Rapid generation of chromosome-specific alphoid DNA probes using the polymerase chain reaction

Non-isotopic in situ hybridization of chromosome-specific alphoid DNA probes has become a potent tool in the study of numerical aberrations of specific human chromosomes at all stages of the cell cycle. In this paper, we describe approaches for the rapid generation of such probes using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and demonstrate their chromosome specificity by fluorescence in situ hybridization to normal human metaphase spreads and interphase nuclei. Oligonucleotide primers for conserved regions of the alpha satellite monomer were used to generate chromosome-specific DNA probes from somatic hybrid cells containing various human chromosomes, and from DNA libraries from sorted human chromosomes. Oligonucleotide primers for chromosome-specific regions of the alpha satellite monomer were used to generate specific DNA probes for the pericentromeric heterochromatin of human chromosomes 1, 6, 7, 17 and X directly from human genomic DNA

Precision measurement of the η→π+π−π0\eta\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0 Dalitz plot distribution with the KLOE detector

Using $1.6$ fb$^{-1}$ of $e^+ e^-\to\phi\to\eta\gamma$ data collected with the KLOE detector at DA$\Phi$NE, the Dalitz plot distribution for the $\eta \to \pi^+ \pi^- \pi^0$ decay is studied with the world's largest sample of $\sim 4.7 \cdot 10^6$ events. The Dalitz plot density is parametrized as a polynomial expansion up to cubic terms in the normalized dimensionless variables $X$ and $Y$. The experiment is sensitive to all charge conjugation conserving terms of the expansion, including a $gX^2Y$ term. The statistical uncertainty of all parameters is improved by a factor two with respect to earlier measurements.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, supplement: an ascii tabl

Memory development: implications for adults recalling childhood experiences in the courtroom

Adults frequently provide compelling, detailed accounts of early childhood experiences in the courtroom. Judges and jurors are asked to decide guilt or innocence based solely on these decades-old memories using 'common sense' notions about memory. However, these notions are not in agreement with findings from neuroscientific and behavioural studies of memory development. Without expert guidance, judges and jurors may have difficulty in properly adjudicating the weight of memory evidence in cases involving adult recollections of childhood experiences

Assessment of motor functioning in the preschool period

The assessment of motor functioning in young children has become increasingly important in recent years with the acknowledgement that motor impairment is linked with cognitive, language, social and emotional difficulties. However, there is no one gold standard assessment tool to investigate motor ability in children. The aim of the current paper was to discuss the issues related to the assessment of motor ability in young pre-school children and to provide guidelines on the best approach for motor assessment. The paper discusses the maturational changes in brain development at the preschool level in relation to motor ability. Other issues include sex differences in motor ability at this young age, and evidence for this in relation to sociological versus biological influences. From the previous literature it is unclear what needs to be assessed in relation to motor functioning. Should the focus be underlying motor processes or movement skill assessment? Several key assessment tools are discussed that produce a general measure of motor performance followed by a description of tools that assess specific skills, such as fine and gross motor, ball and graphomotor skills. The paper concludes with recommendations on the best approach in assessing motor function in pre-school children

Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta

Prolonged Visual Experience in Adulthood Modulates Holistic Face Perception

Background: Using the well-known composite illusion as a marker of the holistic perception of faces, we tested how prolonged visual experience with a specific population of faces (4- to 6-year-old children) modulates the face perception system in adulthood. Methodology/Principal Findings: We report a face composite effect that is larger for adult than children faces in a group of adults without experience with children faces (‘‘children-face novices’’), while it is of equal magnitude for adults and children faces in a population of preschool teachers (‘‘children-face experts’’). When considering preschool teachers only, we observed a significant correlation between the number of years of experience with children faces and the differential face composite effect between children and adults faces. Participants with at least 10 years of qualitative experience with children faces had a larger composite face effect for children than adult faces. Conclusions/Significance: Overall, these observations indicate that even in adulthood face processes can be reshaped qualitatively, presumably to facilitate efficient processing of the differential morphological features of the frequently encountered population of faces

The Composite Task Reveals Stronger Holistic Processing in Children than Adults for Child Faces

Background: While own-age faces have been reported to be better recognized than other-age faces, the underlying cause of this phenomenon remains unclear. One potential cause is holistic face processing, a special kind of perceptual and cognitive processing reserved for perceiving upright faces. Previous studies have indeed found that adults show stronger holistic processing when looking at adult faces compared to child faces, but whether a similar own-age bias exists in children remains to be shown. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we used the composite face task – a standard test of holistic face processing – to investigate if, for child faces, holistic processing is stronger for children than adults. Results showed child participants (8–13 years) had a larger composite effect than adult participants (22–65 years). Conclusions/Significance: Our finding suggests that differences in strength of holistic processing may underlie the ownage bias on recognition memory. We discuss the origin of own-age biases in terms of relative experience, face-space tuning, and social categorization

Visual Recognition of Age Class and Preference for Infantile Features: Implications for Species-Specific vs Universal Cognitive Traits in Primates

Despite not knowing the exact age of individuals, humans can estimate their rough age using age-related physical features. Nonhuman primates show some age-related physical features; however, the cognitive traits underlying their recognition of age class have not been revealed. Here, we tested the ability of two species of Old World monkey, Japanese macaques (JM) and Campbell's monkeys (CM), to spontaneously discriminate age classes using visual paired comparison (VPC) tasks based on the two distinct categories of infant and adult images. First, VPCs were conducted in JM subjects using conspecific JM stimuli. When analyzing the side of the first look, JM subjects significantly looked more often at novel images. Based on analyses of total looking durations, JM subjects looked at a novel infant image longer than they looked at a familiar adult image, suggesting the ability to spontaneously discriminate between the two age classes and a preference for infant over adult images. Next, VPCs were tested in CM subjects using heterospecific JM stimuli. CM subjects showed no difference in the side of their first look, but looked at infant JM images longer than they looked at adult images; the fact that CMs were totally naïve to JMs suggested that the attractiveness of infant images transcends species differences. This is the first report of visual age class recognition and a preference for infant over adult images in nonhuman primates. Our results suggest not only species-specific processing for age class recognition but also the evolutionary origins of the instinctive human perception of baby cuteness schema, proposed by the ethologist Konrad Lorenz