The right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) shows a strong response to voices, but the cognitive processes generating this response are unclear. One possibility is that this activity reflects basic voice processing. However, several fMRI and magnetoencephalography findings suggest instead that pSTS serves as an integrative hub that combines voice and face information. Here we investigat...

An essential, evolutionarily stable feature of brain function is the detection of animate entities, and one of the main cues to identify them is their movement. We developed a model of a simple interaction between two objects, in which an increase of the correlation between their movements varied the amount of interactivity and animacy observers attributed to them. Functional magnetic resonance...

The extent to which perception and action share common neural processes is much debated in cognitive neuroscience. Taking a developmental approach to this issue allows us to assess whether perceptual processing develops in close association with the emergence of related action skills within the same individual. The current study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate ...

The population structure of clinical Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolates spreading in China remains undefined. We brought 218 clinical isolates from the pubMLST database originating from different regions of China collected since the year of 1990, analyzed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST), to elucidate the prevalence and genetic diversity of V. parahaemolyticus circulating in Chinese populatio...

The genetic control of dental development represents a complex series of events, which can very schematically be divided in two pathways: specification of type, size and position of each dental organ, and specific processes for the formation of enamel and dentin. Several genes linked with early tooth positioning and development, belong to signalling pathways and have morphogenesis regulatory fu...

Ameloblasts are ectoderm-derived cells that produce an extracellular enamel matrix that mineralizes to form enamel. The development and use of immortalized cell lines, with a stable phenotype, is an important contribution to biological studies as it allows for the investigation of molecular activities without the continuous need for animals. In this study we compare the expression profiles of e...

Dental enamel forms through the concerted activities of specialized extracellular matrix proteins, including amelogenin, enamelin, MMP20, and KLK4. Defects in the genes encoding these proteins cause non-syndromic inherited enamel malformations collectively designated as amelogenesis imperfecta (AI). These genes, however, account for only about a quarter of all AI cases. Recently we identified m...

microRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs that target specific mRNAs. They have been shown to control many biological processes including cancer pathogenesis. Kallikreins (KLKs) are a family of serine proteases that are attracting interest as cancer biomarkers. The mechanism of regulation of kallikrein expression is largely unknown. We investigated the potential roles of miRNAs in regulating KLK e...