Prospective memory functioning among ecstasy/polydrug users: evidence from the Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (CAMPROMPT)

Rationale: Prospective memory (PM) deficits in recreational drug users have been documented in recent years. However, the assessment of PM has largely been restricted to self-reported measures that fail to capture the distinction between event-based and time-based PM. The aim of the present study is to address this limitation. Objectives: Extending our previous research, we augmented the range laboratory measures of PM by employing the CAMPROMPT test battery to investigate the impact of illicit drug use on prospective remembering in a sample of cannabis only, ecstasy/polydrug and non-users of illicit drugs, separating event and time-based PM performance. We also administered measures of executive function and retrospective memory in order to establish whether ecstasy/polydrug deficits in PM were mediated by group differences in these processes. Results: Ecstasy/polydrug users performed significantly worse on both event and time-based prospective memory tasks in comparison to both cannabis only and non-user groups. Furthermore, it was found that across the whole sample, better retrospective memory and executive functioning was associated with superior PM performance. Nevertheless, this association did not mediate the drug-related effects that were observed. Consistent with our previous study, recreational use of cocaine was linked to PM deficits. Conclusions: PM deficits have again been found among ecstasy/polydrug users, which appear to be unrelated to group differences in executive function and retrospective memory. However, the possibility that these are attributable to cocaine use cannot be excluded

Recruitment in the sea: bacterial genes required for inducing larval settlement in a polychaete worm

Metamorphically competent larvae of the marine tubeworm Hydroides elegans can be induced to metamorphose by biofilms of the bacterium Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea strain HI1. Mutational analysis was used to identify four genes that are necessary for metamorphic induction and encode functions that may be related to cell adhesion and bacterial secretion systems. No major differences in biofilm characteristics, such as biofilm cell density, thickness, biomass and EPS biomass, were seen between biofilms composed of P. luteoviolacea (HI1) and mutants lacking one of the four genes. The analysis indicates that factors other than those relating to physical characteristics of biofilms are critical to the inductive capacity of P. luteoviolacea (HI1), and that essential inductive molecular components are missing in the non-inductive deletion-mutant strains

All-Sky Near Infrared Space Astrometry

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Hormonal signaling in cnidarians : do we understand the pathways well enough to know whether they are being disrupted?

Author Posting. © The Author, 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Ecotoxicology 16 (2007): 5-13, doi:10.1007/s10646-006-0121-1.Cnidarians occupy a key evolutionary position as basal metazoans and are ecologically important as predators, prey and structure-builders. Bioregulatory molecules (e.g., amines, peptides and steroids) have been identified in cnidarians, but cnidarian signaling pathways remain poorly characterized. Cnidarians, especially hydras, are regularly used in toxicity testing, but few studies have used cnidarians in explicit testing for signal disruption. Sublethal endpoints developed in cnidarians include budding, regeneration, gametogenesis, mucus production and larval metamorphosis. Cnidarian genomic databases, microarrays and other molecular tools are increasingly facilitating mechanistic investigation of signaling pathways and signal disruption. Elucidation of cnidarian signaling processes in a comparative context can provide insight into the evolution and diversification of metazoan bioregulation. Characterizing signaling and signal disruption in cnidarians may also provide unique opportunities for evaluating risk to valuable marine resources, such as coral reefs

Modulation of COUP-TF Expression in a Cnidarian by Ectopic Wnt Signalling and Allorecognition

COUP transcription factors are required for the regulation of gene expression underlying development, differentiation, and homeostasis. They have an evolutionarily conserved function, being a known marker for neurogenesis from cnidarians to vertebrates. A homologue of this gene was shown previously to be a neuronal and nematocyte differentiation marker in Hydra. However, COUP-TFs had not previously been studied in a colonial cnidarian.We cloned a COUP-TF homologue from the colonial marine cnidarian Hydractinia echinata. Expression of the gene was analysed during normal development, allorecognition events and ectopic Wnt activation, using in situ hybridisation and quantitative PCR. During normal Hydractinia development, the gene was first expressed in post-gastrula stages. It was undetectable in larvae, and its mRNA was present again in putative differentiating neurons and nematocytes in post-metamorphic stages. Global activation of canonical Wnt signalling in adult animals resulted in the upregulation of COUP-TF. We also monitored a strong COUP-TF upregulation in stolons undergoing allogeneic interactions. COUP-TF mRNA was most concentrated in the tissues that contacted allogeneic, non-self tissues, and decreased in a gradient away from the contact area. Interestingly, the gene was transiently upregulated during initial contact of self stolons, but dissipated rapidly following self recognition, while in non-self contacts high expression levels were maintained.We conclude that COUP-TF is likely involved in neuronal/nematocyte differentiation in a variety of contexts. This has now been shown to include allorecognition, where COUP-TF is thought to have been co-opted to mediate allorejection by recruiting stinging cells that are the effectors of cytotoxic rejection of allogeneic tissue. Our findings that Wnt activation upregulates COUP-TF expression suggests that Wnts' role in neuronal differentiation could be mediated through COUP-TF

A small satellite version of a soft x-ray polarimeter

We describe a new implementation of a broad-band soft X-ray polarimeter, substantially based on a previous design. This implementation, the Pioneer Soft X-ray Polarimeter (PiSoX) is a SmallSat, designed for NASA’s call for Astrophysics Pioneers, small missions that could be CubeSats, balloon experiments, or SmallSats. As in REDSoX, the grating arrangement is designed optimally for the purpose of polarimetry with broad-band focussing optics by matching the dispersion of the spectrometer channels to laterally graded multilayers (LGMLs). The system can achieve polarization modulation factors over 90%. For PiSoX, the optics are lightweight Si mirrors in a one-bounce parabolic configuration. High efficiency, blazed gratings from opposite sectors are oriented to disperse to a LGML forming a channel covering the wavelength range from 35 Å to 75 Å (165 - 350 eV). Upon satellite rotation, the intensities of the dispersed spectra, after reflection and polarizing by the LGMLs, give the three Stokes parameters needed to determine a source’s linear polarization fraction and orientation. The design can be extended to higher energies as LGMLs are developed further. We describe examples of the potential scientific return from instruments based on this design.Accepted manuscrip

Effects of episodic future thinking and self-projection on children’s prospective memory performance

The present study is the first to investigate the benefits of episodic future thinking (EFT) at encoding on prospective memory (PM) in preschool (age: M = 66.34 months, SD = 3.28)and primary school children (age: M = 88.36 months, SD = 3.12). A second aim was to examine if self-projection influences the possible effects of EFT instructions. PM was assessed using a standard PM paradigm in children with a picture-naming task as the ongoing activity in which the PM task was embedded. Further, two first- and two second-order ToM tasks were administered as indicator of children’s self-projection abilities. Forty-one preschoolers and 39 school-aged children were recruited. Half of the participants in each age group were instructed to use EFT as a strategy to encode the PM task, while the others received standard PM instructions. Results revealed a significant age effect, with school-aged children significantly outperforming preschoolers and a significant effect of encoding condition with overall better performance when receiving EFT instructions compared to the standard encoding condition. Even though the interaction between age group and encoding condition was not significant, planned comparisons revealed first evidence that compared to the younger age group, older children’s PM benefited more from EFT instructions during intention encoding. Moreover, results showed that although self-projection had a significant impact on PM performance, it did not influence the effects of EFT instructions. Overall, results indicate that children can use EFT encoding strategies to improve their PM performance once EFT abilities are sufficiently developed. Further, they provide first evidence that in addition to executive functions, which have already been shown to influence the development of PM across childhood, self-projection seems to be another key mechanism underlying this development

Resolving structure and function of metaorganisms through a holistic framework combining reductionist and integrative approaches

Current research highlights the importance of associated microbes in contributing to the functioning, health, and even adaptation of their animal, plant, and fungal hosts. As such, we are witnessing a shift in research that moves away from focusing on the eukaryotic host sensu stricto to research into the complex conglomerate of the host and its associated microorganisms (i.e., microbial eukaryotes, archaea, bacteria, and viruses), the so-called metaorganism, as the biological entity. While recent research supports and encourages the adoption of such an integrative view, it must be understood that microorganisms are not involved in all host processes and not all associated microorganisms are functionally important. As such, our intention here is to provide a critical review and evaluation of perspectives and limitations relevant to studying organisms in a metaorganism framework and the functional toolbox available to do so. We note that marker gene-guided approaches that primarily characterize microbial diversity are a first step in delineating associated microbes but are not sufficient to establish proof of their functional relevance. More sophisticated tools and experiments are necessary to reveal the specific functions of associated microbes. This can be accomplished through the study of metaorganisms in less complex environments, the targeted manipulation of microbial associates, or work at the mechanistic level with the toolbox available in model systems. We conclude that the metaorganism framework is a powerful new concept to help provide answers to longstanding biological questions such as the evolution and ecology of organismal complexity and the importance of organismal symbioses to ecosystem functioning. The intricacy of the metaorganism requires a holistic framework combining reductionist and integrative approaches to resolve metaorganism identities and to disclose the various roles that microorganisms play in the biology of their hosts

Scaling the state: Egypt in the third millennium BC

Discussions of the early Egyptian state suffer from a weak consideration of scale. Egyptian archaeologists derive their arguments primarily from evidence of court cemeteries, elite tombs, and monuments of royal display. The material informs the analysis of kingship, early writing, and administration but it remains obscure how the core of the early Pharaonic state was embedded in the territory it claimed to administer. This paper suggests that the relationship between centre and hinterland is key for scaling the Egyptian state of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2,700-2,200 BC). Initially, central administration imagines Egypt using models at variance with provincial practice. The end of the Old Kingdom demarcates not the collapse, but the beginning of a large-scale state characterized by the coalescence of central and local models

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