The Acquisition of Orthographic Knowledge: Evidence from the Lexicality Effects on N400.

This study aimed to understand how reading ability shapes the lexicality effects on N400. Fifty-three typical developing children from the second to the sixth grades were asked to perform the pronounceability judgment task on a set of Chinese real characters (RC), pseudocharacters (PC) and non-characters (NC), as ERPs were recorded. The cluster-based permutation analysis revealed that children with low- to medium-reading ability showed greater negativity to NCs than to RCs and PCs in frontal sites from 300 to 450 ms, while children with high ability group showed a greater positivity to NCs than both RCs and PCs at central to posterior sites. Furthermore, the linear mixed model (LMM) analysis was applied to investigate the relationship between lexicality effects on N400 and reading-related behavioral assessments on a set of standardized tests (including character recognition, vocabulary size, phonological awareness, and working memory). The results found that in children with lower reading ability, the N400 elicited by NCs becomes more negative in the frontal sites. For children with higher reading ability, the N400 elicited by NCs became more positive than that elicited by RCs or PCs in the posterior sites. These findings demonstrate the developmental changes in the lexicality effects on N400 as children become more advanced readers and suggested that the lexicality effects on N400 can serve as neural markers for the evaluation of orthographic proficiency in reading development.

Aldosterone Impairs Vascular Smooth Muscle Function: From Clinical to Bench Research.

CONTEXT: The effect of aldosterone on vascular smooth muscle cell function is still unclear. One method to measure vascular smooth muscle cell function is endothelial-independent vascular dilation, for which the key factor is sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium adenosine triphosphatase (SERCA). OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to investigate the effect of aldosterone on vascular smooth muscle cell function and SERCA regulation. DESIGN: We prospectively analyzed 35 patients with primary aldosteronism (PA; 32 patients with aldosterone-producing adenoma and three patients with idiopathic hyperaldosteronism) and 30 patients with essential hypertension (EH) who were enrolled as the control group. Flow and nitrate-mediated dilation were performed in both groups and 1 year after adrenalectomy in the patients with aldosterone-producing adenoma. In addition, we investigated the effect of aldosterone on SERCA regulation in human aortic smooth muscle cells. SETTING: This study took place in an academic clinical research center. PARTICIPANTS: Participants included 35 patients with PA and 30 patients with EH. INTERVENTIONS: Adrenalectomy was undertaken in patients with aldosterone-producing adenoma. RESULTS: The PA patients had significantly lower flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and nitrate-mediated dilation (NMD) values than the patients with EH (FMD: 13 ± 6 vs 16 ± 4; NMD: 16 ± 6 vs 19 ± 5; both P < .05). FMD/NMD were significantly correlated with log 24 hour-urine aldosterone (FMD: r = -0.287, P = .048; NMD: r = -0.402, P = .005) but not blood pressure. The impaired FMD and NMD values were significantly restored 1 year after adrenalectomy (FMD: 11 ± 4 to 19 ± 7; NMD: 15 ± 6 to 21 ± 6; both P < .01). Under confocal microscopy, aldosterone was shown to suppress the expression of SERCA2a of human aortic smooth muscle cells. Aldosterone significantly suppressed the expression of SERCA2a from 10(-8) M in mRNA and protein levels. This suppression was through down-regulation of mineralocorticoid receptor dependent mitochondrial transcription factors A and B2. CONCLUSIONS: Aldosterone impairs vascular smooth muscle cell function and suppresses SERCA 2a expression.

Feature-specific transition from positive mismatch response to mismatch negativity in early infancy: mismatch responses to vowels and initial consonants.

This study investigated how phonological saliency, deviance size, and maturation affect mismatch responses (MMRs) in early infancy. MMRs to Mandarin vowels and initial consonants were measured using a multi-deviant oddball paradigm in adults, newborns, and 6-month-olds. The vowel condition consisted of Mandarin syllable da as the standard, du as the large deviant and di as small deviant. As for initial consonant condition, we took syllable ba as standard, ga as large deviant, and ba as small deviant. While adults showed typical mismatch negativities (MMNs), newborns demonstrated broad positive MMRs (P-MMRs) to both initial consonants and vowels. For 6-month-olds, deviance size affected the polarity of MMRs to vowels. The large deviant du/da contrast elicited an adult-like MMN, while the small deviant di/da contrast elicited a P-MMR. Initial consonant changes elicited only P-MMRs, regardless of deviance size. In summary, MMRs to vowels switched from P-MMR at birth to MMN at 6 months. However, the polarity transition was not found for MMRs to initial consonants. The developmental trajectories of MMRs to vowels and initial consonants further support the phonological saliency hypothesis.

Aldosterone induced galectin-3 secretion in vitro and in vivo: from cells to humans.

CONTEXT: Patients with primary aldosteronism are associated with increased myocardial fibrosis. Galectin-3 is one of the most important mediators between macrophage activation and myocardial fibrosis. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether aldosterone induces galectin-3 secretion in vitro and in vivo. METHODS AND RESULTS: We investigated the possible molecular mechanism of aldosterone-induced galectin-3 secretion in macrophage cell lines (THP-1 and RAW 264.7 cells). Aldosterone induced galectin-3 secretion through mineralocorticoid receptors via the PI3K/Akt and NF-κB transcription signaling pathways. In addition, aldosterone-induced galectin-3 expression enhanced fibrosis-related factor expression in fibroblasts. We observed that galectin-3 mRNA from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and serum galectin-3 levels were both significantly increased in mice implanted with aldosterone pellets on days 7 and 14. We then conducted a prospective preliminary clinical study to investigate the association between aldosterone and galectin-3. Patients with aldosterone-producing adenoma had a significantly higher plasma galectin-3 level than patients with essential hypertension. One year after adrenalectomy, the plasma galectin-3 level had decreased significantly in the patients with aldosterone-producing adenoma. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that aldosterone could induce galectin-3 secretion in vitro and in vivo.

The development of mismatch responses to Mandarin lexical tones in early infancy.

This study examined how maturation and the size of deviance affect the development of mismatch responses to Mandarin lexical tones by a multi-deviant oddball paradigm with both large deviant T1/T3 and small deviant T2/T3 pairs in newborns and 6-month-olds. The T1/T3 pair elicited a positive mismatch response (P-MMR) at birth but an adult-like mismatch negativity (MMN) at 6 months of age. For the T2/T3 pair, no significant MMR was seen in newborns, whereas a P-MMR was found when infants are 6 months old. Results suggest that the developmental trajectories of MMRs are dependent on the neural maturation and the discriminability of tonal changes.

Mismatch responses to lexical tone, initial consonant, and vowel in Mandarin-speaking preschoolers.

The present study investigates how age, phonological saliency, and deviance size affect the presence of mismatch negativity (MMN) and positive mismatch response (P-MMR). This work measured the auditory mismatch responses to Mandarin lexical tones, initial consonants, and vowels in 4- to 6-year-old preschoolers using the multiple-deviant oddball paradigm. The data showed the coexistence of MMN and P-MMR in the same age group when responding to the three types of syllabic features in Mandarin. The transition from a predominantly positive response to a predominantly negative response supported the multiple MMN mechanisms. Congruent with the phonological saliency hypothesis and the phonetic acquisition order of Mandarin in behavioral studies, for the compulsory elements of Mandarin syllables, lexical tones, and vowels, the larger deviants elicited adult-like MMNs, whereas the smaller deviants elicited P-MMRs. The optional elements of the Mandarin syllables, the initial consonant, only elicited P-MMR in preschoolers. These findings suggest that MMN and P-MMR index different functional characteristics and may provide information on when and how children's speech perception becomes automatic at different developmental stages.

Serum mesothelin in epithelial ovarian carcinoma: a new screening marker and prognostic factor.

UNLABELLED: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between mesothelin and clinical pathological characteristics and whether mesothelin can be used as a biomarker for the detection and prognosis of epithelial ovarian carcinoma, or not. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Pre-operative mesothelin and CA125 levels from normal populations, patients with benign ovarian tumors and patients with ovarian carcinomas were measured. The histopathological characteristics and serum meosthelin, and CA125 levels influencing clinical outcome were evaluated comparatively. RESULTS: Mesothelin levels were higher in cancer patients than in those with benign ovarian tumors or in normal populations. Mesothelin, also significantly increased from early to advanced stages. Elevated mesothelin before therapy and advanced stage, revealed poorer overall survival (OS) for cancer patients. Elevated mesothelin before therapy also revealed poorer OS in cancer patients with optimal debulking surgery and in advanced-stage cancer patients. CONCLUSION: Mesothelin might be a new tumor marker for the differential diagnosis of epithelial ovarian carcinoma and a prognostic factorfor the outcome of epithelial ovarian carcinoma patients.