Effects of oral contraceptives on daily self-ratings of positive and negative affect

The present study examined whether duration of oral contraceptive (OC) use could account for the inconsistent findings of previous studies on the relationship between affect and OC use. This study was the first to examine positive affect variability and to directly compare early, late, and never users of OCs, The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) were filled out daily for 35 days by 9 6 female university students (17 first-time OC users, 34 long-time users, and 45 neverusers). Despite predictions to the contrary, no group differences were found for negative affect, positive affect, or affect variability. However, exploratory analyses suggested that OC type (monophasic vs. triphasic) has a differential effect on positive affect variability across the menstrual cycle for first-time and long-time OC users. Neither somatic symptoms or somatic symptom variability could entirely account for these differences. The overall findings suggest that while no common change in affect or affect variability occurs in all women taking OCs, OC type (a pharmacological factor), duration of use, and individual difference variables may warrant further exploration as mediating variables in OC-related affect changes. Finally, while the main results found no support for the role of the “survivor effect" as an artifactual confound, the results of an exploratory comparison suggest that for specific groups of women, it may be a confound

Effects of hormones on symmetry detection and perceptions of facial attractiveness /Oinonen, Kirsten. --

Research on the perception of facial attractiveness suggests hormonal involvement in mate selection mechanisms. Facial symmetry is one of four factors that is reliably associated with facial attractiveness, and there is evidence that people with symmetrical bodies and faces have adaptive characteristics (e.g., higher fertility, physical fitness, psychological health, and the potential to provide sexual pleasure). During the preovulatory phase of their menstrual cycle when conception is most likely, women's bodies are more symmetrical, and women show a visual preference for males with darker skin and more masculine facial features, as well as an olfactory preference for males with more symmetrical bodies. Previous research has not examined whether women also show a preovulatory phase advantage in the visual detection of facial symmetry. In the present study, 45 women performed symmetry detection tests and rated the attractiveness of male faces that varied in symmetry level (low, normal, high, and perfect) at two of three phases in their menstrual cycle (menstrual, preovulatory, luteal). Although there was no evidence to support the hypotheses that women are better at detecting, and show a preference for, symmetrical male faces during the preovulatory phase, there was evidence of an activational effect of hormones on facial symmetry detection and mate selection. The ability to detect facial symmetry was highest in the menstrual phase of the cycle and women rated all faces as sexier during the preovulatory phase, compared to the rest of the cycle. The findings were interpreted in the context of asymmetric hemispheric activation and evolutionary mate selection theory. Also noteworthy was a dose-effect association between alcohol consumption and decreased visuoperceptual learning. The present Endings provide strong support for a role of gonadal steroids in modulating both perceptual abilities and mate selection criteria

Psychometric Properties of a DSM-5-Based Screening Tool for Women's Perceptions of Premenstrual Symptoms

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Sage in Psychological reports on Feb. 14, 2021, available online: https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294120979696A premenstrual screening tool is needed when time constraints and attrition limit the feasibility of daily ratings. The present study examines the utility of a novel, 33-item, retrospective, dimensional, DSM-5-based, screening measure developed to explore women’s perceptions of premenstrual symptomatology. This is the first measure that examines perception of impairment for each DSM-5 symptom and assesses the frequency criterion. Participants (N = 331) reported symptoms ranging from none to a level consistent with a provisional DSM-5 diagnosis of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). Initial psychometric properties indicated a five-factor structure: (1) affective symptoms; (2) fatigue, sleep, and anhedonia; (3) symptom frequency; (4) impairment and severity of appetite change and physical symptoms; and (5) difficulty concentrating. The total symptom scale and the frequency, severity, and impairment subscales demonstrated high internal consistency. Strong correlations between this dimensional measure and other retrospective and prospective premenstrual symptom measures suggest strong convergent, concurrent, and predictive validity. Premenstrual symptom groups created using this screening measure (minimal, mild/moderate, severe) differed on other retrospective and prospective measures of premenstrual symptoms. There was evidence of divergent validity and lack of an acquiescence bias. We also report data describing women’s perceptions of the frequency, level of impairment, and level of severity for each DSM-5 PMDD symptom over a 12-month period and discuss implications for future research on premenstrual phenomenology. Initial evidence for the reliability and construct validity of this symptom screening measure suggests potential value for assessing premenstrual symptomatology in research and practice

Emotional memory in oral contraceptive users : Negative stimuli are more forgettable

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Sage in Psychological reports on June 19, 2019, available online: https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294119856554Recent research suggests oral contraceptive use is associated with altered memory for emotional story information, blunted stress hormone responses to emotional stimuli, and altered structure or function of the amygdala and hippocampus. This study examined the extent to which oral contraceptives influence relative recall of: (a) the spatial location of emotional versus neutral stimuli, and (b) positive versus negative emotional stimuli. Participants (58 oral contraceptive users, 40 nonusers, and 37 men) completed an emotional spatial memory test and were evaluated on short-term recall and long-term (one week) recall. There was no evidence for group differences in recall of the locations of emotional versus neutral stimuli. However, oral contraceptive users remembered relatively more positive than negative items compared to nonusers and men on the spatial memory test. This effect was driven by oral contraceptive users recalling fewer negative items than free-cyclers. The results indicate that hormonal contraceptives may decrease immediate recall of negative emotional stimuli

Ground-state spin of 59^{59}Mn

Beta decay of $^{59}$Mn has been studied at PSB-ISOLDE, CERN. The intense and pure Mn beam was produced using the Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source (RILIS). Based on the measured $\beta$-decay rates the ground-state spin and parity are proposed to be $J^{\pi}$ = 5/2$^{-}$. This result is consistent with the systematic trend of the odd-A Mn nuclei and extends the systematics one step further towards the neutron drip line

Structure discovery in Atomic Force Microscopy imaging of ice

The interaction of water with surfaces is crucially important in a wide range of natural and technological settings. In particular, at low temperatures, unveiling the atomistic structure of adsorbed water clusters would provide valuable data for understanding the ice nucleation process. Using high-resolution Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy, several studies have demonstrated the presence of water pentamers, hexamers, heptamers (and of their combinations) on a variety of metallic surfaces, as well the initial stages of 2D ice growth on an insulating surface. However, in all these cases, the observed structures were completely flat, providing a relatively straightforward path to interpretation. Here, we present high-resolution AFM measurements of several new water clusters on Au(111) and Cu(111), whose understanding presents significant challenges, due to both their highly 3D configuration and to their large size. For each of them, we use a combination of machine learning, atomistic modelling with neural network potentials and statistical sampling to propose an underlying atomic structure, finally comparing its AFM simulated images to the experimental ones. These results provide new insights into the early phases of ice formation, which is a ubiquitous phenomenon ranging from biology to astrophysics

Automated structure discovery in atomic force microscopy

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) with molecule-functionalized tips has emerged as the primary experimental technique for probing the atomic structure of organic molecules on surfaces. Most experiments have been limited to nearly planar aromatic molecules due to difficulties with interpretation of highly distorted AFM images originating from nonplanar molecules. Here, we develop a deep learning infrastructure that matches a set of AFM images with a unique descriptor characterizing the molecular configuration, allowing us to predict the molecular structure directly. We apply this methodology to resolve several distinct adsorption configurations of 1S-camphor on Cu(111) based on low-temperature AFM measurements. This approach will open the door to applying high-resolution AFM to a large variety of systems, for which routine atomic and chemical structural resolution on the level of individual objects/molecules would be a major breakthrough

Beta-decay in odd-A and even-even proton-rich Kr isotopes

Beta-decay properties of proton-rich odd-A and even-even Krypton isotopes are studied in the framework of a deformed selfconsistent Hartree-Fock calculation with density-dependent Skyrme forces, including pairing correlations between like nucleons in BCS approximation. Residual spin-isospin interactions are consistently included in the particle-hole and particle-particle channels and treated in Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation. The similarities and differences in the treatment of even-even and odd-A nuclei are stressed. Comparison to available experimental information is done for Gamow-Teller strength distributions, summed strengths, and half-lives. The dependence of these observables on deformation is particularly emphasized in a search for signatures of the shape of the parent nucleus.Comment: 29 pages, 16 figure

Q-value of the superallowed beta decay of Ga-62

Masses of the radioactive isotopes 62Ga, 62Zn and 62Cu have been measured at the JYFLTRAP facility with a relative precision of better than 18 ppb. A Q_EC value of (9181.07 +- 0.54) keV for the superallowed decay of 62Ga is obtained from the measured cyclotron frequency ratios of 62Ga-62Zn, 62Ga-62Ni and 62Zn-62Ni ions. The resulting Ft-value supports the validity of the conserved vector current hypothesis (CVC). The mass excess values measured were (-51986.5 +-1.0) keV for 62Ga, (-61167.9 +- 0.9) keV for 62Zn and (-62787.2 +- 0.9) keV for 62Cu.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Phys. Lett. B. v2: added acknowledgement