I never met Dan, but I corresponded with him electronically over

I never met Dan, but I corresponded with him electronically over many years, as did many. Recently, we co-wrote two papers, and throughout the writing he worried that he was not up on the literature and thus not a strong co-author. His contributions

as co-author were classic Yaalon — inhibitors intense, critical, and creative. Dan’s soil scholarship is remarkable for both its fundamental nature and its breadth. He is one of only three winners of the V.V. Dokuchaev Prize given by the International Union of Soil Sciences. By the end of his career, he had made signature contributions to: • deserts and desert soils — for demonstrating how soils in xeric environments are formed by dynamic pedogenetic processes, and especially from wind deposited loess While all five MLN8237 are important, two of these, polygenesis and anthropedology, are some of the most significant developments in the history of soil science itself. This In Memoriam will not detail specifics of Yaalon’s research, they are widely accessible in the literature, but rather I write about the making of Dan Yaalon the scientist. I use this opportunity to describe how his life offers much to young scientists as they consider a life’s work with the Earth’s soil. Born in Czechoslovakia in 1924, Yaalon lost his mother in Auschwitz-Birkenau, a mother who had put him on a train at age 15 bound for Denmark to save him from the Nazis. At the time his name was Hardy Berger and his idea

was to travel through Denmark and Scandinavia on his way to Mandate Palestine. After arriving in Denmark, Hardy was assigned manual farm labor, but he took up his interrupted studies selleck Thiamine-diphosphate kinase at an agricultural high school and later formally enrolled at the Agricultural University in Copenhagen. When the Nazis occupied Denmark, the Danish underground moved him and many other Jews to Sweden, where he found a job at the Agricultural University in Uppsala. Quite by accident, he was assigned to the research laboratory of Sante Mattson, a great soil chemist. Yaalon later recalled, “Working with Mattson … at research tasks

far beyond my acquired learning, I delved into advanced publications and books, working my way backwards from difficult expressions, formulas or citations, to the basics which explained what I was doing … This was a kind of backtracking detective work that branded my later activities in basic soil science.” The experience with Mattson was life altering as it firmly turned Yaalon to the science of Earth’s soil. Late in the war and shortly thereafter, he traveled to Britain with the Czech Army and to Czechoslovakia where viewing post-war desolation he wrote with grave understatement, “visits to my hometown … were not very uplifting.” By July 1948, he had completed his undergraduate B.Sc. degree, worked as an assistant in a Danish research laboratory, and finally traveled by ship for Haifa to enter the new nation of Israel then two months old.

1% [95% CI: 66 0–87 5] than in Vietnamese infants

1% [95% CI: 66.0–87.5] than in Vietnamese infants Ixazomib ic50 (97.0% [95% CI: 89.6–99.6]) (Table 1) and was accompanied by substantially lower PD3 GMT levels among Bangladeshi infants (29.1 units/mL) compared to that among Vietnamese infants (158.5 units/mL) (Table 1). In the placebo group, 24 out of 132 infants (18%) showed a ≥3-fold rise in anti-rotavirus IgA titer between pD1 and PD3, with a PD3 GMT level of 2.9 units/mL, indicating Libraries natural rotavirus infection among some infants during the first 6 months of life. Among those

infants in Bangladesh and Vietnam who received placebo, the proportion with a ≥3-fold rise in anti-rotavirus IgA titer between pD1 and PD3, or the PD3 GMT level, was comparable between countries. The SNA responses were shown to vary by the individual serotypes contained in PRV as shown in previous clinical trials of PRV [12], [13], [18], [21], [22], [23] and [24]. In the per-protocol analysis, the SNA sero-responses were highest to serotype G1, followed by G3, P1A[8], G4, and G2 in the combined population of two Asian infant subjects (Table 2). The sero-response in SNA titers ranged from 11.9% (G2) to 41.8% (G1) in Vietnam, approximately 1.5- to 2.5-fold higher than those measured in Bangladesh (Fig. 1). The higher SNA responses among infants in Vietnam compared to Bangladesh GSK126 were also noted in the comparison of PD3 SNA GMT

levels (Fig. 2). The baseline (pD1) GMT levels of the SNA to each of the individual rotavirus serotypes contained in PRV were considerably higher than those obtained in clinical trials conducted in developed countries [12], [13], [18], [21], [22], [23] and [24], ranging from 24.2 units/mL (G3) to 79.1 units/mL (P1A[8]) in Bangladesh and from 18.4 units/mL (G3) to 51.5 units/mL (P1A[8]) in Vietnam (Fig. 3). In both countries, the pD1 SNA GMT levels were highest to serotypes P1A[8] and G1, followed by serotypes G4, G2, and G3 (Fig. 3). In both the PRV and placebo groups, the pD1 SNA GMTs were higher in Bangladesh than in Vietnam against all five human rotavirus serotypes,

possibly indicating higher levels of maternal antibodies present in Bangladeshi infants than those in Vietnam (Fig. 3 and Fig. 4). By PD3 (measured approximately at 14–26 weeks of age), the SNA GMT titers declined substantially; the PD3 SNA GMTs to all 5 human serotypes much were 2- to 4-fold lower than those GMTs at pD1 (approximately 4–12 weeks of age) among the placebo subjects, and were comparable between the two countries (Fig. 4). Although the trial was designed to administer PRV concomitantly with routine EPI vaccines, including OPV and DTwP, not all subjects received each dose of PRV/placebo and OPV on the same day (Fig. 5). However, 91–92% of the Bangladeshi and Vietnamese subjects, respectively, in the immunogenicity cohort received each of the 3 doses of OPV on the same day as each of the 3 doses of PRV/placebo.

found in macaques ( Maunsell et al , 1999) In all three species,

found in macaques ( Maunsell et al., 1999). In all three species, M cells respond faster than P cells, suggesting that the division of pathways serves the same function: M cells encode spatial information and P cells encode color information. The only difference that Usrey and Reid found between owl and squirrel

monkeys was that overall, visual responses in owl monkeys were slower, which they speculated may be due to the nocturnal nature of the species. Between owl and squirrel monkeys, the receptive field surrounds were equally strong for M and P neurons. Based on these studies, it appears there are more similarities than differences between primate species in the early visual Proteases inhibitor system, although a full, detailed analysis is beyond the scope of the present work. Compared to the CRF, less is known about the presence of an ECRF in the primate LGN. Indirect inhibitory input to the thalamus has been shown by Babadi and colleagues to modulate LGN responses in cats (Babadi et al., 2010). By identifying Modulators retinal input through S-potentials, they were able to exclude the retina as the source of the inhibitory modulation they observed, suggesting a non-retinal source as a likely candidate for extra-classical suppression. This agrees with

the findings of Kaplan et al. (Kaplan et al., 1987), who described click here nonlinear contrast gain control in both the cat and monkey LGN through simultaneous S-potential and LGN single unit recordings (i.e. the retinal input could not explain the nonlinear pattern in the LGN output). Solomon, White and Martin

(Solomon et al., 2002) looked extensively at the suppressive effects of ECRF stimulation, or extra-classical inhibition (ECI), in the primate LGN and found that more was present in the M and K pathways than the P pathway. Interestingly, while the strength of ECI increased as contrast increased in the ECRF, it also showed a dependence on the contrast of the RF, supporting their speculation that the ECRF might extend through the CRF as well. They suggested LGN interneurons as a likely source L-NAME HCl of ECI. Webb and colleagues investigated the spatial distribution, both fine and coarse, of the ECRF for M and P cells (Webb et al., 2005). Their findings show that the ECRF is larger than the CRF, consistent with other reports (Alitto and Usrey, 2008 and Solomon et al., 2002), but found that the ECRF is often asymmetric, concluding that there is no systematic spatial distribution to the ECRF. Webb et al. agree with Solomon et al. in the suggestion that the ECRF has different sources than the CRF, e.g. different retinal or thalamic sources, citing the correspondence between varying spatial configurations of LGN interneuron receptive fields and the asymmetric nature of ECI to also hypothesize that thalamic interneurons are involved in the ECRF.

Daily counts by age between 1998 and 2007 were extracted from the

Daily counts by age between 1998 and 2007 were extracted from the database. The ratio of the number of reported cases to the number of symptomatic cases in the population was assumed to be 1 in 35, based on figures from a study in England and Wales looking at under-ascertainment within rotavirus surveillance data [26]. inhibitors Berkeley Madonna gives the root mean square deviation (RMSD)

between the data and the best fitting model. The deviation is the root mean square of the differences between individual data points in the dataset and the corresponding points in the model. There were 29200 (number of days x number of age groups) data points in the HPA rotavirus surveillance dataset used. We initially investigated the effects of a two-dose rotavirus mass vaccination programme with doses given Ibrutinib research buy at two and four months of age [8]. Initial assumptions were that the full vaccine course conferred a protective effect against infection and disease similar to that of a primary natural infection. Studies have shown that vaccine efficacy is comparable in breastfed infants, compared to non-breastfed infants [27], so we assumed vaccinated infants can be successfully immunized prior to waning of maternal antibodies. We assumed that 96% of individuals receiving the full two doses were successfully immunized to a natural primary

infection. This figure was consistent

with the proportion of individuals who seroconverted Selleckchem BIBF1120 following two doses of Rotarix in clinical trials [28]. Thus, 96% of individuals would be successfully immunized against a primary rotavirus infection with two doses of the vaccine and therefore bypass the first infected compartment to enter the second susceptible or recovered compartments. The proportion entering these compartments were equivalent to those entering these compartments after a natural primary infection. Using a method similar to that used by Pitzer et al. [29], this gives a vaccine efficacy after two doses of 36.5% (=0.96 × (1 − 0.62)) against infection and 64.3% (=0.96 × (1 − (0.62 × 0.25/0.47))) against any rotavirus gastroenteritis, an estimate Ketanserin similar to the 72% vaccine efficacy against any rotavirus gastroenteritis of two doses of Rotarix vaccine in a phase III European clinical trial [30]. We explored a variety of vaccine coverage levels. The long-term relative effects of direct and indirect (herd immunity) protection of the vaccine were determined. The direct effect of vaccination on the incidence of rotavirus gastroenteritis was estimated as 1 − 0.643 × vaccine coverage. This method assumes all individuals receiving the vaccine have protection from birth. Clinical trials have demonstrated a protective effect of the vaccine after a single dose.

One shoulder should always point in the direction of movement Al

One shoulder should always point in the direction of movement. Always take off and land on the balls of the feet. Don’t let knees buckle inwards. Complete course twice. 10. Bounding Bound forward, bringing the knee of the trailing leg up as high as possible and bend the opposite arm in front of the body when bounding. Land softly on the ball of the foot with a slightly bent knee. Don’t let knee buckle inwards during take-off or landing. Cover 30 metres twice. Full-size table Table options View in workspace Download as CSV The control group continued their regular warm-up exercises, which usually consists of running exercises,

dynamic and static stretching, and sprinting. The control group was not informed about the injury prevention program implemented in the intervention group and received no further instructions. The control teams were also randomly visited to observe and record BTK inhibitor cell line possible selfinitiated MAPK inhibitor preventive measures in their warm-up, specifically those included in the intervention program. All injuries occurring during the competition season were

recorded weekly in a web-based injury registration system by the paramedical staff of the team. An injury was defined as a physical complaint sustained by a participant that resulted from a soccer training session or soccer match, irrespective of the need for medical attention or time lost from soccer activities (Fuller et al 2006, van Beijsterveldt et al 2012). Information about the date of injury, diagnosis, origin, recurrence, and possible contributing factors was collected. After full recovery, defined as participation for the entire duration of a soccer training session or match (van

Beijsterveldt et al 2012), an online recovery form was completed. This recovery form recorded healthcare use, work or school absenteeism, and the purchase of secondary preventive devices (eg, tape and insoles) for the entire injury episode. Economic analysis was performed from the societal perspective, which means that all significant costs associated with the injury were considered, regardless of who pays them (Hakkaart-van Roijen et al 2011). Mean costs Resveratrol per participant and mean costs per injured participant were calculated. The economic evaluation was designed as a cost-effectiveness analysis to determine the costs of preventing an injury by means of the intervention program, compared to the control group. The Libraries incremental cost-effectiveness ratio presents the incremental costs of using the intervention program to prevent one injury, in comparison with regular warm-up. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated by dividing the difference in mean total costs per participant between the intervention group and control group by the difference in numbers of injuries between the two groups, corrected for the difference in the number of participants between the groups.

However, despite these limitations, a careful analysis of the ava

However, despite these limitations, a careful analysis of the available data can suggest a rational approach to vaccinating children with cancer in order to assure adequate protection against vaccine-preventable diseases without significantly increasing the occurrence of adverse events.

The main aim of this review is to analyse data regarding the immunogenicity, efficacy, safety and tolerability of the vaccines usually recommended in the first years of life in order to help pediatricians choose the best Capmatinib solubility dmso immunisation programme for children with cancer receiving standard-dose chemotherapy. Most children with cancer still seem to have a perfectly functioning immune system at the time of disease presentation. The concentrations of total immunoglobulins and antibodies against specific vaccine antigens are usually in the normal range [8], [9], [10] and [11]. Peripheral blood T cell levels seem

to be reduced in only a marginal number of cases: significant lymphopenia has been PLX-4720 purchase found in only a small number of patients with leukemia [12] and in a few subjects with previously untreated Hodgkin’s lymphoma [13], Burkitt’s lymphoma [14] or sarcoma [15]. This means that the protection offered by vaccines administered before the onset of cancer is maintained by humoral and cellular immunity in most children. Moreover, if a vaccine is administered between the onset of cancer and its diagnosis, a poor immune response and severe adverse reactions seem to be unlikely [12] and [15] except in the case of conditions such as Hodgkin’s or Burkitt’s disease in which the number and function

of T lymphocytes may be significantly impaired [13] and [14]. However, after the start of chemotherapy, the immune system is rapidly and significantly compromised. Most of the drugs used to treat malignancies have a negative effect on humoral and cellular immunity, and the damage to the immune system is related to both the dose and the duration of administration [1], [16] and [17]. Cyclophosphamide, PDK4 6-mercaptopurine, fludarabine and steroids seem to induce the greatest damage [1]. The most important aspect of cytotoxic antineoplastic therapy-induced immunosuppression is lymphocyte depletion. This only marginally affects NK cells but has a profound impact on circulating CD3+ and CD4+ T cells [16], whose number dwindles immediately after the start of cancer therapy and remains significantly lower than normal Modulators throughout its continuation [1]. Furthermore, T cells may undergo major functional alterations, such as a heightened susceptibility to activation-induced programmed cell death [17], or their activity may be inhibited by the suppressor factors produced by the expanded monocyte population [1]. B cells are also subject to profound depletion and, although serum IgG levels are not always significantly reduced, serum IgM and IgA levels are considerably decreased [1].

05; Table S1) Therefore, the periods with high delta power did

05; Table S1). Therefore, the periods with high delta power did

not coincide with those of TPSM expression. Moreover, even when coexpressed, there was no correlation between the phases of delta and TPSM oscillations (Table S1). Altogether, these results suggest that TPSM is distinct from delta modulation of theta power. Because previous observations suggested that theta power was correlated with running speed (Czurkó et al., 1999; DeCoteau et al., 2007; McFarland et al., 1975; Montgomery et al., 2009; Rivas et al., 1996; Shen et al., 1997; Whishaw and Vanderwolf, 1973), cyclic changes in theta Screening Library molecular weight power might result from systematic changes in running speed. Overall, we indeed observed that theta power globally correlated with running speed when selecting periods of several seconds with relatively constant running speed (p < 0.05, paired Student t test, open field, n = 9 sessions from 4 animals; maze, n = 10 sessions from 3 animals; wheel, n = 8 sessions from 3 animals; Figure 3A). But finer analysis considering instantaneous running speed

at a time scale closer to that of theta oscillations (see Experimental Procedures) revealed no systematic correlation of running speed or acceleration with theta power (p > 0.05, Pearson linear correlation; Figure 3B) or TPSM phase (p > 0.05, circular-linear correlation analysis [Berens, 2009] and Rayleigh test; Figure 3C). This is most striking for maze/track recordings, in which although our results are in agreement with the recent report that globally faster runs were Rutecarpine associated with larger average theta power estimated on a run per run basis (Hinman Venetoclax ic50 et al., 2011), visual inspection

of theta power and running speed within individual runs clearly shows a lack of correlation between these two variables (in Figure 1C, instantaneous speed displays two clear cycles of fluctuation while TPSM shows 4 cycles during the same 4 s running period). More systematic comparison of speed and theta power autocorrelograms confirmed that even though both parameters can occasionally oscillate at similar frequency, they most often show pretty different profiles (Figure 4). Altogether, these results indicate that theta power modulation by running speed or acceleration does not account for TPSM. During sleep, transient increases of theta power have been described as “phasic REM” sleep (Karashima et al., 2005; Montgomery et al., 2008; Sano et al., 1973). Sleep-related TPSM is rather related to tonic REM because (1) it was not associated with the increased theta frequency and the increased power of high-frequency components which accompany phasic REM, (2) it could occur in a continuous manner during several seconds, and (3) it was expressed throughout REM sleep (see Experimental Procedures; n = 4 animals), while phasic REM episodes typically last for about one second and represent around 4% of REM sleep (Montgomery et al.

g , a scene containing a dog must also contain a canine) Finally

g., a scene containing a dog must also contain a canine). Finally, we used regularized linear regression (see Experimental Procedures for details; Kay et al., 2008; Mitchell et al., 2008; Naselaris et al., 2009; Nishimoto et al., 2011) to characterize the response FG-4592 in vitro of each voxel to each of the 1,705 object and action categories (Figure 1). The linear regression procedure produced a set of

1,705 model weights for each individual voxel, reflecting how each object and action category influences BOLD responses in each voxel. Our modeling procedure produces detailed information about the representation of categories in each individual voxel in the brain. Figure 2A shows the category selectivity for one voxel located in the left parahippocampal place area (PPA) of subject A.V. The model for this voxel shows that

BOLD responses are strongly enhanced by categories associated with man-made objects and structures (e.g., “building,” “road,” “vehicle,” and “furniture”), weakly enhanced by categories associated with outdoor scenes (e.g., “hill,” “grassland,” and “geological formation”) GSK1349572 cost and humans (e.g., “person” and “athlete”), and weakly suppressed by nonhuman biological categories (e.g., “body parts” and “birds”). This result is consistent with previous reports that PPA most strongly represents information about outdoor scenes and buildings (Epstein and Kanwisher, 1998). Figure 2B shows category selectivity for a second voxel located in the right precuneus (PrCu) of subject A.V. The model shows that BOLD responses are strongly enhanced by categories associated with social settings (e.g., people, communication verbs, and rooms) and suppressed by many other categories (e.g., “building,” “city,” “geological formation,” and “atmospheric phenomenon”). This result is consistent with an earlier finding that PrCu is involved in processing social scenes (Iacoboni et al., 2004). We used principal components analysis (PCA) to recover a semantic space from the category model weights in each subject. PCA ensures that categories that are represented by similar sets of cortical voxels will project to nearby points in the estimated semantic

space, while categories that are Mannose-binding protein-associated serine protease represented very differently will project to different points in the space. To maximize the quality of the estimated space, we included only voxels that were significantly predicted (p < 0.05, uncorrected) by the category model (see Experimental Procedures for details). Because humans can perceive thousands of categories of objects and actions, the true semantic space underlying category representation in the brain probably has many dimensions. However, given the limitations of fMRI and a finite stimulus set, we expect that we will only be able to recover the first few dimensions of the semantic space for each individual brain and fewer still dimensions that are shared across individuals.

To determine whether knockdown of cadherin-9 selectively affects

To determine whether knockdown of cadherin-9 selectively affects DG-CA3 synapse formation, we transfected hippocampal neurons with scrambled control or cadherin-9 shRNA, and examined the formation of DG and CA synapses onto different

types of neurons using find more the SPO assay. Knockdown of cadherin-9 led to significant reductions in the total number of DG synapses and the number of extra-large DG synapses onto CA3 neurons but did not affect the number of CA synapses onto the same cells (Figures 6D–6G), indicating that cadherin-9 regulates a specific class of synapses. In addition, DG synapses that remained on knockdown CA3 neurons were significantly reduced in size compared to controls (Figure 6H), suggesting that cadherin-9 might also control the growth of DG-CA3 synapses. These defects were rescued by coexpression

of shRNA-insensitive cadherin-9, which indicates that the observed effects are due to specific loss of cadherin-9 (Figures 6D–6H). As a further test of specificity, we examined the effects of cadherin-9 shRNA on CA1 neurons, which do not express cadherin-9 (Figure 5A). We found no significant effect of cadherin-9 shRNA expression on the formation of synapses onto Selleck GSK126 CA1 neurons, suggesting that the cadherin-9 shRNA does not cause general synaptic defects (Figures 6E–6H). These results indicate that cadherin-9 plays a specific role in regulating DG synapses onto CA3 neurons, and does not regulate non-DG synapses. Because many DG neurons express cadherin-9, and there are some ectopic DG-DG synapses in culture, we determined if the number of DG-DG synapses would be affected by downregulation of cadherin-9. Expression of cadherin-9 shRNA led to a decrease in the number of DG-DG synapses, suggesting that ectopic synapse formation between DG neurons in culture is driven, at least in part, by cadherin-9-mediated interactions (Figures 6E–6G). We also overexpressed cadherin-9 in cultured hippocampal neurons to determine

whether it is sufficient to induce synapses and found that overexpression does not increase DG synapses on any cell type in culture (Figures 6E–6H). This is consistent with previous studies on N-cadherin, which was also shown to be insufficient to induce synapses or spines (Mendez et al., 2010, Scheiffele et al., 2000 and Togashi et al., 2002). Together, these observations indicate that cadherin-9 regulates the formation of synapses when it is expressed both in the pre- and postsynaptic neuron, supporting a mode of action via homophilic binding. To determine if endogenous cadherin-9 is required for the differentiation of DG-CA3 mossy fiber synapses in vivo, we generated lentiviruses that express cadherin-9 shRNA under control of the human H1 promoter and GFP under control of the rat synapsin promoter. Rat DG neurons were infected with control or cadherin-9 shRNA lentivirus at P5 and assessed by immunofluorescence at P16 (Figure 7A).

Animal experiments were conducted following protocols approved by

Animal experiments were conducted following protocols approved by Administrative Panel on Laboratory Animal Care at Stanford University. Mice were anesthetized

with tribromoethanol and perfused with 10 ml of PBS, followed by 50 ml of fixative (4% paraformaldehyde diluted in PBS). The brains were removed and postfixed for 3 hr at room temperature and then immersed in 30% sucrose solution overnight before being sectioned at Selleck BMS-387032 30 μm thickness on a cryostat. The free-floating brain sections were collected in PBS and counterstained with DAPI. The brain sections were mounted onto glass slides with Vectashield mounting medium (Vector Laboratories). Micoscopic photos were taken with a Leica DM IRE2 microscope. Photos taken with 10× objective were tiled to generate the image of the whole brain sections. Cultured neurons

were homogenized in lysis buffer (1% SDS, 10 mM Tris), mixed with 6× loading buffer (0.5 M tris, 60% glycerol, 10% SDS, 10% Beta-Mercaptoethanol, and 0.01% bromphenol blue), and denatured at 100°C for 20 min. After centrifugation at 14,000 rpm for 30 min, the supernatants were loaded for SDS-PAGE and immunoblotted with standard chemiluminescence protocols. The primary antibodies used in the study include: anti-syt1 (CL41.1), anti-syb2 (CL69.1), and Synx1 (U6251). Blots were digitized and quantified with National Institutes of Health image software. All band intensities were normalized

to that of control samples. learn more We thank Dr. Mark Kay (Stanford University) and Dr. Eric J. Nestler (Mount Sinai Medical School) for AAV vectors and AAV preparation Endonuclease protocols. This work was supported by NIMH Conte Center project number 5 P50 MH086403-03. “
“The range of natural signals exceeds the dynamic range of neurons. As a result, neural circuits adapt so as to more efficiently encode the recent history of inputs. One widespread example of this process occurs in response to a change in the magnitude of fluctuations, or the variance of a sensory input (Laughlin, 1989). Variance adaptation occurs in many sensory systems, including the vertebrate retina and visual cortex, the fly visual system, and the avian auditory forebrain (Fairhall et al., 2001, Nagel and Doupe, 2006, Ohzawa et al., 1985, Shapley and Victor, 1978 and Smirnakis et al., 1997). When the stimulus environment changes from a low to high variance, temporal filtering quickly accelerates, sensitivity decreases, and the average response increases. (Baccus and Meister, 2002, Chander and Chichilnisky, 2001 and Kim and Rieke, 2001). When the environment maintains a high variance, slow changes occur over 1–10 s, comprised mostly of a homeostatic decay in the average response that opposes the fast change in baseline. (Baccus and Meister, 2002, Fairhall et al., 2001 and Nagel and Doupe, 2006). Upon a decrease in contrast, all these changes reverse direction.