Music Familiarity Affects EEG Entrainment When Little Attention Is Paid

To investigate the brain's response to music, many researchers have examined cortical entrainment in relation to periodic tunes, periodic beats, and music. Music familiarity is another factor that affects cortical entrainment, and electroencephalogram (EEG) studies have shown that stronger entrainment occurs while listening to unfamiliar music than while listening to familiar music. In the present study, we hypothesized that not only the level of familiarity but also the level of attention affects the level of entrainment. We simultaneously presented music and a silent movie to participants and we recorded an EEG while participants paid attention to either the music or the movie in order to investigate whether cortical entrainment is related to attention and music familiarity. The average cross-correlation function across channels, trials, and participants exhibited a pronounced positive peak at time lags around 130 ms and a negative peak at time lags around 260 ms. The statistical analysis of the two peaks revealed that the level of attention did not affect the level of entrainment, and, moreover, that in both the auditory-active and visual-active conditions, the entrainment level is stronger when listening to unfamiliar music than when listening to familiar music. This may indicate that the familiarity with music affects cortical activities when attention is not fully devoted to listening to music

Familiarity Affects Entrainment of EEG in Music Listening

Music perception involves complex brain functions. The relationship between music and brain such as cortical entrainment to periodic tune, periodic beat, and music have been well investigated. It has also been reported that the cerebral cortex responded more strongly to the periodic rhythm of unfamiliar music than to that of familiar music. However, previous works mainly used simple and artificial auditory stimuli like pure tone or beep. It is still unclear how the brain response is influenced by the familiarity of music. To address this issue, we analyzed electroencelphalogram (EEG) to investigate the relationship between cortical response and familiarity of music using melodies produced by piano sounds as simple natural stimuli. The cross-correlation function averaged across trials, channels, and participants showed two pronounced peaks at time lags around 70 ms and 140 ms. At the two peaks the magnitude of the cross-correlation values were significantly larger when listening to unfamiliar and scrambled music compared to those when listening to familiar music. Our findings suggest that the response to unfamiliar music is stronger than that to familiar music. One potential application of our findings would be the discrimination of listeners’ familiarity with music, which provides an important tool for assessment of brain activity

Familiarity Affects Entrainment of EEG in Music Listening

Music perception involves complex brain functions. The relationship between music and brain such as cortical entrainment to periodic tune, periodic beat, and music have been well investigated. It has also been reported that the cerebral cortex responded more strongly to the periodic rhythm of unfamiliar music than to that of familiar music. However, previous works mainly used simple and artificial auditory stimuli like pure tone or beep. It is still unclear how the brain response is influenced by the familiarity of music. To address this issue, we analyzed electroencelphalogram (EEG) to investigate the relationship between cortical response and familiarity of music using melodies produced by piano sounds as simple natural stimuli. The cross-correlation function averaged across trials, channels, and participants showed two pronounced peaks at time lags around 70 and 140 ms. At the two peaks the magnitude of the cross-correlation values were significantly larger when listening to unfamiliar and scrambled music compared to those when listening to familiar music. Our findings suggest that the response to unfamiliar music is stronger than that to familiar music. One potential application of our findings would be the discrimination of listeners' familiarity with music, which provides an important tool for assessment of brain activity

Anti-neoplastic effects of topoisomerase inhibitors in canine mammary carcinoma, melanoma, and osteosarcoma cell lines

Numerous topoisomerase inhibitors with proven efficacy have been used extensively to treat various human neoplasms. However, among these, only doxorubicin has been used and studied extensively in veterinary oncology. The current study was performed to evaluate the responsiveness of canine osteosarcoma (cOSA), mammary gland tumour (cMGT), and malignant melanoma (cMM) cell lines to several topoisomerase inhibitors. In addition, the correlation between the sensitivity to treatment and multi-drug resistant (MDR) factors was investigated. cOSA cell lines exhibited higher sensitivity than cMGT and cMM cell lines to all the topoisomerase inhibitors tested in vitro; this was associated with the levels of multi-drug resistance protein 1 (MDR1) gene expression in the cOSA cell lines. Treatment of cOSA (HMPOS) and cMGT cell line (CHMp) xenograft mouse models with etoposide markedly delayed tumour progression in HMPOS xenografts, but failed to elicit lasting anti-tumour effects on CHMp xenograft mice. The present findings suggest that MDR1 represents a molecular signature for prediction of treatment efficacy of topoisomerase inhibitors, especially that of etoposide, which may be a clinically useful anti-tumour agent for cOSA; however, further study is necessary to refine the treatment protocol

Three dimensional numerical modeling of tidal currents in inter-tidal zone

This paper presents a new three dimensional (3D) tidal current model that can compute wetting and drying bed (WAD) in tidal flats due tidal motion. The governing equations are derived from 3D Navier Stokes equations and solved using the fractional step method (FSM), combining the finite difference method in the horizontal plane and the finite element method (FEM) in the vertical plane. First, a model test for Saigo fishery port was carried out in order to investigate the performance of the model. Secondly, the tidal currents with the WAD in the north bay of Ariake Sea were simulated. Finally, the applicability of the model was discussed

Evaluation of the proper dosage of lapatinib and its safety in dogs

Lapatinib is a low-molecular-weight agent targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). It is one of the antitumor agents used against advanced breast cancer in human. We intended to apply it against canine mammary gland tumors (cMGTs). To this end, we evaluated the tolerated dosage and the side effects of lapatinib in healthy dogs. In this study, we conducted a dose-escalation toxicity test starting from 30 mg/kg to determine the maximum tolerated dose. Grade 3 toxicity, which was apparent as weight loss, was observed at the dose of 40 mg/kg/day. We then performed a long-term administration test and found that the dose of 35 mg/kg/day was well-tolerated within 7 weeks but caused grade 3 hepatic toxicity by the eighth week. In conclusion, our findings reveal that the dose of 35 mg/kg/day administered for no more than 8 weeks is fairly safe for use in healthy dogs. This dose is higher than the recommended dose for humans; thus, further studies evaluating the effective dose against canine tumors are needed

Draxin regulates hippocampal neurogenesis in the postnatal dentate gyrus by inhibiting DCC-induced apoptosis

Hippocampal neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus (DG) is controlled by diffusible molecules that modulate neurogenic processes, including cell proliferation, differentiation and survival. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying hippocampal neurogenesis, we investigated the function of draxin, originally identified as a neural chemorepellent, in the regulation of neuronal survival in the DG. Draxin was expressed in Tbr2 (+) late progenitors and NeuroD1 (+) neuroblasts in the dentate granule cell lineage, whereas expression of its receptor DCC (deleted in colorectal cancer) was mainly detectable in neuroblasts. Our phenotypic analysis revealed that draxin deficiency led to enhanced apoptosis of DCC-expressing neuroblasts in the neurogenic areas. Furthermore, in vitro assays using a hippocampal neural stem/progenitor cell (HNSPC) line indicated that draxin inhibited apoptosis in differentiating HNSPCs, which express DCC. Taken together, we postulate that draxin plays a pivotal role in postnatal DG neurogenesis as a dependence receptor ligand for DCC to maintain and promote survival of neuroblasts

Evaluation of immunohistochemical staining with PMab-38, an anti-dog podoplanin monoclonal antibody, in various canine tumor tissues

Podoplanin (PDPN) is a type I transmembrane sialoglycoprotein with O-glycosylation and a high content of sialic acid. PDPN has been reported to be expressed in various human tumors and promote tumor progression, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and distant metastasis. PDPN is also expressed in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which promote tumor growth. We have developed novel tumor specific anti-PDPN antibodies. PMab-38, which is an anti-dog PDPN monoclonal antibody, recognized PDPN expression in canine squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and malignant melanoma. However, there has been no research into PMab-38 recognition of other types of tumors and systemic normal tissue. The objective of this study was to evaluate the staining positivity of PMab-38 by immunohistochemical staining of various paraffin-embedded canine tumor and systemic normal tissues. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that PMab-38 positively stained tumor cells in 9/11 (82%) SCC and 9/11 (82%) pulmonary adenocarcinoma tissues. In the tumor stroma, large spindle-shaped mesenchymal cells, which were suspected to be CAFs, were stained by PMab-38 in almost all tumor types: 9/10 (90%) for anal sac adenocarcinoma and 11/12 (92%) for transitional cell carcinoma tissues. Almost all normal tissues were negatively stained with PMab-38 except part of the kidney glomerulus. Taken together, our findings provide evidence that various types of tumor cells were strongly stained by PMab-38, but most normal cells were not stained. These results indicate that PDPN recognized by PMab-38 might be a target for tumor antigen targeting therapy. Further studies are required to investigate the anti-tumor effect in various canine tumors by antibody therapy using PMab-38