Plos One
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Among a crowd of distractor faces, threatening or angry target faces are identified more quickly and accurately than are nonthreatening or happy target faces, a finding known as the "face in the crowd effect." Two perceptual explanations of the effect have been proposed: (1) the "target orienting" hypothesis (i.e., threatening targets orient attention more quickly than do nonthreatening targets and (2) the "distractor processing" hypothesis (i.e., nonthreatening distractors paired with a threatening target are processed more efficiently than vice versa, leading to quicker detection of threatening targets). Using a task, with real faces and multiple identities, the current study replicated the face in the crowd effect and then, via eye tracking, found greater support for the target orienting hypothesis. Across both the classical search asymmetry paradigm (i.e., one happy target in a crowd of angry distractors vs. one angry target in a crowd of happy distractors) and the constant distractor paradigm (i.e., one happy target in a crowd of neutral distractors vs. one angry target in a crowd of neutral distractors), fewer distractors were fixated before first fixating angry targets relative to happy targets, with no difference in the processing efficiency of distractors. These results suggest that the face in the crowd effect on this task is supported to a greater degree by attentional patterns associated with properties of target rather those of the crowd.
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Effects of roads on plant communities are not well known in cold-climate mountain ecosystems, where road building and development are expected to increase in future decades. Knowledge of the sensitivity of mountain plant communities to disturbance by roads is however important for future conservation purposes. We investigate the effects of roads on species richness and composition, including the plant strategies that are most affected, along three elevational gradients in a subarctic mountain ecosystem. ⋯ While the effects of roads thus seem to be mitigated in the alpine environment for plant species in general, mountain plant communities are more invasible than lowland communities. More precisely, relatively more alien species present in the roadside were found to invade into the surrounding natural community at high compared to low elevations. We conclude that effects of roads and introduction of alien species in lowlands cannot simply be extrapolated to the alpine and subarctic environment.
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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the hepatic manifestation of a metabolic syndrome. To date, liver biopsy has been the gold standard used to differentiate between simple steatosis and steatohepatitis/fibrosis. Our aim was to compare the relevance of serum non-invasive parameters and scoring systems in the staging of liver fibrosis and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in patients with NAFLD. ⋯ In patients with NAFLD, non-invasive serum parameters with a high accuracy can differentiate those patients with NASH and/or advanced fibrosis from those with simple steatosis. A substantial portion of those patients not indicated for liver biopsy might have undiagnosed advanced fibrosis.
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Recent epidemiologic studies implying differences in cancer recurrence based on anesthetic regimens raise the possibility that the mu opioid receptor (MOR) can influence cancer progression. Based on our previous observations that overexpression of MOR in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells increased tumor growth and metastasis, this study examined whether MOR regulates growth factor receptor signaling and epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) in human NSCLC cells. We utilized specific siRNA, shRNA, chemical inhibitors and overexpression vectors in human H358 NSCLC cells that were either untreated or treated with various concentrations of DAMGO, morphine, fentanyl, EGF or IGF. ⋯ Further, these effects were reversed with silencing (shRNA) or chemical inhibition of MOR, Src, Gab-1, PI3K, Akt and STAT3 (p<0.05). Our data suggest a possible direct effect of MOR on opioid and growth factor-signaling and consequent proliferation, migration and EMT transition during lung cancer progression. Such an effect provides a plausible explanation for the epidemiologic findings.
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The anti-inflammatory protein annexin A1 (ANXA1) has been associated with cancer progression and metastasis, suggesting its role in regulating tumor cell proliferation. We investigated the mechanism of ANXA1 interaction with formylated peptide receptor 2 (FPR2/ALX) in control, peritumoral and tumor larynx tissue samples from 20 patients, to quantitate the neutrophils and mast cells, and to evaluate the protein expression and co-localization of ANXA1/FPR2 in these inflammatory cells and laryngeal squamous cells by immunocytochemistry. In addition, we performed in vitro experiments to further investigate the functional role of ANXA1/FPR2 in the proliferation and metastasis of Hep-2 cells, a cell line from larynx epidermoid carcinoma, after treatment with ANXA1(2-26) (annexin A1 N-terminal-derived peptide), Boc2 (antagonist of FPR) and/or dexamethasone. ⋯ Overall, this study identified potential roles for the molecular mechanism of the ANXA1/FPR2 interaction in laryngeal cancer, including its relationship with the prostaglandin pathway, providing promising starting points for future research. ANXA1 may contribute to the regulation of tumor growth and metastasis through paracrine mechanisms that are mediated by FPR2/ALX. These data may lead to new biological targets for therapeutic intervention in human laryngeal cancer.