Tapping to a slow tempo in the presence of simple and complex musical meters reveals experience-specific biases for processing music

Musical meters vary considerably across cultures, yet relatively little is known about how culture-specific experience influences metrical processing. In Experiment 1, we compared American and Indian listeners\u27 synchronous tapping to slow sequences. Inter-tone intervals contained silence or to-be-ignored rhythms that were designed to induce a simple meter (familiar to Americans and Indians) or a complex meter (familiar only to Indians). A subset of trials contained an abrupt switch from one rhythm to another to assess the disruptive effects of contradicting the initially implied meter. In the unfilled condition, both groups tapped earlier than the target and showed large tap-tone asynchronies (measured in relative phase). When inter-tone intervals were filled with simple-meter rhythms, American listeners tapped later than targets, but their asynchronies were smaller and declined more rapidly. Likewise, asynchronies rose sharply following a switch away from simple-meter but not from complex-meter rhythm. By contrast, Indian listeners performed similarly across all rhythm types, with asynchronies rapidly declining over the course of complex- and simple-meter trials. For these listeners, a switch from either simple or complex meter increased asynchronies. Experiment 2 tested American listeners but doubled the duration of the synchronization phase prior to (and after) the switch. Here, compared with simple meters, complex-meter rhythms elicited larger asynchronies that declined at a slower rate, however, asynchronies increased after the switch for all conditions. Our results provide evidence that ease of meter processing depends to a great extent on the amount of experience with specific meters

Fermentation Of Multigrain Dough – An Approach To Reduce Glycemic Index For Healthy Bread

The use of sourdough as the starter culture for bread making is one of the oldest processes in food fermentation and is very much prevalent in being used for the manufacture of various multigrain breads. The fermentation process of breads from mixed flours is one way, reported to reduce the glycemic index as compared to white bread. In this paper, we have discussed the use of (autochthonous) native culture vs pure culture use, in fermentation to prepare a starter culture sourdough by propagative fermentation. Since such a dough is incorporated in the sourdough bread making process (1:3), by the initial process of intermittent back-slopping (at intervals of 3.5 and 7 days) to propagate sourdough with a starter culture, as a part of the process, we observed the reduction in glycaemic index of the sourdough itself to as low as GI=40, at 3rd day of fermentation when the pure consortium and at 5th day of fermentation GI=43, when the native consortium was used. The sourdough process is thus an essential tool, aimed to make healthy breads, as it is incorporated as an ingredient in the process, to make sourdough bread

Ultrasensitive interplay between ferromagnetism and superconductivity in NbGd composite thin films

A model binary hybrid system composed of a randomly distributed rare-earth ferromagnetic (Gd) part embedded in an s-wave superconducting (Nb) matrix is being manufactured to study the interplay between competing superconducting and ferromagnetic order parameters. The normal metallic to superconducting phase transition appears to be very sensitive to the magnetic counterpart and the modulation of the superconducing properties follow closely to the Abrikosov-Gorkov (AG) theory of magnetic impurity induced pair breaking mechanism. A critical concentration of Gd is obtained for the studied NbGd based composite films (CFs) above which superconductivity disappears. Besides, a magnetic ordering resembling the paramagnetic Meissner effect (PME) appears in DC magnetization measurements at temperatures close to the superconducting transition temperature. The positive magnetization related to the PME emerges upon doping Nb with Gd. The temperature dependent resistance measurements evolve in a similar fashion with the concentration of Gd as that with an external magnetic field and in both the cases, the transition curves accompany several intermediate features indicating the traces of magnetism originated either from Gd or from the external field. Finally, the signatures of magnetism appear evidently in the magnetization and transport measurements for the CFs with very low (less than 1 at. %) doping of Gd

Review: recent trends in management of oral lichen planus

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic mucocutaneous inflammatory disease, associated with altered cell‐mediated immunological function. It has been characterised by long‐term evolution, repeated exacerbations, sometimes painful and resistant to treatment, or even all of these. OLP significantly affects quality of patient's life. There is a higher risk of malignant transformation accompanied with OLP and similar appearing oral lichenoid lesions. Current OLP therapy aims at eliminating all mucosal‐related lesions reduce symptomatology and decrease the risk of oral cancer. This review summarizes recent treatment modalities used in the management of OLP which includes corticosteroids, immunomodulatory agents, retinoids, ultraviolet irradiation and/or laser therapy, herbal remedies. In addition, focus is also given upon adopting holistic approach in such patients by emphasizing on stress management

MOLECULAR GENETIC DIVERSITY OF SUGARCANE GENOTYPES OF SUBTROPICAL INDIA: SSCP-PCR ANALYSIS OF SIMPLE SEQUENCE REPEATS

Abstract THE POTENTIAL of Single Strand Conformational Polymorphism (SSCP) of simple sequence repeats as a new marker system was investigated with respect to their abundance, variability and ability to detect polymorphisms and molecular genetic diversity in sugarcane genotypes. Eleven microsatellite markers (derived from genomic libraries) were used as primers to amplify genomic DNA from 42 commercial cultivars, interspecific hybrids and species of sugarcane. Amplified SSR-PCR products were subjected to SSCP to detect polymorphism to determine genetic diversity and inferring relationship of the studied genotypes. The resulting patterns ranged fiom few bands to highly complex multi-band ladders for most of the primers. SSCP-PCR demonstrated a high level of polymorphism between the studied genotypes. The presence or absence of individual amplified product DNA bands was scored to derive a pairwise distance matrix between genotypes and their clustering in diEerent groups. Thus, the SSCP-PCR analysis of simple sequence repeats is useful to differentiate even closely related taxa. The major advantage of this method is that many individual PCR products may be screened for variation simnultaneously. This is the first report of the use of SSCP-PCR to differentiate between inembers of a highly polyploid genus

Coformulation of Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies 3BNC117 and PGT121: Analytical Challenges During Preformulation Characterization and Storage Stability Studies

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.In this study, we investigated analytical challenges associated with the formulation of 2 anti-HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), 3BNC117 and PGT121, both separately at 100 mg/mL and together at 50 mg/mL each. The bnAb formulations were characterized for relative solubility and conformational stability followed by accelerated and real-time stability studies. Although the bnAbs were stable during 4°C storage, incubation at 40°C differentiated their stability profiles. Specific concentration-dependent aggregation rates at 30°C and 40°C were measured by size exclusion chromatography for the individual bnAbs with the mixture showing intermediate behavior. Interestingly, although the relative ratio of the 2 bnAbs remained constant at 4°C, the ratio of 3BNC117 to PGT121 increased in the dimer that formed during storage at 40°C. A mass spectrometry-based multiattribute method, identified and quantified differences in modifications of the Fab regions for each bnAb within the mixture including clipping, oxidation, deamidation, and isomerization sites. Each bnAb showed slight differences in the levels and sites of lysine residue glycations. Together, these data demonstrate the ability to differentiate degradation products from individual antibodies within the bnAb mixture, and that degradation rates are influenced not only by the individual bnAb concentrations but also by the mixture concentration.Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number OPP1138851 and Investment ID 25617

Co-formulation of broadly neutralizing antibodies 3BNC117 and PGT121:Analytical challenges during pre-formulation characterization and storage stability studies

In this study, we investigated analytical challenges associated with the formulation of two broadly neutralizing anti-HIV monoclonal antibodies (bnAbs), 3BNC117 and PGT121, both separately at 100 mg/mL and together at 50 mg/mL each. The bnAb formulations were characterized for relative solubility and conformational stability followed by accelerated and real-time stability studies. While the bnAbs were stable during 4°C storage, incubation at 40°C differentiated their stability profiles. Specific concentration dependent aggregation rates at 30°C and 40°C were measured by size exclusion chromatography for the individual bnAbs with the mixture showing intermediate behavior. Please download the file below for full content

A cluster randomized, controlled trial of breast and cervix cancer screening in Mumbai, India: methodology and interim results after three rounds of screening

Cervix and Breast cancers are the most common cancers among women worldwide and extract a large toll in developing countries. In May 1998, supported by a grant from the NCI (US), the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India, started a cluster-randomized, controlled, screening-trial for cervix and breast cancer using trained primary health workers to provide health-education, visual-inspection of cervix (with 4% acetic acid-VIA) and clinical breast examination (CBE) in the screening arm, and only health education in the control arm. Four rounds of screening at 2-year intervals will be followed by 8 years of monitoring for incidence and mortality from cervix and breast cancers. The methodology and interim results after three rounds of screening are presented here. Good randomization was achieved between the screening (n = 75360) and control arms (n = 76178). In the screening arm we see: High screening participation rates; Low attrition; Good compliance to diagnostic confirmation; Significant downstaging; Excellent treatment completion rate; Improving case fatality ratios. The ever-screened and never-screened participants in the screening arm show significant differences with reference to the variables religion, language, age, education, occupation, income and health-seeking behavior for gynecological and breast-related complaints. During the same period, in the control arm we see excellent participation rate for health education; Low attrition and a good number of symptomatic referrals for both cervix and breast

Development of genic-SSR markers by deep transcriptome sequencing in pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh]

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pigeonpea [<it>Cajanus cajan </it>(L.) Millspaugh], one of the most important food legumes of semi-arid tropical and subtropical regions, has limited genomic resources, particularly expressed sequence based (genic) markers. We report a comprehensive set of validated genic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers using deep transcriptome sequencing, and its application in genetic diversity analysis and mapping.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, 43,324 transcriptome shotgun assembly unigene contigs were assembled from 1.696 million 454 GS-FLX sequence reads of separate pooled cDNA libraries prepared from leaf, root, stem and immature seed of two pigeonpea varieties, Asha and UPAS 120. A total of 3,771 genic-SSR loci, excluding homopolymeric and compound repeats, were identified; of which 2,877 PCR primer pairs were designed for marker development. Dinucleotide was the most common repeat motif with a frequency of 60.41%, followed by tri- (34.52%), hexa- (2.62%), tetra- (1.67%) and pentanucleotide (0.76%) repeat motifs. Primers were synthesized and tested for 772 of these loci with repeat lengths of ≥18 bp. Of these, 550 markers were validated for consistent amplification in eight diverse pigeonpea varieties; 71 were found to be polymorphic on agarose gel electrophoresis. Genetic diversity analysis was done on 22 pigeonpea varieties and eight wild species using 20 highly polymorphic genic-SSR markers. The number of alleles at these loci ranged from 4-10 and the polymorphism information content values ranged from 0.46 to 0.72. Neighbor-joining dendrogram showed distinct separation of the different groups of pigeonpea cultivars and wild species. Deep transcriptome sequencing of the two parental lines helped <it>in silico </it>identification of polymorphic genic-SSR loci to facilitate the rapid development of an intra-species reference genetic map, a subset of which was validated for expected allelic segregation in the reference mapping population.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We developed 550 validated genic-SSR markers in pigeonpea using deep transcriptome sequencing. From these, 20 highly polymorphic markers were used to evaluate the genetic relationship among species of the genus <it>Cajanus</it>. A comprehensive set of genic-SSR markers was developed as an important genomic resource for diversity analysis and genetic mapping in pigeonpea.</p