Memory for Emotional Images: Mechanisms of Episodic Processing and its Psychophysiological Correlates

Negative emotional stimuli are usually better remembered than neutral emotional stimuli. Previous examination of binding theory found no differences in recall for pure lists of taboo and neutral words. A similar result was found with equivalent recognition memory performance between pure lists of negative, positive, and neutral images. The current research is designed to test the predictions of binding theory using negative and neutral visual stimuli in mixed lists. A rapid serial visual presentation paradigm and recognition memory item-discrimination tasks are used. Binding theory predicts differences in recognition memory performance between arousing and neutral images in mixed lists, but not pure lists. Skin conductance and heart rate data are collected to understand the physiological counterparts of the psychological processes in episodic memory. Results found equivalent recognition memory performance between negative and neutral images in mixed and pure lists. A significant liberal response bias for negative over neutral images was observed across experiments. Skin conductance and heart rate measures did not correlate with recognition memory performance

3D Structure of Microwave Sources from Solar Rotation Stereoscopy vs Magnetic Extrapolations

We use rotation stereoscopy to estimate the height of a steady-state solar feature relative to the photosphere, based on its apparent motion in the image plane recorded over several days of observation. The stereoscopy algorithm is adapted to work with either one- or two-dimensional data (i.e. from images or from observations that record the projected position of the source along an arbitrary axis). The accuracy of the algorithm is tested on simulated data, and then the algorithm is used to estimate the coronal radio source heights associated with the active region NOAA 10956, based on multifrequency imaging data over 7 days from the Siberian Solar Radio Telescope near 5.7 GHz, the Nobeyama Radio Heliograph at 17 GHz, as well as one-dimensional scans at multiple frequencies spanning the 5.98--15.95 GHz frequency range from the RATAN-600 instrument. The gyroresonance emission mechanism, which is sensitive to the coronal magnetic field strength, is applied to convert the estimated radio source heights at various frequencies, h(f), to information about magnetic field vs. height B(h), and the results are compared to a magnetic field extrapolation derived from photospheric magnetic field observations obtained by Hinode and MDI. We found that the gyroresonant emission comes from the heights exceeding location of the third gyrolayer irrespectively on the magnetic extrapolation method; implications of this finding for the coronal magnetography and coronal plasma physics are discussed.Comment: 26 pages, 13 figures, ApJ accepte

Effect of sitagliptin on cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND: Data are lacking on the long-term effect on cardiovascular events of adding sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor, to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. METHODS: In this randomized, double-blind study, we assigned 14,671 patients to add either sitagliptin or placebo to their existing therapy. Open-label use of antihyperglycemic therapy was encouraged as required, aimed at reaching individually appropriate glycemic targets in all patients. To determine whether sitagliptin was noninferior to placebo, we used a relative risk of 1.3 as the marginal upper boundary. The primary cardiovascular outcome was a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for unstable angina. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 3.0 years, there was a small difference in glycated hemoglobin levels (least-squares mean difference for sitagliptin vs. placebo, -0.29 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.32 to -0.27). Overall, the primary outcome occurred in 839 patients in the sitagliptin group (11.4%; 4.06 per 100 person-years) and 851 patients in the placebo group (11.6%; 4.17 per 100 person-years). Sitagliptin was noninferior to placebo for the primary composite cardiovascular outcome (hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.88 to 1.09; P<0.001). Rates of hospitalization for heart failure did not differ between the two groups (hazard ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.20; P = 0.98). There were no significant between-group differences in rates of acute pancreatitis (P = 0.07) or pancreatic cancer (P = 0.32). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease, adding sitagliptin to usual care did not appear to increase the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, hospitalization for heart failure, or other adverse events