The practice of going helps children to stop:The importance of context monitoring in inhibitory control

How do we stop ourselves during ongoing action? Recent work implies that stopping per se is easy given sufficient monitoring of contextual cues signaling the need to change action. We test key implications of this idea for improving inhibitory control. Seven- to 9-year old children practiced stopping an ongoing action, or monitoring for cues that signaled the need to go again. Both groups subsequently showed better response inhibition in a Stop-Signal task than active controls, and practice monitoring yielded a dose-response relationship. When monitoring practice was optimized to occur while children engaged in responding, the greatest benefits were observed – even greater than from practicing stopping itself. These findings demonstrate the importance of monitoring processes in developing response inhibition, and suggest promising new directions for interventions

Quenching of Impurity Spins at Cu/CuO Interfaces: An Antiferromagnetic Proximity Effect

It is observed that the magnetoconductance of bilayer films of copper (Cu) and copper monoxide (CuO) has distinct features compared of that of Cu films on conventional band insulator substrates. We analyze the data above 2 K by the theory of weak antilocalization in two-dimensional metals and suggest that spin-flip scatterings by magnetic impurities inside Cu are suppressed in Cu/CuO samples. Plausibly the results imply a proximity effect of antiferromagnetism inside the Cu layer, which can be understood in the framework of Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yoshida (RKKY) interactions. The data below 1 K, which exhibit slow relaxation reminiscent of spin glass, are consistent with this interpretation.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. Added a supplementary materia

An experimental and analytical investigation of the aerodynamics of a hypersonic vehicle at free stream Mach 6

The goal of this research is the assessment of the validity of existing three dimensional numerical programs in the prediction of the flow fields about general three dimensional hypersonic bodies. A detailed experimental research program was performed in which surface and flow field pressures were mapped. The results of the experimental work were compared with existing inviscid programs. Improvements were made on the existing numerical methods to include angle of attack. A summary of this work is presented

Image Analysis of Intractable Epilepsy:18F-FDG PET Scan of the Cortical Dysplasia

開始ページ、終了ページ: 冊子体のページ付

Stimulating Effect of Japanese Herbal (Kampo) Medicine, Hochuekkito on Upper Respiratory Mucosal Immune System

Japanese herbal (Kampo) medicine, Hochuekkito (Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi-Tang in Chinese, TJ-41) and Juzentaihoto (Shi-Quan-Da-Bu-Tang in Chinese, TJ-48) are well-known Kampo formulas used as tonic. Although these medicines have separately been applied to the patients clinically depending on their symptoms, the differences of the pharmacological activities for these medicines have not been fully understood. TJ-48 and TJ-41 were compared for their effects on antibody response in upper respiratory mucosal immune system in vivo. Oral administration of TJ-41 (100 mg kg(−1) per day) to early aged BALB/c mice, which were nasally sensitized with influenza hemagglutinin vaccine, significantly enhanced influenza virus-specific IgA and IgG antibody titers in nasal cavity and sera, respectively. However, oral administration of TJ-48 (100 mg kg(−1) per day) failed to show the enhancing activity. TJ-41 increased not only influenza virus-specific IgA antibody titer but also total IgA antibody titer in nasal cavity. The stimulating activity of TJ-41 disappeared after treatment with methotrexate. The present study strongly suggests that TJ-41 can stimulate the mucosal immune system of upper respiratory tract, and results in enhancement of antigen-specific antibody response in upper respiratory mucosal and systemic immune systems

Multiplicative noise: A mechanism leading to nonextensive statistical mechanics

A large variety of microscopic or mesoscopic models lead to generic results that accommodate naturally within Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical mechanics (based on $S_1\equiv -k \int du p(u) \ln p(u)$). Similarly, other classes of models point toward nonextensive statistical mechanics (based on $S_q \equiv k [1-\int du [p(u)]^q]/[q-1]$, where the value of the entropic index $q\in\Re$ depends on the specific model). We show here a family of models, with multiplicative noise, which belongs to the nonextensive class. More specifically, we consider Langevin equations of the type $\dot{u}=f(u)+g(u)\xi(t)+\eta(t)$, where $\xi(t)$ and $\eta(t)$ are independent zero-mean Gaussian white noises with respective amplitudes $M$ and $A$. This leads to the Fokker-Planck equation $\partial_t P(u,t) = -\partial_u[f(u) P(u,t)] + M\partial_u\{g(u)\partial_u[g(u)P(u,t)]\} + A\partial_{uu}P(u,t)$. Whenever the deterministic drift is proportional to the noise induced one, i.e., $f(u) =-\tau g(u) g'(u)$, the stationary solution is shown to be $P(u, \infty) \propto \bigl\{1-(1-q) \beta [g(u)]^2 \bigr\}^{\frac{1}{1-q}}$ (with $q \equiv \frac{\tau + 3M}{\tau+M}$ and $\beta=\frac{\tau+M}{2A}$). This distribution is precisely the one optimizing $S_q$ with the constraint $_q \equiv \{\int du [g(u)]^2[P(u)]^q \}/ \{\int du [P(u)]^q \}=$constant. We also introduce and discuss various characterizations of the width of the distributions.Comment: 3 PS figure

Effects of ethyl-esterization, chain-lengths, unsaturation degrees, and hyperthermia on carcinostatic effect of omega-hydroxylated fatty acids

Aim: To evaluate promotive effect of hyperthermia on the carcinostatic activity of synthesized omega-hydroxy fatty acids (wHFAs) and their ethylesters agaist Ehrlich ascites tumor (EAT) cells. Methods: EAT cells were cultured with either wHFAs or their ethylester derivatives in a water bath at either 37 °C or 42 °C for 30 min, followed by incubation in a CO2 incubator for 20 or 72 h. Mitochondrial dehydrogenase-based WST-1 assay and trypan blue dye exclusion assay were then conducted after incubation. Morphological changes were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results: Omega-HFA having a saturated 16-carbon straight-chain (wH16:0) was the most carcinostatic (at 37 °C – viability level: 60.0%; at 42 °C – 49.6% (WST-1)) among saturated and unsaturated wHFAs with 12, 15 or 16 carbon atoms, when administrated to EAT cells at 100 µM for 20 h. Carcinostatic activity was markedly enhanced by ethyl-esterization of saturated fatty acids, such as wH16:0 (at 37 °C – 42.3%; at 42 °C – 11.2% , ibid) and wH15:0 (at 37 °C – 74.6%; at 42 °C – 25.3% , ibid), and their unsaturated counterparts were extremely effective only in combination with hyperthermia. Prolongation of the incubation period to 72 h at the same concentration increased appreciably their carcinostatic effect (wH16:0 ethylesther: 1.3%; wH15:0 ethylesther: 8.0%). These values were also supported by dye exclusion assay. The carcinostatic activity enhanced more markedly by hyperthermia (1.2%; 2.1%, ibid). SEM shows that wH16:0 ethylester-exposed EAT cells underwent extensive injury, such as deformation of cell structure or disappearance of microvilli. Conclusions: wH16:0 ethylester possesses high carcinostatic activity in vitro in combination with hyperthermia and may be utilized as potent anticancer therapeutic agent.Цель: проанализировать усиливающий эффект гипертермии на канцеростатическую активность синтезированных омегагидроксилированных жирных кислот (HFAs) и их этиловых эфиров по отноению к клеткам асцитной опухоли рлиха (EAT). Методы: клетки EAT инкубировали с HFAs или их этилэфирными производными на водной ане при 37 ° или 42 ° в течение 30 мин с дальнейим культивированием в 2 инкубаторе на протяжении 20 или 72 ч, после чего анализировали жизнеспособность клеток методами анализа WST-1, основанного на активности митохондриальных дегидрогеназ, и по включению трипанового синего. Морфологические изменения клеток определяли с использованием сканирующей электронной микроскопии. Результаты: при культивации клеток EAT в присутствии 100 M соединений в течение 20 ч омега-HFA с насыщенной 16-углеродной прямой цепью (H16:0) проявляли наиболее выраженный канцеростатический эффект (при 37 ° уровень жизнеспосоности составил 60,0%; при 42 ° 49,6% (WST-1)) по сравнению с таковым насыщенных и ненасыщенных HFAs, содержащих 12, 15 или 16 атомов углерода. анцеростатическая активность значительно возрастала при этилэтерификации насыщенных жирных кислот, таких как H16:0 (при 37 ° 42,3%; при 42 ° 11,2%, ibid) и H15:0 (при 37 ° 74,6%; при 42 ° 25,3% , ibid), в то время как производные ненасыщенных кислот были высокоэффективны только в комбинации с гипертермией. Увеличение периода инкубации клеток до 72 ч при той же концентрации веществ приводило к значительному увеличению их канцеростатического действия (этиловый эфир H16:0 1,3%; этиловый эфир H15:0 ethylesther 8,0%), подтвержденного данными окраски трипановым синим. рименение гипертермии также усиливало канцеростатическое действие соединений (1,2%; 2,1%, ibid). Результаты исследования методом SEM показали, что клетки EAT, инкубированные с этиловым эфиром H16:0, разруаются с нарушением клеточной структуры и исчезновением микроволокон. Выводы: в комбинации с гипертермией этиловый эфир H16:0 про ет высокую канцеростатическую активность in vitro, что говорит о возможности применения соединения в терапии опухолевых заболеваний