The influence of emotional cues on prospective memory: A systematic review with meta-analyses

Remembering to perform a behaviour in the future, prospective memory, is essential to ensuring that people fulfil their intentions. Prospective memory involves committing to memory a cue to action (encoding), and later recognising and acting upon the cue in the environment (retrieval). Prospective memory performance is believed to be influenced by the emotionality of the cues, however the literature is fragmented and inconsistent. We conducted a systematic search to synthesise research on the influence of emotion on prospective memory. Sixty-seven effect sizes were extracted from 17 articles and hypothesised effects tested using three meta-analyses. Overall, prospective memory was enhanced when positively-valenced rather than neutral cues were presented (d = 0.32). In contrast, negatively-valenced cues did not enhance prospective memory overall (d = 0.07), but this effect was moderated by the timing of the emotional manipulation. Prospective memory performance was improved when negatively-valenced cues were presented during both encoding and retrieval (d = 0.40), but undermined when presented only during encoding (d = -0.25). Moderating effects were also found for cue-focality and whether studies controlled for the arousal level of the cues. The principal finding is that positively-valenced cues improve prospective memory performance and that timing of the manipulation can moderate emotional effects on prospective memory. We offer a new agenda for future empirical work and theorising in this area

Phylogenic Species Identification of Philobolus Associated with Horses in Indiana and Ohio

Pilobolus, a coprophilous zygomycete, is associated with herbivores. The various species of this fungus have been collected from a wide range of hosts. Most species have been isolated from multiple hosts. However, P. longipes has been reported exclusively associated with Equus spp. This study was undertaken to examine the species specific relationship of P. longipes and members of Equus, specifically E. caballus (horses). Dung samples were collected from horses located within 25 miles of Richmond, Indiana for isolates of Pilobolus. Sporangiospores from these fungal isolates were used as the source of DNA. Sequences of taxonomically informative 18S and ITS regions of rDNA were obtained using previously published protocols. DNA sequences were aligned with BLAST and compared with sequences deposited in GenBank. Sequences of DNA from the isolates in this study were examined using MEGA 4 with Clustal W. By comparing the sequences of DNA from isolates in this study with those in GenBank, it was determined that P. longipes, P. sphaerosporus, P. kleinii and P. pullus are associated with horses in Indiana and Ohio. All isolates recovered in this study are large-spore producing species of Pilobolus

Computer modeling of diabetes and Its transparency: a report on the Eighth Mount Hood Challenge

Objectives The Eighth Mount Hood Challenge (held in St. Gallen, Switzerland, in September 2016) evaluated the transparency of model input documentation from two published health economics studies and developed guidelines for improving transparency in the reporting of input data underlying model-based economic analyses in diabetes. Methods Participating modeling groups were asked to reproduce the results of two published studies using the input data described in those articles. Gaps in input data were filled with assumptions reported by the modeling groups. Goodness of fit between the results reported in the target studies and the groups’ replicated outputs was evaluated using the slope of linear regression line and the coefficient of determination (R2). After a general discussion of the results, a diabetes-specific checklist for the transparency of model input was developed. Results Seven groups participated in the transparency challenge. The reporting of key model input parameters in the two studies, including the baseline characteristics of simulated patients, treatment effect and treatment intensification threshold assumptions, treatment effect evolution, prediction of complications and costs data, was inadequately transparent (and often missing altogether). Not surprisingly, goodness of fit was better for the study that reported its input data with more transparency. To improve the transparency in diabetes modeling, the Diabetes Modeling Input Checklist listing the minimal input data required for reproducibility in most diabetes modeling applications was developed. Conclusions Transparency of diabetes model inputs is important to the reproducibility and credibility of simulation results. In the Eighth Mount Hood Challenge, the Diabetes Modeling Input Checklist was developed with the goal of improving the transparency of input data reporting and reproducibility of diabetes simulation model results

Experimental search for muonic photons

We report new limits on the production of muonic photons in the CERN neutrino beam. The results are based on the analysis of neutrino production of dimuons in the CHARM II detector. A $90\%$ CL limit on the coupling constant of muonic photons, $\alpha_{\mu} / \alpha < (1.5 \div 3.2) \times10^{-6}$ is derived for a muon neutrino mass in the range $m_{\nu_{\mu}} = (10^{-20} \div 10^5)$ eV. This improves the limit obtained from a precision measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon $(g-2)_\mu$ by a factor from 8 to 4

Leading-order QCD Analysis of Neutrino-Induced Dimuon Events

The results of a leading-order QCD analysis of neutrino-induced charm production are presented. They are based on a sample of 4111 \numu- and 871 \anumu-induced opposite-sign dimuon events with $E_{\mu 1},E_{\mu 2} > 6~{\rm GeV}$, $35 5.5\,{\rm GeV^2}$, observed in the CHARM~II detector exposed to the CERN wideband neutrino and antineutrino beams. The analysis yields the value of \linebreak the charm quark mass $m_c=1.79\pm0.38\,{\rm GeV}/c^2$ and the Cabibbo--Kobayashi--Maskawa matrix element $|V_{cd}|=0.219\pm0.016$. The strange quark content of the nucleon is found to be suppressed with respect to non-strange sea quarks by a factor $\kappa =0.39\pm0.09$

2020-04-23 DAILY UNM GLOBAL HEALTH COVID-19 BRIEFING

Executive Summary: NM health order extension. NM and Navajo nation numbers. Pueblo relief. NM curve flattens. Economic recovery council. Businesses push to reopen. Police enforcement tough. Out-of-network healthcare billing. 3700 NM medical volunteers. Rising US deaths. Meat processor shortages. WHO malaria deaths warning. Europe: ½ of deaths nursing homes. British household testing. EU rescue package. Cybercrime 5X. NM PPE spending. PPE waste. Nylon + cloth masks. H2O2 PPE sterilization. NY 13.9% antibodies. NY risk factors. Children clinical features. Italian town infection “census”. Monitoring excess deaths. COVID-NET summary. Exit strategies. Outpatient screening. Hospital stress management. Practice guidance on: home anaphylaxis management, burns management, lymphocyte malignancies, venous thromboembolism, intubation, psychiatric infection management, community case management, neonatal ICU, geriatric care, and homeless shelters. Lockdown cessation models. RT-LAMP detection. ELISA microfluidics. Nasopharyngeal vs. Oropharyngeal. Pollution. Healthcare worker screening app. Test kit generosity. UK test key workers. Remdesivir results disputed. Glucocorticoid impact. Alpha-lipoic acid mortality. Computational drug design. Dapagliflozin RCT starts. Myocardial pathogenesis. Smell and taste. Severe case autoimmunity. Interferon severe cases. Coagulopathy. Eosinopenia. Pollution fatality correlation. GI – lung inverse correlation. Fecal review. Mental health and quarantine

2020-04-22 DAILY UNM GLOBAL HEALTH COVID-19 BRIEFING

Executive Summary: NM Governor update. NM case update. 20 million tests/day. 2nd COVID wave? Contact tracing civil liberties. Missouri sues China. National parks reopening. Malaysia mass transmission. South Africa deploys 70k troops. COVID impact measurement. N95 H2O2 decontamination. COVID hit US earlier. Homeless shelter prevalence. Hong Kong interventions. Pediatric severity meta-analysis. Italian prediction model. Chinese re-emergence travelers. Pet cats positive. CDC: food delivery. Telehealth transformations. Sustaining distancing. Testing infographic. Policy simulation. CDC homeless testing. Pre-surgery testing. Korean lab guidelines. Anesthetic machine daily checks. ADHD management. Oncology department reorganization. REMS vs. MEWS. Saliva vs. nasopharyngeal collection. Automated immunoassays. RT-LAMP detection. Clinical hematology lab. Repeated testing RT-PCR. Quest increases capacity. Self-collection validation. Chinese antiviral leads. Vaccine macaque success. Thrombolysis therapy. Azithromycin stem cells. Computational drug discovery. 50 clinical trials registered. Viral clade fatality. qSOFA revisited. Neonatal sepsis. Disinfecting blood. JAMA prediction video. Dental survey. Viral sepsis mechanism. Unrecognized hypoxia. Coagulation surge

To Separate or Not to Separate Investment from Commercial Banking? An Empirical Analysis of Attention Distortion Under Multiple Tasks

In the wake of the 2008/2009 financial crisis, a number of policy reports (Vickers, Liikanen, Volcker) proposed to separate investment banking from commercial banking to increase financial stability. This paper empirically examines one theoretical justification for these proposals, namely attention distortion under multiple tasks as in Holmstrom and Milgrom (1991). Universal banks can be viewed as combining two different tasks (investment banking and commercial banking) in the same organization. We estimate pay-performance sensitivities for different segments within universal banks and for pure investment and commercial banks. We show that the pay-performance sensitivity is higher in investment banking than in commercial banking, no matter whether it is organized as part of a universal bank or in a separate institution. Next, the paper shows that relative pay-performance sensitivities of investment and commercial banking are negatively related to the quality of the loan portfolio in universal banks. Depending on the specification, we obtain a reduction in problem loans when investment banking is removed from commercial banks of up to 12 percent. We interpret the evidence to imply that the higher pay-performance sensitivity in investment banking directs the attention of managers away from commercial banking within universal banks, consistent with Holmstrom and Milgrom (1991). Separation of investment banking and commercial banking may indeed be associated with a reduction in risk in commercial banking

Synthesis of Monodisperse Nanocrystals via Microreaction: Open-to-Air Synthesis with Oleylamine as a Coligand

Microreaction provides a controllable tool to synthesize CdSe nanocrystals (NCs) in an accelerated fashion. However, the surface traps created during the fast growth usually result in low photoluminescence (PL) efficiency for the formed products. Herein, the reproducible synthesis of highly luminescent CdSe NCs directly in open air was reported, with a microreactor as the controllable reaction tool. Spectra investigation elucidated that applying OLA both in Se and Cd stock solutions could advantageously promote the diffusion between the two precursors, resulting in narrow full-width-at-half maximum (FWHM) of PL (26 nm). Meanwhile, the addition of OLA in the source solution was demonstrated helpful to improve the reactivity of Cd monomer. In this case, the focus of size distribution was accomplished during the early reaction stage. Furthermore, if the volume percentage (vol.%) of OLA in the precursors exceeded a threshold of 37.5%, the resulted CdSe NCs demonstrated long-term fixing of size distribution up to 300 s. The observed phenomena facilitated the preparation of a size series of monodisperse CdSe NCs merely by the variation of residence time. With the volume percentage of OLA as 37.5% in the source solution, a 78 nm tuning of PL spectra (from 507 to 585) was obtained through the variation of residence time from 2 s to 160 s, while maintaining narrow FMWH of PL (26–31 nm) and high QY of PL (35–55%)