The developmental trajectory of attentional orienting to socio-biological cues.

It has been proposed that the orienting of attention in the same direction as another’s point of gaze relies on innate brain mechanisms which are present from birth, but direct evidence relating to the influence of eye gaze cues on attentional orienting in young children is limited. In two experiments, 137 children aged 3–10 years old performed an adapted pro-saccade task with centrally presented uninformative eye gaze, finger pointing and arrow pre-cues which were either congruent or incongruent with the direction of target presentations. When the central cue overlapped with presentation of the peripheral target (Experiment 1), children up to 5 years old had difficulty disengaging fixation from central fixation in order to saccade to the target. This effect was found to be particularly marked for eye gaze cues. When central cues were extinguished simultaneously with peripheral target onset (Experiment 2), this effect was greatly reduced. In both experiments finger pointing cues (image of pointing index finger presented at fixation) exerted a strong influence on saccade reaction time to the peripheral stimulus for the youngest group of children (<5 years). Overall the results suggest that although young children are strongly engaged by centrally presented eye gaze cues, the directional influence of such cues on overt attentional orienting is only present in older children, meaning that the effect is unlikely to be dependent upon an innate brain module. Instead, the results are consistent with the existence of stimulus–response associations which develop with age and environmental experience

Scanpath analysis of expertise and culture in teacher gaze in real-world classrooms

Humans are born to learn by understanding where adults look. This is likely to extend into the classroom, making teacher gaze an important topic for study. Expert teacher gaze has mainly been investigated in the laboratory, and has focused mostly on one cognitive process: teacher attentional (i.e., information-seeking) gaze. No known research has made direct cultural comparisons of teacher gaze or successfully found expert–novice differences outside Western settings. Accordingly, we conducted a real-world study of expert teacher gaze across two cultural settings, exploring communicative (i.e., information-giving) as well as attentional gaze. Forty secondary school teachers wore eye-tracking glasses, with 20 teachers (10 expert; 10 novice) from the UK and 20 teachers (10 expert; 10 novice) from Hong Kong. We used a novel eye-tracking scanpath analysis to ascertain the importance of expertise and culture, individually and as a combination. Attentional teacher scanpaths were significantly more similar within than across expertise and expertise + culture sub-groups; communicative scanpaths were significantly more similar within than across expertise and culture. Detailed analysis suggests that (1) expert teachers refer back to students constantly through focused gaze during both attentional and communicative gaze and that (2) expert teachers in Hong Kong scan students more than experts do in the UK

Current quality of life and its determinants among opiate-dependent individuals five years after starting methadone treatment

This study explores the current QoL of opiate-dependent individuals who started outpatient methadone treatment at least 5 years ago and assesses the influence of demographic, psychosocial, drug and health-related variables on individuals' QoL. Participants (n = 159) were interviewed about their current QoL, psychological distress and severity of drug-related problems, using the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile, the Brief Symptom Inventory and the Addiction Severity Index. Potential determinants of QoL were assessed in a multiple linear regression analysis. Five years after the start of methadone treatment, opiate-dependent individuals report low QoL scores on various domains. No association was found between drug-related variables and QoL, but a significant negative impact of psychological distress was identified. Severity of psychological distress, taking medication for psychological problems and the inability to change one's living situation were associated with lower QoL. Having at least one good friend and a structured daily activity had a significant, positive impact on QoL. Opiate-dependent individuals' QoL is mainly determined by their psychological well-being and a number of psychosocial variables. These findings highlight the importance of a holistic approach to treatment and support in methadone maintenance treatment, which goes beyond fixing the negative physical consequences of opiate dependence

Simulation of an unprotected transient of the ALLEGRO reactor using the coupled neutronics/thermal-hydraulics system code KIKO3DMG/ATHLET3.0

Research data for the article "B. Batki et. al, Simulation of an unprotected transient of the ALLEGRO reactor using the coupled neutronics/thermal-hydraulics system code KIKO3DMG/ATHLET3.0"

Simulation of an unprotected transient of the ALLEGRO reactor using the coupled neutronics/thermal-hydraulics system code KIKO3DMG/ATHLET3.0

Research data for the article "B. Batki et. al, Simulation of an unprotected transient of the ALLEGRO reactor using the coupled neutronics/thermal-hydraulics system code KIKO3DMG/ATHLET3.0"

Lifetime methamphetamine dependence is associated with cerebral microgliosis in HIV-1-infected adults.

Methamphetamine (Meth) use is common among HIV-infected persons. It remains unclear whether Meth dependence is associated with long-lasting degenerative changes in the brain parenchyma and microvasculature of HIV-infected individuals. We examined the postmortem brains of 78 HIV-infected adults, twenty of whom were diagnosed with lifetime Meth dependence (18 past and two current at the final follow-up visit). Using logistic regression models, we analyzed associations of Meth with cerebral gliosis (immunohistochemistry for ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule-1 (Iba1) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in frontal, temporo-parietal, and putamen-internal capsule regions), synaptodendritic loss (confocal microscopy for synaptophysin (SYP) and microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP2) in frontal cortex), β-amyloid plaque deposition (immunohistochemistry in frontal and temporo-parietal cortex and putamen), and arteriolosclerosis (histopathology in forebrain white matter). We found that Meth was associated with marked Iba1 gliosis in the temporo-parietal region (odds ratio, 4.42 (95&nbsp;% confidence interval, 1.36, 14.39), p = 0.014, n = 62), which remained statistically significant after adjusting for HIV encephalitis, white matter lesions, and opportunistic diseases (n = 61); hepatitis C virus seropositivity (n = 54); and lifetime dependence on alcohol, opiates, and cannabis (n = 62). There was no significant association of Meth with GFAP gliosis, SYP or MAP2 loss, β-amyloid plaque deposition, or arteriolosclerosis. In conclusion, we found lifetime Meth dependence to be associated with focal cerebral microgliosis among HIV-infected adults, but not with other brain degenerative changes examined. Some of the changes in select brain regions might be reversible following extended Meth abstinence or, alternatively, might have not been induced by Meth initially