Inconspicuous anchoring effects generated by false information

The impact of false information on numerical judgments was examined on young normal subjects by an event-related potential （ERP） experiment. To imitate the judgments in real world, we ensured the subjects acknowledged of the target task. The behavioral results found that both uncertain information and false information assimilated the final estimates： higher after higher anchors and lower after lower anchors; and false information caused a weaker anchoring bias than uncertain information. ERP results provided further electro- physiological evidence for the mechanism of anchoring. In the early phrase, it was an accessibility-dominated process in which two kinds of anchors elicited an N300 component related to the accessibility of anchors propositions. The knowledge relevant to targets joined the process in the late phrase, which caused a larger amplitude of late positive component （LPC） for implausible lower anchors than that for plausible higher anchors. Source analysis showed that medial frontal gyrus, whose activity was suggested to signal the need of adjust- ment, was more reliable to explain the LPC elicited by implausible lower anchors. Therefore, we suggest that accessibility is facilitated when the external anchor is consistent with the world knowledge, and adjustment is initiated when the external anchor is inconsistent.     

Neural correlates underlying humans’ differential sensitivity to emotionally negative stimuli of varying valences: an ERP study

The present study aims to investigate the neural correlates underlying humans’ sensitivity to valence differences in negative stimuli. Event-related potentials (ERPs) for highly negative (HN), moderately negative (MN), and Neutral pictures were recorded while subjects perform a standard/deviant categorization task, irrespective of the emotional valence of the deviants. The results show more negative ERP deflections during HN condition than during MN condition at each 50 ms interval from 350 to 650 ms after stimulus onset (at P3 and slow negative wave (SNW) components). Moreover, emotional effect was also observed for MN stimuli at P3 component (350—450 ms interval). Dipole analyses on the HN-MN difference wave during 350—450 ms interval (P3 component) and that during 450—650 ms interval (SNW component) were both localized to the right medial temporal lobe. Thus, the present study confirmed the human sensitivity to valence variations in emotionally negative stimuli, and further showed that the right medial temporal lobe, in particular, the right hippocampus/amygdala complex, may be the critical neural substrates underlying humans’ differential sensitivity to emotionally negative stimuli of varying valences.     

Neural correlates underlying humans’ differential sensitivity to emotionally negative stimuli of varying valences: an ERP study

The present study aims to investigate the neural correlates underlying humans’ sensitivity to valence differences in negative stimuli. Event-related potentials (ERPs) for highly negative (HN), moderately negative (MN), and Neutral pictures were recorded while subjects perform a standard/deviant categorization task, irrespective of the emotional valence of the deviants. The results show more negative ERP deflections during HN condition than during MN condition at each 50 ms interval from 350 to 650 ms after stimulus onset (at P3 and slow negative wave (SNW) components). Moreover, emotional effect was also observed for MN stimuli at P3 component (350—450 ms interval). Dipole analyses on the HN-MN difference wave during 350—450 ms interval (P3 component) and that during 450—650 ms interval (SNW component) were both localized to the right medial temporal lobe. Thus, the present study confirmed the human sensitivity to valence variations in emotionally negative stimuli, and further showed that the right medial temporal lobe, in particular, the right hippocampus/amygdala complex, may be the critical neural substrates underlying humans’ differential sensitivity to emotionally negative stimuli of varying valences.     

Hippocampus＇s role in forming ＂task-related＂ associations： Flashing to the things you are looking for

Eichenbaum and colleagues observed that the same place did or did not activate the ＂goal-approach＂ cells in hippocampus depending on whether the place was the way for rats to approach specific goal. Parallel with this, the present neuroimage study revealed that, the same type of items could activate the hippocampus more when it was related to the task at hand than when it not. Participants were scanned by fMRI while they made judgments on the type of relationships contained in the word-pairs （e.g., Does the word pair, ＂furniture-table＂, contain a ＂category-exemplar＂ relationship？）. Event-related analysis revealed that the forming of ＂task-related＂ association activated hippocampus more than that of ＂task-unrelated＂, even if it was the same type of items, and, this hippocampal difference was not caused by the different judgment requirements, nor by the effects of ＂yes＂ response. Consistently, the post-judgment cued-recall test exhibited a better retrieval performance for ＂task-related＂ associations than for the same type but ＂task-unrelated＂ associations. Results also showed that, the semantic relatedness between the to-be-associated individual words （e.g., the related word pair ＂healthy-hospital＂ versus the unrelated word pair ＂price-way＂） was not enough to activate the hippocampus when it was ＂task-unrelated＂. Generally, we proposed that, through participating in forming of ＂task-related＂ associations and consolidating of episodic memory, hippocampus enabled the organism to keep the information that owned great survival values in mind for future usage.     

Resting state brain default network in patients with motor aphasia resulting from cerebral infarction

To explore the brain default mode network （DMN） in patients with motor aphasia resulting from cere- bral infarction, we used resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging （fMRI） to investigate the possible neural mechanism. Thirteen patients with motor aphasia resulting from cerebral infarction and ten matched controls were selected in this study. All subjects were examined using resting state fMRI. We chose the posterior cingulate cortex as the region of interest and then used functional connectivity analysis to calculate the DMN functional connectivity and analyze differences in the functional connectivity between the two groups. Compared with normal controls, aphasia patient group showed a significantly decreased functional connectivity in bilateral medial frontal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, precuneus and cuneus. The aphasia patient group showed increased functional connectivity mainly in bilateral medial frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, insula. The DMN in cerebral infarction motor aphasia patients showed significantly decreased functional connectivity in the resting state. The DMN most likely plays an important role in motor aphasia resulting from cerebral infarction. Furthermore, functional connectivity inthe brain regions surrounding the left and right Broca＇s areas was significantly enhanced due to compensatory mecha- nisms. This may be helpful for the recovery of language function in cerebral infarction patients with motor aphasia.     

Rapid growth cost in ＂all-fish＂ growth hormone gene transsenic carp： Reduced critical swimming speed

Evidence has accumulated that there is a trade-off between benefits and costs associated with rapid growth. A trade-off between growth rates and critical swimming speed （Uc,t） had been also reported to be common in teleost fish. We hypothesize that growth acceleration in the F3 generation of ＂all-fish＂ growth hormone gene （GH） transgenic common carp （Cyprinus carpio L.） would reduce the swimming abilities. Growth and swimming performance between transgenic fish and non-transgenic controls were compared. The results showed that transgenic fish had a mean body weight 1.4--1.9-fold heavier, and a mean specific growth rate （SGR） value 6%-10% higher than the controls. Transgenic fish, however, had a mean absolute Ucr, （cm/s） value 22% or mean relative Ucrit （BL/s） value 24% lower than the controls. It suggested that fast-growing ＂all-fish＂ GH-transgenic carp were inferior swimmers. It is also supported that there was a trade-off between growth rates and swimming performance, i.e. faster-growing individuals had lower critical swimming speed.     

Space qualification mechanical tests of HTS filters for satellite application

High performance high-temperature superconducting （HTS） filters have been designed and constructed for satellite application. The filters are actually a superconducting integration of an 8-pole band-pass filter with an adjustable band-stop filter onto a single piece of LaAIO3 substrate （with dimension of 0.5x45x20 mm3）. Typical results of the filters, i.e., Filters A （made by YBCO） ＆ B （made by TBCCO） will be reported. The measured responses of Filter A showed excellent specifications, e.g., an insertion loss less than 0.1 dB, a return loss better than -22.5 dB in pass-band, band-edge steepness greater than 12 dB/MHz and out-of-band rejection at a certain band deeper than -110 dB. To satisfy the requirement of rocket launch and space operation, three filters of the above design have undergone mechanical environmental simulation tests for space qualification. Detailed analysis of the response curves of Filter B measured before and after the tests showed that no noticeable change in the performance can be found. All the filters passed the rigorous ground simulation tests, which is the first time in China for HTS devices and provided a solid foundation for satellite applications of high-temperature superconductors in the near future.     

Interactions between working memory and selective attention

Event-related potential (ERP) was used to examine the interactions between working memory and se- lective attention. We combined two unrelated tasks, one requiring working memory and the other se- lective attention, which were performed by some undergraduates. The ERP results revealed that both congruent and incongruent stimuli in the selective attention task evoked an N400 component, reaching the peak point at around 500 ms. The N400 evoked by incongruent stimuli was more negative than that of congruent, which indicated the difference of semantic N400. Furthermore, working memory load had a significant influence on the N400 evoked by selective attention task in parietal region. And working memory load showed difference in the ERPs of working memory retrieval in central and parietal regions. The ERPs of probe under high working memory load were more positive from 350 to 550 ms post-stimulus; however, stimulus type of selective attention had no influence on working memory re- trieval. The present study shows that working memory does not play a major role in the selective at- tention, especially in ignoring distracter, but it influences the performance of the selective attention as the background. The congruency of target and distracter in the selective attention task does not influ- ence the working memory retrieval.     

SRO1 regulates heavy metal mercury stress response in Arabidopsis thaliana

Heavy metals in the environment are harmful limiting factors for the normal growth and development of plants. Here, we isolated and identified an Arabidopsis thaliana T-DNA insertion mutant, named srol-1, which showed a hyper-sensitive response to HgCl2. The SRO1 protein contains a WWE domain that mediates proteinprotein interactions. Under HgCl2 treatment, when compared with the wild-type plants, the growth of srol-1 was repressed dramatically and the number of true leaves was reduced and etiolated. The electrolyte leakage rates showed that cell membrane integrity in srol-1 was damaged more severely than in the wild type. DAB （3,5-diaminobenzidine） staining and confocal microscopy showed that Hg2＋ stress induced more hydrogen peroxide accumulation in srol-1 than in the wild type. The qRT-PCR results indicated that the expression of some abiotic stress-induced genes, such as L-ascorbate peroxidase （APX1）, was reduced under oxidative or Hg2＋ stress. Transgenic plants containing a GFP：：SRO1 fusion protein showed that SRO1 was localized in the nucleus of the cells. SRO1 was shown to be expressed in various tissues, and was most highly expressed in the vigorous tissues. Our results suggest thatSRO1 may play an important role in the stress response of A. thaliana to heavy metals.     

Editorial note for the special topic on ＂Nanopore Analysis＂

The concept of nanopore analysis, using the pore-forming protein a-hemolysin to detect individual nucleic acids at a single-molecule level, was first proposed in 1996. Over the past two decades, tremendous progress has been made in the nanopore field, and nanopore analysis has become a label-free and high-throughput method for probing bio- molecules and other analytes with single-molecule sensi- tivity, especially holds the promising for ＂third generation＂ DNA sequencing. However, challenges still remain in the experimental strategies and the design of whole nanopore-based instruments. Here, we proudly present a special topic dedicated to the topic of ＂Nanopore Analysis＂, with 8 reviews/articles providing up to date coverage of the experimental strategies, theoretical calcu- lations and simulations, and instrument design. Reviews and articles on the experimental strategies cover control of DNA partitioning into a nanopore, detection of target DNA, and the advantages of nanopore-based DNA sequencing. The theoretical calculations and simulations discuss the translocation behavior of DNA, and an inte- grated measurement system and data analysis software are presented for instrument design.     

In vivo assessment of hepatotoxicity,nephrotoxicity and biodistribution using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane-coated magnetic nanoparticles （APTS-MNPs） in ICR mice

The biocompatibility and biodistribution of magnetic nanoparticles （MNPs） in vivo are essential to ensure their safely clinical application. We have studied these aspects with our 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane-coated magnetic nanoparticles （APTS-MNPs） formulation, which can be used as magnetic induction hyperthermia media. Changes in tissue iron levels were analyzed after intraperitoneal injection of APTS-MNPs to ICR mice. Liver and kidney functions were tested. Heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, testis, and brain were sectioned for pathological analysis. Biodistribution of iron in various body tissues changed with time but greater fraction of the injected iron localized in the liver and spleen than in other tissues. Serum showed an increase in AST and LDH fol-lowing APTS-MNPs injection. Histological analyses of selected tissues showed no obvious abnormal changes. In conclusion, APTS-MNPs did not cause continuing changes in the liver and kidney function and thus can be safely used for in vivo application.     

Differences of relevance in implicit and explicit memory tests: An ERP study

An ERP study was conducted to explore the differences between other-relevant words and possessor-relevant words in implicit and explicit memory tests. The results show that other-relevant words are associated with a more negative ERP than possessor-relevant words during 300--900 ms whether in the implicit or the explicit memory tests. The N400 effect is also found in semantic processing of social materials. There is an ERP dissociation of retrieval formats between the implicit and the explicit memory tests during 700--900 ms, namely, there is no difference between other-relevant words and possessor-relevant words in the implicit memory while there is a significant difference between them in the explicit memory. Observed through Curry 6.0, the analysis of neural sources for other-relevant words and possessor-relevant words indicates that they have different locations. At 400 ms, activity is found in the left precuneus during possessor-relevant words processing. Both the right and the left precuneus are activated during other-relevant words processing. However, at 600 ms their location is both in the left precuneus. In a word, our results show that there exists a cognitive difference between other-relevant words and possessor-relevant words, and other-relevant words closely related to the percipient himself/herself are strongly responded to, which reflects that there is a bigger attention bias to the stimuli concerning the percipient himself/herself than to processor-relevant words.     

Influence of resonator diameter on a miniature thermoacoustic Stirling heat engine

A small scale thermoacoustic Stirling engine （TASHE） is simulated according to the linear thermoacoustic theory. The computed results show that in a small scale thermoacoustic Stirling heat engine, the diameter of the resonance tube might have important influences on the working frequency and the performance of the engine, which are always neglected in a large scale system. Likewise, the analysis and experimental results show that in order to obtain better engine performance, the diameter of the resonance tube must be chosen appropriately according to the looped tube dimension and the input heating power. This provides an effective way to miniaturize the thermoacoustic Stirling heat engine. According to the computation and analysis, a small scale engine was built, the resonance tube length and diameter of which were about 350 mm and 20 mm, respectively, and the working frequency was about 282 Hz. When the input heating power was about 637 W, the maximal peak to peak pressure amplitude and pressure ratio reached 0.22 MPa and 1.116, respectively, which were able to drive a thermoacoustic refrigerator or an electrical generator.     

Mycelial fermentation and medicinal properties of a valuable medicinal fungus Cordyceps sinensis Cs-HK1

Cordyceps sinensis （Cs） or Dongchongxiacao in Chinese is a rare and precious medicinal mushroom. In this work, a Tolypocladium sp. fungus named Cs-HK1 was isolated from a natural Cs fruiting body, and its ultraviolet （UV）, infrared （IR） and high-performance liquid chromatography （HPLC） spectra all exhibited high degrees of matching to those of natural Cs, indicating the similarity of chemical composition. A crude polysaccharide （PS） fraction isolated from Cs-HKI fungal mycelium showed significant antitumor activity, inhibiting melanoma tumor growth in mice. The PS-treated mice showed significantly higher serum interferon-y （IFN-y） level and higher proliferation rate of lymphocytes ex vivo than the control animals, suggestive of the immunomodulatory activity of the PS fraction. In cell cultures, the PS fraction caused a significant and dose-dependent inhibitory effect on the proliferation of two cancer cell lines, B16/neu mouse melanoma and MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells, but not on normal spleen lymphocytes in vitro. Most of these bioactivities of the Cs- HK1 fungus were comparable to or even greater than those of natural Cs. The results showed that Cs-HK1 fungus may be a functional substitute for the natural Cs in health food and herbal medicine.     

Genetic diversity, geographic differentiation and evolutionary relationship among ecotypes of Glycine max and G. soja in China

The knowledge of origin and evolution of cultivated soybeans is one of the basic issues in both biology and agronomy of the crop. In order to investigate the nuclear and cytoplasmic genetic diversity, geographic differentiation and genetic relationship among geographic ecotypes of cultivated （Glycine max） and wild （G. soja） soybeans, the allelic profiles at 60 nuclear simple-sequence repeat （nuSSR） loci and 11 chloroplastic SSR （cpSSR） loci evenly distributed on whole genome of 393 landraces and 196 wild accessions from nation-wide growing areas in China were analyzed. （i） The genetic diversity of the wild soybean was obviously larger than that of the cultivated soybean, with their nuSSR and cpSSR alleles as 1067 vs. 980 and 57 vs 44, respectively. Of the 980 nuclear alleles detected in the cultivated soybean, 377 new ones （38.5%） emerged, while of the 44 chloroplastic alleles in the cultivated soybean, seven new ones （15.9%） emerged after domestication. （ii） Among the cultivated geographic ecotypes, those from southern China, including South-Central China, Southwest China and South China possessed relatively great genetic diversity than those from northern China, while among the wild geographic ecotypes, the Middle and Lower Changjiang Valleys wild ecotype showed the highest genetic diversity. （iii） The analysis of molecular variance, association analysis between geographic grouping and molecular marker clustering and analysis of specific-present alleles of ecotypes demonstrated that the geographic differentiation of both cultivated and wild soybeans associated with their genetic differentiation, or in other words, had their relevant genetic bases. （iv） The cluster analysis of all accessions clearly showed that the wild accessions from Middle and Lower Changjiang Valleys and South-Central ＆ Southwest China had relatively small genetic distances with all cultivated accessions. The UPGMA dendrogram among geographic ecotypes further showed that the genetic distances between all cultivated ecotypes and the Middle and Lower Changjiang Valleys wild ecotype were smaller than those with other wild ones, including their local wild counterparts. Therefore, it is inferred that the wild ancestors in southern China, especially those from Middle and Lower Changjiang Valleys might be the common ancestor of all the cultivated soybeans.     

Comparative analysis of A, B, C and D genomes in the genus Oryza with Cot-1 DNA of C genome

Fluorescence in situ hybridization （FISH） was applied to somatic chromosomes preparations of Oryza officinalis Wall. （CC）, O. sativa L. （AA）xO. officinalis F1 hybrid （AC）, backcross progenies BC1 （AAC and ACC）, O. latifolia Desv. （CCDD）, O. alta Swallen （CCDD） and O. punctata Kotschy （BBCC） with a labelled probe of Cot-1 DNA from O. officinalis. In O. officinalis, the homologous chromosomes showed similar signal bands probed by Cot-1 DNA and karyotype analysis was conducted based on the band patterns. Using no blocking DNA, the probe identified the chromosomes of C genome clearly, but detected few signals on chromosomes of A genome in the F1 hybrid and two backcross progenies of BC1. It is obvious that the highly and moderately repetitive DNA sequences were considerably different between C and A genomes. The chromosomes of C genome were also discriminated from the chromosomes of Dand B-genome in the tetraploid species O. latifolia, O. alta and O. punctata by Cot-1 DNA-FISH. Comparison of the fluorescence intensity on the chromosomes of B, C and D genomes in O. latifolia, O. alta, and O. punctata indicated that the differentiations between C and D genomes are less than that between C and B genomes. The relationship between C and D genomes in O. alta is closer than that of C and D genomes in O. latifolia. This would be one of the causes for the fact that both the genomes are of the same karyotype （CCDD） but belong to different species. The above results showed that the Cot-1 DNA had a high specificity of genome and species. In this paper, the origin of allotetraploid in genus Oryza is also discussed.     

Personality and neurochemicals in the human brain： A preliminary study using ^1H MRS

To investigate the neuro-biological bases of introversion-extraversion personality traits, the concentration of four neuroehemieals （Cho, mI, α-Glx and NAA） in anterior eigulate gyrus between normal extroverts and introverts were examined using non-invasive ^1H MRS technique. Our study revealed that introverts have significantly higher level of α-Glx, Cho and mI in the anterior eingulate gyrus than extroverts. This result provides new evidence that the anterior eingulate gyrus is related to personality traits partly in support of Eysenek＇s supposition that introverts have higher arousal level than extroverts. Moreover, this result offers neuroehemieal data for psychobiological theories of personality.     

A Faded Rose --.Stylistic Analysis of ＂A Rose for Emily＂

William Fanlkner is one of the greatest modern American writers and the Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1949. His skillful use of ＂Stream of Consciousness＂ and smart creation of the whole Yoknapatawpha County stories make him an enduring monument in American Literature. ＂A Rose for Emily＂, though short it is, is undoubtedly one of the most sparkling strokes on the monument. ＂A Rose for Emily＂ was first published on ＂Forum＂ in April, 1930; however, it can still arouse great aesthetie sympathy and inspirations today. In this novel, Miss Emily, the heroine, is depicted as a noble heiress of the Old South, a protector as well as a victim of stale southern traditions. She cut herself off society, muted voices, repressed feelings, and twisted her own heart all throughout the life in a gloomy, musky house. Miss Emily herself is a tragedy. We see her rosy youth faded, bit by bit, in that house. In this paper, analysis from stylistic perspective may give us some light in how and why the rose faded.     

Apoptosis induced by titanium dioxide nanoparticles in cultured murine microglia N9 cells

Owing to the rapidly increasing output of nano-scale titanium dioxide （TiO2） particles, their potential risk for central nerve system （CNS） has elicited much concern recently. Microglia is the resident macrophage in CNS and essential for the homeostasis of the CNS microenvironment. They are supposed to response to nanoparticles depositing in the brain tissues. Therefore, we investigated the cytotoxic effects of TiO2 NPs on microglia N9 cells in vitro. Results of propidium iodide/fluorescein diacetate （PI/FDA） double staining and MTT test clearly showed that TiO2 NPs more efficiently affected the viability of microglia N9 cells. Further Hoechst 33258 staining and flow cytometric analysis proved that nano-scale but not normal scale TiO2 induced apoptosis in vitro, These data suggest that TiO2 NPs can elicit apoptosis of N9 cells in vitro and thus present a potential risk for CNS.     

High precision topographic data on Lop Nor basin＇s Lake ＂Great Ear＂ and the timing of its becoming a dry salt lake

High precision elevation measurements using DGPS were carried out along three representative tran-sects for the ＂Great Ear＂ area, a dry salt lake within the Lop Nor basin. Results indicate that the Lop Nor basin is only 5.2 m deep and its lowest point occurs at the center of the ＂Great Ear＂. In addition, the basin is asymmetric-steeper in the southwest （0.19‰） and gentler in the northeast （0.09‰）. Points along the same ＂Great Ear＂ ring were found to have an identical elevation value, but different when from different ones （lower towards the center）. The spacing of the ＂Great Ear＂ rings was found to be closely related with the surface steepness. The closer the ＂Great Ear＂ rings are spaced, the steeper the ground surface, and vice versa. These findings support the argument that the ＂Great Ear＂ rings are the former shoreline trails left behind by Lop Nor water during the last few episodes of recession towards its total dry up. A comprehensive analysis of the high precision elevation data, historical accounts, aerial and satellite photographs and imagery, and official topographic maps of the study area suggests that the ＂Great Ear＂ area in the Lop Nor basin was incorrectly mapped as being covered by a great body of water on the 1963 topographic maps. A re-interpretation of the 1958 aerial photographs and newer remote sensing imagery indicated that the ＂Great Ear＂ ring structure was already in place in 1958 and it continued to appear on the subsequent remote sensing data without any major changes. It is estimated that lake water in the ＂Great Ear＂ area of the Lop Nor basin disappeared between the late 1930s and early 1940s.