Neural evidence for referential understanding of object words in dogs.

Using words to refer to objects in the environment is a core feature of the human language faculty. Referential understanding assumes the formation of mental representations of these words. Such understanding of object words has not yet been demonstrated as a general capacity in any non-human species, despite multiple behavior-based case reports.

Investigating responses to object-labels in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris).

Since the dawn of comparative cognitive research, dogs were suspected to possess some capacity for responding to human spoken language. Neuroimaging studies have supported the existence of relevant mechanisms, but convincing behavioral performance is rare, with only few exceptional dogs worldwide demonstrating a lexicon of object-labels they respond to. In the present study we aimed to investigate if and how a capacity for processing verbal stimuli is expressed in dogs (N = 20), whose alleged knowledge of verbal labels is only backed-up by owner reports taken at face value, and concerning only a few words (on average 5).

Speech prosody supports speaker selection and auditory stream segregation in a multi-talker situation.

To process speech in a multi-talker environment, listeners need to segregate the mixture of incoming speech streams and focus their attention on one of them. Potentially, speech prosody could aid the segregation of different speakers, the selection of the desired speech stream, and detecting targets within the attended stream. For testing these issues, we recorded behavioral responses and extracted event-related potentials and functional brain networks from electroencephalographic signals recorded while participants listened to two concurrent speech streams, performing a lexical detection and a recognition memory task in parallel.

Characterization of Danube Swabian population samples on a high-resolution genome-wide basis.

Background: German-derived ethnicities are one of the largest ethnic groups in Hungary, dating back to the formation of the Kingdom of Hungary, which took place at the beginning of the 11th century. Germans arrived in Hungary in many waves. The most significant immigration wave took place following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in East-Central Europe which closed the 150 year long Ottoman occupation.

The Hungarian hubris syndrome.

Powerful figures, such as politicians, who show a behavioural pattern of exuberant self-confidence, recklessness, and contempt for others may be the subject of the acquired personality disorder, the hubris syndrome, which has been demonstrated to leave its mark on speech patterns. Our study explores characteristic language patterns of Hungarian prime ministers (PMs) with a special emphasis on one of the key indicators of hubris, the shift from the first person "I" to "we" in spontaneous speech. We analyzed the ratio of the first-person singular ("I") and plural ("we") pronouns and verbal inflections in the spontaneous parliamentary speeches of four Hungarian PMs between 1998-2018.

Genome-Wide Marker Data-Based Comparative Population Analysis of Szeklers From Korond, Transylvania, and From Transylvania Living Non-Szekler Hungarians.

Genome-wide genotype data from 48 carefully selected population samples of Transylvania-living Szeklers and non-Szekler Hungarians were analyzed by comparative analysis. Our analyses involved contemporary Hungarians living in Hungary, other Europeans, and Eurasian samples counting 530 individuals altogether. The source of the Szekler samples was the commune of Korond, Transylvania.

Differences in dogs' event-related potentials in response to human and dog vocal stimuli; a non-invasive study.

Recent advances in the field of canine neuro-cognition allow for the non-invasive research of brain mechanisms in family dogs. Considering the striking similarities between dog's and human (infant)'s socio-cognition at the behavioural level, both similarities and differences in neural background can be of particular relevance. The current study investigates brain responses of = 17 family dogs to human and conspecific emotional vocalizations using a fully non-invasive event-related potential (ERP) paradigm.

Neural processes underlying statistical learning for speech segmentation in dogs.

To learn words, humans extract statistical regularities from speech. Multiple species use statistical learning also to process speech, but the neural underpinnings of speech segmentation in non-humans remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated computational and neural markers of speech segmentation in dogs, a phylogenetically distant mammal that efficiently navigates humans' social and linguistic environment.

Whole Exome Sequencing in a Series of Patients with a Clinical Diagnosis of Tuberous Sclerosis Not Confirmed by Targeted Sequencing.

Background: Approximately fifteen percent of patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) phenotype do not have any genetic disease-causing mutations which could be responsible for the development of TSC. The lack of a proper diagnosis significantly affects the quality of life for these patients and their families.

Methods: The aim of our study was to use Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) in order to identify the genes responsible for the phenotype of nine patients with clinical signs of TSC, but without confirmed tuberous sclerosis complex 1/ tuberous sclerosis complex 2 ( mutations using routine molecular genetic diagnostic tools.

Eye movements and mental imagery during reading of literary texts with different narrative styles.

Based on Kuzmičová's [1] phenomenological typology of narrative styles, we studied the specific contributions of mental imagery to literary reading experience and to reading behavior by combining questionnaires with eye-tracking methodology. Specifically, we focused on the two main categories in Kuzmičová's [1] typology, i.e.

Rapid learning of object names in dogs.

Learning object names after few exposures, is thought to be a typically human capacity. Previous accounts of similar skills in dogs did not include control testing procedures, leaving unanswered the question whether this ability is uniquely human. To investigate the presence of the capacity to rapidly learn words in dogs, we tested object-name learning after four exposures in two dogs with knowledge of multiple toy-names.

Event-related potentials reveal limited readiness to access phonetic details during word processing in dogs.

While dogs have remarkable abilities for social cognition and communication, the number of words they learn to recognize typically remains very low. The reason for this limited capacity is still unclear. We hypothesized that despite their human-like auditory abilities for analysing speech sounds, their word processing capacities might be less ready to access phonetic details.

The FieldTrip-SimBio pipeline for EEG forward solutions.

Background: Accurately solving the electroencephalography (EEG) forward problem is crucial for precise EEG source analysis. Previous studies have shown that the use of multicompartment head models in combination with the finite element method (FEM) can yield high accuracies both numerically and with regard to the geometrical approximation of the human head. However, the workload for the generation of multicompartment head models has often been too high and the use of publicly available FEM implementations too complicated for a wider application of FEM in research studies.

Age-Related Hearing Impairment Associated NAT2, GRM7, GRHL2 Susceptibility Gene Polymorphisms and Haplotypes in Roma and Hungarian Populations.

Age-related hearing impairment (ARHI) is the most frequent sensory disease in the elderly, which is caused by an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Here we examined the ethnic differences, allele and genotype frequencies of the NAT2, GRM7, and GRHL2 genes pooled samples of healthy Hungarian and healthy and hearing impaired Roma people. Study populations of healthy Hungarian and Roma subjects were characterized for the rs1799930 NAT2, rs11928865 GRM7, rs10955255, rs13263539, and rs1981361 GRHL2 polymorphisms and deaf Roma subjects were characterized for the rs1799930 NAT2, rs13263539, and rs1981361 GRHL2 using a PCR-RFLP method.

Temporal Preparation for Speaking in Question-Answer Sequences.

In every-day conversations, the gap between turns of conversational partners is most frequently between 0 and 200 ms. We were interested how speakers achieve such fast transitions. We designed an experiment in which participants listened to pre-recorded questions about images presented on a screen and were asked to answer these questions.

single nucleotide polymorphisms could be either beneficial or harmful in ulcerative colitis.

Aim: To investigate the association of seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the gene with the clinical picture of ulcerative colitis (UC).

Methods: Genomic DNA samples of 131 patients (66 males, 65 females, mean age 55.4 ± 15.

Interethnic differences of cytochrome P450 gene polymorphisms may influence outcome of taxane therapy in Roma and Hungarian populations.

Taxanes are widely used microtubule-stabilizing chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of cancers. Several cytochrome P450 gene variants have been proven to influence taxane metabolism and therapy. The purpose of this work was to determine the distribution of genetic variations of CYP1B1, CYP2C8 and CYP3A5 genes as the first report on taxane metabolizer cytochrome P450 gene polymorphisms in Roma and Hungarian populations.

Neural signatures of response planning occur midway through an incoming question in conversation.

A striking puzzle about language use in everyday conversation is that turn-taking latencies are usually very short, whereas planning language production takes much longer. This implies overlap between language comprehension and production processes, but the nature and extent of such overlap has never been studied directly. Combining an interactive quiz paradigm with EEG measurements in an innovative way, we show that production planning processes start as soon as possible, that is, within half a second after the answer to a question can be retrieved (up to several seconds before the end of the question).

Extreme differences in SLCO1B3 functional polymorphisms in Roma and Hungarian populations.

Variants in SLCO1B3 transporter are linked to disposition and uptake of drugs and show high degree of heterogeneity between populations. A total of 467 Roma and 448 Hungarian subjects were genotyped for SLCO1B3 c.334T>G and c.

Increased prevalence of functional minor allele variants of drug metabolizing CYP2B6 and CYP2D6 genes in Roma population samples.

Background: Cytochrome P450 2B6 and 2D6 are important enzymes in human drug metabolism. These phase I enzymes are known to contribute the biotransformation of clinically important pharmaceuticals, including antidepressants, anticancer and anxiolytic drugs. The aim of this work was to determine the pharmacogenetic profile of CYP2B6 and CYP2D6 in Roma and Hungarian population samples.

Brain dynamics in the comprehension of action-related language. A time-frequency analysis of mu rhythms.

EEG mu rhythms (8-13 Hz) recorded at fronto-central electrodes are generally considered as markers of motor cortical activity in humans, because they are modulated when participants perform an action, when they observe another's action or even when they imagine performing an action. In this study, we analyzed the time-frequency (TF) modulation of mu rhythms while participants read action language ("You will cut the strawberry cake"), abstract language ("You will doubt the patient's argument"), and perceptive language ("You will notice the bright day"). The results indicated that mu suppression at fronto-central sites is associated with action language rather than with abstract or perceptive language.

Functional variants of lipid level modifier MLXIPL, GCKR, GALNT2, CILP2, ANGPTL3 and TRIB1 genes in healthy Roma and Hungarian populations.

The role of triglyceride metabolism in different diseases, such as cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases is still under extensive investigations. In genome-wide studies several polymorphisms have been reported, which are highly associated with plasma lipid level changes. Our goal was to examine eight variants: rs12130333 at the ANGPTL3, rs16996148 at the CILP2, rs17321515 at the TRIB1, rs17145738 and rs3812316 of the MLXIPL, rs4846914 at GALNT2, rs1260326 and rs780094 residing at the GCKR loci.

Genetic polymorphisms in promoter and intronic regions of CYP1A2 gene in Roma and Hungarian population samples.

The purpose of this study was to determine the interethnic differences of four CYP1A2 drug metabolizing enzyme variants. A total of 404 Roma and 396 Hungarian healthy subjects were genotyped for -163C>A, -729C>T, -2467delT and -3860G>A variants of CYP1A2 by RT-PCR and PCR-RFLP technique. The -3860A and -729T allele were not detectable in Roma samples, while in Hungarian samples were present with 2.