See it on a radio story: sound effects and shots to evoked imagery and attention on audio fiction

Radio’s capacity to stimulate the creation of mental images in the mind of its listeners has long been acknowledged. Nevertheless, research into mental imagery has focused principally on the study of visual stimuli, although studies into radio itself have mostly concerned the field of advertising. In this study, we examine the influence of two stimuli associated with auditory processing on radio: sound effects and sound shots. The chosen context for the study is that of a fictional story, or audio drama, through which to measure the role of these stimuli both in creating mental images in the listener’s mind and in maintaining his or her attention. Our findings demonstrate that the inclusion of descriptive sound effects and especially of sound shots in a fictional radio drama increases mental imagery and that a relationship exists between this increase and the degree of listener attention.The author received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article

Established and proposed roles of xanthine oxidoreductase in oxidative and reductive pathways in plants

Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) is among the most-intensively studied enzymes known to participate in the consumption of oxygen in cells. However, it attracted the attention of researchers due its participation in free radical production in vivo, mainly through the production of superoxide radicals. In plants, XOR is a key enzyme in purine degradation where it catalyzes the oxidation of hypoxanthine to xanthine and of xanthine to uric acid. Both reactions are accompanied by electron transfer to either NAD+ with simultaneous formation of NADH or to molecular oxygen, which results in formation of superoxides. Characterization of plant XOR mutants and isolated XOR proteins from various plant species provided evidence that the enzyme plays significant roles in plant growth, leaf senescence, fruit size, synthesis of nitrogen storage compounds, and plant-pathogen interactions. Moreover, the ability of XOR to carry out redox reactions as NADH oxidase and to produce reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide, together with a possible complementary role in abscisic acid synthesis have raised further attention on the importance of this enzyme. Based on these established and proposed functions, XOR is discussed as regulator of different processes of interest in plant biology and agriculture.The authors acknowledge the support of the research grants AGL2010-16167 to J.F.M. from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and Bi 1075/5-1 to F.B. by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. R.E. received a JAE-Doctor grant from the Spanish Research Council (CSIC).