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Microplastics (MPs) ingested and accumulated by organisms would ultimately pose a threat to humans via food chain. A balanced gut microbiota contributes to many health benefits, which is readily to be influenced by environmental chemicals such as MPs. Cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G), a bioactive compound of anthocyanin family, possesses a variety of functional effects including anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory, as well as gut microbiota modulation. C3G has been demonstrated to prevent polystyrene (PS) induced toxicities in Caco2 cells and Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) via activating autophagy and promoting discharge. In the present study, we aimed to explore the alleviation effect of C3G on PS induced toxicities in C57BL/6 mice. Our results show that the supplementation of C3G effectively reduced tissue accumulation and promoted fecal PS discharge, leading to alleviated PS-caused oxidative stress and inflammatory response. Meanwhile, C3G modulated PS-associated gut microbiome perturbations and regulated functional bacteria in inflammation such as Desulfovibrio, Helicobacter, Oscillospiraceae and Lachnoclostridium. Also, C3G administration initiated alterations in functional pathways in response to xenobiotic PS, and reduced bacterial functional genes related to inflammation and human diseases. These findings may offer evidence on the protective role of C3G for the intervention of PS-induced toxicity and gut dysbiosis.

Interleukin-3 (IL-3) is a hematopoietic growth factor and critical regulator of inflammatory response such as sepsis. IL-3 binds to IL-3 receptor α (IL-3Rα), which is then associated with IL-3Rβ to initiate signaling. How IL-3-triggered physiological and pathological effects are regulated at the receptor level is unclear. Here, we show that the plasma membrane-associated E3 ubiquitin ligase MARCH3 negatively regulates IL-3-triggered signaling. MARCH3 is associated with IL-3Rα, mediates its K48-linked polyubiquitination at K377 and promotes its proteasomal degradation. MARCH3-deficiency promotes IL-3-triggered transcription of downstream effector genes and IL-3-induced expansion of myeloid cells. In the cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) model of sepsis, MARCH3-deficiency aggravates IL-3-ampified expression of inflammatory cytokines, organ damage and inflammatory death. Our findings suggest that regulation of IL-3Rα by MARCH3 plays an important role in IL-3-triggered physiological functions and inflammatory diseases.

The IL-6-STAT3 axis is critically involved in inflammation-associated carcinogenesis (IAC). How this axis is regulated to modulate IAC remains unknown. Here, we show that the plasma membrane-associated E3 ubiquitin ligase MARCH3 negatively regulates STAT3 activation triggered by IL-6, as well as another IL-6 subfamily member, Oncostatin M (OSM). MARCH3 is associated with the IL-6 receptor α-chain (IL-6Rα) and its coreceptor gp130. Biochemical experiments indicated that MARCH3 mediates the polyubiquitination of IL-6Rα at K401 and gp130 at K849 following IL-6 stimulation, leading to their translocation to and degradation in lysosomes. MARCH3 deficiency increases IL-6- and OSM-triggered activation of STAT3 and induction of downstream effector genes in various cell types. MARCH3 deficiency enhances dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced STAT3 activation, increases the expression of inflammatory cytokines, and exacerbates colitis, as well as azoxymethane (AOM)/DSS-induced colitis-associated cancer in mice. In addition, MARCH3 is downregulated in human colorectal cancer tissues and associated with poor survival across different cancer types. Our findings suggest that MARCH3 is a pivotal negative regulator of IL-6-induced STAT3 activation, inflammation, and inflammation-associated carcinogenesis.

Numerous studies have found that participants are more accurate at remembering faces from their own-age group rather than other-age group (the own-age bias, OAB, in face recognition). An experience-based account has suggested that more extensive experience on own-age faces than other-race faces causes this bias. There is also a socio-cognitive account, which suggested that individuals have stronger motivation to own-age than other-age faces. However, some recent studies suggested that differential allocation of attention to own-age versus other-age faces may play a role in the underlying process of the OAB. The aim of this study is to investigate whether and how attention affects the own-age bias in face recognition and memory. In Experiment 1, we tested the roles of attention by comparing task performance in focused versus divided attention conditions in two experiments. Firstly, in Experiment 1a, we manipulated participants’ attention by asking or not asking participants to perform a visual interference task when they were performing a face recognition task. Secondly, in Experiment 1b, we adopted auditory interference task to manipulate participants’ attention. The results showed that (i) the OAB emerged in the subsequent memory task in focused attention condition but not in divided attention condition; and (ii) participants’ recognition of own-age faces declined more in divided attention condition than in focused attention condition. Why own-age bias disappeared under a divided attention condition and the divided attention condition interfered memory task performance only for own-age faces? Previous studies suggested that participants tend to adopt more holistic processing for their own-age faces than other-age faces. Is it possible that the divided attention has interfered the holistic processing, and thus own-age faces cannot be processed holistically? We tested this possibility in Experiment 2. Using the same attention manipulation technique in Experiment 1, in Experiment 2, we compared the composite face effect (CFE, a marker of holistic face processing) of the own-age and other-age faces in focused attention versus divided attention condition. The results showed that (i) CFE emerged for the own-age faces in the focused attention condition but not in the divided attention condition; and (ii) we failed to observe CFE in other-age faces for both attention conditions. In summary, we found (i) divided attention, relative to focused attention, can eliminate the OAB in face recognition by reducing the performance of the own-age face recognition; and (ii) the holistic processing of the own-age faces is impaired by the divided attention so that the own-age face recognition performance is reduced and the OAB of face recognition emerged.

Artifacts (e.g., chair, desk, books) are closely related with peoples’ daily life. Evidences have been accumulated from behavior experiment, brain damage patient, and neural functional imaging to show that the cognitive neural processing mechanisms are different for artifacts and natural kinds. The intention-based model assumes that people categorize an objects’ by reasoning the creator’s intent. Evidence for this model are about “intended function” effect in categorization, naming, and reasoning studies. However, the utility-based model assumes that using-goal is determining how people categorize an object. The interaction between people and objects make object’s properties related the using-goal so that the semantic organization of an artifact concept is coherent. This model can explain evidence from study on both intended function and non-intended function. From a third-party perspective, the commonalty of these two models is that they are both purpose-based and the key difference between them is that the creator’s versus the user’s purpose influences artifact concept’s categorization and reasoning. Previous studies used a natural language depiction-based free naming task but seldom separate syntactic component from the semantic component in these depictions. In this study, we recruited 96 participants and manipulated the plausibility of 6 objects’ function by creating plausible and implausible versions of function depiction to explore how the plausibility of an object’s function affects participants’ categorization judgment. The study had two key findings: The plausibility of an object’s function affects participants’ naming, rating, and reasoning of an artifact. Participants categorize ambiguous depictions of objects as artifacts when objects’ function is plausible and categorize them as natural kinds when their function is implausible. The correlation analysis showed that the more plausible an object’s function is the higher possibility that participants categorize it as an artifact. In summary, presenting the semantic component of an object’s function make ambiguous object categorized more as artifacts. Wang et al. found the role effect which showed that positive role word “you” can illuminate object history effect on categorization judgment. Namely, the role word can affect both the amount of function listed and the object categorization. These findings suggest that role word, object function, and categorization judgment are in a linear mediation relation: role word activate object function, and object function activation categorization judgment. In this current study, we directly probe and proved that the semantic component of object function has effect on artifact concept processing. If with the assumption that both the object man-made formation history and the second person role word can activate object function, then the purpose-based theory can explain both the formation effect and the role effect indicating that the two effects have a common mediating step: first to activate object’s function, then have effect on next cognitive output. Therefore, this point developed the purpose-based model.

Korteweg–de Vries (KdV)-type equations are used as approximate models governing weakly nonlinear long waves in fluids, where the first-order nonlinear and dispersive terms are retained and in balance. The retained second-order terms can result in the extended fifth-order KdV equation. Through the Darboux transformation (DT), multi-soliton solutions for the extended fifth-order KdV equation with coefficient constraints are constructed. Soliton propagation properties and interactions are studied: except for the velocity, the amplitude and width of the soliton are not influenced by the coefficient of the original equation; the amplitude, velocity, and wave shape of each soltion remain unchanged after the interaction. By virtue of the generalised DT and Taylor expansion of the solutions for the corresponding Lax pair, the first- and second-order rational solutions of the equation are obtained.

The Boiti–Leon–Manna–Pempinelli (BLMP) equation is seen as a model for the incompressible fluid. In this article, a (3+1)-dimensional BLMP equation is investigated. With the aid of the Bell polynomials, bilinear form of such an equation is obtained. By virtue of the bilinear form, two kinds of soliton solutions with different nonlinear dispersion relations and another kind of analytic solutions are derived. Lax pairs and Bäcklund transformations are also constructed. Soliton propagation and interaction are analysed: (i) solitions with different nonlinear dispersion relations have different velocities and backgrounds; (ii) for another kind of analytic solutions with different nonlinear dispersion relations, the periodic property is displayed.

In this letter, a generalized nonlinear Schrodinger–Maxwell–Bloch system is investigated, which can be used to describe the solitons in optical fibers. By virtue of the generalized Darboux transformation, higher-order rogue-wave solutions are derived. Rogue-wave propagation and interaction are analyzed: (1) Complex envelope of the field, q , appears as a bright rogue wave, the measure of the polarization of the resonant medium, p , is a bright-dark rogue wave while the extant of the population inversion, η , is a dark rogue wave; (2) Group velocity inhomogeneity and the linear and Kerr nonlinearity inhomogeneity affect q , p and η more than the other parameters do; (3) Character of the interaction between the propagating field and erbium atoms, the gain or loss term and the linear and Kerr nonlinearity inhomogeneous parameter affect the interaction range of the second-order rogue waves.

Using a composite-face paradigm, we examined the holistic processing induced by Asian faces, Caucasian faces, and monkey faces with human Asian participants in two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to judge whether the upper halves of two faces successively presented were the same or different. A composite-face effect was found for Asian faces and Caucasian faces, but not for monkey faces. In Experiment 2, participants were asked to judge whether the lower halves of the two faces successively presented were the same or different. A composite-face effect was found for monkey faces as well as for Asian faces and Caucasian faces. Collectively, these results reveal that own-species (i.e., own-race and other-race) faces engage holistic processing in both upper and lower halves of the face, but other-species (i.e., monkey) faces engage holistic processing only when participants are asked to match the lower halves of the face. The findings are discussed in the context of a region-based holistic processing account for the species-specific effect in face recognition.

The nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation appears in fluid mechanics, plasma physics, etc., while the Hirota equation, a higher-order NLS equation, has been introduced. In this paper, a higher-order Hirota system is investigated, which describes the wave propagation in an erbium-doped nonlinear fiber with higher-order dispersion. By virtue of the Darboux transformation and generalized Darboux transformation, multi-soliton solutions and higher-order rogue-wave solutions are derived, beyond the published first-order consideration.Wave propagation and interaction are analyzed: (i) Bell-shape solitons, bright- and dark-rogue waves are found; (ii) the two-soliton interaction is elastic, i. e., the amplitude and velocity of each soliton remain unchanged after the interaction; (iii) the coefficient in the system affects the direction of the soliton propagation, patterns of the soliton interaction, distance, and direction of the first-order rogue-wave propagation, as well as the range and direction of the second-order rogue-wave interaction.

Korteweg–de Vries (KdV)-type equations can describe the nonlinear waves in fluids, plasmas, etc. In this paper, two generalized KdV equations are under investigation. Bilinear forms of which are constructed with the Bell polynomials and an auxiliary variable. $$N$$ -soliton solutions are given through the Hirota direct method. Via the asymptotic analysis, the soliton interactions of the first generalized KdV equation are analyzed, which turn out to be elastic. Singular breather solutions have been derived from the two-soliton solutions. The collision between soliton and singular breather appears to be elastic, and the bound states of soliton and singular breather are exhibited. Unlike the first one, the other generalized KdV equation can only support the bound states of solitons, for the regular and singular solitons alike.

In this paper, a generalized variable-coefficient Calogero-Bogoyavlenskii-Schiff equation is investigated. Based on the Bell polynomials and an auxiliary variable, bilinear forms of such an equation are obtained. One-, two-, and three-soliton solutions are given through the Hirota method and symbolic computation. N-soliton solutions are also constructed. Multi-soliton interaction and propagation are investigated and illustrated: (i) properties of the multi-soliton interaction on different planes in space depend on the forms of the only variable coefficient; (ii) positions of the solitons change when the wave numbers have the reverse signs.

A (2+1)-dimensional modified Heisenberg ferromagnetic system, which arises in the motion of magnetization vector of the isotropic ferromagnet and biological pattern formation, is investigated. Via the Hirota bilinear method, multi-soliton solutions of such a system are derived. It is proved that the system possesses the N-soliton solutions expressed in terms of the double Wronskian determinant. Head-on and overtaking elastic interactions are exhibited. Elastic interaction behavior between the two solitons has been interpreted through the asymptotic analysis, namely, amplitude and velocity of each soliton remain unchanged except for the phase shift after the interaction. Inelastic interactions including the soliton fusion and fission between two solitons are shown. During the soliton propagation, for the product of two fields, the soliton with the smaller amplitude can travel faster than with the larger, while for the third field, the soliton with the larger amplitude can travel faster than with the smaller. On the other hand, the soliton for the third field may exhibit the solitoff-like property. With respect to the three solitons, head-on elastic interaction can be found.

Tongxinluo (TXL), a renowned traditional Chinese medicine, consists of several different kinds of ingredients and has been widely used to treat myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke. However, the underlying neuroprotective mechanisms are not fully understood.We focus on the effect of TXL on blood-brain barrier (BBB) including edema formation and tight junction (TJ) protein rearrangement, and inflammatory response after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO). We further explore the protective mechanism of TXL on ischemia-induced BBB damage.Adult CD1 male mice (n=168) were randomly divided into TXL pre-treatment group, TXL pre-post treatment group, TXL post-treatment group, control group and sham group. Mice in TXL pre-treatment group were given TXL solution by 1g/kg/day orally for 7 days before tMCAO. Mice in pre-post treatment group were continuously given TXL 7 days before and 14 days after tMCAO. Mice in TXL post-treatment group were given TXL solution immediately after tMCAO. Rotarod test and neurological severity scores were evaluated at 1-14 days following tMCAO. Brains were harvested for examining infarct volume, edema formation, and immunofluorescent staining at 1 and 3 days after tMCAO. Cytokines IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α mRNA expression, and BBB permeability were further examined by RT-PCR and immunostaining.TXL pre-post treatment improved neurobehavioral outcomes and reduced infarct volume compared to the control (p0.05). Meanwhile, hemispheric swelling, Evans blue and IgG protein extravasation reduced, while TJ protein expression up-regulated in pre-post treatment group (p0.05). Further study indicated that infarct volume was smaller and BBB damage was less severe in TXL pre-post treatment group compared to TXL pre-treatment alone. It was noted that fewer myeloperoxidase (MPO) positive cells and less cytokines IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α expression in pre-post treatment group compared to the control group (p0.05).TXL pre-treatment and pre-post treatment effectively protected the brain from BBB disruption via alleviating inflammatory response. Moreover, pre-post treatment has better outcomes, suggesting that continuous administration of TXL before and throughout ischemia period is necessary because of multiple functions of TXL.

In this paper, a two-component (2 + 1) -dimensional long-wave-short-wave (LWSW) system with nonlinearity coefficients, which describes the nonlinear resonance interaction between two short waves and a long wave, is studied. Via the Hirota's bilinear method and Pfaffian, N -order rogue waves for the LWSW system are constructed. Furthermore, correction of the N -order rogue waves is proved directly via the Pfaffian, which is cumbersome or inaccessible in other methods. Results of the first- and second-order rogue waves are presented: 1) For the first-order rogue waves, the two short-wave components are bright, while the long-wave component is dark. The position of maximum amplitude of the rogue wave is analyzed. Evolution process for the first-order rogue wave is also presented and discussed. 2) Choosing different forms of the elements defined in the Pfaffian, we obtain some kinds of the second-order rogue waves with new spatial distributions: when the elements defined in Pfaffian are the same as the first-order rogue waves, we find that the second-order rogue waves for the two short-wave components are split into two first-order rogue waves and the two bumps coexist and interact with each other; when we change the combination of the elements in Pfaffian, we find that the second-order rogue waves for the two short-wave components are split into three and four first-order rogue waves. 3) N -order rogue waves for a general M -component LWSW system are constructed.

Past research has identified a variety of factors that influence cognitive processing of artifact concepts, but few experiments tested possible interactive patterns among these factors. Using a natural language depiction based free naming task, we explored how an object’s function and its history (information about how an object was formed by natural force) interact to affect categorization judgment in a 2×2 between- subjects experiment (N = 169). The study had two key findings: (i) Without presenting an object’s function, presenting the history of its natural formation increased subjects’ tendency to name the object under the “natural” domain and decreased their tendency to name it under the “artifact” domain; (ii) once we presented the depiction of an object’s function, the effect of history presentation on categorization disappeared: Subjects in both conditions strongly preferred naming objects as artifacts. In summary, presenting depiction of an object’s function inhibited the effect of history on object categorization. Current findings suggest that an object’s function plays a fundamental role in the cognitive processing of artifact concepts.

BACKGROUND As a model for both multistep and multipathway carcinogenesis, colorectal neoplastic progression provides paradigms for researching both oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes (TSGs). However, the mechanism of colorectal cancer (CRC) is not completely understood, and many genes may be involved in the colorectal carcinogenesis. The purpose of this study was to screen for the potential TSGs on chromosome 1q31.1-32.1 in Chinese patients with sporadic colorectal cancer, to explore whether colorectal cancer in the Chinese population has unique genetic alterations and determine whether other putative TSGs exist and contribute to colon carcinogenesis. METHODS Six polymorphic microsatellite markers, at a density of approximately one marker in every 1.6 cM, were chosen for refined loss of heterozygosity (LOH) mapping of 1q31.1-32.1. Eighty-three colorectal cancer patients' tumor and normal DNA were analyzed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for these microsatellite markers. PCR products were eletrophoresed on an ABI 377 DNA sequencer. Genescan 3.1 and Genotype 2.1 software were used for LOH scanning and analysis. On the basis of refined LOH mapping results, we undertook a microarray-based expression screening to identify tumor association genes in 19 of the CRC cases. RESULTS The average LOH frequency of 1q31.1-32.1 was 24.41%, with the highest frequency of 36.73% (18/49) at D1S2622, and the lowest of 16.42% (11/67) at D1S412. A minimal region of frequent deletion was located within a 2 cM genomic segment at D1S413-D1S2622. There was no significant association between LOH of any marker in the studied regions and the clinicopathological data (patient sex, age, tumor size, growth pattern, or Dukes stage). On the basis of refined mapping results, we chose 25 genes located in the D1S413-D1S2622 (1q31.3-32.1) region and presented a microarray-based high throughput screening approach in 19 sporadic CRC cases to identify candidate CRC related tumor suppressor genes. This study found 4 significantly down-expressed genes, including CSRP1, LMOD1, PPP1R12B and CFHL3. There was no significant association between expression levels of CFHL3, CSRP1, LMOD1, PPP1R12B and the clinicopathological data. By database searching, CSRP1 was hypothesized to be a colorectal cancer related tumor suppressor gene. CONCLUSIONS Through detailed deletion mapping, we found that the 1q31.3-32.1 region might harbor one or more colorectal cancer related tumor suppressor gene (s). And by microarray-based high-throughput screening of candidate genes located in this region and by subsequent database searching, we present the first evidence that CSRP1 might be involved in the progression of CRC.

BACKGROUND. Expression microarrays are widely used for investigating the nature and extent of global gene-expression changes in human cancer. Accurate genomewide gene-expression profiles have not been conducted in colon tumor and normal colon tissue specimens obtained from Chinese patients. METHODS. In the present study a pure population of colon cancer and normal colon cells was obtained and the global gene-expression differences were compared in the 2 cell types using combined experimental and bioinformatic approaches. Various categories of genes that were differentially expressed in those 2 types of cells were identified, including a novel candidate tumor marker, IFITM3. RESULTS. Elevated IFITM3 expression in colon cancer cells was first confirmed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. IFITM3 protein expression in human colon cancer specimens was further analyzed using both tissue microarray and standard tissue sections by immunostaining analyses. It was found that there was a significant IFITM3 increase in adenoma as compared with that in normal colon tissue. CONCLUSIONS. The data suggest that IFITM3 plays an important role in early colon cancer development. Cancer 2008. © 2008 American Cancer Society.

The focusing nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE) describes propagation of quasimonochromatic waves in weakly nonlinear media. The aim of this study is to determine conditions of soliton synchronization in the NLSE in terms of the solitons' position and phase parameters. For this purpose, the concept of asymptotic middle states of solitons in the NLSE is first introduced. With soliton solutions of the NLSE, it is shown that soliton synchronization can be achieved by synchronizing the asymptotic middle states of the solitons, and conditions of soliton synchronization in terms of the solitons' position and phase parameters are given. Although the interaction of the solitons is nonlinear, the conditions are linear equations. Then, aided with the synchronization conditions, simple initial conditions are presented for producing synchronized interaction of solitons without the need to obtain analytic expressions for the synchronized interaction of the solitons. The initial conditions are summations of fundamental solitons with no mutual overlap, so they might be convenient to implement in applicative contexts.

To investigate nonautonomous matter waves with time-dependent modulation in a one-dimensional trapped spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate, we hereby work on the generalized three-coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations by means of the Hirota bilinear method. By modulating the external trap potential, atom gain or loss, and coupling coefficients, we can obtain several nonautonomous matter-wave solitons and rogue waves including ``bright'' and ``dark'' shapes and arrive at the following conclusions: (i) the external trap potential and atom gain or loss can influence the propagation of matter-wave solitons and the duration and frequency of bound solitonic interaction, but they have little effect on the head-on solitonic interaction; (ii) through numerical simulation, stable evolution of the matter-wave solitons is realized with a perturbation of $5%$ initial random noise, and the spin-exchange interaction of atoms can be affected by the time-dependent modulation; (iii) under the influence of a periodically modulated trap potential and periodic atom gain or loss, rogue waves can emerge in the superposition of localized character and periodic oscillating properties.

For the past century, researchers have extensively studied human face processing and its development. These studies have advanced our understanding of not only face processing, but also visual processing in general. However, most of what we know about face processing was investigated using static face images as stimuli. Therefore, an important question arises: to what extent does our understanding of static face processing generalize to face processing in real-life contexts in which faces are mostly moving? The present article addresses this question by examining recent studies on moving face processing to uncover the influence of facial movements on face processing and its development. First, we describe evidence on the facilitative effects of facial movements on face recognition and two related theoretical hypotheses: the supplementary information hypothesis and the representation enhancement hypothesis. We then highlight several recent studies suggesting that facial movements optimize face processing by activating specific face processing strategies that accommodate to task requirements. Lastly, we review the influence of facial movements on the development of face processing in the first year of life. We focus on infants' sensitivity to facial movements and explore the facilitative effects of facial movements on infants' face recognition performance. We conclude by outlining several future directions to investigate moving face processing and emphasize the importance of including dynamic aspects of facial information to further understand face processing in real-life contexts.

International audience; Rakover [(2011). In Y. H. Zhang (Ed.), Advances in face image analysis: Techniques and technologies (pp. 316–333). Hershey, PA: IGI Global] observed a novel eye-size illusion: when increasing the size of a face but keeping the size of its eyes unchanged, the eyes are perceived to be smaller than in the original face. Here, we systematically manipulated the face size and found that the magnitude of this illusion linearly changed as a function of the face frame size (experiment 1). Additionally, the same magnitude of an illusion was observed for the perception of the size of the mouth when we changed the face frame but kept the mouth size constant (experiment 2). Further, when the faces and eyes were presented upside down, the magnitude of the illusion was significantly reduced in both Chinese participants (experiment 3) and Caucasian participants (experiment 4). The results suggest that the perception of eye or mouth size occurs in the relational context of the whole face; and when the face is inverted, thereby disrupting holistic processing, the magnitude of the illusion is reduced. We therefore suggest that holistic processing is involved in producing the illusion.

International audience; In 2010 Thompson reported a "fat face thin" illusion that, when next to an inverted face, an upright face looks "fatter". Sun et al (2012 Perception 41 117-120) observed that one of the faces need not be inverted for the illusion to emerge: when two identical faces are presented one above the other, the face at the bottom appears "fatter" than the top one. Neither inverted faces nor clocks induced the illusion. Here we conducted three experiments probing the role that face contour plays in producing the fat face illusion. In experiment 1 line drawing faces were found to induce the illusion, suggesting that face contour is important for producing the illusion. In experiment 2 line drawing faces with scrambled internal features and empty line drawing faces devoid of internal features were found to induce the illusion. In experiment 3 internal face features arranged in their canonical face layout, but not in a scrambled layout, were found to induce the illusion. However, the magnitude of the effect was significantly weaker than the effect obtained for empty face contour in experiment 2. Collectively, these results suggest that a fat face illusion is obtained when there is sufficient information in the stimulus to activate an internal face schema.

International audience; We report a novel fat face illusion that when two identical images of the same face are aligned vertically, the face at the bottom appears 'fatter'. This illusion emerged when the faces were shown upright, but not inverted, with the size of the illusion being 4%. When the faces were presented upside down, the illusion did not emerge. Also, when upright clocks were shown in the same vertically aligned fashion, we did not observe the illusion, indicating that the fat illusion does not generalize to every category of canonically upright objects with similar geometric shape as a face.

As a model for both multistep and multipathway carcinogenesis, colorectal neoplastic progression provides paradigms for researching both oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes (TSGs). However, the mechanism of colorectal cancer (CRC) is not completely understood, and many genes may be involved in the colorectal carcinogenesis. The purpose of this study was to screen for the potential TSGs on chromosome 1q31.1-32.1 in Chinese patients with sporadic colorectal cancer, to explore whether colorectal cancer in the Chinese population has unique genetic alterations and determine whether other putative TSGs exist and contribute to colon carcinogenesis.Six polymorphic microsatellite markers, at a density of approximately one marker in every 1.6 cM, were chosen for refined loss of heterozygosity (LOH) mapping of 1q31.1-32.1. Eighty-three colorectal cancer patients' tumor and normal DNA were analyzed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for these microsatellite markers. PCR products were eletrophoresed on an ABI 377 DNA sequencer. Genescan 3.1 and Genotype 2.1 software were used for LOH scanning and analysis. On the basis of refined LOH mapping results, we undertook a microarray-based expression screening to identify tumor association genes in 19 of the CRC cases.The average LOH frequency of 1q31.1-32.1 was 24.41%, with the highest frequency of 36.73% (18/49) at D1S2622, and the lowest of 16.42% (11/67) at D1S412. A minimal region of frequent deletion was located within a 2 cM genomic segment at D1S413-D1S2622. There was no significant association between LOH of any marker in the studied regions and the clinicopathological data (patient sex, age, tumor size, growth pattern, or Dukes stage). On the basis of refined mapping results, we chose 25 genes located in the D1S413-D1S2622 (1q31.3-32.1) region and presented a microarray-based high throughput screening approach in 19 sporadic CRC cases to identify candidate CRC related tumor suppressor genes. This study found 4 significantly down-expressed genes, including CSRP1, LMOD1, PPP1R12B and CFHL3. There was no significant association between expression levels of CFHL3, CSRP1, LMOD1, PPP1R12B and the clinicopathological data. By database searching, CSRP1 was hypothesized to be a colorectal cancer related tumor suppressor gene.Through detailed deletion mapping, we found that the 1q31.3-32.1 region might harbor one or more colorectal cancer related tumor suppressor gene (s). And by microarray-based high-throughput screening of candidate genes located in this region and by subsequent database searching, we present the first evidence that CSRP1 might be involved in the progression of CRC.

To investigate the expression of chemokine receptor CXCR4 in colorectal carcinoma and its relationship with the clinicopathological parameters, and to reveal the role of CXCL12/CXCR4 in the invasion and metastasis of colorectal carcinoma.CXCR4 expression was studied in 53 colorectal cancer tissues and 27 normal tissues by immunohistochemistry. Its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics of colorectal cancer patients were analyzed. The CXCR4 expression in tumor and normal specimens and its metastatic sites were assessed by RT-PCR and Western blot.Fifty-three colorectal cancer patients,collected from July 2005 to February 2007 in our hospital,were enrolled in this study. CXCR4 was positive in 39 cancer tissue specimens(73.6%) and its high expression rate (in50% of cells) was 45.3%. High CXCR4 expression rate was significantly higher in patients with lymph node metastases (N(1)+N(2): 65.4%) than that in those without metastases(N(0) 25.9%). There were also associations between the high CXCR4 expression and the vascular and lymphatic vessel invasions (P0.01). Meanwhile, there was a rising trend of high expression rate according to American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage and pathologic grade,but no significant difference was found(P0.05). There were no significant correlation of CXCR4 expression with clinicopathological parameters such as tumor location, tumor size, depth of tumor invasion(P0.05). In addition, the CXCR4 mRNA expression in primary tumor specimens (n=27) from AJCC stage IIII( patients was significantly higher than that in normal tissues. CXCR4 mRNA expression of liver metastasis specimens(n=5) was significantly higher as compared with the primary colorectal cancer specimens(P0.01).Chemokine receptor CXCR4 is associated with the progression of colorectal carcinoma. High CXCR4 expression is associated with metastasis. The CXCL12-CXCR4 signaling pathway may be a potential novel target of therapy for patients with colorectal cancer.

Investigated in this paper is a variable-coefficient higher-order nonlinear Schrodinger equation, which can describe the propagation of subpicosecond or femtosecond optical pulse in an inhomogeneous optical fiber. With a set of the Painleve-integrable coefficient constraints, the equation is transformed into its bilinear forms. Single- and two- anti-dark soliton solutions are constructed via the Hirota method. Based on the solutions, we graphically discuss the features of the anti-dark solitons, as well as their interaction, in the inhomogeneous optical fibers. As shown in our results, the backgrounds of the anti-dark solitons are related to the gain/loss coefficients, while the third-order dispersion coefficients directly influence the propagation trajectories of the anti-dark solitons, which provide a possible way to manage these solitons in the inhomogeneous fiber. On the other hand, overtaking interaction between the two anti-dark solitons is obtained, and seen to be elastic. The frequency shift parameter has almost no effect on the solitons.

Heisenberg-type models for spin–spin interactions have been used to explain magnetic ordering in ferromagnetic materials. In this paper, a generalized, inhomogeneous, nonlinear Schrodinger equation for the Heisenberg ferromagnetic spin system is investigated. By virtue of the generalized Darboux transformation, higher-order rogue-wave solutions are derived. Wave propagation and interaction are analyzed: (1) bright-rogue waves are found; (2) perturbation parametes and inhomogeneities in the medium of the system affect the direction and existing time of the first-order rogue-wave propagation; (3) perturbation parameters and inhomogeneities in the medium of the system affect the shapes, distances, patterns, and existing times of the second- and third-order rogue-wave interactions; (4) the direction of each second-order rogue wave remains unvaried after the interaction.

In fluids, Korteweg–de Vries-type equations are used to describe certain nonlinear phenomena. Studied in this paper is a variable-coefficient (2 + 1)-dimensional generalized breaking soliton equation, which models the interactions of Riemann waves with long waves. By virtue of the Bell-polynomial approach, bilinear forms of such an equation are obtained. N-soliton solutions are constructed in terms of the exponential functions and Wronskian determinant, respectively. Solitonic propagation and interaction are discussed with the following conclusions: (i) the appearance of characteristic lines such as the periodic and parabolic shapes depends on the form of the variable coefficients; and (ii) interactions of two solitons and three solitons are shown to be elastic.

AIM: To explore precise deleted regions and screen the candidate tumor suppressor genes related to sporadic colorectal carcinoma. METHODS: Six markers on 1q31.1-32.1 were chosen. These polymorphic microsatellite markers in 83 colorectal cancer patients tumor and normal DNA were analyzed via PCR. PCR products were electrophoresed on an ABI 377 DNA sequencer. Genescan 3.1 and Genotype 2.1 software were used for Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) scanning and analysis. Comparison between LOH frequency and clinicopathological factors was performed by χ2 test. RESULTS: 1q31.1-32.1 exhibited higher LOH frequency in colorectal carcinoma. The average LOH frequency of 1q31.1-32.1 was 23.0%, with the highest frequency of 36.7% (18/49) at D1S2622, and the lowest of 16.4% (11/67) at D1S412, respectively. A minimal region of frequent deletion was located within a 2 cM genomic segment at D1S413-D1S2622 (1q31.3-32.1). There was no significant association between LOH of each marker on 1q31.1-32.1 and the clinicopathological data (patient sex, age, tumor size, growth pattern or Dukes stage), which indicated that on 1q31.1-32.1, LOH was a common phenomenon in all kinds of sporadic colorectal carcinoma. CONCLUSION: Through our refined deletion mapping, the critical and precise deleted region was located within 2 cM chromosomal segment encompassing 2 loci (D1S413, D1S2622). No significant association was found between LOH and clinicopathologic features in 1q31.1-32.1.