Elevation in response to entertainment portrayals of moral virtue

Media psychologists have long puzzled over how individuals can experience enjoyment from entertainment such as tragedies that often elicit profound feelings of sadness. The present research examines the idea that a focus on “meaningful” entertainment and affective responses identified as “elevation” may provide a framework for understanding many examples of sad or dramatic entertainment. The results of this study suggest that many types of meaningful cinematic entertainment feature portrayals of moral virtues (e.g., altruism). These portrayals, in turn, elicit feelings of elevation (e.g., inspiration) that are signified in terms of mixed affect and unique physical responses (e.g., lump in throat). Ultimately, elevation also gives rise to motivations to embody moral virtues, such as being a better person or helping others

“What if There's Something Wrong with Her?”‐How Biomedical Technologies Contribute to Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare

While there is a steadily growing literature on epistemic injustice in healthcare, there are few discussions of the role that biomedical technologies play in harming patients in their capacity as knowers. Through an analysis of newborn and pediatric genetic and genomic sequencing technologies (GSTs), I argue that biomedical technologies can lead to epistemic injustice through two primary pathways: epistemic capture and value partitioning. I close by discussing the larger ethical and political context of critical analyses of GSTs and their broader implications for just and equitable healthcare delivery

Affective lability and difficulties with regulation are differentially associated with amygdala and prefrontal response in women with Borderline Personality Disorder

The present neuroimaging study investigated two aspects of difficulties with emotion associated with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD()): affective lability and difficulty regulating emotion. While these two characteristics have been previously linked to BPD symptomology, it remains unknown whether individual differences in affective lability and emotion regulation difficulties are subserved by distinct neural substrates within a BPD sample. To address this issue, sixty women diagnosed with BPD were scanned while completing a task that assessed baseline emotional reactivity as well as top-down emotion regulation. More affective instability, as measured by the Affective Lability Scale (ALS()), positively correlated with greater amygdala responses on trials assessing emotional reactivity. Greater difficulties with regulating emotion, as measured by the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS()), was negatively correlated with left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG()) recruitment on trials assessing regulatory ability. These findings suggest that, within a sample of individuals with BPD, greater bottom-up amygdala activity is associated with heightened affective lability. By contrast, difficulties with emotion regulation are related to reduced IFG recruitment during emotion regulation. These results point to distinct neural mechanisms for different aspects of BPD symptomology

Affective lability and difficulties with regulation are differentially associated with amygdala and prefrontal response in women with Borderline Personality Disorder

The present neuroimaging study investigated two aspects of difficulties with emotion associated with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD): affective lability and difficulty regulating emotion. While these two characteristics have been previously linked to BPD symptomology, it remains unknown whether individual differences in affective lability and emotion regulation difficulties are subserved by distinct neural substrates within a BPD sample. To address this issue, sixty women diagnosed with BPD were scanned while completing a task that assessed baseline emotional reactivity as well as top-down emotion regulation. More affective instability, as measured by the Affective Lability Scale (ALS), positively correlated with greater amygdala responses on trials assessing emotional reactivity. Greater difficulties with regulating emotion, as measured by the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), was negatively correlated with left Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG) recruitment on trials assessing regulatory ability. These findings suggest that, within a sample of individuals with BPD, greater bottom-up amygdala activity is associated with heightened affective lability. By contrast, difficulties with emotion regulation are related to reduced IFG recruitment during emotion regulation. These results point to distinct neural mechanisms for different aspects of BPD symptomology

Suicide attempters with Borderline Personality Disorder show differential orbitofrontal and parietal recruitment when reflecting on aversive memories.

Suicidal behavior and difficulty regulating emotions are hallmarks of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). This study examined neural links between emotion regulation and suicide risk in BPD. 60 individuals with BPD (all female, mean age = 28.9 years), 46 of whom had attempted suicide, completed a fMRI task involving recalling aversive personal memories. Distance trials assessed the ability to regulate emotion by recalling memories from a third-person, objective viewpoint. Immerse trials assessed emotional reactivity and involved recalling memories from a first-person perspective. Behaviorally, both groups reported less negative affect on Distance as compared to Immerse trials. Neurally, two sets of findings were obtained. The first reflected differences between attempters and non-attempters. When immersing and distancing, attempters showed elevated recruitment of lateral orbitofrontal cortex, a brain region implicated in using negative cues to guide behavior. When distancing, attempters showed diminished recruitment of the precuneus, a region implicated in memory recall and perspective taking. The second set of findings related to individual differences in regulation success - the degree to which individuals used distancing to reduce negative affect. Here, we observed that attempters who successfully regulated exhibited precuneus recruitment that was more similar to non-attempters. These data provide insight into mechanisms underlying suicide attempts in BPD. Future work may examine if these findings generalize to other diagnoses and also whether prior findings in BPD differ across attempters and non-attempters

Newborn screening for severe combined immunodeficiency in 11 screening programs in the United States.

ImportanceNewborn screening for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) using assays to detect T-cell receptor excision circles (TRECs) began in Wisconsin in 2008, and SCID was added to the national recommended uniform panel for newborn screened disorders in 2010. Currently 23 states, the District of Columbia, and the Navajo Nation conduct population-wide newborn screening for SCID. The incidence of SCID is estimated at 1 in 100,000 births.ObjectivesTo present data from a spectrum of SCID newborn screening programs, establish population-based incidence for SCID and other conditions with T-cell lymphopenia, and document early institution of effective treatments.DesignEpidemiological and retrospective observational study.SettingRepresentatives in states conducting SCID newborn screening were invited to submit their SCID screening algorithms, test performance data, and deidentified clinical and laboratory information regarding infants screened and cases with nonnormal results. Infants born from the start of each participating program from January 2008 through the most recent evaluable date prior to July 2013 were included. Representatives from 10 states plus the Navajo Area Indian Health Service contributed data from 3,030,083 newborns screened with a TREC test.Main outcomes and measuresInfants with SCID and other diagnoses of T-cell lymphopenia were classified. Incidence and, where possible, etiologies were determined. Interventions and survival were tracked.ResultsScreening detected 52 cases of typical SCID, leaky SCID, and Omenn syndrome, affecting 1 in 58,000 infants (95% CI, 1/46,000-1/80,000). Survival of SCID-affected infants through their diagnosis and immune reconstitution was 87% (45/52), 92% (45/49) for infants who received transplantation, enzyme replacement, and/or gene therapy. Additional interventions for SCID and non-SCID T-cell lymphopenia included immunoglobulin infusions, preventive antibiotics, and avoidance of live vaccines. Variations in definitions and follow-up practices influenced the rates of detection of non-SCID T-cell lymphopenia.Conclusions and relevanceNewborn screening in 11 programs in the United States identified SCID in 1 in 58,000 infants, with high survival. The usefulness of detection of non-SCID T-cell lymphopenias by the same screening remains to be determined