When East meets West: Gaze-contingent Blindspots abolish cultural diversity in eye movements for faces

Culture impacts on how people sample visual information for face processing. Westerners deploy fixations towards the eyes and the mouth to achieve face recognition. In contrast, Easterners reach equal performance by deploying more central fixations, suggesting an effective extrafoveal information use. However, this hypothesis has not been yet directly investigated, i.e. by providing only extrafoveal information to both groups of observers. We used a parametric gaze-contingent technique dynamically masking central vision - the Blindspot - with Western and Eastern observers during face recognition. Westerners shifted progressively towards the typical Eastern central fixation pattern with larger Blindspots, whereas Easterners were insensitive to the Blindspots. These observations clearly show that Easterners preferentially sample information extrafoveally for faces. Conversely, the Western data also show that culturally-dependent visuo-motor strategies can flexibly adjust to constrained visual situations

Parsec-scale jet properties of the gamma-ray quasar 3C 286

The quasar 3C~286 is one of two compact steep spectrum sources detected by the {\it Fermi}/LAT. Here, we investigate the radio properties of the parsec(pc)-scale jet and its (possible) association with the $\gamma$-ray emission in 3C~286. The Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) images at various frequencies reveal a one-sided core--jet structure extending to the southwest at a projected distance of $\sim$1 kpc. The component at the jet base showing an inverted spectrum is identified as the core, with a mean brightness temperature of $2.8\times 10^{9}$~K. The jet bends at about 600 pc (in projection) away from the core, from a position angle of $-135^\circ$ to $-115^\circ$. Based on the available VLBI data, we inferred the proper motion speed of the inner jet as $0.013 \pm 0.011$ mas yr$^{-1}$ ($\beta_{\rm app} = 0.6 \pm 0.5$), corresponding to a jet speed of about $0.5\,c$ at an inclination angle of $48^\circ$ between the jet and the line of sight of the observer. The brightness temperature, jet speed and Lorentz factor are much lower than those of $\gamma$-ray-emitting blazars, implying that the pc-scale jet in 3C~286 is mildly relativistic. Unlike blazars in which $\gamma$-ray emission is in general thought to originate from the beamed innermost jet, the location and mechanism of $\gamma$-ray emission in 3C~286 may be different as indicated by the current radio data. Multi-band spectrum fitting may offer a complementary diagnostic clue of the $\gamma$-ray production mechanism in this source.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accept for publication in MNRA

Antiresistin RNA oligonucleotide ameliorates diet-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in mice through attenuating proinflammatory cytokines

© 2015 Yi Tan et al. The aim of this study was to determine whether inhibition of resistin by a synthetic antiresistin RNA (oligonucleotide) oligo ameliorates metabolic and histological abnormalities in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) induced by high-fat diet (HFD) in mice. The antiresistin RNA oligo and a scrambled control oligo (25 mg/kg of body weight) were i.p. injected to HFD mice. Serum metabolic parameters and hepatic enzymes were measured after 4-week treatment. The treatment significantly reduced epididymal fat and attenuated the elevated serum resistin, cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, and insulin with an improved glucose tolerance test. Antiresistin RNA oligo also normalized serum AST and ALT levels with improved pathohistology of NAFLD. Immunoblotting and qRT-PCR revealed that decreased protein and mRNA expression of resistin in fat and liver tissues of the treated mice were associated with reduction of adipose TNF-α and IL-6 expression and secretion into circulation. mRNA and protein expression of hepatic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c) were also significantly decreased in the treated mice. Our results suggest that resistin may exacerbate NAFLD in metabolic syndrome through upregulating inflammatory cytokines and hepatic PEPCK and SREBP-1c. Antiresistin RNA oligo ameliorated metabolic abnormalities and histopathology of NAFLD through attenuating proinflammatory cytokines

Comparison of chemical profiles and effectiveness between Erxian decoction and mixtures of decoctions of its individual herbs : a novel approach for identification of the standard chemicals

Acknowledgements This study was partially supported by grants from the Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research (Project Number 201211159146 and 201411159213), the University of Hong Kong. We thank Mr Keith Wong and Ms Cindy Lee for their technical assistances.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Characterisation of Bone Beneficial Components from Australian Wallaby Bone.

Background: Osteoporosis is a condition in which the bones become brittle, increasing the risk of fractures. Complementary medicines have traditionally used animal bones for managing bone disorders, such as osteoporosis. This study aimed to discover new natural products for these types of conditions by determining mineral and protein content of bone extracts derived from the Australian wallaby. Methods: Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis were used for mineral tests, proteome analysis was using LC/MS/MS and the effects of wallaby bone extracts (WBE)s on calcium deposition and alkaline phosphatase activity were evaluated in osteogenic cells derived from adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs). Results: Concentrations of calcium and phosphorus were 26.21% and 14.72% in WBE respectively. Additionally, minerals found were wide in variety and high in concentration, while heavy metal concentrations of aluminium, iron, zinc and other elements were at safe levels for human consumption. Proteome analysis showed that extracts contained high amounts of bone remodelling proteins, such as osteomodulin, osteopontin and osteoglycin. Furthermore, in vitro evaluation of WBEs showed increased deposition of calcium in osteoblasts with enhanced alkaline phosphatase activity in differentiated adipose-derived stem cells. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that wallaby bone extracts possess proteins and minerals beneficial for bone metabolism. WBEs may therefore be used for developing natural products for conditions such as osteoporosis and further investigation to understand biomolecular mechanism by which WBEs prevent osteoporosis is warranted

Compact Bright Radio-loud AGNs. III. A Large VLBA Survey at 43 GHz

We present the results from the 43 GHz Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of 124 compact radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that were conducted between 2014 November and 2016 May. The typical dimensions of the restoring beam in each image are about 0.5 mas x 0.2 mas. The highest resolution of 0.2 mas corresponds to a physical size of 0.02 pc for the lowest redshift source in the sample. The 43 GHz very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) images of 97 AGNs are presented for the first time. We study the source compactness on milliarcsecond and submilliarcsecond scales, and suggest that 95 sources in our sample are suitable for future space VLBI observations. By analyzing our data supplemented with other VLBA AGN surveys from the literature, we find that the core brightness temperature increases with increasing frequency below a break frequency similar to 7 GHz, and decreases between similar to 7 and 240 GHz but increases again above 240 GHz in the rest frame of the sources. This indicates that the synchrotron opacity changes from optically thick to thin. We also find a strong statistical correlation between radio and gamma-ray flux densities. Our correlation is tighter than those in the literature derived from lower-frequency VLBI data, suggesting that the gamma-ray emission is produced more cospatially with the 43 GHz VLBA core emission. This correlation can also be extrapolated to the unbeamed AGN population, implying that a universal gamma-ray production mechanism might be at work for all types of AGNs

Use of moxibustion to treat primary dysmenorrhea at two interventional times: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

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