Understanding psychopathy and violence: The role of motivation

Psychopathy has become of considerable interest to the legal system because of its reliable association with violence. Although psychopathy is largely defined by the PCL-R, this measure has been heavily criticized (1) for inclusion of specific counts of antisocial behavior and, (2) for identifying a heterogeneous group of individuals who differ systematically in their basic personality dimensions. These criticisms have led to several questions regarding the nature of the relation between core psychopathy and violence. The present study sought to clarify the nature of the relationship between psychopathy and violence by (a) examining the unique relationship between core psychopathy and violence and, (b) examining subgroups of psychopathic individuals and their propensity and motivation for violence in a sample of 189 offenders

Channel catfish use higher coordination to capture prey than to swallow

When animals move they must coordinate motion among multiple parts of the musculoskeletal system. Different behaviours exhibit different patterns of coordination, however, it remains unclear what general principles determine the coordination pattern for a particular behaviour. One hypothesis is that speed determines coordination patterns as a result of differences in voluntary versus involuntary control. An alternative hypothesis is that the nature of the behavioural task determines patterns of coordination. Suction-feeding fishes have highly kinetic skulls and must coordinate the motions of over a dozen skeletal elements to draw fluid and prey into the mouth. We used a dataset of intracranial motions at five cranial joints in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), collected using X-ray reconstruction of moving morphology, to test whether speed or task best explained patterns of coordination. We found that motions were significantly more coordinated (by 20–29%) during prey capture than during prey transport, supporting the hypothesis that the nature of the task determines coordination patterns. We found no significant difference in coordination between low- and high-speed motions. We speculate that capture is more coordinated to create a single fluid flow into the mouth while transport is less coordinated so that the cranial elements can independently generate multiple flows to reposition prey. Our results demonstrate the benefits of both higher and lower coordination in animal behaviours and the potential of motion analysis to elucidate motor tasks

Interaction of HmC1q with leech microglial cells: involvement of C1qBP-related molecule in the induction of cell chemotaxis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In invertebrates, the medicinal leech is considered to be an interesting and appropriate model to study neuroimmune mechanisms. Indeed, this non-vertebrate animal can restore normal function of its central nervous system (CNS) after injury. Microglia accumulation at the damage site has been shown to be required for axon sprouting and for efficient regeneration. We characterized <it>Hm</it>C1q as a novel chemotactic factor for leech microglial cell recruitment. In mammals, a C1q-binding protein (C1qBP alias gC1qR), which interacts with the globular head of C1q, has been reported to participate in C1q-mediated chemotaxis of blood immune cells. In this study, we evaluated the chemotactic activities of a recombinant form of <it>Hm</it>C1q and its interaction with a newly characterized leech C1qBP that acts as its potential ligand.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Recombinant <it>Hm</it>C1q (r<it>Hm</it>C1q) was produced in the yeast <it>Pichia pastoris</it>. Chemotaxis assays were performed to investigate r<it>Hm</it>C1q-dependent microglia migration. The involvement of a C1qBP-related molecule in this chemotaxis mechanism was assessed by flow cytometry and with affinity purification experiments. The cellular localization of C1qBP mRNA and protein in leech was investigated using immunohistochemistry and <it>in situ </it>hybridization techniques.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>r<it>Hm</it>C1q-stimulated microglia migrate in a dose-dependent manner. This r<it>Hm</it>C1q-induced chemotaxis was reduced when cells were preincubated with either anti-<it>Hm</it>C1q or anti-human C1qBP antibodies. A C1qBP-related molecule was characterized in leech microglia.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A previous study showed that recruitment of microglia is observed after <it>Hm</it>C1q release at the cut end of axons. Here, we demonstrate that r<it>Hm</it>C1q-dependent chemotaxis might be driven via a <it>Hm</it>C1q-binding protein located on the microglial cell surface. Taken together, these results highlight the importance of the interaction between C1q and C1qBP in microglial activation leading to nerve repair in the medicinal leech.</p

Two years of school-based intervention program could improve the physical fitness among Ecuadorian adolescents at health risk : subgroups analysis from a cluster-randomized trial

Background: Adolescents with overweight and poor physical fitness have an increased likelihood of developing cardiovascular diseases during adulthood. In Ecuador, a health promotion program improved the muscular strength and speed-agility, and reduced the decline of the moderate-to-vigorous physical activity of adolescents after 28 months. We performed a sub-group analysis to assess the differential effect of this intervention in overweight and low-fit adolescents. Methods: We performed a cluster-randomized pair matched trial in schools located in Cuenca–Ecuador. In total 20 schools (clusters) were pair matched, and 1440 adolescents of grade 8 and 9 (mean age of 12.3 and 13.3 years respectively) participated in the trial. For the purposes of the subgroup analysis, the adolescents were classified into groups according to their weight status (body mass index) and aerobic capacity (scores in the 20 m shuttle run and FITNESSGRAM standards) at baseline. Primary outcomes included physical fitness (vertical jump, speed shuttle run) and physical activity (proportion of students achieving over 60 min of moderate–to-vigorous physical activity/day). For these primary outcomes, we stratified analysis by weight (underweight, normal BMI and overweight/ obese) and fitness (fit and low fitness) groups. Mixed linear regression models were used to assess the intervention effect. Results: The prevalence of overweight/obesity, underweight and poor physical fitness was 20.3 %, 5.8 % and 84.8 % respectively. A higher intervention effect was observed for speed shuttle run in overweight (β = −1.85 s, P = 0.04) adolescents compared to underweight (β = −1.66 s, P = 0.5) or normal weight (β = −0.35 s, P = 0.6) peers. The intervention effect on vertical jump was higher in adolescents with poor physical fitness (β = 3.71 cm, P = 0.005) compared to their fit peers (β = 1.28 cm, P = 0.4). The proportion of students achieving over 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity/ day was not significantly different according to weight or fitness status. Conclusion: Comprehensive school-based interventions that aim to improve diet and physical activity could improve speed and strength aspects of physical fitness in low-fit and overweight/obese adolescents

Distinct Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteomes Differentiate Post-Treatment Lyme Disease from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Neurologic Post Treatment Lyme disease (nPTLS) and Chronic Fatigue (CFS) are syndromes of unknown etiology. They share features of fatigue and cognitive dysfunction, making it difficult to differentiate them. Unresolved is whether nPTLS is a subset of CFS. Methods and Principal Findings: Pooled cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from nPTLS patients, CFS patients, and healthy volunteers were comprehensively analyzed using high-resolution mass spectrometry (MS), coupled with immunoaffinity depletion methods to reduce protein-masking by abundant proteins. Individual patient and healthy control CSF samples were analyzed directly employing a MS-based label-free quantitative proteomics approach. We found that both groups, and individuals within the groups, could be distinguished from each other and normals based on their specific CSF proteins (p&0.01). CFS (n = 43) had 2,783 non-redundant proteins, nPTLS (n = 25) contained 2,768 proteins, and healthy normals had 2,630 proteins. Preliminary pathway analysis demonstrated that the data could be useful for hypothesis generation on the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying these two related syndromes. Conclusions: nPTLS and CFS have distinguishing CSF protein complements. Each condition has a number of CSF proteins that can be useful in providing candidates for future validation studies and insights on the respective mechanisms of pathogenesis. Distinguishing nPTLS and CFS permits more focused study of each condition, and can lead to novel diagnostics and therapeutic interventions

Modelos explicativos da memória prospectiva: uma revisão teórica

Neste artigo é apresentada uma revisão da literatura sobre os mecanismos cognitivos associados à memória prospectiva, organizados de acordo com a divisão das diferentes fases da recordação prospectiva (i.e., codificação, retenção e recuperação). Inicialmente, é apresentada a diversidade de dados da investigação que sustentam diferentes abordagens explicativas do fenômeno de recuperação de intenções, considerando a natureza automática ou estratégica da memória prospectiva. Em seguida, são salientadas as potenciais explicações sobre os mecanismos presentes durante o intervalo de retenção e na fase de codificação.(undefined

Analysis of the Ush2a Gene in Medaka Fish (Oryzias latipes)

Patients suffering from Usher syndrome (USH) exhibit sensorineural hearing loss, retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and, in some cases, vestibular dysfunction. USH is the most common genetic disorder affecting hearing and vision and is included in a group of hereditary pathologies associated with defects in ciliary function known as ciliopathies. This syndrome is clinically classified into three types: USH1, USH2 and USH3. USH2 accounts for well over one-half of all Usher cases and mutations in the USH2A gene are responsible for the majority of USH2 cases, but also for atypical Usher syndrome and recessive non-syndromic RP. Because medaka fish (Oryzias latypes) is an attractive model organism for genetic-based studies in biomedical research, we investigated the expression and function of the USH2A ortholog in this teleost species. Ol-Ush2a encodes a protein of 5.445 aa codons, containing the same motif arrangement as the human USH2A. Ol-Ush2a is expressed during early stages of medaka fish development and persists into adulthood. Temporal Ol-Ush2a expression analysis using whole mount in situ hybridization (WMISH) on embryos at different embryonic stages showed restricted expression to otoliths and retina, suggesting that Ol-Ush2a might play a conserved role in the development and/or maintenance of retinal photoreceptors and cochlear hair cells. Knockdown of Ol-Ush2a in medaka fish caused embryonic developmental defects (small eyes and heads, otolith malformations and shortened bodies with curved tails) resulting in late embryo lethality. These embryonic defects, observed in our study and in other ciliary disorders, are associated with defective cell movement specifically implicated in left-right (LR) axis determination and planar cell polarity (PCP)