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Attention, Perception & Psychophysics Jan 2022Two experiments tested a prediction derived from the recent finding that the Oppel-Kundt illusion - the overestimation of a filled extent relative to an empty one - was...
Two experiments tested a prediction derived from the recent finding that the Oppel-Kundt illusion - the overestimation of a filled extent relative to an empty one - was much attenuated when the empty part of a bipartite row of dots was vertical and the filled part horizontal, suggesting that the Horizontal-vertical illusion - the overestimation of vertical extents relative to horizontal ones - only acted on the empty part of an Oppel-Kundt figure. Observers had to bimanually indicate the sizes of the two parts of an Oppel-Kundt figure, which were arranged one above the other with one part vertical and the other part tilted -45°, 0°, or 45°. Results conformed to the prediction but response bias was greater when observers had been instructed to point to the extents' endpoints than when instructed to estimate the extents' lengths, suggesting that different concepts and motor programs had been activated.
Topics: Humans; Optical Illusions; Thumb
PubMed: 34341939
DOI: 10.3758/s13414-021-02360-8 -
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2021Numbers are mapped onto space from birth on, as evidenced by a variety of interactions between the processing of numerical and spatial information. In particular, larger...
Numbers are mapped onto space from birth on, as evidenced by a variety of interactions between the processing of numerical and spatial information. In particular, larger numbers are associated to larger spatial extents (number/spatial extent mapping) and to rightward spatial locations (number/location mapping), and smaller numbers are associated to smaller spatial extents and leftward spatial locations. These two main types of number/space mappings (number/spatial extent and number/location mappings) are usually assumed to reflect the fact that numbers are represented on an internal continuum: the mental number line. However, to date there is very little evidence that these two mappings actually reflect a single representational object. Across two experiments in adults, we investigated the interaction between number/location and number/spatial extent congruency effects, both when numbers were presented in a non-symbolic and in a symbolic format. We observed a significant interaction between the two mappings, but only in the context of an implicit numerical task. The results were unaffected by the format of presentation of numbers. We conclude that the number/location and the number/spatial extent mappings can stem from the activation of a single representational object, but only in specific experimental contexts.
PubMed: 34671249
DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.750964 -
Anais Da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias 2022This paper aims to analyze the relationships among tropical (Atlantic Meridional Mode - AMM), subtropical (South Atlantic Subtropical Gradient - SASG), and extratropical...
This paper aims to analyze the relationships among tropical (Atlantic Meridional Mode - AMM), subtropical (South Atlantic Subtropical Gradient - SASG), and extratropical (Southern Annular Mode - SAM) teleconnection patterns, the Weddell Sea (WS) sea ice extents, and the climate in South America. Warm anomalies are observed in most of South America for maximum WS ice extent combinations (negative SAM/positive AMM and negative SAM/positive SASG composites), with an opposite signal at tropical South America for minimum WS ice extent combinations (positive SAM/negative AMM and positive SAM/negative SASG). Over Southern Argentina, colder (warmer) temperatures are seen at the negative SAM/positive SASG (positive SAM/negative SASG). Drier (wetter) conditions are found over most South America at maximum (minimum) WS ice extent combinations. Wavetrains from different Pacific and Indian Oceans regions are related to high-level anomalous cyclonic (anticyclonic) circulation over the continent at maximum (minimum) WS ice extent configuration, which explains the climate impacts found. The SASG signal displaces the anomaly circulations eastward from South America, impacting the adjacent Atlantic Ocean region more intensely concerning the other modes. The results discussed here indicated that these patterns (SAM, AMM, SASG, and sea ice extent) have significant links with the South American climate variability.
Topics: Atlantic Ocean; Climate; Ice Cover; South America; Temperature
PubMed: 35416856
DOI: 10.1590/0001-3765202220210803 -
Journal of Anatomy Jul 2002Studies of the comparative morphology of the tongues of living vertebrates have revealed how variations in the morphology and function of the organ might be related to... (Review)
Review
Studies of the comparative morphology of the tongues of living vertebrates have revealed how variations in the morphology and function of the organ might be related to evolutional events. The tongue, which plays a very important role in food intake by vertebrates, exhibits significant morphological variations that appear to represent adaptation to the current environmental conditions of each respective habitat. This review examines the fundamental importance of morphology in the evolution of the vertebrate tongue, focusing on the origin of the tongue and on the relationship between morphology and environmental conditions. Tongues of various extant vertebrates, including those of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, were analysed in terms of gross anatomy and microanatomy by light microscopy and by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Comparisons of tongue morphology revealed a relationship between changes in the appearance of the tongue and changes in habitat, from a freshwater environment to a terrestrial environment, as well as a relationship between the extent of keratinization of the lingual epithelium and the transition from a moist or wet environment to a dry environment. The lingual epithelium of amphibians is devoid of keratinization while that of reptilians is keratinized to different extents. Reptiles live in a variety of habitats, from seawater to regions of high temperature and very high or very low humidity. Keratinization of the lingual epithelium is considered to have been acquired concomitantly with the evolution of amniotes. The variations in the extent of keratinization of the lingual epithelium, which is observed between various amniotes, appear to be secondary, reflecting the environmental conditions of different species.
Topics: Anatomy, Comparative; Animals; Biological Evolution; Epithelium; Humans; Microscopy; Microscopy, Electron; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Tongue; Vertebrates
PubMed: 12171472
DOI: 10.1046/j.1469-7580.2002.00073.x -
Medical Physics Aug 2021Missing or discrepant imaging volume is a common challenge in deformable image registration (DIR). To minimize the adverse impact, we train a neural network to...
PURPOSE
Missing or discrepant imaging volume is a common challenge in deformable image registration (DIR). To minimize the adverse impact, we train a neural network to synthesize cropped portions of head and neck CT's and then test its use in DIR.
METHODS
Using a training dataset of 409 head and neck CT's, we trained a generative adversarial network to take in a cropped 3D image and output an image with synthesized anatomy in the cropped region. The network used a 3D U-Net generator along with Visual Geometry Group (VGG) deep feature losses. To test our technique, for each of the 53 test volumes, we used Elastix to deformably register combinations of a randomly cropped, full, and synthetically full volume to a single cropped, full, and synthetically full target volume. We additionally tested our method's robustness to crop extent by progressively increasing the amount of cropping, synthesizing the missing anatomy using our network, and then performing the same registration combinations. Registration performance was measured using 95% Hausdorff distance across 16 contours.
RESULTS
We successfully trained a network to synthesize missing anatomy in superiorly and inferiorly cropped images. The network can estimate large regions in an incomplete image, far from the cropping boundary. Registration using our estimated full images was not significantly different from registration using the original full images. The average contour matching error for full image registration was 9.9 mm, whereas our method was 11.6, 12.1, and 13.6 mm for synthesized-to-full, full-to-synthesized, and synthesized-to-synthesized registrations, respectively. In comparison, registration using the cropped images had errors of 31.7 mm and higher. Plotting the registered image contour error as a function of initial preregistered error shows that our method is robust to registration difficulty. Synthesized-to-full registration was statistically independent of cropping extent up to 18.7 cm superiorly cropped. Synthesized-to-synthesized registration was nearly independent, with a -0.04 mm of change in average contour error for every additional millimeter of cropping.
CONCLUSIONS
Different or inadequate in scan extent is a major cause of DIR inaccuracies. We address this challenge by training a neural network to complete cropped 3D images. We show that with image completion, the source of DIR inaccuracy is eliminated, and the method is robust to varying crop extent.
Topics: Algorithms; Head; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Neck; Neural Networks, Computer
PubMed: 34101198
DOI: 10.1002/mp.15039 -
The European Respiratory Journal Jul 2017This study aimed to investigate whether the combination of fibrosis and emphysema has a greater effect than the sum of its parts on functional indices and outcome in...
This study aimed to investigate whether the combination of fibrosis and emphysema has a greater effect than the sum of its parts on functional indices and outcome in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), using visual and computer-based (CALIPER) computed tomography (CT) analysis.Consecutive patients (n=272) with a multidisciplinary IPF diagnosis had the extent of interstitial lung disease (ILD) scored visually and by CALIPER. Visually scored emphysema was subcategorised as isolated or mixed with fibrotic lung. The CT scores were evaluated against functional indices forced vital capacity (FVC), diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (), transfer coefficient of the lung for carbon monoxide (), composite physiologic index (CPI)) and mortality.The presence and extent of emphysema had no impact on survival. Results were maintained following correction for age, gender, smoking status and baseline severity using , and combined visual emphysema and ILD extent. Visual emphysema quantitation indicated that relative preservation of lung volumes (FVC) resulted from tractionally dilated airways within fibrotic lung, ventilating areas of admixed emphysema (p<0.0001), with no independent effect on FVC from isolated emphysema. Conversely, only isolated emphysema (p<0.0001) reduced gas transfer ().There is no prognostic impact of emphysema in IPF, beyond that explained by the additive extents of both fibrosis and emphysema. With respect to the location of pulmonary fibrosis, emphysema distribution determines the functional effects of emphysema.
Topics: Aged; Carbon Monoxide; Female; Forced Expiratory Volume; Humans; Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Lung; Male; Prognosis; Pulmonary Emphysema; Severity of Illness Index; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; United Kingdom; Vital Capacity
PubMed: 28679612
DOI: 10.1183/13993003.00379-2017 -
Journal of Taibah University Medical... Oct 2023Angiogenesis plays an important role in various physiological and pathological conditions and is essential for tumor growth and metastasis. The aim of this study was to...
OBJECTIVE
Angiogenesis plays an important role in various physiological and pathological conditions and is essential for tumor growth and metastasis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a combination of vandetanib and celecoxib on angiogenic tube formation and its effect on angiogenic genes (MMP-2 and MMP-9) using an model of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).
METHODS
HUVECs were cultured and verified by flow cytometry. HUVECs were then treated with vandetanib, celecoxib, and the combination of both drugs. Then, we investigated cell viability and cell apoptosis by MTT assays and flow cytometry. The process of angiogenesis was analyzed by tube formation assays, and the effect on angiogenic genes was determined by RT-qPCR.
RESULTS
HUVECs were positive for CD144 and negative for CD14. Vandetanib, celecoxib, and their combination inhibited HUVEC viability in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.001). The rate of apoptosis was 13.1%, 9%, and 23.7% (p < 0.001) when treated with vandetanib, celecoxib, or the combination of both drugs, respectively. Vandetanib inhibited tube formation by 43.7%, celecoxib by 21%, and their combination by 77.3% (p < 0.001), respectively. RT-qPCR revealed that both vandetanib and celecoxib reduced the expression levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9, and their combination resulted in an even greater extent of reduction in expression levels (p < 0.001).
CONCLUSION
Celecoxib enhanced the effect of vandetanib in inhibiting angiogenesis and the combination of these two drugs led to even greater extents of inhibition than vandetanib alone.
PubMed: 36959917
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtumed.2023.02.016 -
Environment International Jul 2019Increasing plant-availability of Si through soil amendment of Si-rich rice residues can decrease inorganic As without affecting Cd levels in grain under flooded soil...
Increasing plant-availability of Si through soil amendment of Si-rich rice residues can decrease inorganic As without affecting Cd levels in grain under flooded soil conditions. However, the impacts of Si amendments on Cd and As uptake by rice under different flooding extents have not been reported. We investigated the effects of different flooding extent on As and Cd uptake by rice and accumulation in grain in well-weathered soil amended with Si-rich rice husk (Husk) or mixed charred/ashed rice husk (Ash). Our results show that Husk and to a lesser extent Ash amendments decreased grain As under both flooded (~40% and 20% decrease, respectively) and nonflooded (~75% decrease) conditions due to increased Si. Under flooded conditions grain As and yield is higher, and Husk amendment additionally decreased grain inorganic As by ~45%. Under nonflooded conditions grain Cd is higher and yield is lower, and Ash amendment decreased grain, husk, and straw Cd by ~40-50% not due to Si, but due to increased aboveground biomass and an increase in soil pH, which helped to retain Cd in soil. These data illustrate that rice residue addition to paddy soil can lower human health risk under both flooded and nonflooded conditions without affecting grain Zn and Fe.
Topics: Agriculture; Arsenic; Cadmium; Edible Grain; Floods; Food Contamination; Oryza; Silicon; Soil Pollutants
PubMed: 31077999
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.04.060 -
Frontiers in Neuroscience 2021To investigate changes in blur detection sensitivity in children using orthokeratology (Ortho-K) and explore the relationships between blur detection thresholds (BDTs)...
PURPOSE
To investigate changes in blur detection sensitivity in children using orthokeratology (Ortho-K) and explore the relationships between blur detection thresholds (BDTs) and aberrations and accommodative function.
METHODS
Thirty-two children aged 8-14 years old who underwent Ortho-K treatment participated in and completed this study. Their BDTs, aberrations, and accommodative responses (ARs) were measured before and after a month of Ortho-K treatment. A two forced-choice double-staircase procedure with varying extents of blur in three images (Tumbling Es, Lena, and Street View) was used to measure the BDTs. The participants were required to judge whether the images looked blurry. The BDT of each of the images (BDT_Es, BDT_Lena, and BDT_Street) was the average value of the last three reversals. The accommodative lag was quantified by the difference between the AR and the accommodative demand (AD). Changes in the BDTs, aberrations, and accommodative lags and their relationships were analyzed.
RESULTS
After a month of wearing Ortho-K lenses, the children's BDT_Es and BDT_Lena values decreased, the aberrations increased significantly (for all, ≤0.050), and the accommodative lag decreased to a certain extent [T(31) = 2.029, = 0.051]. Before Ortho-K treatment, higher-order aberrations (HOAs) were related to BDT_Lena ( = 0.463, = 0.008) and the accommodative lag was related to BDT_Es ( = -0.356, = -0.046). After one month, no significant correlations were found between the BDTs and aberrations or accommodative lags, as well as between the variations of them (for all, ≥ 0.069).
CONCLUSION
Ortho-K treatment increased the children's level of blur detection sensitivity, which may have contributed to their good visual acuity.
PubMed: 33790734
DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.630844 -
Gland Surgery Mar 2021The risk and effect of hypocalcemia following surgery of different magnitudes remains unclear. Thus, we assessed whether different extents of central lymph node...
BACKGROUND
The risk and effect of hypocalcemia following surgery of different magnitudes remains unclear. Thus, we assessed whether different extents of central lymph node dissection (CLND) and status of preserved parathyroid glands can influence parathyroid function in differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) patients with initial surgical resection.
METHODS
Participants were categorized into 6 groups based on the extent of the surgical procedures, number of parathyroid glands preserved , and parathyroid autotransplantation. The frequencies of hypocalcemia, serum calcium (Ca) levels, and parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels among the different groups were analyzed.
RESULTS
The prevalence of hypocalcemia, number and status of parathyroid glands preserved , and parathyroid autotransplantation were inversely related to extensive CLND (r=-0.18; P<0.05). The decrease of serum Ca and PTH was most severe on postoperative days (POD) 1-7. The incidence of hypocalcemia was higher in Group C than in Group B and A (P<0.05). The average postoperative serum Ca and PTH levels in Group C were significantly lower than group A on POD 1-7 (P<0.05). The incidence of hypocalcemia was obviously increased in Group D compared to Groups E and F (P<0.05). The mean serum Ca and PTH levels in Group D were significantly lower than in Group F (P<0.05), and the same results could be observed between Groups D and E (P<0.05). However, through parathyroid autotransplantation, there was no significant difference that could be found between Groups E and F on POD 1-7 (P>0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
With the expansion of CLND scope, postoperative parathyroid function will be affected, increasing the risk of postoperative hypocalcemia. When at least 1-2 parathyroid glands were reserved plus at least 1 parathyroid gland autotransplantation, there was little effect on postoperative parathyroid function.
PubMed: 33842253
DOI: 10.21037/gs-21-121