Paranoia, hallucinations and compulsive buying during the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United Kingdom: a preliminary experimental study

This study examines the impact of COVID-19 (in the early phase of the outbreak) on symptoms of psychosis, namely paranoia and hallucinations. Three hundred and sixty-one people in the United Kingdom participated in a 2 (self-isolation vs. no self-isolation) x 2 (perceived COVID-19 symptomatology vs. no perceived COVID-19 symptomatology) x 2 (exposure to COVID-19 news vs. control) experiment online. Participants completed measures of political trust, social network, fear of COVID-19, current paranoid thoughts, hallucinatory experiences and compulsive buying. Kruskal-Wallis results showed that employed people and students are more prone to paranoia and hallucinatory experiences in response to COVID-19 news. A multigroup model showed a moderation effect of the news conditions - in the COVID-19 news condition, fear of COVID-19 and political trust significantly predict the variance of paranoia, hallucinatory experiences and compulsive buying and these co-vary with each other but not in the control condition. In line with cognitive and social theories of paranoia, results suggest that negative affect and low political trust are linked to the presence of paranoid thoughts and hallucinatory experiences and compulsive buying amid COVID-19. Digitized and Tailored Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy are proposed to address the psychiatric impact of COVID-19

Fifty shades of darkness: a socio-cognitive information-processing framework applied to narcissism and psychopathy

Existing trait-based and cognitive models of psychopathy and narcissism fail to provide a comprehensive framework that explains the continuum between sub-clinical and clinical presentations of those personalities and to predict associated maladaptive behavior in different social and cultural contexts. In this article, a socio-cognitive information-processing framework for narcissism and psychopathy (SCIPNP) is proposed to explain how psychopathic and narcissistic schemata influence the activation of psychological processes that interact with social and cultural contexts to display those personalities at a sub-clinical level. The proposed framework enables us to predict maladaptive behavior and to explain how sub-clinical narcissists and psychopaths develop personality disorders. The SCIPNP emphasizes the role of culture in shaping motives, appraisals, behavior and affect. Recommendations for future research are provided

Yield and nutrient uptake of soybean cultivars under intensive cropping systems.

Sustainable agricultural systems are necessary to improve soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] seed yield and to increase nutrient use efficiency. Intensification of agricultural systems is an important tool to increase farmers? profitability in the Cerrado region (Brazil), where soybean is rotated with corn in the same growing season. However, this intensification requires soybean cultivar with short growing periods which is achieved by indeterminate soybean cultivars. There is a lack of information regarding the nutrient uptake by soybean cultivars under intensive agricultural systems in the Cerrado. We sought to investigate soybean biomass production and soybean seed yield of determinate and indeterminate soybean cultivars. We also aimed to quantify the amounts of nutrients taken up by soybean biomass and seeds. Field research was conducted to evaluate 17 soybean cultivars commonly grown by farmers, and we considered the determinate and indeterminate soybean growth habit. Nutrient uptake and aboveground soybean biomass were higher under shorter soybean growth and development cycles. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium extraction in modern cultivars was higher than in cultivars used in past decades. Nutrient use efficiency was higher in determinate soybean cultivars than in indeterminate soybean cultivars

Facing the regulators: non-compliance with detailed mandatory compensation disclosure in Brazil

A preliminary court injunction based on alleged personal security risks to managers and directors gave Brazilian public companies the option of non-compliance with the most sensitive part of newly mandated compensation disclosure rules. We find, however, no association between state-level crime data and non-compliance, which is possibly motivated by agency conflicts. Non-compliers tend to present lower corporate governance (CG) quality, higher ownership concentration, larger total assets, and less profitability. State and foreign owned companies are significantly less likely non-compliers. Shareholders correctly anticipated that lower CG quality firms were more likely to exercise their non-compliance option, but may have been negatively surprised when some higher CG quality firms did not comply.Indisponíve

Influence of facial feedback and mind perception during a cooperative human-robot task in schizophrenia

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer Nature via the DOI in this record.Rapid progress in the area of humanoid robots offers tremendous possibilities for investigating and improving social competences in people with social deficits, but remains yet unexplored in schizophrenia. In this study, we examined the influence of social feedbacks elicited by a humanoid robot on motor coordination during a human-robot interaction. Twenty-two schizophrenia patients and twenty-two matched healthy controls underwent a collaborative motor synchrony task with the iCub humanoid robot. Results revealed that positive social feedback had a facilitatory effect on motor coordination in the control participants compared to non-social positive feedback. This facilitatory effect was not present in schizophrenia patients, whose social-motor coordination was similarly impaired in social and non-social feedback conditions. Furthermore, patients’ cognitive flexibility impairment and antipsychotic dosing were negatively correlated with patients’ ability to synchronize hand movements with iCub. Overall, our findings reveal that patients have marked difficulties to exploit facial social cues elicited by a humanoid robot to modulate their motor coordination during human-robot interaction, partly accounted for by cognitive deficits and medication. This study opens new perspectives for comprehension of social deficits in this mental disorder.This experiment was supported by a grant from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7 ICT 2011 Call 9) under grant agreement n FP7-ICT-600610 ALTEREGO

Perdas causadas pelas podridões do colmo na produtividade do milho safrinha no Estado do Tocantins.

A expansão da região agrícola conhecida como Matopiba, cuja abrangência envolve os estados do Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí e da Bahia, tem recebido atenção quanto ao aumento da área de produção de milho. O Estado do Tocantins apresenta grande potencial para produção do milho nesta região, no entanto, alguns fatores podem limitar a produtividade. Entre estes fatores, a ocorrência de doenças é um dos mais preocupantesDurante acompanhamento das lavouras na região de Tocantins, foram observados elevados episódios de podridões-de-colmo. Para avaliar o potencial de perdas causadas por tais podridões, cinco cultivares de milho (DKB350, DKB380, LG6038, LG 6036 e STATUS) foram cultivadas no município de Pedro Afonso, TO. Espigas de plantas sadias e de plantas com sintomas de podridão de colmo foram amostradas para avaliar o potencial de perdas. Colmos de plantas com podridão foram coletados e enviados para laboratório para avaliação e identificação dos patógenos. Também foram avaliados a incidência de plantas com podridão por parcela, o tamanho (cm) e peso (g) de cada espiga doente e sadia e a produtividade. Houve diferença significativa no tamanho de espigas, peso de espigas e peso de grãos/espiga, sendo as menores médias apresentadas nas plantas com podridão da base do colmo, quando comparadas às plantas sadias. Observou-se redução média no peso de grãos em plantas doentes em torno de 28% em relação às plantas sadias, com perdas superiores a 10 sacas/ha na produtividade. Em todas as cultivares, a incidência de podridão foi alta (variando entre 30 e 55%). Prevaleceram os fungos Fusarium spp. e Stenocarpella spp como principais agentes de podridãode- colmo na região.bitstream/item/142549/1/bol-128.pd

Agronomic characteristics of common bean genotypes influenced by the use of boron.

Boron is an indispensable micronutrient for common bean culture, requiring careful studies in relation to the need and time of application since it presents a narrow range between deficiency and toxicity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of boron application at different times in common bean culture. An experiment was carried out in Gurupi-Tocantins, with four replicates in a factorial scheme 7 x 4, with seven cultivars (Aporé, Diplomata, IPR-Corujinha, IPR-Chopim, IPR-Gralha, CNFC 10467 and Sapphire) and four application times (T1- absence of boron application, T2- application of boron at 15 DAE -days after emergence-, T3- application of boron at 25 DAE, T4- Application of boron at 35 DAE). There was a significant interaction between the time of application of boron and genotypes for the characteristics of one hundred grains and grain yield. There is a difference between genotypes regarding the efficiency and use of boron. The most appropriate times for boron application, taking into account productivity, are 15 DAE for cultivars CNFC 10467 and Diplomata, and 25 DAE for Aporé and IPR-Chopim. Boron fertilization at 35 DAE is not recommended due to the non-responsiveness of the crop

Sistemas ILPF e transferência de tecnologia nos Estados do Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí e Oeste da Bahia.

O acrônimo Matopiba designa uma região geográfica que recobre alguns municípios dos estados do Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí e Bahia. É considerada a última fronteira agrícola do Brasil resultante da expansão do agronegócio e do avanço de uma agricultura altamente mecanizada, com uso intensificado de tecnologias de produção e fortemente assentada em paradigmas de excelência e competitividade (Miranda et al., 2014). A riqueza produzida pelo componente agrícola nos últimos 20 anos reconfigurou a região, tornando municípios, até então desconhecidos, referências do cenário agrícola nacional..