Automatic mental processes, automatic actions and behaviours in game transfer phenomena: an empirical self-report study using online forum data

Previous studies have demonstrated that the playing of videogames can have both intended and unintended effects. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of videogames on players’ mental processes and behaviours in day-to-day settings. A total of 1,023 self-reports from 762 gamers collected from online videogame forums were classified, quantified, described and explained. The data include automatic thoughts, sensations and impulses, automatic mental replays of the game in real life, and voluntary/involuntary behaviours with videogame content. Many gamers reported that they had responded – at least sometimes – to real life stimuli as if they were still playing videogames. This included overreactions, avoidances, and involuntary movements of limbs. These experiences lasted relatively short periods of time but in a minority of players were recurrent. The gamers' experiences appeared to be enhanced by virtual embodiment, repetitive manipulation of game controls, and their gaming habits. However, similar phenomena may also occur when doing other non-gaming activities. The implications of these game transfer experiences are discussed

A direct comparison of the KB™ Basecaller and phred for identifying the bases from DNA sequencing using chain termination chemistry

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Relatively recently, the software KB™ Basecaller has replaced <it>phred </it>for identifying the bases from raw sequence data in DNA sequencing employing dideoxy chemistry. We have measured quantitatively the consequences of that change.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The high quality sequence segment of reads derived from the KB™ Basecaller were, on average, 30-to-50 bases longer than reads derived from <it>phred</it>. However, microbe identification appeared to have been unaffected by the change in software.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We have demonstrated a modest, but statistically significant, superiority in high quality read length of the KB™ Basecaller compared to <it>phred</it>. We found no statistically significant difference between the numbers of microbial species identified from the sequence data.</p

Acute Drug Treatment in the Early C. elegans Embryo

Genetic and genome-wide RNAi approaches available in C. elegans, combined with tools for visualizing subcellular events with high-resolution, have led to increasing adoption of the early C. elegans embryo as a model for mechanistic and functional genomic analysis of cellular processes. However, a limitation of this system has been the impermeability of the embryo eggshell, which has prevented the routine use of small molecule inhibitors. Here, we present a method to permeabilize and immobilize embryos for acute inhibitor treatment in conjunction with live imaging. To identify a means to permeabilize the eggshell, we used a dye uptake assay to screen a set of 310 candidate genes defined by a combination of bioinformatic criteria. This screen identified 20 genes whose inhibition resulted in >75% eggshell permeability, and 3 that permeabilized embryos with minimal deleterious effects on embryo production and early embryonic development. To mount permeabilized embryos for acute drug addition in conjunction with live imaging, we combined optimized inhibition of one of these genes with the use of a microfabricated chamber that we designed. We demonstrate that these two developments enable the temporally controlled introduction of inhibitors for mechanistic studies. This method should also open new avenues of investigation by allowing profiling and specificity-testing of inhibitors through comparison with genome-wide phenotypic datasets

Dynamics of multi-stage infections on networks

This paper investigates the dynamics of infectious diseases with a nonexponentially distributed infectious period. This is achieved by considering a multistage infection model on networks. Using pairwise approximation with a standard closure, a number of important characteristics of disease dynamics are derived analytically, including the final size of an epidemic and a threshold for epidemic outbreaks, and it is shown how these quantities depend on disease characteristics, as well as the number of disease stages. Stochastic simulations of dynamics on networks are performed and compared to output of pairwise models for several realistic examples of infectious diseases to illustrate the role played by the number of stages in the disease dynamics. These results show that a higher number of disease stages results in faster epidemic outbreaks with a higher peak prevalence and a larger final size of the epidemic. The agreement between the pairwise and simulation models is excellent in the cases we consider

Genetic inhibition of neurotransmission reveals role of glutamatergic input to dopamine neurons in high-effort behavior

Midbrain dopamine neurons are crucial for many behavioral and cognitive functions. As the major excitatory input, glutamatergic afferents are important for control of the activity and plasticity of dopamine neurons. However, the role of glutamatergic input as a whole onto dopamine neurons remains unclear. Here we developed a mouse line in which glutamatergic inputs onto dopamine neurons are specifically impaired, and utilized this genetic model to directly test the role of glutamatergic inputs in dopamine-related functions. We found that while motor coordination and reward learning were largely unchanged, these animals showed prominent deficits in effort-related behavioral tasks. These results provide genetic evidence that glutamatergic transmission onto dopaminergic neurons underlies incentive motivation, a willingness to exert high levels of effort to obtain reinforcers, and have important implications for understanding the normal function of the midbrain dopamine system.Fil: Hutchison, M. A.. National Institutes of Health; Estados UnidosFil: Gu, X.. National Institutes of Health; Estados UnidosFil: Adrover, Martín Federico. National Institutes of Health; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Lee, M. R.. National Institutes of Health; Estados UnidosFil: Hnasko, T. S.. University of California at San Diego; Estados UnidosFil: Alvarez, V. A.. National Institutes of Health; Estados UnidosFil: Lu, W.. National Institutes of Health; Estados Unido

Calbindin-D32k Is Localized to a Subpopulation of Neurons in the Nervous System of the Sea Cucumber Holothuria glaberrima (Echinodermata)

Members of the calbindin subfamily serve as markers of subpopulations of neurons within the vertebrate nervous system. Although markers of these proteins are widely available and used, their application to invertebrate nervous systems has been very limited. In this study we investigated the presence and distribution of members of the calbindin subfamily in the sea cucumber Holothuria glaberrima (Selenka, 1867). Immunohistological experiments with antibodies made against rat calbindin 1, parvalbumin, and calbindin 2, showed that these antibodies labeled cells and fibers within the nervous system of H. glaberrima. Most of the cells and fibers were co-labeled with the neural-specific marker RN1, showing their neural specificity. These were distributed throughout all of the nervous structures, including the connective tissue plexi of the body wall and podia. Bioinformatics analyses of the possible antigen recognized by these markers showed that a calbindin 2-like protein present in the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, corresponded to the calbindin-D32k previously identified in other invertebrates. Western blots with anti-calbindin 1 and anti-parvalbumin showed that these markers recognized an antigen of approximately 32 kDa in homogenates of radial nerve cords of H. glaberrima and Lytechinus variegatus. Furthermore, immunoreactivity with anti-calbindin 1 and anti-parvalbumin was obtained to a fragment of calbindin-D32k of H. glaberrima. Our findings suggest that calbindin-D32k is present in invertebrates and its sequence is more similar to the vertebrate calbindin 2 than to calbindin 1. Thus, characterization of calbindin-D32k in echinoderms provides an important view of the evolution of this protein family and represents a valuable marker to study the nervous system of invertebrates

Cross-sectional associations between multiple lifestyle behaviors and health-related quality of life in the 10,000 steps cohort

Background: The independent and combined influence of smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, diet, sitting time, and sleep duration and quality on health status is not routinely examined. This study investigates the relationships between these lifestyle behaviors, independently and in combination, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Methods: Adult members of the 10,000 Steps project (n = 159,699) were invited to participate in an online survey in November-December 2011. Participant socio-demographics, lifestyle behaviors, and HRQOL (poor self-rated health; frequent unhealthy days) were assessed by self-report. The combined influence of poor lifestyle behaviors were examined, independently and also as part of two lifestyle behavior indices, one excluding sleep quality (Index 1) and one including sleep quality (Index 2). Adjusted Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine relationships between lifestyle behaviors and HRQOL. Results: A total of 10,478 participants provided complete data for the current study. For Index 1, the Prevalence Ratio (p value) of poor self-rated health was 1.54 (p = 0.001), 2.07 (p≤0.001), 3.00 (p≤0.001), 3.61 (p≤0.001) and 3.89 (p≤0.001) for people reporting two, three, four, five and six poor lifestyle behaviors, compared to people with 0-1 poor lifestyle behaviors. For Index 2, the Prevalence Ratio (p value) of poor self-rated health was 2.26 (p = 0.007), 3.29 (p≤0.001), 4.68 (p≤0.001), 6.48 (p≤0.001), 7.91 (p≤0.001) and 8.55 (p≤0.001) for people reporting two, three, four, five, six and seven poor lifestyle behaviors, compared to people with 0-1 poor lifestyle behaviors. Associations between the combined lifestyle behavior index and frequent unhealthy days were statistically significant and similar to those observed for poor self-rated health. Conclusions: Engaging in a greater number of poor lifestyle behaviors was associated with a higher prevalence of poor HRQOL. This association was exacerbated when sleep quality was included in the index. © 2014 Duncan et al

Nuclear Mitochondrial DNA Activates Replication in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The nuclear genome of eukaryotes is colonized by DNA fragments of mitochondrial origin, called NUMTs. These insertions have been associated with a variety of germ-line diseases in humans. The significance of this uptake of potentially dangerous sequences into the nuclear genome is unclear. Here we provide functional evidence that sequences of mitochondrial origin promote nuclear DNA replication in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We show that NUMTs are rich in key autonomously replicating sequence (ARS) consensus motifs, whose mutation results in the reduction or loss of DNA replication activity. Furthermore, 2D-gel analysis of the mrc1 mutant exposed to hydroxyurea shows that several NUMTs function as late chromosomal origins. We also show that NUMTs located close to or within ARS provide key sequence elements for replication. Thus NUMTs can act as independent origins, when inserted in an appropriate genomic context or affect the efficiency of pre-existing origins. These findings show that migratory mitochondrial DNAs can impact on the replication of the nuclear region they are inserted in

Patterns of Childhood Trauma and Psychological Distress among Injecting Heroin Users in China

Background: Childhood trauma has been reported as a possible cause of future substance abuse in some countries. This study reports the prevalence of childhood trauma and examines its association with psychological distress among injecting drug users from mainland China. Methodology: The study was conducted in three government-operated drug rehabilitation facilities in Shanghai, China in 2007. The Early Trauma Inventory Self Report-Short Form (ETISR-SF) was used to evaluate 4 types (general, emotional, physical and sexual) and severity of childhood trauma, and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) to evaluate psychological distress. Principal Findings: Among 341 injecting drug users who completed the study, about 80 % reported one or more types o