Impact of aging on perceptual asymmetries for horizontal and vertical stimuli in the greyscales task.

Through the paper version of the grayscale task, this study examines the impact of aging and gender on horizontal and vertical pseudoneglect in healthy right-handed Japanese people. Participants included 168 (84 women and 84 men) healthy right-handed participants between the ages of 18 and 85, which were divided into three age cohorts (i.e., young, middle, and older). When administering the task, in the horizontal condition, the stimulus set of the grayscale task waspositioned at the center of the desk. In the vertical condition, the stimulus set was placed at the participants' eye level on the front screen. A reliable left bias was observed across all age groups in the horizontal task, although individual differences in the young group were significant. Moreover, gender differences and age-gender interactions were not confirmed. Similarly, in the vertical task, an upward bias was identified in both women and men across all age groups. Furthermore, there was a weak correlation between the horizontal and vertical bias index. These results were inconsistent with those of a previous study and other research using manual line bisection and landmark tasks. Further, we comprehensively deliberated on the cognitive/neural basis of horizontal and vertical pseudoneglect.

[Right-versus Left-handedness in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience].

Globally, approximately 90% of individuals are right-handed, while the remaining 10% are left-handed. Handedness is associated with functional lateralization of cerebral dominance, and may also be associated with various types of psychological characteristics. Unfortunately, neuromyths of left handedness have become deeply embedded in public consciousness due to misleading studies. In neuroscience research, it is common for left-handed individuals to be excluded from study cohorts in an attempt to increase data uniformity. Left-handed participants represent a substantial portion of the population and their inclusion of left-handed participants can be informative in studies of cerebral asymmetry. We should aim to construct a society that allows people with diverse characteristics, such as left-handed individuals live without discomfort or stress.

Effects of immediate recall trial on one-year delayed recall performance in Rey complex figure test.

This study aimed to examine the effects of the presence or absence of an immediate recall trial on university students' (n = 39) performance on the one-year delayed recall test in the Rey complex figure test (RCFT). Participants were divided into two groups that took either one or two tests, respectively. In the first year, the participants in the two-test condition completed a copy trial and an immediate recall trial, whereas those in the one-test condition underwent the copy trial only. In the second year, all participants completed a delayed recall test. Those in the two-test condition showed significantly higher scores than those in the one-test condition on the one-year delayed recall test. Thus, we found that omitting the immediate recall trial caused a decline in performance on the one-year delayed recall test. The relevance of these findings to the relationship with testing effects (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006 ) was considered.

Effects of the immediate recall trial on Delayed Recall performance in the Rey Complex Figure Test in young and older adults.

This study determines whether the presence or absence of the Immediate Recall trial influences performance among healthy young and older adults on the 30-min Delayed Recall task of the Rey Complex Figure Test. Participants in the 1-test condition (24 young adults and 24 older adults) underwent the Copy trial and 30-min Delayed Recall trial only, while participants in the 2-test condition (24 young adults and 24 older adults) completed the Copy trial, the Immediate Recall trial, and the 30-min Delayed Recall trial. Both older and younger participants in the 2-test condition showed significantly higher scores than those in the 1-test condition on the 30-min Delayed Recall trial. The relevance of these findings to the relationship with testing effects (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006 ) was discussed.

Self-rated right-left confusability and performance on the Money Road-Map Test.

This study assessed the relationship between self-rated right-left confusability and performance on the Money Road-Map Test (MRMT). Eighty-six undergraduate university students (44 women and 42 men) rated right-left subjective confusability using a questionnaire, and then completed the MRMT. Low- and high-confusability groups were determined using self-rated confusability scores. The high-confusability participants were less accurate and slower than the low-confusability participants in completing the MRMT. Self-confusability ratings significantly correlated with both accuracy scores and completion times on the MRMT. Although, women showed a significantly greater inclination than men to judge themselves as being more prone to confusion in right-left discrimination, the male advantage was not observed in terms of accuracy of response: there was a significant difference only in the completion time on the MRMT.

Medical College of Georgia Complex figures in repeated memory testing: a preliminary study of healthy young adults.

The Medical College of Georgia Complex Figures developed as an alternate version of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure for repeated assessments. The aim of this study was to examine whether serial assessment with different figures of the Medical College of Georgia Complex Figures could attenuate the practice effects. 64 volunteers (M age = 20.0 yr., SD = 1.9) from a Japanese university were randomly assigned to Same or Different figure conditions. Participants in the Same figure condition underwent repeated assessment using Figure 1 of the Medical College of Georgia Complex Figures on both trials, whereas participants in the Different figure condition received Figure 1 on first trials and the Figure 2 on second trials over a 1-mo. test-retest interval. While the Same figure condition showed significant improvements at recall, no practice effect was observed in the Different figure condition. The findings indicated that use of different figures may help attenuate practice effects in repeated testing.

Right- and left-hand performance on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure: A preliminary study in non-clinical sample of right handed people.

Intermanual differences in performing the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT) were experimentally investigated. Undergraduate participants (n = 120; 60 men, 60 women) were randomly assigned to one of four groups based on the hand used in a copy trial and a recall test. Hand use had a minimal effect on performance in the copy trial. However, recall accuracy was lower when the non-dominant left hand was used in the copy trial than when the dominant right hand was used, regardless of the hand used in the recall test. These findings are important from a clinical perspective, especially in cases in which patients use the non-dominant hand due to hemiplegia of the dominant hand when conducting the ROCFT.

One-year delayed recall performance of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure in a healthy young adult sample.

This study investigated the performance of the very long-term delayed recall trial (1 year) of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCF) in a healthy young adult sample. Forty-one healthy university students were given the delayed recall trial, one year after receiving the copy and the 3-minutes delayed recall trial of the ROCF. Although a significant decrease of the recall score was shown by comparison with the 3-minutes delayed recall trial, all the participants were able to draw a certain figure including the main features of the ROCF on the 1-year delayed recall trial.

Comparison of the Medical College of Georgia Complex Figures and the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure tests in a normal sample of Japanese university students.

Comparability of copy and recall performance on the four figures of the Medical College of Georgia Complex Figures and the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure were examined using an incidental learning paradigm with 60 men and 60 women, healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 24 years (M = 21.5 yr., SD = 1.5) at a Japanese university. A between-subjects design was used in which each group of participants (n = 24) responded to five figures. The interrater reliability of each Georgia figure was excellent. While the five figures yielded equivalent copy scores, the Rey-Osterrieth figure had significantly lower scores than the Georgia figures at recall after 3 min. There were no significant differences between the four Georgia figures. These results are consistent with the findings of the original studies in the USA.

Comparability of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure, the Taylor Complex Figure, and the Modified Taylor Complex Figure in a normal sample of Japanese speakers.

The comparability of recall performance was examined on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure, the Taylor Complex Figure, and the Modified Taylor Complex Figure as measures of visuospatial abilities and visual memory in 66 healthy Japanese university students. A between-subjects design was used in which each of the participants received the three figures. The interrater reliability of each was excellent. While the three figures yielded equivalent copy scores, the Taylor Complex Figure produced significantly higher scores than the other two on both short (3-min.) and delayed (30-min.) recall tests. There were no significant differences between recall scores of the Rey-Osterrieth and the Modified Taylor figures. These results are consistent with the findings of the 2002 study of English-speakers by Hubley and Tremblay, and support that the Modified Taylor Figure is superior to the original one for the companion figure to the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure.

Glutathione S-transferase GSTM1, GSTT1 and p53 codon 72 polymorphisms in human tumor cells.

The genes of the glutathione S-transferase (GST) family encode enzymes that appear to be critical in cellular protection against the cytotoxic effects, whereas p53 is a tumor suppressor gene. Despite a large number of studies on germline polymorphisms of GSTM1, GSTT1 and p53 genes, there have been very few reports on genotyping of these genes in human malignant tumor cells. In this study, we investigated GSTM1, GSTT1 and p53 codon 72 polymorphisms in a variety of human tumor cell lines originating from different organs to clarify tissue-specific polymorphic frequency of these genes in human solid tumors. The GSTM1 and GSTT1 genetic polymorphisms were evaluated using multiplex PCR techniques and PCR-RFLP analysis was conducted to identify p53 codon 72 genotypes. Gene expression of GSTM1 or GSTT1 was detected by RT-PCR in the cells with respective present genotype for each. Polymorphisms of p53 codon 72 detected by PCR-RFLP were also confirmed using SSCP and sequence analyses. GSTM1 and GSTT1 genotypes were various in 104 cell lines examined. Null GSTM1 genotype was dominant in small cell lung, kidney and ovarian carcinoma cells, whereas null GSTT1 genotype was dominant in cervical and endometrial carcinoma cells. GSTM1 and GSTT1 genotypes in ovarian carcinoma cells were quite similar to those in small cell lung carcinoma cells. Polymorphic frequency of p53 codon 72 was also various among the cells, however, the Pro allele was found in only 1 of 6 kidney, 14 cervical and 4 endometrial carcinoma cell lines. There was a significant difference in GSTM1 and p53 genotypes between 34 small cell and 24 non small cell lung carcinoma cells (P < 0.01). Combined study on the distribution of GSTM1, GSTT1 and p53 genotypes revealed that null GSTM1 genotype was associated with the Arg allele of p53 codon 72 in 58 lung carcinoma cells and null GSTT1 genotype was associated with the Pro/Pro homozygote in 104 tumor cell lines examined. This is the first study examining GSTM1, GSTT1 and p53 codon 72 polymorphisms in a variety of human solid tumor cells and suggesting that polymorphic frequency of these genes may be tissue- and organ-specific. The molecular interaction between GST gene defects and p53 codon 72 genotype in the development of human malignant tumors should be further investigated.

Influence of severe endometriosis on gene expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and interleukin-6 in granulosa cells from patients undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation for in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate how endometriosis affects expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in granulosa cells. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: IVF-ET program at Osaka Medical College. PATIENT(S): Seventeen patients with revised American Fertility Society stage IV endometriosis and 17 patients with tubal infertility and no endometriosis. INTERVENTION(S): Granulosa cells obtained at oocyte retrieval were examined for VEGF and IL-6 gene expression. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Serum E(2) and P levels at hCG administration, number of oocytes, fertilization rate, high-quality embryo rate, and pregnancy rate, and expression of VEGF and IL-6 genes. RESULT(S): Total hMG and FSH levels were statistically significantly higher in patients with endometriosis; however, the number of retrieved oocytes and the fertilization rate were lower compared with patients with tubal infertility. Serum E(2) levels and expression of VEGF in patients with tubal infertility were statistically significantly higher than those in patients with endometriosis. Interleukin-6 gene expression did not differ between the groups. CONCLUSION(S): In severe endometriosis, lower VEGF gene expression in granulosa cells may adversely affect oocyte development and maturation.