Cross modal perception of body size in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris)

While the perception of size-related acoustic variation in animal vocalisations is well documented, little attention has been given to how this information might be integrated with corresponding visual information. Using a cross-modal design, we tested the ability of domestic dogs to match growls resynthesised to be typical of either a large or a small dog to size- matched models. Subjects looked at the size-matched model significantly more often and for a significantly longer duration than at the incorrect model, showing that they have the ability to relate information about body size from the acoustic domain to the appropriate visual category. Our study suggests that the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms at the basis of size assessment in mammals have a multisensory nature, and calls for further investigations of the multimodal processing of size information across animal species

Ybp1 and Gpx3 signaling in Candida albicans govern hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidation of the Cap1 transcription factor and macrophage escape

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

'Pre-semantic' cognition in semantic dementia: Six deficits in search of an explanation.

‘‘Oh, sir, you must be well aware that life is full of endless absurdities which do not even have to appear plausible, since they are true.’’ —From Six Characters in Search of an Author, by Luigi Pirandello (1921) & On the basis of a theory about the role of semantic knowl-edge in the recognition and production of familiar words and objects, we predicted that patients with semantic dementia would reveal a specific pattern of impairment on six different tasks typically considered ‘‘pre-’ ’ or ‘‘non-’ ’ semantic: reading aloud, writing to dictation, inflecting verbs, lexical decision, object decision, and delayed copy drawing. The prediction was that all tasks would reveal a frequency-by-typicality interaction, with patients performing especially poorly on lower-frequency items with atypical structure (e.g., words with an atypical spelling-to-sound relationship; objects with an atypical feature for their class, such as the hump on a camel, etc). Of 84 critical observations (14 patients performing 6 tasks), this prediction was correct in 84/84 cases; and a single component in a factor analysis accounted for 87 % of the variance across seven mea-sures: each patient’s degree of impairment on atypical items in the six experimental tasks and a separate composite score re-f lecting his or her degree of semantic impairment. Errors also consistently conformed to the predicted pattern for both ex-pressive and receptive tasks, with responses reflecting residual knowledge about the typical surface structure of each domain. We argue that these results cannot be explained as associated but unrelated deficits but instead are a principled consequence of a primary semantic impairment. &amp

Neurofascin antibodies in autoimmune, genetic, and idiopathic neuropathies

OBJECTIVE: To measure the frequency, persistence, isoform specificity, and clinical correlates of neurofascin antibodies in patients with peripheral neuropathies. METHODS: We studied cohorts of patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) or chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) (n = 59), genetic neuropathy (n = 111), and idiopathic neuropathy (n = 43) for immunoglobulin (Ig) G and IgM responses to 3 neurofascin (NF) isoforms (NF140, NF155, and NF186) using cell-based assays. RESULTS: Neurofascin antibodies were more common in patients with GBS/CIDP (14%, 8 of 59) compared to genetic neuropathy controls (3%, 3 of 111, p = 0.01). Seven percent (3 of 43) of patients with idiopathic neuropathy also had neurofascin antibodies. NF155 IgG4 antibodies were associated with CIDP refractory to IV immunoglobulin but responsive to rituximab, and some of these patients had an acute onset resembling GBS. NF186 IgG and IgM to either isoform were less specific. A severe form of CIDP, approaching a locked-in state, was seen in a patient with antibodies recognizing all 3 neurofascin isoforms. CONCLUSIONS: Neurofascin antibodies were 4 times more frequent in autoimmune neuropathy samples compared to genetic neuropathy controls. Persistent IgG4 responses to NF155 correlated with severe CIDP resistant to usual treatments but responsive to rituximab. IgG4 antibodies against the common domains shared by glial and axonal isoforms may portend a particularly severe but treatable neuropathy. The prognostic implications of neurofascin antibodies in a subset of idiopathic neuropathy patients and transient IgM responses in GBS require further investigation

A Core Switching Strategy to Pyrrolo[2,3-b]quinolines and Diazocino[1,2-a]indolinones

Two novel core-switching rearrangements to natural product-like privileged scaffolds that proceed in up to 99% yield have been developed. The deviation away from planarity of the central N-acyl urea carbonyl, caused by the structure of the medium-sized ring, dictates the exclusive reaction outcome. Proposed mechanisms and products for the reaction pathways are supported by small molecule X-ray crystallography and an isolated intermediate. Twenty-four novel rearrangement products are reported

Connectionist perspectives on language learning, representation and processing.

The field of formal linguistics was founded on the premise that language is mentally represented as a deterministic symbolic grammar. While this approach has captured many important characteristics of the world\u27s languages, it has also led to a tendency to focus theoretical questions on the correct formalization of grammatical rules while also de-emphasizing the role of learning and statistics in language development and processing. In this review we present a different approach to language research that has emerged from the parallel distributed processing or \u27connectionist\u27 enterprise. In the connectionist framework, mental operations are studied by simulating learning and processing within networks of artificial neurons. With that in mind, we discuss recent progress in connectionist models of auditory word recognition, reading, morphology, and syntactic processing. We argue that connectionist models can capture many important characteristics of how language is learned, represented, and processed, as well as providing new insights about the source of these behavioral patterns. Just as importantly, the networks naturally capture irregular (non-rule-like) patterns that are common within languages, something that has been difficult to reconcile with rule-based accounts of language without positing separate mechanisms for rules and exceptions

What lies beneath: A comparison of reading aloud in pure alexia and semantic dementia

Exaggerated effects of word length upon reading aloud performance define Pure Alexia, but have also been observed in Semantic Dementia. Some researchers have proposed a readingspecific account, whereby performance in these two disorders reflects the same cause: impaired orthographic processing. In contrast, according to the primary systems view of acquired reading disorders, Pure Alexia results from a basic visual processing deficit, whereas degraded semantic knowledge undermines reading performance in Semantic Dementia. To explore the source of reading deficits in these two disorders, we compared the reading performance of 10 Pure Alexic and 10 Semantic Dementia patients, matched in terms of overall severity of reading deficit. The results revealed comparable frequency effects on reading accuracy, but weaker effects of regularity in Pure Alexia than Semantic Dementia. Analysis of error types revealed a higher rate of letter-based errors and a lower rate of regularisation responses in Pure Alexia than Semantic Dementia. Error responses were most often words in Pure Alexia but most often nonwords in Semantic Dementia. Although all patients made some letter substitution errors, these were characterised by visual similarity in Pure Alexia and phonological similarity in Semantic Dementia. Overall, the data indicate that the reading deficits in Pure Alexia and Semantic Dementia arise from impairments of visual processing and knowledge of word meaning, respectively. The locus and mechanisms of these impairments are placed within the context of current connectionist models of reading

International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force consensus report on epilepsy definition, classification and terminology in companion animals

Dogs with epilepsy are among the commonest neurological patients in veterinary practice and therefore have historically attracted much attention with regard to definitions, clinical approach and management. A number of classification proposals for canine epilepsy have been published during the years reflecting always in parts the current proposals coming from the human epilepsy organisation the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). It has however not been possible to gain agreed consensus, “a common language”, for the classification and terminology used between veterinary and human neurologists and neuroscientists, practitioners, neuropharmacologists and neuropathologists. This has led to an unfortunate situation where different veterinary publications and textbook chapters on epilepsy merely reflect individual author preferences with respect to terminology, which can be confusing to the readers and influence the definition and diagnosis of epilepsy in first line practice and research studies. In this document the International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force (IVETF) discusses current understanding of canine epilepsy and presents our 2015 proposal for terminology and classification of epilepsy and epileptic seizures. We propose a classification system which reflects new thoughts from the human ILAE but also roots in former well accepted terminology. We think that this classification system can be used by all stakeholders

Population-Level Benefits from Providing Effective HIV Prevention Means to Pregnant Women in High Prevalence Settings

Background:HIV prevalence among pregnant women in Southern Africa is extremely high. Epidemiological studies suggest that pregnancy increases the risk of HIV sexual acquisition and that HIV infections acquired during pregnancy carry higher risk of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT). We analyze the potential benefits from extending the availability of effective microbicide to pregnant women (in addition to non-pregnant women) in a wide-scale intervention.Methods and Findings:A transmission dynamic model was designed to assess the impact of microbicide use in high HIV prevalence settings and to estimate proportions of new HIV infections, infections acquired during pregnancy, and MTCT prevented over 10 years. Our analysis suggests that consistent use of microbicide with 70% efficacy by 60% of non-pregnant women may prevent approximately 40% and 15% of new infections in women and men respectively over 10 years, assuming no additional increase in HIV risk to either partner during pregnancy (RRHIV/preg = 1). It may also prevent 8-15% MTCT depending on the increase in MTCT risk when HIV is acquired during pregnancy compared to before pregnancy (RRMTCT/preg). Extending the microbicides use during pregnancy may improve the effectiveness of the intervention by 10% (RRHIV/preg = 1) to 25% (RRHIV/preg = 2) and reduce the number of HIV infections acquired during pregnancy by 40% to 70% in different scenarios. It may add between 6% (RRHIV/preg = 1, RRMTCT/preg = 1) and 25% (RRHIV/preg = 2, RRMTCT/preg = 4) to the reduction in the residual MTCT.Conclusion:Providing safe and effective microbicide to pregnant women in the context of wide-scale interventions would be desirable as it would increase the effectiveness of the intervention and significantly reduce the number of HIV infections acquired during pregnancy. The projected benefits from covering pregnant women by the HIV prevention programs is more substantial in communities in which the sexual risk during pregnancy is elevated. © 2013 Dimitrov et al