Optimal levels of noise stimulation have been shown to enhance the detection and transmission of neural signals thereby improving the performance of sensory and motor systems. The first series of experiments in the present study aimed to investigate whether subsensory electrical noise stimulation applied over the triceps surae (TS) in ...

One of the most commonly used behavioral endpoints measured in preclinical studies using rodent models is thigmotaxis (or "wall-hugging"). Thigmotaxis is a well-validated index of anxiety in animals and humans. While assays measuring thigmotaxis in adult zebrafish have been developed, a thigmotaxis assay has not yet been validated in larval ...

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of different team formation methods on the physiological responses to and time motion characteristics of 4-a-side small-sided games (SSG4) in young soccer players. Thirty-two young soccer players (age 16.2±0.7 years; height 172.9±6.1cm; body mass 64.1±7.7 kg) voluntarily participated in this ...

PURPOSE: To determine the normal range of contrast sensitivity and its determinants through a population-based study in Shahroud, in northern Iran. DESIGN: Population-based cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS: Using random cluster sampling in Shahroud, 6311 people between 40 and 64 years of age were sampled; 5190 (82.24%) responded, and 965 participants were ...

Surveys have shown that noise from wind turbines is perceived as annoying by a proportion of residents living in their vicinity, apparently at much lower noise levels than those inducing annoyance due to other environmental sources. The aim of the present study was to derive the exposure-response relationship between wind ...

Micronucleus (MN) formation has been used extensively as a biomarker of damage from genotoxic exposures. The Buccal MN Cytome (BMCyt) assay provides a noninvasive means of quantifying MN frequency in humans, but it has not been developed for use in wildlife. We adapted the BMCyt assay for use in wild ...

Many physiological and psychophysical studies suggest that the perception and execution of movement may be linked [1-4]. Here we ask whether severe impairment of locomotion could impact on the capacity to perceive human locomotion. We measured sensitivity for the perception of point-light walkers - animation sequences of human biological motion ...

The percentage of spherical colonies from the trichomes of Nostoc sphaeroides reached 62-73% after 16 days with 50 and 250 μM P, but only10-15% at 0.5 and 5 μM P. During colony formation from microcolonies to macrocolonies, the growth rates were 95, 206 and 244% higher, respectively at 5, 50 and 250 μM P than that at ...

An exposure that is reproducible across clinical/laboratory environments, and appealing to subjects, is described here. Digital music files are level-equated within and across songs such that playlists deliver an exposure that is consistent across time. Modified music is more pleasant to listen to than pure tones or shaped noise, and ...

A survey of the infestation rate of colonies of Macrotermes gilvus (Hagen) (Termitidae: Macrotermitinae) with the koinobiont endoparasitoid Misotermes mindeni Disney & Neoh (Diptera: Phoridae) was conducted in Malaysia from September 2009 to January 2011 in the states of Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Terengganu, and Sarawak. Of ...

Despite myriad studies, neurophysiologic mechanisms mediating illusory contour (IC) sensitivity remain controversial. Among the competing models one favors feed-forward effects within lower-tier cortices (V1/V2). Another situates IC sensitivity first within higher-tier cortices, principally lateral-occipital cortices (LOC), with later feedback effects in V1/V2. Still others postulate that LOC are sensitive to ...

The effects of the photosystem II (PSII) herbicide diuron was assessed on thirteen tropical foraminifera hosting diatom, dinoflagellate, red or green algae endosymbionts. Inhibition of photosynthesis (reduced ΔF/F(m)(')) by diuron depended on both symbiont type and test ultrastructure, with greatest sensitivity observed for diatom- and chlorophyte-hosting species (24h IC(25) 2.5-4μgL(-1)). ...

Auditory mechanisms automatically detect both basic features of sounds and the rules governing their presentation. In the oddball paradigm, the auditory system detects the sameness (or no-variability) rule when the same reference tone is consistently repeated. We used two oddball protocols, the classical one with a fixed reference and a ...

The effects of force production on medial-frontal negativity (MFN), reflecting the activity of an internal action-monitoring system, were investigated in a force-production task. A precue indicated a low or high force before a stimulus signaled the execution of the same or opposite force. An incorrectly exerted force was assumed to ...

The mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis is a common aquaculture species, and also a major fouling organism that has negative economic impacts. There are no standard assay conditions for this important species and therefore, this study quantified the effect of key factors on the settlement of pediveligers and plantigrades. Density dependent settlement ...

The envelope shape is important for the perception of interaural time difference (ITD) in the envelope as supported by the improved sensitivity for transposed tones compared to sinusoidally amplitude-modulated (SAM) tones. The present study investigated the effects of specific envelope parameters in nine normal-hearing (NH) and seven cochlear-implant (CI) listeners, ...

Lead (Pb(2+)) exposure continues to be an important concern for fish populations. Research is required to assess the long-term behavioral effects of low-level concentrations of Pb(2+) and the physiological mechanisms that control those behaviors. Newly fertilized zebrafish embryos (<2h post fertilization; hpf) were exposed to one of three concentrations of ...

The present experiment examined whether, in a matching-to-sample (MTS) procedure, a relation between two stimuli, a sample and a comparison, could be established as a result of just stimulus-stimulus pairing, even if back up reinforcers were never provided for the conditional relation between the sample and comparison stimuli, but rather ...

Initiation of asexual sporulation in powdery mildews is preceded by a period of superficial vegetative growth of mildew colonies. We found evidence of a quorum sensing signal in Erysiphe necator that was promulgated at the colony center and stimulated conidiation throughout the colony. Removal of the colony center after putative ...

The plantar surface of the foot senses local pressures during stance and locomotion. These foot loading characteristics may be affected by long distance running. Little is known about the physiological effects of sports-related loading on plantar sensitivity and their relationship with plantar foot loading. The purpose of this study was ...

Squeaking is a cause for concern in total hip arthroplasty (THA). However, the definition of this sound remains vague. Our goals were to characterize spectrally the squeaking in vitro under lubricated conditions and to compare the in vitro frequencies to in vivo frequencies. Four patients, who presented with a squeaking ...

Objective.  To determine the ability of a mobile UV light unit to reduce bacterial contamination of environmental surfaces in patient rooms. Methods. An automated mobile UV light unit that emits UV-C light was placed in 25 patient rooms after patient discharge and operated using a 1- or 2-stage procedure. Aerobic colony ...

The photodegradation of the chemotherapeutic agent 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) under UVB light was studied both in aqueous and methanol solutions and in systemic and topical formulations. As monitored by HPLC, photodegradation in solution takes place in a concentration dependent manner, thus the solution for parenteral administration (10-1 M) showed negligible loss ...

Increasing perceptual load reduces the processing of visual stimuli outside the focus of attention, but the mechanism underlying these effects remains unclear. Here we tested an account attributing the effects of perceptual load to modulations of visual cortex excitability. In contrast to stimulus competition accounts, which propose that load should ...

The aim of this study was to compare the demographic and clinical features of tooth sensitivity (TS) in subjects with and without fluorosis. A total of 2249 subjects (378 subjects with fluorosis and 1871 subjects without fluorosis) were examined for TS during a study period of one year and TS ...

Previous studies have identified the behavioral responses of Aedes aegypti to irritant and repellent chemicals that can be exploited to reduce man-vector contact. Maximum efficacy of interventions based on irritant chemical actions will, however, require full knowledge of variables that influence vector resting behavior and how untreated "safe sites" contribute ...

Brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) were trained to press a right lever when a tone was presented (a tone-on trial) and a left lever when a tone was not presented (a tone-off trial) to gain access to food. During training the tone was set at 80 dB(A), with a frequency of 0.88 kH ...

The addition of a signal in the N0Sπ binaural configuration gives rise to fluctuations in interaural phase and amplitude. Sensitivity to these individual cues was measured by applying sinusoidal amplitude modulation (AM) or quasi-frequency modulation (QFM) to a band of noise. Discrimination between interaurally in-phase and out-of-phase modulation was measured ...

The velocity measurement limit in dynamic interferometry is vNyq, the velocity at which the interferogram is sampled at the Nyquist limit. We show that vNyq can be exceeded by assuming continuity of the surface motion and unwrapping the velocity modulo 2vNyq. The technique was demonstrated in a high-speed speckle pattern ...

Neurons with paired on and off responses have been described in the primary auditory cortex (A1) of anesthetized and awake animals. Previous studies have shown that these responses usually cover different sound frequency ranges, but it is unknown whether other properties, including sensitivity to binaural localization cues, changes between on ...

There is growing interest in zebrafish as a model organism in behavioral pharmacology research. Several anxiety behaviors have been characterized in zebrafish, but the effect of anxiolytic drugs on these parameters has been scarcely studied. The purpose of this work was to assess the predictive validity of acute treatment with ...

Circadian clocks are present in most organisms and provide an adaptive mechanism to coordinate physiology and behavior with predictable changes in the environment. Genetic, biochemical, and cellular experiments have identified more than a dozen component genes and a signal transduction pathway that support cell-autonomous, circadian clock function. One of the ...

The non-thermal technologies High Intensity Light Pulses (HILP) and Thermosonication (TS) were applied alone and in combination to study their effect on Escherichia coli inactivation in orange juice. Two different energy settings were chosen in the current study, 'Low' (L) and 'High' (H), being the combinations applied: HILP(L) (4.03 J/cm(2)), HILP(H) ...

The Drosophila visual transduction cascade is embedded in the rhabdomeres of photoreceptor cells and culminates in the opening of the two ion channels, TRP and TRPL. TRPL translocates from the rhabdomeres to the cell body upon illumination and vice versa when flies are kept in the dark. Here, we studied ...

In sensory biology, a major outstanding question is how sensory receptor cells minimize noise while maximizing signal to set the detection threshold. This optimization could be problematic because the origin of both the signals and the limiting noise in most sensory systems is believed to lie in stimulus transduction. Signal ...

Regeneration and growth that occur in the adult teleost retina have been helpful in identifying molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying cell proliferation and differentiation. Here, it is reported that S-phase cell number, in the ciliary marginal zone (CMZ) of the adult zebrafish retina, exhibits day-night variations with a mid-light phase ...

High-intensity narrow-spectrum (HINS) 405-nm light is a novel technology developed to address the significant problem of health-care associated infection. Its potential for wound-decontamination applications is assessed on mammalian cells and bacteria. The fibroblast-populated collagen lattice (FPCL) is used as an in vitro model of wound healing, and the effect of ...

Successful navigation requires a constantly updated neural representation of directional heading, which is conveyed by head direction (HD) cells. The HD signal is predominantly controlled by visual landmarks, but when familiar landmarks are unavailable, self-motion cues are able to control the HD signal via path integration. Previous studies of the ...

The pedunculopontine nucleus has been suggested as a target for DBS. In this paper we propose a single compartment computational model for a PPN Type I cell and compare its dynamic behavior with experimental data. The model shows bursts after a period of hyperpolarization and spontaneous firing at 8 Hz. ...

PURPOSE. To investigate the mechanism of voriconazole-induced transient visual disturbance in humans. METHODS. Standard full-field electroretinograms (ERGs) were recorded from monkeys treated intravenously with voriconazole. In addition, photopic ERGs elicited by long-duration stimuli (ON-OFF response) were also recorded from monkeys receiving intravenous voriconazole or intravitreal 2-amino-4-phosphonobutyric acid (APB). RESULTS. Characteristic ...

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is of increasing interest as a relevant treatment for human urinary bladder cancer. In the present experiments, the rat bladder transitional carcinoma cell line AY-27 was used as a model to study cell destruction mechanisms induced by PDT. Red LED light (630 nm) PDT with hexylaminolevulinate (HAL) ...

Classical conditioning of motor responses, such as the eyeblink response, is an experimental model of associative learning and of adaptive timing of movements. A conditioned blink will have its maximum amplitude near the expected onset of the unconditioned blink-eliciting stimulus and it adapts to changes in the interval between the ...

OBJECTIVE:: The goal of the overall project is to develop knowledge about cochlear physiology during cochlear implantation and develop procedures for assessing its status during hearing preservation surgery. As a step toward this goal, for this study, we established an animal model of sloping high frequency sensorineural hearing loss that ...

The degree to which diffusion contributes to positioning cellular structures is an open question. Here we investigate the question of whether diffusive motion of centrin granules would allow them to interact with the mother centriole. The role of centrin granules in centriole duplication remains unclear, but some proposed functions of ...

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of laserphyrin-PDT (L-PDT) on biliary cancer with those of the conventional photosensitizer, photofrin-PDT (P-PDT). METHODS: An animal tumor model was established by inoculation of NOZ cells in 4-week-old male BALB/c mice. The laser light wavelength was set at 630 nm ...

The firing of hippocampal place cells encodes instantaneous location but can also reflect where the animal is heading (prospective firing), or where it has just come from (retrospective firing). The current experiment sought to explicitly control the prospective firing of place cells with a visual discriminada in a T-maze. Rats ...

This work reports a pioneer application of the bulk photovoltaic effect in the biomedical field. Massive necrotic cell death was induced in human tumour cell cultures grown on a bulk photovoltaic material (iron-doped lithium niobate, LiNbO(3):Fe) after irradiation with visible light. Lethal doses (≈100% cell death) were obtained with low-intensity ...

The ganglion cell output of the retina constitutes a bottleneck in sensory processing, in that ganglion cells must encode multiple stimulus parameters in their responses. Here we investigate encoding strategies of On-Off directionally selective retinal ganglion cells (On-Off DS RGCs) in rabbits, a class of cells dedicated to representing motion. ...

Horizontal cells of the vertebrate retina have large receptive fields as a result of extensive gap junction coupling. Increased ambient illumination reduces horizontal cell receptive field size. Using the isolated goldfish retina, we have assessed the contribution of nitric oxide to the light-dependent reduction of horizontal cell receptive field size. ...

Many cochlear models assign zero longitudinal coupling in the cochlea. Although this is consistent with the transverse basilar membrane (BM) fibers, the cochlear partition contains cellular longitudinal coupling. In cochlear models, longitudinal coupling diminishes passive BM tuning; however, it has recently been employed in theories of active mechanics to enhance ...