Attention\u27s Grasp: Early and Late Hand Proximity Effects on Visual Evoked Potentials

Behavioral studies suggest that visual attention is biased toward stimuli in the region of space near the palm of the hand, but it is unclear whether this effect is universal or selective for goal/task-related stimuli. We examined event-related potentials (ERPs) using a visual detection task in which the hand was placed near or kept far from target and non-target stimuli that were matched for frequency and visual features to avoid confounding factors. Focusing on attention-sensitive ERP components, we found that P3 (350–450 ms) amplitudes were increased for Hand Near conditions for targets only, demonstrating a selective effect consistent with the P3\u27s cross-modal and task-relevance influences. An N1 variant implicated in visuo-tactile integration (central Nd1; 120–190 ms) showed similar target-specific effects. P1 (80–110 ms) effects for target stimuli were also apparent, but may have applied to non-targets as well, which would be consistent with the P1\u27s association with early, pre-categorical increases in sensory gain. Collectively, these findings suggest that by the time stimuli are categorized as relevant/irrelevant for action, the proprioceptive effects of the hand on visual attention are selective for goal/task-related stimuli. At the same time, hand proximity appears to bias attention early, starting with a facilitation of processing for perhaps any visual stimuli near the hand, and continuing with enhancements that are selective to those stimuli categorized as task-relevant

Interactions of Cbl with Grb2 and phosphatidylinositol 3\u27-kinase in activated Jurkat cells

T-cell receptor (TCR) cross-linking increases tyrosine phosphorylation of multiple proteins, only a few of which have been identified. One of the most rapidly tyrosine-phosphorylated polypeptides is the 120-kDa product of the proto-oncogene c-cbl, a cytosolic and cytoskeletal protein containing multiple proline-rich motifs that are potential binding sites for proteins containing Src homology 3 (SH3) domains. We report here that in cultured Jurkat T cells, Cbl is coprecipitated with antibody against the adapter protein Grb2. Upon activation of Jurkat T cells via the TCR-CD3 complex, we find that high-affinity binding of Cbl requires the N-terminal SH3 domain of GST-Grb2 fusion protein but after cross-linking of the TCR-CD3 and CD4 receptors, Cbl binds equally to its SH2 domain. Grb2 antisera also precipitated p85 from serum-starved cells, while TCR activation increased p85 and tyrosine-phosphorylated Cbl but not Cbl protein in Grb2 immunocomplexes. Phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase activity was immunoprecipitated from serum-starved cells with Cbl and to a lesser extent with Grb2 antisera, and TCR cross-linking increased this activity severalfold. The PI 3-kinase activity associated with Cbl amounted to 5 to 10% of the total cellular activity that could be precipitated by p85 antisera. The Ras exchange factor Son-of-sevenless 1 (Sos-1) was not found in anti-Cbl immunoprecipitates from activated cells, and Cbl was not detectable in anti-Sos-1 precipitates, supporting the likelihood that Sos-Grb2 and Cbl-Grb2 are present as distinct complexes. Taken together, these data suggest that Cbl function in Jurkat T cells involves its constitutive association with Grb2 and its recruitment of PI 3-kinase in response to TCR activation

The effect of multiple host species on a keystone parasitic plant and its aphid herbivores

1. The exploitation of shared resources by diverse organisms underpins the structure of ecological communities. Hemiparasitic plants and the insect herbivores feeding on them both rely, directly and indirectly, on the resources supplied by the parasite's host plant. Therefore, the identity and number of host plant species providing these resources is likely to be critical for parasite and herbivore performance. 2. We tested the effect of single and multiple host species on the biomass of the generalist parasitic plant Rhinanthus minor and the abundance of its aphid (Aphis gossypii) herbivores. 3. Parasite biomass was proportional to the number of haustorial connections to host roots and was determined by host species identity rather than host functional group. Host species identity was also an important influence on aphid population size, and parasites attached to Lotus corniculatus experienced a considerable reduction in aphid herbivory. 4. The effects on the parasite attaching to multiple hosts depended on the combination of species present. However, host mixtures generally benefitted aphids by diluting the negative effects of particular host species. 5. Our findings suggest that the specificity of host attachment alters the impact of this keystone parasitic plant on its own herbivores and, potentially, on the wider plant and herbivore community

Initiating the dialogue between infant mental health and family therapy: a qualitative inquiry and recommendations

This qualitative study explores infant-family mental health experts' perspectives and experiences regarding the inclusion of infants in the family therapy setting. Infant socioemotional development is relational in nature and evolves in the context of both dyadic attachment relationships and broader multi-person co-parenting systems. Given this, we sought to understand why family therapy interventions involving families with infants rarely include the infant in a triangular or family systemic approach. Interviews were completed by clinical and/or research experts whose work integrates tenets of both infant mental health (IMH) and family theory and therapy. All interviewees brought at least 5 years of expertise and were actively engaged in the field. Interviewees expressed consistent beliefs that infants have a rightful and helpful place in family therapy approaches. They maintained that infants' innate social drive and communicative capacities position them to make meaningful and clinically significant contributions within family and systemic psychotherapy contexts. Noting that infants have remained on the periphery of these practices, experts advocated expansion and greater integration between IMH and family therapy, while preserving each field's distinctive identity. Experts reported that the interplay between IMH and family therapy fields has been uni-directional as family systems concepts are embedded within IMH approaches, but few IMH premises are incorporated in mainstream family therapy practices. The disconnect was attributed to multiple factors, including graduate and professional training and theoretical, clinical, research, and sociocultural barriers, which were mutually reinforcing. Experts also identified clinical gains for both infants and family members when infants were meaningfully included in family interventions. Common ground was identified between the disciplines, with a belief that relationally distressed young children and parents are best served by clinical engagement with their network of relationships. Results call for greater collaboration between disciplines to challenge existing traditions and to more fully include infants in mainstream family therapy. Recommendations for integration of family therapy and IMH in clinical, theoretical, research, training, and sociocultural domains are offered

The USNO-B Catalog

USNO-B is an all-sky catalog that presents positions, proper motions, magnitudes in various optical passbands, and star/galaxy estimators for 1,042,618,261 objects derived from 3,643,201,733 separate observations. The data were obtained from scans of 7,435 Schmidt plates taken for the various sky surveys during the last 50 years. USNO-B1.0 is believed to provide all-sky coverage, completeness down to V = 21, 0.2 arcsecond astrometric accuracy at J2000, 0.3 magnitude photometric accuracy in up to five colors, and 85% accuracy for distinguishing stars from non-stellar objects. A brief discussion of various issues is given here, but the actual data are available from http://www.nofs.navy.mil and other sites.Comment: Accepted by Astronomical Journa

The Generic Model of Computation

Over the past two decades, Yuri Gurevich and his colleagues have formulated axiomatic foundations for the notion of algorithm, be it classical, interactive, or parallel, and formalized them in the new generic framework of abstract state machines. This approach has recently been extended to suggest a formalization of the notion of effective computation over arbitrary countable domains. The central notions are summarized herein.Comment: In Proceedings DCM 2011, arXiv:1207.682

A recombinant modified vaccinia Ankara vaccine encoding Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) target antigens:a phase I trial in UK patients with EBV-positive cancer

Purpose: Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) is associated with several cancers in which the tumor cells express EBV antigens EBNA1 and LMP2. A therapeutic vaccine comprising a recombinant vaccinia virus, MVA-EL, was designed to boost immunity to these tumor antigens. A phase I trial was conducted to demonstrate the safety and immunogenicity of MVA-EL across a range of doses. Experimental Design: Sixteen patients in the United Kingdom (UK) with EBV-positive nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) received three intradermal vaccinations of MVA-EL at 3-weekly intervals at dose levels between 5 × 107 and 5 × 108 plaque-forming units (pfu). Blood samples were taken at screening, after each vaccine cycle, and during the post-vaccination period. T-cell responses were measured using IFNγ ELISpot assays with overlapping EBNA1/LMP2 peptide mixes or HLA-matched epitope peptides. Polychromatic flow cytometry was used to characterize functionally responsive T-cell populations. Results: Vaccination was generally well tolerated. Immunity increased after vaccination to at least one antigen in 8 of 14 patients (7/14, EBNA1; 6/14, LMP2), including recognition of epitopes that vary between EBV strains associated with different ethnic groups. Immunophenotypic analysis revealed that vaccination induced differentiation and functional diversification of responsive T-cell populations specific for EBNA1 and LMP2 within the CD4 and CD8 compartments, respectively. Conclusions: MVA-EL is safe and immunogenic across diverse ethnicities and thus suitable for use in trials against different EBV-positive cancers globally as well as in South-East Asia where NPC is most common. The highest dose (5 × 108 pfu) is recommended for investigation in current phase IB and II trials. Clin Cancer Res; 20(19); 5009–22. ©2014 AACR

GA4GH: International policies and standards for data sharing across genomic research and healthcare.

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) aims to accelerate biomedical advances by enabling the responsible sharing of clinical and genomic data through both harmonized data aggregation and federated approaches. The decreasing cost of genomic sequencing (along with other genome-wide molecular assays) and increasing evidence of its clinical utility will soon drive the generation of sequence data from tens of millions of humans, with increasing levels of diversity. In this perspective, we present the GA4GH strategies for addressing the major challenges of this data revolution. We describe the GA4GH organization, which is fueled by the development efforts of eight Work Streams and informed by the needs of 24 Driver Projects and other key stakeholders. We present the GA4GH suite of secure, interoperable technical standards and policy frameworks and review the current status of standards, their relevance to key domains of research and clinical care, and future plans of GA4GH. Broad international participation in building, adopting, and deploying GA4GH standards and frameworks will catalyze an unprecedented effort in data sharing that will be critical to advancing genomic medicine and ensuring that all populations can access its benefits