There is a growing appreciation that experience with odors may strongly influence their perception. To further investigate this, the responses of 40 Japanese and 44 age-matched German women to everyday odorants were compared. Subjects were presented with 18 stimuli in squeeze bottles and asked to rate them according to intensity, familiarity, pleasantness and edibility, to describe associations elicited by them and, if possible, to name them. One-third of the odorants were presumed to be familiar to the Japanese only, one-third to the Germans and one-third to both populations. Significant differences were found between the two populations on all measures. Better performance by the Japanese in providing appropriate descriptors for 'Japanese' odorants and by the Germans for 'European' odorants supported the pre-selection of stimuli as culture-typical. Particularly clear differences between the two populations were found in pleasantness ratings. In general, a positive relationship was found between pleasantness and judgement of stimuli as edible, suggesting that culture-specific experiences-particularly of foods-may significantly influence odor perception. Somewhat unexpectedly, significant differences were also found between the two populations in intensity ratings for some odorants. These differences did not seem simply to be artefacts of the test situation and raise the possibility that experience may even influence such basic aspects of odor perception as stimulus intensity.

In this study, 40 Japanese, 44 German and 39 Mexican women were presented with 18 everyday odorants. They were asked to rate them for intensity on a six-point scale from not detectable to very strong, for pleasantness on an 11-point scale from -5, to neutral at 0, to +5, and for familiarity on a six-point scale from completely unknown to extremely familiar. Consistent positive correlations were found between paired rating scores for the three measures, and although they were not particularly strong (r(s) range, 0.19-0.60), for most odorants all three correlations were significant. Similar results were obtained whether the data were analyzed on an individual or a national basis. Most notable were the consistent positive correlations between perceived intensity and ratings of familiarity and hedonic strength. It is suggested that the perceived intensity of the odorants depended not only on stimulus concentration but probably also on experience-dependent factors.

Background-Therapeutic angiogenesis is thought to be beneficial for serious ischemic diseases. This investigation was designed to establish a simple and practical procedure applicable to therapeutic angiogenesis. Methods and Results-When cultured skeletal muscle cells were electrically stimulated at a voltage that did not cause their contraction, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA was augmented at an optimal-frequency stimulation. This increase of VEGF mRNA was derived primarily from transcriptional activation. Electrical stimulation increased the secretion of VEGF protein into the medium. This conditioned medium then augmented the growth of endothelial cells. The effect of electrical stimulation was further confirmed in a rat model of hindlimb ischemia. The tibialis anterior muscle in the ischemic limb was electrically stimulated. The frequency of stimulation was 50 Hz and strength was 0.1 V, which was far below the threshold for muscle contraction. After a 5-day stimulation, there was a significant increase in blood flow within the muscle. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that VEGF protein was synthesized and capillary density was significantly increased in the stimulated muscle. Rats tolerated this procedure very well, and there was no muscle contraction, muscle injury, or restriction in movement. Conclusions-We propose this procedure as a simple and practical method of therapeutic angiogenesis. (Circulation.1999;99:2682-2687.)

called right DPN-pairs. Classication of K3 surfaces with non-symplectic involution ðX; Þ is equivalent to classication of right DPN-pairs A & Y .In this paper we consider a description of connected components of moduli of real K3 surfaces with non-symplectic involution and real right DPN-pairs. Equivalently, we consider the classication of triplets ðX; ; 'Þ where X is a K3 surface, is its holomorphic non-symplectic involution and ' is its antiholomorphic involution. The involutions and ' must commute: ' ¼ '. Equivalently, we consider the classication of real right DPN-pairs A & Y with an anti-holomorphic involution of Y where ðAÞ ¼ A.This classication depends on the denition of degeneration of ðX; ; 'Þ. We choose one of the weakest types of degeneration (that is, giving one of the richest discriminants). Geometrically (over C) this is equivalent to the appearance of an exceptional curve F with square À2 on the quotient Y . Over R this curve should be either real, ðF Þ ¼ F , or such that ðF Þ Á F 6 1. See x 2.1.We mention that our denition of degeneration is weaker (it gives a much richer discriminant) than the one used in [4] for the description of connected components of moduli of real Enriques surfaces. Thus, even for real Enriques surfaces, our results are stronger (more exact). For example, one of the dierences of our results from [4] is in the appearance of some exactly-dened group G of equivalences.On the one hand, our type of degeneration gives a rich discriminant. For example, it is enough to describe connected components of moduli of real bidegree ð4; 4Þ curves on the hyperboloid which was one of the main purposes of this paper. A degeneration of this case gives non-singular curves A 2 jÀ2K F 2 j which we must exclude. Here we denote as F n , with n > 0, a relatively minimal rational surface with the section s having s 2 ¼ Àn. See Proposition 4. On the other hand, using the Global Torelli Theorem [25] and epimorphicity of the Torelli map [14] for K3 surfaces we prove that connected components of moduli are described by suciently simple invariants which are isomorphism classes of integral involutions with conditions. They are triplets ðL; '; ðS; ÞÞ. Here L ¼ H 2 ðX; ZÞ is the even unimodular homology lattice with the action of ', S ¼ L and ¼ 'jS. The pair ðS; Þ determines the type of real K3 surfaces with non-symplectic involution ðX; ; 'Þ whose connected components of moduli we want to describe. See Theorems 1, 6 and 7. All genus invariants of integral involutions with condition were classied in [22]. See x 2.3 for more about these invariants. They give very universal invariants which work in all the cases that we consider. This paper can be considered as one of the applications of this classication and the invariants that it uses.We mention that a similar arithmetic description of connected components of moduli had already been obtained in [20] for real polarized K3 surfaces. A similar result was obtained in [4] for real Enriques surfaces with the much stronger type of degeneration used in [4] (or with ...

The odor identification is strongly influenced by the social and cultural factors; therefore, the odorants used in a smell identification test should be familiar to the test population. In addition, the device used in the test is desired to be simply handled and retain odor quality over time. We developed a novel stick-type odor presentation kit that consists of microcapsules of odorant incorporated into stable cream and the smell identification test using it. Thirteen odorants were selected to be familiar to the test population. In the test, we used two identification methods: one was a modified forced-choice paradigm with "detectable but not recognizable" and "no smell detected" added as choices and the other was a two-step identification paradigm where the participant first selected one of eight odor categories and then chose the specific odor name from the selected category. We verified the performance of the odor stick and the test by stability, using a test-retest paradigm, comparing this test with another smell test, and testing Japanese people from a range of age groups. We conclude that this kit is a useful odor presentation device, and the test using it works effectively as a smell identification test.

It is important to learn about changes in both taste and odor perceptions with increasing age, because the taste of foods we encounter in our daily life is strongly affected by their smell. This study discusses the difference in qualitative taste and odor discrimination between the elderly and the young. Tastants and odorants used in this study were presented not as single stimuli but as a taste mixture (sucrose and tartaric acid) and an odor mixture (beta-phenylethyl alcohol and gamma-undecalactone). The results showed that quality discrimination abilities of the elderly subjects for both taste and odor were significantly lower than those of the young subjects, indicating a decline in quality discrimination abilities related to age. Also, a moderate but significant correlation was observed between the taste discrimination ability and the odor discrimination ability. We measured thresholds for single-taste and odor components in mixtures and compared them between the elderly and the young to investigate the cause for these findings.

Gustatory activated regions in the cerebral cortex have not been identified precisely in humans. In this study we recorded the magnetic fields from the brain in response to two tastants, 1 M NaCl and 3 mM saccharin. We estimated the location of areas activated sequentially after the onset of stimulation with magnetic source imaging. We investigated the primary gustatory area (area G) precisely, and found it at the transition between the parietal operculum and the insular cortex. The central sulcus was activated less frequently than area G but with almost the same latency in cases of NaCl stimulation. Following area G, we found activation in several cortical regions, e.g. both the frontal operculum and the anterior part of the insula, the hippocampus, the parahippocampal gyrus and the superior temporal sulcus.

We previously reported that a novel combretastatin A-4 derivative, AC7700, has remarkable antitumour effects because of an irreversible stasis of tumour blood flow (TBF) and subsequent loss of nutrient supply to tumour tissue. Since early 2002, under the new designation AVE8062, AC7700 has undergone clinical trials in Europe and the US. Questions remain, however, concerning how AC7700 blocks TBF and why the TBF stasis does not recover. In this study, using a rat tumour LY80, a variant of Yoshida sarcoma, we examined whether TBF cessation after AC7700 administration is due to a direct action of the agent on tumour blood vessels. We constructed electrodes that can drop a small quantity of the drug solution directly at the site of blood flow measurement and inserted them subcutaneously and into the tumour. We compared the blood flow responses of normal vessels and tumour vessels after administration of 10-ml doses of various concentrations (0.2, 1, 10, and 50 mg ml À1 ) of the AC7700 solution. In addition, we assessed TBF stasis after i.v. and intra-arterial 10 mg kg À1 AC7700 administration in an LY80-induced kidney tumour. To determine why the TBF stasis is irreversible, we observed AC7700-induced changes in host arterioles and the tumour vascular network of the Sato lung carcinoma using a vital microscopic rat transparent chamber. Since an increase in tumour interstitial fluid pressure brings about a decrease in TBF, we also measured 10 mg kg À1 AC7700-induced changes in this pressure. The sensitivity of the blood flow response after intratumoral application of AC7700 was markedly higher in normal vessels relative to tumour vessels. Intra-arterial administration of AC7700 did not have stronger effects on TBF stasis than did i.v. administration. Intravital microscopy showed that AC7700 induced a powerful and long-lasting constriction of host arterioles, so that complete stasis of blood flow occurred in downstream vessels, which supplied blood to tumours. Owing to this stasis, the lumens of numerous tumour vessels narrowed or completely disappeared, and numerous erythrocytes stagnated in drainage vessels of the tumour vascular network. Haemolysis of these erythrocytes occurred after 2 -3 h, resulting in complete thrombosis. There was no indication of reperfusion in vessels showing haemolysis. This haemolysis is thought to be the main cause for the irreversibility of TBF stasis. Since the tumour interstitial fluid pressure decreased after i.v. AC7700 administration, the possibility of stasis of TBF being caused by tumour vascular compression was excluded. All these results strongly suggest that the main target of AC7700 is host arterioles and that the stasis of TBF induced by AC7700 is not triggered by a direct action of the drug on tumour vessels.