Endogenous Ethylene Concentration Is Not a Major Determinant of Fruit Abscission in Heat-Stressed Cotton ( L.).

We investigated the role of ethylene in the response of cotton to high temperature using cotton genotypes with genetically interrupted ethylene metabolism. In the first experiment, Sicot 71BRF and 5B (a lintless variant with compromised ethylene metabolism) were exposed to 45°C, either by instantaneous heat shock or by ramping temperatures by 3°C daily for 1 week. One day prior to the start of heat treatment, half the plants were sprayed with 0.

The Detection of Phase Amplitude Coupling during Sensory Processing.

There is increasing interest in understanding how the phase and amplitude of distinct neural oscillations might interact to support dynamic communication within the brain. In particular, previous work has demonstrated a coupling between the phase of low frequency oscillations and the amplitude (or power) of high frequency oscillations during certain tasks, termed phase amplitude coupling (PAC). For instance, during visual processing in humans, PAC has been reliably observed between ongoing alpha (8-13 Hz) and gamma-band (>40 Hz) activity.

Improving the Delivery of SOD1 Antisense Oligonucleotides to Motor Neurons Using Calcium Phosphate-Lipid Nanoparticles.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease affecting the upper and lower motor neurons in the motor cortex and spinal cord. Abnormal accumulation of mutant superoxide dismutase I (SOD1) in motor neurons is a pathological hallmark of some forms of the disease. We have shown that the orderly progression of the disease may be explained by misfolded SOD1 cell-to-cell propagation, which is reliant upon its active endogenous synthesis.

The Effects of Fat Body Tyramine Level on Gustatory Responsiveness of Honeybees () Differ between Behavioral Castes.

Division of labor is a hallmark of social insects. In the honeybee () each sterile female worker performs a series of social tasks. The most drastic changes in behavior occur when a nurse bee, who takes care of the brood and the queen in the hive, transitions to foraging behavior.

Attention, in and Out: Scalp-Level and Intracranial EEG Correlates of Interoception and Exteroception.

Interoception, the monitoring of visceral signals, is often presumed to engage attentional mechanisms specifically devoted to inner bodily sensing. In fact, most standardized interoceptive tasks require directing attention to internal signals. However, most studies in the field have failed to compare attentional modulations between internally- and externally-driven processes, thus probing blind to the specificity of the former.

On the Origin of the 1,000 Hz Peak in the Spectrum of the Human Tympanic Electrical Noise.

The spectral analysis of the spontaneous activity recorded with an electrode positioned near the round window of the guinea pig cochlea shows a broad energy peak between 800 and 1,000 Hz. This spontaneous electric activity is called round window noise or ensemble background activity. In guinea pigs, the proposed origin of this peak is the random sum of the extracellular field potentials generated by action potentials of auditory nerve neurons.

The Relationship between Intrinsic Couplings of the Visual Word Form Area with Spoken Language Network and Reading Ability in Children and Adults.

Reading plays a key role in education and communication in modern society. Learning to read establishes the connections between the visual word form area (VWFA) and language areas responsible for speech processing. Using resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and Granger Causality Analysis (GCA) methods, the current developmental study aimed to identify the difference in the relationship between the connections of VWFA-language areas and reading performance in both adults and children.

Bilingual Language Switching: Production vs. Recognition.

This study aims at assessing how bilinguals select words in the appropriate language in production and recognition while minimizing interference from the non-appropriate language. Two prominent models are considered which assume that when one language is in use, the other is suppressed. The Inhibitory Control (IC) model suggests that, in both production and recognition, the amount of inhibition on the non-target language is greater for the stronger compared to the weaker language.

Different Roles for Honey Bee Mushroom Bodies and Central Complex in Visual Learning of Colored Lights in an Aversive Conditioning Assay.

The honey bee is an excellent visual learner, but we know little about how and why it performs so well, or how visual information is learned by the bee brain. Here we examined the different roles of two key integrative regions of the brain in visual learning: the mushroom bodies and the central complex. We tested bees' learning performance in a new assay of color learning that used electric shock as punishment.

Protein Quality Control and the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Frontotemporal Dementia Continuum.

Protein homeostasis, or proteostasis, has an important regulatory role in cellular function. Protein quality control mechanisms, including protein folding and protein degradation processes, have a crucial function in post-mitotic neurons. Cellular protein quality control relies on multiple strategies, including molecular chaperones, autophagy, the ubiquitin proteasome system, endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated degradation (ERAD) and the formation of stress granules (SGs), to regulate proteostasis.

Assessment of Airway Distensibility by the Forced Oscillation Technique: Reproducible and Potentially Simplifiable.

A non-invasive index of airway distensibility is required to track airway remodeling over time. The forced oscillation technique (FOT) provides such an index by measuring the change in respiratory system conductance at 5 Hz over the corresponding change in lung volume (ΔGrs/ΔV). To become useful clinically, this method has to be reproducible and easy to perform.

Bcl11b-A Critical Neurodevelopmental Transcription Factor-Roles in Health and Disease.

B cell leukemia 11b (Bcl11b) is a zinc finger protein transcription factor with a multiplicity of functions. It works as both a genetic suppressor and activator, acting directly, attaching to promoter regions, as well as indirectly, attaching to promoter-bound transcription factors. Bcl11b is a fundamental transcription factor in fetal development, with important roles for the differentiation and development of various neuronal subtypes in the central nervous system (CNS).

Metallothionein, Copper and Alpha-Synuclein in Alpha-Synucleinopathies.

Metallothioneins (MTs) are proteins that function by metal exchange to regulate the bioavailability of metals, such as zinc and copper. Copper functions in the brain to regulate mitochondria, neurotransmitter production, and cell signaling. Inappropriate copper binding can result in loss of protein function and Cu(I)/(II) redox cycling can generate reactive oxygen species.

C-Command in the Grammars of Children with High Functioning Autism.

A recent study questioned the adherence of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) to a linguistic constraint on the use of reflexive pronouns (Principle A) in sentences . This led researchers to question whether children with ASD are able to compute the hierarchical structural relationship of c-command, and raised the possibility that the children rely on a linear strategy for reference assignment. The current study investigates the status of c-command in children with ASD by testing their interpretation of sentences like (1) and (2) that tease apart use of c-command and a linear strategy for reference assignment.

Musicians' Online Performance during Auditory and Visual Statistical Learning Tasks.

Musicians' brains are considered to be a functional model of neuroplasticity due to the structural and functional changes associated with long-term musical training. In this study, we examined implicit extraction of statistical regularities from a continuous stream of stimuli-statistical learning (SL). We investigated whether long-term musical training is associated with better extraction of statistical cues in an auditory SL (aSL) task and a visual SL (vSL) task-both using the embedded triplet paradigm.

Non-hierarchical Influence of Visual Form, Touch, and Position Cues on Embodiment, Agency, and Presence in Virtual Reality.

The concept of self-representation is commonly decomposed into three component constructs (sense of embodiment, sense of agency, and sense of presence), and each is typically investigated separately across different experimental contexts. For example, embodiment has been explored in bodily illusions; agency has been investigated in hypnosis research; and presence has been primarily studied in the context of Virtual Reality (VR) technology. Given that each component involves the integration of multiple cues within and across sensory modalities, they may rely on similar underlying mechanisms.

Body Image Distortion and Exposure to Extreme Body Types: Contingent Adaptation and Cross Adaptation for Self and Other.

Body size misperception is common amongst the general public and is a core component of eating disorders and related conditions. While perennial media exposure to the "thin ideal" has been blamed for this misperception, relatively little research has examined visual adaptation as a potential mechanism. We examined the extent to which the bodies of "self" and "other" are processed by common or separate mechanisms in young women.

Synergistic Effects of Chinese Herbal Medicine: A Comprehensive Review of Methodology and Current Research.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an important part of primary health care in Asian countries that has utilized complex herbal formulations (consisting 2 or more medicinal herbs) for treating diseases over thousands of years. There seems to be a general assumption that the synergistic therapeutic effects of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) derive from the complex interactions between the multiple bioactive components within the herbs and/or herbal formulations. However, evidence to support these synergistic effects remains weak and controversial due to several reasons, including the very complex nature of CHM, misconceptions about synergy and methodological challenges to study design.

Current Applications and Future Perspectives of the Use of 3D Printing in Anatomical Training and Neurosurgery.

3D printing is a form of rapid prototyping technology, which has led to innovative new applications in biomedicine. It facilitates the production of highly accurate three dimensional objects from substrate materials. The inherent accuracy and other properties of 3D printing have allowed it to have exciting applications in anatomy education and surgery, with the specialty of neurosurgery having benefited particularly well.

Disruption of Foveal Space Impairs Discrimination of Peripheral Objects.

Visual space is retinotopically mapped such that peripheral objects are processed in a cortical region outside the region that represents central vision. Despite this well-known fact, neuroimaging studies have found information about peripheral objects in the foveal confluence, the cortical region representing the fovea. Further, this information is behaviorally relevant: disrupting the foveal confluence using transcranial magnetic stimulation impairs discrimination of peripheral objects at time-points consistent with a disruption of feedback.

Neural Decoding and "Inner" Psychophysics: A Distance-to-Bound Approach for Linking Mind, Brain, and Behavior.

A fundamental challenge for cognitive neuroscience is characterizing how the primitives of psychological theory are neurally implemented. Attempts to meet this challenge are a manifestation of what Fechner called "inner" psychophysics: the theory of the precise mapping between mental quantities and the brain. In his own time, inner psychophysics remained an unrealized ambition for Fechner.