Using the Hard, Randy, and Rittler Test to Evaluate Color Vision in Capuchins (Cebus libidinosus)

The identification of color vision types in primates is fundamental to understanding the evolution and biological function of color perception. The Hard, Randy, and Rittler (HRR) pseudoisochromatic test categorizes human color vision types successfully. Here we provide an experimental setup to employ HRR in a nonhuman primate, the capuchin (Cebus libidinosus), a platyrrhine with polymorphic color vision. The HRR test consists of plates with a matrix composed of gray circles that vary in size and brightness. Differently colored circles form a geometric shape (X, O, or Δ) that is discriminated visually from the gray background pattern. The ability to identify these shapes determines the type of dyschromatopsy (deficiency in color vision). We tested six capuchins in their own cages under natural sunlight. The subjects chose between two HRR plates in each trial: one with the gray pattern only and the other with a colored shape, presented on the left or right side at random. We presented the test 40 times and calculated the 95?% confidence limits for chance performance based on the binomial test. We also genotyped all subjects for exons 3 and 5 of the X-linked opsin genes. The HRR test diagnosed two subjects as protan dichromats (missing or defective L-cone), three as deutan dichromats (missing or defective M-cone), and one female as trichromat. Genetic analysis supported the behavioral data for all subjects. These findings show that the HRR test can be applied to diagnose color vision in nonhuman primates.     

Age-related changes of reaction time and p300 for low-contrast color stimuli: Effects of yellowing of the aging human lens

We measured reaction time (RT), P300, and subjective evaluation for color Landolt-Cs with a gray color background presented on a CRT display. Seven young and 7 elderly subjects (mean ages: 21.6 and 68.4 years, respectively) participated, and the young subjects wore glasses with filters simulating spectral transmittance of an aging human lens as a test condition. The results for young subjects not wearing the filters showed that RT and P300 latency are constant among different test colors. In contrast, the results for elderly subjects showed that RT and P300 varied substantially depending upon the test colors and RT and P300 latency became longer than those of young subjects, particularly for gray and blue stimuli. In addition, the results for the young subjects with filters showed tendencies similar to those in elderly subjects. These results indicate that the yellowing of the human lens strongly influences reaction time and cognition time for color targets, suggesting that wearing the filters enables the young to simulate RT qualitatively as well as visibility of the elderly because both the simulated filter and the aging human lens modify the effective luminance, effective luminance contrast and effective color difference between the color target and the background on the retina. We also found that the reciprocal of RT and P300 latency could be expressed in a multiple regression model consisting of effective luminance, effective luminance contrast, effective color difference and age. Absolute values of RT and P300 latency in young subjects with filters, however, did not quantitatively coincide with those of the elderly subjects. There were differences of RT and P300 latency between the young with filters and the elderly, indicating that higher order age-related delay could be involved.     

Strengthening interhemispheric interferential inhibition in man with diazepam

The influence of oral diazepam administration (10 mg) on interhemispheric proactive and retroactive interferential inhibition during detection of test verbal signals was tachistoscopally studied in eight healthy right-handed subjects, in conditions of forward and backward contralateral masking according to the scheme of double blind investigations. Strengthening of effects of forward and backward contralateral masking was revealed which is considered as a testimony to participation of GABA-ergic inhibitory systems in the mechanisms of interhemispheric proactive and retroactive interferential inhibition.     

Assessment of sleep in subjects with visual impairment: Comparison using subjective and objective methods

The objective of the present study was to verify the agreement between objective and subjective measures of sleep in people with and without visual impairment. Thirty-seven subjects with visual impairment participated in the study (19 blind without light perception and 18 low-vision), as well as 34 subjects with normal vision, with paired age and gender characteristics. For the subjective sleep evaluation, we used the Sleep Quality Index—PSQI and for the objective evaluation we used the ActiGraph GT3X+. Among the three analyzed groups, the blind was the only ones who presented differences between subjective and objective sleep duration (p = 0.021). Furthermore, the concordance between subjective and objective sleep duration (ICC = 0.388; p = 0.108) was not observed in blind subjects, and a greater variability of differences in sleep duration between the two methods was observed by the Bland Altman scatter plot. We concluded that the sleep duration obtained by PSQI did not show agreement for the objective sleep duration in blind subjects without light perception.     

Superior Orthonasal but Not Retronasal Olfactory Skills in Congenital Blindness

Sight is undoubtedly important for finding and appreciating food, and cooking. Blind individuals are strongly impaired in finding food, limiting the variety of flavours they are exposed to. We have shown before that compared to sighted controls, congenitally blind individuals have enhanced olfactory but reduced taste perception. In this study we tested the hypothesis that congenitally blind subjects have enhanced orthonasal but not retronasal olfactory skills. Twelve congenitally blind and 14 sighted control subjects, matched in age, gender and body mass index, were asked to identify odours using grocery-available food powders. Results showed that blind subjects were significantly faster and tended to be better at identifying odours presented orthonasally. This was not the case when odorants were presented retronasally. We also found a significant group x route interaction, showing that although both groups performed better for retronasally compared to orthonasally presented odours, this gain was less pronounced for blind subjects. Finally, our data revealed that blind subjects were more familiar with the orthonasal odorants and used the retronasal odorants less often for cooking than their sighted counterparts. These results confirm that orthonasal but not retronasal olfactory perception is enhanced in congenital blindness, a result that is concordant with the reduced food variety exposure in this group.     

Comparison of a Stool Antigen Test and Serology for the Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori Infection in Mass Survey

Background: Serum antibody to Helicobacter pylori is tested in mass screening for gastric cancer along with the level of serum pepsinogens (PG) I and II. Recently, stool antigen tests have been developed as a new non-invasive test. We examined H. pylori infection by both serology and stool antigen test in a mass survey and compared the results to estimate applicability of stool antigen test for mass survey.
Methods: A total of 994 healthy adults who received mass survey in April 2005 were tested. There were 379 men and 615 women, and the mean age was 57.7 years old. Stool samples were used to measure a H. pylori- specific antigen by enzyme immunoassay. Serum samples were tested for the prevalence of IgG antibody to H. pylori , and the level of PGs I and II was also measured to determine the presence of atrophic gastritis.
Results: Infection of H. pylori was defined as positive 61.4% and 56.4% by serology and stool antigen test, respectively. The concordance of both tests was not affected by gender and age of the subjects but difference was seen in subjects with atrophic gastritis. In particular, positivity of stool antigen test (81.8%) was significantly lower than that of serology (88.7%, p  < .05) in 303 subjects with severe atrophic gastritis.
Conclusions: Stool antigen test, which detects present but not previous infection of H. pylori , would be applicable to diagnose H. pylori infection in mass survey. Usefulness of stool antigen tests for the screening of gastric cancer should be examined.     

Life span differences in color dreaming.

We examined evidence for developmental and generational differences in dreaming in color from childhood to old age. To separate these effects, we surveyed the frequency of color experience in dreams twice, with a 16-year interval between surveys. In the 1993 survey, 2,077 (male: 1,194; female: 883; ages: 10 to 85 years) and, in 2009, 1,328 (male: 596; female: 732; ages: 11 to 89 years) participants completed a dream recall questionnaire that included a question about the presence of color in their dreams. In both surveys, approximately 80% of subjects younger than 30 years of age experienced color in their dreams, but the percentage decreased with age and fell to approximately 20% by the age of 60. The frequency of dreaming in color increased from 1993 to 2009 only for respondents in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. We speculate that color TV may play a role in the generational difference observed. However, it is true that generation affects the incidence of color in dreams, as suggested by Schwitzgebel, Huang, and Zhou (2006) and Murzyn (2008), although this effect is very small compared with that of aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does Shape Discrimination by the Mouth Activate the Parietal and Occipital Lobes? – Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study

A cross-modal association between somatosensory tactile sensation and parietal and occipital activities during Braille reading was initially discovered in tests with blind subjects, with sighted and blindfolded healthy subjects used as controls. However, the neural background of oral stereognosis remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated whether the parietal and occipital cortices are activated during shape discrimination by the mouth using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Following presentation of the test piece shape, a sham discrimination trial without the test pieces induced posterior parietal lobe (BA7), extrastriate cortex (BA18, BA19), and striate cortex (BA17) activation as compared with the rest session, while shape discrimination of the test pieces markedly activated those areas as compared with the rest session. Furthermore, shape discrimination of the test pieces specifically activated the posterior parietal cortex (precuneus/BA7), extrastriate cortex (BA18, 19), and striate cortex (BA17), as compared with sham sessions without a test piece. We concluded that oral tactile sensation is recognized through tactile/visual cross-modal substrates in the parietal and occipital cortices during shape discrimination by the mouth.     

The Profession of the Color Blind: Sociocultural Anthropology and Racism in the 21st Century

In this essay, I suggest that American sociocultural anthropology has been a "color blind" profession for nearly a half century and that, as a discipline, we need to restore and refine our color perceptions in order to fight the supposedly fixed opposition in American society between "black" and "white" and deal with the racist consequences of this folk opposition. In the first section, 'How Anthropology Became 'Color Blind,'" I delineate the circumstances under which anthropology became the "color blind" profession. In the second section, "Teaching Color Blindness," I discuss the tendency, in teaching sociocultural anthropology, to ignore racism and its effects. In the final section, "Restoring Color Vision," I take up the questions of what the profession needs to do next to cope with racism and its consequences, emphasizing especially the issue of group identities, how they are formulated, inculcated, and overcome, and proposing a Foucauldian model—following Foucault's lead in analyzing relations of biopower and race—for formulating new ways of responding to and resisting the inevitable recastings of racist ideas,     

彩色超声与盲探穿刺右颈内静脉并发症比较

目的比较彩色超声引导与盲探穿刺右侧颈内静脉置管术的并发症情况。方法将我院拟择期(在腹腔镜下)行结直肠肿瘤切除术的患者100例,ASA分级Ⅰ~Ⅲ级,年龄23~81岁,体重32~81kg。采用抛硬币法将患者随机分为彩色超声组(C)和盲探穿刺组(M)各50例。记录两组病人黑色细针试穿中静脉时次数、薄壁蓝空针穿刺中静脉时次数、穿刺点的数目、导管置入失败的次数,并记录病人由于穿刺引起的机械并发症及术后留置导管并发症情况。结果两组患者均未见明显机械并发症,且两组比较无统计学意义;两组无误穿动脉、血气胸及心律失常或心脏损伤的情况。结论彩色超声引导下行右颈内静脉穿刺成功率较盲探穿刺高,盲探穿刺刺破颈内静脉后壁概率较彩色多普勒超声引导下穿刺组高,其余机械并发症及留置中心静脉导管并发症比较无统计学意义。     

Is Helicobacter pylori the cause of dyspepsia?

OBJECTIVE--To determine the association between infection with Helicobacter pylori and dyspepsia. DESIGN--Cross sectional study of dyspeptic subjects and age and sex matched controls identified by a questionnaire survey of all inhabitants aged 20-69. (Endoscopy, histological examination, and microbiological examinations of biopsies from the gastric mucosa were performed blind.) SETTING--Population based survey in Sørreisa, Norway. SUBJECTS--All 782 dyspeptic subjects (excluding those with a previous history of peptic ulcer, gall stones or kidney stones, and coronary heart disease) and controls were offered an endoscopy, of whom 309 dyspeptic subjects and 310 controls attended. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Prevalences of endoscopic and histological diagnoses and of cultures positive for H pylori. RESULTS--A high prevalence of positive cultures, increasing with age, was found in both dyspeptic subjects (48%) and non-dyspeptic controls (36%) (p = 0.004). Positive cultures in both dyspeptic subjects and controls were strongly associated with histological gastritis (70%, 95% confidence interval 65.5 to 85.3; 60%, 52.7 to 67.7, respectively) and peptic ulcer (92%, 61.5 to 99.8; 64.1, 9.4 to 99.2, respectively). Only 3% of subjects with a histologically non-inflamed gastric mucosa had this infection (dyspeptic subjects 2%, 0.2 to 7.0; controls 4%; 1.2 to 8.8). CONCLUSIONS--The relation between dyspeptic symptoms and H pylori is dubious; H pylori seems to have a pathogenetic role in gastritis and may be a contributing factor but not a cause of peptic ulcer.     

Recruitment of occipital cortex during sensory substitution training linked to subjective experience of seeing in people with blindness

Over three months of intensive training with a tactile stimulation device, 18 blind and 10 blindfolded seeing subjects improved in their ability to identify geometric figures by touch. Seven blind subjects spontaneously reported 'visual qualia', the subjective sensation of seeing flashes of light congruent with tactile stimuli. In the latter subjects tactile stimulation evoked activation of occipital cortex on electroencephalography (EEG). None of the blind subjects who failed to experience visual qualia, despite identical tactile stimulation training, showed EEG recruitment of occipital cortex. None of the blindfolded seeing humans reported visual-like sensations during tactile stimulation. These findings support the notion that the conscious experience of seeing is linked to the activation of occipital brain regions in people with blindness. Moreover, the findings indicate that provision of visual information can be achieved through non-visual sensory modalities which may help to minimize the disability of blind individuals, affording them some degree of object recognition and navigation aid.     

Suicides in Visually Impaired Persons: A Nation-Wide Register-Linked Study from Finland Based on Thirty Years of Data

Focusing on seasonality, gender, age, and suicide methods a Finnish nation-wide cohort-based study was carried out to compare suicide data between sighted, visually-impaired (WHO impairment level I-II, i.e., visual acuity >0.05, but <0.3) and blind (WHO impairment level III-V, i.e., visual acuity <0.05) victims. Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) of age- and gender-matched populations from official 1982–2011 national registers were used. Group differences in categorical variables were assessed with Pearson''s Chi-square or Fisher''s Exact test and in continuous variables with Mann-Whitney U-test. Seasonality was assessed by Chi-square for multinomials; ratio of observed to expected number of suicides was calculated with 95% confidence level. Hanging, poisoning, drowning, but rarely shooting or jumping from high places, were preferred suicide methods of the blind. Mortality was significantly increased in the visually impaired (SMR = 1.3; 95% CI 1.07–1.61), but in gender-stratified analyses the increase only affected males (1.34; 95% CI = 1.06–1.70) and not females (1.24; 95% CI 0.82–1.88). Age-stratified analyses identified blind males of working age rather than older men (as in the general population) as a high risk group that requires particular attention. The statistically significant spring suicide peak in blind subjects mirrors that of sighted victims and its possible cause in the blind is discussed.     

Hydrogen cyanide and phenylthiocarbamide sensitivity, mid-phalangeal hair and color blindness in Yucatán, Mexico

Approximately 1450 persons, 800 of them unrelated, of both sexes from age eigth upward from the town of Ticul, Yucatán, Mexico, formed an American Indian (Maya) sample with apparently little Caucasian admixture for four genetic tests: ability to taste PTC and smell HCN, presence of mid-phalangeal hair, and color blindness. A modified PTC sorting test indicated a nontaster allele (t) frequency of 0.29 in Ticul, a relatively high result for American Indians but compatible with previously reported Mayan data. A color vision deficiency frequency of 3.6% was found in the total male sample, and a subsample of unrelated males had a rate of 2.8%. No color blind females were detected. The Ticuleños exhibited a high rate of midphalangeal hairlessness, characteristic of American Indians, with a notable sex differential: 75.9% for males, 87.1% for females. Previous studies of the inability to smell HCN, most of which suggest an X-linked recessive inheritance with an allele frequency of about 0.2, are reviewed. The Yucatán material, with a nonsmeller prevalence around 50% and no significant difference between the sexes, contradicts the X-linked recessive hypothesis on the basis of both population and family analyses. No simple Mendelian scheme appears to fit the Ticul HCN sensitivity test results.     

Sleep characteristics of elite blind soccer players in China

This cross-sectional survey mainly investigated the sleep characteristics and its association with the training volumes of top blind soccer players in China. Additionally, the sleep quality of athletes with and without a visual impairment was compared. Blind soccer players (n = 60) completed the survey form measuring their sleep characteristics and demographic data. A secondary data-set about the sleep quality of athletes without disabilities was used to compare with the current sample. The results showed that 26.7% blind soccer players were classified as poor sleepers. There was a significant difference of sleep quality (poor vs. good sleep quality) by training volume and sleep characteristics (subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and daytime dysfunction). Somewhat unexpectedly, blind soccer players generally showed a better sleep quality than athletes without disabilities. It was concluded that more than one fourth of blind soccer players have poor sleep quality and that training volumes may affect it. There is a need to understand possible reasons and mechanisms of poor sleep quality among this special population in future research.     

Hypersensitivity symptoms associated with exposure to cellular telephones: no causal link

The hypothesis that there exist hypersensitive persons who perceive subjective symptoms from radiofrequency (RF) fields emitted by hand held mobile phones (cellular phones) was tested using double blind provocation experiments. We also tested whether sensitive subjects are able to determine whether the phone is on or off by sensing RF fields. The study group consisted of 20 volunteers (13 women and 7 men) who reported themselves as being sensitive to cellular phones. The RF exposure sources were one analogue NMT phone (900 MHz) and two digital GSM phones (900 and 1800 MHz). The duration of a test session was 30 min, and three or four sessions were performed in random order for each subject during 1 day. The subjects were asked to report symptoms or sensations as soon as they perceived any abnormal feelings. In addition, the subjects' blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing frequency were monitored every 5 min. The results of the study indicated that various symptoms were reported, and most of them appeared in the head region. However, the number of reported symptoms was higher during sham exposure than during real exposure conditions. In addition, none of the test persons could distinguish real RF exposure from sham exposure. Hence, we conclude that adverse subjective symptoms or sensations, though unquestionably perceived by the test subjects, were not produced by cellular phones.     

Behavioral and neuroplastic changes in the blind: evidence for functionally relevant cross-modal interactions.

The study of blind individuals provides insight into the brain re-organization and behavioral compensations that occur following sensory deprivation. While behavioral studies have yielded conflicting results in terms of performance levels within the remaining senses, deafferentation of visual cortical areas through peripheral blindness results in clear neuroplastic changes. Most striking is the activation of occipital cortex in response to auditory and tactile stimulation. Indeed, parts of the "unimodal" visual cortex are recruited by other sensory modalities to process sensory information in a functionally relevant manner. In addition, a larger area of the sensorimotor cortex is devoted to the representation of the reading finger in blind Braille readers. The "visual" function of the deafferented occipital cortex is also altered, where transcranial magnetic stimulation-induced phosphenes can be elicited in only 20% of blind subjects. The neural mechanisms underlying these changes remain elusive but recent data showing rapid cross-modal plasticity in blindfolded, sighted subjects argue against the establishment of new connections to explain cross-modal interactions in the blind. Rather, latent pathways that participate in multisensory percepts in sighted subjects might be unmasked and may be potentiated in the event of complete loss of visual input. These issues have important implications for the development of visual prosthesis aimed at restoring some degree of vision in the blind.     

Cordyceps sinensis- and Rhodiola rosea-based supplementation in male cyclists and its effect on muscle tissue oxygen saturation

Cordyceps sinensis (Cs) and Rhodiola rosea (Rr) are herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat a multitude of ailments as well as to enhance performance. The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of a formula containing Cs and Rr (Cs-Rr) on circulatory dynamics, specifically muscle tissue oxygen saturation (Sto(2)), in male subjects during maximal exercise. This study followed a double blind, randomized, placebo-treatment, pre-post test design. Capsules were administered to 8 subjects who were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups. The treatment group received Cs-Rr, and the control group received a placebo. All subjects performed 2 exercise stress tests to volitional fatigue on a cycle load ergometer. There were no significant (p 相似文献   

Non-visual photoreception: sensing light without sight

Recent work in blind human subjects has confirmed the presence of a non-visual ocular photoreceptive mechanism similar to that described in blind mice. This system appears to subserve circadian photic entrainment, the pupillary light response, and a number of other aspects of neurophysiology and behavior.     

The method for studying of the "magnetic vacuum" effect on color memory in humans

The method for studying the effects of weak magnetic fields and "magnetic vacuum" on the psychophysiological state of a human organism is proposed. This method includes the system of the exposure of a human organism to uniform constant and alternating magnetic fields and the system of computerized psychological tests. The influence of the weakening of constant magnetic field on the psychophysiological state of human organisms was studied. The short-term color memory and reaction rates of 30 subjects have been examined in the local geomagnetic field and in a magnetic field which was reduced in 10 and more times. Statistically significant differences in the color memory test was found in the magnetic field 4 +/- 1 microT in comparison with the results in the geomagnetic field. In the magnetic field 0 +/- 1 microT, slight impairment of color memory was found. Preliminary results in the test of reaction rates showed the tendency to slowing down the reaction rates in the weakened magnetic fields.