Head-orienting responses (ORs) evoked by a stationary source of sound typically terminate in small undershoots in normal hearing cats or in large undershoots (hypometria) if the auditory cortex is ablated bilaterally. In the present study, ORs executed by cats were studied using a procedure in which the OR produced an isogonal rotation of the sound source, i.e., response-produced change (reaffe...

Ontology reuse saves costs and improves interoperability between ontologies. Knowing which ontology to reuse is difficult without having a quality assessment. We employ user ratings to determine the user-perceived quality of ontologies. The combination of an Open Rating System (ORS), user ratings, and information on trust between users, allow us to compute a personalized ranking of ontologies. ...

The white-backed planthopper, Sogatella furcifera, a notorious rice pest in Asia, employs host plant volatiles as cues for host location. In insects, odor detection is mediated by two types of olfactory receptors: odorant receptors (ORs) and ionotropic receptors (IRs). In this study, we identified 63 SfurORs and 14 SfurIRs in S. furcifera based on sequences obtained from the head transcriptome ...

BACKGROUND β-catenin plays a pivotal role in hair follicle development and hair growth cycle. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to identify β-catenin-regulated genes in cultured human hair outer root sheath (ORS) cells. METHODS Primary cultured ORS cells were transduced with recombinant adenovirus expressing N-terminal truncated β-catenin (constitutive active form), and β-catenin-regulate...

The olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) in the olfactory epithelium of the nose detect and discriminate a large number of volatile environmental chemicals. This ability is essential for animals to find prey, food, mates, predators and toxic compounds. In OSNs, odorant receptor (OR) proteins, members of the G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily, are concentrated at the membrane of the cilia...

Abstract Introduction Burn pits (BPs) have been widely used by the U.S. military for waste disposal. Due to obviously toxic nature of BP emissions, exposure may contribute diverse adverse health conditions, including sleep apnea. To our knowledge, this is first study examine association between self-estimated amount emission and self-reported complaints. Methods We an online questionnaire VA/Do...

In the mouse, odorant receptor proteins (ORs) are G-protein-coupled receptors expressed in mature olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) of the main olfactory epithelium (MOE). ORs mediate odorant reception at the level of the OSN cilia. Most of the ∼1100 OR genes in the mouse genome are expressed, at the RNA level, in mature OSNs. The literature on antibodies against ORs is limited, and most reports...