A juvenile locomotor program promotes vocal learning in zebra finches.

The evolution and development of complex, learned motor skills are thought to be closely associated with other locomotor movement and cognitive functions. However, it remains largely unknown how different neuromuscular programs may interconnect during the protracted developmental process. Here we use a songbird to examine the behavioral and neural substrates between the development of locomotor movement and vocal-motor learning.

Seasonal regulation of singing-driven gene expression associated with song plasticity in the canary, an open-ended vocal learner.

Songbirds are one of the few animal taxa that possess vocal learning abilities. Different species of songbirds exhibit species-specific learning programs during song acquisition. Songbirds with open-ended vocal learning capacity, such as the canary, modify their songs during adulthood.

A memory-driven auditory program ensures selective and precise vocal imitation in zebra finches.

In the vocal learning model, the juvenile first memorizes a model sound, and the imprinted memory gradually converts into vocal-motor output during the sensorimotor integration. However, early acquired memory may not precisely represent the fine structures of a model sound. How do juveniles ensure precise model imitation? Here we show that juvenile songbirds develop an auditory learning program by actively and attentively engaging with tutor's singing during the sensorimotor phase.

Neural activation in response to conspecific songs in zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) embryos and nestlings.

Classic studies on the effects of auditory stimulation in embryonic birds have largely been limited to precocial taxa. In altricial taxa, physiological responses of embryos and, subsequently, the behavioral responses of nestlings have begun to receive increasing attention, yet it remains unclear whether and to what specificity neural responses are generated in ovo. Using in-situ hybridization for an immediate early gene, ZENK, we detected significant neural activation in both the embryos and nestlings of an altricial songbird, the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) when exposed to conspecific song playbacks relative to silence.

Vocal practice regulates singing activity-dependent genes underlying age-independent vocal learning in songbirds.

The development of highly complex vocal skill, like human language and bird songs, is underlain by learning. Vocal learning, even when occurring in adulthood, is thought to largely depend on a sensitive/critical period during postnatal development, and learned vocal patterns emerge gradually as the long-term consequence of vocal practice during this critical period. In this scenario, it is presumed that the effect of vocal practice is thus mainly limited by the intrinsic timing of age-dependent maturation factors that close the critical period and reduce neural plasticity.

Recurrent development of song idiosyncrasy without auditory inputs in the canary, an open-ended vocal learner.

Complex learned behaviors, like bird song and human speech, develop under the influence of both genetic and environmental factors. Accordingly, learned behaviors comprise species specificity and individual variability. Auditory information plays a critical role in vocal learning by songbirds, both to memorize tutor songs and to monitor own vocalizations.

Lentiviral-Mediated Transgenesis in Songbirds.

Transgenesis involves the insertion of an exogenous gene into an animal's genome, which allows the identification of the expressed phenotypes in brain function or behavior. Lentiviral-mediated transgenesis offers unique transduction potency making it possible to deliver and stably integrate transgenes into a wide variety of dividing and nondividing cells. The ability to establish long-term expression of such transgenes allows their use for transgenesis which is especially useful in organisms lacking quality pluripotent stem cell lines and which is otherwise difficult to produce via traditional pronuclear microinjection, such as songbirds.

Human mutant huntingtin disrupts vocal learning in transgenic songbirds.

Speech and vocal impairments characterize many neurological disorders. However, the neurogenetic mechanisms of these disorders are not well understood, and current animal models do not have the necessary circuitry to recapitulate vocal learning deficits. We developed germline transgenic songbirds, zebra finches (Taneiopygia guttata) expressing human mutant huntingtin (mHTT), a protein responsible for the progressive deterioration of motor and cognitive function in Huntington's disease (HD).

Vocal matching and intensity of begging calls are associated with a forebrain song circuit in a generalist brood parasite.

Vocalizations produced by developing young early in life have simple acoustic features and are thought to be innate. Complex forms of early vocal learning are less likely to evolve in young altricial songbirds because the forebrain vocal-learning circuit is underdeveloped during the period when early vocalizations are produced. However, selective pressure experienced in early postnatal life may lead to early vocal learning that is likely controlled by a simpler brain circuit.

Rudimentary substrates for vocal learning in a suboscine.

Vocal learning has evolved in only a few groups of mammals and birds. The key neuroanatomical and behavioural links bridging vocal learners and non-learners are still unknown. Here we show that a non-vocal-learning suboscine, the eastern phoebe, expresses neural and behavioural substrates that are associated with vocal learning in closely related oscine songbirds.

Differential androgen receptor expression and DNA methylation state in striatum song nucleus Area X between wild and domesticated songbird strains.

In songbirds, a specialized neural system, the song system, is responsible for acquisition and expression of species-specific vocal patterns. We report evidence for differential gene expression between wild and domesticated strains having different learned vocal phenotypes. A domesticated strain of the wild white-rumped munia, the Bengalese finch, has a distinct song pattern with a more complicated syntax than the wild strain.

Decrease in ankle-brachial index over time and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with hemodialysis.

Introduction: Abnormal ankle-brachial index (ABI) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in hemodialysis patients. However, whether the decrease in ABI over time carries the prognostic value is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess whether the decrease in ABI over time was a good predictor of poor cardiovascular (CV) prognosis in hemodialysis patients.

Specialized motor-driven dusp1 expression in the song systems of multiple lineages of vocal learning birds.

Mechanisms for the evolution of convergent behavioral traits are largely unknown. Vocal learning is one such trait that evolved multiple times and is necessary in humans for the acquisition of spoken language. Among birds, vocal learning is evolved in songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds.

The ratio of observed to predicted left ventricular mass is independently associated with increased cardiovascular events in patients with chronic kidney disease.

A condition involving the growth of the myocardium that exceeds hemodynamic needs has been reported and called as inappropriate left ventricular mass (LVM). The appropriateness of LVM can be estimated by the ratio of observed LVM to predicted LVM. The excessive growth of LVM is frequently noted in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Association of hyperuricemia with renal outcomes, cardiovascular disease, and mortality.

Background And Objectives: Hyperuricemia is an independent risk factor for mortality, cardiovascular disease, and renal disease in general population. However, the relationship between hyperuricemia with clinical outcomes in CKD remains controversial.

Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: The study investigated the association between uric acid with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular events, renal replacement therapy, and rapid renal progression (the slope of estimated GFR was less than -6 ml/min per 1.

Increasing prevalence of peripheral artery occlusive disease in hemodialysis patients: a 2-year follow-up.

Introduction: Peripheral artery occlusive disease (PAOD) has been reported to be prevalent in hemodialysis patients and influence their mortality. Ankle-brachial index (ABI) <0.9 is a reliable marker for PAOD.

Echocardiographic parameters are independently associated with rate of renal function decline and progression to dialysis in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Background And Objectives: Cardiac abnormalities were frequently noted in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study is designed to assess whether echocardiographic parameters are associated with rate of renal function decline and progression to dialysis in CKD stage 3 to 5 patients.

Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: This longitudinal study enrolled 415 patients.

Stepwise increases in left ventricular mass index and decreases in left ventricular ejection fraction correspond with the stages of chronic kidney disease in diabetes patients.

Aims: Patients with diabetic nephropathy are reported to have a high prevalence of left ventricular structural and functional abnormalities. This study was designed to assess the determinants of left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in diabetic patients at various stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 285 diabetic patients with CKD stages 3 to 5 from our outpatient department of internal medicine.

Echocardiographic parameters are independently associated with increased cardiovascular events in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Background: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are associated with increased cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality. Echocardiographic measures of heart structure and function have been reported to predict adverse CV outcomes in various pathologic conditions. The aim of this study is to assess whether echocardiographic parameters are independently associated with increased CV events in patients with CKD Stages 3-5.

Arterial stiffness in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Introduction: Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) was a marker of arterial stiffness, and increased baPWV was associated with renal function progression in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, there was no study to evaluate the longitudinal change of baPWV in patients with CKD. The aims of this study were to assess whether there was a longitudinal change in baPWV and to find out the determinants of this change in patients with CKD.

The rs1014290 polymorphism of the SLC2A9 gene is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Han Chinese.

Aims: The SLC2A9 gene encodes the glucose transporter 9, with the abilities of transporting both glucose and uric acid and is involved in the pancreatic glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of SLC2A9 accounted for 5% variance of serum uric acid (UA). UA was identified as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).

Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity and rate of renal function decline and mortality in chronic kidney disease.

Background And Objectives: Increased arterial stiffness was reported to be associated with decreased estimated GFR (eGFR). Previous studies suggested that arterial stiffness might play a role in renal function progression in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The aim of this study was to investigate whether there was an independent association between brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), a marker of arterial stiffness, and renal function progression in CKD patients.

The origins of vocal learning: New sounds, new circuits, new cells.

We do not know how vocal learning came to be, but it is such a salient trait in human evolution that many have tried to imagine it. In primates this is difficult because we are the only species known to possess this skill. Songbirds provide a richer and independent set of data.

Significant correlation between ratio of brachial pre-ejection period to ejection time and left ventricular ejection fraction and mass index in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Background: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. An increase in the ratio of pre-ejection period (PEP) to ejection time (ET) is correlated with an increase in left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and a decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Brachial PEP (bPEP) and brachial ET (bET) can be automatically determined by an ankle-brachial index (ABI)-form device.

Iatrogenic rupture of the ureter during kidney biopsy.

Perirenal hematoma, hematuria, and abdominal pain are common complications of kidney biopsy, but ureter rupture is relatively less frequent. Here we report a patient who experienced severe abdominal pain and gross hematuria following a non-smooth procedure of ultrasound-guided kidney biopsy. Computed tomography showed rupture of the left upper third of the ureter.