Spatial heterogeneity in the perception of face and form attributes

The identity of an object is a fixed property, independent of where it appears, and an effective visual system should capture this invariance [1-3]. However, we now report that the perceived gender of a face is strongly biased toward male or female at different locations in the visual field. The spatial pattern of these biases was distinctive and stable for each individual. Identical neutral faces looked different when they were presented simultaneously at locations maximally biased to opposite genders. A similar effect was observed for perceived age of faces. We measured the magnitude of this perceptual heterogeneity for four other visual judgments: perceived aspect ratio, orientation discrimination, spatial-frequency discrimination, and color discrimination. The effect was sizeable for the aspect ratio task but substantially smaller for the other three tasks. We also evaluated perceptual heterogeneity for facial gender and orientation tasks at different spatial scales. Strong heterogeneity was observed even for the orientation task when tested at small scales. We suggest that perceptual heterogeneity is a general property of visual perception and results from undersampling of the visual signal at spatial scales that are small relative to the size of the receptive fields associated with each visual attribute.     

中国人的头面部形态特征

目前,中国人群头型、面型、鼻型、唇型、耳型尚未见大样本的资料报道。我们测量了中国115个族群的63449例头面部指标值,计算了头长宽指数等7项指数值,进行了指数与年龄的相关分析、年龄组间的方差分析,以及指数与纬度、年平均温度的相关分析。采用主成分分析方法研究了7个年龄组指数值。相关分析显示,随着年龄增长,中国人头型变得更长一些,更低一些;面变得更窄一些,鼻翼更宽一些,唇更薄些,耳变得更细长些。主成分分析结果也证实了这种规律。相关分析结果表明,随纬度的增大,中国人男性、女性头长宽指数、形态面指数值增大,鼻指数、容貌耳指数值减小。随年平均温度的升高,中国人男性、女性头面部头长宽指数、头长高指数、形态面指数值减小,鼻指数、容貌耳指数值增大。中国人头长宽指数的圆头型率、中头型率较高。男性、女性头长高指数均以高头型为主,头宽高指数均以狭头型率最高,形态面指数以超狭面型率最高。超过一半的人鼻指数为中鼻型,其次为狭鼻型。     

Repression of folate synthesis in the logarithmic phase of Euglena gracilis growth

Microbiological assay showed that in Euglena gracilis cultures the amount of cell folates reaches its maximum at the beginning of the culture cycle and rapidly and markedly decreases long before the cells reduce their duplication rate. [³H]Folic acid was a suitable precursor of Euglena folates (a full recovery of growth in sulfanilamide inhibited cultures was obtained by addition of folic acid), and a complete radiochromatographic profile of cell folates was obtained by separation on G-25 columns. This allowed the measurement of the rate of folate degradation, obtained from the rate of radioactivity disappearance in chromatographic patterns of extracts corresponding to increasing times of culture cycles. With the exception of the stationary phase, the process of folate degradation showed a first order kinetics with a rate constant of 5.4 + 10⁻⁴ min⁻¹ and a half-life of 21 h and 12 min. The rate of folate biosynthesis was calculated by adding the amount of degradation to the measured increase (or decrease) in cell folates. The specific rate reached its maximum (8.6 ng of folinic acid equivalent h⁻¹ for 10⁶ cells) as the culture entered the logarithmic phase of growth and rapidly decreased to about 1/20 of this value before leaving it. This indicates that the logarithmic phase of growth corresponds to a phase in which folate biosynthesis is strongly repressed.     

Transition phenomena in bacterial growth between logarithmic and stationary phases

Summary A method to calculate the age distribution of the cells in the transition phase starting from that of the cells in logarithmic phase is described. It is clarified that two transition phenomena (decrease in the growth rate of cell number and partial synchronization) in the transition phase come, mathematically, from the fact that da_g/dt > 0 (a_g = generation time).The cell age at which septum becomes observable is estimated from the age distribution of the cells and the ratio of septated cells at each time in the transition phase. The result suggests that the cell age at which septum synthesis starts increases in the transition phase and that the mode of septum synthesis changes during that phase.     

Control of logarithmic growth rates of tobacco callus tissue by cytokinins

The growth rates of tobacco callus tissues on media containing 10⁻⁶ to 10 μm 6-(γ,γ-dimethylallylamino)purine (2iP) were measured. At concentrations of 10⁻⁴ μm and above growth rates were exponential and dependent on cytokinin concentration. At 2iP concentrations of 10⁻⁴ to 0.33 μm, the exponential rate was maintained for 4 to 5 doublings of fresh and dry weight. After this period a linear phase, resulting in approximately 1 doubling of weight, occurred. The growth of tissues on media containing higher than 0.33 μm 2iP was exponential for only about 15 days. At the end of this time, and well before they achieved half their final weight, they exhibited growth which was less rapid than logarithmic but more rapid than linear. Comparisons with zeatin, 6-benzylaminopurine and kinetin indicated that, although the maximum growth rates obtained with relatively high concentrations (0.1-1 μm) were similar, the naturally occurring cytokinins, 2iP and zeatin, promoted faster rates at lower concentrations (10⁻³-10⁻² μm) than did 6-benzylaminopurine and kinetin.     

Cold adaptation and the human face

A framework is suggested within which the evolutionary biology of the human head and face can be explored; it includes several channels of natural and behavioral selection as well as modes of “plasticity” change. One aspect of the model is then examined by means of physiological and anthropometric experimentation. A cold room study of 33 Japanese and 25 whites, all born and raised in the tropics, was conducted at Hawaii's Pacific Biomedical Research Center. Thermal response during 70 minutes of exposure (face and hand) to moving 0°C air was electrically recorded. Assuming skin and body temperature is partially dependent upon morphology, detailed anthropometric measurements were taken and employed in thermal-morphological correlation analysis. Though results are not yet thoroughly analyzed, it appears that head surface temperatures relate to sub-cutaneous fat thickness, but not clearly to other form factors; the oriental face, supposedly a product of selection by cold, seems to respond little differently than any other.     

诚恳做人 实在做事 为衰老之谜解扣

童坦君教授是我国老年医学基础专家,中国科学院院士。他致力于衰老机制的研究,在国内率先建立衰老分子机理研究室,将应用于肿瘤研究方面的分子生物学与细胞生物学技术引入衰老机制研究,取得享有国际声誉的创新性研究成果。童教授对科教事业的真知灼见和执著追求,以及他为人谦和的品质,令人钦敬。     

T-2 toxin decreases logarithmic growth rates of tobacco callus tissues

T-2 toxin, a mycotoxin produced by Fusarium tricinctum, decreases logarithmic growth rates of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) pith callus tissues. Toxin concentrations as low as 0.003 μm will decrease growth rates; a concentration of 0.081 μm will halt growth completely. Additional exogenous cytokinin will reduce the inhibition by toxin only when the initial cytokinin and toxin concentrations are quite low (about 0.01 μm). When inhibited tissues are transferred to media lacking toxin, they assume the faster, control rates almost immediately. Maximal yields of tissue (yields at the point at which no sugar was detected in the medium) are not affected by toxin concentrations of 0.01 to 0.036 μm.     

The Janus face of ethylene: growth inhibition and stimulation

The gaseous plant hormone ethylene modulates many internal processes and growth responses to environmental stimuli. Ethylene has long been recognized as a growth inhibitor, but evidence is accumulating that ethylene can also promote growth. Therefore, the concept of ethylene as a general growth inhibitor needs reconsideration: a close examination of recent literature can help to understand the two contrasting faces of growth control by ethylene. Here, we propose a hypothesis that integrates growth inhibition and growth stimulation into one biphasic ethylene response model. Focusing on photosynthesis and cell expansion, we highlight several mechanisms through which ethylene affects plant growth, thereby interacting with various other signal transduction routes.     

Changes of sensitivity to heat shock during logarithmic growth of Bacillus subtilis

The effect of heat shock on B. subtilis was found to vary within the logarithmic growth phase. Depending on the age of the culture, all cells, or as little as less than 1% of the population, may survive heating for 6 min at 54 degrees C. These characteristic changes in sensitivity to heat shock were observed with B. subtilis grown on various media, as well as with E. coli. The increased sensitivity of B. subtilis to heat shock was observed within a rather narrow time span in the log phase. Preheating at 45 degrees C had a protective effect on the samples collected at the time of greatest heat sensitivity. It is suggested that besides heat shock proteins other factors are also involved in the processes leading to survival after heat shock.