nipy
diff --git a/‎nibabel/gifti/gifti.py
Lines changed: 5 additions & 4 deletions b/‎nibabel/gifti/gifti.py
Lines changed: 5 additions & 4 deletions
diff --git a/‎nibabel/gifti/tests/test_parse_gifti_fast.py
Lines changed: 4 additions & 3 deletions b/‎nibabel/gifti/tests/test_parse_gifti_fast.py
Lines changed: 4 additions & 3 deletions
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ class GiftiNVPairs(object):
     name : str
     value : str
     """
-    def __init__(self, name='', value=''):
+    def __init__(self, name=u'', value=u''):
         self.name = name
         self.value = value
 
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ def __init__(self,
                  coordsys=None,
                  ordering="C",
                  meta=None,
-                 ext_fname='',
+                 ext_fname=u'',
                  ext_offset=0):
         """
         Returns a shell object that cannot be saved.
@@ -518,7 +518,8 @@ def metadata(self):
 
 
 class GiftiImage(xml.XmlSerializable, FileBasedImage):
-    """
+    """ GIFTI image object
+
     The Gifti spec suggests using the following suffixes to your
     filename when saving each specific type of data:
 
@@ -554,7 +555,7 @@ class GiftiImage(xml.XmlSerializable, FileBasedImage):
     parser = None
 
     def __init__(self, header=None, extra=None, file_map=None, meta=None,
-                 labeltable=None, darrays=None, version="1.0"):
+                 labeltable=None, darrays=None, version=u"1.0"):
         super(GiftiImage, self).__init__(header=header, extra=extra,
                                          file_map=file_map)
         if darrays is None:
 
@@ -107,12 +107,13 @@ def assert_default_types(loaded):
         if defaulttype is type(None):
             continue
         loadedtype = type(getattr(loaded, attr))
-        assert loadedtype == defaulttype, \
-            "Type mismatch for attribute: {} ({!s} != {!s})".format(
-                attr, loadedtype, defaulttype)
+        assert_equal(loadedtype, defaulttype,
+                     "Type mismatch for attribute: {} ({!s} != {!s})".format(
+                         attr, loadedtype, defaulttype))
 
 
 def test_default_types():
+    # Test that variable types are same in loaded and default instances
     for fname in datafiles:
         img = load(fname)
         # GiftiImage