Understanding vulnerability for depression from a cognitive neuroscience perspective: a reappraisal of attentional factors and a new conceptual framework

We propose a framework to understand increases in vulnerability for depression after recurrent episodes that links attention processes and schema activation to negative mood states, by integrating cognitive and neurobiological findings. Depression is characterized by a mood-congruent attentional bias at later stages of information processing. The basic idea of our framework is that decreased activity in prefrontal areas, mediated by the serotonin metabolism which the HPA axis controls, is associated with an impaired attenuation of subcortical regions, resulting in prolonged activation of the amygdala in response to stressors in the environment. Reduced prefrontal control in interaction with depressogenic schemas leads to impaired ability to exert attentional inhibitory control over negative elaborative processes such as rumination, leading in turn to sustained negative affect. These elaborative processes are triggered by the activation of negative schemas after confrontation with stressors. In our framework, attentional impairments are postulated as a crucial process in explaining the increasing vulnerability after depressive episodes, linking cognitive and biological vulnerability factors. We review the empirical data on the biological factors associated with the attentional impairments and detail how they are associated with rumination and mood regulation. The aim of our framework is to stimulate translational research

Signal Detection in Older Individuals with Neurocognitive Disorder

Past research has been inconclusive when assessing older individuals and their responding on stimulus equivalence tasks. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the ability of individuals with neurocognitive disorder (NCD) to detect the presence of a stimulus when presented along with varying amounts of distracter stimuli or “noise”. In this study, two older female participants, ages 71 and 84, with NCD, were asked to participate in a computer based task designed using a visual signal detection procedure. This procedure consisted of three parts, each presented elctronically using a computer and designed to assess their ability to percieve the presense or lack of a visual stimulus, a red circle, when also presented with several distractor stimuli. It was hypothesized that the performance of older individuals would decline when presented with increased “noise” levels

Volume 5 #2 Full Issue

Volume 5 #2 Full Issu

The good practice guide to Child Aware Approaches: keeping children safe and well

Abstract: Child Aware Approaches is a grassroots initiative that engages civil society to develop local approaches, actions and initiatives to keep children safe and well, recognising that protecting children is a shared responsibility. This paper defines Child Aware Approaches, outlines the philosophies and principles underpinning this strategy, and offers case study examples of how the principles can be applied in practice. This paper is intended for service managers and practitioners working with vulnerable children and families, particularly those working in adult-focused service sectors. Key messages: There has been growing awareness that parental problems such as substance misuse, mental illness and family or domestic violence, are often related to negative outcomes for children. This paper is intended as a practical resource for organisations, practitioners and individuals working in social services (particularly services for children, families and adults) to put the needs, views and aspirations of children and young people at the heart of actions to improve child and family wellbeing and safety. The paper explains the five core philosophies and 10 key principles underpinning Child Aware Approaches, to provide practical guidance for those working with vulnerable children and families and to inform policies, procedures and practices within organisations. Each principle can be considered from multiple perspectives (e.g., at the organisational, managerial and practitioner levels). Practice considerations are provided as examples to inspire thought and discussion of the different levels at which action may be required in applying the principles of Child Aware Approaches. Case study examples highlight the diversity of innovative and creative ways in which the principles of Child Aware Approaches have been applied in a variety of settings and situations

Designing Environmental Policy: Lessons from the Regulation of Mercury Emissions

In its waning days, the Clinton administration decided that it was appropriate to regulate mercury emissions from power plants. The incoming Bush administration had to decide how best to regulate these emissions. The Bush administration offered two approaches for regulating mercury emissions from power plants. The first was to establish uniform emission rates across utilities, as mandated by the 1990 Amendments. The second was to establish a cap on mercury emissions while allowing emissions trading in order to reduce the cost of achieving the goal. This paper presents the first cost-benefit analysis of this issue that takes account of IQ benefits. We find that the benefits of the mercury regulation are likely to fall short of the cost. This assessment is based on a number of assumptions that are highly uncertain. The finding of negative net benefits is robust to many, though not all, reasonable variations in the model assumptions. We also find that the emissions trading proposal is roughly $15 billion less expensive than the command-and-control proposal.

Human Development in Eastern Europe and the CIS Since 1990

This paper examines changes in human development in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) since 1990. Three main areas of human development in the region are discussed in detail: (i) changes in wage and income inequality; (ii) trends in mortality and life expectancy; and (iii) changes in political participation and empowerment. While all countries experienced declines in income, rising unemployment and increased inequality in the 1990s, by 2008 most countries had reached or surpassed their pre-transition levels of income per capita, and unemployment and inequality had declined or at least stabilized. Life expectancy declined sharply in the former Soviet Union in the 1990s and remains at low levels. In contrast, life expectancy across Eastern Europe has risen dramatically. Political trends have also diverged across the region, with most East European countries and the Baltics now considered to be reasonably well-functioning democracies, while a number of CIS countries have lost most of the gains in democratization achieved in the 1990s and turned toward authoritarianism.wage inequality, mortality, gender, empowerment, transitional economies

Cycle of Risk: The Intersection of Poverty, Violence, and Trauma

Chicago is currently facing a devastating surge in lethal violence in addition to staggering rates of poverty across Illinois. Policymakers and community leaders are struggling with finding short- and long-term solutions to stem the violence and allow neighborhoods to heal. In the meantime, communities are fearing for their own safety and grieving over lost parents, children, friends, and leaders every day. The stakes forgetting the solutions right could not be higher. Poverty and violence often intersect, feed one another, and share root causes. Neighborhoods with high levels of violence are also characterized by high levels of poverty, lack of adequate public services and educational opportunity, poorer health outcomes, asset and income inequality, and more. The underlying socioeconomic conditions in these neighborhoods perpetuate both violence and poverty. Furthermore, trauma can result from both violence and poverty. Unaddressed trauma worsens quality of life, makes it hard to rise out of poverty by posing barriers to success at school and work, and raises the likelihood of aggressive behavior. In this way, untreated trauma—coupled with easy gun availability and other factors—feeds the cycle of poverty and violence

Non-pharmacological factors that determine drug use and addiction

Based on their pharmacological properties, psychoactive drugs are supposed to take control of the natural reward system to finally drive compulsory drug seeking and consumption. However, psychoactive drugs are not used in an arbitrary way as pure pharmacological reinforcement would suggest, but rather in a highly specific manner depending on non-pharmacological factors. While pharmacological effects of psychoactive drugs are well studied, neurobiological mechanisms of non-pharmacological factors are less well understood. Here we review the emerging neurobiological mechanisms beyond pharmacological reinforcement which determine drug effects and use frequency. Important progress was made on the understanding of how the character of an environment and social stress determine drug self-administration. This is expanded by new evidence on how behavioral alternatives and opportunities for drug instrumentalization generate different patterns of drug choice. Emerging evidence suggests that the neurobiology of non-pharmacological factors strongly determines pharmacological and behavioral drug action and may, thus, give rise for an expanded system’s approach of psychoactive drug use and addiction