Appropriate sleep duration modifying the association of insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis is varied in different status of metabolic disturbances among adults from the United States, NHANES 2017-March 2020.

Steatosis is the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its developing is closely associated with insulin resistance. Shortened sleep has adverse effects on hepatic steatosis and the underlying mechanism remains unknown. We conceived to evaluate whether sleep duration was a lifestyle factor modifying the association between insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis and whether it was varied in different status of metabolic disturbances. We performed a cross-sectional analysis on 2264 adults of United States representing a population of 138,319,512 with MetS or pre-MetS from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2017-March 2020. Participants underwent hepatic transient elastography and laboratory tests. The sleep duration was obtained from interviews. Results showed that insulin resistance was significantly associated with hepatic steatosis among participants with metabolic disturbances (OR = 1.85, 95% CI: 1.30-2.65). Significant moderation of sleep duration on the association between insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis was observed when sleep duration was dichotomized by 6.5- (P = 0.042) or 9.5-hour (P = 0.031). The risk of hepatic steatosis associated with insulin resistance was increased when sleep duration was ≤ 6.5 h and > 9.5 h. Furthermore, the moderation effect of 6.5-hour sleeping was only significant among participants with pre-MetS while that of 9.5-hour sleeping was only significant among participants with MetS. In conclusion, insufficient or excessive sleep increased the risk of hepatic steatosis associated with insulin resistance. Appropriate sleep duration was advocated and varied in different status of metabolic disturbances. Ensuring adequate sleep should be highlighted before MetS occurs and excessive sleep should be prevented for participants with MetS.

Preparation and properties of a photocrosslinked MCl n -doped PDMA-g-PSMA hydrogel.

To treat damaged joint areas, photocrosslinked hydrophobically associating PDMA-g-PSMA hydrogels can act as mild and easily regulated materials due to their rich pore structure, which have been widely applied in articular cartilage replacement research. In this study, the effects of ADS-MCl n (ADS-NaCl, ADS-MgCl2 and ADS-CaCl2) doping systems on the micro morphology, mechanical, self-healing, and friction properties and cytotoxicity of PDMA-g-PSMA hydrogels were studied. The results showed that the solubilization behavior of the ADS-MCl n ionic micelles affected the hydrophobic association stability, thereby changing the toughness, self-healing and friction properties of the hydrogel. Ca2+-doping resulted in the crystallization and precipitation of the anionic surfactants, destroying the solubilization ability of the ionic micelles for the hydrophobic units, and thus hydrogels with high hardness, low toughness and no self-healing function were obtained. Doping with Na+ greatly improved the dissolving power of the ADS micelles for SMA, yielding PDMA-g-PSMA hydrogels with good mechanical strength and good self-healing ability. However, in this case, a drawback is that the Na+-doped system will lose its components during the swelling process, leading to the degradation of its self-healing performance. Interestingly, Mg2+ doping resulted in the formation of highly stable ADS micellar aggregates, and then PDMA-g-PSMA hydrogels with a lower friction coefficient (0.023), less wear (35.0 mg), higher elongation at break and 100% self-healing efficiency were obtained. The hydrogel products obtained from the three doping systems all exhibited good biocompatibility. Our research provides important guidelines for the design and preparation of anti-friction artificial articular cartilage.

Regional Alteration within the Cerebellum and the Reorganization of the Cerebrocerebellar System following Poststroke Aphasia.

Recently, an increasing number of studies have highlighted the role of the cerebellum in language processing. However, the role of neural reorganization within the cerebellum as well as within the cerebrocerebellar system caused by poststroke aphasia remains unknown. To solve this problem, in the present study, we investigated regional alterations of the cerebellum as well as the functional reorganization of the cerebrocerebellar circuit by combining structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques. Twenty patients diagnosed with aphasia following left-hemispheric stroke and 20 age-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited in this study. The Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) test was used to assess the participants' language ability. Gray matter volume, spontaneous brain activity, functional connectivity, and effective connectivity were examined in each participant. We discovered that gray matter volumes in right cerebellar lobule VI and right Crus I were significantly lower in the patient group, and the brain activity within these regions was significantly correlated with WAB scores. We also discovered decreased functional connectivity within the crossed cerebrocerebellar circuit, which was significantly correlated with WAB scores. Moreover, altered information flow between the cerebellum and the contralateral cerebrum was found. Together, our findings provide evidence for regional alterations within the cerebellum and the reorganization of the cerebrocerebellar system following poststroke aphasia and highlight the important role of the cerebellum in language processing within aphasic individuals after stroke.

Reliability and diagnostic accuracy of corrected slack angle derived from 2D-SWE in quantitating muscle spasticity of stroke patients.

BACKGROUND: To explore the feasibility of corrected slack angle acquired from two-dimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) for quantitating the spasticity of medial gastrocnemius (MG) in stroke patients. METHODS: Consecutive stroke patients with spastic MG and matched healthy controls were recruited. Intra- and interobserver reliability of 2D-SWE measurement were evaluated, and the correlation between corrected slack angle and modified Ashworth scale (MAS) score was examined. The corrected slack angle before and after botulinum toxin A (BoNT-A) injection was compared and its diagnostic performance in classifying the severity of spasticity were assessed with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: The intra- (0.791 95% CI 0.432-0.932) and interobserver (0.751 95% CI 0.382-0.916) reliability of slack angle acquired with 2D-SWE were good. Significant correlation was found between corrected slack angle and MAS score (R = - 0.849, p < 0.001). The corrected slack angle increased after BoNT-A injection. The cutoff value of MAS ≥ 3 had the highest sensitivity (100%) and specificity (93.33%). The positive predictive value (PPV) for classification of MAS ≥ 1+ and the negative predictive value (NPV) for classification of MAS ≥ 3 were greater than 90%. CONCLUSION: 2D-SWE was a reliable method to quantitate the post-stroke spasticity. The corrected slack angle had advantage in classifying the severity of spasticity, especially in early identification of mild spasticity and confirmation of severe spasticity.

The association between serum albumin and depression in chronic liver disease may differ by liver histology.

BACKGROUND: There are conflicting results regarding the association between chronic liver disease (CLD) and depression and the underlying biological mechanisms are lack of investigation. To address the impact of depression and its effects on the management of CLD, its biological marker is critical to be identified. The present study explored the association between serum albumin and depression in CLD patients and whether the association varied in different liver histological stages. METHODS: Based on the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2017-2018, the data of serum albumin and depressive symptoms from 627 participants with CLD were used. Depression symptoms were assessed with the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). We used multivariate linear regression to evaluate the association between serum albumin and PHQ-9 scores. Stratified analysis was performed according to the liver histology examined by vibration controlled transient elastography. RESULTS: Serum albumin level was inversely associated with PHQ-9 scores in the multivariate regression model after adjusting for mainly potential confounders (ß = - 1.113, 95% CI: - 2.065 to - 0.162, P = 0.0221). In the subgroup analysis stratified by gender, controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) and liver stiffness measurement (LSM), the inverse association remained significant in female (ß = - 2.002, 95% CI: - 3.515 to - 0.489, P = 0.0100), patients with CAP < 274 dB/m (ß = - 2.215, 95% CI: - 3.621 to - 0.808, P = 0.0023) and patients with LSM ≥8.2 kPa (ß = - 4.074, 95% CI: - 6.237 to - 1.911, P = 0.0003). Moreover, the association was much stronger when the serum albumin was higher than 3.4 g/dL among patients with LSM ≥8.2 kPa (ß = - 4.835, 95% CI: - 7.137 to - 2.533, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Our study revealed an inverse association between serum albumin and depression in CLD patients and this association differed according to liver histological changes. Serum albumin could be a warning marker for depressive symptoms in CLD patients. It is essential for taking corresponding intervention strategies.

Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) Enabled Virtual Shop Applications Using Self-Powered Sensor Enhanced Soft Robotic Manipulator.

Rapid advancements of artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) technology pave the way for developing a digital-twin-based remote interactive system for advanced robotic-enabled industrial automation and virtual shopping. The embedded multifunctional perception system is urged for better interaction and user experience. To realize such a system, a smart soft robotic manipulator is presented that consists of a triboelectric nanogenerator tactile (T-TENG) and length (L-TENG) sensor, as well as a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) pyroelectric temperature sensor. With the aid of machine learning (ML) for data processing, the fusion of the T-TENG and L-TENG sensors can realize the automatic recognition of the grasped objects with the accuracy of 97.143% for 28 different shapes of objects, while the temperature distribution can also be obtained through the pyroelectric sensor. By leveraging the IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) analytics, a digital-twin-based virtual shop is successfully implemented to provide the users with real-time feedback about the details of the product. In general, by offering a more immersive experience in human-machine interactions, the proposed remote interactive system shows the great potential of being the advanced human-machine interface for the applications of the unmanned working space.

Serum interleukin-6 level is correlated with the disease activity of systemic lupus erythematosus: a meta-analysis.

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) plays a crucial role in systemic autoimmunity and pathologic inflammation. Numerous studies have explored serum IL-6 levels in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and their correlation with disease activity. Here, we performed a meta-analysis to quantitatively assess the correlation between the serum IL-6 levels and SLE activity. The PubMed and EMBASE databases were thoroughly searched for relevant studies up to September 2019. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to describe the differences between serum IL-6 levels in SLE patients and healthy controls and between those in active SLE patients and inactive SLE patients. The correlation between the serum IL-6 levels and disease activity was evaluated using Fisher's z values. A total of 24 studies involving 1817 SLE patients and 874 healthy controls were included in this meta-analysis. Serum IL-6 levels were significantly higher in SLE patients than in the healthy controls (pooled SMD: 2.12, 95% CI: 1.21-3.03, Active SLE patients had higher serum IL-6 levels than inactive SLE patients (pooled SMD: 2.12, 95% CI: 1.21-3.03). Furthermore, the pooled Fisher's z values (pooled Fisher's z=0.36, 95% CI: 0.26-0.46, p<0.01) showed that there was a positive correlation between the serum IL-6 levels and SLE activity. This study suggested that serum IL-6 levels were higher in patients with SLE than in healthy controls, and they were positively correlated with disease activity when Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index>4 was defined as active SLE. More homogeneous studies with large sample sizes are warranted to confirm our findings due to several limitations in our meta-analysis.

RP11-295G20.2 facilitates hepatocellular carcinoma progression via the miR-6884-3p/CCNB1 pathway.

OBJECTIVE: An increasing number of studies have indicated that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, we aimed to clarify the roles of RP11-295G20.2 in HCC progression and the underlying molecular mechanisms. RESULTS: Bioinformatics analyses based TCGA data suggested that RP11-295G20.2 was significantly upregulated in HCC tissues and increased RP11-295G20.2 expression level correlated with poor overall survival of patients with HCC. The results of RT-PCR further showed that RP11-295G20.2 was upregulated in HCC tissues and cell lines. Functionally, RP11-295G20.2 knockdown significantly inhibited the proliferation, colony formation, invasion and migration, but induced the apoptosis of HCC cells. In line with this, downregulation of RP11-295G20.2 in HCC lines markedly suppressed the tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, RP11-295G20.2 could upregulate CCNB1 through targeting miR-6884-3p. More importantly, our rescue experiments revealed that miR-6884-3p/CCNB1 axis was involved in RP11-295G20.2-meditated tumorigenic behaviors of HCC cells. CONCLUSIONS: RP11-295G20.2 can contribute to HCC progression at least partly via the miR-6884-3p/CCNB1 axis, suggesting that RP11-295G20.2 may be a potential target for HCC therapy. METHODS: RT-qPCR was employed to examine the expression levels of RP11-295G20.2, miR-6884-3p, and CCNB1 in HCC tissues and cell lines. CCK8 assay, transwell assay, colony formation assay and flow cytometry analysis were performed to evaluate the biological function of RP11-295G20.2 in HCC cells. The xenograft tumor assay was used to assess the effect of RP11-295G20.2 on the in vivo growth of HCC cells. The luciferase reporter assay, RIP assay and Spearman's correlation analysis were performed to explore the potential mechanisms underlying the roles of RP11-295G20.2 in HCC progression.

The role of long intergenic noncoding RNA 00511 in malignant tumors: a meta-analysis, database validation and review.

Increasing studies suggested that long intergenic noncoding RNA 00511 (LINC00511) could facilitate the progression of various malignancies and correlates with prognosis of patients with malignant tumors. However, its clinical significance is still not completely clarified. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis and bioinformatics analysis to further evaluate the correlation of LINC00511 expression level with prognosis and metastasis in patients with tumors. The pooled hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to evaluate the prognostic significance of LINC00511 expression level. The pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% CI was applied to assess the association between LINC00511 expression level and tumor metastasis. A total of 12 studies involving 1040 tumor patients were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled analyses suggested that higher LINC00511 expression level correlated with worse overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.93, 95% CI 1.49-2.49, P < 0.001) and higher incidence of lymph node metastasis (OR = 3.07, 95% CI 2.23-4.23, P < 0.001). Additionally, bioinformatics analysis based on TCGA datasets also showed that increased LINC00511 expression level may predict poor OS and disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with malignant tumors. Taken together, our finding suggested that high LINC00511 expression level may be correlated with poor prognosis and high incidence of metastasis. Nevertheless, further large-scale and high-quality studies are needed to validate our findings.

Serum interleukin-6 level is correlated with the disease activity of systemic lupus erythematosus: a meta-analysis

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) plays a crucial role in systemic autoimmunity and pathologic inflammation. Numerous studies have explored serum IL-6 levels in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and their correlation with disease activity. Here, we performed a meta-analysis to quantitatively assess the correlation between the serum IL-6 levels and SLE activity. The PubMed and EMBASE databases were thoroughly searched for relevant studies up to September 2019. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to describe the differences between serum IL-6 levels in SLE patients and healthy controls and between those in active SLE patients and inactive SLE patients. The correlation between the serum IL-6 levels and disease activity was evaluated using Fisher's z values. A total of 24 studies involving 1817 SLE patients and 874 healthy controls were included in this meta-analysis. Serum IL-6 levels were significantly higher in SLE patients than in the healthy controls (pooled SMD: 2.12, 95% CI: 1.21-3.03, Active SLE patients had higher serum IL-6 levels than inactive SLE patients (pooled SMD: 2.12, 95% CI: 1.21-3.03). Furthermore, the pooled Fisher's z values (pooled Fisher's z=0.36, 95% CI: 0.26-0.46, p<0.01) showed that there was a positive correlation between the serum IL-6 levels and SLE activity. This study suggested that serum IL-6 levels were higher in patients with SLE than in healthy controls, and they were positively correlated with disease activity when Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index>4 was defined as active SLE. More homogeneous studies with large sample sizes are warranted to confirm our findings due to several limitations in our meta-analysis.

Psychometric properties of the Chinese-version Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale 39-generic version (SAQOL-39g).

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Aphasia is a common outcome of stroke affecting one-third of the post-stroke population in China. While the quality of life (QOL) may be affected, care is often inadequately guided due to lack of validated measure for Chinese population with stroke-induced aphasia. This study aimed to develop a Chinese-version of the Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life-39 generic version (SAQOL-39g) and evaluate its feasibility, reliability, and validity in Chinese patients with stroke-induced aphasia. METHODS: The process of translation and adaptation suggested by WHO was used to develop the Chinese-version of SAQOL-39. We evaluated the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the scale in 84 aphasia patients and their proxies by assessing the internal consistency of the test items, test-retest consistency, and the structural validity of data. RESULTS: The self-report and the proxy-report form were completed within 21.4 and 13.3 min on average, respectively. Physical, communication, and psychological subdomains were extracted as three common factors. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients of overall domain and subdomains for both forms ranged from 0.879 to 0.950, indicating high internal consistency. The intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.804 to 0.987 for overall domain and subdomains of the forms. No significant difference was found between two forms. CONCLUSIONS: The Chinese-version SAQOL-39g has excellent reliability, validity, and feasibility for measuring the QOL of Chinese post-stroke aphasia patients. The consistency between self-report and proxy-report forms was good, implying that the proxy-report form can be used to assess the QOL of post-stroke aphasia patients.

Evidence of cortical reorganization of language networks after stroke with subacute Broca's aphasia: a blood oxygenation level dependent-functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Aphasia is an acquired language disorder that is a common consequence of stroke. The pathogenesis of the disease is not fully understood, and as a result, current treatment options are not satisfactory. Here, we used blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate the activation of bilateral cortices in patients with Broca's aphasia 1 to 3 months after stroke. Our results showed that language expression was associated with multiple brain regions in which the right hemisphere participated in the generation of language. The activation areas in the left hemisphere of aphasia patients were significantly smaller compared with those in healthy adults. The activation frequency, volumes, and intensity in the regions related to language, such as the left inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area), the left superior temporal gyrus, and the right inferior frontal gyrus (the mirror region of Broca's area), were lower in patients compared with healthy adults. In contrast, activation in the right superior temporal gyrus, the bilateral superior parietal lobule, and the left inferior temporal gyrus was stronger in patients compared with healthy controls. These results suggest that the right inferior frontal gyrus plays a role in the recovery of language function in the subacute stage of stroke-related aphasia by increasing the engagement of related brain areas.

Transfer Effect of Speech-sound Learning on Auditory-motor Processing of Perceived Vocal Pitch Errors.

Speech perception and production are intimately linked. There is evidence that speech motor learning results in changes to auditory processing of speech. Whether speech motor control benefits from perceptual learning in speech, however, remains unclear. This event-related potential study investigated whether speech-sound learning can modulate the processing of feedback errors during vocal pitch regulation. Mandarin speakers were trained to perceive five Thai lexical tones while learning to associate pictures with spoken words over 5 days. Before and after training, participants produced sustained vowel sounds while they heard their vocal pitch feedback unexpectedly perturbed. As compared to the pre-training session, the magnitude of vocal compensation significantly decreased for the control group, but remained consistent for the trained group at the post-training session. However, the trained group had smaller and faster N1 responses to pitch perturbations and exhibited enhanced P2 responses that correlated significantly with their learning performance. These findings indicate that the cortical processing of vocal pitch regulation can be shaped by learning new speech-sound associations, suggesting that perceptual learning in speech can produce transfer effects to facilitating the neural mechanisms underlying the online monitoring of auditory feedback regarding vocal production.

Sensorimotor control of vocal pitch production in Parkinson's disease.

The present study was designed to investigate the sensorimotor control of voice fundamental frequency (F0) in individuals with Parkinson's diseases (PD). Fifteen Cantonese individuals with PD, and fifteen age- and sex-matched healthy Cantonese individuals participated in the experiment. Participants were asked to vocalize a vowel sound while hearing their voice auditory feedback unexpectedly pitch-shifted upwards or downwards through headphones. The size of pitch shifts varied from 50, 100, to 200 cents. One novel averaging method was used to categorize the individual trials such that only those trials that opposed the perturbation direction were averaged to generate an overall response. The results showed that Cantonese individuals with PD produced significantly larger magnitudes of vocal compensation for pitch perturbations than healthy participants. Both groups showed systematic changes in compensation magnitude as a function of perturbation size and direction: larger perturbation size or upward direction elicited greater compensation magnitude. Moreover, pitch variability indexed by the standard deviations of the baseline F0 was significantly correlated with the magnitude of vocal compensation in individuals with PD, whereas this correlation failed to reach significance for healthy participants. This study presents the first data demonstrating the abnormal processing of auditory feedback in the sensorimotor control of voice F0 for Cantonese individuals with PD. It is suggested that the abnormal sensorimotor integration of voice F0 control in PD may be caused by the increased weighting of auditory feedback control resulting from dysfunction of feedforward control and somatosensory feedback caused by the impairment of the basal ganglia.

Neurophysiological evidence of differential mechanisms involved in producing opposing and following responses to altered auditory feedback.

OBJECTIVE: When hearing perturbations in voice auditory feedback, people produce responses that mostly oppose the perturbation direction, whereas a few responses follow the direction of feedback perturbation. The causes of opposing and following responses, however, remain poorly understood. The present event-related potential (ERP) study sought to examine the neurophysiological processing of opposing and following responses to pitch feedback perturbations during self-monitoring of vocal production. METHOD: Twelve Mandarin-native speakers participated in the experiment. Vocal and neurophysiological responses to pitch perturbations (± 50 and ± 200 cents) in voice auditory feedback were measured. Individual-trial responses were categorized according to the response direction and then separately averaged in groups of opposing and following responses. ERPs indexed by the P1-N1-P2 complex corresponding to two types of vocal responses were also obtained. RESULTS: Opposing and following vocal responses did not differ in the magnitude, but there were greater proportions of opposing to following responses to 50 cents stimuli. The amplitude and latency of the P1 and N1 components showed none of significance across conditions, whereas there was a direction × magnitude effect on the P2 response. Following responses elicited greater P2 amplitudes than opposing responses only when pitch feedback was perturbed for downward 200 cents, and upward pitch perturbation elicited greater P2 amplitudes than those with downward direction only in the production of opposing responses. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that cortical processing of opposing responses is different from that of following responses, which can be modulated by the physical properties of feedback perturbation. SIGNIFICANCE: Different neural mechanisms are involved in the production of opposing and following responses to feedback perturbations during self-monitoring of vocal production.

Dynamics of vocalization-induced modulation of auditory cortical activity at mid-utterance.

BACKGROUND: Recent research has addressed the suppression of cortical sensory responses to altered auditory feedback that occurs at utterance onset regarding speech. However, there is reason to assume that the mechanisms underlying sensorimotor processing at mid-utterance are different than those involved in sensorimotor control at utterance onset. The present study attempted to examine the dynamics of event-related potentials (ERPs) to different acoustic versions of auditory feedback at mid-utterance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Subjects produced a vowel sound while hearing their pitch-shifted voice (100 cents), a sum of their vocalization and pure tones, or a sum of their vocalization and white noise at mid-utterance via headphones. Subjects also passively listened to playback of what they heard during active vocalization. Cortical ERPs were recorded in response to different acoustic versions of feedback changes during both active vocalization and passive listening. The results showed that, relative to passive listening, active vocalization yielded enhanced P2 responses to the 100 cents pitch shifts, whereas suppression effects of P2 responses were observed when voice auditory feedback was distorted by pure tones or white noise. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The present findings, for the first time, demonstrate a dynamic modulation of cortical activity as a function of the quality of acoustic feedback at mid-utterance, suggesting that auditory cortical responses can be enhanced or suppressed to distinguish self-produced speech from externally-produced sounds.

Developmental sex-specific change in auditory-vocal integration: ERP evidence in children.

OBJECTIVE: The present event-related potential (ERP) study examined the developmental mechanisms of auditory-vocal integration in normally developing children. Neurophysiological responses to altered auditory feedback were recorded to determine whether they are affected by age and sex. METHOD: Forty-two children were pairwise matched for sex and were divided into a group of younger (10-12years) and a group of older (13-15years) children. Twenty healthy young adults (20-25years) also participated in the experiment. ERPs were recorded from the participants who heard their voice pitch feedback unexpectedly shifted -50, -100, or -200 cents during sustained vocalization. RESULTS: P1 amplitudes became smaller as subjects increased in age from childhood to adulthood, and males produced larger N1 amplitudes than females. An age-related decrease in the P1-N1 latencies was also found: latencies were shorter in young adults than in school children. A complex age-by-sex interaction was found for the P2 component, where an age-related increase in P2 amplitudes existed only in girls, and boys produced longer P2 latencies than girls but only in the older children. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that neurophysiological responses to pitch errors in voice auditory feedback depend on age and sex in normally developing children. SIGNIFICANCE: The present study provides evidence that there is a sex-specific development of the neural mechanisms involved in auditory-vocal integration.

Effect of temporal predictability on the neural processing of self-triggered auditory stimulation during vocalization.

BACKGROUND: Sensory consequences of our own actions are perceived differently from the sensory stimuli that are generated externally. The present event-related potential (ERP) study examined the neural responses to self-triggered stimulation relative to externally-triggered stimulation as a function of delays between the motor act and the stimulus onset. While sustaining a vowel phonation, subjects clicked a mouse and heard pitch-shift stimuli (PSS) in voice auditory feedback at delays of either 0 ms (predictable) or 500-1000 ms (unpredictable). The motor effect resulting from the mouse click was corrected in the data analyses. For the externally-triggered condition, PSS were delivered by a computer with a delay of 500-1000 ms after the vocal onset. RESULTS: As compared to unpredictable externally-triggered PSS, P2 responses to predictable self-triggered PSS were significantly suppressed, whereas an enhancement effect for P2 responses was observed when the timing of self-triggered PSS was unpredictable. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate the effect of the temporal predictability of stimulus delivery with respect to the motor act on the neural responses to self-triggered stimulation. Responses to self-triggered stimulation were suppressed or enhanced compared with the externally-triggered stimulation when the timing of stimulus delivery was predictable or unpredictable. Enhancement effect of unpredictable self-triggered stimulation in the present study supports the idea that sensory suppression of self-produced action may be primarily caused by an accurate prediction of stimulus timing, rather than a movement-related non-specific suppression.

Ezrin overexpression by transformed human ovarian surface epithelial cells, ovarian cleft cells, and serous ovarian adenocarcinoma cells.

OBJECTIVES: We have shown that ezrin expression correlates with ovarian epithelial cancer (OVCA) cell proliferation and metastatic behavior. In this study, we evaluated ezrin expression in transformed ovarian superficial epithelial cells (OSE) in ovarian clefts and in culture. STUDY DESIGN: Immunohistochemistry and Western blotting for immunoreactive ezrin (ir-ezrin) in normal ovarian tissue, cultured OSE, and ovarian epithelial cancer cells. RESULTS: While ir-ezrin was not demonstrable in normal cuboidal surface cells or interior ovarian organelles, cells lining the ovarian clefts strongly expressed ir-ezrin. Long-term culture of OSE increased ezrin expression and cytological abnormalities. Administration of estradiol and insulin at levels reported in inclusions dramatically induced OSE ir-ezrin expression to OVCA levels and membrane specializations; ruffling, pseudopodia and filopodia. Moreover epidermal growth factor (EGF) drastically increased ezrin translocation in OSE cells in a time-dependent manner. CONCLUSIONS: Ezrin expression by OSE increases during transformation. Ezrin expression is responsive to estradiol and growth factors previously shown to be present in ovarian inclusions. These findings suggest that the microenvironment in ovarian inclusions and clefts contributes to the development of OVCA. Our findings elaborate on the mechanism of the ovarian origin of OVCA.

ERP correlates of language-specific processing of auditory pitch feedback during self-vocalization.

The present study investigated whether the neural correlates for auditory feedback control of vocal pitch can be shaped by tone language experience. Event-related potentials (P2/N1) were recorded from adult native speakers of Mandarin and Cantonese who heard their voice auditory feedback shifted in pitch by -50, -100, -200, or -500 cents when they sustained the vowel sound /u/. Cantonese speakers produced larger P2 amplitudes to -200 or -500 cents stimuli than Mandarin speakers, but this language effect failed to reach significance in the case of -50 or -100 cents. Moreover, Mandarin speakers produced shorter N1 latencies over the left hemisphere than the right hemisphere, whereas Cantonese speakers did not. These findings demonstrate that neural processing of auditory pitch feedback in vocal motor control is subject to language-dependent neural plasticity, suggesting that cortical mechanisms of auditory-vocal integration can be shaped by tone language experience.