Assessing Addictions in a Spiritual World: Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equations Modeling to Develop the Life Interests Questionnaire

This study uses the thoughts and writings of Evagrius of Ponticus to provide a measure useful in assessing addictions in relation to spirituality. Evagrius (1972) theorizes that there are eight tempting thoughts that can form the basis of disordered attachments, and that these deadly thoughts could lead one to a life of addictions. These thoughts formed the foundation of the Life Interests Questionnaire (LIQ). This self-report survey consists of 170 items, all of which are scored on a Likert scale (1 = strongly agree and 5 = strongly disagree). The LIQ was paired with an interest survey containing 43 items taken from previously tested measures. These questions asked about one’s religious identification, locus of control, and beliefs about the world. In a pilot study, each attachment item group was examined through confirmatory factor analysis which allowed the substructure of the questionnaire to be examined and the overall fit of the model was found to be marginally adequate (GFI 0.8889). Reliability and validity of this measure were attained primarily through construct validity and it found both a valid and reliable measure of Evagrius’s underlying theory. Future plans include correlational studies between religious identification/practices and level of disordered attachments

Mahepiimaveiste karjatamine Baden-Württembergi liidumaa erinevates kohtades: praktilise uurimisprojekti tulemused ja soovitused

Karjatamine on mahepiimafarmides muutumas üha olulisemaks – isegi nendes farmides, kus esmapilgul ideaalsed karjatamistingimused puuduvad. Näiteks väga kuivadel aastatel, nagu seda oli 2018. aasta, kui karjatamisperioodi ajal on pidevalt kuumad ilmad ja sademete hulk väike, siis on ka rohumaade saagikus väga madal. Uuringud on aga näidanud, et ka sellistes tingimustes on karjatamisel oma potentsiaal, mida ei tohiks alahinnata. Viimast püütaksegi antud teabelehe kaudu selgitada

Bio-Milchviehweidehaltung auf unterschiedlichen Standorten in Baden-Württemberg: Ergebnisse und Handlungsempfehlungen aus einem Praxisforschungsprojekt

Pasture grazing is gaining in importance for organic dairy farms - even for farms that do not offer ideal conditions at first glance. For example, in very dry years like 2018, which was characterised by little precipitation during the grazing season combined with heat and the associated low forage yields. However, studies have shown that these locations also have a potential that should not be underestimated, which is to be demonstrated with the help of this fact sheet

Bio-Milchviehweidehaltung auf unterschiedlichen Standorten in Baden-Württemberg: Mit Zufütterung die Weidenutzung gezielt optimieren

GrazyDaiSy is a European participatory research project involving eight partner countries. In Germany, it was carried out by the University of Hohenheim and the organic farming associations Bioland and Demeter. The aim was to research regionally adapted systems for pasture-based organic dairy farming. In the other countries, research was also carried out on the topics of animal health and cow-calf contact system

Unified Topological Inference for Brain Networks in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Using the Wasserstein Distance

Persistent homology can extract hidden topological signals present in brain networks. Persistent homology summarizes the changes of topological structures over multiple different scales called filtrations. Doing so detect hidden topological signals that persist over multiple scales. However, a key obstacle of applying persistent homology to brain network studies has always been the lack of coherent statistical inference framework. To address this problem, we present a unified topological inference framework based on the Wasserstein distance. Our approach has no explicit models and distributional assumptions. The inference is performed in a completely data driven fashion. The method is applied to the resting-state functional magnetic resonance images (rs-fMRI) of the temporal lobe epilepsy patients collected at two different sites: University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Medical College of Wisconsin. However, the topological method is robust to variations due to sex and acquisition, and thus there is no need to account for sex and site as categorical nuisance covariates. We are able to localize brain regions that contribute the most to topological differences. We made MATLAB package available at https://github.com/laplcebeltrami/dynamicTDA that was used to perform all the analysis in this study

Bidirectional Psychoneuroimmune Interactions in the Early Postpartum Period Influence Risk of Postpartum Depression

More than 500,000 U.S. women develop postpartum depression (PPD) annually. Although psychosocial risks are known, the underlying biology remains unclear. Dysregulation of the immune inflammatory response and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis are associated with depression in other populations. While significant research on the contribution of these systems to the development of PPD has been conducted, results have been inconclusive. This is partly because few studies have focused on whether disruption in the bidirectional and dynamic interaction between the inflammatory response and the HPA axis together influence PPD. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that disruption in the inflammatory-HPA axis bidirectional relationship would increase the risk of PPD. Plasma pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines were measured in women during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and on Days 7 and 14, and Months 1, 2, 3, and 6 after childbirth. Saliva was collected 5 times the day preceding blood draws for determination of cortisol area under the curve (AUC) and depressive symptoms were measured using the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Survey (EPDS). Of the 152 women who completed the EPDS, 18% were depressed according to EDPS criteria within the 6 months postpartum. Cortisol AUC was higher in symptomatic women on Day 14 (p = .017). To consider the combined effects of cytokines and cortisol on predicting symptoms of PPD, a multiple logistic regression model was developed that included predictors identified in bivariate analyses to have an effect on depressive symptoms. Results indicated that family history of depression, day 14 cortisol AUC, and the day 14 IL8/IL10 ratio were significant predictors of PPD symptoms. One unit increase each in the IL8/IL10 ratio and cortisol AUC resulted in 1.50 (p = 0.06) and 2.16 (p = 0.02) fold increases respectively in the development of PPD. Overall, this model correctly classified 84.2% of individuals in their respective groups. Findings suggest that variability in the complex interaction between the inflammatory response and the HPA axis influence the risk of PPD

Distant from input : Evidence of regions within the default mode network supporting perceptually-decoupled and conceptually-guided cognition

The default mode network supports a variety of mental operations such as semantic processing, episodic memory retrieval, mental time travel and mind-wandering, yet the commonalities between these functions remains unclear. One possibility is that this system supports cognition that is independent of the immediate environment; alternatively or additionally, it might support higher-order conceptual representations that draw together multiple features. We tested these accounts using a novel paradigm that separately manipulated the availability of perceptual information to guide decision-making and the representational complexity of this information. Using task based imaging we established regions that respond when cognition combines both stimulus independence with multi-modal information. These included left and right angular gyri and the left middle temporal gyrus. Although these sites were within the default mode network, they showed a stronger response to demanding memory judgements than to an easier perceptual task, contrary to the view that they support automatic aspects of cognition. In a subsequent analysis, we showed that these regions were located at the extreme end of a macroscale gradient, which describes gradual transitions from sensorimotor to transmodal cortex. This shift in the focus of neural activity towards transmodal, default mode, regions might reflect a process of where the functional distance from specific sensory enables conceptually rich and detailed cognitive states to be generated in the absence of input