Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging of reward-related brain circuitry in children and adolescents

BACKGROUND: Functional disturbances in reward-related brain systems are thought to play a role in the development of mood, impulse, and substance abuse disorders. Studies in non-human primates have identified brain regions, including the dorsal / ventral striatum and orbital-frontal cortex (OFC), in which neural activity is modulated by reward. Recent studies in adults have concurred with these findings by observing reward-contingent blood oxygen level dependant (BOLD) responses in these regions during functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) paradigms. However no previous studies indicate whether comparable modulations of neural activity exist in the brain reward systems of children and adolescents. METHODS: We used event-related FMRI and a behavioral paradigm modeled on previous work in adults to study brain responses to monetary gains and losses in non-psychiatric children and adolescents as part of a program examining the neural substrates of anxiety and depression in youth. RESULTS: Regions and time-courses of reward-related activity were similar to those observed in adults with condition-dependent BOLD changes in the ventral striatum, lateral and medial OFC; specifically, these regions showed larger responses to positive than to negative feedback. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide further evidence for the value of event-related FMRI in examining reward systems of the brain, demonstrate the feasibility of this approach in children and adolescents, and establish a baseline from which to understand the pathophysiology of reward-related psychiatric disorders in youth

Synthesis of anticancer compounds

Imperial Users onl

Book review: the limits of the market: the pendulum between government and market by Paul de Grauwe

Building upon the key principle that politics demands a necessary balancing of market and state, in The Limits of the Market: The Pendulum between Government and Market author Paul de Grauwe offers a history of the pendulum swing between these two spheres and recommends reforms that can help ensure a more workable dynamic between the market and the state. While anyone but a market fundamentalist will find little to disagree with in this convincing account, Christopher May is left unsure as to the intended audience of the book

Book review: how industry analysts shape the digital future by Neil Pollock and Robin Williams

How Industry Analysts Shape the Digital Future explores how industry analysts have come to wield authority over technological innovation with a particular focus on the evolution of the private consultancy firm, Gartner Inc. Neil Pollock and Robin Williams present a clear agent-centred discussion of how information technology decisions are made and give a more general insight into how market knowledge is constructed and deployed. This book shows the world of information technology analysts to be worthy of social scientific study and is deserving of a wide audience, writes Christopher May

Who’s in charge?:corporations as institutions of global governance

In most accounts of global governance, where corporations are included, they are seen as either subject to various international organisations’ regulatory impact or are identified as having (benign or malign) influence over agenda setting around the scope and practices of global regulation. However, here I examine a third dimension that has hitherto been under recognised: this article starts to develop an analysis of the terrain that global corporations govern themselves, sometime singularly, sometimes collectively and sometimes collaborating with the more “normal” institutions of global governance. I seek to develop an account of how the corporation governs this terrain and the mechanisms that businesses have developed (or utilised) to maintain their authority. I suggest that it makes sense to understand global corporations as directly analogous to more “normal” institutions of global governance, and that discussion and analysis of global governance needs to integrate this third dimension if it is to examine the full spectrum of governance beyond the state. This article is published as part of a thematic collection dedicated to global governanc

Book review: the end of ownership: personal property in the digital economy by Aaron Perzanowski and Jason Schultz

How has the digital era changed notions of ownership? In The End of Ownership: Personal Property in the Digital Economy, Aaron Perzanowski and Jason Schultz explore how digital products are typically licensed rather than owned and defend the continued importance of personal property in the digital economy. While Christopher May is somewhat frustrated by the exclusive focus on US law and the lack of engagement with political economy, there are interesting details in this book for those looking to reflect on how digital content delivery has transformed notions of ownership

Book review: after the crisis: anthropological thought, neoliberalism and the aftermath edited by James G. Carrier

In After the Crisis: Anthropological Thought, Neoliberalism and the Aftermath, editor James G. Carrier and contributors reflect on the impact that neoliberalism has had on the state of anthropology today. While Christopher May finds a clear account of the sense of crisis currently gripping the discipline, he argues that greater engagement with the field of critical political economy might have helped the book to also suggest a more concrete route out of the malaise

Book review: The sharing economy: the end of employment and the rise of crowd-based capitalism by Arun Sundararajan

While giving someone a ride, running errands or having a guest to stay in your spare room might be something you offer a friend for free, these are becoming the basis of a range of services increasingly provided to strangers in exchange for money. In The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism, Arun Sundararajan explores this new ‘sharing economy’ based on peer-to-peer commercial exchange. Although the book provides a wealth of interesting detail in accounting for the historical emergence of ‘crowd-based capitalism’, Christopher May argues that it obscures the real impact of the changes it posits on workers as well as the potential intensification of economic insecurity and inequality that may be brought about by the ‘sharing economy’

The role of corporations in global governance remains a much overlooked area of study

What role do corporations have in global governance? Christopher May writes that while corporations are often viewed as either the subjects of global governance, or actors that have a particular influence (positive or negative) over setting political agendas, within their extended international supply chains corporations have a significant governance role which is worthy of study in its own right

Book review: how economics professors can stop failing us: the discipline at a crossroads by Steven Payson

In How Economics Professors Can Stop Failing Us: The Discipline at a Crossroads, Steven Payson offers a US-focused critique of the professional practice of teaching and researching economics today, covering areas such as publishing, hiring and promotion. As readers will likely find themselves nodding in recognition at many of the issues identified by Payson, Christopher May finds this a welcome voice ..