Frontostriatal Maturation Predicts Cognitive Control Failure to Appetitive Cues in Adolescents

Adolescent risk-taking is a public health issue that increases the odds of poor lifetime outcomes. One factor thought to influence adolescents' propensity for risk-taking is an enhanced sensitivity to appetitive cues, relative to an immature capacity to exert sufficient cognitive control. We tested this hypothesis by characterizing interactions among ventral striatal, dorsal striatal, and prefrontal cortical regions with varying appetitive load using fMRI scanning. Child, teen, and adult participants performed a go/no-go task with appetitive (happy faces) and neutral cues (calm faces). Impulse control to neutral cues showed linear improvement with age, whereas teens showed a nonlinear reduction in impulse control to appetitive cues. This performance decrement in teens was paralleled by enhanced activity in the ventral striatum. Prefrontal cortical recruitment correlated with overall accuracy and showed a linear response with age for no-go versus go trials. Connectivity analyses identified a ventral frontostriatal circuit including the inferior frontal gyrus and dorsal striatum during no-go versus go trials. Examining recruitment developmentally showed that teens had greater between-subject ventral-dorsal striatal coactivation relative to children and adults for happy no-go versus go trials. These findings implicate exaggerated ventral striatal representation of appetitive cues in adolescents relative to an intermediary cognitive control response. Connectivity and coactivity data suggest these systems communicate at the level of the dorsal striatum differentially across development. Biased responding in this system is one possible mechanism underlying heightened risk-taking during adolescence

Uncertainties of predictions from parton distribution functions II: the Hessian method

We develop a general method to quantify the uncertainties of parton distribution functions and their physical predictions, with emphasis on incorporating all relevant experimental constraints. The method uses the Hessian formalism to study an effective chi-squared function that quantifies the fit between theory and experiment. Key ingredients are a recently developed iterative procedure to calculate the Hessian matrix in the difficult global analysis environment, and the use of parameters defined as components along appropriately normalized eigenvectors. The result is a set of 2d Eigenvector Basis parton distributions (where d=16 is the number of parton parameters) from which the uncertainty on any physical quantity due to the uncertainty in parton distributions can be calculated. We illustrate the method by applying it to calculate uncertainties of gluon and quark distribution functions, W boson rapidity distributions, and the correlation between W and Z production cross sections.Comment: 30 pages, Latex. Reference added. Normalization of Hessian matrix changed to HEP standar

Addressing Implicit Bias in the Courts

Fairness is a fundamental tenet of American courts. Yet, despite substantial work by state courts to address issues of racial and ethnic fairness,2 public skepticism that racial and ethnic minorities receive consistently fair and equal treatment in American courts remains widespread.3 Why? THE INFLUENCE OF IMPLICIT ASSOCIATIONS Perhaps one explanation may be found in an emerging body of research on implicit cognition. During the last two decades, new assessment methods and technologies in the fields of social science and neuroscience have advanced research on brain functions, providing a glimpse into what National Public Radio science correspondent Shankar Vedantam refers to as the “hidden brain.”4 Although in its early stages, this research is helping scientists understand how the brain takes in, sorts, synthesizes, and responds to the enormous amount of information an individual faces on a daily basis.5 It also is providing intriguing insights into how and why individuals develop stereotypes and biases, often without even knowing they exist. The research indicates that an individual’s brain learns over time how to distinguish different objects (e.g., a chair or desk) based on features of the objects that coalesce into patterns. These patterns or schemas help the brain efficiently recognize objects encountered in the environment. What is interesting is that these patterns also operate at the social level. Over time, the brain learns to sort people into certain groups (e.g., male or female, young or old) based on combinations of characteristics as well. The problem is when the brain automatically associates certain characteristics with specific groups that are not accurate for all the individuals in the group (e.g., “elderly individuals are frail”). Scientists refer to these automatic associations as implicit—they operate behind-the-scenes without the individual’s awareness

Quantifying black carbon deposition over the Greenland ice sheet from forest fires in Canada

Black carbon (BC) concentrations observed in 22 snowpits sampled in the northwest sector of the Greenland ice sheet in April 2014 have allowed us to identify a strong and widespread BC aerosol deposition event, which was dated to have accumulated in the pits from two snow storms between 27 July and 2 August 2013. This event comprises a significant portion (57% on average across all pits) of total BC deposition over 10 months (July 2013 to April 2014). Here we link this deposition event to forest fires burning in Canada during summer 2013 using modeling and remote sensing tools. Aerosols were detected by both the Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (on board CALIPSO) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Aqua) instruments during transport between Canada and Greenland. We use high‐resolution regional chemical transport modeling (WRF‐Chem) combined with high‐resolution fire emissions (FINNv1.5) to study aerosol emissions, transport, and deposition during this event. The model captures the timing of the BC deposition event and shows that fires in Canada were the main source of deposited BC. However, the model underpredicts BC deposition compared to measurements at all sites by a factor of 2–100. Underprediction of modeled BC deposition originates from uncertainties in fire emissions and model treatment of wet removal of aerosols. Improvements in model descriptions of precipitation scavenging and emissions from wildfires are needed to correctly predict deposition, which is critical for determining the climate impacts of aerosols that originate from fires

Effects of Bias, Electrical and Thermal Stress on DDR2 Total Ionizing Dose Response

We investigate whether bias conditions arid electrical and thermal stresses can affect the Total Ionizing Dose response ofDDR2 SDRAM

Primary Beam Shape Calibration from Mosaicked, Interferometric Observations

Image quality in mosaicked observations from interferometric radio telescopes is strongly dependent on the accuracy with which the antenna primary beam is calibrated. The next generation of radio telescope arrays such as the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) have key science goals that involve making large mosaicked observations filled with bright point sources. We present a new method for calibrating the shape of the telescope's mean primary beam that uses the multiple redundant observations of these bright sources in the mosaic. The method has an analytical solution for simple Gaussian beam shapes but can also be applied to more complex beam shapes through $\chi^2$ minimization. One major benefit of this simple, conceptually clean method is that it makes use of the science data for calibration purposes, thus saving telescope time and improving accuracy through simultaneous calibration and observation. We apply the method both to 1.43 GHz data taken during the ATA Twenty Centimeter Survey (ATATS) and to 3.14 GHz data taken during the ATA's Pi Gigahertz Sky Survey (PiGSS). We find that the beam's calculated full width at half maximum (FWHM) values are consistent with the theoretical values, the values measured by several independent methods, and the values from the simulation we use to demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on data from future telescopes such as the expanded ATA and the SKA. These results are preliminary, and can be expanded upon by fitting more complex beam shapes. We also investigate, by way of a simulation, the dependence of the accuracy of the telescope's FWHM on antenna number. We find that the uncertainty returned by our fitting method is inversely proportional to the number of antennas in the array.Comment: Accepted by PASP. 8 pages, 8 figure

C-fiber-related EEG-oscillations induced by laser radiant heat stimulation of capsaicin-treated skin

Nociceptive input reaches the brain via two different types of nerve fibers, moderately fast A-delta and slowly conducting C-fibers, respectively. To explore their distinct roles in normal and inflammatory pain we used laser stimulation of normal and capsaicin treated skin at proximal and distal arm sites in combination with time frequency transformation of electroencephalography (EEG) data. Comparison of phase-locked (evoked) and non-phase-locked (total) EEG to laser stimuli revealed three significant pain-related oscillatory responses. First, an evoked response in the delta-theta band, mediated by A-fibers, was reduced by topical capsaicin treatment. Second, a decrease of total power in the alpha-to-gamma band reflected both an A- and C-nociceptor-mediated response with only the latter being reduced by capsaicin treatment. Finally, an enhancement of total power in the upper beta band was mediated exclusively by C-nociceptors and appeared strongly augmented by capsaicin treatment. These findings suggest that phase-locking of brain activity to stimulus onset is a critical feature of A-delta nociceptive input, allowing rapid orientation to salient and potentially threatening events. In contrast, the subsequent C-nociceptive input exhibits clearly less phase coupling to the stimulus. It may primarily signal the tissue status allowing more long-term behavioral adaptations during ongoing inflammatory events that accompany tissue damage

How Will the Future of Work Shape Osh Research and Practice? a Workshop Summary

Growth of the information economy and globalization of labor markets will be marked by exponential growth in emerging technologies that will cause considerable disruption of the social and economic sectors that drive the global job market. These disruptions will alter the way we work, where we work, and will be further affected by the changing demographic characteristics and level of training of the available workforce. These changes will likely result in scenarios where existing workplace hazards are exacerbated and new hazards with unknown health effects are created. The pace of these changes heralds an urgent need for a proactive approach to understand the potential effects new and emerging workplace hazards will have on worker health, safety, and well-being. As employers increasingly rely on non-standard work arrangements, research is needed to better understand the work organization and employment models that best support decent work and improved worker health, safety, and well-being. This need has been made more acute by the SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic that has resulted in dramatic changes in employment patterns, millions of lost jobs, an erosion of many economic sectors, and widespread disparities which further challenge occupational safety and health (OSH) systems to ensure a healthy and productive workplace. to help identify new research approaches to address OSH challenges in the future, a virtual workshop was organized in June 2020 with leading experts in the fields of OSH, well-being, research methods, mental health, economics, and life-course analysis. A paradigm shift will be needed for OSH research in the future of work that embraces key stakeholders and thinks differently about research that will improve lives of workers and enhance enterprise success. A more transdisciplinary approach to research will be needed that integrates the skills of traditional and non-traditional OSH research disciplines, as well as broader research methods that support the transdisciplinary character of an expanded OSH paradigm. This article provides a summary of the presentations, discussion, and recommendations that will inform the agenda of the Expanded Focus for Occupational Safety and Health (Ex4OSH) International Conference, planned for December 2021

Does dietary intake change during an intervention to reduce sedentary behavior and cardiovascular disease risk? A randomized comparative effectiveness trial

Citation: Casey, K., Mailey, E. L., Rosenkranz, R. R., Swank, A., Ablah, E., & Rosenkranz, S. K. (2018). Does dietary intake change during an intervention to reduce sedentary behavior and cardiovascular disease risk? A randomized comparative effectiveness trial. BMC Nutrition, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-018-0223-1Background: Evidence from physical activity interventions suggests that women, in particular, may overcompensate for exercise energy expenditure by increasing caloric intake. Sedentary behavior and poor dietary quality are independent risk factors for many major chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease (CVD). The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether insufficiently active women, accumulating less than 60 min per week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, alter caloric intake or dietary quality when participating in an 8-week intervention to reduce sedentary behavior and CVD risk. A secondary aim was to determine whether the two treatment groups differed from one another in dietary intake while participating in the intervention. Methods: Insufficiently active women (n = 49) working full-time sedentary jobs were randomized to one of two treatment groups to reduce sedentary behavior during the workweek: short-break (1–2 min breaks from sitting every half hour, SB), or long-break (15 min breaks from sitting twice daily, LB). Three-day food records were collected at baseline, week 4 and week 8. Dietary quality was assessed using the Alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010 (AHEI-2010). Risk factors for CVD were assessed at baseline and week 8. Results: For all participants, average caloric intake decreased significantly from baseline to week 8 by approximately 12% (Δ = − 216.0 kcals, p = 0.003). Average caloric intake decreased significantly over time for the SB group (Δ = − 369.6 kcals, p = 0.004), but not the LB group (Δ = − 179.5 kcals, p = 0.17). There was no significant difference between SB and LB groups with regard to calories from baseline to week 8 (F = 0.51, p = 0.48). Total AHEI-2010 scores did not decrease significantly for all participants (Δ = − 4.0, p = 0.14), SB (Δ = − 5.2, p = 0.16), or LB groups (Δ = − 4.5, p = 0.67). Conclusions: Following an 8-week intervention to reduce sedentary time, insufficiently active women decreased caloric intake over time, however there were no differences between SB and LB groups. In all participants, dietary quality was not altered over time. Future studies should explore sedentary reduction interventions compared to physical activity interventions as a means to create negative energy balance, as frequent sedentary breaks may be effective for improving health outcomes in women. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov registration number NCT02609438, retrospectively registered November 20, 2015

Roughness discrimination in cats with dorsal column lesions

1. (1) Seven normal cats and 17 cats with dorsal column total (DC) lesions of 2-100% of the DC cross-sectional area were given neurological tests. Cats with lesions as large as 86% showed no deficits on neurological examination. All cats with lesions greater than 90% showed signs of neurological impairment.2. (2) Six cats with high cervical DC lesions were compared with 4 intact controls in a roughness-discrimination task of 4 graded levels. Two cats with 97% and 100% destruction of their total DC cross-sectional area failed to reach criterion on the second discrimination level; cats with 38-86% DC lesions learned the highest discmination grade as quickly as intact controls.3. (3) DC lesions of 69-86% in pretained cats failed to produce evidence of lasting postoperative deficits when compared with pretrained, sham-operated controls; however, a cat with a 100% lesion failed to reach criterion on the second discrimination level.4. (4) The results show that the effects of DC lesions in cats can be demonstr by neurological examination and roughness-discrimination tests. However, to show significant effects, at least 90% of the dorsal columns must be destroyed; in this study, such lesions were estimated to involve over 90% of the DC fibers transmitting information from the paws. Although these findings suggest a high level of functional redundancy within the DC system, alternative views of DC function and its analysis are suggested.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/34035/1/0000312.pd