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PubMed2000

Induction of adaptation to inhaled lipopolysaccharide in young and old rats and mice.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a component of the gram-negative bacterial cell wall that is known to activate inflammatory cells and enhance the production of inflammatory mediators in the lung. As it is a ubiquitous compound, inhalation exposure is highly likely in the human environment. Adaptation is a phenomenon by which a previous exposure results in improved survival or reduced injury as compared to a single exposure alone. We hypothesized that the basic proinflammatory effects of LPS in the lung could result in the development of adaptation in animals. Based on evidence of age- and species-related differences in lung injury, we used an acute lung injury model with inhaled LPS to compare the development of adaptation in young and old Fisher 344 rats and C57Bl/6J mice. Animals were exposed to low-dose (predicted lung deposition approximately 20 ng in rats and approximately 5 ng in mice) LPS aerosols for 10 min on 3 consecutive days; on day 4, a high dose (rats approximately 200 ng; mice approximately 25 ng) was delivered. Another group of animals received only the high LPS dose on day 4, whereas controls were unexposed. Twenty-four hours after the last exposure, cellular and inflammatory parameters in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) were determined. An adaptive response was found in both rats and mice. Adapted animals showed significantly fewer BAL neutrophils compared to nonadapted ones; there was also a significantly lower release of oxidants from phorbol methyl ester-stimulated BAL cells from adapted compared to nonadapted animals, which, in turn, showed a greater response than controls. Furthermore, studies in old animals (21 mo of age) showed that adaptation also occurs in this age group. The adaptive response is clear in old mice; in rats, there is greater variability in the response, but an adaptive trend is apparent. Therefore, we have demonstrated that inhaled low-dose LPS can induce adaptation to subsequent higher doses, much as has been shown for other toxicants that induce oxidative lung injury.

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed1994

Adaptive digital notch filter design on the unit circle for the removal of powerline noise from biomedical signals.

This paper investigates adaptive digital notch filters for the elimination of powerline noise from biomedical signals. Since the distribution of the frequency variation of the powerline noise may or may not be centered at 60 Hz, three different adaptive digital notch filters are considered. For the first case, an adaptive FIR second-order digital notch filter is designed to track the center frequency variation. For the second case, the zeroes of an adaptive IIR second-order digital notch filter are fixed on the unit circle and the poles are adapted to find an optimum bandwidth to eliminate the noise to a pre-defined attenuation level. In the third case, both the poles and zeroes of the adaptive IIR second-order filter are adapted to track the center frequency variation within an optimum bandwidth. The adaptive process is considerably simplified by designing the notch filters by pole-zero placement on the unit circle using some suggested rules. A constrained least mean-squared (CLMS) algorithm is used for the adaptive process. To evaluate their performance, the three adaptive notch filters are applied to a powerline noise sample and to a noisy EEG as an illustration of a biomedical signal.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2001

Cell density modulates acid adaptation in Streptococcus mutans: implications for survival in biofilms.

Streptococcus mutans normally colonizes dental biofilms and is regularly exposed to continual cycles of acidic pH during ingestion of fermentable dietary carbohydrates. The ability of S. mutans to survive at low pH is an important virulence factor in the pathogenesis of dental caries. Despite a few studies of the acid adaptation mechanism of this organism, little work has focused on the acid tolerance of S. mutans growing in high-cell-density biofilms. It is unknown whether biofilm growth mode or high cell density affects acid adaptation by S. mutans. This study was initiated to examine the acid tolerance response (ATR) of S. mutans biofilm cells and to determine the effect of cell density on the induction of acid adaptation. S. mutans BM71 cells were first grown in broth cultures to examine acid adaptation associated with growth phase, cell density, carbon starvation, and induction by culture filtrates. The cells were also grown in a chemostat-based biofilm fermentor for biofilm formation. Adaptation of biofilm cells to low pH was established in the chemostat by the acid generated from excess glucose metabolism, followed by a pH 3.5 acid shock for 3 h. Both biofilm and planktonic cells were removed to assay percentages of survival. The results showed that S. mutans BM71 exhibited a log-phase ATR induced by low pH and a stationary-phase acid resistance induced by carbon starvation. Cell density was found to modulate acid adaptation in S. mutans log-phase cells, since pre-adapted cells at a higher cell density or from a dense biofilm displayed significantly higher resistance to the killing pH than the cells at a lower cell density. The log-phase ATR could also be induced by a neutralized culture filtrate collected from a low-pH culture, suggesting that the culture filtrate contained an extracellular induction component(s) involved in acid adaptation in S. mutans. Heat or proteinase treatment abolished the induction by the culture filtrate. The results also showed that mutants defective in the comC, -D, or -E genes, which encode a quorum sensing system essential for cell density-dependent induction of genetic competence, had a diminished log-phase ATR. Addition of synthetic competence stimulating peptide (CSP) to the comC mutant restored the ATR. This study demonstrated that cell density and biofilm growth mode modulated acid adaptation in S. mutans, suggesting that optimal development of acid adaptation in this organism involves both low pH induction and cell-cell communication.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2005

Contrast and temporal frequency-related adaptation in the pretectal nucleus of the optic tract.

In mammals, many cells in the retino-geniculate-cortical pathway adapt during stimulation with high contrast gratings. In the visual cortex, adaptation to high contrast images reduces sensitivity at low contrasts while only moderately affecting sensitivity at high contrasts, thus generating rightward shifts in the contrast response functions (contrast gain control). Similarly, motion adaptation at particular temporal frequencies (TFs) alters the temporal tuning properties of cortical cells. For the first time in any species, this paper investigates the influence of motion adaptation on both the contrast and TF responses of neurons in the retino-pretectal pathway by recording from direction-selective neurons in the nucleus of the optic tract (NOT) of the marsupial wallaby, Macropus eugenii. This species is of interest because its NOT receives almost all input directly from the retina, with virtually none from the visual cortex (unlike cats and primates). All NOT cells show changes in their contrast response functions after adaptation, many revealing contrast gain control. Contrast adaptation is direction-dependent, preferred directions producing the largest changes. The lack of cortical input suggests that contrast adaptation is generated independently from the cortex in the NOT or retina. Motion adaptation also produces direction-selective effects on the TF tuning of NOT neurons by shifting the location of the optimum TF. Cells that show strong adaptation to contrast also tend to show large changes in TF tuning, suggesting similar intracellular mechanisms. The data are discussed in terms of the generality of contrast adaptation across mammalian species and across unconnected brain regions within the same species.

Acclimatization↗
PubMed1998

A method to select an instrument for measurement of HR-QOL for cross-cultural adaptation applied to dermatology.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to develop a process to obtain an instrument to measure dermatology specific health-related quality of life (HR-QOL), and to adapt it into another culture, namely the Spanish-speaking community. DESIGN AND SETTING: By consensus, a multi-disciplinary team determined the qualities of an 'ideal' questionnaire as follows: need (absence of any such instrument), utility, multi-dimensionality, psychometric development, simplicity, high degree of standardisation, and accessibility. A bibliographic search was conducted on Medline, EMBASE and IME (Spanish Medical Index), using 'dermatology' and 'quality of life' as the key words, from January 1990 through to September 1997, supplemented by a second level reference search, to identify the instruments already in existence. Rather than develop a questionnaire ex novo, it was decided to make a cultural adaptation of an existing one. The questionnaires identified in the literature search were classified according to their generic or specific scope and it was decided to adapt a dermatology specific instrument. To select and compare the instruments, a model was developed which would provide an Adaptation Index (ADAPT), which includes the degree of development of psychometric properties, the formal design and the degree of standardisation at a given moment in time. RESULTS: Six dermatology specific scales were identified: Impact of Skin Disease Scale (IMPACT), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Skindex, Dermatology Quality-of-Life Scales (DQOLS), Dermatology Specific Quality of Life (DSQL) and Qualita di Vita Italiana in Dermatologia (QUAVIDERM). The ADAPT Index for each of the above was determined at the time of the study and the DLQI was chosen for adaptation (ADAPT = 77, October 1997). CONCLUSIONS: The study showed the utility of ADAPT Index to assist in the selection process of the questionnaire to adapt. The results of the analysis indicate that in order to introduce and systematically use dermatology specific HR-QOL instruments, the indices require consolidation and improvement. There is a special need for an effort to be made in developing transculturally equivalent instruments suitable for international research.

Cross-Cultural Comparison↗
PubMed1990

Time course and action spectrum of vibrotactile adaptation.

In a series of experiments designed to explore the processes underlying adaptation of the sense of flutter-vibration, vibrotactile threshold was measured on the pad of the index finger, using Békésy tracking. Unadapted thresholds were first measured, for a number of frequencies (4-90 Hz) and contactor sizes (1-8 mm diameter). As expected, these measurements indicated the presence of (1) a Pacinian system possessing spatial summation and increasing in sensitivity, as frequency was raised, at the rate of 12 dB/octave; and (2) a non-Pacinian system showing little spatial summation, and with a frequency characteristic matching that of the NP I mechanism of Bolanowski et al. (1988). These baseline data of Experiment 1 guided the selection of stimulus parameters for subsequent experiments, in which threshold for a test stimulus was measured before, during, and after periods of vibrotactile adaptation. In Experiment 2, test stimuli of 10 Hz and 50 Hz were combined factorially with 30-dB SL adapting stimuli of the same two frequencies. When the test stimulus was 10 Hz, the two adapting frequencies were equally effective in raising threshold; however, when the 50-Hz test stimulus was used, the 50-Hz adapting stimulus raised threshold by a greater amount than did the 10-Hz adapter. These results confirm on the finger the independence of adaptation in Pacinian and non-Pacinian channels, a result previously established on the thenar by other workers. For all four frequency combinations, threshold rose exponentially with a time constant of 1.5-2 min. In Experiment 3, an action spectrum was determined, showing the adapting amplitude needed at each of a series of frequencies to raise the threshold of a 10-Hz stimulus by 10 dB; this spectrum was essentially flat from 30 to 90 Hz. The results, taken in conjunction with what is known about rapidly adapting cutaneous mechanoreceptors, imply that the effectiveness of an adapting stimulus is not determined solely by the amount of activity it generates in first-order afferents.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Influence of rod adaptation upon cone responses to light offset in humans: I. Results in normal observers.

Dark-adapted rods exert a tonic suppressive influence upon cone-mediated sensitivity to rapid flicker, a phenomenon called suppressive rod-cone interaction (SRCI). However, rod dark adaptation has negligible influence upon cone-mediated thresholds measured with more usual psychophysical procedures. The present study separately examined the influences of rod light and dark adaptation upon cone-mediated sensitivity to transient increases or decreases in illumination using sawtooth flicker with rapid-on (ramp-off) or rapid-off (ramp-on) waveforms. In the parafoveal retina, cones alone were stimulated with flicker by spatially superimposing long- and short-wavelength stimuli presented in counterphase and matched in scotopic illuminance. Several different adaptation procedures were used. For higher (greater than 4 Hz) frequencies, sensitivity of cones to both waveforms is nearly identical under any condition of adaptation; sensitivity decreases as rods progressively dark adapt. A considerably different situation exists for slower frequencies (1-4 Hz). Sensitivity of cones to rapid-off flicker is appreciably greater under light-adapted conditions confirming recent observations by Bowen et al. (1989). But as rods progressively dark adapt, sensitivity of cones to rapid-off waveforms decreases considerably while sensitivity to rapid-on waveforms is much less affected; in the totally dark-adapted eye, sensitivity to both waveforms is identical. These results confirm and extend recent physiological observations in amphibian retina (Frumkes & Wu, 1990) suggesting that SRCI specifically involves responses to transient decreases in illumination.

Adaptation, Ocular↗
PubMed1977

Increased intracellular sodium mimics some but not all aspects of photoreceptor adaptation in the ventral eye of Limulus.

The effects of the intracellular iontophoretic injection of Na+ ions have been quantitatively compared with adaptation in ventral photoreceptors of Limulus. We find that: (a) both light adaptation and sodium injection are associated with a decrease in the variability of the threshold response amplitued; (b) both light adaptation and sodium injection are associated with a decrease in the absolute value of the temporal dispersion of the threshold response time delay; (c) the same template curve adequately fits the intensity response relationships measured under light adaptation and Na+ injection; (d) both light adaptation and Na+ injection produce a fourfold decrease in response time delay for a desensitization of 3 log units; (e) the time coures of light adaptation and dark adaptation is significantly faster than the onset of and recovery from desensitization produced by Na+ injection; (f) unlike local illumination, Na+ injection does not produce localized desensitization of the photoreceptor. These findings suggest that a rise in intracellular Na+ concentration makes at most only a minor contribution (probably less than 5%) to the total adaptation of these receptors in the intensity range we have examined (up to 3 log units above absolute threshold). However, changes in intracellular Na+ concentration may contribute to certain components of light and dark adaptation in these receptors.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed1983

Light and dark adaptation in Phycomyces light-growth response.

Sporangiophores of the fungus Phycomyces exhibit adaptation to light stimuli over a dynamic range of 10(10). This range applies to both phototropism and the closely related light-growth response; in the latter response, the elongation rate is modulated transiently by changes in the light intensity. We have performed light- and dark-adaptation experiments on growing sporangiophores using an automated tracking machine that allows a continuous measurement of growth velocity under controlled conditions. The results are examined in terms of the adaptation model of Delbrück and Reichardt (1956, Cellular Mechanisms in Differentiation and Growth, 3-44). The "level of adaptation," A, was inferred from responses to test pulses of light by means of a series of intensity-response curves. For dark adaptation to steps down in the normal intensity range (10(-6)-10(-2) W/m2), A decays exponentially with a time constant b = 6.1 +/- 0.3 min. This result is in agreement with the model. Higher-order kinetics are indicated, however, for dark adaptation in the high-intensity range (10(-2)-1 W/m2). Adaptation in this range is compared with predictions of a model relating changes in A to the inactivation and recovery of a receptor pigment. In response to steps up in intensity in the normal range, A was found to increase rapidly, overshoot the applied intensity level, and then relax to that level within 40 min. These results are incompatible with the Delbrück-Reichardt model or any simple generalizations of it. The asymmetry and overshoot are similar to adaptation phenomena observed in systems as diverse as bacterial chemotaxis and human vision. It appears likely that light and dark adaptation in Phycomyces are mediated by altogether different processes.

Adaptation, Biological↗
PubMed1995

ERG OFF response in frog retina: light adaptation and effect of 2-amino-4-phosphonobutyrate.

The intensity-response (V/log I) function of ERG OFF response (d-wave) in dark and light adapted superfused frog eyecups was investigated before and after blockade of the retinal ON channel by 2-amino-4-phosphonobutyrate (APB). The V/log I function of the dark adapted d-wave had two distinct components, each of them consisting of an ascendent and descendent part. In eyes adapted to mesopic or photopic background the V/log I function had only one component. It was shifted to the right along the intensity axis, had a steeper slope and a higher maximal response amplitude compared with the two components of the dark-adapted V/log I curve. Perfusion with 200 mumol APB markedly increased the d-wave amplitude at all stimulus intensities except for the threshold ones in both dark and light adapted eyes. The position of the V/log I curve was shifted slightly to the left along the intensity axis in dark adapted eyes, but was not changed in light adapted eyes. Thus the adaptational mechanism responsible for changes in the decremental sensitivity with increased background illumination was not altered by APB. The effect of APB was studied also in chromatically adapted eyes, in which the responses were predominantly mediated by one photoreceptor type. The results showed that the potentiating effect of APB on d-wave did not depend on photoreceptor input.

Adaptation, Ocular↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Dynamics of adaptive change in human vestibulo-ocular reflex direction.

Adaptive modification of vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) direction was characterized in humans by recording vertical and horizontal VOR eye movements during horizontal rotations in darkness at frequencies of 0.05 to 1 Hz before and after exposure to a VOR direction adaptation procedure. This procedure paired yaw horizontal vestibular rotation at 0.25 Hz with synchronous pitch vertical optokinetic motion. Saccades were removed from eye position records and VOR gain and phase were recorded. With an onset time constant of 36 min, the VOR measured during horizontal rotation in complete darkness acquired a vertical component in phase with the optokinetic stimulus presented during adaptation. The amplitude of this newly acquired vertical VOR component was maximal during rotation at the frequency of adaptation; at other frequencies, the amplitude was lower, but still significant. Unlike VOR direction adaptation in cats, the phase of the adaptive VOR component in humans did not show significant leads or lags at test frequencies below or above the adaptation frequency. These data suggest that, like the cat, the human VOR can be directionally adapted, and the pathways involving the adaptive component of the VOR are frequency specific.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1995

Transient adaptation of oxidative stress in mammalian cells.

We report a transient adaptation to the oxidative stress of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) exposure in several mammalian cell lines: Chinese hamster ovary fibroblast (CHO) cells, HA-1 cells (a defined CHO subclone), C3H 10T1/2 cells (embryonic mouse fibroblasts), V79 cells (Chinese hamster lung fibroblasts), and Clone 9 liver cells (rat liver epithelial cells). Up to 40-fold adaptive increases in resistance to H2O2 challenge occurred following pretreatment with relatively low H2O2 "priming" doses, from as little as 1.9% cell viability for untreated cells to as much as 76.5% viability for H2O2 pretreated cells. Detailed studies with HA-1 cells revealed the following pattern of responses to H2O2: very low H2O2 concentrations of 0.1 to 0.5 mumol/10(7) cells (3 to 15 microM) stimulated cell growth by 25 to 45%; low H2O2 concentrations of 2-5 mumol/10(7) cells (120 to 150 microM) induced a temporary growth-arrest, a lengthening of cell cycle from 18 h to approximately 26 h, and marked adaptive increases in H2O2 resistance; intermediate H2O2 concentrations of 9 to 14 mumol/10(7) cells (250 to 400 microM) caused permanent growth-arrest (i.e., permanent loss of replicative or divisional competence) with no evidence of necrosis; high H2O2 concentrations of 30 mumol/10(7) cells or greater (> or = 1 mM) caused an apoptotic-like necrotic cell death and destruction. The adaptive response to low H2O2 concentrations of 2-5 mumol/10(7) (120 to 150 microM) was maximal 18 h after pretreatment of HA-1 cells, declined thereafter toward baseline sensitivity, and was observed with both 7-day fix and stain procedures and clonogenic viability assays. Transient adaptation following H2O2 pretreatment of 4.15 mumol/10(7) (150 microM) involved the de novo synthesis of at least 20 proteins and was blocked by the translation inhibitor, cycloheximide. During the 18-h adaptation in HA-1 cells proteins were synthesized in three phases; early (0-4 h), middle (4-8 h), and late (8-15 h). No H2O2 response proteins were synthesized beyond 18 h after pretreatment, by which time adaptation had already maximized. Selective translational inhibition of the early, middle, or late proteins revealed that all three sets were necessary for a maximal adaptive increase in H2O2 resistance. Northern blot and enzyme activity analyses revealed no significant increases in transcription or translation of the classical antioxidant enzymes catalase, glutathione peroxidase, phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase, Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase, or Mn superoxide dismutase in H2O2-adapted HA-1 cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1998

Epidermal growth factor augments adaptation following small bowel resection: optimal dosage, route, and timing of administration.

BACKGROUND: In assorted animal models of small bowel resection (SBR), exogenous epidermal growth factor (EGF) has been shown to augment intestinal adaptation. This study was designed to elucidate the optimal dose, route, and timing of exogenous EGF to boost adaptation in our murine model of SBR. METHODS: Male ICR mice underwent either 50% proximal SBR or sham surgery (bowel transection with reanastomosis) and then randomized to receive either saline or human recombinant EGF (5, 50, 150, or 300 microg/kg/day) by twice daily intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection or orogastric gavage (o.g.). At 7 days, protein and DNA content, crypt depth, and villus height were determined in the ileum. The premium dose and route was then given for 1 week either during (1 week after SBR) or after the adaptive phase (1 month after SBR). Differences between group means were analyzed using ANOVA. A P < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: EGF enhanced DNA and protein content, crypt depth, and villus height to the greatest extent at a dosage of 50 microg/kg/day by the o.g. route. EGF had no significant effect on enhancing adaptation when given after the adaptive response had already occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Intestinal adaptation is optimally enhanced by a specific dose and route of EGF. Exogenous EGF enhances adaptation only during the adaptive response to SBR and not after it has already taken place. Determination of the best circumstances for EGF administration will permit a systematic approach toward understanding a mechanism for the beneficial effect of EGF during intestinal adaptation.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1995

Short-term adaptation of the phase of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) in normal human subjects.

We investigated the effects of short-term vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) adaptation on the gain and phase of the VOR, and on eccentric gaze-holding in darkness, in five normal human subjects. For 1 h, subjects sat in a chair that rotated sinusoidally at 0.2 Hz while surrounded by a visual stimulus (optokinetic drum). The drum was rotated relative to the chair, to require a VOR with either a phase lead or lag of 45 deg (with respect to a compensatory phase of zero) with no change in gain, or a gain of 1.7 or 0.5 with no change in phase. Immediately before and after each training session, VOR gain and phase were measured in the dark with 0.2 Hz sinusoidal rotation. Gaze-holding was evaluated following 20 deg eccentric saccades in darkness. Adaptation paradigms that called only for a phase lead produced an adapted VOR with 33% of the required amount of phase change, a 20% decrease in VOR gain, and an increased centripetal drift after eccentric saccades made in darkness. Adaptation paradigms that called for a phase lag produced an adapted VOR with 29% of the required amount of phase change, no significant change in VOR gain, and a centrifugal drift after eccentric saccades. Adaptation paradigms requiring a gain of 1.7 produced a 15% increase in VOR gain with small increases in phase and in centripetal drift. Adaptation paradigms requiring a gain of 0.5 produced a 31% decrease in VOR gain with a 6 deg phase lag and a centrifugal drift. The changes in drift and phase were well correlated across all adaptation paradigms; the changes in phase and gain were not. We attribute the effects on phase and gaze-holding to changes in the time constant of the velocity-to-position ocular motor neural integrator. Phase leads and the corresponding centripetal drift are due to a leaky integrator, and phase lags and the corresponding centrifugal drift are due to an unstable integrator. These results imply that in the short-term adaptation paradigm used here, the control of drift and VOR phase are tightly coupled through the neural integrator, whereas VOR gain is controlled by another mechanism.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Injections of beta-noradrenergic substances in the flocculus of rabbits affect adaptation of the VOR gain.

Noradrenaline (NA) has been implicated as a neuromodulator in plasticity, presumably facilitating adaptive processes. Recent experiments by others have suggested a modulatory role of NA in adaptive changes in the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). These experiments showed that general depletion of brain NA resulted in a decreased ability to produce adaptive changes in the VOR gain. In order to identify the specific brain region responsible for these effects, as well as the nature of the adrenoceptors involved, we injected beta-adrenergic substances bilaterally into the flocculus of rabbits. The flocculus is known to receive noradrenergic afferents and, moreover, ablation of the flocculus interferes strongly with the normal adaptive changes in the VOR gain. We injected the beta-agonist isoproterenol and the beta-antagonist sotalol, and compared the adaptive capacity of the rabbits after these injections to that in a situation without injection. The rabbit was oscillated in a direction opposite to the direction of motion of the platform on which the rabbit was mounted, a condition which normally results in an increase in the VOR gain, measured either in light or in darkness. Injection of the beta-agonist did not greatly affect the adaptation of the VOR measured in the light. In darkness, the increase in gain after the injection of isoproterenol was larger than in the non-injection experiments in 9 out of 10 rabbits. The beta-antagonist sotalol reduced the adaptation of the VOR gain significantly in the light, as well as in darkness. In a control condition without pressure for adaptation (only intermittent testing of the VOR gain over a period of 2.5 h), the gain of the VOR either remained unaffected or was only slightly affected by similar injections of beta-adrenergic agents in individual rabbits. For the group as a whole, these effects were insignificant. We conclude from these results that noradrenergic systems facilitate the adaptation of the VOR gain to retinal slip in rabbits, without affecting the VOR gain directly. At least part of this influence is exerted through beta-receptors located in the cerebellar flocculus.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1996

Trajectories and profiles of adaptive behavior in males with fragile X syndrome: multicenter studies.

We conducted two multicenter studies on adaptive trajectories and profiles in males with fragile X syndrome. Study 1 longitudinally assessed 29 males ages 1-20 years using age-equivalent scores from the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Fragile X boys ages 1-10 years showed significant gains in adaptive skills from first to second testing; males ages 11-20 years were stable in their adaptive development. Study 2 cross-sectionally examined 132 males ages 1-20 years. Significant age-related gains were found in boys ages 1-10, particularly in preschool children. Subjects ages 11-20 showed increased variability and nonsignificant relations between age and adaptive skills. Preliminary findings from 26 young adults with fragile X syndrome ages 21-40 years showed stable age-equivalent adaptive scores during these years. Relative strengths in daily living skills and weaknesses in communication were only evident among older subjects. Significant relations were found between adaptive behavior standard scores and IQ; these two scores also showed age-related declines that likely parallel one another. Findings are related to adaptive features in other genetic syndromes, and to directions for future adaptive behavior research.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2005

Adaptation of crops to environment.

Adaptability is defined as the ability of a crop (or variety) to respond positively to changes in agricultural conditions. The trait is genetically controlled and provides an ability to exploit environmental attributes, both natural and agronomic. Values of relative adaptability can be determined by the regression of the yield of the tested crop over the average yield of compared crops from several environments. We evaluated relative adaptability of 12 staple crops in 12 European countries and compared the yield data over a 43-year period from 1961 to 2003. An additional set of average yield data was also available for the 15 European Union (EU15) member countries. A wider range of 26 crop species was investigated that allowed comparisons between Europe and the USA between 1961 and 2003. Adaptability was closely related to the annual yield increases of the crops studied (r2 = 0.999 both in the EU15 and the USA). However, the adaptability of certain crops differed between the two regions. Pulse, maize, millet, wheat and sorghum showed the highest adaptability in the EU15 region, whereas strawberry, pear, tomato, walnut and maize were highest in the USA. The lowest adaptability was found for walnut, pear, apple, cauliflower and hop in the EU15 and for mustard, hop, sugar beet, millet and oat in the USA. In European countries, crops with similar biology, environment and agronomical practices (like the amount of fertilizers and pesticides applied) tended to have similar adaptability values. The data indicate that high adaptability is an important prerequisite for continued yield gains in the best environments.

Adaptation, Biological↗
PubMed2005

Concurrent adaptations of left and right arms to opposite visual distortions.

Previous research has shown that subjects can adapt with either arm to an opposite visual distortion, and the two adaptive states can then be used in sequence to control the respective arm. To extend this finding, we exposed the left and right arms of our subjects to opposite-directed rotations of the visual field alternately for 20 s each, and determined the time-course of adaptation, as well as aftereffects without visual feedback under uni- and bimanual conditions. Our data confirm that two adaptive states can co-exist in the sensorimotor system, one for each arm. We further found that the time-course of adaptive improvement was similar for both arms, that the improvement was present as early as the first movement after a change of arm and discordance, and that the magnitude of adaptation was similar to control data yielded by a single arm and discordance. Taken together, these findings suggest that the two adaptive states were formed concurrently, and without mutual interference. We also observed significant aftereffects. They were smaller but still appreciable under bimanual conditions; the two arms moved at the same time in different directions even though they were aimed at a common visual target. This outcome indicates that the two adaptive states were not merely of a strategic nature, but rather changed the rules by which sensory information was transformed into motor outputs; it also suggests that the two states not only co-exist, but can also be engaged concurrently in movement control. The reduced aftereffects observed under bimanual conditions can be attributed to the well-known phenomenon of bimanual coupling, which is unrelated to adaptation.

Adaptation, Physiological↗