Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: Those subjects were unable to generate the distinct brain activity pattern during a BCI task, so a machine learning-based classifier failed to extract stable features even though the subjects performed the BCI task. Although BCI researchers have proposed many applications and feature extraction algorithms, BCI illiteracy remains a significant challenge. To overcome BCI illiteracy so that everyone can achieve controllable BCI performance, researchers have approached the issue from multiple perspectives. One approach is to develop new feature extraction algorithms to identify hidden and robust features to improve BCI performance in the hope that they can extract control features from BCI-illiterate as well as good performers [13,14,15,16]. For example, Riemannian approaches calculate the Riemannian distance between the template covariance matrices and a single trial covariance matrix to determine the minimum distance class, which achieved improved performance [16], while deep learning techniques have achieved dramatically improved performance in subject-specific and cross-subject BCI models through multiple hidden layers [13, 14]. However, although those proposed advanced feature extraction algorithms improved BCI performance, it is unclear whether deep learning methods can improve everyone’s BCI performance. For example, Lee et al. [13] proposed subject-independent BCI using deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and tested it with 54 subjects. The subjects achieved better BCI performance compared to existing classification methods with respect to subject-specific and subject-independent BCI performance evaluation. However, the deep learning technique did not solve the BCI illiteracy issues fully, as low BCI performers still remained and achieved less than 50% accuracy (near chance level) in binary class motor imagery. Moreover, in Xu et al. ’s [17] investigation with eight different EEG datasets, the mean BCI performance was lower in the datasets with many subjects than in those with fewer subjects. It can be inferred that datasets with many subjects may contain more who are BCI-illiterate, and whose performance did not improve, while high BCI performers who had achieved controllable performance already with existing algorithms improved their performance further. Another approach extends beyond feature extraction algorithms that use the brain’s plasticity to modulate the brain activity related to specific BCI tasks that use external stimuli. This approach focuses more on the subject.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Certain fungi can decompose organic matter, contributing to nutrient cycling. [SEP] Text: 13(5): 795-817. Export 1. Effects of Phyllostachys nigra var. henonis bloom for the first time in 120 years on the dynamics of organic matter and nitrogen in forest: Differences in decomposition processes between leaf and flower Go to 2. -to 3. Differential Post-Recovery of Bogs and to 4. Climatic effects on soil organic nitrogen fractions and amino acid chirality in paddy soils Go to 5. Growth substrates alter aboveground plant microbial and metabolic properties thereby influencing insect herbivore performance Go to 6. Carbon stocks in the litter of the middle taiga deciduous forests of the Go to 7. The potential saprotrophic capacity of foliar endophytic fungi from Quercus gambelii Go to 8. from in Go to 9. All the Carbon Gone? Go to 10. Effect of Fluctuation and on Soil-Surface CO2 and CH4 Emissions from Go to 11. Soil enzymes illustrate the effects of alder nitrogen fixation on soil carbon processes in arctic and boreal ecosystems Go to 12. Secondary metabolites profile and physiological leaf traits in wild and cultivated Corylus avellana under different nutritional status Go to 13. Plant litter quality regulates soil eco-enzymatic stoichiometry and microbial nutrient limitation in a citrus orchard Go to 14. Effect of Organic and Application on Content and to 15. Gap models across micro- to mega-scales of time and space: examples of Tansley’s ecosystem concept Go to 16. in of Go to 17. Comparable effects of manure and its biochar on reducing soil Cr bioavailability and narrowing the rhizosphere extent of enzyme activities Go to 18. Importance of tree- and species-level interactions with wildfire, climate, and soils in interior Alaska: Implications for forest change under a warming climate Go to 19. Enzymes of Alnus-Fungi in an to 20. Effects of forest transition on litterfall, standing litter and related nutrient returns: Implications for forest management in tropical to 21. Reintegrating the beaver ( Castor canadensis ) in the urban landscape Go to 22. Is there a tree economics spectrum of decomposability? Go to 23. Nitrogen resorption efficiency of 13 tree species of a cool temperate deciduous forest in Go to 24.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Researchers are exploring genetic modifications in animals to better understand aging mechanisms. [SEP] Text: Parks says that if researchers engineer a mouse model of this so-called acquired hypopituitarism--triggered in some way other than cancer--it could help reveal whether leaving pituitary function intact during early life but negating it later could allow animals to develop normally yet live extra-long. Perhaps the animals would also provide insight into whether extended life span is separable from small body size, an ongoing controversy (see below). Mousing for LongevityResearchers will continue to strive for the ultimate prize: discerning how insulin-related signaling influences human life span. But scientists won't be able to uncover all the details they want from humans, so future work on rodents--dwarf and otherwise--will continue to contribute. Previous studies on the Ames and Snell animals suggested a connection between decreased IGF-1 amounts and longevity, but the mice also harbor reduced amounts of thyroid-stimulating hormone and prolactin, creating uncertainty about which alteration is responsible for life-span extension. Other dwarf mice implicate IGF-1 more directly, because they carry mutations that dampen only GH signaling. But GH can exert its influence on cells and tissues by routes other than those that involve IGF-1, so researchers have begun tweaking the IGF-1 system itself, rather than manipulating it through GH. For instance, scientists have removed the mouse gene that encodes the IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R), a cell surface protein that gloms onto IGF-1. Animals that lack IGF-1R die soon after birth, but mice with a half-dose of IGF-1R survive--and live about 25% longer than normal mice do, according to work published in January 2003 in Nature (see "One for All"). To pinpoint how the hormone signals brake aging, future studies should tweak the pathway in more subtle ways, says neuroendocrinologist of of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. For instance, previous work revealed that curtailing insulin-related signaling in worms during adulthood, but not during early life development, extends life span (see Sonntag and Ramsey Perspective). To find out whether the same holds true in mammals, "what we need are animal models where we can precisely control IGF-1 activity in adults or during development," he says. Bartke agrees: "We need to be more selective.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: Specifically, to target the brain activity related to motor imagery, two stimulation methods have been applied most frequently: vibrotactile and electrical brain stimulation. In the vibrotactile stimulation, it is known that somatosensory stimulation modulates corticospinal excitability and the stimulation can increase motor evoked potentials (MEPs) [18] and electroencephalographic sensorimotor rhythms [19]. Previous studies have investigated vibrotactile stimulation’s effects during motor imagery or execution and found that it improved motor imagery BCI performance by enhancing the contralateral event-related desynchronization (ERD) over the electrode channels around the motor cortex [20,21,22,23]. For example, Ahn et al. designed a hybrid BCI paradigm combined with tactile selective attention by giving attention to vibrotactile stimulation on the left or right index fingertips during motor imagery [20]. Further, Yao et al. utilized vibrotactile stimulation for delivering tactile sensation to assist somatosensory attentional orientation (SAO) task training. They found that real tactile sensation-based training significantly improved SAO performance after the assisted training blocks [24]. Motivated by Yao’s study, Zhong et al. applied tactile sensation for assisting motor imagery BCI training by delivering sustained vibrotactile stimulation during motor imagery training blocks and found significant training effects on BCI performance compared to non-assisted motor imagery training [25]. In addition, Shu et al. applied tactile stimulation to the unilateral wrist and observed improved BCI performance with enhanced contralateral cortical activation [22]. Similarly, it was found that tactile stimulation along with motor movement (wrist extensions of paretic hand) achieved enhanced motor-related cortical activation in the alpha to beta bands and improved decoding accuracy in stroke patients compared to non-tactile stimulation conditions [23]. Moreover, recent studies have observed that frequency- or phase-specific stimulation in vibrotactile stimulation or transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) may produce stronger stimulation effects compared to continuous stimulation [21, 26]. In particular, Zhang et al. compared the stimulation effects of continuous vibrotactile stimulation and closed-loop stimulation activated during the rising/falling phase of alpha waves, and found that the alpha falling phase stimulation outperformed continuous and rising phase stimulation in motor imagery classification accuracy and cortical activation around the motor cortex [21].

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Certain fungi can decompose organic matter, contributing to nutrient cycling. [SEP] Text: Leaf litter decomposition dynamics in unmanaged Phyllostachys pubescens stands at high elevations in the to 25. Are litter decomposition and fire linked through plant species traits? Go to 26. Can spatial patterns be used to investigate aboveground-belowground links in reclaimed forests? Go to 27. Differential response of microbial respiration to supplied nitrogen forms in 3 contrasting alpine meadow soils on the Go to 28. Matter (SOM): Go to 29. Microbial utilization of double-labeled aspen litter in boreal aspen and spruce soils Go to 30. a on the Quantity and Quality of in a Go to 31. Differences in Distribution and Linked to in a Mid-to 32. Black carbon aerosol dynamics and isotopic composition in Alaska linked with boreal fire emissions and depth of burn in organic soils Go to 33. Behavior and Fate of Natural and in to 34. The effects of temperature on decomposition and allelopathic phytotoxicity of boneseed litter Go to 35. The importance of tree species and soil taxonomy to modeling forest soil carbon stocks in to 36. Chemical quality of aboveground litter inputs for jack pine and black spruce stands along the to 37. Comparing carbon pools and tree growth in balsam fir ( Abies balsamea ) and black spruce ( Picea mariana ) forest ecosystems located along a climatic gradient Go to 38. Synergistic soil response to nitrogen plus phosphorus fertilization in hardwood forests Go to 39. Effects of cutting, mulching and applications of farmyard manure on the supply of nitrogen from a red clover/grass sward Go to 40. A of Ontario’s to 41. to 42. Edaphic and microclimatic controls over permafrost response to fire in interior to 43. Use of Gardens as a Sustainable Import-for Security in Subarctic Ontario, to 44. Gross and aboveground net primary production at Canadian forest carbon flux sites Go to 45. Landscape‐scale patterns in tree occupancy and abundance in subarctic to 46. Effects of fire severity on plant nutrient uptake reinforce alternate pathways of succession in boreal forests Go to 47. Long-term effects of organic amendments on the recovery of plant and soil microbial communities following disturbance in the Canadian boreal forest Go to 48.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Researchers are exploring genetic modifications in animals to better understand aging mechanisms. [SEP] Text: We need to turn [IGF-1] off during different stages of life or turn it down or eliminate it in different types of cells. "Researchers are already beginning to conduct such studies. For instance, work published last year in by physiologist of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues suggests that in mice, reduced IGF-1 concentrations early in life--rather than late, as in worms--is a key to longevity (see "the Earth"). That finding doesn't mesh with the way hormone therapy is administered. "The [U. S. Food and Drug Administration] recently made it possible to administer IGF-1 and GH deliberately to children who have no medical complaint other than they are short," says Miller. "That's remarkably shortsighted. All the evidence [supporting the notion that reducing IGF-1 extends life span] suggests that [this treatment] may be robbing children of life. "Insulin InsightsOther studies hint that combinations of signals might dial longevity up and down in mammals. In these creatures, the single worm and fly insulin-like pathway splits in two; insulin sparks one signal, and IGF-1 ignites the other. Insulin regulates metabolism, controlling glucose uptake from the blood into cells, whereas IGF-1 spurs cell growth and prods animals to develop into adults. Each pathway operates in many different tissues, and some tissues carry both systems. Moreover, both pathways harness many of the same components, and insulin and IGF-1 can each, when presenting high concentrations, activate the other hormone's receptor. Division of labor. IGF-1 and insulin utilize similar machinery to control separate cellular events. Insulin regulates primarily glucose uptake and storage, whereas IGF-1 spurs cellular reproduction and growth. How each of the pathways contributes to aging in mammals remains unclear, but rare human mutations and engineered rodents might help clarify the issue. [Source: V. D. Longo and C. Finch, Science 299, 1342-1346 (2003), Illustration: Julie White]Recent studies suggest that stifling insulin signaling delays aging. In work published last February in Science, diabetes researcher C. of the Center in Boston and colleagues engineered mice so that they don't make the insulin-receptor protein in their fat cells; the insulin receptor normally prods cells to store sugar as fat upon binding insulin.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: In addition to sensory stimulation, the other stimulation method is electrical brain stimulation, such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) [27, 28]. For example, Baxter et al. investigated the stimulation effects of high-definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) by placing anode and cathode electrodes between the CP3/P3 electrode channels, and observed that anodal stimulation decreased the mean time to achieve right-hand imagery successfully and increased alpha and beta band power at the C3/CP3 channels after the stimulation session [27]. However, previous tDCS studies have reported mixed effects with respect to the ERD after the tDCS session. In particular, some previous studies found an increase in ERD in the hemisphere stimulated during motor imagery tasks [29,30,31], while one found a decrease in ERD following the tDCS session [32]. Still another study found that tDCS did not affect frequencies above 9 Hz [33]. Rather than developing new feature extraction algorithms, external stimulation sources may have greater potential to solve the BCI illiteracy problem, as the stimulation methods affect brain activity. In contrast, feature extraction algorithms may fail to identify the robust features if they do not exist in the brain signals recorded from BCI-illiterate individuals. However, some limitations in the stimulation-based approaches need to be addressed. One consideration is the lack of a comparative study of vibrotactile stimulation and tDCS, the stimulation method used most frequently to modulate brain activity during motor imagery and improve motor imagery BCI performance. The difficulty in conducting a comparative study derives from the stimulation paradigm. In general, vibrotactile stimulation is delivered while subjects are performing a motor imagery task because the stimulation enhances the cortical activation that motor imagery induces [21] and thus, concurrent stimulation effects can be investigated. However, with tDCS, the stimulation effects are investigated following the stimulation session because recording EEG during the stimulation session is not applicable, and appropriate stimulation is necessary to modulate brain activity. Thus, to compare the stimulation effects, the stimulation paradigms should be equal. Here, we conducted a study to compare the stimulation effects of vibrotactile stimulation and tDCS with the same stimulation paradigm by assessing the effects of the vibrotactile stimulation following the stimulation session. Another consideration when investigating the stimulation effects is dividing the subjects according to BCI performance.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Certain fungi can decompose organic matter, contributing to nutrient cycling. [SEP] Text: Plant–soil feedbacks mediated by humus forms: A review Go to 49. Organic Matter: in Go to 50. Buried organic horizons represent amino acid reservoirs in boreal forest soils Go to 51. The effect of boreal forest composition on soil respiration is mediated through variations in soil temperature and C quality Go to 52. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in UK soils and the influence of soil, vegetation type and seasonality Go to 53. Implications of increased deciduous cover on stand structure and aboveground carbon pools of Alaskan boreal forests Go to 54. Chemical transformations of deadwood and foliar litter of mixed boreal species during decomposition. Quideau, and Se-Go to 55. Spatial heterogeneity of understory vegetation and soil in an Alaskan upland boreal forest fire chronosequence Go to 56. of Phyllocnistis populiella (Lepidoptera: Gracilliariidae) in Go to 57. of Snow, Soil Microenvironment, and on N Availability in to 58. Vegetation Community, Foliar Nitrogen, and on Tundra CO 2 Exchange across a to 59. than Go to 60. Environmental fate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons under different plant traits in urban soil as affected by nitrogen deposition Go to 61. on Go to 62. Decomposition and to 63. Responses of soil microbial biomass and enzymatic activities to fertilizations of mixed inorganic and organic nitrogen at a subtropical forest in Go to 64. Influence of Non-nitrogenous on Soil CO2 Efflux and Production in an N-Go to 65. of in to 66. The role of soil drainage class in carbon dioxide exchange and decomposition in boreal black spruce (Picea mariana) forest standsKimberly P. Wickland, Jason C. Neff, and Jennifer W. to 67. Litter decomposition rates in relation to litter stocks in boreal coniferous forests along climatic and soil fertility gradients Go to 68. The impact of black cottonwood on soil fertility in coastal western hemlock forest Go to 69. Turnover of labile and recalcitrant soil carbon differ in response to nitrate and ammonium deposition in an ombrotrophic peatland Go to 70.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Researchers are exploring genetic modifications in animals to better understand aging mechanisms. [SEP] Text: These lean animals carry only a small amount of fat and don't develop signs of diabetes, despite eating as much as or more than normal mice do. In addition, the animals live 20% longer than controls (see "Fasting"). The study implies that defects in insulin signaling stall aging, presumably in addition to the ones in the IGF-1 pathway that have been uncovered by the various dwarf mutation studies. Because of the similarities between the insulin and IGF-1 pathways, assessing which is most important in aging will be difficult, says molecular biologist of College of in Athens. But he's willing to speculate: "I think it's insulin," he says. Recent studies from his research team compared longevity of mice missing the GH receptor (Laron mice) and mice that produce a crippled GH variant that prevents normal signaling through the receptor. Mice without the GH receptor lived longer than normal, but mice with the altered GH molecule lived a normal life span. Although IGF-1 quantities are small in both animals, Kopchick says, insulin amounts are small only in the Laron mice. The result, he says, suggests that insulin is predominantly responsible for extra lifetime, although he doesn't exclude a role for IGF-1. Kopchick's research might also help resolve another controversy: whether reducing IGF-1 amounts extends life because it decreases body size. Much research points to a trend: Within a species--dogs or humans or mice--petite individuals tend to live longer. Researchers are currently trying to separate the body-shrinking and life-extending effects of reduced amounts of GH and IGF-1, says Bartke. For instance, Kopchick's study suggests that body size might not confer a longevity advantage. Both types of mice--those without the GH receptor and those with the GH blocker--were small, but only one was long-lived. If researchers can tease these qualities apart, they might eventually be able to extend life while preserving normal stature. Although lab results suggest that limiting IGF-1 and GH extends longevity, consumers shell out untold dollars on GH-boosting injections, supplements, and sprays. Thanks to crafty sales pitches based on shaky claims, some adults believe that a burst of hormone--rather than a dearth of it--will counteract aging's toll, keeping them wrinkle-free and virile.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: Previous studies have found that inefficient (low performers) and efficient BCI users (high performers) exhibited different neurophysiological characteristics. One study incorporated brain network features into ERD to improve low performers’ motor imagery BCI performance [34]. They found that the subjects benefited from brain network features (functional connectivity), and suggested that low performers may engage in motor imagery differently than high performers, and thus existing features, such as ERD, cannot capture the engagement, although the brain network showed the possibility. Similarly, another study divided the subjects recruited into two groups based upon BCI performance, compared their brain networks on multiple network scales [35], and found significantly higher phase synchronization values in the right hemisphere during high performers’ motor imagery. In addition to brain network measures, a difference between low and high BCI performers’ frequency band power has been reported during the rest or pre-stimulus period, showing that subjects with higher alpha band or sensory motor rhythm (SMR) power during those periods are more likely to achieve better BCI performance [36,37,38]. Based upon these previous findings, it can be expected that vibrotactile stimulation or tDCS affects low and high performers differently because the two show different characteristics and may engage in the same task in different ways. In addition to the neurophysiological perspective, they may differ from the behavioral perspective. High performers who achieve controllable BCI performance before the stimulation session have a sense of control already, and their brain activity is optimal and stable in the task. Therefore, external changes are less likely to affect them. On the other hand, low performers do not have this sense of control, and their brain activity is not yet optimal or stable. Therefore, low performers may have more potential to change. In this study, we compared vibrotactile stimulation and tDCS’s stimulation’s effects on brain activity related to motor imagery among inefficient BCI users. Through this study, we investigated which brain activity can be modulated by vibrotactile stimulation and tDCS and whether they can help improve low performers’ BCI performance. MethodsExperimental procedure and data acquisitionWe recruited a total of 44 healthy subjects for this study, and assigned them randomly to three groups—sham (control), vibrotactile stimulation, and tDCS. This experiment was conducted in a quiet space, and the subjects were seated in a comfortable chair approximately one meter from a 24-inch screen.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Certain fungi can decompose organic matter, contributing to nutrient cycling. [SEP] Text: Fire, climate change, and forest resilience in interior AlaskaThis 71. The role of mosses in ecosystem succession and function in Alaska’s boreal forestThis 72. Long-term monitoring of climatic and nutritional affects on tree growth in interior AlaskaJ. Yarie and K. Go to 73. Glycine mineralization in situ closely correlates with soil carbon availability across six forest ecosystems Go to 74. Soil CO2 and N2O flux dynamics in a nitrogen-fertilized Douglas-fir stand Go to 75. How does a tree species influence litter decomposition? Separating the relative contribution of litter quality, litter mixing, and forest floor conditionsJérôme Laganière, David Paré, and Robert L. to 76. Cross-of of Amino Acid-N and NH4 + Go to 77. Nutrient and caloric dynamics in Avicennia marina leaves at different developmental and decay stages in Estuary, to 78. Carbon and nitrogen cycle dynamics in the O‐CN land surface model: 2. Role of the nitrogen cycle in the historical terrestrial carbon balance Go to 79. Declines in moose population density at and accompanied changes in landscape patterns Go to 80. Spatial variations of chemical composition, microbial functional diversity, and enzyme activities in a Mediterranean litter (Quercus ilex L. ) profile Go to 81. Carbon and nitrogen dynamics in early stages of forest litter decomposition as affected by nitrogen addition Go to 82. Soil amino acid composition across a boreal forest successional sequence Go to 83. Carbon and in Birch and to 84. Effects of elevated CO2 concentration and nitrogen supply on biomass and active carbon of freshwater marsh after two growing seasons in Sanjiang Plain, Go to 85. Linking the abundance of aspen with soil faunal communities and rates of belowground processes within single stands of mixed aspen–black spruce Go to 86. Reciprocal interactions between plants and soil in an upland grassland Go to 87. Concentrations of in of (Betula pubescens) Increase with to 88. Impact of simulated moose densities on abundance and richness of vegetation, herbivorous and predatory arthropods along a productivity gradient Go to 89. Effects of nitrogen deposition on the greenhouse gas fluxes from forest soils Go to 90. and Stocks in in to 91.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Researchers are exploring genetic modifications in animals to better understand aging mechanisms. [SEP] Text: 2015; 6(9):7209–20. Possible involvement of Enterococcus infection in the pathogenesis of chronic pancreatitis and cancer. Biochem. Commun. 2018;506(4):962–9. Casero RA Jr. , T. A E Pegg. Polyamine metabolism and cancer: treatments, challenges and opportunities. Nat. Rev Cancer. 2018;18(11):681–95. by Induction of Innate and Suppression. Cancer Discov. 2018; 8(4):403–16 Tofalo R, Cocchi S. G Suzzi. Polyamines and Gut Microbiota. Front Nutr. 2019; 6:16. with in Pancreatic Cancer. J Mol Sci. 2021;22(23):12978. The human tumor microbiome is composed of tumor type-specific intracellular bacteria. Science. 2020; 368(6494):973–980. Microbiome analyses of blood and tissues suggest cancer diagnostic approach. Nature. 2020; 579(7800):567–74 Tumor microbiome contributes to an aggressive phenotype in the basal-like subtype of pancreatic cancer. Commun Biol. 2021; 4(1):1019 Oral microbiome and pancreatic cancer. World. J Gastroenterol. 2020;26(48):7679–92. Tongue coating microbiome data distinguish patients with pancreatic head cancer from healthy controls. J Oral Microbiol. 2019;11(1):1563409. . S Benade. The ecology, biology and pathogenesis of Acinetobacter spp. : an overview. Microbes Environ. 2011; 26(2):101–12 DeclarationsNo competing interests reported. Supplementary FilesSupplementaryFigure.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: Thereafter, the subjects performed the online phase, which consisted of two motor imagery blocks that showed visual feedback, for 1. 5 s by moving the circle to classified directions. For CSP-FLDA, an epoch was extracted from each trial at [1000–3500] ms to the stimulus onset, and band-pass filtered with cutoff frequencies of 8 and 30 Hz using the 4th -order Butterworth filter. However, we note that hyper-parameters for online classifiers were changed after the first ten subjects. Specifically, for the first ten subjects, CSP-FLDA was trained by 19 electrode channels and the first and last two CSP filters were selected. However, electrodes around the eyes and occipital areas often yielded notable noise with high variation attributable to non-brain activity, such as motion artifacts, eye movements, and bad contacts. As a result, for the remaining subjects, nine electrode channels around the central area, including the F3, Fz, F4, C3, Cz, C4, P3, Pz, and P4 channels, were used to train CSP, and the first and last CSP filters were selected to train FLDA. In this study, we calculated offline BCI performance to compare BCI performance with the same hyper-parameter over all subjects, as described in Sect. 2. 3. Stimulation session designIn this study, we compared the stimulation effects on brain activity modulation and relevant BCI performance. Depending upon the stimulation group, each subject performed a stimulation session in the middle of two motor imagery sessions. The stimulation groups consisted of the vibrotactile stimulation group, tDCS group, and sham stimulation group. Fig. 2 illustrates the stimulation session for each group. All stimulation group subjects performed four blocks of offline motor imagery task while receiving stimulation. Fig. 2Vibrotactile stimulation, tDCS, and sham stimulation. This represents stimulation sessions for the vibrotactile stimulation, tDCS, and sham stimulation groups. (A) represents vibrotactile stimulation, (B) represents tDCS, and (C) represents sham stimulationFull size image With respect to vibrotactile stimulation (Fig. 2A), two vibration motors (Model 310 − 113, Precision Microdrives, England) activated by board were used to deliver vibrotactile stimulation to the left and right index fingertips. Each motor is 10 mm in diameter with a 1.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Certain fungi can decompose organic matter, contributing to nutrient cycling. [SEP] Text: Short- and medium-term contrasting effects of nitrogen fertilization on C and N cycling in a poplar plantation soil Go to 92. Belowground and aboveground consequences of interactions between live plant species mixtures and dead organic substrate mixtures Go to 93. to 94. Decomposition of soil organic matter from boreal black spruce forest: environmental and chemical controls Go to 95. The potential for forest canopy litterfall interception by a dense fern understorey, and the consequences for litter decomposition Go to 96. Effects of Aspen and on on Go to 97. An estimate of carbon emissions from 2004 wildfires across Go to 98. Browse biomass production an. regrowth capacity after biomass loss in deciduous and coniferous trees: responses to moose browsing along a productivity gradient Go to 99. of in to 100. Ecological role of reindeer summer browsing in the mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii) forests: effects on plant defense, litter decomposition, and soil nutrient cycling Go to 101. The microbial communities of aspen and spruce forest floors are resistant to changes in litter inputs and microclimate Go to 102. Biogeochemistry of Go to 103. Impact of Beaver (Castor canadensis Kuhl) Foraging on of Go to 104. Impacts of anthropogenic N additions on nitrogen mineralization from plant litter in exotic annual grasslands Go to 105. Does the addition of litter from N-fixing Acacia mearnsii accelerate leaf decomposition of Eucalyptus globulus? Go to 106. Nitrogen retention patterns and their controlling factors in an alpine meadow: implications for carbon sequestration Go to 107. Labile substrates quality as the main driving force of microbial mineralization activity in a poplar plantation soil under elevated CO2 and nitrogen fertilization Go to 108. Contribution of winter processes to soil nitrogen flux in taiga forest ecosystems Go to 109. Aboveground and belowground responses to quality and heterogeneity of organic inputs to the boreal forest Go to 110. Nitrogen dynamics of a boreal black spruce wildfire chronosequence Go to 111. Changes in soil carbon and nitrogen cycling along a 72-year wildfire chronosequence in Michigan jack pine forests Go to 112. Nutrient dynamics of foliar litter in reciprocal decomposition in tropical and subtropical forests Go to 113. in Cedar and to 114.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: One focus of anti-aging research is studying genetic markers associated with longevity in certain populations. [SEP] Text: Figures AbstractIn humans (UCPs) are a group of five mitochondrial inner membrane transporters with variable tissue expression, which seem to function as regulators of energy homeostasis and antioxidants. In particular, these proteins uncouple respiration from ATP production, allowing stored energy to be released as heat. Data from experimental models have previously suggested that UCPs may play an important role on aging rate and lifespan. We analyzed the genetic variability of human UCPs in cohorts of subjects ranging between 64 and 105 years of age (for a total of 598 subjects), to determine whether specific UCP variability affects human longevity. Indeed, we found that the genetic variability of UCP2, UCP3 and UCP4 do affect the individual's chances of surviving up to a very old age. This confirms the importance of energy storage, energy use and modulation of ROS production in the aging process. In addition, given the different localization of these UCPs (UCP2 is expressed in various tissues including brain, hearth and adipose tissue, while UCP3 is expressed in muscles and Tissue and UCP4 is expressed in neuronal cells), our results may suggest that the uncoupling process plays an important role in modulating aging especially in muscular and nervous tissues, which are indeed very responsive to metabolic alterations and are very important in estimating health status and survival in the elderly. Citation: (2011) to the Uncoupling-to-Survive Theory: Variation of with Longevity. 6(12): e29650. Jose Vina, University of Valencia, SpainReceived: September 12, 2011; Accepted: December 2, 2011; Published: December 27, 2011Copyright: © 2011 Rose et al. This is an open-access 28. 31), the first member characterized, is predominantly expressed in brown adipose tissue (BAT), where it has a well-established role in cold- and diet-induced thermogenesis [1]. UCP2 and UCP3 share a common region on chromosome 11q13. UCP2 is widely expressed in many organs and tissues [2], while UCP3 is principally expressed in skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and BAT [3], [4]. Finally, UCP4 (6p12. 3) and UCP5 (Xp24) are predominantly expressed in the central nervous system and at a lower level in other tissues [5], [6].

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: 34G vibration amplitude. board was triggered through serial communication with scripts for closed loop vibrotactile stimulation. Recent studies have shown that EEG-guided stimulation can enhance the stimulation effects in vibrotactile stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) by targeting motor cortex excitability states [21, 26]. Researchers have observed that stimulation triggered by the EEG alpha falling phase outperformed continuous stimulation with respect to the motor evoked potential (MEP) [26] amplitude and motor imagery BCI performance [21]. In this respect, our study applied vibrotactile stimulation according to the EEG alpha (8 ~ 13 Hz) phase at the electrode channels on the left (C3) and right motor cortex (C4) as in [21]. Specifically, during the vibrotactile stimulation session, the subjects were instructed to place their left and right index fingertips on each vibration motor. For each trial, 500ms-long epoch was extracted from the contralateral EEG channel every 50ms (with overlapping 450ms) to calculate the alpha phase. The epoch extracted was band-pass filtered in the [8,9,10,11,12,13] Hz frequency range using a 10th -order elliptical infinite impulse response (IIR) filter, and the phase was calculated using the Transform (FFT)-based phase tracking algorithm, as proposed and adopted previously [21, 41]; among the FFT amplitudes, the dominant alpha frequency component between 8 and 13 Hz and the corresponding phase were used to obtain a simple sine function to predict the upcoming phase. When the phase predicted was falling, the vibration was delivered through the left or right vibration motor for 100ms according to the motor imagery class, and the inter-stimulation interval was set to 100ms. Thus, the C4 channel alpha phase was extracted for the left-hand motor imagery trials, and the left vibration motor was activated when the phase predicted was falling and the converse. With respect to the technical details, during the vibrotactile stimulation session, EEG data and event markers that represented left- or right-hand motor imagery were streamed into scripts. To minimize delay and synchronize the EEG data and event markers, a trigger hub (Wearable Sensing, USA) was used to integrate the EEG data and event markers into the EEG device, and merged data were acquired over the wire.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Certain fungi can decompose organic matter, contributing to nutrient cycling. [SEP] Text: Soil Carbon, Soil Formation, and Go to 115. Carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling implications of the evergreen understory layer in Appalachian forests Go to 116. Dynamics of Go to 117. Soluble phenolic compounds, total nitrogen, and ammonium nitrogen in the litter horizons of undisturbed spruce forests in the central forest reserve Go to 118. Scale-dependent environmental controls over species composition in Alaskan black spruce communitiesand A L to 119. Successional and physical controls on the retention of nitrogen in an undisturbed boreal forest ecosystem Go to 120. Isotopic discrimination during litter decomposition and δ 13 C and δ 15 N soil profiles in a young artificial stand and in an old floodplain forest # Go to 121. Modeling physical and biogeochemical controls over carbon accumulation in a boreal forest soil Go to 122. The roles of large herbivores in ecosystem nutrient cycles Go to 123. to 124. A model for the investigation of long-term carbon dynamics in boreal forests of western to 125. Carbon dynamics in successional and afforested spruce stands in Thuringia and the to 126. Nitrogen availability in soil and forest floor of contrasting types of boreal mixedwood forestsLucie Jerabkova, Prescott, and to 127. Stocks, Chemistry, and Sensitivity to of the to 128. Wood strength loss as a measure of decomposition in northern forest mineral soil Go to 129. Influence of forest disturbance and test application of PnET model for determining long-term impact influences Go to 130. N and P resorption efficiency in certain young tropical tree species planted on mine spoil Go to 131. Microbial activity and litter decomposition under snow cover in a cool-temperate broad-leaved deciduous forest Go to 132. Influences of stand composition and age on forest floor processes and chemistry in pure and mixed stands of Douglas-fir and paper birch in interior Go to 133. Forest-floor chemical properties are altered by clear-cutting in boreal mixedwood forest stands dominated by trembling aspen and white spruce-W Oh, and R E to 134. to 135. in Oi‐Horizon Carbon‐14 with for an Go to 136. Influence of Aspen on Properties in Black Spruce-dominated to 137. to 138.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: One focus of anti-aging research is studying genetic markers associated with longevity in certain populations. [SEP] Text: Consistently, mice subjected to CR show an increased expression of Ucp2 and Ucp3 [37], [38]. In humans the correlation between mitochondrial uncoupling and aging emerges from association studies which support a role for UCPs in many age-related phenotypic traits involving alterations in cellular energy homeostasis such as obesity, diabetes and lipid-related diseases [39]–[41]. We recently performed a population-based study in a human cohort of elderly subjects which demonstrated that UCP3 variability has an impact on hand grip strength, one of the most important hallmarks of human aging [42] and more recently we also found that two variants (A-3826G and C-3740A) in the upstream enhancer region of human UCP1 gene affect the expression of the gene and are correlated with human longevity [43]. Given the tissue-specific expression of UCP genes, it seems likely that they may affect the senescence of different tissues with important effects on the overall aging process and consequently on lifespan. Thus, the goal of the present study was to assess both the primary effects of single loci and gene-gene interactions to test the hypothesis that other UCP genes may contribute to survival at very old age either independently and/or through complex interactions. statement Samples were collected within the framework of several recruitment campaigns carried out for monitoring the quality of aging in Calabria from 2002. The recruitment campaigns and subsequent analyses received the approval of the Ethical committee of the University of Calabria. All subjects provided written informed consent for studies on aging carried out by our research group. White blood cells (WBC) from blood buffy coats were used as a source of DNA. A total of 598 subjects (293 men and 305 women, age range 64–105 years; mean ages 82. 74 (±11. 66) and 85. 23 (±10. 84) years, respectively) participated in this study. All subjects were born in Calabria (southern Italy) and their ancestry in the region was ascertained up to the grandparents' generation. Younger subjects were contacted through family physicians. Subjects older than 90 years were identified through the population registers and then were contacted by specialized personnel and invited to join the study. Each subject underwent a medical visit carried out by a geriatrician who also conducted an interview including the administration of a structured questionnaire, validated at European level.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: The stimulation session continued until the subjects performed four blocks of the offline motor imagery task, although we did not record EEG during the tDCS session because of electrical interference. The subjects were informed that they could stop the stimulation at any time if they felt severe pain. In addition, the sham stimulation group (control group) subjects performed the same task as the tDCS group subjects, but they received sham, rather than actual stimulation. For the sham group, the stimulation turned off after the ramping period, and the subjects did not know whether they belonged to the tDCS or sham stimulation group. After the stimulation session, the subjects washed their hair and were re-fitted with the EEG cap. Then, they performed the same motor imagery task that they did before the stimulation session. BCI performance evaluationThis study used offline BCI performance because online BCI classification parameters were not the same for all subjects. To evaluate the subjects’ BCI performance, the EEG data were band-pass filtered with 8–30 Hz using the 4th -order Butterworth filter, and any 60 Hz line noise that remained was filtered out with the band-stop filter from 58 to 62 Hz. Epochs were extracted from 500 to 3500 ms to the stimulus onset, which is the time window obtained heuristically. Except for the electrodes near the eyes, those with an amplitude greater than ± 100µV were removed, and subjects who had more than 30% of bad trials among all trials were eliminated from the analysis. Finally, we chose a region of interest (ROI), the nine electrode channels (F3, Fz, F4, C3, Cz, C4, P3, Pz, and P4), for motor imagery BCI classification using visual inspection. To evaluate BCI performance, the first two motor imagery blocks (offline phase) were used for training, and the remaining two blocks were used for testing. minimum distance metric (MDM) [16] was used to extract features and evaluate BCI performance. In this study, the subjects performed the motor imagery task before and after the stimulation session to evaluate stimulation effects on brain activity during motor imagery. Moreover, we divided each stimulation group into low- and high-performing groups according to their pre-stimulation BCI performance, as previous studies have observed that the two showed different neurophysiological characteristics [9, 36].

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Certain fungi can decompose organic matter, contributing to nutrient cycling. [SEP] Text: Ecological impact of beavers Castor fiber and Castor canadensis and their ability to modify ecosystems Go to 139. Variation in the chemical composition of green leaves and leaf litters from three deciduous tree species growing on different soil types Go to 140. Effect of aspen (Populus tremuloides) as a companion species on the growth of black spruce (Picea mariana) in the southwestern boreal forest of to 141. Woody debris along an upland chronosequence in boreal Manitoba and its impact on long-term carbon storage-Lamberty, and K P O'to 142. Nitrogen additions to pristine, high-latitude, forest ecosystems: consequences for soil nitrogen transformations and retention in mid and late succession Go to 143. Impact of moose population density on the production and composition of litter in boreal forests Go to 144. Carbon and nitrogen dynamics in topsoils along forest conversion sequences in the and the Saxonian lowland, to 145. Leaf litter chemistry controls on decomposition of trees and woody shrubs. , and R P to 146. of Douglas‐fir Forests with Urea in Go to 147. Composition in Aspen‐ and Spruce‐of the to 148. Plant and soil responses to neighbour removal and fertilization in Alaskan tussock tundra Go to 149. Short-term soil respiration and nitrogen immobilization response to nitrogen applications in control and nitrogen-enriched temperate forests Go to 150. Decomposing litter as a sink for -enriched additions to an oak forest and a red pine plantation Go to 151. Ten-year postharvest effects of silviculture systems on soil-resource availability and conifer nutrition in a northern temperate forestJ M Kranabetter and K D to 152. Does an admixture of betula species in Piceaabies stands increase organic matter quality and nitrogen release? Go to 153. The effect of multi-nutrient fertilization on understory vegetation nutrient concentrations in inland Northwest conifer stands Go to 154. Change in soil carbon cycling for stand development of Japanese cedar ( Cryptomeria japonica ) plantations following clear‐cutting Go to 155. The responses of black spruce growth to an increased proportion of aspen in mixed standsSonia Légaré, David Paré, and Go to 156.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: One focus of anti-aging research is studying genetic markers associated with longevity in certain populations. [SEP] Text: One of these is the MAX3 test which assumes the maximum of three different Cochran-Armitage trend tests (CATTs) evaluated with respect to three different genetic models of inheritance: dominant, additive or recessive [46], [47]. The main drawback of such tests is represented by the fact that they could be seriously affected by confounding factors [48]. In this context, So and Sham recently proposed a robust association test allowing for quantitative or binary traits as well as covariates [49]. This test was based on the score test and has been implemented in the R package RobustSNP. In the present study the robust association test proposed by So and Sham was applied to estimate the association between the variability in the UCP genes and the probability of reaching advanced ages. In each test we included sex and Index (BMI) as covariates. Haplotypic analysis Pairwise measures of linkage disequilibrium (LD) between the analyzed loci were calculated with the Haploview 4. 2 [50]. The amount of LD was quantified by Lewontin's coefficient (D'). In order to model the effect of the UCP haplotypes on the probability to attain longevity we used the haplo. stats package of R. It implements a haplotype-based association analysis within the generalized linear model (GLM) framework that allows for ambiguous haplotypes. The haplo. score function of this package has been used to obtain the GLM-based score statistics for testing global and individual haplotype effects on the probability to attain longevity [51]. Permutation-based p-values were used to evaluate the significance of the scores obtained (10000 permutations). In this model the effect of the different haplotypes was assessed assuming a dominant model after adjusting for sex and BMI. Interaction analysis In order to explore the interaction effects between the analyzed polymorphisms on the probability to be part of the very old age group, the Model-(MB-MDR) method was applied [52]. In this model only all possible second order interactions, after adjusting for main effects sex and BMI, were analyzed. All statistical analyses were performed using genetics, RobustSNP, mbmdr and haplo. stats packages of R 2. 10. 1. ResultsTable 2 reports the socio-demographic characteristics of the sample analyzed according to age group. The observed genotype frequencies (Table S1) were in agreement with those expected at HWE (p>0.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: Further, our previous study suggested that low and high BCI performers should be treated differently because low BCI performers’ features decreased the ability to generalize the cross-subject BCI model significantly, while subject selection may have increased cross-subject BCI performance [42]. In addition, we assumed that low BCI performers may have greater potential to change their brain activity through learning or external stimulation, for either better or worse, compared to high BCI performers because high BCI performers’ brain activity may be stable and optimal already. To divide the subjects into low and high BCI performance groups, a previous study used the median value of the BCI performance [35], as the median value can divide groups with the same size and allow analysis to be performed on sub-groups of the same size. However, the distribution and sample size affect the median value. Accordingly, if the BCI performance data collected are biased toward high or low performance, the divided groups do not represent true high or low performance groups. Instead, we used the statistical random probability introduced in [43] and used in our previous study [42] to divide low and high BCI performers, as it can produce a random threshold based upon the number of trials and the statistical significance. With 40 test trials and α = 0. 05, we obtained 60. 69% as a threshold to divide low and high BCI performers. As a result, we divided each stimulation group’s subjects into low and high BCI performers based upon their pre-stimulation performance and investigated the stimulation effects in the subgroups. Pre-stimulus band power for motor imageryThe pre-stimulus band power was calculated from the online phase of the motor imagery task before and after the stimulation session. For clarity, we note that the pre-stimulus band power refers to the band power calculated from the window preceding the motor imagery onset in every trial, and it is distinct from the stimulation session. Thus, pre-stimulus band powers were calculated during the motor imagery task before/after the stimulation. Maeder et al. investigated the relation between the pre-stimulus sensory motor rhythm (SMR) band power and motor imagery BCI performance and observed that higher pre-stimulus SMR trials yielded significantly better performance compared to lower trials [37].

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Certain fungi can decompose organic matter, contributing to nutrient cycling. [SEP] Text: of on in a Hawaiian Woodland: of Go to 157. Functional Matrix: A for on Go to 158. to 159. Ungulates in western coniferous forests: habitat relationships, population dynamics, and ecosystem processes Go to 160. spruce forests: Needle supply and its nutrient content Go to 161. Carbon distribution of a well‐ and poorly‐drained black spruce fire chronosequence Go to 162. Reduction of forest floor respiration by fertilization on both carbon dioxide‐enriched and reference 17‐year‐old loblolly pine stands Go to 163. Near-surface soil characteristics and understory plants as predictors of Pinus contorta site index in southwestern Alberta, to 164. Rainfall manipulation effects on litter decomposition and the microbial biomass of the forest floor Go to 165. Go to 166. Soil microbial activity and community structure along a primary succession transect on the land-uplift coast in western to 167. Differences in nitrogen use efficiency between leaves from canopy and subcanopy trees Go to 168. The role of legumes as a component of biodiversity in a cross‐European study of grassland biomass nitrogen Go to 169. Microbial activity, nutrient dynamics and litter decomposition in a Mountain pine forest as affected by N and P fertilizers Go to 170. Effects of alleviation of ecological stresses on an alpine tundra community over an eight‐year period Go to 171. Soil surface CO 2 flux in a boreal black spruce fire chronosequence Go to 172. Nitrogen transformation in four Japanese soils following manure+urea amendment Go to 173. A study of the quality factors affecting the short‐term decomposition of field vegetable residues Go to 174. to 175. The influence of fire on carbon distribution and net primary production of boreal Larix gmelinii forests in north‐eastern to 176. Are forest floors in mid-rotation stands of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) a sink for nitrogen and phosphorus? Piatek and H Go to 177. Nitrogen and from under Sub‐Conditions 1 Go to 178. Substrate limitations to microbial activity in taiga forest floors Go to 179. Go to 180. Controls over carbon storage and turnover in high‐latitude soils Go to 181. Initial nitrogen content and topographic moisture effects on the decomposition of pine needles Go to 182.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: One focus of anti-aging research is studying genetic markers associated with longevity in certain populations. [SEP] Text: 01). Table 3 reports the results of the association test for the three different genetic models (dominant, additive and recessive) obtained in the analyzed sample using the RobustSNP algorithm. Table 3 clearly shows that the variability of the UCP polymorphism was significantly associated with the analyzed phenotype. In particular, using the minor allele for each SNP as reference and after adjusting for BMI and sex, the dominant model for the rs660339 (UCP2) and the rs1800849 (UCP3) resulted to be significantly associated with the longevity phenotype (p = 0. 001 in both cases), while the recessive model was the most likely for SNPs rs15763 (UCP3), rs9472817 (UCP4) and rs2235800 (UCP5) (p<0. 05). However, after adjusting for multiple testing, all the previous associations remained statistically significant, except those for rs2235800 of the UCP5 gene (p = 0. 058). Download: PPTPowerPoint slidePNGlarger imageTIFForiginal imageTable 2. Socio-demographic characteristics of the analysed sample according to sex and age group. Download: PPTPowerPoint slidePNGlarger imageTIFForiginal imageTable 3. Results of the Robust SNP association test for the most likely genetic model (additive, recessive and dominant) obtained in the analyzed sample. the z-statistics of these models we observed that carriers of the T allele at rs660339 and at rs1800849 (dominant models) significantly influenced the probability to be part of the oldest group (positive scores). For the recessive models, homozygous subjects for the T allele at rs15763 variation also increased the probability to be part of the oldest group, while this probability was significantly decreased (negative score) for homozygous subjects with the T allele at rs9472817. By using the MB-MDR approach we did not find any significant interaction effect among the analyzed polymorphisms (data not shown). Subsequently, using the aforementioned GLM-based algorithm, we evaluated the effect of the UCP haplotypes on the probability to attain longevity. LD analysis showed that among the four SNPs in the UCP2-UCP3 gene region rs660339, rs659366 and rs15763 were in moderate LD (see Fig.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: The global PLV was obtained by averaging all PLVs between the nine electrode channels, as illustrated by the bold linesFull size image The PLVs were compared in this study before and after the stimulation session using a paired Student’s t-test for subjects with low and high BCI performance in the sham, vibrotactile stimulation, and tDCS groups to assess the stimulation effects on the average strength of the connection around the central areas during motor imagery. ResultsAmong the 44 subjects who were assigned randomly to the three stimulation groups—sham, vibrotactile stimulation, and tDCS—bad subjects (> 30% bad trials), including one who failed to concentrate on the post-stimulation motor imagery task because of a significant delay in setup after the stimulation session, were removed from the analysis. As a result, 39 subjects remained: 12, 13, and 14 subjects in the sham, vibrotactile, and tDCS groups, respectively. Moreover, we divided each stimulation group into low and high BCI performance groups using statistical random probability. With respect to the low and high BCI performance groups, the subjects in each group who achieved a performance lower than 60. 69% were assigned to the low BCI performance group, and the remaining subjects were assigned to the high BCI performance group. As a result, sham group subjects were divided into 6 low performers and 6 high performers, vibrotactile stimulation group subjects were divided into 10 low performers and 3 high performers, while the tDCS group subjects were divided into 10 low performers and 4 high performers. Although we assigned the stimulation groups randomly, the vibrotactile stimulation and tDCS groups included more low performers than the sham stimulation group. Stimulation effects on BCI performanceMotor imagery BCI performances during pre-stimulation and post-stimulation are depicted in Table 1; Fig. 4. Low performers in the sham stimulation group achieved 53. 75% (43. 75 ~ 60%), and high performers achieved 71. 88% (63. 75 ~ 95%) before the pre-stimulation session. After the sham stimulation session, low performers achieved 53. 99% (43. 75 ~ 61. 25%), showing no significant change. However, the high performers’ BCI performance decreased to 62. 71% (47. 5 ~ 85%). On the other hand, the low performers in the actual stimulation groups, the vibrotactile stimulation and the tDCS groups, showed improved performance.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Certain fungi can decompose organic matter, contributing to nutrient cycling. [SEP] Text: The role of Equisetum in nutrient cycling in an Alaskan shrub wetland Go to 183. Decomposition of broadleaf and needle litter in forests of British Columbia: influences of litter type, forest type, and litter mixturesand R to 184. Nitrogen availability in forest floors of three tree species on the same site: the role of litter qualityK D Thomas and C E to 185. Response of soil microorganisms to an elevated nitrate input in an open Pinus banksiana — Cladina forest Go to 186. Impacts of wild fire severity and salvage harvesting on the nutrient balance of jack pine and black spruce boreal stands Go to 187. : to 188. in in a Forest, Mt. Fuji, to 189. Selected biological and chemical properties of forest floors across bedrock types on the north coast of British ColumbiaJ M Kranabetter and A to 190. Boreal forest ecosystem dynamics. II. Application of the model to four vegetation types in interior AlaskaGo to 191. Go to 192. Microbial respiration, biomass, metabolic quotient and litter decomposition in a lodgepole pine forest floor amended with nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers Go to 193. Decomposition of transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis maize by microorganisms and woodlice Porcellio scaber (Crustacea: Isopoda) Go to 194. Nutrient dynamics of the southern and northern boreal forests Go to 195. Response of soil microbial biomass dynamics, activity and plant litter decomposition to agricultural intensification over a seven-year period Go to 196. -to 197. Lignin biomarkers and pollen in postglacial sediments of an Alaskan lake Go to 198. Nutrient status of black spruce (Picea mariana [Mill. ] BSP) forest soils dominated by Kalmia angustifolia L. Go to 199. Vegetation and soil development at an upland taiga site, to 200. in to 201. Nitrogen and phosphorus release from humus and mineral soil under black spruce forests in central to 202. Trophic relationships in the soil microfood‐web: predicting the responses to a changing global environment Go to 203. Effects of tree species, stand age and soil type on soil microbial biomass and its activity in a southern boreal forest Go to 204. : to 205. An ecosystem‐level perspective of allelopathy Go to 206.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: One focus of anti-aging research is studying genetic markers associated with longevity in certain populations. [SEP] Text: DiscussionSubstantial evidence suggests that the ability of UCPs to reduce ROS and regulate energy utilization underpins the ability of UCPs to promote lifespan in various experimental models [27], [28], [29], [30], [35]. In the present study we found that variants in UCP2, UCP3, and UCP4 significantly affect an individual's chances of becoming ultra-nonagenarians. The different localization of the proteins we found associated with longevity allows us to predict the areas where the uncoupling process may play an important role in survival at very old age. UCP2 and UCP3 genes cluster on chromosome 11q13 in a region linked to lower resting metabolic rate in humans [53], which is also syntenic to a region of mouse chromosome 7 linked to hyperinsulinemia and obesity [54]. Their chromosomal location and their association with fatty acid transport across mitochondrial inner membrane and β-oxidation, support the hypothesis that, in addition to functioning as regulators of oxidative stress, both UCP2 and UCP3 can modulate cellular energy metabolism [16], [55]. While mounting evidence has documented the importance of both UCP2 and UCP3 variability in the pathophysiology of different chronic metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity [41], [56], relatively little is known of their implication in human aging and longevity. In this study we found that the Ala55Val (rs660339) of UCP2, and -55 C/T (rs1800849) and rs15763 of UCP3 were significantly associated with survival at very old age after Bonferroni correction. Ala55val SNP in exon 4 causes a conservative amino acid change that does not seem to cause a functional change in the protein. However, it has been reported that the Val/Val genotype causes a lower degree of uncoupling, an enhanced metabolic efficiency, and a lower fat oxidation than the Ala/Ala and Ala/Val genotypes [57]. In addition this genotype has been associated to higher exercise energy efficiency [58], higher risk in obesity, higher incidence of diabetes [59], [60], and a higher acute insulin response to glucose [61]. Moreover, individuals with the Val/Val genotype had greater weight loss and a higher BMI [62]. Nevertheless, other studies have produced conflicting results [63]–[66].

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: However, there was no significant change in the pre-stimulus band power, except for the significant decrement in the high-beta (13-20 Hz) band power in the vibrotactile stimulation group (p = 0. 0469). Further, there was no significant change in the scalp topography over all stimulation groups. These results are consistent with the finding in BCI performance that only low performers in the vibrotactile stimulation group achieved significantly improved BCI performance after the stimulation session. Stimulation effects on functional connectivityWe investigated the stimulation effects on brain activity through functional connectivity assessed by global PLVs during motor imagery before and after the stimulation session around sensorimotor areas, including the nine electrode channels (F3, Fz, F4, C3, Cz, C4, P3, Pz, and P4) in various frequency bands, the alpha (8-13 Hz), low-beta (13-20 Hz), and high-beta (20-30 Hz) bands. Fig. 6 represents the global PLV changes for low performers in each stimulation group during left- and right-hand motor imagery. In addition, the global PLVs before and after the stimulation session were compared using a paired Student’s t-test. Fig. 6Global PLVs before and after the stimulation. The figure represents the global PLVs averaged over the connections between the nine electrode channels’ (F3, Fz, F4, C3, Cz, C4, P3, Pz, and P4) changes after the stimulation session for low performers in each stimulation groupFull size image The average global PLVs over the motor imagery classes and frequency bands for the low performers showed no significant changes after the sham stimulation session, and yielded no consistent trends, as the global PLVs increased for some subjects and decreased for others. However, the vibrotactile stimulation and the tDCS groups showed statistically significant differences. Specifically, in the vibrotactile stimulation group, the global PLV within the alpha (8-13 Hz) band increased significantly during right-hand imagery after the vibrotactile stimulation session (p = 0. 0435), while the increment in the global PLV during left-hand imagery was not significant. Within the low-beta (13-20 Hz) band, the global PLVs increased significantly for both left- (p = 0.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Certain fungi can decompose organic matter, contributing to nutrient cycling. [SEP] Text: in Leaf Litter: A Comparison of Field and to 207. ––to 208. Intraseasonal variation in the δ15N signature of taiga trees and shrubsKnut Kielland, Bruce Barnett, and Go to 209. Contribution of micro‐organisms to the carbon dynamics in black spruce ( Picea mariana ) forest soil in to 210. Rivers and Soils: Parallels in Carbon and Go to 211. Role in Ecosystem and Go to 212. Why Mars? —Even under the condition of critical factor constraint engineering technology may permit the establishment and maintenance of an inhabitable ecosystem on to 213. Soil carbon cycling at a black spruce ( Picea mariana ) forest stand in Saskatchewan, to 214. Carbon distribution and aboveground net primary production in aspen, jack pine, and black spruce stands in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, to 215. Accumulation and turnover of carbon in organic and mineral soils of the northern study area Go to 216. Effect of fire on soil‐atmosphere exchange of methane and carbon dioxide in Canadian boreal forest sites Go to 217. Herbivores, the of Plants Species, and the Cycling of Nutrients in to 218. Mass loss measurements and statistical models to predict decomposition of leaf litter in a boreal aspen forest Go to 219. Fine-root dynamics in mixed boreal conifer - broad-leafed forest stands at different successional stages after fireL Finér, C Messier, and L De Grandpré Go to 220. 50 to 221. of Moose in Landscape Processes: Effects of Biogeography, Population Dynamics, and to 222. of to 223. 224. Litter decomposition in western red cedar and western hemlock forests on northern Vancouver Island, British. Pastor, and B. to 225. Unsolved problems of Boreal regions Go to 226. Elevated CO2 reduces field decomposition rates of Betula pendula (Roth. ) leaf litter Go to 227. Decomposition of mediterranean leaf litters: A microcosm experiment investigating relationships between decomposition rates and litter quality Go to 228. to 229. Carbon and nutrient mineralization and fungal spore composition of fecal pellets from voles in to 230.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: One focus of anti-aging research is studying genetic markers associated with longevity in certain populations. [SEP] Text: Here we show that this polymorphism also contributes to extend lifespan. Given the wide distribution of UCP2, it is likely that systemic effects on global energy metabolism and redox state underlie the association with longevity. However, UCP2 also exhibits tissue-specific regulation suggesting tissue specific physiological effects. In this regard, evidence has been provided that in the brain, liver and other tissues UCP2 functions as regulator of oxidative stress [67]–[69], in the heart as a regulator of energy availability [70], in white adipose tissue and skeletal muscle as a regulator of fatty acid metabolism [71], [72], and as a regulator of insulin dynamics in pancreatic β and α-cells [73], [74]. In this scenario, variants of UCP2 may have positive and negative effects depending on the tissue and on the fine balance between energy production/consumption and mitochondrial ROS generation. It is widely accepted that damage by free radicals to the molecules with which they come into contact are the underlying cause of aging, therefore the ability of UCP2 to attenuate steady-state levels of ROS strongly suggests an essential role in lifespan extension. Recently, Andrews proposed that UCP2 promotes longevity by shifting a cell towards fatty acid fuel utilization thus pointing to a major role of UCP2 in modulating metabolism [75]. This hypothesis is somewhat supported by Barbieri and colleagues [76] who analyzed the Ala55val polymorphism in a human cohort of elderly subjects from an Italian population. Although the authors did not find an association with longevity, they found that individuals with the Val/Val genotype had significantly higher energy expenditure parameters. Interestingly, the A-IGF1R/Asp-IRS2/Val-UCP2 allele combination was associated with a better metabolic profile, higher energy expenditure parameters, and lower mortality rates in longevity, thus indicating a contribution of Ala55val polymorphism to the regulation of energy balance and survival [76]. The latter and our finding suggest that the 55Val allele might promote longevity by conferring protection towards age-related decline of metabolic rate. It is indeed well-known that human aging is accompanied by a decrease in resting metabolic rate, the largest component of total energy expenditure, which significantly affects disability and morbidity among the elderly [24], [77]. On the other hand, long-lived subjects show a preserved metabolic profile being less prone to the metabolic deregulation normally occurring with aging [78].

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: 0275) and right-hand imagery (p = 0. 0268). The high-beta (20-30 Hz) also showed a significant increment in the global PLV during right-hand imagery (p = 0. 0094). In the tDCS group, the global PLV within the alpha band did not change significantly, while significant increments were observed in the low-beta and high-beta bands. Within the low-beta band, the global PLV during left-hand imagery increased significantly (p = 0. 015), and it increased during right-hand imagery as well, but not significantly. Within the high-beta band, the global PLVs increased significantly for both left- and right-hand imagery after the tDCS session (p = 0. 0008 and p = 0. 0254, respectively). Except for the sham group, the high performers demonstrated no statistically significant change over all stimulation groups and frequency bands. In this group, the global PLV in the low-beta band during left-hand imagery increased significantly after the sham stimulation session (p = 0. 0203). However, there was no significant change in the global PLVs in the vibrotactile stimulation and tDCS groups. Still, we note that the numbers of low and high performers were not balanced because this study divided the subjects using statistical random probability, which is the constant value rather than the median value. As a result, there were three and four high performers in the vibrotactile stimulation and tDCS group, respectively, so the statistical tests for the high performers may not be reliable. However, this study’s focus was to investigate the stimulation effects for low BCI performers with respect to BCI performance and brain activity. Therefore, we set a threshold with a constant value to divide the low and high BCI performers rather than dividing them equally. In the functional connectivity analysis, we observed a consistent trend in the results of BCI performance and pre-stimulus band power by dividing subjects into low and high BCI performers. With respect to motor imagery BCI performance, only low performers in the vibrotactile stimulation group showed significant improvement. The tDCS group also demonstrated improved BCI performance, although it was not statistically significant. The low performers in the sham stimulation group showed no change after the sham stimulation.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Fossilized plants provide insights into ancient climates and ecosystems. [SEP] Text: -19 PreprintsProtocolsVideosJournalsTools & a 10. 21203/rs. 3. rs-1487543/v1This work is licensed under a CC BY 4. 0 LicenseStatus:Under ReviewVersion 1posted 8You are reading this latest preprint versionAbstractSecondary contact zones can provide valuable evolutionary and ecological insights for elucidating patterns of divergent lineage evolution. The tertiary relict flora in can be divided into northern (“NEA”) and southern (“SEA”) regions. To date however, secondary contact zones of lineages from the NEA and SEA regions have rarely been studied. To test whether introgression occur between the ancient lineages and their evolutionary and ecological consequences, we conducted detailed genetic and ecological work within a maple hybrid zone in North China. Genetic structures of both adults and seeds populations were characterized. Spatial genetic pattern was checked along an altitude gradient. Flowering phenology was analyzed to test the existence of assortative mating. Leaf and fruit morphologies were compared between lineages. Our study confirm introgression occur between NEA and SEA lineages. Post-pollinator barriers predominantly contribute to a reduction in interlineage gene flow. Ecological niche differs between lineages along an altitudinal gradient. We clarify a long-standing classification debate with respect to Acer pictum subsp. mono and A. truncatum, though there are extensive morphological variation and overlaps between the species pair. Our study represents the first few detailed evolution and ecological investigation focusing on ancient NEA-SEA lineages hybrid zone. Acerecological niche divergenceflowering phenologymorphology variationreproductive barrierssecondary contact zoneFiguresFigure 1Figure 2Figure 3IntroductionGlobally, harbors the most diverse temperate flora, among which there are numerous Tertiary relict species 8–11. Milne and Abbott 12 have proposed that there are two independent relict species regions within East Asia, with one being centered in South/Southeast China, with extensions to the Himalayas (hereafter “SEA”) and the other in a region encompassing Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula, and the (hereafter “NEA”) (Fig. 1a).

Output: pass


Input: Claim: One focus of anti-aging research is studying genetic markers associated with longevity in certain populations. [SEP] Text: Accordingly, Rizzo and colleagues [79] reported that compared to aged subjects, healthy long-lived subjects display energy expenditure parameters that are closer to the values of healthy middle-aged adults. In a recent study we demonstrated a correlation between the activity of UCP1 and human survival, and hypothesized a slower decline of energy expenditure with age at the basis of the correlation [43]. Skeletal muscle, where UCP3 is mainly expressed, contributes considerably to the basal metabolic rate [80]. We found that carriers of the TT genotype (rs15763), and carriers of the -55 T allele (rs180084) were significantly over-represented among long-lived subjects. The rs15763 is located in the 3′UTR of the gene and has no clear functional role so far; on the contrary, the -55 T allele has been associated with a significantly increased gene expression and has been shown to positively modulate the resting metabolic rate of skeletal muscle [81], [82]. In addition, the over-expression of UCP3 in muscle cells has been shown to be associated with decreased production of ROS as well as with facilitating fatty acid oxidation [17], [83]. The physiological status of the muscle mass reflects a complex equilibrium between nutrition, metabolism and the response to stress. Aging muscle is characterized by a progressive loss of mass and a gradual increase of weakness leading to sarcopenia, a condition associated with physical disability, and with an increased risk of developing disorders such as atherosclerosis, type II diabetes and hypertension [84]. Sarcopenia is closely linked to a decrease in resting metabolic rate as well as to mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress [85]. Therefore, in the context of the proposed functions of UCP3, the physiological consequence of an increased UCP3 activity in skeletal muscle might be to slow down the age related decline of muscle performance as a result of decreased ROS production, an increased protection of mitochondria from lipid peroxidation, and better metabolic efficiency [28], [83]. Accordingly, it has been found that mild uncoupling has an impact on cellular aging in human muscles in vivo [86]. This is in keeping with our previous work, where we have shown that the hand grip strength, the most effective death predictor in the elderly, was higher in the carriers of rs1800849-T allele than in the remaining the population [42].

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: Therefore, we can infer that the repetition of the motor imagery task without external stimulation did not affect the changes in low performers’ BCI performance. Although BCI performance needs to be improved further, the vibrotactile stimulation group subjects achieved performance significantly better than random chance, 60. 69% obtained by the current test trial numbers, and statistically significant at α = 0. 05, after the stimulation session, indicating that longitudinal stimulation may improve BCI performance. High performers suffered large performance decrements after the stimulation session in all groups, although it may not be relevant because there were only three and four high performers in the vibrotactile stimulation and tDCS groups, respectively. In contrast to low performers, high performers had achieved controllable BCI performance before the stimulation session already, indicating that they can generate distinct brain activity during motor imagery, so they had a good strategy and sense of control. External stimulation may be unnecessary for these individuals, or the fatigue attributable to the task’s repetition may have affected them more than the stimulation. Another assumption is that a longer stimulation session may be necessary to modulate brain activity, as a single day session may be too short. With respect to the pre-stimulus band power, Maeder et al. found that trials with a higher SMR amplitude during the pre-stimulation period yielded better BCI performance than lower amplitude trials [37]. They suggested that ongoing SMR may play a key role in motor imagery BCI and other motor-related tasks in general. Inspired by their findings, we assumed that external stimulation could enhance the pre-stimulus band power and improve BCI performance simultaneously. In this study, we investigated the pre-stimulus (1000ms preceding the stimulus onset) band power, including alpha (8-13 Hz), low-beta (13-20 Hz), and high-beta (20-30 Hz) bands, before and after the stimulation session. We observed increased pre-stimulus alpha band power after the stimulation session across all groups of subjects, and it can be expected that cognitive and physical fatigue attributable to the long experimental tasks increased the alpha band power overall. However, statistical tests revealed a significant alpha increase only in low performers in the vibrotactile stimulation group (p = 0. 00038). This is consistent with the fact that low performers’ BCI performance improved significantly in the vibrotactile stimulation group. Moreover, as Maeder et al.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Fossilized plants provide insights into ancient climates and ecosystems. [SEP] Text: It is speculated that a climatic barrier, demarcated by an arid belt around the Plain, may mediate the divergence of SEA and NEA flora. Taxonomically, numerous SEA–NEA divergence patterns have been reported at the genus level or above 12,13. Moreover, some species (or species pair) have been reported to show a clear SEA–NEA divergence 14–19, which may provide evidence to indicate that long-standing barriers continue to play important roles in recent evolutionary processes. From the studied cases, it can be speculated that Mt. Taihang and Mt. Yanshan constitute major meeting corridors of NEA and SEA lineages 19. However, although hybridization events have been reported to occur within these putative corridors 16,20, fewer studies have been conducted to investigate the evolutionary and ecological consequences of these secondary contact zones. Accordingly, it would be of particular interest to determine whether NEA and SEA lineages actually undergo mergence, introgression, or reinforcement within these contact zones, and also whether they have ecological niche and trait divergence. Such insights would undoubtedly enhance our current understanding of the evolution of the two relict lineages, and clarify the overlooked importance of in biodiversity origin6. Characterizing genetic structures within hybrid zones is a major approach that can be used to determine the evolutionary and ecological consequences of secondary lineage contact 21. Under circumstances in which there are larger populations of parental lineages than hybrids (bimodal pattern), the two lineages can be considered largely reproductively isolated e. g. 22,23−26, whereas when most individuals are hybrids (unimodal pattern), there may be an absence of reproductive barriers between the two lineages 20,27. Moreover, when most hybrids are F1 individuals, the gene flow between lineages is weak, whereas when most hybrids are backcrosses, introgression may occur between lineages 26,28. A further important character is the width of hybrid zones, with narrower hybrid zones indicating stronger reproductive isolation between lineages 29. Moreover, differing strengths of pre-zygotic and/or post-zygotic barriers may lead to varied genetic structures within hybrid zones 30. Hence, characterizing the genetic structure and width of hybrid zones would be predicted to yield valuable insights regarding the evolutionary and ecological consequences of hybridization. China, two sister species, Acer pictum subsp. mono and A.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: One focus of anti-aging research is studying genetic markers associated with longevity in certain populations. [SEP] Text: Haplotype analysis confirmed the single SNP analyses, and highlighted the importance of the entire UCP2-UCP3 locus in human aging and longevity. In fact, one finding of interest emerging from this analysis is that the UCP2-rs659366 (-866 G/A), which was uninformative to single-locus analysis, seemed instead to be effective in modulating the aging process. In particular the rs659366G allele appeared to exert a modest beneficial effect on human survival. Indeed, the presence of the rs659366G allele reduced the negative effect of the rs659366C-rs15763C haplotype, while it increased the positive effect of the rs659366T-rs15763T haplotype. The rs659366 (-866G/A) variant changes promoter activity, affects metabolic rate and oxidative stress, and has been associated with metabolic traits in several, although not all, studies [87]. UCP4 and UCP5, together with UCP2, are known as neuronal UCPs due to their widespread distribution in the brain [6]. Neurons have a very high metabolic rate and consequently a high production of ROS. Andrews and co-workers observed that neuronal uncoupling activity leads to decreased ROS levels, a decreased Ca2+ voltage-dependent influx and increased local temperature in neuronal microenvironment [88]. We found that only the UCP4 rs9472817-GG genotype negatively impacts on the probability to attain longevity. It has been shown that UCP4 activity can induce an adaptive shift in energy metabolism, from mitochondrial respiration to glycolysis, that helps sustain neurons under conditions of metabolic and oxidative stress [89], [90]. Therefore, by decreasing free radical production and stabilizing cellular calcium homeostasis, UCPs expressed in neurons may positively influence neuronal function (synaptic transmission and plasticity) and retard the cellular deterioration associated with aged-related neurological disorders. Accordingly, the expression of UCP4 has been found significantly reduced in brains of subjects affected by Alzheimer disease [91]. Moreover, it was found that CC genotype for rs10807344 of UCP4 gene, not found to be associated in the present study with the longevity phenotype, exerts a protective effect on the occurrence of multiple sclerosis and of leukoaraiosis, a vascular demyelinization of the white matter of the brain [92], [93].

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: observed, high performers showed higher pre-stimulus alpha band power than low performers. As a result, pre-stimulus alpha plays a key role in motor imagery, and modulating the pre-stimulus alpha may help improve motor imagery BCI performance. No significant change was observed in the low- and high-beta bands, except that high performers’ pre-stimulus high-beta band power decreased in the vibrotactile stimulation group (p = 0. 0469). In addition to pre-stimulation band power, this study was inspired by previous studies that have investigated the relation between BCI performance and functional connectivity [34, 35] in an effort to determine EEG characteristics other than ERD that play a role in motor imagery, as previous studies have reported tDCS’s mixed effects on ERD [29, 32, 33]. It is unclear whether ERD is a key feature for both low and high performers, or whether they engage in a motor imagery task differently and generate different brain activity. However, it is true that event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) is an index of motor imagery used widely [4, 30]. We calculated contralateral ERD/ERS from motor imagery EEG (C3 ERD/ERS during right-hand imagery and C4 ERD/ERS during left-hand imagery) for each subgroup in the same manner used in motor imagery BCI classification. As expected, high performers showed clear ERD during motor imagery in the 8-30 Hz frequency range before the stimulation session, while only a few low performers exhibited ERD. However, we could not find a clear pattern attributable to ERD/ERS changes after the stimulation session consistent with the BCI performance increase/decrease, and no significant changes were observed in ERD/ERS averaged over subjects. Further, we observed some subjects who achieved decreased BCI performance after the stimulation session, although clear ERD was still observed in the 8-30 Hz frequency range in high performers. Conversely, we observed some subjects who achieved improved BCI performance after the stimulation session, even though there was no notable difference in ERD/ERS after the session in low performers. Based upon these results, it may be expected that performance modulation was not sufficient to elicit ERD/ERS changes.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Fossilized plants provide insights into ancient climates and ecosystems. [SEP] Text: truncatum, are reported to be sympatrically distributed and constitute the predominant components of the deciduous forests 31–33. However, there is wide debate regarding the classification of these two species. Although many scientists treat A. truncatum as a separate species, some still consider it to be a subspecies of A. pictum. In this regard, the two species are generally distinguished based on a comparison of the respective leaf and fruits morphologies. However, given the wide variability in traits, their validity in differentiating these species is questionable. According to Flora of China, the leaf base of A. truncatum is typically truncate, whereas that of A. pictum subsp. mono is generally heart-shaped. Furthermore, in A. truncatum, the fruit wing is generally as long as the seed, whereas it is considerably longer in A. pictum subsp. mono. However, we have observed marked variations in leaf and fruit morphologies, even within a single tree (personal observations). Consequently, given the dubious merits of the established morphological diagnoses, it remains unclear whether these are two reproductively compatible species or a single species characterized by a large morphological variation. By treating these trees as a species complex (hereafter “Acer”), a previous phylogeographical study identified a clear NEA–SEA nuclear genetic division, with the two lineages co-existing in 14. However, compared with other species studies in this region 16,20, only two sampled Acer populations have been found to show clear sympatric distribution at a local scale 14,18 (Fig. 1b). This thus raises the questions as to why there are so few populations comprising sympatrically distributed NEA-SEA lineages within secondary contact zones and the factors govern the spatial distribution of the two lineages. Moreover, it would be of interest to determine whether the two lineages can hybridize and, if so, the extent of hybridization, and also to establish whether the two genetic lineages correspond to the A. pictum subsp. mono and A. truncatum species division. By answering these questions, we can gain valuable insights into the evolutionary and ecological processes occurring subsequent to NEA–SEA lineage secondary contact, as well as going some way to clarifying the long-standing uncertainty regarding the taxonomic status of A. pictum subsp.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: One focus of anti-aging research is studying genetic markers associated with longevity in certain populations. [SEP] Text: Thus, it is likely that variants affecting the UCP4 function might have consequences on the aging of the nervous system, and then might have a potential impact on health and longevity. Due to the fact that rs9472817 is located in intron 8, the exact molecular mechanism responsible for the effect on survival remains to be elucidated. Although it has been reported that intronic SNPs may have an effect on gene expression [94], it is more plausible for rs9472817 to be in LD with some other functional genetic alterations affecting the function of UCP4 and this has consequences on the aging nervous system, leading to the observed detrimental effect of the GG genotype. Further studies are needed to clarify this point. In conclusion, we found that the genetic variability of UCP genes affects human longevity. This finding is in agreement with previous data showing that energy storage and expenditure have a key role in survival at old age and support the Uncoupling-to-survive hypothesis. Although this hypothesis was initially based on the possible effects of UCPs on the oxidative stress, the most recent data have emphasized the impact of UCP variations on the metabolic efficiency. It is then likely that the impact of UCPs' gene variation on longevity is due to the complexity of these functions rather than the sole effect of oxidative stress. On the other hand, due to the presence of different UCP genes, each active in specific tissues, further analyses will be necessary to understand the specific role of the uncoupling process in different tissues and, consequently, in correlation with differing metabolism and, possibly, nutrients. Supporting InformationTable S1. Genotypic and allelic frequencies in the analyzed sample by group. Author ContributionsConceived and designed the experiments: GR GP. Performed the experiments: PC. Analyzed the data: FDR AM. Wrote the paper: GR GP. Read and discussed the final form of the manuscript:. 1. Cannon B, (2004) Brown adipose tissue: function and physiological significance. 84: 277–359. View 2. (2001) Genetic and physiological analysis of the role of uncoupling proteins in human energy homeostasis. J 79: 48–56. View 3. Boss O, Samec S, Paoloni- (1997) Uncoupling protein-3: a new member of the mitochondrial carrier family with tissue-specific expression. FEBS Lett 408: 39–42. View 4.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: BCI technology can currently allow users to fully control all electronic devices by thought alone. [SEP] Text: Some low performer’s performance modulations were still within the range of low BCI performance, and high performers’ performance modulation was still within the range of high BCI performance, although it is not clear how low or high BCI performance could elicit the corresponding ERD/ERS changes. Moreover, contralateral ERD/ERS could be observed in different brain areas (channels), frequencies, and time ranges because of inter-subject variability, which makes it difficult to generalize the results of this analysis. In summary, these results demonstrated that low performers who achieved improved BCI performance showed increased global connectivity and pre-stimulus alpha band powers, while ERD/ERS changes did not show the same pattern. As discussed earlier, this may indicate that low and high performers engage in a motor imagery task differently, which induces different EEG features during the task. To achieve a more precise analysis, in-depth investigation should be conducted that focuses more on ERD/ERS with a large number of subjects, which we will investigate in our future work. With respect to the brain activity during motor imagery other than ERD, Zhang et al. found that brain network measures could improve low performers’ BCI performance, suggesting that only these features may capture their engagement in motor imagery [34]. Leewis et al. investigated the difference between low and high performers by assessing the average strength of all connections on different scales of the brain network [46, 48, 49], including the global, large, and local scales, rather than complex graph theory measures. Although our study did not consider all network scales because of a lack of available electrode channels, this study investigated the global PLVs during motor imagery calculated by averaging all connections within the electrode set (F3, Fz, F4, C3, Cz, C4, P3, Pz, and P4) that have a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We observed that with low performers, vibrotactile stimulation and tDCS increased global PLVs after the stimulation session. With vibrotactile stimulation, low performers exhibited significantly increased global PLVs in alpha (p = 0. 0435), low-beta (p = 0. 0268), and high-beta (p = 0. 0094) in right-hand imagery, and low-beta (p = 0. 0275) in left-hand imagery.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Fossilized plants provide insights into ancient climates and ecosystems. [SEP] Text: mono and A. truncatum. Reserve, located to the east of Mt. Yanshan, is one of the two previously sampled populations with sympatrically distributed NEA–SEA lineages (Fig. 1b). Among the 22 sampled individuals in the reserve, six and eight were NEA and SEA lineages, respectively, with few hybrids, which are characterized by a typical bimodal pattern 14. However, given the limited number of sampled trees and the lack of precise locations, further analyses are required to establish the genetic structure and width of the hybrid zone. In this study, based on the precise location of each individual, an extensive genetic survey of both adult and offspring populations, the monitoring of flowering phenology, and measurement of leaf and fruit morphologies, we sought to determine the evolutionary and ecological consequences of secondary contact between the NEA and SEA. Specifically, we strived to provide answers to the following questions: (1) Do the two lineages show ecological niche differentiation, and are they mixed or isolated at a local spatial scale? (2) Are the two lineages reproductively isolated and do they differ in terms of flowering phenology? (3) Do the two lineages differ with respect to leaf and fruit morphology and, if so, do these differences correspond to those described for A. pictum subsp. mono and A. truncatum in the standard of Floras? structure of the parental population On the basis of the values obtained for both lnPD and △K, we identified two distinct genetic groups within the DHS Acer population (Figure S1). Among the 70 individual trees, 72. 9% were assigned a q-value smaller than 0. 1 or larger than 0. 9, thereby signifying a typical bimodal distribution (Fig. 2b). Individuals with q values greater than 0. 9 and with consistent genetic origin from the NEA region were defined as the NEA lineage (hereafter “NEA-DHS”), whereas those with values less than 0. 1 and with consistent genetic origin from the SEA region were defined as the SEA lineage (hereafter “SEA-DHS”). Individuals with intermediate q values between 0. 1 and 0. 9 were defined as hybrid genetic types (hereafter “Hybrid-DHS”). We accordingly identified totals of 27 SEA-DHS (38.

Output: pass