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To examine whether enantiomorphy (i.e., the ability to discriminate lateral mirror images) is influenced by the acquisition of a written system that incorporates mirrored letters (e.g., b and d), unschooled illiterate adults were compared with people reading the Latin alphabet, namely, both schooled literate adults and unschooled adults alphabetized in adulthood. In various sorting and same-different comparison tasks with nonlinguistic materials, illiterate participants displayed some sensitivity to enantiomorphic contrasts but performed far worse than all the other participant groups when the task required paying attention to such contrasts. The difficulties of illiterate participants were more severe with enantiomorphs than with rotations in the plane or shape contrasts. Learning a written system that incorporates enantiomorphic letters thus pushes the beginning reader to break the mirror invariance characteristic of the visual system, and this process generalizes beyond the realm of symbolic characters. (Contains 12 figures, 6 tables and 7 footnotes.)

This study combined artificial language learning (ALL) with conventional experimental techniques to test whether statistical speech segmentation outputs are integrated into adult listeners' mental lexicon. Lexicalization was assessed through inhibitory effects of novel neighbors (created by the parsing process) on auditory lexical decisions to real words. Both immediately after familiarization and post-one week, ALL outputs were lexicalized only when the cues available during familiarization (transitional probabilities and wordlikeness) suggested the same parsing (Experiments 1 and 3). No lexicalization effect occurred with incongruent cues (Experiments 2 and 4). Yet, ALL differed from chance, suggesting a dissociation between item knowledge and lexicalization. Similarly contrasted results were found when frequency of occurrence of the stimuli was equated during familiarization (Experiments 3 and 4). Our findings thus indicate that ALL outputs may be lexicalized as far as the segmentation cues are congruent, and that this process cannot be accounted for by raw frequency. (Contains 6 figures and 3 tables.)

Culture has been shown to influence the way people apprehend their physical environment. Cognitive orientation is more holistic in East Asian cultures, which emphasize relationships and connectedness among objects in the field, than in Western cultures, which are more prone to focus exclusively on the object and its attributes. We investigated whether, beyond, or in conjunction with culture, literacy and/or schooling may also have an influence on this cognitive orientation. Using the Framed-Line Test both in Portugal and in Thailand, we compared literate schooled adults with two groups of unschooled adults: one of illiterates and one of ex-illiterates. As in former studies on Western people, Portuguese-schooled literates were more accurate in the absolute task than in the relative task. In contrast, Portuguese illiterates and ex-illiterates were more accurate in the relative task than in the absolute task. Such an effect of schooling was not observed in the Thai groups, all of whom performed better on the relative task. Thus, the capacity to abstract from contextual information does not stem only from passive exposure to the culture or the physical environment of Western countries. Western schooling, as part of or in addition to culture, is a crucial factor.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) induced by monocrotaline (MCT) is an experimental protocol of right heart failure. We analyzed the role of exercise training on the right ventricle structure and function, pulmonary artery remodeling, and GSK-3β expression. Rats were divided among the following groups: sedentary control (SC), sedentary monocrotaline (SM), trained control (TC), and trained monocrotaline (TM). Rats underwent exercise training for a period of 5 weeks, with 3 weeks post-MCT injection. Rats in the SM and TM groups presented with an increase in right ventricle hypertrophy indexes and lung congestion. The right ventricular end diastolic pressure (RVEDP), right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP), and its minimum and maximal pressure derivates were increased in the SM and TM groups. The right ventricle interstitial volume pulmonary artery thickness and p-GSK-3β/GSK-3β were increased in the MCT groups as compared with the control groups. The TM group had a reduction in interstitial volume, p-GSK-3β/GSK-3β ratio, pulmonary artery thickness, RVEDP, and an increase in intramyocardial vessels volume as compared with the SM group. The overall results have shown that the exercise protocol used promoted positive changes in right ventricle and pulmonary artery remodeling. These observations also suggest that structural remodeling may be influenced by signaling proteins, such as GSK-3β. Key words: pulmonary arterial hypertension, cardiac hypertrophy, heart failure, hypertrophy signaling, cor pulmonale, GSK-3β, cardiac remodeling. L'hypertension arterielle pulmonaire (HAP) induite par la monocrotaline (MCT) est un modele experimental de l'insuffisance du coeur droit. Nous avons analyse le role d'un entrainement physique sur la structure et la fonction du ventricule droit, le remodelage de l'artere pulmonaire et l'expression de GSK-3β. Des rats ont ete repartis en groupes sedentaire controle (SC), sedentaire monocrotaline (SM), entraine controle (EC) et entraine monocrotaline (EM). Les rats ont ete soumis a un entrainement physique pendant une periode de cinq semaines, trois semaines apres l'injection de MCT. Les animaux SM et EM presentaient une augmentation de l'indice d'hypertrophie du ventricule droit et une congestion pulmonaire. La pression diastolique de l'extremite ventriculaire droite, la pression systolique ventriculaire droite et les pressions minimales et maximales derivees etaient accrues chez les groupes SM et EM. Le volume interstitiel du ventricule droit, l'epaisseur de l'artere pulmonaire et le rapport p-GSK-3β/GSK-3β etaient augmentes chez les groupes traites a la MCT comparativement a leurs controles respectifs. Le groupe EM presentait une reduction du volume interstitiel, du rapport p-GSK-3β/GSK-3β, de l'epaisseur de l'artere pulmonaire, de la pression diastolique ventriculaire droite, et une augmentation du volume des vaisseaux intra-myocardiques comparativement au groupe SM. Dans l'ensemble, ces resultats ont montre que le protocole d'entrainement physique utilise pouvait favoriser des changements positifs dans le ventricule droit et sur le plan du remodelage de l'artere pulmonaire. Ces observations suggerent aussi que le remodelage structural peut subir l'influence de molecules de signalisation comme la GSK-3β. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : hypertension arterielle pulmonaire, hypertrophie cardiaque, insuffisance cardiaque, signalisation de l'hypertrophie, cor pulmonale, GSK-3β, remodelage cardiaque., Introduction Many experimental models of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) have been proposed and the most studied is the model induced by monocrotaline (MCT), first described by Lalich and Merkow in [...]

This study analyzed and compared the content of isoflavones in 2 soy products, the effectiveness of isoflavones as antioxidants, in vitro, and demonstrated the antioxidant effect of a soy diet in rats with myocardial infarction (MI). Isoflavone content was analyzed in soybean hypocotyl (SH) and isolated soy protein (ISP). The quality (TAR) and quantity (TRAP) of antioxidants present in the samples was quantified. The amount of daidzin was higher in SH (9 times) and genistein in ISP (5 times). SH presented a 3-fold increase in TAR, while both products exhibited same TRAP. The rats were fed an ISP diet for 9 weeks. Animals were distributed among 6 treatment groups: (i) Sham Casein; (ii) Infarct Casein < 25%; (iii) Infarct Casein > 25%; (iv) Sham Soy; (v) Infarct Soy < 25%; and (vi) Infarct Soy > 25%. MI was induced 5 weeks after the commencement of the diets. Lipid peroxidation (LPO), antioxidant enzyme activity, and levels of nitrites/nitrates were determined in blood. Rats receiving the ISP diet demonstrated increased activity of antioxidant enzyme activity and nitrite/ nitrate content. In addition, the increase in LPO seen in rats subjected to MI was significantly mitigated when the ISP diet was given. These findings suggest a nutritional approach of using a soy-based diet for the prevention of oxidative-stress-related diseases such as heart failure. Key words: isolated soy protein, soybean hypocotyl, lipid peroxidation, antioxidant potential, myocardial infarction, antioxidant enzymes, nitric oxide. Cette etude visait a analyser et a comparer le contenu en isoflavones de deux produits du soja, leur efficacite en tant qu'antioxydants in vitro et a demontrer un effet antioxydant d'une diete de soja chez les rats souffrant d'un infarctus du myocarde (IM). Le contenu en isoflavones de l'hypocotyle de la feve de soja (HS) et de la proteine de soja isolee (PSI) a ete analyse. La qualite (TAR) et la quantite (TRAP) des antioxydants presents dans les echantillons ont ete evaluees. La quantite de daidzeine etait 9 fois plus elevee dans l' HS alors que la genisteine etait 5 fois plus elevee dans la PSI. La TAR de l' HS etait 3 fois plus elevee, alors que la TRAP etait la meme chez les deux produits. Des rats ont ete soumis a une diete de PSI pendant 9 semaines. Les animaux ont ete divises en 6 groupes : (i) faux traitement/caseine; (ii) infarctus/caseine < 25 %; (iii) infarctus/caseine > 25 %; (iv) faux traitement/soja; (v) infarctus/soja < 25 %; (vi) et infarctus/soja > 25 %. L'IM a ete induit apres 5 semaines de diete. La peroxydation des lipides (LPO), l' activite des enzymes antioxydantes et le contenu en nitrites/nitrates ont ete determines dans le sang. L' activite des enzymes antioxydantes et le contenu en nitrites/nitrates etaient accrus chez les rats soumis a la diete de PSI. De plus, l'augmentation de LPO observee chez les rats souffrant d'un IM etait significativement attenuee par la diete a la PSI. Ces resultats suggerent d'utiliser une approche nutritionnelle a base de soja pour prevenir les maladies reliees au stress oxydant comme l'insuffisance cardiaque. Mots-cles : proteine de soja isolee, hypocotyle de soja, peroxydation des lipides, potentiel antioxydant, infarctus du myocarde, enzymes antioxydantes, oxyde nitrique. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Soy is known for having high concentrations of several physiologically active phytochemicals, including isoflavones such as genistein and daidzein and their respective b-glycosides, genistin and daidzin. Soybean and soy [...]

Effective osteoporosis therapy requires agents that increase the amount and/or quality of bone. Any modification of osteoclast-mediated bone resorption by disease or drug treatment, however, elicits a parallel change in osteoblast-mediated bone formation because the processes are tightly coupled. Anabolic approaches now focus on uncoupling osteoblast action from osteoclast formation, for example, by inhibiting sclerostin, an inhibitor of bone formation that does not influence osteoclast differentiation. Here, we report that oncostatin M (OSM) is produced by osteoblasts and osteocytes in mouse bone and that it has distinct effects when acting through 2 different receptors, OSM receptor (OSMR) and leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR). Specifically, mouse OSM (mOSM) inhibited sclerostin production in a stromal cell line and in primary murine osteoblast cultures by acting through LIFR. In contrast, when acting through OSMR, mOSM stimulated RANKL production and osteoclast formation. A key role for OSMR in bone turnover was confirmed by the osteopetrotic phenotype of mice lacking OSMR Furthermore, in contrast to the accepted model, in which mOSM acts only through OSMR, mOSM inhibited sclerostin expression in [Osmr.sup.[-/-]] osteoblasts and enhanced bone formation in vivo. These data reveal what we believe to be a novel pathway by which bone formation can be stimulated independently of bone resorption and provide new insights into OSMR and LIFR signaling that are relevant to other medical conditions, including cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases and cancer., Introduction Signaling through the shared cytokine receptor subunit glycoprotein 130 (gp130) is critical for many cell functions. Specific responses are initiated by unique receptor:ligand signaling complexes formed by initial ligand [...]