Resting state connectivity of the human habenula at ultra-high field

The habenula, a portion of the epithalamus, is implicated in the pathophysiology of depression, anxiety and addiction disorders. Its small size and connection to other small regions prevent standard human imaging from delineating its structure and connectivity with confidence. Resting state functional connectivity is an established method for mapping connections across the brain from a seed region of interest. The present study takes advantage of 7T fMRI to map, for the first time, the habenula resting state network with very high spatial resolution in 32 healthy human participants. Results show novel functional connections in humans, including functional connectivity with the septum and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST). Results also show many habenula connections previously described only in animal research, such as with the nucleus basalis of Meynert, dorsal raphe, ventral tegmental area (VTA), and periaqueductal grey (PAG). Connectivity with caudate, thalamus and cortical regions such as the anterior cingulate, retrosplenial cortex and auditory cortex are also reported. This work, which demonstrates the power of ultra-high field for mapping human functional connections, is a valuable step toward elucidating subcortical and cortical regions of the habenula network

Study on the gender dimension of trafficking in human beings

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the identification and understanding of what it means to be ‘taking into account the gender perspective, to strengthen the prevention of this crime and protection of the victims there-of’, as required in Article 1 of European Union (EU) Directive 2011/36/EU on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Protecting its Victims in the context of the EU Strategy (COM(2012) 286 final) Towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings. The study contributes to Priority E Action 2 of the Strategy, which states that ‘the Commission will develop knowledge on the gender dimensions of human trafficking, including the gender consequences of the various forms of trafficking and potential differences in the vulnerability of men and women to victimisation and its impact on them.’ Its specific objectives and tasks are to address: the ‘gender dimension of vulnerability, recruitment, and victimisation’; ‘gender issues related to traffickers and to those creating demand’; and ‘an examination of law and policy responses on trafficking in human beings from a gender perspective’. The study addresses the five priorities of the EU Strategy: identifying, protecting, and assisting victims of traf-ficking; stepping up the prevention of trafficking in human beings; better law enforcement; enhanced coordination and cooperation among key actors and policy coherence; and increased knowledge of an effective response to emerging concerns. This study, according to its terms of reference, aims to look specifically at the gender dimension of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. This follows evidence from statistical data from Eurostat, as well as da-ta from The European Police Office (Europol) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), accord-ing to which the most reported form of exploitation of victims is that of sexual exploitation and its strong gen-der dimension (96 % women and girls). It further addresses recommendations addressed in the Resolution of the European Parliament of 26 February 2014 on sexual exploitation and prostitution and its impact on gender equality (2013/2103(INI)) urging the European Commission to evaluate the impact that the European legal frame-work designed to eliminate trafficking for sexual exploitation has had to date and to undertake further research on patterns of prostitution, on human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and on the increased lev-el of sex tourism in the EU, with particular reference to minors, and to promote the exchange of best practices among the Member States. The study identifies and draws on EU law and policy competence in gender equality in its identification of the gen-der dimensions of trafficking. The gender dimensions are clustered into five issues: gender specificity and equal treatment; gender expertise, gender balance in decision-making and gender mainstreaming; the relationship be-tween prostitution and trafficking; gendered policy fields and strategic priorities; gendered systems and the the-ory of prevention

Location-dependent threat and associated neural abnormalities in clinical anxiety

Anxiety disorders are characterized by maladaptive defensive responses to distal or uncertain threats. Elucidating neural mechanisms of anxiety is essential to understand the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders. In fMRI, patients with pathological anxiety (ANX, n = 23) and healthy controls (HC, n = 28) completed a contextual threat learning paradigm in which they picked flowers in a virtual environment comprising a danger zone in which flowers were paired with shock and a safe zone (no shock). ANX compared with HC showed 1) decreased ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior hippocampus activation during the task, particularly in the safe zone, 2) increased insula and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex activation during the task, particularly in the danger zone, and 3) increased amygdala and midbrain/periaqueductal gray activation in the danger zone prior to potential shock delivery. Findings suggest that ANX engage brain areas differently to modulate context-appropriate emotional responses when learning to discriminate cues within an environment

Comprehensive policy review of anti-trafficking projects funded by the EU

The study reviews the 300+ projects that were funded by the EU in relation to their anti-trafficking policy, between 2012-2016, at a cost of 158.5m euros. The study explores the nature and geographic distribution of these projects. It also examines the activity and outcomes related to them for areas of good practice. Using this information the study examines the current EC strategy and makes recommendations for the future strategy

The neural basis of improved cognitive performance by threat of shock

Anxiety can have both detrimental and facilitatory cognitive effects. This study investigates the neural substrates of a replicated facilitatory effect of anxiety on sustained attention and response inhibition. This effect consisted of improved performance on the Sustained Attention to Response Task (a Go–NoGo task consisting of 91% Go and 9% NoGo trials) in threat (unpredictable electrical shock) vs safe (no shock) conditions. This study uses the same experimental design with fMRI and relies on an event-related analysis of BOLD signal changes. Findings reveal that threat-related cognitive facilitation (improved NoGo accuracy) is associated with greater activation of a right-lateralized frontoparietal group of regions previously implicated in sustained attention and response inhibition. Moreover, these same regions show decreased activation in the Go trials preceding NoGo errors. During NoGo trials, striatal activity is also greater in the threat vs safe condition, consistent with the notion of enhanced inhibitory processing under threat. These findings identify potential mechanisms by which threat of unpredictable shock can facilitate distinct cognitive functions. A greater understanding of the complex interaction of the anxious state and cognitive processes may have critical clinical implications

Limits on WWgamma and WWZ Couplings from W Boson Pair Production

The results of a search for W boson pair production in pbar-p collisions at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV with subsequent decay to emu, ee, and mumu channels are presented. Five candidate events are observed with an expected background of 3.1+-0.4 events for an integrated luminosity of approximately 97 pb^{-1}. Limits on the anomalous couplings are obtained from a maximum likelihood fit of the E_T spectra of the leptons in the candidate events. Assuming identical WWgamma and WWZ couplings, the 95 % C.L. limits are -0.62<Delta_kappa<0.77 (lambda = 0) and -0.53<lambda<0.56 (Delta_kappa = 0) for a form factor scale Lambda = 1.5 TeV.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review

Hidden Voices: Disabled Women's Experiences of Violence and Support Over the Life Course

Violence against women is a worldwide social and human rights problem that cuts across cultural, geographic, religious, social, and economic boundaries. It affects women in countries around the world, regardless of class, religion, disability, age, or sexual identity. International evidence shows that approximately three in five women experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner. However, across the globe, women and girls with impairments or life-limiting illnesses are more susceptible to different forms of violence across a range of environments and by different perpetrators including professionals and family members as well as partners. However, they are likely to be seriously disadvantaged in gaining information and support to escape the abusive relationships. This article stems from the United Kingdom part of a comparative study with three other countries (Austria, Germany, and Iceland) funded by the European Commission (EC; 2013-2015). It presents preliminary findings, generated from life history interviews, about disabled women's experiences of violence and access to support (both formal and informal) over their life course and their aspirations for the prevention of violence in the future. The article includes examples of impairment-specific violence that non-disabled women do not experience. By bringing the voices of disabled women into the public domain, the article will facilitate a historically marginalized group to contribute to the debate about disability, violence, and support

Systematic Review of the Co-Prevalence of Arterial Aneurysms Within the Vasculature

OBJECTIVE: Aneurysms are considered focal manifestations of a systemic vascular condition, and various studies report co-prevalence of aneurysms in different vascular beds. Insight into profiles of patients at risk of multiple aneurysms is lacking, and few clinical algorithms exist if additional screening is indicated. This systematic review assessed the co-prevalence of aneurysms in different vascular beds and analysed putative risk factors for multiple aneurysms. METHODS: Medline, Embase, and Cochrane libraries were searched up to February 2020 for studies reporting co-prevalence of aneurysms in different vascular beds using the keywords: "aneurysm", "co-prevalence", or synonyms. All studies were reviewed by two authors independently. Studies were excluded if they described concomitant treatment of multi-aneurysms, or if the aneurysm was reported solely bilateral, post-dissection, mycotic, traumatic, iatrogenic, or caused by a connective tissue disease. Radar plots were used to indicate studies that found an association between the investigated features and aneurysm co-prevalence against those that did not. RESULTS: Thirty-two studies met the inclusion criteria, describing in total 16 353 patients of whom 2 015 had at least one additional aneurysm. The weighted co-prevalence was 16.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] 11.8-22.6), I2 > 90%. At least 19 combinations of aneurysms were described, mostly derived from retrospective studies. Seventeen of 32 (53%) studies described concurrent aneurysms in patients with an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Predominantly positive associations were found for higher age, hypertension, stenotic disease, presence of multiple (at least three) aneurysms, and primary aneurysm size. CONCLUSION: Approximately one in six patients with a primary aneurysm harbours an additional aneurysm, increasing to one in four if the patient has a popliteal artery aneurysm. Higher age, hypertension, stenotic disease, presence of multiple (at least three) aneurysms, and primary aneurysm size were predictive of aneurysm co-prevalence. These clinical predictors may assist when deciding whether a patient with a primary aneurysm needs to be screened for additional aneurysms

Search for First Generation Scalar Leptoquark Pairs in ppbar Collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV

We have searched for first generation scalar leptoquark (LQ) pairs in the enu+jets channel using ppbar collider data (integrated luminosity= 115 pb^-1) collected by the DZero experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron during 1992-96. The analysis yields no candidate events. We combine the results with those from the ee+jets and nunu+jets channels to obtain 95% confidence level (CL) upper limits on the LQ pair production cross section as a function of mass and of beta, the branching fraction to a charged lepton. Comparing with the next-to-leading order theory, we set 95% CL lower limits on the LQ mass of 225, 204, and 79 GeV/c^2 for beta=1, 1/2, and 0, respectively.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters Replaced to correct visitor addresse