Karine Durand

The development of perceptual sensitivity to second-order facial relations in children.

This study investigated childrens perceptual ability to process second-order facial relations. In total, 78 children in three age groups (7, 9, and 11 years) and 28 adults were asked to say whether the eyes were the same distance apart in two side-by-side faces. The two faces were similar on all points except the space between the eyes, which was either the same or different, with various degrees of difference. The results showed that the smallest eye spacing children were able to discriminate decreased with age. This ability was sensitive to face orientation (upright or upside-down), and this inversion effect increased with age. It is concluded here that, despite early sensitivity to configural/holistic information, the perceptual ability to process second-order relations in faces improves with age and constrains the development of the face recognition ability.

Eye-Catching Odors: Olfaction Elicits Sustained Gazing to Faces and Eyes in 4-Month-Old Infants

This study investigated whether an odor can affect infants attention to visually presented objects and whether it can selectively direct visual gaze at visual targets as a function of their meaning. Four-month-old infants (nu200a=u200a48) were exposed to their mothers body odors while their visual exploration was recorded with an eye-movement tracking system. Two groups of infants, who were assigned to either an odor condition or a control condition, looked at a scene composed of still pictures of faces and cars. As expected, infants looked longer at the faces than at the cars but this spontaneous preference for faces was significantly enhanced in presence of the odor. As expected also, when looking at the face, the infants looked longer at the eyes than at any other facial regions, but, again, they looked at the eyes significantly longer in the presence of the odor. Thus, 4-month-old infants are sensitive to the contextual effects of odors while looking at faces. This suggests that early social attention to faces is mediated by visual as well as non-visual cues.

Responsiveness of Human Neonates to the Odor of 5α-Androst-16-en-3-one: A Behavioral Paradox?

The odorous steroid 5α-androst-16-en-3-one (AND) occurs in numerous biological fluids in mammals, including man, where it is believed to play a chemocommunicative role. As AND was recently detected in milk and amniotic fluid, sensitivity and hedonic responses to this substance were assessed in human neonates. To this aim, respiration and facial expressions were recorded in 3-day-old newborns in response to aqueous solutions of AND, ranging from 500ng/mL to 0.5 fg/mL. Although analyses of respiratory rate did not lead to clear-cut results, the newborns changed their facial expressions at concentrations not detected by adults in a triangle test. Newborns displayed negative facial actions of longer duration to AND relative to an odorless control. Thus, AND may be considered to be offensive to newborns, which is a counterintuitive outcome as they are exposed to this compound in the womb (and it should therefore be familiar), in milk, and on the mothers skin surface (and it should therefore be conditioned as positive). Multiple reasons for this perceptual-behavioral paradox are discussed.

EGFR Soluble Isoforms and Their Transcripts Are Expressed in Meningiomas

The EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) is involved in the oncogenesis of many tumors. In addition to the full-length EGFR (isoform a), normal and tumor cells produce soluble EGFR isoforms (sEGFR) that lack the intracellular domain. sEGFR isoforms b, c and d are encoded by EGFR variants 2 (v2), 3 (v3) and 4 (v4) mRNA resulting from gene alternative splicing. Accordingly, the results of EGFR protein expression analysis depend on the domain targeted by the antibodies. In meningiomas, EGFR expression investigations mainly focused on EGFR isoform a. sEGFR and EGFRvIII mutant, that encodes a constitutively active truncated receptor, have not been studied. In a 69 meningiomas series, protein expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry using extracellular domain targeted antibody (ECD-Ab) and intracellular domain targeted antibody (ICD-Ab). EGFRv1 to v4 and EGFRvIII mRNAs were quantified by RT-PCR and EGFR amplification revealed by MLPA. Results were analyzed with respect to clinical data, tumor resection (Simpson grade), histological type, tumor grade, and patient outcome.Immunochemical staining was stronger with ECD-Ab than with ICD-Ab. Meningiomas expressed EGFRv1 to -v4 mRNAs but not EGFRvIII mutant. Intermediate or high ECD-Ab staining and high EGFRv1 to v4 mRNA levels were associated to a better progression free survival (PFS). PFS was also improved in women, when tumor resection was evaluated as Simpson 1 or 2, in grade I vs. grade II and III meningiomas and when Ki67 labeling index was lower than 10%.Our results suggest that, EGFR protein isoforms without ICD and their corresponding mRNA variants are expressed in meningiomas in addition to the whole isoform a. EGFRvIII was not expressed. High expression levels seem to be related to a better prognosis. These results indicate that the oncogenetic mechanisms involving the EGFR pathway in meningiomas could be different from other tumor types.

Odorization of a novel object can influence infant's exploratory behavior in unexpected ways

Although much is known about the development of object exploration during infancy, it remains to be understood whether and how olfaction can influence infants interactions with novel objects. To address these issues, sixteen infants aged 7-15 months were videotaped during two consecutive 5-min free play sessions with a scented or an unscented version of visually similar objects. Results indicate that adding an odor to a novel object influenced the infants behavior: the infants exhibited more and longer manipulations and mouthing of the unscented object than of the scented object. The differential responsiveness to the scented, relative to the unscented, object was noted after a 2-min delay following test onset, suggesting that in the present conditions infants do not immediately detect or react to the added odor. It may be concluded that infants do detect an odorant added on a novel object, show odor-based discrimination of visually similar objects, and express withdrawal of the scented, relative to the unscented, object. The implications of these findings for understanding how infants use their senses, namely their olfactory sense, in early exploratory behavior are discussed.

Epidermal growth factor receptor expression and KRAS and BRAF mutations: study of 39 sinonasal intestinal-type adenocarcinomas

Sinonasal intestinal-type adenocarcinomas (ITACs) are uncommon tumors of poor prognosis defined by their similarities to colorectal adenocarcinomas. The involvement of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway in colorectal adenocarcinoma oncogenesis is well established, and the same is expected to apply to ITACs. In a series of 39 ITACs, we investigated EGFR amplification and chromosome 7 polysomy by fluorescence in situ hybridization; EGFR, KRAS, and BRAF mutational status by polymerase chain reaction sequencing; EGFR variant messenger RNA expression by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; and EGFR protein expression by immunohistochemistry with antibodies targeting the extracellular domain, the intracellular domain, and the phosphorylated isoform. The findings were analyzed with respect to clinical data, histologic typing, and patient outcome. EGFR amplification was observed in 3 cases with a focal distribution. EGFR proteins were overexpressed in all these foci with both extracellular domain and intracellular domain antibodies, suggesting involvement of the whole receptor. Chromosome 7 polysomy was observed in 15 cases and was not associated with EGFR protein expression. EGFR, KRAS, or BRAF mutations were observed in 5 different cases. The EGFRvIII mutant was not detected. In all cases, EGFR variants were expressed. There was no association between these molecular features and patient survival. In conclusion, (1) our study revealed various EGFR expression patterns in ITACs, indicating tumor heterogeneity; (2) EGFR amplification should be distinguished from chromosome 7 polysomy; (3) fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis could be guided by immunohistochemistry; and (4) ITACs share common alterations of the EGFR pathway with colorectal adenocarcinomas, except for a lower frequency of KRAS and BRAF mutations.

Adult diffuse gliomas produce mRNA transcripts encoding EGFR isoforms lacking a tyrosine kinase domain

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene encodes four alternatively spliced mRNA, variants 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively, encoding the whole isoform a (EGFR) and truncated isoforms b, c and d, all of which lack the receptor’s intracellular domain. In addition, a mutant EGFRvIII differs from isoform a in a truncated extracellular domain. The expression pattern of these isoforms is unknown in adult diffuse gliomas. Thus, we investigated in 47 cases: i) EGFR protein expression by immunohistochemistry using an extracellular domain-recognizing antibody (Ext-Ab) and an intracellular domain specific one (Int-Ab), ii) mRNA expression of EGFRv1, -v2, -v3, -v4 and -vIII by RT-PCR and iii) EGFR amplification by fluorescent in situ hybridization. The relation of these data with histological criteria and patient outcome was studied. The immunostaining was stronger with the Ext-Ab than with the Int-Ab. EGFRv1, -v2, -v3 and -v4 mRNA expression were highly correlated. They were expressed in all tumors, with highest levels in glioblastomas. EGFRv1 strong levels and the presence of vIII mRNAs were more closely associated with Int-Ab staining. EGFR gene amplification concerned only glioblastomas and was associated with the presence of EGFRvIII and high levels of EGFRv2, -v3 and -v4 transcripts. A pejorative outcome was associated with: histology (glioblastomas), EGFR amplification, strong Int-Ab labeling and high levels of variant mRNAs. Our results indicated that the full-length EGFR and mutant EGFRvIII are not the sole EGFR isoform expressed in diffuse gliomas. This could explain discordant immunohistochemical results reported in the literature and may have therapeutic implications.

Selective attention to facial identity and emotion in children

Three age groups of participants (6–8 years, 9–11 years, adults) performed two tasks: A face recognition task and a Garner task. In the face recognition task, the participants were presented with 20 faces and then had to recognize them among 20 new faces. In the Garner tasks, the participants had to sort, as fast as possible, the photographs of two persons expressing two emotions by taking into account only one of the two dimensions (identity or emotion). When the sorting task was on one dimension, the other dimension was varied either in a correlated, a constant or an orthogonal way in distinct subsessions. The results indicated an increase in face recognition abilities. They also showed an interference of identity in the emotion-sorting task that was similar in the three age groups. Nevertheless, an interference of emotion in the identity-sorting task was significant only for the children and was more important for the youngest group. These observations suggest that the development in face recognition ability rests on the development of the ability to attend selectively to identity, without paying attention to emotional facial expression.

Study of MET protein levels and MET gene copy number in 72 sinonasal intestinal-type adenocarcinomas

Sinonasal intestinal‐type adenocarcinomas (ITACs) have a poor prognosis, and are defined on the basis of their morphological similarities to colorectal adenocarcinomas. MET signaling pathway is involved in oncogenesis in various cancers. Nothing is currently known about the role of MET in ITACs.

Affective matching of odors and facial expressions in infants: shifting patterns between 3 and 7 months

Recognition of emotional facial expressions is a crucial skill for adaptive behavior. Past research suggests that at 5 to 7 months of age, infants look longer to an unfamiliar dynamic angry/happy face which emotionally matches a vocal expression. This suggests that they can match stimulations of distinct modalities on their emotional content. In the present study, olfaction-vision matching abilities were assessed across different age groups (3, 5 and 7 months) using dynamic expressive faces (happy vs. disgusted) and distinct hedonic odor contexts (pleasant, unpleasant and control) in a visual-preference paradigm. At all ages the infants were biased toward the disgust faces. This visual bias reversed into a bias for smiling faces in the context of the pleasant odor context in the 3-month-old infants. In infants aged 5 and 7 months, no effect of the odor context appeared in the present conditions. This study highlights the role of the olfactory context in the modulation of visual behavior toward expressive faces in infants. The influence of olfaction took the form of a contingency effect in 3-month-old infants, but later evolved to vanish or to take another form that could not be evidenced in the present study.