporting the conclusion that motion perception is indeed generated by a wholly probabilistic strategy.
Flank Transparency: The Effects of Gaps, Line Spacing, and Apparent Motion
Authors: Wollschläger Daniel , Rodriguez Antonio M , Hoffman Donald D
Published: October 2002

We analyze the properties of a dynamic color-spreading display created by adding narrow colored flanks to rigidly moving black lines where these lines fall in the interior of a stationary virtual disk. This recently introduced display (Wollschläger et al, 2001 Perception30 1423–1426) induces the perception of a colored transparent disk bounded by strong illusory contours. It provides a link between the classical neon-color-spreading effect and edge-induced color spreading as discussed by Pinna et al (2001 Vision Research41 2669–2676). We performed three experiments to quantitatively study (i) the enhancing influence of apparent motion; (ii) the degrading effect of small spatial discontinuities (gaps) between lines and flanks; and (iii) the spatial extent of the color spreading. We interpret the results as due to varying degrees of objecthood of the dynamically specified disk: increased objecthood leads to increased surface visibility in both contour and color.
Stroke patients entering nursing home care: a content analysis of discharge letters
Authors: Sackley Catherine M , Pound Kate
Published: October 2002

Objective: To examine the information contained in medical and nursing staff hospital discharge letters for stroke patients entering nursing home care.

Design: A retrospective content analysis comparing case notes with discharge letters.

Setting: Nottingham (UK) hospitals.

Subjects: Thirty-eight stroke patients with a Barthel Activities of Daily Living Index score of less than 11/20 at three months post stroke who were discharged into a nursing home.

Method: Patients' medical case notes and medical and nursing discharge letters were subjected to the same structured content analysis. The three key areas were: self-care ability (i.e. washing, dressing), nursing needs (i.e. diet, continence) and risk assessment (i.e. falls, pressure sores).

Results: Discharge letters were least likely to provide information on risk assessments, for example only 14 (37%) documented the risk of pressure sores and 7 (18%) falls. Thirty discharge letters (79%) had information relating to self-care ability and nursing care, although a blanket term ‘needs all care’ was used to describe patient ability in 20 (66%) of these.

Conclusion: The results demonstrate that the completeness and accuracy of information is often poor, doing little to enhance the continuity of care for patients who are transferred from hospital to nursing homes.
Short-term effectiveness of intensive multidisciplinary rehabilitation for people with Parkinson's disease and their carers
Authors: Trend Patrick , Kaye Julie , Gage Heather , Owen Charles , Wade Derick
Published: October 2002

Objective: To evaluate the short-term effectiveness of an intensive multidisciplinary rehabilitation programme for people with Parkinson's disease and their carers.

Design: Observational, with assessments before and after intervention.

Setting: An elderly care day unit in a district general hospital in south-east England.

Subjects: One hundred and eighteen people with Parkinson's disease and no cognitive impairment, and their carers.

Intervention: Participants attended the day hospital in groups of six patients with their carers for one day per week over six consecutive weeks. After assessment, they received individual treatment from a specialist team. Weekly group activities included relaxation and talks from experts.

Outcome measures: Patients and carers were assessed for: health-related quality of life, psychological well-being, social services need, perceptions of the programme. Patients were additionally assessed for mobility, gait and speech. Carers were assessed for strain.

Results: After treatment significant improvements were recorded in patients' mobility and gait ( p < 0.05), speech ( p < 0.001), depression ( p = 0.029), health-related quality of life ( p = 0.001). People with more advanced disease at baseline gained significantly more from treatment ( p £ 0.04). Carers were less depressed and had higher health-related quality of life than patients at baseline ( p < 0.001) and no improvements in these indicators were recorded after treatment. A high unmet need for social services was identified in 31% of participants, and 10% of carers were found in danger of being unable to continue caring. Participants reported knowledge gains and high levels of satisfaction with both individual therapies and group activities.

Conclusions: This intensive co-ordinated programme provided immediate benefits to people with Parkinson's disease and their carers.
The influence of preparedness on rapid stepping in young and older adults
Authors: Brauer Sandra G , Burns Yvonne R
Published: October 2002

Objective: To investigate the influence of age and preparation level on postural muscle activation and step completion time during a rapid step task.

Design: Postural muscle onset times (EMG) and ground reaction forces were recorded from healthy young ( n = 20, age 21 ± 3 years) and older ( n = 25, age 71 ± 5 years) female adults during a choice reaction-time stepping paradigm.

Main outcome measures: Onset times of six trunk and hip muscles, reaction time and components of the step (weight shift time, step time and task time) were recorded.

Results: Muscle activation was delayed and movement time was lengthened in both young and older adults when poorly prepared for a stepping task. While reduced preparation did not influence older adults to a greater extent than young adults, the slowest step response and completion time was evident in older adults when poorly prepared to move.

Conclusions: A late postural response when poorly prepared to move may be a contributing factor to an increased risk of overbalancing in older adults. Future assessment of and intervention to improve postural stability in older adults should be expanded to incorporate tasks performed at various levels of preparation.
New Approach for Enhancing Sensitivity in Liquid‐Gated Nanowire FET Biosensors Under Optical Excitation
Authors: Petrychuk Mykhailo , Pustovyi Denys , Boichuk Nazarii , Zhang Yongqiang , Long Hanlin , Vitusevich Svetlana
Published: January 2024

The results obtained for liquid‐gated (LG) nanowire (NW) field‐effect transistor (FET) sensors analyzed in divalent ion (MgCl2) solutions, which play a crucial role in the human body, are reported. Liquid‐gated NW FET sensors fabricated in‐house are investigated using I–V characteristics and noise spectroscopy in a wide range of voltages and different intensities of optical infrared irradiation. A new effect is revealed under the influence of external optical excitation. The effect allows for the control of characteristic times of single‐trap phenomena: capture time to a single trap, emission time from the trap, and its ratio represented by the dimensionless ratio parameter (R‐factor). These parameters enabled an improvement in sensor sensitivity. The findings open prospects for controlling charge states in LG NW FET structures to optimize new parameters for achieving ultrahigh sensitivity in biosensors.
Bio‐Disintegrable Elastic Polymers for Stretchable Piezoresistive Strain Sensors
Authors: Vahdani Mostafa , Mirjalali Sheyda , Razbin Milad , Moshizi Sajad Abolpour , Payne David , Kim Jincheol , Huang Shujuan , Asadnia Mohsen , Peng Shuhua , Wu Shuying
Published: January 2024

The fast‐growing usage of electronics is creating large amounts of e‐waste (electronic waste), most of which are directly sent into landfills or incinerated as recycling is either impractical or too costly. Therefore, it is believed that degradable, environmentally friendly materials are the solution to this pressing issue. Herein, disintegrable, durable, and highly stretchable strain sensors are developed based on elastic thin films made of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, glycerol, and polyvinyl alcohol. The polymer thin films show a failure strain up to ≈ 330% and low hysteresis (5.74% at the second cycle) when subjected to 50% cyclic strain, due to the formation of inter or intramolecular hydrogen bonds. Carbon nanofibers with Au thin film are deposited on the elastic thin film, resulting in highly stretchable piezoresistive strain sensors with a maximum gauge factor of 1.7. More interestingly, the as‐developed sensors can be completely broken down in hot water (at ≈ 95 °C) within ≈ 25 min, indicating their remarkable disintegrability. This unique characteristic is expected to contribute to environmental sustainability. The applications of the sensor for joint bending recognition as well as physiological sign measurement have been demonstrated.
Investigating the influence of particle distribution on force and torque statistics using hierarchical machine learning
Authors: Siddani B. , Balachandar S. , Zhou Jiazhong , Subramaniam Shankar
Published: January 2024

An accurate representation of hydrodynamic force and torque experienced by every particle in a distribution can be obtained from particle resolved (PR) simulations. These unique quantities are influenced by the deterministic position of surrounding particles. However, systems simulated with this methodology are typically limited to particles due to the involved computational cost. This resource requirement is a major bottleneck in analyzing the effect of variations in particle distribution. This article attempts to address this bottleneck by availing relatively inexpensive deep learning models. The surrogate models that we employ in this article use a physics‐based hierarchical framework and symmetry‐preserving neural networks to achieve robustness with limited training data. This article first performs additional generalizability tests on PR data of distinct distributions that are not involved in the training process. The models are then deployed on several different particle distributions. Impact of clustering and structure on the observed statistics are investigated.
Enhanced azeotropic C2ClF5/C3F8 separation by TMA+ exchanged MFI zeolites for ultrapure fluorine electronic gas
Authors: Zhou Xiaoying , Wu Ying , Liu Zewei , Wang Xingjie , Yang Cuiting , Yu Jian , Xiao Jing
Published: January 2024

The demand for the azeotropic C2ClF5/C3F8 separation continues to rise owing to the significance of ultrapure fluoride gases for the electronic industry. With a boiling point differential of 1.1 K, separating an azeotropic mixture of C2ClF5/C3F8 through sorption‐based processes under ambient conditions is a preferable alternative to the current energy‐intensive cryogenic separation method. Here, we report the highly efficient C2ClF5/C3F8 adsorption separation in quaternary alkylammonium ions modified MFI type zeolites with interlaced channels which provide a cooperative effect conferred by specific interaction sites and optimal pore size. A path‐regulatory mechanism was proposed, whereby TMA+ cations located at intersections resembling “train turnouts” force gas molecules to switch traffic channels to confined sinusoidal channels affecting the C2ClF5/C3F8 recognition sites and diffusion behavior. Molecular simulations were conducted to reveal the separation mechanism, and the breakthrough experiment validated the effectiveness of this adsorbent at 298 K outperforming conventional adsorbents for the challenging azeotropic separation.
Anisotropic electro‐driven phase change materials inspired by biological structure
Authors: Jia Zhaoying , Li Zaichao , Wang Xuan , Hu Caishuo , Tang Bingtao , Zhang Shufen , Zhang Yuang
Published: January 2024

Electro‐driven phase change materials (PCMs) can effectively realize electrothermal conversion and storage and have attracted much attention in the fields of electrothermal therapy and thermal management of electronic devices. How to effectively reduce the leakage current risk of it is a core problem in the application process. In this work, we used carbon fibers and boron nitride to mimic the microstructure of Greta oto butterfly's wing, and composite it with a form‐stable PCM‐PPEGMA to obtain a thermally conductive enhanced anisotropic electro‐driven PCM. The material exhibits high electrothermal conversion and storage efficiency (86.76%, 5 V), high thermal conductivity, excellent electrical anisotropy, and thermal stability because of the well‐designed spatial arrangement. The unique bionic structure effectively inhibits the conductive isotropy phenomenon of traditional electro‐driven PCMs and significantly reduces the risk of leakage current. On the basis of this situation, the system shows great application potential in the field of electrothermal therapy.
Alzheimer's disease‐associated P460L variant of EphA1 dysregulates receptor activity and blood‐brain barrier function
Authors: Owens Helen A. , Thorburn Lauren E. , Walsby Elisabeth , Moon Owen R. , Rizkallah Pierre , Sherwani Subuhi , Tinsley Caroline L. , Rogers Louise , Cerutti Camilla , Ridley Anne J. , Williams Julie , Knäuper Vera , Ager Ann
Published: January 2024

INTRODUCTION

Genome‐wide association studies link susceptibility to late‐onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) with EphA1. Sequencing identified a non‐synonymous substitution P460L as a LOAD risk variant. Other Ephs regulate vascular permeability and immune cell recruitment. We hypothesized that P460L dysregulates EphA1 receptor activity and impacts neuroinflammation.

METHODS

EphA1/P460L receptor activity was assayed in isogenic Human Embryonic Kidney (HEK) cells. Soluble EphA1/P460L (sEphA1/sP460L) reverse signaling in brain endothelial cells was assessed by T‐cell recruitment and barrier function assays.

RESULTS

EphA1 and P460L were expressed in HEK cells, but membrane and soluble P460L were significantly reduced. Ligand engagement induced Y781 phosphorylation of EphA1 but not P460L. sEphA1 primed brain endothelial cells for increased T‐cell recruitment; however, sP460L was less effective. sEphA1 decreased the integrity of the brain endothelial barrier, while sP460L had no effect.

DISCUSSION

These findings suggest that P460L alters EphA1‐dependent forward and reverse signaling, which may impact blood‐brain barrier function in LOAD.

Highlights

EphA1‐dependent reverse signaling controls recruitment of T cells by brain endothelial cells.

EphA1‐dependent reverse signaling remodels brain endothelial cell contacts.

LOAD‐associated P460L variant of EphA1 shows reduced membrane expression and reduced ligand responses.

LOAD‐associated P460L variant of EphA1 fails to reverse signal to brain endothelial cells.