For more than two decades, researchers have argued that young children do not understand mental states such as beliefs. Part of the evidence for this claim comes from preschoolers' failure at verbal ...tasks that require the understanding that others may hold false beliefs. Here, we used a novel nonverbal task to examine 15-month-old infants' ability to predict an actor's behavior on the basis of her true or false belief about a toy's hiding place. Results were positive, supporting the view that, from a young age, children appeal to mental states--goals, perceptions, and beliefs--to explain the behavior of others.
The Achilles tendon (AT) consists of fascicles that originate from the medial head of the gastrocnemius (MG), lateral head of the gastrocnemius (LG), and soleus muscle (Sol). These fascicles are ...reported to have a twisted structure. However, there is no consensus as to the degree of torsion. The purpose of this study was to investigate the twisted structure of the AT at the level of fascicles that originate from the MG, LG, and Sol, and elucidate the morphological characteristics. Gross anatomical study of 60 Japanese cadavers (111 legs) was used. The AT fascicles originated from the MG, LG, and Sol were fused while twisting among themselves. There were three classification types depending on the degree of torsion. Further fine separation of each fascicle revealed MG ran fairly parallel in all types, whereas LG and Sol, particularly of the extreme type, were inserted onto the calcaneal tuberosity with strong torsion. In addition, the sites of Sol torsion were 3–5 cm proximal to the calcaneal insertion of the AT. These findings provide promising basic data to elucidate the functional role of the twisted structure and mechanisms for the occurrence of AT injury and other conditions.
To examine the relationship between syntactic processes in language comprehension and language production, we compared structural persistence from sentence primes that speakers heard to persistence ...from primes that speakers produced. Bock, J. K., & Griffin, Z. M. (2000). The persistence of structural priming: transient activation or implicit learning?
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 129, 177–192. showed that the production of target priming structures increased the probability of spontaneously using the same structures to describe events in subsequent pictures that were semantically unrelated to the primes. These priming effects persisted across as many as ten intervening filler trials. The present studies replicated these results using auditorily presented primes to which participants only listened. The results indicated persistence of priming across all lags, with relative magnitudes of priming as large as those observed by Bock and Griffin. The implication is that structural priming is persistent regardless of the modality in which language structures are experienced, underscoring the power of priming as an implicit learning mechanism.
Vancomycin is an important drug for the treatment of Gram-positive bacterial infections. Resistance to vancomycin has begun to appear, posing a serious public health threat. Vancomycin analogs ...containing modified carbohydrates are very active against resistant microorganisms. Results presented here show that these carbohydrate derivatives operate by a different mechanism than vancomycin; moreover, peptide binding is not required for activity. It is proposed that carbohydrate-modified vancomycin compounds are effective against resistant bacteria because they interact directly with bacterial proteins involved in the transglycosylation step of cell wall biosynthesis. These results suggest new strategies for designing glycopeptide antibiotics that overcome bacterial resistance.
Much of our knowledge is acquired not from direct experience but through the speech of others. Speech allows rapid and efficient transfer of information that is otherwise not directly observable. Do ...infants recognize that speech, even if unfamiliar, can communicate about an important aspect of the world that cannot be directly observed: a person’s intentions? Twelve-month-olds saw a person (the Communicator) attempt but fail to achieve a target action (stacking a ring on a funnel). The Communicator subsequently directed either speech or a nonspeech vocalization to another person (the Recipient) who had not observed the attempts. The Recipient either successfully stacked the ring (Intended outcome), attempted but failed to stack the ring (Observable outcome), or performed a different stacking action (Related outcome). Infants recognized that speech could communicate about unobservable intentions, looking longer at Observable and Related outcomes than the Intended outcome when the Communicator used speech. However, when the Communicator used nonspeech, infants looked equally at the three outcomes. Thus, for 12-month-olds, speech can transfer information about unobservable aspects of the world such as internal mental states, which provides preverbal infants with a tool for acquiring information beyond their immediate experience.
When managing meningiomas, intraoperative tumor consistency and histologic subtype are indispensable factors influencing operative strategy. The purposes of this study were the following: 1) to ...investigate the correlation between stiffness assessed with MR elastography and perfusion metrics from perfusion CT, 2) to evaluate whether MR elastography and perfusion CT could predict intraoperative tumor consistency, and 3) to explore the predictive value of stiffness and perfusion metrics in distinguishing among histologic subtypes of meningioma.
Mean tumor stiffness and relative perfusion metrics (blood flow, blood volume, and MTT) were calculated (relative to normal brain tissue) for 14 patients with meningiomas who underwent MR elastography and perfusion CT before surgery (cohort 1). Intraoperative tumor consistency was graded by a neurosurgeon in 18 patients (cohort 2, comprising the 14 patients from cohort 1 plus 4 additional patients). The correlation between tumor stiffness and perfusion metrics was evaluated in cohort 1, as was the ability of perfusion metrics to predict intraoperative tumor consistency and discriminate histologic subtypes. Cohort 2 was analyzed for the ability of stiffness to determine intraoperative tumor consistency and histologic subtypes.
The relative MTT was inversely correlated with stiffness (
= .006). Tumor stiffness was positively correlated with intraoperative tumor consistency (
= .01), while perfusion metrics were not. Relative MTT significantly discriminated transitional meningioma from meningothelial meningioma (
= .04), while stiffness did not significantly differentiate any histologic subtypes.
In meningioma, tumor stiffness may be useful to predict intraoperative tumor consistency, while relative MTT may potentially correlate with tumor stiffness and differentiate transitional meningioma from meningothelial meningioma.
Because of difficulties with stabilization, breathing motion and dosimetry, stereotactic body radiotherapy for lung cancer has only been practiced for the past 15 years. However, a large amount of ...case data has rapidly been accumulated in recent years. Stereotactic body radiotherapy for Stage I non-small-cell lung cancer has been actively investigated in inoperable patients since around 1995, and a number of clinical trials have been undertaken. Early studies from 2001 presented a 3-year local control rate of 94% and a 3-year overall survival rate of 66% for patients receiving 50-60 Gy in 10 fractions. Another study in 2005, using 48 Gy in four fractions, presented a 3-year local control rate of 98% and 3-year overall survival rates of 83% for Stage IA patients and 72% for Stage IB patients. A multi-institutional study showed favorable local control and survival rates in a group receiving a biologically effective dose of 100 Gy. A dose-escalation study in the USA suggested a maximum tolerated dose of 60 Gy in three fractions. A Phase II clinical trial (RTOG0236) followed, with a reported 3-year local control rate of 98% and a 3-year overall survival rate of 56% for patients who received 60 Gy in three fractions. A Japanese Phase II clinical trial (JCOG0403) investigated a dose of 48 Gy in four fractions among 165 Stage IA patients, showing a 3-year survival rate of 76% and a 3-year locally progression-free survival rate of 69% for the operable group. An overview of past clinical trials in stereotactic body radiotherapy for Stage I non-small-cell lung cancer and current issues is presented and discussed.
Do 18-month-olds understand that an agent’s false belief can be corrected by an appropriate, though not an inappropriate, communication? In Experiment 1, infants watched a series of events involving ...two agents, a ball, and two containers: a box and a cup. To start, agent1 played with the ball and then hid it in the box, while agent2 looked on. Next, in agent1’s absence, agent2 moved the ball from the box to the cup. When agent1 returned, agent2 told her “The ball is in the cup!” (informative-intervention condition) or “I like the cup!” (uninformative-intervention condition). During test, agent1 reached for either the box (box event) or the cup (cup event). In the informative-intervention condition, infants who saw the box event looked reliably longer than those who saw the cup event; in the uninformative-intervention condition, the reverse pattern was found. These results suggest that infants expected agent1’s false belief about the ball’s location to be corrected when she was told “The ball is in the cup!”, but not “I like the cup!”. In Experiment 2, agent2 simply pointed to the ball’s new location, and infants again expected agent1’s false belief to be corrected. These and control results provide additional evidence that infants in the second year of life can attribute false beliefs to agents. In addition, the results suggest that by 18 months of age infants expect agents’ false beliefs to be corrected by relevant communications involving words or gestures.
To evaluate the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features, including liver stiffness measured by magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) and the presence of hepatobiliary phase (HBP) ...hypointense nodule without arterial phase hyperenhancement (APHE), for predicting late recurrence (>1 year) after surgery for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
This retrospective study included 124 consecutive patients who had undergone surgery for HCC and preoperative MRI. After excluding patients with early recurrence within 1 year after surgery, 89 patients were analysed. Preoperative MRI images were reviewed by a radiologist to record imaging findings, including (1) liver stiffness by MRE, (2) size of the HCCs, (3) number of HCCs, and (4) presence of HBP hypointense nodule without APHE. Pathological findings included tumour grade, vascular/biliary/capsule invasion, and fibrosis stage of the liver. Considering imaging/pathological findings and patients' characteristics as dependent variables, Cox proportional hazards model analysis was performed to identify independent factors associated with late recurrence after surgery.
The median follow-up period was 37.3 months. During follow-up, 29 patients (32.5%) developed late recurrence after surgery. In multivariate analysis, underlying liver disease (viral hepatitis) and presence of HBP hypointense nodules without APHE (p=0.010 and 0.033, respectively) were independently associated with disease-free survival (DFS). Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed that patients with HBP hypointense nodules without APHE had a significantly lower DFS rate than those without the nodule (39.2% versus 74.1% at 3 years after surgery, p=0.008).
The presence of HBP hypointense nodules without APHE was an indicator of late recurrence after surgery for HCC.
•One-fifth of late recurrent HCC arose from the HBP hypointense nodule without APHE.•The remaining cases of late recurrent HCC arose from imaging-occult carcinogenesis.•More than 1/4 of HBP hypointense nodules without APHE became hypervascular HCCs.•HBP hypointense nodule without APHE was the risk factor for late recurrence of HCC.•Patients with HBP hypointense nodule without APHE had lower disease-free survival.
Water mass property in the southwest of Hokkaido Island, Japan, in the winter-to-spring season has been examined using 9 years’ hydrographic data and satellite data as well as ocean reanalysis data ...for 2010–2018. Hydrographic and moored observations in the eastern mouth of Tsugaru Strait indicate a regime shift in the 2010s; a cold period in 2010–2014 and a warm period in 2016–2018. The regions are known to be influenced by intrusion of Coastal Oyashio water (COW), which is cold fresh water originated from the Okhotsk Sea. Satellite-based sea surface temperature and altimeter data reveal that Coastal Oyashio (CO) flowing westward along the southern coast of Hokkaido Island to Funka Bay in the cold period and further to Tsugaru Strait in 2014. The western limit of COW does not reach Funka Bay in 2016–2018. During warm period, a warm core ring (WCR) originating from the Kuroshio Extension, approaches the southern coast of Hokkaido Island. Our analysis of high-resolution ocean reanalysis data indicates that the WCR disturbs inflow of the COW into Funka Bay and/or provides warm saline water to the COW. The Tsugaru Warm Current (TWC) flowing out of the strait to the east also contributes to this pathway change, but its impact is not large compared to the strong broad flow over the WCR. Our finding suggests that in the winter-to-spring season, the ocean environment of Funka Bay and Tsugaru Strait can be controlled by the Kuroshio-originating WCR that disturbs intrusion of the COW.
PDF
