Monkeys Predict US Elections.

How people vote often defies rational explanation. Physical traits sometimes sway voters more than policies do-but why? Here we show that rhesus macaques, who have no knowledge about political candidates or their policies, implicitly predict the outcomes of U.S.

A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial of Intranasal Oxytocin to Promote Weight Loss in Individuals With Hypothalamic Obesity.

Context: Hypothalamic obesity is a rare, treatment-resistant form of obesity. In preliminary studies, the hypothalamic hormone oxytocin (OXT) has shown promise as a potential weight loss therapy.

Objective: To determine whether 8 weeks of intranasal OXT (vs 8 weeks of placebo) promotes weight loss in children, adolescents, and young adults with hypothalamic obesity.

Neuronal mechanisms of dynamic strategic competition.

Competitive social interactions, as in chess or poker, often involve multiple moves and countermoves deployed tactically within a broader strategic plan. Such maneuvers are supported by mentalizing or theory-of-mind-reasoning about the beliefs, plans, and goals of an opponent. The neuronal mechanisms underlying strategic competition remain largely unknown.

Oxytocin and testosterone administration amplify viewing preferences for sexual images in male rhesus macaques.

Social stimuli, like faces, and sexual stimuli, like genitalia, spontaneously attract visual attention in both human and non-human primates. Social orienting behaviour is thought to be modulated by neuropeptides as well as sex hormones. Using a free viewing task in which paired images of monkey faces and anogenital regions were presented simultaneously, we found that male rhesus macaques overwhelmingly preferred to view images of anogenital regions over faces.

Erratum: P130cas is required for TGF-β1-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition in lung cancer.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3892/ol.2014.

Oxytocin and vasopressin increase male-directed threats and vocalizations in female macaques.

In a previous study, we reported that intranasal delivery of both oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) to male macaques relaxes spontaneous social interactions, flattens the existing dominance hierarchy, and increases behavioral synchrony with other monkeys. Here we report that intranasal OT and AVP administration modulates the behaviors of female macaque monkeys, but in robustly different ways from males. Most notably, both neuropeptides increase threatening and vocalization behaviors of females when they encounter males, and these behaviors effectively increase the social status of females over males.

Propensity-Matched Analysis Comparing Survival After Hybrid Thoracoscopic-Laparotomy Esophagectomy and Complete Thoracoscopic-Laparoscopic Esophagectomy.

Background: Hybrid thoracoscopic-laparotomy esophagectomy (hTE) and complete thoracoscopic-laparoscopic esophagectomy (cTLE) are the two most frequently used minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) procedures and are broadly utilized for esophageal cancer. We evaluated differences in short- and long-term outcomes between hTE and cTLE in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Methods: Patients who underwent MIE for ESCC between September 2009 and February 2016 were included in this retrospective study.

Oxytocin and vasopressin flatten dominance hierarchy and enhance behavioral synchrony in part via anterior cingulate cortex.

The neuropeptides oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) influence social functions in many mammals. In humans and rhesus macaques, OT delivered intranasally can promote prosocial behavior in certain contexts. Yet the precise neural mechanisms mediating these behavioral effects remain unclear.

Intraoperative conversion does not affect the oncological outcomes of minimally invasive esophagectomy for treatment of esophageal cancer.

Background: The aim of this study is to summarize the causes and implications of intraoperative conversion from minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) to open thoracotomy, and to evaluate the effect on long-term survival.

Methods: There were 293 thoracoscopic esophagectomies for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) of the thoracic esophagus performed by the authors from September 2009 to August 2015. Totally, 257 patients were enrolled in this study.

The effect of postoperative complications on survival of patients after minimally invasive esophagectomy for esophageal cancer.

Background: Minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) has been shown to be a feasible technique for the treatment of esophageal cancer; however, its postoperative morbidity remains high. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the effect of postoperative complications on long-term outcomes in patients who have undergone MIE for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Methods: This retrospective study enrolled patients who had undergone MIE for ESCC between September 2009 and November 2014; all procedures were performed by a single surgical team.

Do alterations in plasma albumin and prealbumin after minimally invasive esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma influence the incidence of cervical anastomotic leak?

Background: Anastomotic leak (AL) remains a challenging and bothersome complication of minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE). In this retrospective study, we measured the perioperative albumin (ALB) and prealbumin (PA) of patients who underwent MIE, and investigated the relationship between the occurrence of AL and the altering levels of ALB/PA.

Patients And Methods: Sixty patients underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic-laparoscopic esophagectomy between September 2013 and August 2014.

A computational relationship between thalamic sensory neural responses and contrast perception.

Uncovering the relationship between sensory neural responses and perceptual decisions remains a fundamental problem in neuroscience. Decades of experimental and modeling work in the sensory cortex have demonstrated that a perceptual decision pool is usually composed of tens to hundreds of neurons, the responses of which are significantly correlated not only with each other, but also with the behavioral choices of an animal. Few studies, however, have measured neural activity in the sensory thalamus of awake, behaving animals.

The functional asymmetry of ON and OFF channels in the perception of contrast.

To fully understand the relationship between perception and single neural responses, one should take into consideration the early stages of sensory processing. Few studies, however, have directly examined the neural underpinning of visual perception in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), only one synapse away from the retina. In this study we recorded from LGN parvocellular (P) ON-center and OFF-center neurons while monkeys either passively viewed or actively detected a full range of contrasts.

Perceptual decision related activity in the lateral geniculate nucleus.

Fundamental to neuroscience is the understanding of how the language of neurons relates to behavior. In the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), cells show distinct properties such as selectivity for particular wavelengths, increments or decrements in contrast, or preference for fine detail versus rapid motion. No studies, however, have measured how LGN cells respond when an animal is challenged to make a perceptual decision using information within the receptive fields of those LGN cells.

P130cas is required for TGF-β1-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition in lung cancer.

In lung cancer A549 cells, the present study evaluated the associations between p130cas expression and the activation of p38 or Smad2, which are components of two of the main signaling pathways of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), i.e., epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and apoptosis, respectively.

Should stage T2 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma be subclassified?

Background: In patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), pathologic examination allows T2 tumors to be further subclassified according to whether the circular or longitudinal muscle layers are invaded. Therefore, we aimed to investigate whether subclassifying the T2 stages can aid in determining the prognosis for patients with ESCC.

Methods: The clinical and pathologic characteristics of 85 ESCC patients with T2 tumors who underwent thoracoscopic esophagectomy between 2008 and 2013 were retrospectively analyzed.

CYP1A2 rs762551 polymorphism contributes to risk of lung cancer: a meta-analysis.

Previous studies proposed that CYP1A2 rs762551 polymorphism might be associated with risk of lung cancer by influencing the function of CYP1A2. However, previous studies on the association between CYP1A2 rs762551 polymorphism and risk of lung cancer reported inconsistent findings. We performed a meta-analysis of the published case-control studies to assess the association between CYP1A2 rs762551 polymorphism and risk of lung cancer.

Lateral position could provide more excellent hemodynamic parameters during video-assisted thoracoscopic esophagectomy for cancer.

Background: Thoracoscopic esophagectomy is a feasible technique that has been shown to be safe for the treatment of esophageal cancer. There continues to be controversy about the optimal position during thoracoscopic esophagectomy. In this study, we compared the intraoperative hemodynamic parameters, clinical pathological characteristics, as well as postoperative complications in patients who underwent thoracoscopic esophagectomy in the prone position (PP) or left-lateral decubitus position (LDP).

Overexpression of Sox3 is associated with diminished prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a lethal malignancy lacking valid prognostic biomarkers. As a member of the High Mobility Group domain-containing DNA-binding proteins, Sox3 has been reported to induce oncogenic transformation of chicken embryo fibroblasts. However, the expression and prognostic value of Sox3 in ESCC remain unclear.

One surgeon's learning curve for video-assisted thoracoscopic esophagectomy for esophageal cancer with the patient in lateral position: how many cases are needed to reach competence?

Background: Minimally invasive esophagectomy is a feasible technique shown to be safe and oncologically adequate for the treatment of esophageal cancer. This study aimed to describe one surgeon's learning curve for video-assisted thoracoscopic esophagectomy with the patient in lateral position.

Methods: From May 2010 to June 2012, 89 thoracoscopic esophagectomies for esophageal cancer were performed by one surgeon.

Morphological and neurochemical comparisons between pulvinar and V1 projections to V2.

The flow of visual information is clear at the earliest stages: the retina provides the driving (main signature) activity for the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), which in turn drives the primary visual cortex (V1). These driving pathways can be distinguished anatomically from other modulatory pathways that innervate LGN and V1. The path of visual information after V1, however, is less clear.

Effect of altered WIG-1 expression on DDP sensitivity in a DDP-resistant esophageal squamous cancer cell line.

Esophageal cancer (EC) is the most common esophageal malignancy and has a dismal prognosis. Developing novel strategies to reverse the resistance to chemotherapeutics in EC is currently of intense interest. The wide-type p53 induced gene 1 (WIG-1) is a p53-regulated transcription factor.

Transcriptome network analysis reveals potential candidate genes for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

The esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is an aggressive tumor with a poor prognosis. Understanding molecular changes in ESCC should improve identification of risk factors with different molecular subtypes and provide potential targets for early detection and therapy. Our study aimed to obtain a molecular signature of ESCC through the regulation network based on differentially expressed genes (DEGs).

BCAR1 protein plays important roles in carcinogenesis and predicts poor prognosis in non-small-cell lung cancer.

Objective: Our previous study suggested the potential clinical implications of BCAR1 in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (Mol Diagn Ther. 2011. 15(1): 31-40).

Nuclear expression of Twist promotes lymphatic metastasis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Twist-1 protein (also called Twist) has been suggested to be involved in tumor epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) related progression, however, the mechanism by which twist promotes lymph node metastasis is not fully understood. In the present study, we found that nuclear twist expression is clearly correlated with lymph node (LN) metastasis as determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC). A highly invasive EC109 cell subline, EC109-P, was established by repeated in vitro transwell isolations for the cell model.