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Sole Explanation (sole + explanation)
Selected AbstractsSeven-year-olds allocate attention like adults unless working memory is overloadedDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2010Nelson Cowan Previous studies have indicated that visual working memory performance increases with age in childhood, but it is not clear why. One main hypothesis has been that younger children are less efficient in their attention; specifically, they are less able to exclude irrelevant items from working memory to make room for relevant items. We examined this hypothesis by measuring visual working memory capacity under a continuum of five attention conditions. A recognition advantage was found for items to be attended as opposed to ignored. The size of this attention-related effect was adult-like in young children with small arrays, suggesting that their attention processes are efficient even though their working memory capacity is smaller than that of older children and adults. With a larger working memory load, this efficiency in young children was compromised. The efficiency of attention cannot be the sole explanation for the capacity difference. [source] The individual tolerance concept is not the sole explanation for the probit dose-effect model,ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 2 2000Michael C. Newman Abstract Predominant methods for analyzing dose- or concentration-effect data (i.e., probit analysis) are based on the concept of individual tolerance or individual effective dose (IED, the smallest characteristic dose needed to kill an individual). An alternative explanation (stochasticity hypothesis) is that individuals do not have unique tolerances: death results from stochastic processes occurring similarly in all individuals. These opposing hypotheses were tested with two types of experiments. First, time to stupefaction (TTS) was measured for zebra fish (Brachydanio rerio) exposed to benzocaine. The same 40 fish were exposed during five trials to test if the same order for TTS was maintained among trials. The IED hypothesis was supported with a minor stochastic component being present. Second, eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) were exposed to sublethal or lethal NaCl concentrations until a large portion of the lethally exposed fish died. After sufficient time for recovery, fish sublethally exposed and fish surviving lethal exposure were exposed simultaneously to lethal NaCl concentrations. No statistically significant effect was found of previous exposure on survival time but a large stochastic component to the survival dynamics was obvious. Repetition of this second type of test with pentachlorophenol also provided no support for the IED hypothesis. We conclude that neither hypothesis alone was the sole or dominant explanation for the lognormal (probit) model. Determination of the correct explanation (IED or stochastic) or the relative contributions of each is crucial to predicting consequences to populations after repeated or chronic exposures to any particular toxicant. [source] Breeding system, branching processes, hybrid swarm theory, and the humped-back diversity relationship as additional explanations for apparent monophyly in the Macaronesian island floraJOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2005N. ELIZABETH SAUNDERS Summary 1Niche pre-emption and competitive exclusion is unsatisfactory as a sole explanation for the apparent paradox of a large number of monophyletic taxa in the Macaronesian island flora. 2Undetected hybridizations have been proposed as an additional plausible explanation. In addition, hybrid swarm theory predicts that hybridizations between invading species would promote adaptive radiation. 3We suggest that branching processes and coalescence offer yet another plausible explanation allowing for multiple colonizations of closely related taxa, which, because of their later local extinction or hybridization, would lead to apparent monophyly in the molecular record. 4The cause of such widespread radiation of a few taxa has not been explained, but may involve intermediate conditions of disturbance or productivity. This proposition has, to date, only been tested in a microbial model system, but it offers a reasonable explanation for the patterns observed in the Macaronesian flora, and perhaps in other island floras worldwide. [source] Regional haemodynamic effects of cyclosporine A, tacrolimus and sirolimus in conscious ratsBRITISH JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY, Issue 4 2004S M Gardiner The observation that the immunosuppressants, cyclosporine A (CsA) and tacrolimus, have pressor effects, but sirolimus does not, has led to an hypothesis that generalised sympathoexcitation, resulting from inhibition of calcineurin by CsA and tacrolimus underlies their pressor effects, because sirolimus does not inhibit calcineurin. It is unknown if sirolimus has haemodynamic actions not accompanied by a pressor effect, and whether or not the pressor effects of CsA and tacrolimus are accompanied by similar haemodynamic changes. Therefore, the first aim of our studies was to investigate these possibilities in conscious, chronically-instrumented, male, Sprague-Dawley rats. CsA (5.9 mg kg,1 bolus i.v.) caused rapid-onset, prolonged hypertension, tachycardia and mesenteric vasoconstriction. There was a slower onset renal vasoconstriction, but no significant change in hindquarters vascular conductance; all the effects of CsA were significantly greater than those of vehicle. CsA given by infusion (over 30 min or 2 h) caused changes qualitatively similar to those above. Repeated administration of CsA over 4 days did not enhance its cardiovascular effects. Pretreatment with the angiotensin (AT1) receptor antagonist, losartan, and the endothelin (ETA and ETB) receptor antagonist, SB 209670, reduced the pressor and mesenteric vasoconstrictor effects of CsA. Additional administration of the , -adrenoceptor antagonist, phentolamine, completely inhibited the cardiovascular effects of CsA. Tacrolimus (450 ,g kg,1 bolus i.v.) caused similar peak pressor and tachycardic effects to CsA, but these were much slower in onset, and were maximal when there were no significant regional vasoconstrictions, indicating that the pressor effect was probably due to a rise in cardiac output. However, although propranolol reversed the tachycardic effect of tacrolimus, it did not influence the pressor response. Sirolimus (450 ,g kg,1 bolus i.v.) had no tachycardic action, and only a modest, transient pressor effect, accompanied by equally brief reductions in renal, mesenteric, and hindquarters vascular conductances. The differences between the regional haemodynamic profiles of equipressor doses of CsA and tacrolimus, and the finding that sirolimus has significant cardiovascular actions, indicate that generalised sympathoexcitation, resulting from calcineurin inhibition (with CsA and tacrolimus), is unlikely to be the sole explanation of their pressor effects. British Journal of Pharmacology (2004) 141, 634,643. doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0705659 [source] Increasing incidence of differentiated thyroid cancer in the United States, 1988,2005CANCER, Issue 16 2009Amy Y. Chen MD Abstract BACKGROUND: Studies have reported an increasing incidence of thyroid cancer since 1980. One possible explanation for this trend is increased detection through more widespread and aggressive use of ultrasound and image-guided biopsy. Increases resulting from increased detection are most likely to involve small primary tumors rather than larger tumors, which often present as palpable thyroid masses. The objective of the current study was to investigate the trends in increasing incidence of differentiated (papillary and follicular) thyroid cancer by size, age, race, and sex. METHODS: Cases of differentiated thyroid cancer (1988-2005) were analyzed using the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) dataset. Trends in incidence rates of papillary and follicular cancer, race, age, sex, primary tumor size (<1.0 cm, 1.0-2.9 cm, 3.0-3.9 cm, and >4 cm), and SEER stage (localized, regional, distant) were analyzed using joinpoint regression and reported as the annual percentage change (APC). RESULTS: Incidence rates increased for all sizes of tumors. Among men and women of all ages, the highest rate of increase was for primary tumors <1.0 cm among men (1997-2005: APC, 9.9) and women (1988-2005: APC, 8.6). Trends were similar between whites and blacks. Significant increases also were observed for tumors ,4 cm among men (1988-2005: APC, 3.7) and women (1988-2005: APC, 5.70) and for distant SEER stage disease among men (APC, 3.7) and women (APC, 2.3). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence rates of differentiated thyroid cancers of all sizes increased between 1988 and 2005 in both men and women. The increased incidence across all tumor sizes suggested that increased diagnostic scrutiny is not the sole explanation. Other explanations, including environmental influences and molecular pathways, should be investigated. Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society. [source] | |||||||||||||