We can guide search by a set of colours, but are reluctant to do it.

For some real-world color searches, the target colours are not precisely known, and any item within a range of color values should be attended. This, a target representation that captures multiple similar colours would be advantageous. If such multicolour search is possible, then search for two targets (e..g Stroud, Menneer, Cave and Donnelly, 2012) might be guided by a target representation that included the target colours as well as the continuum of colours that fall between the targets within a contiguous region of color space. Results from Stroud et al (2012) suggest otherwise, however. The current set of experiments show that guidance for a set of colours that are from a single region of color space can be effective if targets are depicted as specific discrete colours. Specifically, Experiments 1-3 demonstrate that a search can be guided by four and even eight colours given the appropriate conditions. However, Experiment 5 gives evidence that guidance is sometimes sensitive to how informative the target preview is to search. Experiments 6 and 7 show that a stimulus showing a continuous range of target colours is not translated into a search target representation. Thus, search can be guided by multiple discrete colours that are from a single region in color space, but this approach was not adopted in a search for two targets with intervening distractor colours

The PHENIX Experiment at RHIC

The physics emphases of the PHENIX collaboration and the design and current status of the PHENIX detector are discussed. The plan of the collaboration for making the most effective use of the available luminosity in the first years of RHIC operation is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Further details of the PHENIX physics program available at http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/phenix

CD44 acts as a co-receptor for cell-specific enhancement of signaling and regulatory T cell induction by TGM1, a parasite TGF-β mimic

Long-lived parasites evade host immunity through highly evolved molecular strategies. The murine intestinal helminth, Heligmosomoides polygyrus, down-modulates the host immune system through release of an immunosuppressive TGF-β mimic, TGM1, which is a divergent member of the CCP (Sushi) protein family. TGM1 comprises 5 domains, of which domains 1-3 (D1/2/3) bind mammalian TGF-β receptors, acting on T cells to induce Foxp3+ regulatory T cells; however, the roles of domains 4 and 5 (D4/5) remain unknown. We noted that truncated TGM1, lacking D4/5, showed reduced potency. Combination of D1/2/3 and D4/5 as separate proteins did not alter potency, suggesting that a physical linkage is required and that these domains do not deliver an independent signal. Coprecipitation from cells treated with biotinylated D4/5, followed by mass spectrometry, identified the cell surface protein CD44 as a coreceptor for TGM1. Both full-length and D4/5 bound strongly to a range of primary cells and cell lines, to a greater degree than D1/2/3 alone, although some cell lines did not respond to TGM1. Ectopic expression of CD44 in nonresponding cells conferred responsiveness, while genetic depletion of CD44 abolished enhancement by D4/5 and ablated the ability of full-length TGM1 to bind to cell surfaces. Moreover, CD44-deficient T cells showed attenuated induction of Foxp3 by full-length TGM1, to levels similar to those induced by D1/2/3. Hence, a parasite protein known to bind two host cytokine receptor subunits has evolved a third receptor specificity, which serves to raise the avidity and cell type–specific potency of TGF-β signaling in mammalian cells

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = −0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics.publishedVersio

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (vol 13, 517, 2022) : National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (Nature Communications, (2022), 13, 1, (517), 10.1038/s41467-021-27668-9)

Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.In this article the author name ‘Agustin Ibanez’ was incorrectly written as ‘Augustin Ibanez’. The original article has been corrected.Peer reviewe

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic.

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = -0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics

Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multinational data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar results were found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, and collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-neglible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic.Peer reviewe

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery