Narrative predicts cardiac synchrony in audiences.

Audio-visual media possesses a remarkable ability to synchronise audiences' neural, behavioural, and physiological responses. This synchronisation is considered to reflect some dimension of collective attention or engagement with the stimulus. But what is it about these stimuli that drives such strong engagement? There are several properties of media stimuli which may lead to synchronous audience response: from low-level audio-visual features, to the story itself.

Audience immersion: validating attentional and physiological measures against self-report.

When an audience member becomes immersed, their attention shifts towards the media and story, and they allocate cognitive resources to represent events and characters. Here, we investigate whether it is possible to measure immersion using continuous behavioural and physiological measures. Using television and film clips, we validated dual-task reaction times, heart rate, and skin conductance against self-reported narrative engagement.

Three dimensional microvascular measurements in human endometrium using optical slices from laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM).

There is increasing interest in the structure of the microvascular environment in human endometrium because of the recognition of the complexity and functional importance of this tissue. Endometrial microcirculatory networks and their relationships have rarely been studied in three-dimensions. Longitudinal uterine slices containing endometrial tissue were carefully selected from women undergoing a hysterectomy.

A historical overview of the study and representation of uterine microvascular structures.

The concept of anatomical modelling of the internal vascular structures of organs dates back to the Middle Ages by way of corrosion casting. The first to apply this classic injection technique in the reproductive arena was John Hunter (1754), who undertook to establish the independence of the maternal and fetal circulations in the placenta. The first detailed microscopic study of the endometrial vessels was undertaken a century later.

The relationship of proliferating cell density at the invasive tumour front with prognostic and risk factors in human oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: We hypothesise that the density of proliferating cells at the invasive tumour front (ITF) has a positive relationship with prognostic and risk factors in human oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

Methods: Tissues from 47 human oral SCC specimens were collected and stained with a monoclonal antibody directed against the Ki-67 antigen using a horseradish peroxidase based two-step immunostaining method. Counting was performed on two parallel sections at the ITF using an image analyser.