Facilitation of face recognition through the retino-tectal pathway.

Humans can shift their gazes faster to human faces than to non-face targets during a task in which they are required to choose between face and non-face targets. However, it remains unclear whether a direct projection from the retina to the superior colliculus is specifically involved in this facilitated recognition of faces. To address this question, we presented a pair of face and non-face pictures to participants modulated in greyscale (luminance-defined stimuli) in one condition and modulated in a blue-yellow scale (S-cone-isolating stimuli) in another.

Purification and Characterization of N-Acetylglucosamine-6-phosphate Deacetylase from a Psychrotrophic Marine Bacterium, Alteromonas Species.

A psychrotrophic bacterium, strain Mct-9, which produced an N-acetylglucosamine-6-phosphate deacetylase, was isolated from a deep-seawater sample in the Mariana Trough. The Mct-9 strain was identified as Alteromonas sp. The native enzyme had a molecular mass of 164,000 Da, and was predicted to be composed of four identical subunits with molecular masses of 41,000 Da.

Abrogation of bronchial eosinophilic inflammation and airway hyperreactivity in signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT)6-deficient mice.

Signal transducers and activators of transcription 6 (STAT6) is essential for interleukin 4-mediated responses, including class switching to IgE and induction of type 2 T helper cells. To investigate the role of STAT6 in allergic asthma in vivo, we developed a murine model of allergen-induced airway inflammation. Repeated exposure of actively immunized C57BL/6 mice to ovalbumin (OVA) aerosol increased the level of serum IgE, the number of eosinophils in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid, and airway reactivity.