Do people's first names match their faces?

We often feel that people’s first names suit their faces in some way. Evidence has already shown that we share common stereotypes about how people with particular names should look. Here, we investigate whether there is any accuracy to these beliefs. Simply, can we match people’s names to their faces? Across two experiments, we tested whether American (Experiment 1) and British participants (Experiment 2) were able to match the first names of strangers with photographs of their faces. Although Experiment 1 provided some initial support for accuracy in female participants, we were unable to replicate this result in Experiment 2. Therefore, we find no overall evidence to suggest that particular names and faces are associated with each other

Cognitive phenotype and differential gene expression in a hippocampal homologue in two species of frog

The complexity of an animal's interaction with its physical and/or social environment is thought to be associated with behavioral flexibility and cognitive phenotype, though we know little about this relationship in amphibians. We examined differences in cognitive phenotype in two species of frog with divergent natural histories. The greenand- black poison frog (Dendrobates auratus) is diurnal, displays enduring social interactions, and uses spatially distributed resources during parental care. Tungara frogs (Physalaemus=Engystomops pustulosus) are nocturnal, express only fleeting social interactions, and use ephemeral puddles to breed in a lek-type mating system. Comparing performance in identical discrimination tasks, we find that D. auratus made fewer errors when learning and displayed greater behavioral flexibility in reversal learning tasks than tungara frogs. Further, tungara frogs preferred to learn beacons that can be used in direct guidance whereas D. auratus preferred position cues that could be used to spatially orient relative to the goal. Behavioral flexibility and spatial cognition are associated with hippocampal function in mammals. Accordingly, we examined differential gene expression in the medial pallium, the amphibian homolog of the hippocampus. Our preliminary data indicate that genes related to learning and memory, synaptic plasticity, and neurogenesis were upregulated in D. auratus, while genes related to apoptosis were upregulated in tungara frogs, suggesting that these cellular processes could contribute to the differences in behavioral flexibility and spatial learning we observed between poison frogs and tungara frogs

Current applications of kinetic resolution in the asymmetric synthesis of substituted pyrrolidines

Chiral substituted pyrrolidines are key elements in various biologically active molecules and are therefore valuable synthetic targets. One traditional method towards enantiomerically pure compounds is the application of kinetic resolution. In this review, current KR methodology used in the synthesis of substituted pyrrolidines is surveyed, including enzymatic methods, cycloadditions and reduction of ketones

The fading of two transient ultraluminous x-ray sources to below the stellar mass Eddington limit

We report new detections of the two transient ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in NGC 5128 from an ongoing series of Chandra observations. Both sources have previously been observed L (2-3) × ∼10 erg s, at the lower end of the ULX luminosity range. The new observations allow us to study these sources in the luminosity regime frequented by the Galactic black hole X-ray binaries (BH XBs). We present the recent lightcurves of both ULXs. 1RXH J132519.8-430312 (ULX1) was observed at L 1 × 10 erg s, while CXOU J132518.2-430304 (ULX2) declined to L 2 × 10 erg s and then lingered at this luminosity for hundreds of days. We show that a reasonable upper limit for both duty cycles is 0.2, with a lower limit of 0.12 for ULX2. This duty cycle is larger than anticipated for transient ULXs in old stellar populations. By fitting simple spectral models in an observation with ∼50 counts we recover properties consistent with Galactic BH XBs, but inconclusive as to the spectral state. We utilize quantile analyses to demonstrate that the spectra are generally soft, and that in one observation the spectrum of ULX2 is inconsistent with a canonical hard state at >95% confidence. This is contrary to what would be expected of an accreting intermediate mass black hole primary, which we would expect to be in the hard state at these luminosities. We discuss the paucity of transient ULXs discovered in early-type galaxies and excogitate explanations. We suggest that the number of transient ULXs scales with the giant and sub-giant populations, rather than the total number of XBs.Peer reviewe

Wildlife in the line of fire: evaluating the stress physiology of a critically endangered Australian marsupial after bushfire

Australian native fauna are thought to be well adapted to fire-prone landscapes, but bushfires may still pose considerable challenges or stressors to wildlife. We investigated the impact of bushfire on the stress physiology of the woylie (brush-tailed bettong, Bettongia penicillata) a critically endangered Australian marsupial, and assessed whether fitness indices (body condition and parasite load) influenced stress physiology before and after the fire. We hypothesised that there would be a significant change in stress physiology indicators (in the form of faecal cortisol metabolites, FCM) following the fire, compared with the months previous. We trapped woylies (n≤19) at Whiteman Park Reserve in Perth, Western Australia, two days after a major bushfire and measured FCM concentration by enzyme immunoassay. Population-level comparisons of FCM were made between these samples and those collected in previous months (n≤58). While mean FCM varied by month of sample collection, it was not higher after the fire. We suggest that woylies may be able to maintain homeostasis through change (allostasis), at least in the period immediately after the fire. This is supported by our finding that FCM did not relate significantly to body condition or parasite load. Our results potentially highlight the physiological and behavioural adaptations of woylies to fire, which could be further explored in future studie

Management of paediatric tibial fractures using two types of circular external fixator: Taylor spatial frame and Ilizarov circular fixator.

Background The use of circular fixators for the treatment of tibial fractures is well established in the literature. The aim of this study was to compare the Ilizarov circular fixator (ICF) with the Taylor spatial frame (TSF) in terms of treatment results in consecutive patients with tibial fractures that required operative management. Method A retrospective analysis of patient records and radiographs was performed to obtain patient data, information on injury sustained, the operative technique used, time duration in frame, healing time and complications of treatment. The minimum follow-up was 24 months. Results Ten patients were treated with ICF between 2000 and 2005, while 15 patients have been treated with TSF since 2005. Two of the 10 treated with ICF and 5 of the 15 treated with TSF were open fractures. All patients went on to achieve complete union. Mean duration in the frame was 12.7 weeks for ICF and 14.8 weeks for the TSF group. Two patients in the TSF group had delayed union and required additional procedures including adjustment of fixator and bone grafting. There was one malunion in the TSF group that required osteotomy and reapplication of frame. There were seven and nine pin-site infections in the ICF and TSF groups, respectively, all of which responded to antibiotics. There were no refractures in either group. Conclusion In an appropriate patient, both types of circular fixator are equally effective but have different characteristics, with TSF allowing for postoperative deformity correction. Of concern are the two cases of delayed union in the TSF group, all in patients with high-energy injuries. We feel another larger study is required to provide further clarity in this matter. Level of evidence Level II—comparative study

On Hydrodynamical Description of Thermal Photons

The WA98 collaboration in the CERN SPS has reported an excess of photons over those originating from the decays of final hadrons in the lead-lead collisions. These photons can originate either from primary interactions of partons from colliding nuclei or from secondary interactions among produced particles. Photons produced in the secondary interactions, often called thermal photons, can be calculated by using thermal production rates and equilibrium hydrodynamics for the evolution of the expanding matter. I will review the main features of hydrodynamical studies for the WA98 data. The data can be reproduced both with or without a phase transition to the QGP, but high initial temperature, over the values predicted for the phase transition temperature, is required by the data. I will also show a prediction for the photon excess for central gold-gold collisions at the Brookhaven RHIC collider. In this prediction, the initial state for the hydrodynamical expansion is obtained from a perturbative QCD calculation.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, Contribution to Quark Matter 2002, Nantes, France, July 18-24, 200

Evaluation of bifunctional chiral phosphine oxide catalysts for the asymmetric hydrosilylation of ketimines

A series of bifunctional phosphine oxides have been prepared and evaluated as catalysts for the trichlorosilane mediated asymmetric hydrosilylation of ketimines. bis-Phosphine oxides, hydroxy-phosphine oxides, and biaryl phosphine oxides all demonstrated good catalytic activity, but poor to moderate enantioselectivity. A bis-P-chiral phosphine oxide displayed the highest enantioselectivity of 60%

Evaluating stress physiology and parasite infection parameters in the translocation of critically endangered woylies (Bettongia penicillata)

Translocation can be stressful for wildlife. Stress may be important in fauna translocation because it has been suggested that it can exacerbate the impact of infectious disease on translocated wildlife. However, few studies explore this hypothesis by measuring stress physiology and infection indices in parallel during wildlife translocations. We analysed faecal cortisol metabolite (FCM) concentration and endoparasite parameters (nematodes, coccidians and haemoparasites) in a critically endangered marsupial, the woylie (Bettongia penicillata), 1–3 months prior to translocation, at translocation, and 6 months later. FCM for both translocated and resident woylies was significantly higher after translocation compared to before or at translocation. In addition, body condition decreased with increasing FCM after translocation. These patterns in host condition and physiology may be indicative of translocation stress or stress associated with factors independent of the translocation. Parasite factors also influenced FCM in translocated woylies. When haemoparasites were detected, there was a significant negative relationship between strongyle egg count and FCM. This may reflect the influence of glucocorticoids on the immune response to micro- and macro-parasites. Our results indicate that host physiology and infection patterns can change significantly during translocation, but further investigation is required to determine how these patterns influence translocation success