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PubMed1996

The brains of lampreys and hagfishes: characteristics, characters, and comparisons.

A comparison of the brains of lampreys and hagfishes is carried out in an attempt to reconstruct the anatomy of the brain of the last common ancestor of craniates: i.e., the morphotype of the craniate brain. This brain consisted of tel-, di-, mes-, and rhombencephalic divisions; the presence of a metencephalic/cerebellar division is questionable. All major sensory and motor systems (with the possible exception of the oculomotor system) that are typical of craniates were present in the morphotype. There were extensive bilateral secondary olfactory projections to the telencephalic pallium, as well as bilateral retinofugal projections to diencephalic, pretectal, and tectal targets. The rhombencephalon was subdivided into dorsal (viscero- and somatosensory) and ventral (branchiomotor) zones. The spinal cord projected to most rhomb- and mesencephalic areas; in turn, it received descending projections from the mes- and rhombencephalic reticular formation and from the octaval nuclei. The reconstruction of such a morphotype depends on the recognition of characters that are plesiomorphic for craniates, as determined by comparative, cladistic analysis. In many cases (gross morphological, topological and cytoarchitectural characters), such an analysis cannot be carried out, because characters that appear as discrete entities in one taxon are lacking or difficult to delineate from other characters in other taxa. The distribution of these characters in lampreys and hagfishes, and the developmental mechanisms that brought them about, offer a challenging problem in evolutionary neurobiology.

Anatomy, Comparative↗
PubMed1983

Phylogeny through brain traits: trees generated by neural characters.

Phylogenetic trees were computed by the Wagner algorithm from data on up to 15 brain characters scored on 154 specimens of 134 mammalian species. Because the data were not complete on all specimens, only one tree, of 18 taxa, was generated on all 15 features; a tree of 99 species was computed from 10 characters, and trees of 38 species from 10 and 12. The 38-taxon trees were considered best because they preserved most completely the integrity of mammalian orders. All trees consistently separated the subclasses of mammals and suggested that rodents, insectivores, and the tree shrew were most derived on the basis of brain characters. The trees' shapes are sensitive to small alterations in character scorings, largely because of the relatively few characters available and small differences in the number of states among them.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Testing for dual brain processing routes in reading: a direct contrast of chinese character and pinyin reading using FMRI.

Chinese offers a unique tool for testing the effects of word form on language processing during reading. The processes of letter-mediated grapheme-to-phoneme translation and phonemic assembly (assembled phonology) critical for reading and spelling in any alphabetic orthography are largely absent when reading nonalphabetic Chinese characters. In contrast, script-to-sound translation based on the script as a whole (addressed phonology) is absent when reading the Chinese alphabetic sound symbols known as pinyin, for which the script-to-sound translation is based exclusively on assembled phonology. The present study aims to contrast patterns of brain activity associated with the different cognitive mechanisms needed for reading the two scripts. fMRI was used with a block design involving a phonological and lexical task in which subjects were asked to decide whether visually presented, paired Chinese characters or pinyin "sounded like" a word. Results demonstrate that reading Chinese characters and pinyin activate a common brain network including the inferior frontal, middle, and inferior temporal gyri, the inferior and superior parietal lobules, and the extrastriate areas. However, some regions show relatively greater activation for either pinyin or Chinese reading. Reading pinyin led to a greater activation in the inferior parietal cortex bilaterally, the precuneus, and the anterior middle temporal gyrus. In contrast, activation in the left fusiform gyrus, the bilateral cuneus, the posterior middle temporal, the right inferior frontal gyrus, and the bilateral superior frontal gyrus were greater for nonalphabetic Chinese reading. We conclude that both alphabetic and nonalphabetic scripts activate a common brain network for reading. Overall, there are no differences in terms of hemispheric specialization between alphabetic and nonalphabetic scripts. However, differences in language surface form appear to determine relative activation in other regions. Some of these regions (e.g., the inferior parietal cortex for pinyin and fusiform gyrus for Chinese characters) are candidate regions for specialized processes associated with reading via predominantly assembled (pinyin) or addressed (Chinese character) procedures.

Brain↗
PubMed2004

An approach to offline handwritten Chinese character recognition based on segment evaluation of adaptive duration.

This paper presents a methodology for off-line handwritten Chinese character recognition based on mergence of consecutive segments of adaptive duration. The handwritten Chinese character string is partitioned into a sequence of consecutive segments, which are combined to implement dissimilarity evaluation within a sliding window whose durations are determined adaptively by the integration of shapes and context of evaluations. The average stroke width is estimated for the handwritten Chinese character string, and a set of candidate character segmentation boundaries is found by using the integration of pixel and stroke features. The final decisions on segmentation and recognition are made under minimal arithmetical mean dissimilarities. Experiments proved that the proposed approach of adaptive duration outperforms the method of fixed duration, and is very effective for the recognition of overlapped, broken, touched, loosely configured Chinese characters.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1997

Teaching receptive naming of Chinese characters to children with autism by incorporating echolalia.

The facilitative effect of incorporating echolalia on teaching receptive naming of Chinese characters to children with autism was assessed. In Experiment 1, echoing the requested character name prior to the receptive naming task facilitated matching a character to its name. In addition, task performance was consistently maintained only when echolalia preceded the receptive manual response. Positive results from generalization tests suggested that learned responses occurred across various novel conditions. In Experiment 2, we examined the relation between task difficulty and speed of acquisition. All 3 participants achieved 100% correct responding in training, but learning less discriminable characters took more trials than learning more discriminable characters. These results provide support for incorporating echolalia as an educational tool within language instruction for some children with autism.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1999

Identity of the xerophilic species Aspergillus penicillioides: Integrated analysis of the genotypic and phenotypic characters.

We examined the identity of Aspergillus penicillioides, the typical xerophilic and strictly anamorphic species, using an integrated analysis of the genotypic and phenotypic characters. Our experimental methods on two genotypic characters, i.e., DNA base composition using the HPLC method and DNA relatedness using the nitrocellulose filter hybridization technique between A. flavus, A. oryzae, and their close relations revealed a good agreement with the values by buoyant density (for DNA base composition) and spectrophotometric determination (for DNA relatedness) reported by Kurtzman et al. in 1986. On the basis of these comparisons, we examined DNA base composition and DNA relatedness of six selected strains of A. penicillioides, including IFO 8155 (originally described as A. vitricola), one strain of A. restrictus, and the respective strains from Eurotium amstelodami, E. repens, and E. rubrum. As a result, five strains within A. penicillioides, including the neotype strain NRRL 4548, had G+C contents of 46 to 49 mol%, whereas IFO 8155 had 50 mol%. A. restrictus had 52 mol%, and three Eurotium species ranged from 46 to 49 mol%. The DNA relatedness between A. penicillioides (five strains), except for IFO 8155, exhibited values greater than 70%, but the DNA complementarity between four strains and IFO 8155 in A. penicillioides revealed values of less than 40%. DNA relatedness values between three species of Eurotium were 65 to 72%. We determined 18S, 5.8S, and ITS rDNA sequences as other genotypic characters from A. penicillioides (six strains), A. restrictus, and related teleomorphic species of Eurotium. In three phylogenetic trees inferred from these sequences, five strains of A. penicillioides, including the neotype strain, were closely related to each other, whereas IFO 8155 was distantly related and grouped with other xerophilic species. Our results have suggested that A. penicillioides typified by NRRL 4548 and A. penicillioides IFO 8155 (ex holotype of A. vitricola) are not conspecific. The enzyme patterns as a genotypic character and general morphology and conidial ornamentation types as phenotypic characters supported this conclusion. Therefore the name A. vitricola Ohtsuki, typified by the holotype strain IFO 8155, should be revived. Evolutionary affinities among Aspergillus species and related teleomorphs, including the xerophilic taxa, are discussed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Character movement and the representation of space during narrative comprehension.

Traditional research on situation models has examined the accessibility of locations and objects during narrative experiences. These studies have described a ubiquitous gradient effect: Spatial locations and objects in reader focus are more accessible than locations farther from this focus, with accessibility decreasing as a function of distance. How might readers' expectations about character movement, beyond information about spatial locations, additionally affect this accessibility gradient? In two experiments, we investigated whether reader expectations for character movement impact the accessibility of spatial information from memory. In Experiment 1, participants read stories that described characters moving in either a unidirectional or a random pattern through a learned environment. In Experiment 2, characters moved forward in a unidirectional way or backtracked through previously explored rooms. The results suggest that reader expectations for character movement can influence the accessibility of spatial information. Such expectations play a critical role in processes of narrative comprehension.

Comprehension↗
PubMed2000

Levels-of-processing effects on Chinese character completion: the importance of lexical processing and test cue.

The levels of processing (LoP) effect was studied in Chinese character completion tasks. The same stem cue, either graphemically or semantically related to the target character, was used to generate either a perceptual or a conceptual test. Participants received either direct or indirect instructions, so that the same stem cue also produced either an explicit or an implicit test of memory. This allowed us to examine simultaneously the roles of perceptual versus conceptual test and retrieval intentionality in the LoP effect. No LoP effects were found when the memory test was implicit. LoP effects were also not found for stems and characters related graphemically (perceptually), but were found for stems and characters related semantically (conceptually) when the memory test was explicit. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of lexical processing for character completion tests and the importance of reinstatement of the study process during retrieval for explicit memory tests.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

[Variability and inheritance of behavior in fine-wool sheep. II. Character of inheritance of domesticated behavior and correlation of behavior with productivity traits in fine-wool sheep].

The results of an experimental study of the inheritance of individual behaviour in various types of crosses are presented; the phenotypic and genetic correlations between the behavior and producutivity characters in sheep and the possibility of applying behaviour characteristics to the selection process of fine-wool sheep are analysed. It is shown that the progeny from crosses between parents with the same type of behaviour inherits mainly the type of behaviour of their parents and that, in general, the inheritance has a polygenic character. A genetic relation between the type of domestic behaviour and the productive characters of fine-wool sheep is established. The genetic correlation coefficient between the behaviour and the wool productivity is 0,57, and that between the behaviour and the live weight is 0,53. It is concluded that the inheritance component contributes to the formation of the type of domestic behaviour of fine-wool sheep. Phenotypic and genetic correlations between the type of behaviour and the main productivity characters are discussed. The posibility of using behaviour characteristics as a character under selection is considered.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Character witness. Walking the talk on euthanasia.

Our response to the euthanasia movement brings us to the depths of moral character and spirituality. Character bears witness to the true significance of our Catholic convictions about the dignity of persons, the value of life, our dependence on God, and our interdependence on one another. To be credible players in public debates on euthanasia and assisted suicide, we have to bear convincing witness, personally and corporately, to the ways we care first for ourselves and for those who are not as fortunate as we--the sick, the elderly, the indigent, and the dying. Who we will be in the face of death will have a lot to do with what we have come to believe about life, with the values we have upheld, with the attitudes we have taken, and with the habits of thought and behavior we have formed. So we need not be victims of what dying has in store for us. Rather, we can engage our dying by developing those habits of the heart which will make a difference in the way we adapt to unwanted circumstances and endure what we cannot change. We cannot develop strength of character if we are not nurtured by a community of character. In addition to personal character, we also need to be a community that gives witness to those fundamental religious and moral convictions which shape our living and dying in ways that would make euthanasia unthinkable.

Catholicism↗
PubMed2001

[Case control study of the relationship between type A character and type II diabetes mellitus].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between type A character and type II diabetes mellitus. METHODS: A frequency matched case control study based on hospital involving 185 newly diagnosed type II diabetics, 201 control cases without type II diabetes mellitus, and 197 healthy people was carried out in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, using type A character questionnaire and unified questionnaire. Nonconditional univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used with the software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences for Windows release 8.0. RESULTS: The score of TH (time hurry), CH (competition and hostility), and the sum of TH and CH of the type II diabetes mellitus cases were significantly higher than those of the control cases (P < 0.01). Compared with B-type character, type A character (OR = 2.59, 95% CI: 1.62 approximately 4.13) was more significantly associated with type II diabetes mellitus after adjustment of occupation, education, family history of diabetes mellitus, waist to hip ratio (WHR), smoking, drinking, dietary factors, leisure time physical activity and hypertension. CONCLUSION: Type A character may be one of the risk factors of type II diabetes mellitus.

Case-Control Studies↗
PubMed1992

[Mobile genetic elements and quantitative characters in Drosophila: facts and hypotheses].

This review is dedicated to the comparison of the facts obtained and the proposed hypotheses, to the critical analysis of the situation arisen, and to the estimation of key propositions of the concept developed. The main point is that mobile genetic elements (MGEs) participate directly in expression, variability, selection and evolution of different quantitative characters. Genetic and selection data are considered, and hypotheses of random fixation, marker effect and direct participation of MGE patterns in expression and selection of quantitative characters are discussed. The consequences of temperature treatment are considered and hypotheses of masked selection and temperature induction of transpositions are discussed. The marker effects are shown to be non-sufficient to explain the properties of quantitative character radius incompletus system. The MGE patterns are important components of genetical system of determination of a quantitative character. MGEs modify, enhance the expression of neighbouring polygenes. Temperature effects could be explained by the influence of stress temperature treatment through the system of heat shock response on the capacity of MGEs to transcribe and transpose. The system of diversed MGE patterns in drosophila chromosomes could be believed to be universal genomic system of "soft" modification of the polygenic control of any limiting quantitative characters.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

[The neurophysiological indices of neurotic patients with different types of individual character and their dynamics during group psychotherapy].

Based on the clinical and neurophysiological studies analysis is made of the prognostic importance of character accentuations as the most important factor of the personality premorbid condition of neurotic patients. 107 patients with different patterns of neuroses, who underwent group psychotherapy (a personality-oriented (reconstructive) variety). Analysis of the dynamics of the neurophysiological characteristics, made during group psychotherapy, supported the clinical data on varying curability of neurotic patients with different types of character accentuations. Patients with the hysteroid type character accentuation appeared more resistant to psychotherapy. In patients with the sthenic variety of hysteroid accentuation, the positive dynamics was recorded in but 30% of cases, in the asthenic variety of hysteroid accentuation, in 48.6% of cases. Patients with inhibited character traits turned out more pliable to group therapy. In the sensitive type accentuation, the positive dynamics of the neurophysiological characteristics was established in 65% whereas in psychasthenic accentuation, in 72% of cases. The neurophysiological correlations of the main types of character accentuations and their dynamics during group psychotherapy were also revealed.

Electrocardiography↗
PubMed2004

Character shifts in the defensive armor of sympatric sticklebacks.

Natural enemies may contribute to the morphological divergence of sympatric species, yet their role has received little attention to date. We tested for character shifts in defensive armor of sympatric threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus complex) previously shown to exhibit ecological character displacement in traits related to resource use. We scored five defensive armor traits in sympatric benthic and limnetic stickleback species from southwestern British Columbia and compared them with the same traits in nearby allopatric populations in the presence of the same predatory fish (Oncorhynchus sp.). This approach is analogous to tests of ecological character displacement that compare trophic traits of sympatric and allopatric species in the presence of the same community of resource types. Three patterns consistent with character displacement in defensive armor were found. First, limnetics in different lakes had consistently more armor than sympatric benthics. Second, the average amount of armor, averaged over both species, was reduced in sympatry compared to allopatric populations. This reduction was almost entirely the result of shifts by benthic species, whereas armor in limnetics was more similar to that in allopatric populations. Third, differences between sympatric benthics and limnetics in total armor were greater than expected from comparisons with allopatric populations. We interpret these patterns as the result of differences in habitat-specific predation regimes accompanying ecological character displacement and indirect interactions between sympatric stickleback species mediated by their top predators. These results suggest that predation may facilitate, rather than hinder, the process of divergence in sympatry.

Animal Structures↗
PubMed2004

Climatic and temporal effects on the expression of secondary sexual characters: genetic and environmental components.

Despite great interest in sexual selection, relatively little is known in detail about the genetic and environmental determinants of secondary sexual characters in natural populations. Such information is important for determining the way in which populations may respond to sexual selection. We report analyses of genetic and large-scale environmental components of phenotypic variation of two secondary sexual plumage characters (forehead and wing patch size) in the collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis over a 22-year period. We found significant heritability for both characters but little genetic covariance between the two. We found a positive association between forehead patch size and a large-scale climatic index, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, but not for wing patch. This pattern was observed in both cross-sectional and longitudinal data suggesting that the population response to NAO index can be explained as the result of phenotypic plasticity. Heritability of forehead patch size for old males, calculated under favorable conditions (NAO index > or = median), was greater than that under unfavorable conditions (NAO index < median). These changes occurred because there were opposing changes in additive genetic variance (VA) and residual variance (VR) under favorable and unfavorable conditions, with VA increasing and VR decreasing in good environments. However, no such effect was detected for young birds, or for wing patch size in either age class. In addition to these environmental effects on both phenotypic and genetic variances, we found evidence for a significant decrease of forehead patch size over time in older birds. This change appears to be caused by a change in the sign of viability selection on forehead patch size, which is associated with a decline in the breeding value of multiple breeders. Our data thus reveal complex patterns of environmental influence on the expression of secondary sexual characters, which may have important implications for understanding selection and evolution of these characters.

Age Factors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Epigenetic and synergistic types of inheritance of the reproductive characters in angiosperms].

The author considers three types of hereditary memory (structural, cell and signal), that are realized on different levels of biological organization. These three types of hereditary memory correspond to three types of reproduction: self-replication, cell division and reproduction s. str. Reproductive characters are exemplified with three essential characters in angiosperm plants: dimorphism in population by flower sex; mono-, di- and trystyly of flowers; uni- and biparental mode of seed reproduction. All these characters are considered as "supercharacters" that are controlled by gene ensembles. The correspondence between three types of reproduction and three types of hereditary memory are discussed. The authors reviews also the role of polyploidy (auto- and endoploidy) in the inheritance of reproductive condition. From the information theory point the increase in cell ploidy causes the growth of uncertainty in expression of genes and gene ensembles thus creating new type of variability--epigenetic variation. The change of reproductive strategy in plants is regulated by state of gene and gene ensembles and does not demand structural changes in genome. The reproductive characters of plants in spite its complex structure are inherited in number of generations as a discrete Mendel characters by mono-, di-, ot trihybrid schemas.

Biological Evolution↗
PubMed1989

Systemic oxygen uptake during hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass. Effects of flow rate, flow character, and arterial pH.

A factorial experiment was undertaken to study the effects on systemic oxygen uptake of alteration in flow rate between 1.5 and 2.0 L.min-1.m-2, flow character between nonpulsatile or pulsatile perfusion, and acid-base management between attempted pH and alpha stat control during hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass. Twenty-four patients undergoing elective coronary bypass were studied. After 10-minute periods of stability at moderate hypothermia (28 degrees +/- 1 degrees C), blood samples were aspirated from the arterial and venous lines. Samples were analyzed for oxygen content, saturation, and tension, pH, base excess, and lactate. Systemic oxygen uptake was significantly greater at 2.0 than 1.5 L.min-1 m-2 by 18 (7, 30) ml.min-1.m-2, whereas it was not significantly affected by change in flow character (-4[-16, 7] ml.min-1.min-2) or arterial pH (-2 [-12, 8] ml.min-1.m-2 per 0.1 pH unit). Venous oxygen tension, saturation, and content were significantly increased at the higher compared with the lower flow rate (p less than 0.05), whereas arterial oxygen tension and oxygen extraction were not. Increases in arterial oxygen content and saturation from low to high flow rates were marginally nonsignificant (F = 4.08, critical value = 4.17; F = 3.99 critical value = 4.21). Base excess was significantly affected by alteration in arterial pH but not flow rate, flow character, or stage (p less than 0.05). Lactate concentrations were unaffected by flow rate, flow character, or arterial pH, but there was a small but significant overall decrease during the course of cardiopulmonary bypass (p less than 0.05). Reasons why systemic oxygen uptake was affected by flow rate but not by flow character or arterial pH are discussed. A flow rate of 1.5 L.min-1.m-2 during cardiopulmonary bypass with moderate hypothermia results in a less than maximal systemic oxygen uptake.

Acid-Base Equilibrium↗
PubMed1989

[Algebraic regularities of the ratio of heterozygosity with a mean and variance of quantitative character].

The relationships of heterozygosity with the mean and variance of quantitative character were considered under neutrality, additivity and overdominance of polymorphic loci. Attention was drawn to dependence of the patterns of relationships on the number of polymorphic loci (which varied from 1 to 10) and on the type of polymorphic loci, both homogeneous (polymorphic loci are of the same type) and heterogeneous (polymorphic loci are of the two types) samples of 10 polymorphic loci and their combination. It is shown that increase in the number of polymorphic loci is accompanied with extension of the limits of corresponding relations, whereas the patterns of these relations depend on the type of connection of separate polymorphic locus with the quantitative character and on the ratio of different loci in the set of polymorphic loci. It is assumed that the relationship of heterozygosity with quantitative characters, displayed in the number of experimental works, may contain a component mediated by similar statistical effects. It is inferred that the discrepancy between different authors' experimental data on existence or lack of some relationships between multiplicative heterozygosity and morphological variability of quantitative characters can be explained by different types of relations of polymorphic loci to quantitative characters encountered in their works.

Alleles↗