bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Low C1-Inhibitor Levels Predict Early Restenosis After Eversion Carotid Endarterectomy
Authors: Széplaki Gábor , Varga Lilian , Laki Judit , Dósa Edit , Rugonfalvi-Kiss Szabolcs , Madsen Hans O. , Prohászka Zoltán , Kocsis Andrea , Gál Péter , Szabó Attila , Acsády György , Karádi István , Selmeci László , Garred Peter , Füst George , Entz László 
Published: October 2007

Objective—Homozygotes for the normal (A) allele of mannose-binding lectin (MBL2) gene have higher risks to develop an early restenosis after eversion carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Activation of the lectin pathway is regulated by C1-inhibitor (C1-INH). The objective of the present study was to determine the predictive value of C1-INH in restenosis after CEA.Methods and Results—C1-INH and MBL-associated serine protease-2 (MASP-2) were determined in samples serially taken from 64 patients with CEA, who were followed-up with carotid duplex scan (CDS) examinations for 14 months.MBL2genotypes were also determined. Patients with >50% restenosis had lower C1-INH levels at 6 weeks (P=0.0052) and at 4 days (P=0.0277) postsurgery. C1-INH levels at 6 weeks correlated inversely with the CDS values at 14 months (r=−0.3415,P=0.0058), but only inMBL2A/A homozygotes (r=−0.5044,P=0.0015). Patients with low C1-INH levels (C1-INH <115%) had higher CDS values already at 7 months postsurgery. Patients withMBL2A/A and low C1-INH levels at 6 weeks postsurgery had 13.97 (95% CI:1.95 to 100.21,P=0.0087) times higher risk to develop an early restenosis. Differences in the MASP-2 concentration were not associated with restenosis.Conclusions—Determining C1-INH levels at 6 weeks postsurgery—together with genotyping ofMBL2—might be a useful marker in the identification of patients with high risk for early carotid restenosis.
Interactive Processing of Timbre Dimensions: An Exploration with Event-related Potentials
Authors: Caclin Anne , McAdams Stephen , Smith Bennett K. , Giard Marie-Hélène 
Published: October 2007

Abstract
Timbre characterizes the identity of a sound source. On psychoacoustic grounds, it has been described as a multidimensional perceptual attribute of complex sounds. Using Garner's interference paradigm, we found in a previous behavioral study that three timbral dimensions exhibited interactive processing. These timbral dimensions acoustically corresponded to attack time, spectral centroid, and spectrum fine structure. Here, using event-related potentials (ERPs), we sought neurophysiological correlates of the interactive processing of these dimensions of timbre. ERPs allowed us to dissociate several levels of interaction, at both early perceptual and late stimulus identification stages of processing. The cost of filtering out an irrelevant timbral dimension was accompanied by a late negative-going activity, whereas congruency effects between timbre dimensions were associated with interactions in both early sensory and late processing stages. ERPs also helped to determine the similarities and differences in the interactions displayed by the different pairs of timbre dimensions, revealing in particular variations in the latencies at which temporal and spectral timbre dimensions can interfere with the processing of another spectral timbre dimension.
To Ignore or Explore: Top–Down Modulation of Novelty Processing
Authors: Chong Hyemi , Riis Jenna L. , McGinnis Scott M. , Williams Danielle M. , Holcomb Phillip J. , Daffner Kirk R. 
Published: October 2007

Abstract
Attending to novelty is a critical element of human behavior and learning. Novel events can serve as task-irrelevant distracters or as potential sources of engagement by interesting or important aspects of one's environment. An optimally functioning brain should have the capacity to respond differentially to novel events depending on the circumstances in which they occur. In the present study, a subject-controlled variant of the visual novelty oddball paradigm was employed under two different conditions in which novel stimuli were characterized either as distracters from a main task or as potentially meaningful “invitations” to explore the environment. Differences in context, derived from varying the emphasis of task instructions, strongly modulated both the behavioral and electrophysiological response to novelty. This modulation was not observed for processing earlier than the P3 component. Subjects who encountered novel events that served as distracters limited the amount of attention and processing resources they appropriated. Remarkably, under this condition, there were no differences in overall P3 amplitude, late positive slow-wave activity, or viewing duration between rare novel and frequent standard events. In contrast, subjects who encountered novel events as potential opportunities to explore augmented the attention and processing resources directed toward these events (as reflected by a larger P3 amplitude, late positive slow-wave activity, and longer viewing durations). Our results suggest that the processing of novelty within the visual modality involves several stages, including: (1) the relatively automatic detection of unfamiliar, novel stimuli (indexed by the N2); (2) the voluntary allocation of resources determined by the broader context in which a novel event occurs (indexed by the P3); and (3) the sustained processing of novelty (indexed by late positive slow-wave activity). This study provides evidence of the brain's ability to generate differential responses to novel events according to the circumstances under which they are encountered. It also points to a greater degree of top–down modulation of the processing of novelty than has been previously emphasized. We suggest that less commonly studied variables, such as subject control, may provide additional insight into the different ways in which novelty is processed.
Lexical Plasticity in Early Bilinguals Does Not Alter Phoneme Categories: I. Neurodynamical Modeling
Authors: Larsson J.P. , Constán Fátima Vera , Sebastián-Gallés Núria , Deco Gustavo 
Published: October 2007

Abstract
Sebastián-Gallés et al. [The influence of initial exposure on lexical representation: Comparing early and simultaneous bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language, 52, 240–255, 2005] contrasted highly proficient early Spanish-Catalan and Catalan-Spanish bilinguals, using Catalan materials in a lexical decision task (LDT). They constructed two types of experimental pseudowords, substituting Catalan phoneme /e/ for Catalan /ɛ/, or vice versa. Catalan-dominant bilinguals showed a performance asymmetry across experimental conditions, making more mistakes for /ɛ/→/e/ changes, than for /e/→/ɛ/ ones. This was considered evidence of a developed acceptance of mispronounced Catalan /ɛ/-words, caused by exposure to a bilingual environment where mispronunciations by Spanish-dominant bilinguals using their /e/-category abound. Although this indicated modified or added lexical representations, an open issue is whether such lexical information also modifies phoneme categories. We address this using a biophysically realistic neurodynamic model, describing neural activity at the synaptic and spiking levels. We construct a network of pools of neurons, representing phonemic and lexical processing. Carefully analyzing the dependency of network dynamics on connection strengths, by first exploring parameter space under steady-state assumptions (mean-field scans), then running spiking simulations, we investigate the neural substrate role in a representative LDT. We also simulate a phoneme discrimination task to address whether lexical changes affect the phonemic level. We find that the same network configuration which displays asymmetry in the LDT shows equal performance discriminating the two modeled phonemes. Thus, we predicted that the Catalan-dominant bilinguals do not alter their phoneme categories, although showing signs of having stored a new word variation in the lexicon. To explore this prediction, a syllable discrimination task involving the /e/-/ɛ/ contrast was set up, using Catalan-dominants displaying performance asymmetry in a repetition of the original LDT. Discrimination task results support the prediction, showing that these subjects discriminate both categories equally well. We conclude that subjects often exposed to dialectal word variations can store these in their lexicons, without altering their phoneme representations.
The Role of the Right Cerebral Hemisphere in Processing Novel Metaphoric Expressions: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study
Authors: Pobric Gorana , Mashal Nira , Faust Miriam , Lavidor Michal 
Published: October 2007

Abstract
Previous research suggests that the right hemisphere (RH) may contribute uniquely to the processing of metaphoric language. However, causal relationships between local brain activity in the RH and metaphors comprehension were never established. In addition, most studies have focused on familiar metaphoric expressions which might be processed similarly to any conventional word combination. The present study was designed to overcome these two problems by employing repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to examine the role of the RH in processing novel metaphoric expressions taken from poetry. Right-handed participants were presented with four types of word pairs, literal, conventional metaphoric and novel metaphoric expressions, and unrelated word pairs, and were asked to perform a semantic judgment task. rTMS of the right posterior superior temporal sulcus disrupted processing of novel but not conventional metaphors, whereas rTMS over the left inferior frontal gyrus selectively impaired processing of literal word pairs and conventional but not novel metaphors (Experiment 1). In a further experiment, we showed that these effects were due to right-left asymmetries rather than posterior-anterior differences (Experiment 2). This is the first demonstration of TMS-induced impairment in processing novel metaphoric expressions, and as such, confirms the specialization of the RH in the activation of a broader range of related meanings than the left hemisphere, including novel, nonsalient meanings. The findings thus suggest that the RH may be critically involved in at least one important component of novel metaphor comprehension, the integration of the individual meanings of two seemingly unrelated concepts into a meaningful metaphoric expression.
Neural and Behavioral Evidence for Affective Priming from Unconsciously Perceived Emotional Facial Expressions and the Influence of Trait Anxiety
Authors: Li Wen , Zinbarg Richard E. , Boehm Stephan G. , Paller Ken A. 
Published: October 2007

Abstract
Affective judgments can often be influenced by emotional information people unconsciously perceive, but the neural mechanisms responsible for these effects and how they are modulated by individual differences in sensitivity to threat are unclear. Here we studied subliminal affective priming by recording brain potentials to surprise faces preceded by 30-msec happy or fearful prime faces. Participants showed valence-consistent changes in affective ratings of surprise faces, although they reported no knowledge of prime-face expressions, nor could they discriminate between prime-face expressions in a forced-choice test. In conjunction with the priming effect on affective evaluation, larger occipital P1 potentials at 145–175 msec were found with fearful than with happy primes, and source analyses implicated the bilateral extrastriate cortex in this effect. Later brain potentials at 300–400 msec were enhanced with happy versus fearful primes, which may reflect differential attentional orienting. Personality testing for sensitivity to threat, especially social threat, was also used to evaluate individual differences potentially relevant to subliminal affective priming. Indeed, participants with high trait anxiety demonstrated stronger affective priming and greater P1 differences than did those with low trait anxiety, and these effects were driven by fearful primes. Results thus suggest that unconsciously perceived affective information influences social judgments by altering very early perceptual analyses, and that this influence is accentuated to the extent that people are oversensitive to threat. In this way, perception may be subject to a variety of influences that govern social preferences in the absence of concomitant awareness of such influences.
Effects of Varying the Experimental Design of a Cognitive Control Paradigm on Behavioral and Functional Imaging Outcome Measures
Authors: Goghari Vina M. , MacDonald Angus W. 
Published: October 2007

Abstract
A number of experimental techniques are commonly used within the field of functional neuroimaging to measure successive cognitive processes within a single trial. This study evaluated three experimental techniques to assess the comparability of behavioral and functional outcome measures in a task involving higher-level cognitive processing while controlling for the task duration. Twelve participants completed a cognitive control paradigm using the three techniques. Each trial of the task consisted of a green or red cue followed by a “Left” or “Right” probe. Green cues indicated that participants should respond in the direction of the probe. Red cues indicated participants should overcome their automatic tendency and respond in the direction opposite to the probe. The “slow” technique involved a sufficiently long trial allowing the blood oxygenation level-dependent response to rise and return to baseline before the next trial. The “jitter” technique involved varying the interstimulus and intertrial intervals. The “catch” technique involved presenting some cue-only trials in the midst of cue-probe trials. Predicted brain regions were activated by all the experimental techniques combined including the middle frontal, anterior cingulate, and inferior parietal cortices. Although there were more commonalties than differences between the three experimental techniques, generally, it appeared that the slow technique was effective at detecting posterior activity; the jitter technique was effective at detecting probe-related activity; and the catch technique was effective at detecting cue-related activity, especially in prefrontal regions. Thus, experiments measuring successive cognitive processes may have differential detection power for every event in a trial.
Dissociable Roles of the Superior Temporal Sulcus and the Intraparietal Sulcus in Joint Attention: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
Authors: Materna Simone , Dicke Peter W. , Thier Peter 
Published: October 2007

Abstract
Previous imaging work has shown that the superior temporal sulcus (STS) region and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) are specifically activated during the passive observation of shifts in eye gaze [Pelphrey, K. A., Singerman, J. D., Allison, T., & McCarthy, G. Brain activation evoked by perception of gaze shifts: The influence of context. Neuropsychologia, 41, 156–170, 2003; Hoffman, E. A., & Haxby, J. V. Distinct representations of eye gaze and identity in the distributed human neural system for face perception. Nature Neuroscience, 3, 80–84, 2000; Puce, A., Allison, T., Bentin, S., Gore, J. C., & McCarthy, G. Temporal cortex activation in humans viewing eye and mouth movements. Journal of Neuroscience, 18, 2188–2199, 1998; Wicker, B., Michel, F., Henaff, M. A., & Decety, J. Brain regions involved in the perception of gaze: A PET study. Neuroimage, 8, 221–227, 1998]. Are the same brain regions also involved in extracting gaze direction in order to establish joint attention? In an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, healthy human subjects actively followed the directional cue provided by the eyes of another person toward an object in space or, in the control condition, used a nondirectional symbolic cue to make an eye movement toward an object in space. Our results show that the posterior part of the STS region and the cuneus are specifically involved in extracting and using detailed directional information from the eyes of another person to redirect one's own gaze and establish joint attention. The IPS, on the other hand, seems to be involved in encoding spatial direction and mediating shifts of spatial attention independent of the type of cue that triggers this process.
Inhibition of Return Arises from Inhibition of Response Processes: An Analysis of Oscillatory Beta Activity
Authors: Pastötter Bernhard , Hanslmayr Simon , Bäuml Karl-Heinz 
Published: October 2007

Abstract
In the orienting of attention paradigm, inhibition of return (IOR) refers to slowed responses to targets presented at the same location as a preceding stimulus. No consensus has yet been reached regarding the stages of information processing underlying the inhibition. We report the results of an electro-encephalogram experiment designed to examine the involvement of response inhibition in IOR. Using a cue-target design and a target-target design, we addressed the role of response inhibition in a location discrimination task. Event-related changes in beta power were measured because oscillatory beta activity has been shown to be related to motor activity. Bilaterally located sources in the primary motor cortex showed event-related beta desynchronization (ERD) both at cue and target presentation and a rebound to event-related beta synchronization (ERS) after movement execution. In both designs, IOR arose from an enhancement of beta synchrony. IOR was related to an increase of beta ERS in the target-target design and to a decrease of beta ERD in the cue-target design. These results suggest an important role of response inhibition in IOR.
Bilingual and Monolingual Brains Compared: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation of Syntactic Processing and a Possible “Neural Signature” of Bilingualism
Authors: Kovelman Ioulia , Baker Stephanie A. , Petitto Laura-Ann 
Published: October 2007

Abstract
Does the brain of a bilingual process language differently from that of a monolingual? We compared how bilinguals and monolinguals recruit classic language brain areas in response to a language task and asked whether there is a “neural signature” of bilingualism. Highly proficient and early-exposed adult Spanish-English bilinguals and English monolinguals participated. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), participants completed a syntactic “sentence judgment task” [Caplan, D., Alpert, N., & Waters, G. Effects of syntactic structure and propositional number on patterns of regional cerebral blood flow. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 10, 541–552, 1998]. The sentences exploited differences between Spanish and English linguistic properties, allowing us to explore similarities and differences in behavioral and neural responses between bilinguals and monolinguals, and between a bilingual's two languages. If bilinguals' neural processing differs across their two languages, then differential behavioral and neural patterns should be observed in Spanish and English. Results show that behaviorally, in English, bilinguals and monolinguals had the same speed and accuracy, yet, as predicted from the Spanish-English structural differences, bilinguals had a different pattern of performance in Spanish. fMRI analyses revealed that both monolinguals (in one language) and bilinguals (in each language) showed predicted increases in activation in classic language areas (e.g., left inferior frontal cortex, LIFC), with any neural differences between the bilingual's two languages being principled and predictable based on the morphosyntactic differences between Spanish and English. However, an important difference was that bilinguals had a significantly greater increase in the blood oxygenation level-dependent signal in the LIFC (BA 45) when processing English than the English monolinguals. The results provide insight into the decades-old question about the degree of separation of bilinguals' dual-language representation. The differential activation for bilinguals and monolinguals opens the question as to whether there may possibly be a “neural signature” of bilingualism. Differential activation may further provide a fascinating window into the language processing potential not recruited in monolingual brains and reveal the biological extent of the neural architecture underlying all human language.
LPS induces IL-10 production by human alveolar macrophages via MAPKinases- and Sp1-dependent mechanisms
Authors: Chanteux Hugues , Guisset Amélie C , Pilette Charles , Sibille Yves 
Published: October 2007

AbstractBackgroundIL-10 is a cytokine mainly produced by macrophages that plays key roles in tolerance to inhaled antigens and in lung homeostasis. Its regulation in alveolar macrophages (HAM), the resident lung phagocytes, remains however unknown.MethodsThe present study investigated the role of intracellular signalling and transcription factors controlling the production of IL-10 in LPS-activated HAM from normal nonsmoking volunteers.ResultsLPS (1–1000 pg/ml) inducedin vitroIL-10 production by HAM, both at mRNA and protein levels. LPS also activated the phosphorylation of ERK, p38 and JNK MAPkinases (immunoblots) and Sp-1 nuclear activity (EMSA). Selective inhibitors of MAPKinases (respectively PD98059, SB203580 and SP600125) and of Sp-1 signaling (mithramycin) decreased IL-10 expression in HAM. In addition, whilst not affecting IL-10 mRNA degradation, the three MAPKinase inhibitors completely abolished Sp-1 activation by LPS in HAM.ConclusionThese results demonstrate for the first time that expression of IL-10 in lung macrophages stimulated by LPS depends on the concomitant activation of ERK, p38 and JNK MAPKinases, which control downstream signalling to Sp-1 transcription factor. This study further points to Sp-1 as a key signalling pathway for IL-10 expression in the lung.
Genes2Networks: connecting lists of gene symbols using mammalian protein interactions databases
Authors: Berger Seth I , Posner Jeremy M , Ma'ayan Avi 
Published: October 2007

Abstract

Background
In recent years, mammalian protein-protein interaction network databases have been developed. The interactions in these databases are either extracted manually from low-throughput experimental biomedical research literature, extracted automatically from literature using techniques such as natural language processing (NLP), generated experimentally using high-throughput methods such as yeast-2-hybrid screens, or interactions are predicted using an assortment of computational approaches. Genes or proteins identified as significantly changing in proteomic experiments, or identified as susceptibility disease genes in genomic studies, can be placed in the context of protein interaction networks in order to assign these genes and proteins to pathways and protein complexes.

Results
Genes2Networks is a software system that integrates the content of ten mammalian interaction network datasets. Filtering techniques to prune low-confidence interactions were implemented. Genes2Networks is delivered as a web-based service using AJAX. The system can be used to extract relevant subnetworks created from "seed" lists of human Entrez gene symbols. The output includes a dynamic linkable three color web-based network map, with a statistical analysis report that identifies significant intermediate nodes used to connect the seed list.

Conclusion
Genes2Networks is powerful web-based software that can help experimental biologists to interpret lists of genes and proteins such as those commonly produced through genomic and proteomic experiments, as well as lists of genes and proteins associated with disease processes. This system can be used to find relationships between genes and proteins from seed lists, and predict additional genes or proteins that may play key roles in common pathways or protein complexes.