When Jack isn't Jacques: Simultaneous opposite language-specific speech perceptual learning in French-English bilinguals.

Humans are remarkably good at understanding spoken language, despite the huge variability of the signal as a function of the talker, the situation, and the environment. This success relies on having access to stable representations based on years of speech input, coupled with the ability to adapt to short-term deviations from these norms, e.g.

The fitness landscape of a community of Darwin's finches.

Divergent natural selection should lead to adaptive radiation-that is, the rapid evolution of phenotypic and ecological diversity originating from a single clade. The drivers of adaptive radiation have often been conceptualized through the concept of "adaptive landscapes," yet formal empirical estimates of adaptive landscapes for natural adaptive radiations have proven elusive. Here, we use a 17-year dataset of Darwin's ground finches (Geospiza spp.

Where did the finch go? Insights from radio telemetry of the medium ground finch ().

Movement patterns and habitat selection of animals have important implications for ecology and evolution. Darwin's finches are a classic model system for ecological and evolutionary studies, yet their spatial ecology remains poorly studied. We tagged and radio-tracked five (three females, two males) medium ground finches () to examine the feasibility of telemetry for understanding their movement and habitat use.

Temporally varying disruptive selection in the medium ground finch ().

Disruptive natural selection within populations exploiting different resources is considered to be a major driver of adaptive radiation and the production of biodiversity. Fitness functions, which describe the relationships between trait variation and fitness, can help to illuminate how this disruptive selection leads to population differentiation. However, a single fitness function represents only a particular selection regime over a single specified time period (often a single season or a year), and therefore might not capture longer-term dynamics.

Large retroperitoneal lymphadenopathy as a predictor of venous thromboembolism in patients with disseminated germ cell tumors treated with chemotherapy.

Purpose: Cisplatin-based chemotherapy, a mainstay of treatment for disseminated germ cell tumors (GCTs), is associated with venous thromboembolism (VTE). Many patients with disseminated GCTs have large retroperitoneal lymph node (RPLN) metastases that may cause venous stasis and increase the risk of VTE development. We hypothesized that there was an association between large RPLN and chemotherapy-associated VTE risk.

Grassroots projects aimed at the built environment: Association with neighbourhood deprivation, land-use mix and injury risk to road users.

Objectives: 1) To describe grassroots projects aimed at the built environment and associated with active transportation on the Island of Montreal; and 2) to examine associations between the number of projects and indicators of neighbourhood material and social deprivation and the built environment.

Method: We identified funding agencies and community groups conducting projects on built environments throughout the Island of Montreal. Through website consultation and a snowballing procedure, we inventoried projects that aimed at transforming built environments and that were carried out by community organizations between January 1, 2006, and November 1, 2010.

Consolidative high-dose chemotherapy after conventional-dose chemotherapy as first salvage treatment for male patients with metastatic germ cell tumours.

Introduction: Some men with metastatic germ cell tumours that have progressed after response to initial cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy are cured with conventional dose first salvage chemotherapy (CDCT)--however, many are not. High-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell rescue (HDCT) may be of value in these patients. Prognosis has recently been better defined by International Prognostic Factor Study Group (IPFSG) prognostic factors.

Recombinant human erythropoietin in combination with chemotherapy increases breast cancer metastasis in preclinical mouse models.

Purpose: Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA) are used clinically for treating cancer-related anemia. Recent clinical trials have reported increased adverse events and reduced survival in ESA-treated breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, potentially related to erythropoietin (EPO)-induced cancer progression. However, minimal preclinical data are available about the impact of EPO on metastatic cell behavior and/or the metastatic process, and this was the goal of our study.

Deletion of the thrombin cleavage domain of osteopontin mediates breast cancer cell adhesion, proteolytic activity, tumorgenicity, and metastasis.

Background: Osteopontin (OPN) is a secreted phosphoprotein often overexpressed at high levels in the blood and primary tumors of breast cancer patients. OPN contains two integrin-binding sites and a thrombin cleavage domain located in close proximity to each other.

Methods: To study the role of the thrombin cleavage site of OPN, MDA-MB-468 human breast cancer cells were stably transfected with either wildtype OPN (468-OPN), mutant OPN lacking the thrombin cleavage domain (468-ΔTC) or an empty vector (468-CON) and assessed for in vitro and in vivo functional differences in malignant/metastatic behavior.

[Influence of leukocytes on coronary flow reserve, left ventricular systolic function, and in-hospital events, in patients with acute anterior myocardial infarction treated by primary angioplasty].

Objective: To assess the relationship between leukocyte count, non invasive coronary flow reserve (CFR), left ventricular systolic function, and in-hospital adverse events in acute anterior myocardial infarction (AMI) treated by primary angioplasty.

Methods: Leukocyte count at admission and within 24h after angioplasty, and differential count at admission were obtained in 72 consecutive patients with a first AMI (mean age 56±12 years) successfully treated by primary angioplasty. Transthoracic Doppler echocardiography was performed within 24h after angioplasty and 3 months later to assess the CFR (using intravenous adenosine), in the left anterior descending artery (LAD), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and the wall motion score index using the nine segments assigned to the LAD territory (WMSi-lad).

Opposing actions of the progesterone metabolites, 5alpha-dihydroprogesterone (5alphaP) and 3alpha-dihydroprogesterone (3alphaHP) on mitosis, apoptosis, and expression of Bcl-2, Bax and p21 in human breast cell lines.

Previous studies have shown that breast tissues and breast cell lines convert progesterone (P) to 5alpha-dihydroprogesterone (5alphaP) and 3alpha-dihydroprogesterone (3alphaHP) and that 3alphaHP suppresses, whereas 5alphaP promotes, cell proliferation and detachment. The objectives of the current studies were to determine if the 5alphaP- and 3alphaHP-induced changes in cell numbers are due to altered rates of mitosis and/or apoptosis, and if 3alphaHP and 5alphaP act on tumorigenic and non-tumorigenic cells, regardless of estrogen (E) and P receptor status. The studies were conducted on tumorigenic (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, T47D) and non-tumorigenic (MCF-10A) human breast cell lines, employing several methods to assess the effects of the hormones on cell proliferation, mitosis, apoptosis and expression of Bcl-2, Bax and p21.

Effect of a fermented milk combining Lactobacillus acidophilus Cl1285 and Lactobacillus casei in the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Antibiotic-associated diarrhea is an important problem in hospitalized patients. The use of probiotics is gaining interest in the scientific community as a potential measure to prevent this complication. The main objective of the present study was to assess the efficacy and safety of a fermented milk combining Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus casei that is widely available in Canada, in the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea.

[Measurement of coronary flow and flow reserve with transthoracic echocardiography: an old concept, a new tool, a lot of applications].

Non invasive evaluation of coronary flow and flow reserve by using transthoracic echocardiography is a promising method for evaluating coronary disease. Left anterior descending and right posterior descending coronary flow are accessible in the majority of patients. This technique is useful in various settings: detection of coronary artery stenosis, coronary occlusion, follow up after percutaneous coronary intervention, evaluation of the significance of coronary stenosis of intermediate severity, evaluation of the microcirculation, study of reperfusion and no reflow in the acute phase of myocardial infarction, evaluation of bypass grafts, improvement of the diagnostic accuracy during stress echocardiography.

[Dyspnea of effort with an unusual cause: diagnostic significance of stress echocardiography].

Left intra ventricular obstruction occurring during doubutamine stress echography is not exceptional but its clinical significance is controversial, notably due to the non-reproducibility of such a phenomenon during physical exercise in a certain number of patients. Moreover, in the studies which demonstrate a link between symptoms of effort and left intra ventricular obstruction during dobutamine echography, an echography with effort was not systematically performed in order to confirm this relationship. We describe the case of two patients, aged 50 and 62 years respectively, with no notable cardiovascular past history except hypertension, who had dyspnoea of effort in the absence of underlying cardiopathy in resting conditions.

Air quality during the winter in Québec day-care centers.

Over 90% of 91 day care centers in greater Montréal, Québec exceeded 1000 ppm of CO2 during January through April 1989. Four variables were independent positive predictors of CO2 levels: the density of children in the center; presence of electric heating; absence of a ventilation system; and building age. High levels of CO2 are associated with respiratory tract and other symptoms.

[Subvalvular aortic stenosis. Apropos of 3 cases].

The three cases reported here illustrate the most frequent varieties of infra-valvular congenital aortic stenosis secondary to a fixed obstacle: such as a thin membrane located a few millimeters under the aortic ring; such as a fibro-muscular membrane at some distance of the ring; such as an infra-aortic fibro-muscular tunnel. The clinical symptoms and evolutive risks are reviewed. Ultrasound cardiography enables to make an accurate diagnosis and evaluate the associated lesions.