Directional anisotropies reveal a functional segregation of visual motion processing for perception and action

Human exhibits an anisotropy in direction perception: discrimination is superior when motion is around horizontal or vertical rather than diagonal axes. In contrast to the consistent directional anisotropy in perception, we found only small idiosyncratic anisotropies in smooth pursuit eye movements, a motor action requiring accurate discrimination of visual motion direction. Both pursuit and perceptual direction discrimination rely on signals from the middle temporal visual area (MT), yet analysis of multiple measures of MT neuronal responses in the macaque failed to provide evidence of a directional anisotropy. We conclude that MT represents different motion directions uniformly, and subsequent processing creates a directional anisotropy in pathways unique to perception. Our data support the hypothesis that, at least for visual motion, perception and action are guided by inputs from separate sensory streams. The directional anisotropy of perception appears to originate after the two streams have segregated and downstream from area MT.     

Impaired insulin/IGF1 signaling extends life span by promoting mitochondrial L-proline catabolism to induce a transient ROS signal

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Highlights? Acute impairment of daf-2 (insulin/IGF1) signaling causes a transient ROS signal ? Different antioxidants reduce daf-2-mediated life span extension by up to 60% ? Reduced daf-2 signaling impairs glucose uptake and promotes proline metabolism ? Nutritional supplementation with the amino acid L-proline extends life span     

The therapeutic relationship and adherence to antipsychotic medication in schizophrenia

Objective

Previous research has shown that a better therapeutic relationship (TR) predicts more positive attitudes towards antipsychotic medication, but did not address whether it is also linked with actual adherence. This study investigated whether the TR is associated with adherence to antipsychotics in patients with schizophrenia.

Methods

134 clinicians and 507 of their patients with schizophrenia or a related psychotic disorder participated in a European multi-centre study. A logistic regression model examined how the TR as rated by patients and by clinicians is associated with medication adherence, adjusting for clinician clustering and symptom severity.

Results

Patient and clinician ratings of the TR were weakly inter-correlated (r_s = 0.13, p = 0.004), but each was independently linked with better adherence. After adjusting for patient rated TR and symptom severity, each unit increase in clinician rated TR was associated with an increase of the odds ratio of good compliance by 65.9% (95% CI: 34.6% to 104.5%). After adjusting for clinician rated TR and symptom severity, for each unit increase in patient rated TR the odds ratio of good compliance was increased by 20.8% (95% CI: 4.4% to 39.8%).

Conclusions

A better TR is associated with better adherence to medication among patients with schizophrenia. Patients'' and clinicians'' perspectives of the TR are both important, but may reflect distinct aspects.     

Long-term impact of war on healthcare costs: an eight-country study

Objective

Exposure to war can negatively affect health and may impact on healthcare costs. Estimating these costs and identifying their predictors is important for appropriate service planning. We aimed to measure use of health services in an adult population who had experienced war in the former-Yugoslavia on average 8 years previously, and to identify characteristics associated with the use and costs of healthcare.

Method

War-affected community samples in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, and Serbia were recruited through a random walk technique. Refugees in Germany, Italy and the UK were contacted through registers, organisations and networking. Current service use was measured for the previous three months and combined with unit costs for each country for the year 2006/7. A two-part approach was used, to identify predictors of service use with a multiple logistic regression model and predictors of cost with a generalised linear regression model.

Results

3,313 participants were interviewed in Balkan countries and 854 refugees in Western European countries. In the Balkan countries, traumatic events and mental health status were related to greater service use while in Western countries these associations were not found. Participants in Balkan countries with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had costs that were 63% higher (p = 0.005) than those without PTSD. Distress experienced during the most traumatic war event was associated with higher costs (p = 0.013). In Western European countries costs were 76% higher if non-PTSD anxiety disorders were present (0.027) and 63% higher for mood disorders (p = 0.006).

Conclusions

War experiences and their effects on mental health are associated with increased health care costs even many years later, especially for those who stayed in the area of conflict. Focussing on the mental health impact of war is important for many reasons including those of an economic nature.     

Phylogenetic diversity of stress signalling pathways in fungi

Background  

Microbes must sense environmental stresses, transduce these signals and mount protective responses to survive in hostile environments. In this study we have tested the hypothesis that fungal stress signalling pathways have evolved rapidly in a niche-specific fashion that is independent of phylogeny. To test this hypothesis we have compared the conservation of stress signalling molecules in diverse fungal species with their stress resistance. These fungi, which include ascomycetes, basidiomycetes and microsporidia, occupy highly divergent niches from saline environments to plant or mammalian hosts.     

An updated 18S rRNA phylogeny of tunicates based on mixture and secondary structure models

Background  

Tunicates have been recently revealed to be the closest living relatives of vertebrates. Yet, with more than 2500 described species, details of their evolutionary history are still obscure. From a molecular point of view, tunicate phylogenetic relationships have been mostly studied based on analyses of 18S rRNA sequences, which indicate several major clades at odds with the traditional class-level arrangements. Nonetheless, substantial uncertainty remains about the phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic status of key groups such as the Aplousobranchia, Appendicularia, and Thaliacea.     

GMDD: a database of GMO detection methods

Background  

Since more than one hundred events of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been developed and approved for commercialization in global area, the GMO analysis methods are essential for the enforcement of GMO labelling regulations. Protein and nucleic acid-based detection techniques have been developed and utilized for GMOs identification and quantification. However, the information for harmonization and standardization of GMO analysis methods at global level is needed.     

Influence of Tertiary paleoenvironmental changes on the diversification of South American mammals: a relaxed molecular clock study within xenarthrans

Background  

Comparative genomic data among organisms allow the reconstruction of their phylogenies and evolutionary time scales. Molecular timings have been recently used to suggest that environmental global change have shaped the evolutionary history of diverse terrestrial organisms. Living xenarthrans (armadillos, anteaters and sloths) constitute an ideal model for studying the influence of past environmental changes on species diversification. Indeed, extant xenarthran species are relicts from an evolutionary radiation enhanced by their isolation in South America during the Tertiary era, a period for which major climate variations and tectonic events are relatively well documented.     

Proliferative activity in the cerebellar external granular layer evaluated by bromodeoxyuridine labeling

We have optimised an indirect immunoperoxidase technique demonstrating bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation into dividing cells for cerebellar tissue sections of four-day-old rats injected with this marker. This permits confident identification of granule-cell precursors engaged in DNA synthesis in the external granular layer of the developing cerebellum. Preservation of BrdU immunoreactivity is attained using methanol/acetic acid fixation and different pretreatments before immunostaining, while unlabeled nuclei can be recognized clearly after Feulgen or hematoxylin counterstaining. We established conditions to ensure satisfactory BrdU uptake without affecting cell-cycle progression during the postlabeling time period. The dose of BrdU employed provides saturation S-phase labeling from at least 1 h after BrdU delivery. Various kinetic parameters and phase durations have been determined in experiments involving a single injection or cumulative labeling sequences, and the cycle time was calculated based on two models of generative behavior: steady-state and exponential growth. The working hypothesis of steadystate kinetics can be adopted successfully if the existence of neuroblasts with different proliferation rates is taken into account.