Plasticity of Peripheral Auditory Frequency Sensitivity in Emei Music Frog

In anurans reproductive behavior is strongly seasonal. During the spring, frogs emerge from hibernation and males vocalize for mating or advertising territories. Female frogs have the ability to evaluate the quality of the males'' resources on the basis of these vocalizations. Although studies revealed that central single torus semicircularis neurons in frogs exhibit season plasticity, the plasticity of peripheral auditory sensitivity in frog is unknown. In this study the seasonally plasticity of peripheral auditory sensitivity was test in the Emei music frog Babina daunchina, by comparing thresholds and latencies of auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) evoked by tone pips and clicks in the reproductive and non-reproductive seasons. The results show that both ABR thresholds and latency differ significantly between the reproductive and non-reproductive seasons. The thresholds of tone pip evoked ABRs in the non-reproductive season increased significantly about 10 dB than those in the reproductive season for frequencies from 1 KHz to 6 KHz. ABR latencies to waveform valley values for tone pips for the same frequencies using appropriate threshold stimulus levels are longer than those in the reproductive season for frequencies from 1.5 to 6 KHz range, although from 0.2 to 1.5 KHz range it is shorter in the non-reproductive season. These results demonstrated that peripheral auditory frequency sensitivity exhibits seasonal plasticity changes which may be adaptive to seasonal reproductive behavior in frogs.     

A New Instrument for Control of Hemorrhage by Aortic Compression: A Preliminary Report

After laparotomy, immediate compression of the aorta with the heel of the hand just above the bifurcation of the common iliac arteries is a quick and effective way of controlling catastrophic pelvic hemorrhage. This maneuver, which can be maintained for several hours without any harmful sequelae, enables the surgeon to remove the blood from the peritoneal cavity and take definitive steps to stop the bleeding, and the loss of administered blood is halted. An instrument for aortic compression is described which is easily applied to the aorta; it is controlled by a handle outside the abdomen and does not obstruct the operative field. It has been found to be valuable, not only in the control of serious pelvic hemorrhage, but also in pelvic surgery where considerable blood loss is anticipated.     

Deletion of RAGE Causes Hyperactivity and Increased Sensitivity to Auditory Stimuli in Mice

The receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) is a multi-ligand receptor that belongs to the immunoglobulin superfamily of cell surface receptors. In diabetes and Alzheimer''s disease, pathological progression is accelerated by activation of RAGE. However, how RAGE influences gross behavioral activity patterns in basal condition has not been addressed to date. In search for a functional role of RAGE in normal mice, a series of standard behavioral tests were performed on adult RAGE knockout (KO) mice. We observed a solid increase of home cage activity in RAGE KO. In addition, auditory startle response assessment resulted in a higher sensitivity to auditory signal and increased prepulse inhibition in KO mice. There were no significant differences between KO and wild types in behavioral tests for spatial memory and anxiety, as tested by Morris water maze, classical fear conditioning, and elevated plus maze. Our results raise a possibility that systemic therapeutic treatments to occlude RAGE activation may have adverse effects on general activity levels or sensitivity to auditory stimuli.     

新型生物——人工复合血管研制的初步报告

本文设计一种由胶原和高分子聚合物组成的新型生物一人工复合血管。其研制过程是将包绕有聚酯网的硅胶棒埋入羊的皮下组织,再将形成的经聚酯网为支架的胶原管经醛化处理。作者通过肉眼和SEM观察提出了研制生物——人工复合血管的要点:聚酯网网孔要合适,其与硅胶棒的间隙要恰当,理化处理方法更要选择好。     

A New Test of Attention in Listening (TAIL) Predicts Auditory Performance

Attention modulates auditory perception, but there are currently no simple tests that specifically quantify this modulation. To fill the gap, we developed a new, easy-to-use test of attention in listening (TAIL) based on reaction time. On each trial, two clearly audible tones were presented sequentially, either at the same or different ears. The frequency of the tones was also either the same or different (by at least two critical bands). When the task required same/different frequency judgments, presentation at the same ear significantly speeded responses and reduced errors. A same/different ear (location) judgment was likewise facilitated by keeping tone frequency constant. Perception was thus influenced by involuntary orienting of attention along the task-irrelevant dimension. When information in the two stimulus dimensions were congruent (same-frequency same-ear, or different-frequency different-ear), response was faster and more accurate than when they were incongruent (same-frequency different-ear, or different-frequency same-ear), suggesting the involvement of executive control to resolve conflicts. In total, the TAIL yielded five independent outcome measures: (1) baseline reaction time, indicating information processing efficiency, (2) involuntary orienting of attention to frequency and (3) location, and (4) conflict resolution for frequency and (5) location. Processing efficiency and conflict resolution accounted for up to 45% of individual variances in the low- and high-threshold variants of three psychoacoustic tasks assessing temporal and spectral processing. Involuntary orientation of attention to the irrelevant dimension did not correlate with perceptual performance on these tasks. Given that TAIL measures are unlikely to be limited by perceptual sensitivity, we suggest that the correlations reflect modulation of perceptual performance by attention. The TAIL thus has the power to identify and separate contributions of different components of attention to auditory perception.     

Vertical Transmission of Babesia microti in BALB/c Mice: Preliminary Report

Babesia spp. (Apicomplexa, Piroplasmida) are obligate parasites of many species of mammals, causing a malaria-like infection- babesiosis. Three routes of Babesia infection have been recognized to date. The main route is by a tick bite, the second is via blood transfusion. The third, vertical route of infection is poorly recognized and understood. Our study focused on vertical transmission of B. microti in a well-established mouse model. We assessed the success of this route of infection in BALB/c mice with acute and chronic infections of B. microti. In experimental groups, females were mated on the 1^st day of Babesia infection (Group G0); on the 28^th day post infection (dpi) in the post- acute phase of the parasite infection (G28); and on the 90^th and 150^th dpi (G90 and G150 group, respectively), in the chronic phase of the parasite infection. Pups were obtained from 58% of females mated in the post-acute phase (G28) and from 33% of females in groups G90 and G150. Mice mated in the pre-acute phase of infection (G0) did not deliver pups. Congenital B. microti infections were detected by PCR amplification of Babesia 18S rDNA in almost all pups (96%) from the experimental groups G28, G90 and G150. Parasitaemia in the F1 generation was low and varied between 0.01–0.001%. Vertical transmission of B. microti was demonstrated for the first time in BALB/c mice.     

Therapy of Chlorpromazine Melanosis: A Preliminary Report

Melanosis observed in association with prolonged chlorpromazine therapy has become a serious problem in mental institutions. Skin pigmentation has produced an appearance which is cosmetically undesirable. Ocular deposits have caused visual impairment. Diffuse visceral involvement has been accompanied by functional disturbances of the involved organs.Withholding chlorpromazine did not diminish the pigment deposits already present in eight patients with chlorpromazine-induced melanosis. Therefore therapy for existing cases and means of preventing this side effect were investigated. A method of blocking melanin synthesis by depressing tyrosinase activity was devised. A copperchelating agent, D-penicillamine, was administered for a period of four weeks (300 mg. three times daily for six days each week, with mineral supplement substituted on the seventh day). Four of six days patients thus treated improved markedly as evidenced by diminution of skin pigmentation. Urinary copper excretion was substantially increased during the trial period. An alternative method of treatment designed to stimulate melatonin production by the pineal gland was employed. Two patients were kept in darkness for a period of four weeks. One improved markedly, the other only slightly.     

Sensitivity to Intravenous Anaesthetics: A Report of Three Cases

Three patients with sensitivity to an intravenous anaesthetic—thiopentone, propanidid, and Althesin (alphadolone and alphaxalone)—are described. In the cases of thiopentone and Althesin the reaction was characterized by cardiovascular collapse, while bronchospasm also occurred with thiopentone. The reaction to propanidid was a direct skin sensitivity. All patients had a personal or family history of asthma and all had been previously exposed to the offending drug. A leucocyte challenge test showed an allergic response to thiopentone and Althesin in two patients but gave a negative result in the patient with the skin reaction. Allergic reactions can occur to all types of intravenous anaesthetics in a few patients.     

A New Method of Intestinal Perfusion for the Management of Chronic Renal Failure: A Preliminary Report

Usefulness of intestinal perfusion in the treatment of uremia is limited by (a) low clearances, (b) atrophy of the perfused mucous membrane, and (c) poor toleration by the patient. A method of intestinal perfusion has been devised which uses most of the small bowel without exclusion from the fecal stream. Two Roux-en-Y anastomoses are made, the proximal 12″ below the ligament of Treitz, the distal 18″ above the ileocecal valve. Perfusion is carried out between the proximal jejunostomy and distal ileostomy, daily. Six litres of fluid are perfused in four hours. The bowel is used for digestion during the remaining 20 hours of the day. Patients have solid bowel movements daily, prior to perfusion. Reflux of intestinal contents, between perfusions, is slight. The method allows maximal diffusion, may prevent bowel atrophy and is well tolerated by the patient. The method is being used, in conjunction with hemodialysis, in treatment of chronic uremia.     

Prediction of Protein Structure by Simulating Coarse-grained Folding Pathways: A Preliminary Report

Abstract

A set of software tools designed to study protein structure and kinetics has been developed. The core of these tools is a program called Folding Machine (FM) which is able to generate low resolution folding pathways using modest computational resources. The FM is based on a coarse-grained kinetic ab initio Monte-Carlo sampler that can optionally use information extracted from secondary structure prediction servers or from fragment libraries of local structure. The model underpinning this algorithm contains two novel elements: (a) the conformational space is discretized using the Ramachandran basins defined in the local φ-ψ energy maps; and (b) the solvent is treated implicitly by rescaling the pairwise terms of the non-bonded energy function according to the local solvent environments. The purpose of this hybrid ab initio/knowledge-based approach is threefold: to cover the long time scales of folding, to generate useful 3-dimensional models of protein structures, and to gain insight on the protein folding kinetics. Even though the algorithm is not yet fully developed, it has been used in a recent blind test of protein structure prediction (CASP5). The FM generated models within 6 Å backbone rmsd for fragments of about 60–70 residues of a-helical proteins. For a CASP5 target that turned out to be natively unfolded, the trajectory obtained for this sequence uniquely failed to converge. Also, a new measure to evaluate structure predictions is presented and used along the standard CASP assessment methods. Finally, recent improvements in the prediction of β-sheet structures are briefly described.