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This registration includes the hypotheses and analytic plan document for secondary data analysis of the DRRAW I parent project (osf.io/ekv6x).

Background Sensitivity and specificity for commercial and in-house pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity (cPLI) assays have been reported, but repeatability under routine clinical conditions is unknown. Objectives To determine: Coefficient of variation (CV) between replicates of a commercial assay (Spec cPL) and 2 in-house assays (VetScan cPL, Vcheck cPL) under routine conditions. Effects of sample condition or personnel on results. Potential directional bias between assays. Animals Serum from 12 canine clinical patients. Methods Prospective study. Serum Spec cPL, VetScan cPL, and Vcheck cPL (6 aliquots each) were measured, and CVs were calculated, effects of sample condition and personnel were assessed using a linear mixed model, and direction of bias was assessed using least square mean cPLI concentration. Results Mean %CVs for Spec cPL, VetScan cPL, and Vcheck cPL were 5.5, 17.0, and 23.7%. Three of 6 VetScan cPL samples and 5/9 Vcheck cPL samples had an unacceptably high %CV (>20%). Transportation (Spec cPL) and sample condition or personnel (VetScan cPL, Vcheck cPL) did not affect repeatability. Least square mean cPL was higher for Spec cPL (807.9 μg/L) than for VetScan cPL (558.5 μg/L) or Vcheck cPL (399.8 μg/L). Conclusions and clinical importance For clinical use, the commercial Spec cPL has the highest repeatability, and Vcheck cPL has significantly lower repeatability. Both in-house assays evaluated may provide discrepant categorical results ("pancreatitis" versus "equivocal" versus "not pancreatitis") for the same sample. In-house pancreatic lipase concentrations may be lower than those determined by the Spec cPL assay.

Objective Value in evaluating error subtypes on visuospatial line orientation tests has been reported. Directional bias metrics for line orientation test errors represent easily quantifiable data that have not previously been studied. We evaluated whether patients with a clinical condition known to affect visuospatial functioning (Parkinson’s disease [PD]) exhibited unique directional error patterns on the RBANS Line Orientation test relative to other neuropsychology-referred patients. Method We compared overall directional bias in errors, directional bias by line location (left or right line and visual field), and absolute error rates (regardless of direction) by line location in a retrospective sample of patients with PD and a sample of neuropsychology-referred patients without PD. Groups were roughly matched on age, education, gender, and overall level of cognitive impairment. Results Patients with PD exhibited higher rates of leftward bias in errors, both overall and for the left stimulus line in each pair. Directional bias error scores better predicted PD versus non-PD group status than RBANS Line Orientation raw scores. Classification accuracy data for these variables were modest in the entire sample but stronger in a subsample of patients with mild levels of overall cognitive impairment. Conclusions Directional bias metrics for line orientation tests represent easily quantifiable data with potential theoretical and clinical value. In our sample, patients with PD made more left-biased line orientation errors than other neuropsychology-referred patients. By themselves, directional bias scores may have limited diagnostic potential, but they may be useful in diagnostic classification models and may have implications for clinical care.

The movements of cytoplasmic dynein on microtubule (MT) tracks is achieved by two-way communication between the microtubule-binding domain (MTBD) and the ATPase domain via a coiled-coil stalk, but the structural basis of this communication remains elusive. Here, we regulate MTBD either in high-affinity or low-affinity states by introducing a disulfide bond to the stalk and analyze the resulting structures by NMR and cryo-EM. In the MT-unbound state, the affinity changes of MTBD are achieved by sliding of the stalk α-helix by a half-turn, which suggests that structural changes propagate from the ATPase-domain to MTBD. In addition, MT binding induces further sliding of the stalk α-helix even without the disulfide bond, suggesting how the MT-induced conformational changes propagate toward the ATPase domain. Based on differences in the MT-binding surface between the high- and low-affinity states, we propose a potential mechanism for the directional bias of dynein movement on MT tracks., The movement of cytoplasmic dynein on microtubule tracks is coordinated by the microtubule-binding domain (MTBD) and the ATPase domain via a coiled-coil stalk. Here authors use NMR and cryo-EM and suggest that the communication between the ATPase-domain and MTBD is achieved by sliding of the stalk α-helix by a half-turn or one-turn.

In this study, we coded art painted on rocks located in southern Africa, which was painted with a mixture of ochre, blood, and clay by the San, a Neolithic culture with no written language. These images depict a mixture of humans and animals in a variety of contexts, including (but not limited to) hunts and dances. We calculated a laterality index for the collected available art from each region, finding that although there was variability across regions in the direction of the laterality scores, most regions contained a majority of figures facing rightward. This is in stark contrast with reports of artists drawing leftward facing animals and human profiles (an effect that is influenced by native language writing system direction, gender, and handedness), but interestingly our sample also contained regions with strong leftward biases. Our results are, however, in accord with studies that report people preferring images that depict left-to-right motion, as well as the left-to-right bias in depicting transitive actions, an effect that seems to result from greater right hemispheric activation in scene processing and interpretation. Thus, this study shows that in the absence of a writing system, right-lateralized neural architecture may guide the hands of artists.

Vertebrate cells assemble mitotic spindles through multiple pathways. It is shown that Augmin-dependent, noncentrosomal nucleation generates the vast majority of microtubules in metaphase spindles. This results in a strong directional bias of microtubule growth toward individual kinetochores., Dividing cells reorganize their microtubule cytoskeleton into a bipolar spindle, which moves one set of sister chromatids to each nascent daughter cell. Early spindle assembly models postulated that spindle pole–derived microtubules search the cytoplasmic space until they randomly encounter a kinetochore to form a stable attachment. More recent work uncovered several additional, centrosome-independent microtubule generation pathways, but the contributions of each pathway to spindle assembly have remained unclear. Here, we combined live microscopy and mathematical modeling to show that most microtubules nucleate at noncentrosomal regions in dividing human cells. Using a live-cell probe that selectively labels aged microtubule lattices, we demonstrate that the distribution of growing microtubule plus ends can be almost entirely explained by Augmin-dependent amplification of long-lived microtubule lattices. By ultrafast 3D lattice light-sheet microscopy, we observed that this mechanism results in a strong directional bias of microtubule growth toward individual kinetochores. Our systematic quantification of spindle dynamics reveals highly coordinated microtubule growth during kinetochore fiber assembly.

Neutrophils use their ability to deform surrounding extracellular matrix and turn to navigate through complex 3D environments., Neutrophils migrating through extravascular spaces must negotiate narrow matrix pores without losing directional movement. We investigated how chemotaxing neutrophils probe matrices and adjust their migration to collagen concentration ([col]) changes by tracking 20,000 cell trajectories and quantifying cell-generated 3D matrix deformations. In low-[col] matrices, neutrophils exerted large deformations and followed straight trajectories. As [col] increased, matrix deformations decreased, and neutrophils turned often to circumvent rather than remodel matrix pores. Inhibiting protrusive or contractile forces shifted this transition to lower [col], implying that mechanics play a crucial role in defining migratory strategies. To balance frequent turning and directional bias, neutrophils used matrix obstacles as pivoting points to steer toward the chemoattractant. The Actin Related Protein 2/3 complex coordinated successive turns, thus controlling deviations from chemotactic paths. These results offer an improved understanding of the mechanisms and molecular regulators used by neutrophils during chemotaxis in restrictive 3D environments.

Defects in axonal transport may partly underpin the differences between the observed pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and that of other non-amyloidogenic tauopathies. Particularly, pathological tau variants may have molecular properties that dysregulate motor proteins responsible for the anterograde-directed transport of tau in a disease-specific fashion. Here we develop the first computational model of tau-modified axonal transport that produces directional biases in the spread of tau pathology. We simulated the spatiotemporal profiles of soluble and insoluble tau species in a multicompartment, two-neuron system using biologically plausible parameters and time scales. Changes in the balance of tau transport feedback parameters can elicit anterograde and retrograde biases in the distributions of soluble and insoluble tau between compartments in the system. Aggregation and fragmentation parameters can also perturb this balance, suggesting a complex interplay between these distinct molecular processes. Critically, we show that the model faithfully recreates the characteristic network spread biases in both AD-like and non-AD-like mouse tauopathy models. Tau transport feedback may therefore help link microscopic differences in tau conformational states and the resulting variety in clinical presentations., Author Summary The misfolding and spread of the axonal protein tau is a hallmark of the pathology of many neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal lobar dementia. How tau misfolding causes disorders with distinct neuropathology and clinical presentations is the subject of ongoing research. Although current evidence suggests that the specific conformations tau adopts affect where it spreads throughout the brain, a mechanistic explanation has remained elusive. Here we propose that the conformer-specific dysregulation of axonal transport can lead to directionally biased spread, and we employ a mathematical model to explore how tau spreads between neurons in the context of this transport feedback mechanism. We find that conformation-specific feedback is flexible enough to explain bias in either direction and thoroughly explore how this bias emerges as a function of the model’s key parameters. Further, the model reproduces the temporal evolution of directionality observed in two classes of in vivo tauopathy models, demonstrating that transport feedback is sufficient to explain differential tau spread as a function of conformation.

1AbstractAggregate Hi-C maps centered on several genetic elements show significant DNA extrusion features. However, these features are missing from the component Hi-C images. To resolve this discrepancy, we present a new computational framework that reconstructs DNA extrusion scenarios (DESs) and explains the enhancement of DNA extrusion features by aggregation. We showed that the reconstructed DES is essential to understand the site interactions of the relevant genetic elements. For example, CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) binding elements (CBE) with a specific motif direction are only affected by DNA extrusion activities initiated from one side, manifested as a directional bias. About half of promoters search for enhancers in a specific direction, as indicated by the corresponding DES. Moreover, since DNA extrusion does not pause at promoter or enhancer elements, direct promoter-enhancer contacts are not long-lasting; rather, promoters and enhancers are brought in proximity by continuous, dynamic DNA extrusion.

Among the Tsimane’ people of Bolivia, concepts of number, size, and time have spatial structure but no consistent direction., In industrialized groups, adults implicitly map numbers, time, and size onto space according to cultural practices like reading and counting (e.g., from left to right). Here, we tested the mental mappings of the Tsimane’, an indigenous population with few such cultural practices. Tsimane’ adults spatially arranged number, size, and time stimuli according to their relative magnitudes but showed no directional bias for any domain on any spatial axis; different mappings went in different directions, even in the same participant. These findings challenge claims that people have an innate left-to-right mapping of numbers and that these mappings arise from a domain-general magnitude system. Rather, the direction-specific mappings found in industrialized cultures may originate from direction-agnostic mappings that reflect the correlational structure of the natural world.

IntroductionCurrent research indicates divergent spatiotemporal tauopathy progression between conditions and implicates transsynaptic connectome-based spread as a main mechanism. We examine tauopathy and connectome interactions to investigate why different spatiotemporal patterns of pathology arise.MethodsWe test whether divergent spatiotemporal tau pathology patterns from 15 mouse-model datasets can be explained by a directional bias in tau transmission along fiber tracts via a mathematical model called Directed Network Transmission (DNT).ResultsAmyloid-comorbid tauopathic mouse models meant to mimic AD demonstrate spatiotemporal tauopathy patterns consistent with retrograde direction spread biases. Non-amyloid-comorbid mice demonstrate no consistent spread biases. Further, canonically ‘early’ tau pathology regions in AD are implicated as having earliest pathology in a simulation with random tauopathy seeding locations with retrograde biased spread.DiscussionThese results implicate directional biases in tau pathology spread along fiber tracts as a strong candidate explanation for divergent spatiotemporal tau progression between conditions.

An oblique view of three-dimensional objects is preferred over a frontal or lateral view, partly because it is more familiar and easily recognizable. However, which side of a symmetric object looks better remains unsolved. Reading direction, handedness, and the functionality of objects have been suggested as the potential sources of directional bias. In this study, participants of three online surveys (total N = 1082) were asked to choose one item that looked better or was more aesthetically pleasing, the test was performed between 100 pairs of left- and right-facing mirror-images. The results showed that Japanese participants (both vertical and left-to-right readers) and Israeli participants (right-to-left readers) preferred left-facing images over right-facing images, whereas American participants (left-to-right readers) preferred right-facing images over left-facing images. Weak effects of handedness and object functionality were also found: Left-handers tended to choose right-facing images more than right-handers, and the view of objects with a handle that is graspable by the dominant hand was more likely to be chosen over the opposite side view, regardless of culture. Although previous studies have emphasized the role of reading direction, a close look at the results suggests that it cannot fully account for the preferred facing direction of oblique objects.

Adults’ linguistic background influences their sequential statistical learning of an artificial language characterized by conflicting forward-going and backward-going transitional probabilities. English-speaking adults favor backward-going transitional probabilities, consistent with the head-initial structure of English. Korean-speaking adults favor forward-going transitional probabilities, consistent with the head-final structure of Korean. These experiments assess when infants develop this directional bias. In the experiments, 7-month-old infants showed no bias for forward-going or backward-going regularities. By 13 months, however, English-learning infants favored backward-going transitional probabilities over forward-going transitional probabilities, consistent with English-speaking adults. This indicates that statistical learning rapidly adapts to the predominant syntactic structure of the native language. Such adaptation may facilitate subsequent learning by highlighting statistical structures that are likely to be informative in the native linguistic environment. Ministry of Education (MOE) We are grateful to Sook Whan Cho and Hongoak Yun for facilitating data collection at Asan Hospital in Seoul, South Korea, and Jae-un Kim and Young-In Lee for running Experiment 2. Support came from a Start Up Grant and a Singapore Ministry of Education Tier 1 grant (RG81/14) to L.O.

Objective: to measure the accuracy of brackets transfer with two indirect bonding techniques using cone beam computed tomography. Materials and Methods: One hundred fourty brackets were bonded to fourteen subjects (upper arch) receiving orthodontic treatments. Orthodontic brackets will placed on the casts with an adhesive. After bracket placement, Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans of the casts obtained .After bracket transfer another Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans of the subjects obtained. The corresponding teeth on both models will then digitally superimposed. All data collected will be tabulated and statistically analyzed. Results: The indirect bonding method investigated in this study was accurate and reliable within the specified acceptable boundaries with directional bias specially toward gingival Conclusion: Vacuum formed technique were significantly less accurate than silicone based technique in the Occlusogingival direction.

Helmet design and development are an important tool to help mitigate the severity and frequency of head and brain injury in sport and everyday life. Helmet assessment protocols and standards often use the Hybrid III neckform as part of the impacting equipment even though it has a biased response that can affect the results. This research presents an unbiased neckform that can be used for the purposes of head impact testing that does not provide a mechanical directional bias to the impact result. A Hybrid III headform was impacted under a sporting impact protocol with a Hybrid III and an unbiased neckform. The resultant acceleration magnitudes were similar between the two necks, while larger differences (8 g and up to 4 krad/s2) were found between the acceleration components. The Hybrid III neck may have a more biased response for longer duration events (10 ms+) as this research considered only short duration impacts (5–10 ms).

This study analyzes three tibia length measurement techniques on a sample of 107 tibiae. Two of the techniques meet published criteria by resting the tibia on its posterior surface with the longitudinal axis parallel to an osteometric board. The third technique does not adequately keep the longitudinal axis parallel to the board. Statistical analyses show low levels of interobserver error for all techniques and statistically significant differences between the third technique and the other two techniques. Results report a maximum difference of 6 mm between measurement techniques with the third technique having greater than 95% directional bias. A survey sent out to the American Academy of Forensic Sciences forensic anthropology community reported more than 50% of respondents having been taught the third technique when an osteometric board with a slot/hole is not available. The intermixing of the third technique with the other two has likely contributed to higher levels of interobserver error in tibia length measurements.

Geometrical features are known to be very important in neuronal growth and the formation of neuronal networks. We present an experimental and theoretical investigation of axonal growth and dynamics for neurons cultured on patterned polydimethylsiloxane surfaces. We utilize fluorescence microscopy to image the axonal dynamics and show that these substrates impart a strong directional bias to neuronal growth. We model axonal dynamics using a general stochastic model and use this framework to extract key dynamical parameters. These results provide novel insight into how geometrical cues influence neuronal growth and represent important advances toward bioengineering neuronal growth platforms.

The city is a complex system that evolves through its inherent social and economic interactions. Mediating the movements of people and resources, urban street networks offer a spatial footprint of these activities; consequently their structural characteristics have been of great interest in the literature. In comparison, relatively limited attention has been devoted to the interplay between street structure and its functional usage, i.e., the movement patterns of people and resources. To address this, we study the shape of 472,040 spatiotemporally optimized travel routes in the 92 most populated cities in the world. The routes are sampled in a geographically unbiased way such that their properties can be mapped on to each city, with their summary statistics capturing mesoscale connectivity patterns representing the complete space of possible movement in cities. The collective morphology of routes exhibits a directional bias that could be described as influenced by the attractive (or repulsive) forces resulting from congestion, accessibility and travel demand that relate to various socioeconomic factors. To capture this feature, we propose a simple metric, inness, that maps this force field. An analysis of the morphological patterns of individual cities reveals structural and socioeconomic commonalities among cities with similar inness patterns, in particular that they cluster into groups that are correlated with their size and putative stage of urban development as measured by a series of socioeconomic and infrastructural indicators. Our results lend weight to the insight that levels of urban socioeconomic development are intrinsically tied to increasing physical connectivity and diversity of road hierarchies., Comment: Manuscript + SI - 45 pages, 19 figures

Evolutionary transitions between male and female heterogamety are common in both vertebrates and invertebrates. Theoretical studies of these transitions have found that, when all genotypes are equally fit, continuous paths of intermediate equilibria link the two sex chromosome systems. This observation has led to a belief that neutral evolution along these paths can drive transitions, and that arbitrarily small fitness differences among sex chromosome genotypes can determine the system to which evolution leads. Here, we study stochastic evolutionary dynamics along these equilibrium paths. We find non-neutrality, both in transitions retaining the ancestral pair of sex chromosomes, and in those creating a new pair. In fact, substitution rates are biased in favor of dominant sex determining chromosomes, which fix with higher probabilities than mutations of no effect. Using diffusion approximations, we show that this non-neutrality is a result of “drift-induced selection” operating at every point along the equilibrium paths: stochastic jumps off the paths return with, on average, a directional bias in favor of the dominant segregating sex chromosome. Our results offer a novel explanation for the observed preponderance of dominant sex determining genes, and hint that drift-induced selection may be a common force in standard population genetic systems.

We examined asymmetry in the color of the dewlap of Anolis lineatus from Curacao. We confirmed previous reports that one side of the dewlap appears more yellow in color than the other and, contrary to previous work, demonstrate a directional bias such that the left side is usually the more yellow side. At one site surveyed twice in 3.5 years, the proportion of left- and right-sided males changed significantly. A behavioral experiment failed to find a significant tendency for males to direct the more yellow or more orange side of the dewlap to other individuals while displaying.

Global positioning system (GPS) telemetry units are now small enough to be deployed on terrestrial and semi-aquatic turtles. Many of these GPS units use snapshot technology which collects raw satellite and timestamp data during brief periods of data recording to minimize size. We evaluated locations from snapshot GPS units in stationary tests and on wood turtles (Glyptemys insculpta) in northeastern Minnesota. Stationary GPS units were placed in wood turtle habitat to evaluate location accuracy, fix success rate, and directional bias. The GPS fix success rate and accuracy were reduced in closed canopy conditions and when the stationary GPS unit was placed under a log to simulate wood turtle hiding behavior. We removed GPS location outliers and used a moving average calculation to reduce mean location error in stationary tests from 27 m (SD = 38) to 10 m (SD = 8). We then deployed GPS units and temperature loggers on wood turtles and collected 122,657 GPS locations and 242,781 temperature readings from 26 turtles from May to September 2015 and 2016. Location outliers accounted for 12% of locations when the GPS receiver was on a turtle. We classified each wood turtle location based on the GPS location and by comparing temperature profiles from river, sun, and shaded locations to the temperature logger on the turtle. We estimated that wood turtles were on land 68% (SD = 12) of the time from May to September. The fix success rate for land locations was 38% (SD = 9), indicating that wood turtles often use habitats with obstructed views of the sky. Mean net daily movement was 55 m (SD = 192). Our results demonstrate that snapshot GPS units and temperature loggers provide fine-scale GPS data useful in describing spatial ecology and habitat use of semi-aquatic turtles.

Background When performing the clock-drawing test healthy participants often draw the clock face using a counter clockwise movement. The reason for this circular directional bias is not known. These actions may be related to the development of motor or attentional programs that associate leftward with downward movements, and rightward with upward movements. Methods To further examine this down-left, up-right programming hypothesis, we examined the direction of circular movements made during cursive writing by dividing the first curved movements into the following pairs, up versus down, and leftward versus rightward. Results and conclusions With almost all the letters analyzed, when initially moving upward there was a simultaneous rightward movement and when initially moving downward a leftward movement. The results suggest that there appears to be a relationship between downward and leftward movements as well as between upward and right rightward movements. In addition, there is some evidence to suggest that the right-upward movements may be mediated by the left hemisphere and left-downward movements by the right hemisphere. Although our results suggest motor or spatial attentional programs may account for counter clockwise face drawing, activities such as learned writing direction may influence this spatial bias. Therefore, additional research is needed to better understand if these spatial biases are learned or intrinsic and the neuropsychological mechanisms that might account for these asymmetries.

The sensory physiology and behaviour of many fish species are strongly affected by light. This short study demonstrates that in the Australasian snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) absolute light intensity governs visual acuity and also guides preference behaviour, with fish choosing to ‘rest where they see best’. Use of the optomotor response to test visual acuity at four light intensities (0.01, 0.05, 1 and 3 μmol s−1 m2), showed that visual acuity (measured as directional bias) was best at a light intensity of 0.05 μmol s−1 m2 (84.9% directional bias), but weakened at the highest and lowest light intensity (41.1 and 35.3%). When provided with a choice of the same four light environments fish also spent most time in the 0.05 μmol s−1 m2 light environment, while the highest and lowest intensity light environments were usually avoided. Acclimated light intensity (that is daytime light intensity of the home aquarium) was also 0.05 μmol s−1 m2. By selecting an environment where visual function is optimise...

OBJECTIVE We aimed to assess the extent to which therapists' reports of client functioning track their clients' changing experience of their own functioning from session to session (temporal congruence) as well as the extent to which they over- or underestimate their clients' functioning (level or directional bias) and to examine whether these indices predict treatment outcomes. METHOD The participants included 384 clients who were treated by 77 therapists. Both clients and therapists rated the clients' functioning each session. The clients also completed pre- and posttreatment outcome measures. RESULTS Using multilevel modeling, we found that therapists' reports regarding their clients' functioning tended to be temporally congruent from session to session with their clients' reported functioning. In addition, on average, therapists did not show a level bias (i.e., did not over- or underestimate their clients' functioning). Finally, temporal congruence (but not level bias) predicted better treatment outcomes. CONCLUSION These findings highlight the importance of tracking clients' fluctuating symptoms over time. Thus, we discuss their implication for the policy and practice of providing session-by-session feedback to therapists. (PsycINFO Database Record

The stream-bounce effect refers to a bistable motion stimulus that is interpreted as two targets either “streaming” past or “bouncing” off one another, and the manipulations that bias responses. Directional bias, according to Bertenthal et al., is an account of the effect proposing that low-level motion integration promotes streaming, and its disruption leads to bouncing, and it is sometimes cited either directly in a bottom-up fashion or indirectly under top-down control despite Sekuler and Sekuler finding evidence inconsistent with it. We tested two key aspects of the hypothesis: (a) comparable changes in speed should produce comparable disruptions and lead to similar effects; and (b) speed changes alone should disrupt integration without the need for additional more complex changes of motion. We found that target motion influences stream-bounce perception, but not as directional bias predicts. Our results support Sekuler and Sekuler and argue against the low-level motion signals driving perceptual outcomes in stream-bounce displays (directly or indirectly) and point to higher level inferential processes involving perceptual history and expectation. Directional bias as a mechanism should be abandoned and either another specific bottom-up process must be proposed and tested or consideration should be given to top-down factors alone driving the effect.

Enigma is an op-art painting that elicits an illusion of rotational streaming motion. In the present study, we tested whether adaptation to various motion configurations that included relative motion components could be reflected in the directional bias of the illusory stream. First, participants viewed the center of a rotating Enigma stimulus for adaptation. There was no physical motion on the ring area. During the adaptation period, the illusory stream on the ring was mainly seen in the direction opposite to that of the physical rotation. After the physical rotation stopped, the illusory stream on the ring was mainly seen in the same direction as that of the preceding physical rotation. Moreover, adapting to strong relative motion induced a strong bias in the illusory motion direction in the subsequently presented static Enigma stimulus. The results suggest that relative motion detectors corresponding to the ring area may produce the illusory stream of Enigma.

The purpose of the current study was to explore the influence of the distance of a wall located behind the hole in performing a putt in golf. Our assumption was that a performance condition where the wall is located a short distance behind the hole would help novices minimize any left/right directional bias. Novice golfers performed a putting task from a distance of two m in front of the hole in two learning settings. In the Far Wall Condition, a wall was located 4 m behind the hole, and in the Close Wall Condition the wall was located 90 cm behind the hole. The putt was performed under both quiet and distracted conditions. Results showed that overall accuracy was greater in the Close Wall Condition than in the Far Wall Condition. In addition, different patterns of left/right directional bias in the two performance conditions were observed. However, the hitting deviations were more balanced in the Close Wall Condition. It is recommended that coaches consider the use of environmental cues that have the pot...

Dividing cells reorganize their microtubule cytoskeleton into a bipolar spindle, which moves one set of sister chromatids to each nascent daughter cell. Early spindle assembly models postulated that spindle-pole-derived microtubules search the cytoplasmic space until they randomly encounter a kinetochore to form a stable attachment. More recent work uncovered several additional, centrosome-independent microtubule generation pathways, but the contributions of each pathway to spindle assembly have remained unclear. Here, we combined live microscopy and mathematical modeling to show that most microtubules nucleate at non-centrosomal regions in dividing human cells. Using a live-cell probe that selectively labels aged microtubule lattices, we demonstrate that the distribution of growing microtubule plus-ends can be almost entirely explained by Augmin-dependent amplification of long-lived microtubules. By ultra-fast 3D lattice light-sheet microscopy, we observed that this mechanism results in a strong directional bias of microtubule growth towards individual kinetochores. Our systematic quantification of spindle dynamics reveals highly coordinated microtubule growth during kinetochore-fiber assembly.