“
“Recently, it has been shown that feature discrimination in temporally regular rhythms results in enhanced performance compared with feature discrimination in temporally irregular rhythms. In this study, we investigated the influence of temporal predictability on attentional processing. We show that temporal predictability of a sequence results in a decreased peak latency of the P3b compared with temporally random sequences. The present findings clearly illustrate that temporal predictability results in faster processing of deviant stimuli. NeuroReport 20: 31-36 (C) 2009 Wolters Kluwer Health vertical bar Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.”
“There is a large research literature on the

variation of human sex ratio

(proportion of males at birth) with (1) time of insemination within the mother’s fruitful cycle (TWC), (2) duration of gestation selleck compound (DOG), (3) coital frequency, here called ‘coital rate’ (CR) and (4) duration of time taken to achieve conception in a period of risk (viz. in the absence of birth limitation methods) (TTC). The variation of sex ratio with each of these four variables has usually been treated as a discrete topic. Consider the four propositions that each of these sorts of variation exists. Here it is argued that these propositions entail one another to varying degrees, and that, for that reason, empirical failures to detect (at conventional levels of significance) one such form of variation (as e.g. with time to conception) should BGJ398 cost not justify rejecting the hypothesis that such variation exists until the whole network of propositions has been considered. Evidence that offspring sex ratio varies with time of conception Selleckchem BMS345541 within the cycle is strong. It is argued here that, as a consequence, the available data constitute evidence that sex ratio varies with CR and with time to achieve conception, although this variation is small, difficult to detect and of no clinical significance. Lastly, sex ratio varies substantially with DOG, though the explanation for this is not established: it is suggested that the present treatment provides a testable framework for such an explanation.

(C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Cutaneous anesthesia (EMLA-cream) of the forearm results in rapid improvement of hand sensibility, and here we applied this concept in the lower extremity. This double-blind study with 40 volunteers randomized to cutaneous application of anesthetic cream to the lower leg showed a significant improvement 2 h after treatment in touch thresholds in the EMLA group as compared with the placebo group. In 12 volunteers, fMRI examination was performed before and after treatment. Improvement was not associated with a visible cortical expansion of the cortical foot area. This novel finding may have considerable therapeutic potential in the treatment of foot sensibility disturbances in various neuropathies, such as diabetic neuropathy.