| 1. |
- Du, Xinyu, et al.
(author)
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Evaluating oral and inhalation bioaccessibility of indoor dust-borne short- and median-chain chlorinated paraffins using in vitro Tenax-assisted physiologically based method
- 2021
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In: Journal of Hazardous Materials. - : Elsevier. - 0304-3894 .- 1873-3336. ; 402
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Though ingestion and inhalation of dust have been suggested as important exposure routes contributing chlorinated paraffins (CPs) build-up in humans, the bioaccessibility of dust-borne CPs in the organ environment has not been well-studied, which may hinder an accurate estimation of exposure risks. In this study, the ingestion and inhalation bioaccessibility of dust-borne shortand median-chain CPs (SCCPs and MCCPs) was assessed using (colon-extended) physiologically based extraction test with the addition of Tenax. The ingestion bioaccessibility of SCCPs 51.5 %Cl, SCCPs 63 %Cl, MCCPs 42 %Cl, and MCCPs 57 %Cl was in ranges of 21.1-44.0 %, 11.7-45.8 %, 21.9-36.6 %, and 7.9-32.9 %, respectively. Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated statistically significant associations of ingestion bioaccessibility with carbon chain length and chlorine substitution. The ingestion bioaccessibility of CPs also increased with co-existence of carbohydrate/protein. The inhalation bioaccessibility of SCCPs (16.7-38.7 % in artificial lysosomal fluid and 15.5-34.1 % in modified Gamble solution) was significantly higher than MCCPs (< 5 %), and varied with dust particle size/total organic carbon content. Our study indicates that modest bioaccessible fractions of CPs in dust should be taken into account to refine the estimation of human exposure, and their bioaccessibility may be affected by CP molecular size, nutritional content and dust property.
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| 2. |
- Li, Wu Lue, et al.
(author)
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Multiple Origins and Genomic Basis of Complex Traits in Sighthounds
- 2023
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In: Molecular biology and evolution. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0737-4038 .- 1537-1719. ; 40:8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sighthounds, a distinctive group of hounds comprising numerous breeds, have their origins rooted in ancient artificial selection of dogs. In this study, we performed genome sequencing for 123 sighthounds, including one breed from Africa, six breeds from Europe, two breeds from Russia, and four breeds and 12 village dogs from the Middle East. We gathered public genome data of five sighthounds and 98 other dogs as well as 31 gray wolves to pinpoint the origin and genes influencing the morphology of the sighthound genome. Population genomic analysis suggested that sighthounds originated from native dogs independently and were comprehensively admixed among breeds, supporting the multiple origins hypothesis of sighthounds. An additional 67 published ancient wolf genomes were added for gene flow detection. Results showed dramatic admixture of ancient wolves in African sighthounds, even more than with modern wolves. Whole-genome scan analysis identified 17 positively selected genes (PSGs) in the African population, 27 PSGs in the European population, and 54 PSGs in the Middle Eastern population. None of the PSGs overlapped in the three populations. Pooled PSGs of the three populations were significantly enriched in "regulation of release of sequestered calcium ion into cytosol"(gene ontology: 0051279), which is related to blood circulation and heart contraction. In addition, ESR1, JAK2, ADRB1, PRKCE, and CAMK2D were under positive selection in all three selected groups. This suggests that different PSGs in the same pathway contributed to the similar phenotype of sighthounds. We identified an ESR1 mutation (chr1: g.42,177,149-T > C) in the transcription factor (TF) binding site of Stat5a and a JAK2 mutation (chr1: g.93,277,007-T > A) in the TF binding site of Sox5. Functional experiments confirmed that the ESR1 and JAK2 mutation reduced their expression. Our results provide new insights into the domestication history and genomic basis of sighthounds.
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| 3. |
- Meng, Zhu, et al.
(author)
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Effects of irrelevant speech on semantic and phonological judgments of Chinese characters
- 2024
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In: Journal of Cognitive Psychology. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2044-5911 .- 2044-592X.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study investigated whether background speech impairs lexical processing and how speech characteristics modulate such influence based on task type. Chinese character pairs were displayed to native Chinese readers under four auditory conditions: normal Chinese speech, phonotactically legal but meaningless speech, spectrally-rotated speech (i.e. meaningless sound with no accessible phonological form), or silence. Participants were tasked with determining whether the presented character pair shared the same meaning (semantic judgment), or the same initial phoneme (phonological judgment). Participants performed better and faster in the semantic than in the phonological judgment task. Phonological properties of meaningless speech prolonged participants’ reaction times in the phonological but not the semantic judgment task, whilst the semantic properties of speech only delayed reaction times in the semantic judgment task. The results indicate that background speech disrupts lexical processing, with the nature of the primary task affecting the extent of phonological and semantic disruption.
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| 4. |
- Meng, Zhu, et al.
(author)
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Task demands modulate the effects of speech on text processing
- 2020
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In: Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory and Cognition. - : American Psychological Association. - 0278-7393 .- 1939-1285. ; 46:10, s. 1892-1905
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Task-irrelevant background sound can disrupt performance of visually based cognitive tasks. The cross-modal breakdown of attentional selectivity in the context of reading was addressed using analyses of eye movements. Moreover, the study addressed whether task-sensitivity to distraction via background speech on reading was modulated by the cognitive demands of the focal task. Two randomly-assigned groups of native Chinese participants read the same set of Chinese experimental sentences while being exposed to meaningful speech, meaningless (foreign) speech, or silence. For one group, participants were instructed to judge whether the sentences made sense (i.e., semantic acceptability task); for another, participants were instructed to detect whether the sentences contained a noncharacter (i.e., noncharacter detection task). Results showed no significant effect across sound conditions for the noncharacter detection task. For the semantic acceptability task, however, there was a substantial disruptive effect of the meaningfulness of the speech. Compared with reading with meaningless speech or reading in silence, the meaningful speech increased numbers of fixations, regressions, regression path, and total reading times. These results suggest that the disruption of reading by background speech is jointly dependent on the nature of the speech and the task process deployed, thereby favoring an Interference-by-Process account over Interference-by-Content and Attentional Diversion accounts of distraction to reading by background sound.
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