Abstract Own child’s face is one of the most socially salient stimuli for parents, and a faster search for it than for other children’s faces may help provide warmer and more sensitive care. However, ...it has not been experimentally examined whether parents find their child’s face faster. In addition, although own child’s face is specially processed, the search time for own child’s face may be similar to that for other socially salient stimuli, such as own or spouse’s faces. This study tested these possibilities using a visual search paradigm. Participants (parents) searched for their child’s, own, spouse’s, other child’s, same-sex adult’s, or opposite-sex adult’s faces as search targets. Our findings indicate that both mothers and fathers identified their child’s face more quickly than other children’s faces. Similarly, parents found their own and spouse’s faces more quickly than other adults’ faces. Moreover, the search time for family members’ faces increased with the number of faces on the search display, suggesting an attentional serial search. These results suggest that robust face representations learned within families and close relationships can support reduced search times for family members’ faces.
The endocrine-disrupting activities of bisphenol A (BPA) and 19 related compounds were comparatively examined by means of different in vitro and in vivo reporter assays. BPA and some related ...compounds exhibited estrogenic activity in human breast cancer cell line MCF-7, but there were remarkable differences in activity. Tetrachlorobisphenol A (TCBPA) showed the highest activity, followed by bisphenol B, BPA, and tetramethylbisphenol A (TMBPA); 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-propanol, 1,1-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid and 2,2-diphenylpropane showed little or no activity. Anti-estrogenic activity against 17β-estradiol was observed with TMBPA and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA). TCBPA, TBBPA, and BPA gave positive responses in the in vivo uterotrophic assay using ovariectomized mice. In contrast, BPA and some related compounds showed significant inhibitory effects on the androgenic activity of 5α-dihydrotestosterone in mouse fibroblast cell line NIH3T3. TMBPA showed the highest antagonistic activity, followed by bisphenol AF, bisphenol AD, bisphenol B, and BPA. However, TBBPA, TCBPA, and 2,2-diphenylpropane were inactive. TBBPA, TCBPA, TMBPA, and 3,3′-dimethylbisphenol A exhibited significant thyroid hormonal activity towards rat pituitary cell line GH3, which releases growth hormone in a thyroid hormone-dependent manner. However, BPA and other derivatives did not show such activity. The results suggest that the 4-hydroxyl group of the A-phenyl ring and the B-phenyl ring of BPA derivatives are required for these hormonal activities, and substituents at the 3,5-positions of the phenyl rings and the bridging alkyl moiety markedly influence the activities.
Magnesium oxide (MgO) based refractories are widely used in secondary refining processes, and their dissolution into refining slag is the primary cause of their shortened lifespan. The dissolution ...rate was investigated for sintered MgO and commercial MgO-C and MgO-Cr
2
O
3
refractories in a synthesised 50CaO-45Al
2
O
3
-5SiO
2
liquid (mass-%) slag. The change in slag composition was measured after a refractory sample was placed into the molten slag that was stirred by flowing argon gas at 1773 K. The dissolution rate of the sintered MgO was above those of the MgO-C and MgO-Cr
2
O
3
refractories under the same gas flowrate, although the dissolution rate of all samples increased as the gas flowrate was increased from 25 to 75 mL·min
− 1
. The slag containing 5 mass-% FeO considerably promoted the dissolution of the MgO-C refractory because of the oxidation of carbon by FeO. The dissolution of all the refractories was greatly affected by penetration of the liquid slag, with the mass transfer of MgO in the penetrating slag at lower gas flowrates likely being the rate controlling step. At high gas flowrates, Ar bubbles covered the surface and blocked the contact between the liquid slag and the solid phase, reducing the dissolution rate.
To investigate the clinical and radiological features to predict adhesion between vestibular schwannoma (VS) and brain tissue which is a critical risk factor for postoperative infarction and residual ...tumour.
One hundred and seven consecutive VS surgeries were analysed. After excluding cases without contrast-enhanced (CE) computed tomography (CT), Koos grades 1 and 2, and cases with incomplete clinical data, 44 patients were finally included in the study. Enhancement of the tumour capsule on the brainstem side on CE-CT was defined as the CE-CT rim sign, which was analysed along with clinical characteristics, including tumour adhesion and postoperative complications.
Eight patients exhibited CE-CT rim signs; 17 had tumour adhesions. Four patients had postoperative infarction at the ipsilateral middle cerebellar peduncle; 18 exhibited postoperative infarction and/or residual tumour at the middle cerebellar peduncle. The CE-CT rim sign significantly correlated with tumour adhesion, postoperative infarction, and postoperative infarction and/or residual tumour in the cerebellar peduncle. Univariate regression analysis revealed that the CE-CT rim sign significantly correlated with tumour adhesion (odds ratio OR 6.81, 95% confidence interval CI 1.18-39.25, p=0.032) and postoperative infarction and/or residual tumour at the cerebellar peduncle (OR 6.00, 95% CI 1.04-34.31, p=0.044).
The CE-CT rim sign was identified in 18.2% of patients with VS and significantly correlated with tumour adhesion and postoperative complications, such as postoperative infarction and residual tumour. This study highlights the importance of the preoperative CE-CT rim sign in VS, which is predictive of tumour adhesion and postoperative complications.
It is unclear what neural processes induce individual differences in perceptual organization in different modalities. To examine this issue, the present study used different forms of bistable ...perception: auditory streaming, verbal transformations, visual plaids, and reversible figures. We performed factor analyses on the number of perceptual switches in the tasks. A 3-factor model provided a better fit to the data than the other possible models. These factors, namely the "auditory," "shape," and "motion" factors, were separable but correlated with each other. We compared the number of perceptual switches among genotype groups to identify the effects of neurotransmitter functions on the factors. We focused on polymorphisms of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val(158)Met and serotonin 2A receptor (HTR2A) -1438G/A genes, which are involved in the modulation of dopamine and serotonin, respectively. The number of perceptual switches in auditory streaming and verbal transformations differed among COMT genotype groups, whereas that in reversible figures differed among HTR2A genotype groups. The results indicate that the auditory and shape factors reflect the functions of the dopamine and serotonin systems, respectively. Our findings suggest that the formation and selection of percepts involve neural processes in cortical and subcortical areas.
To improve the transmittance of Mg–Y based switchable mirrors in the transparent state the surface was coated with a TiO2 thin film using e-beam evaporation and the optical properties were studied. ...The TiO2 films had a refractive index of ~2.1. As a result of the TiO2 coating with a thickness of ~65nm, the transmittance in the visible range was considerably improved and consequently the visible transmittance in the transparent state reached 68%. This result was consistent with simulation results calculated using complex refractive indices for hydrides of Pd, Mg–Y alloy, and Ta. Thus, it is concluded that TiO2 is one of the best candidates for an antireflection layer to improve the optical properties of switchable mirrors.
Display omitted
•Switchable mirrors coated with TiO2 thin films were prepared.•The TiO2 thin film worked as antireflection layer.•The mirror had a high visible transmittance of over 70% in the transparent state.•The mirror had a large dynamic range between two states of over 60%.
Summary
‘Pseudoprogression’ is often seen in patients with melanomas who are treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors such as nivolumab or ipilimumab. We sometimes evaluate metastatic lesions by ...imaging tests such as computed tomography (CT) or positron emission tomography‐CT. ‘Pseudoprogression’ usually occurs upon the initial administration, which may make it difficult for the physician to determine the disease condition. In our two cases of metastatic melanoma treated with nivolumab (antiprogrammed cell death‐1 antibody), we examined the ultrasonography (US) of target lesions that could be accessed from the body surface, such as those of the regional lymph node or subcutaneous metastasis. In both cases, the US revealed a lesion approximately 10% greater in size after 40–50 days of nivolumab administration, even though the blood flow inside the tumour was reduced by about 20% within 50 days. From about 100 days after blood flow reduction was detected by US, the tumours began to decrease in size. However, contrast CT was unable to detect the association between tumour size and tumour blood flow. The present cases suggest that US could be a powerful tool for differentiating between ‘pseudoprogression’ and real progressive disease in patients treated with cancer immunotherapies such as those involving immune checkpoint inhibitors. The misdiagnosis of progressive disease can lead to unnecessary alterations to the current treatment. Therefore, the US findings in our study could be clinically useful and educational for physicians.
What's already known about this topic?
Nivolumab is effective for unresectable malignant melanoma. However, a lesion targeted with nivolumab therapy will sometimes enlarge in the initial phase of treatment, a phenomenon known as ‘pseudoprogression’.
It is difficult but important to differentiate pseudoprogression from actual progressive disease. To date, no reports have addressed the diagnostic challenge of determining blood flow inside metastatic tumours in cases of suspected pseudoprogression.
What does this study add?
A phenomenon was observed in which metastatic lesions that initially developed in size were subsequently found by ultrasonography (US) to have clear decreases in blood flow followed by decrease in tumour size.
It was difficult to identify internal metastatic lesions using computed tomography. Therefore, the evaluation of blood flow of the tumour using US could be useful in differentiating pseudoprogression from true progressive disease.
Linked Comment: Akiyama. Br J Dermatol 2017; 177:1483–1484.
It is known that the oxide composition in stainless steel changes during heat treatment; however, the precise conditions to cause change are not clear. Therefore, the conditions necessary to change ...the oxide composition by heat treatment have been investigated using steels with different concentrations of Si, Mn, Ni and Cr. The MnO-SiO
2
type inclusions changed into MnO-Cr
2
O
3
type inclusions in steel containing 18%Cr and 8%Ni after heat treatment with a low silicon concentration. At high silicon content, the MnO-SiO
2
type inclusion was stable after heat treatment. The change in the composition of oxide inclusions owing to heat treatment depended on the concentrations of Cr in steel. The critical Si content, below which the oxide composition change was observed after the heat treatment, decreased with the decrease in Cr content. In steel containing 1%Cr, the oxide composition change was not observed.
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