The Audiovisual Tau Effect in Infancy

Perceived spatial intervals between successive flashes can be distorted by varying the temporal intervals between them (the “tau effect”). A previous study showed that a tau effect for visual flashes could be induced when they were accompanied by auditory beeps with varied temporal intervals (an audiovisual tau effect).We conducted two experiments to investigate whether the audiovisual tau effect occurs in infancy. Forty-eight infants aged 5–8 months took part in this study. In Experiment 1, infants were familiarized with audiovisual stimuli consisting of three pairs of two flashes and three beeps. The onsets of the first and third pairs of flashes were respectively matched to those of the first and third beeps. The onset of the second pair of flashes was separated from that of the second beep by 150 ms. Following the familiarization phase, infants were exposed to a test stimulus composed of two vertical arrays of three static flashes with different spatial intervals. We hypothesized that if the audiovisual tau effect occurred in infancy then infants would preferentially look at the flash array with spatial intervals that would be expected to be different from the perceived spatial intervals between flashes they were exposed to in the familiarization phase. The results of Experiment 1 supported this hypothesis. In Experiment 2, the first and third beeps were removed from the familiarization stimuli, resulting in the disappearance of the audiovisual tau effect. This indicates that the modulation of temporal intervals among flashes by beeps was essential for the audiovisual tau effect to occur (Experiment 2).These results suggest that the cross-modal processing that underlies the audiovisual tau effect occurs even in early infancy. In particular, the results indicate that audiovisual modulation of temporal intervals emerges by 5–8 months of age

Assessment of Neutrophil Functional Activity following Prolonged Endurance Exercise

ntroduction: Neutrophils not only play an important role in host defense by migrating to the site of infection and producing reactive oxygen species (RO S), but also mediate pathological process in inflammatory tissue damage. Therefore, it is import ant not only to assess but also modulate neutrophil activities for disease prevention. We hav e reported that exhaustive exercise causes neutrophil priming (Suzuki et al. J. Appl. Physiol. , 81, 1213-1222, 1996) which might be associated wi th muscle damage (Suzuki et al. J. Appl. Physiol. , 87, 1360-1367, 1999), but antioxidant capacity is also activated following exercise (Suzuki et al. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. , 35, 348-355, 2003). In the present study, we examined the effects of endurance exercis e on neutrophil activation in relation with muscle damage (Sugama et al. EIR , 18, 115-126, 2012) and report the ex vivo findings based on a newly- developed neutrophil activity measurement system (S uzuki et al. Anticancer Res, 32, 2369-2376, 2012). Methods: Fourteen male triathletes participated in a duathlo n race consisted of 5 km of running, 40 km of cycling and 5 km of running. Venous blood sam ples were collected before, immediately after, 1.5 h and 3 h after the race. A mixture of blood an d luminol was layered on hydrogel (Mebiol Co., Kanagawa, Japan) in each tube and incubated for 60 min. The cell counts in the hydrogel were quantified as the migratory activity of neutrophils , whereas the ROS production was measured by luminol-dependent chemiluminescence. Serum concentr ation of myoglobin (Mb) as a marker of muscle damage and plasma reactive oxygen metabolite s (d-ROMs) as a marker of oxidative stress were also measured. Results: The migratory activity of neutrophils was significa ntly elevated immediately after exercise, further increased 1.5 h, and slightly decreased but remained significantly elevated 3 h after the race . ROS production of neutrophils was significantly ele vated 3 h after the race. Serum Mb concentration increased significantly after exercise and correlat ed positively with the migratory activity of neutrophils, suggesting that neutrophils could infi ltrate into the injured muscle. On the other hand, plasma d-ROMs tended to correlate with ROS producti on, indicating that exercise-induced oxidative stress can be explained at least in part by the ROS production from neutrophils. Conclusions: This new method for measuring neutrophil activitie s can be applied not only for assessing the status of inflammation and oxidative stress in exhaustive exercise, but also as a method for evaluating the efficacy of antioxidant and anti -inflammatory substances for reducing muscle damage

Coping mechanisms of Junior high school students who feel unwell

本研究は，子どもに対する健康教育の具体的方策の検討に係る基礎的資料として，中学生の体調不良自覚の実態を調査するとともに，自覚症状に対する対処行動の傾向を明らかにすることを目的とし，以下の方法で分析を行った． ２００３年に中学生８１４名を対象として，睡眠や食事に関する生活習慣及び，体調不良の自覚とその際の対処行動に関する，独自の質問紙調査を実施し，記述統計及び項目間の有意差の検定を行った． ８１４名中，８０８名から有効回答が得られた．回答者の約３～４割が「腹痛」「頭痛」「倦怠感」を日常よく経験しており，対処行動には，学年，性別，体調不良自覚の頻度，生活習慣の違いによる選択率の有意差が生じていた． 体調不良の症状を自覚した際，中学生では学年が進むとともに他者依存から離れ，自己の判断により，よいと思う方法を選択する傾向に変化していた．中学生の時期には，自分の対処行動に伴う結果が適切な対処行動の選択に影響するとともに，学校や家庭での健康教育を含めたその他の要因が対処行動に関する知識の習得に影響していると考えられる．また，対処行動の選択には男女差が顕著な項目があり，男子は自己判断で対処する傾向があり，女子では他者に伝える傾向と，対処行動として合理的で確実な方法を選択する傾向があった． 以上の結果と考察から，発育段階，性差，生活の背景などを視野に入れた包括的，個別的な健康教育や保健指導の必要性が示唆された．The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of feeling unwell and the coping styles of Japanese junior high school students. A questionnaire survey of ８１４ junior high school students was conducted in ２００３． An original questionnaire was developed, consisting of questions relating to １） lifestyle, including sleeping and eating habits, and ２）the characteristics of feeling unwell and coping mechanisms. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and ▯２ or Wilcoxon to investigate the relationship between variables. Eight hundred and eight（８０８）questionnaire were returned. About ３０-４０% of respondents experienced stomach ache, headache and fatigue on a daily basis. Their grade, gender, lifestyle and the frequency of feeling unwell were associated with their coping styles. As students got older, their coping style became more independent. Junior high school may be the time to develop an independent coping style based on their own experiences as well as health education at school and home. There was a strong relationship between the coping style and gender. Girls tend to use a more internal locus of control and self-judgment, whereas girls tell others and choose rational and reliable strategies for coping. The results indicate that comprehensive and individualized health education and guidance incorporating personal development, gender and lifestyle are needed. The study’s results provide basic information for the development of health education strategies for school children

Erroneous selection of a non-target item improves subsequent target identification in rapid serial visual presentations

The second of two targets (T2) embedded in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVSVP) is often missed even though the first (T1) is correctly reported (attentional blink). The rate of correct T2 identification is quite high, however, when T2 comes immediately after T1 (lag-1 sparing). This study investigated whether and how non-target items induce lag-1 sparing. One T1 and two T2s comprising letters were inserted in distractors comprising symbols in each of two synchronised RSVSVPs. A digit (dummy) was presented with T1 in another stream. Lag-1 sparing occurred even at the location where the dummy was present (Experiment 1). This distractor-induced sparing effect was also obtained even when a Japanese katakana character (Experiment 2) was used as the dummy. The sparing effect was, however, severely weakened when symbols (Experiment 3) and Hebrew letters (Experiment 4) served as the dummy. Our findings suggest a tentative hypothesis that attentional set for item nameability is meta-categorically created and adopted to the dummy only when the dummy is nameable

Clozapine and Antipsychotic Monotherapy

Background: Although clozapine is effective for treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS), the rate of clozapine prescription is still low. Whereas antipsychotic monotherapy is recommended in clinical practice guidelines, the rate of antipsychotic polypharmacy is still high. There is little evidence on whether a clozapine prescription influences changes in the rate of monotherapy and polypharmacy, including antipsychotics and other psychotropics. We therefore hypothesized that the rate of antipsychotic monotherapy in patients with TRS who were prescribed clozapine would be higher than that in patients with schizophrenia who were not prescribed clozapine. Methods: We assessed 8306 patients with schizophrenia nationwide from 178 institutions in Japan from 2016 to 2019. We analyzed the psychotropic prescription data at discharge in patients diagnosed with TRS and with no description of TRS (ND-TRS) based on the diagnosis listed in the discharge summary. Results: The rate of antipsychotic monotherapy in the TRS with clozapine group (91.3%) was significantly higher than that in the TRS without clozapine group (45.9%; P < 2.0 × 10−16) and the ND-TRS without clozapine group (54.7%; P < 2.0 × 10−16). The rate of antipsychotic monotherapy without any other concomitant psychotropics in the TRS with clozapine group (26.5%) was significantly higher than that in the TRS without clozapine group (12.6%; P = 1.1 × 10−6) and the ND-TRS without clozapine group (17.0%; P = 5.9 × 10−6). Conclusions: Clozapine prescription could be associated with a high rate of antipsychotic monotherapy. Patients will benefit from the correct diagnosis of TRS and thus from proper clozapine prescription

EGUIDE project and treatment guidelines

Background Clinical practice guidelines for schizophrenia and major depressive disorder have been published. However, these have not had sufficient penetration in clinical settings. We developed the Effectiveness of Guidelines for Dissemination and Education in Psychiatric Treatment (EGUIDE) project as a dissemination and education programme for psychiatrists. Aims The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the EGUIDE project on the subjective clinical behaviour of psychiatrists in accordance with clinical practice guidelines before and 1 and 2 years after participation in the programmes. Method A total of 607 psychiatrists participated in this study during October 2016 and March 2019. They attended both 1-day educational programmes based on the clinical practice guidelines for schizophrenia and major depressive disorder, and answered web questionnaires about their clinical behaviours before and 1 and 2 years after attending the programmes. We evaluated the changes in clinical behaviours in accordance with the clinical practice guidelines between before and 2 years after the programme. Results All of the scores for clinical behaviours in accordance with clinical practice guidelines were significantly improved after 1 and 2 years compared with before attending the programmes. There were no significant changes in any of the scores between 1 and 2 years after attending. Conclusions All clinical behaviours in accordance with clinical practice guidelines improved after attending the EGUIDE programme, and were maintained for at least 2 years. The EGUIDE project could contribute to improved guideline-based clinical behaviour among psychiatrists

Shrinkage in the apparent size of cylindrical objects

A novel illusion in apparent size is reported. We asked observers to estimate the width and depth of vertically oriented elliptic cylinders depicted with texture or luminance gradients (experiment 1), or the height of horizontally oriented elliptic cylinders depicted with binocular disparity (experiment 2). The estimated width or height of cylinders showed systematic shrinkage in the direction of the gradual depth change. The dissimilarity of 2-D appearance amongst our stimuli implies a large variation in spatial-frequency components and brightness contrasts, eliminating the possibility that these parameters contributed to the illusion. Also, the mechanism inappropriately triggered by pictorial depth cues (eg size scaling) may be irrelevant, because the illusion was obtained even when binocular disparity alone specified the shape of the cylinders. The illusion demonstrated here suggests that our visual system may determine the size of 3-D objects by accounting for their depth structures

Inter-Comparison of ASTER and MODIS Surface Reflectance and Vegetation Index Products for Synergistic Applications to Natural Resource Monitoring

Synergistic applications of multi-resolution satellite data have been of a great interest among user communities for the development of an improved and more effective operational monitoring system of natural resources, including vegetation and soil. In this study, we conducted an inter-comparison of two remote sensing products, namely, visible/near-infrared surface reflectances and spectral vegetation indices (VIs), from the high resolution Advanced Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) (15 m) and lower resolution Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (250 m – 500 m) sensors onboard the Terra platform. Our analysis was aimed at understanding the degree of radiometric compatibility between the two sensors’ products due to sensor spectral bandpasses and product generation algorithms. Multiple pairs of ASTER and MODIS standard surface reflectance products were obtained at randomly-selected, globally-distributed locations, from which two types of VIs were computed: the normalized difference vegetation index and the enhanced vegetation indices with and without a blue band. Our results showed that these surface reflectance products and the derived VIs compared well between the two sensors at a global scale, but subject to systematic differences, of which magnitudes varied among scene pairs. An independent assessment of the accuracy of ASTER and MODIS standard products, in which “in-house†surface reflectances were obtained using in situ Aeronet atmospheric data for comparison, suggested that the performance of the ASTER atmospheric correction algorithm may be variable, reducing overall quality of its standard reflectance product. Atmospheric aerosols, which were not corrected for in the ASTER algorithm, were found not to impact the quality of the derived reflectances. Further investigation is needed to identify the sources of inconsistent atmospheric correction results associated with the ASTER algorithm, including additional quality assessments of the ASTER and MODIS products with other atmospheric radiative transfer codes