Motivated Reasoning, Ambivalence, And The Local Economy: Asymmetric Biases In The Formation Of Economic Perceptions

Through motivated reasoning, citizens tend to process information in ways that confirm their prior beliefs. This motivation is seen perhaps most clearly in how voters view the economy -- citizens identifying with the incumbent party view the economy favorably, while those opposed to the incumbent party view the economy unfavorably. Thus, while all citizens exist within the same national economy at a given point in time, they also display wide variations in how they perceive that same economy. This study investigates the role the direction of partisan attachments, levels of political knowledge, and the local economic environment play in the formation of national economic perceptions. The findings show that, first, out-partisans are more prone towards motivated reasoning than in-partisans when evaluating the national economy, both retrospectively and prospectively. Second, the effect of in-party attachments on national economic perceptions becomes stronger with levels of political knowledge, but not for out-partisans. And third, changes in economic performance at the county and state levels shape the effect of in-party identities on economic perceptions, while out-party identities remain mostly isolated from the local economic environment

Economic perceptions shape attitudes toward the president during times of economic crisis

In an ideal world, voters’ choices would be informed by their evaluations of the incumbent party’s performance on issues such as the economy. But given that research has shown that these evaluations are largely driven by voters’ political beliefs, how can elected officials be held accountable for poor economic management? In new research using survey data on changes in presidential approval and economic perceptions, Bradley T. Dickerson finds that when the economy is especially poor and slips into recession, economic attitudes can be a strong predictor of political attitudes

When crises collide—Policing a pandemic during social unrest

In 2020, the United States was shaken by concurrent crises: the COVID-19 pandemic and protests for racial equality. Both crises present significant challenges for law enforcement. On the one hand, the protests for racial equality drew the public’s attention to the criminal justice system’s disparate treatment of Blacks and other people of colour. On the other hand, the pandemic required the expansion of police duties to enforce public health mandates. To ensure compliance, law enforcement may arrest, detain, and even use force to prevent the transmission of communicable diseases that may have an irreversible impact on human health, such as COVID-19. Policing, however, is at a critical point in America. The government is expanding police powers for the sake of public health; all the while, public indignation about police (ab)uses of power has fuelled calls for its defunding. It is therefore important to explore Americans’ views of policing pandemics during periods of social unrest, focusing on the recognition that socio-economic and racial inequities shape perceptions. The data from this project derives from surveys with Americans on the specific topics of race, policing, racial protests, and COVID-19. The study finds that Americans perceive the police as legitimate overall; however, there are divergences based on race, gender, and marital status. These differences may contribute meaningful insights to the current discourse on police legitimacy in America

Flies Regulate Wing Motion via Active Control of a Dual-Function Gyroscope

Flies execute their remarkable aerial maneuvers using a set of wing steering muscles, which are activated at specific phases of the stroke cycle [1, 2, 3]. The activation phase of these muscles—which determines their biomechanical output [4, 5, 6]—arises via feedback from mechanoreceptors at the base of the wings and structures unique to flies called halteres [7, 8, 9]. Evolved from the hindwings, the tiny halteres oscillate at the same frequency as the wings, although they serve no aerodynamic function [10] and are thought to act as gyroscopes [10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]. Like the wings, halteres possess minute control muscles whose activity is modified by descending visual input [16], raising the possibility that flies control wing motion by adjusting the motor output of their halteres, although this hypothesis has never been directly tested. Here, using genetic techniques possible in Drosophila melanogaster, we tested the hypothesis that visual input during flight modulates haltere muscle activity and that this, in turn, alters the mechanosensory feedback that regulates the wing steering muscles. Our results suggest that rather than acting solely as a gyroscope to detect body rotation, halteres also function as an adjustable clock to set the spike timing of wing motor neurons, a specialized capability that evolved from the generic flight circuitry of their four-winged ancestors. In addition to demonstrating how the efferent control loop of a sensory structure regulates wing motion, our results provide insight into the selective scenario that gave rise to the evolution of halteres

Flies Regulate Wing Motion via Active Control of a Dual-Function Gyroscope

Flies execute their remarkable aerial maneuvers using a set of wing steering muscles, which are activated at specific phases of the stroke cycle [1, 2, 3]. The activation phase of these muscles—which determines their biomechanical output [4, 5, 6]—arises via feedback from mechanoreceptors at the base of the wings and structures unique to flies called halteres [7, 8, 9]. Evolved from the hindwings, the tiny halteres oscillate at the same frequency as the wings, although they serve no aerodynamic function [10] and are thought to act as gyroscopes [10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]. Like the wings, halteres possess minute control muscles whose activity is modified by descending visual input [16], raising the possibility that flies control wing motion by adjusting the motor output of their halteres, although this hypothesis has never been directly tested. Here, using genetic techniques possible in Drosophila melanogaster, we tested the hypothesis that visual input during flight modulates haltere muscle activity and that this, in turn, alters the mechanosensory feedback that regulates the wing steering muscles. Our results suggest that rather than acting solely as a gyroscope to detect body rotation, halteres also function as an adjustable clock to set the spike timing of wing motor neurons, a specialized capability that evolved from the generic flight circuitry of their four-winged ancestors. In addition to demonstrating how the efferent control loop of a sensory structure regulates wing motion, our results provide insight into the selective scenario that gave rise to the evolution of halteres

Costs of care for persons with opioid dependence in commercial integrated health systems

BACKGROUND: When used in general medical practices, buprenorphine is an effective treatment for opioid dependence, yet little is known about how use of buprenorphine affects the utilization and cost of health care in commercial health systems. METHODS: The objective of this retrospective cohort study was to examine how buprenorphine affects patterns of medical care, addiction medicine services, and costs from the health system perspective. Individuals with two or more opioid-dependence diagnoses per year, in two large health systems (System A: n = 1836; System B: n = 4204) over the time span 2007–2008 were included. Propensity scores were used to help adjust for group differences. RESULTS: Patients receiving buprenorphine plus addiction counseling had significantly lower total health care costs than patients with little or no addiction treatment (mean health care costs with buprenorphine treatment = $13,578; vs. mean health care costs with no addiction treatment =$31,055; p < .0001), while those receiving buprenorphine plus addiction counseling and those with addiction counseling only did not differ significantly in total health care costs (mean costs with counseling only: $17,017; p = .5897). In comparison to patients receiving buprenorphine plus counseling, those with little or no addiction treatment had significantly greater use of primary care (p < .001), other medical visits (p = .001), and emergency services (p = .020). Patients with counseling only (compared to patients with buprenorphine plus counseling) used less inpatient detoxification (p < .001), and had significantly more PC visits (p = .001), other medical visits (p = .005), and mental health visits (p = .002). CONCLUSIONS: Buprenorphine is a viable alternative to other treatment approaches for opioid dependence in commercial integrated health systems, with total costs of health care similar to abstinence-based counseling. Patients with buprenorphine plus counseling had reduced use of general medical services compared to the alternatives

Does amyloid deposition produce a specific atrophic signature in cognitively normal subjects?☆

The objective of our study was to evaluate whether cognitively normal (CN) elderly participants showing elevated cortical beta-amyloid (Aβ) deposition have a consistent neuroanatomical signature of brain atrophy that may characterize preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). 115 CN participants who were Aβ-positive (CN +) by amyloid PET imaging; 115 CN participants who were Aβ-negative (CN −); and 88 Aβ-positive mild cognitive impairment or AD participants (MCI/AD +) were identified. Cortical thickness (FreeSurfer) and gray matter volume (SPM5) were measured for 28 regions-of-interest (ROIs) across the brain and compared across groups. ROIs that best discriminated CN − from CN + differed for FreeSurfer cortical thickness and SPM5 gray matter volume. Group-wise discrimination was poor with a high degree of uncertainty in terms of the rank ordering of ROIs. In contrast, both techniques showed strong and consistent findings comparing MCI/AD + to both CN − and CN + groups, with entorhinal cortex, middle and inferior temporal lobe, inferior parietal lobe, and hippocampus providing the best discrimination for both techniques. Concordance across techniques was higher for the CN − and CN + versus MCI/AD + comparisons, compared to the CN − versus CN + comparison. The weak and inconsistent nature of the findings across technique in this study cast doubt on the existence of a reliable neuroanatomical signature of preclinical AD in elderly PiB-positive CN participants

Boundary-based registration improves sensitivity for detecting hypoperfusion in sporadic frontotemporal lobar degeneration

Introduction: Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is associated with FTLD due to tau (FTLD-tau) or TDP (FTLD-TDP) inclusions found at autopsy. Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) MRI is often acquired in the same session as a structural T1-weighted image (T1w), enabling detection of regional changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF). We hypothesize that ASL-T1w registration with more degrees of freedom using boundary-based registration (BBR) will better align ASL and T1w images and show increased sensitivity to regional hypoperfusion differences compared to manual registration in patient participants. We hypothesize that hypoperfusion will be associated with a clinical measure of disease severity, the FTLD-modified clinical dementia rating scale sum-of-boxes (FTLD-CDR). Materials and methods: Patients with sporadic likely FTLD-tau (sFTLD-tau; N = 21), with sporadic likely FTLD-TDP (sFTLD-TDP; N = 14), and controls (N = 50) were recruited from the Connectomic Imaging in Familial and Sporadic Frontotemporal Degeneration project (FTDHCP). Pearson’s Correlation Coefficients (CC) were calculated on cortical vertex-wise CBF between each participant for each of 3 registration methods: (1) manual registration, (2) BBR initialized with manual registration (manual+BBR), (3) and BBR initialized using FLIRT (FLIRT+BBR). Mean CBF was calculated in the same regions of interest (ROIs) for each registration method after image alignment. Paired t-tests of CC values for each registration method were performed to compare alignment. Mean CBF in each ROI was compared between groups using t-tests. Differences were considered significant at p  Results: All registration methods demonstrated significant hypoperfusion in frontal and temporal regions in each patient group relative to controls. All registration methods detected hypoperfusion in the left insular cortex, middle temporal gyrus, and temporal pole in sFTLD-TDP relative to sFTLD-tau. FTLD-CDR had an inverse association with CBF in right temporal and orbitofrontal ROIs in sFTLD-TDP. Manual+BBR performed similarly to FLIRT+BBR. Discussion: ASL is sensitive to distinct regions of hypoperfusion in patient participants relative to controls, and in patients with sFTLD-TDP relative to sFTLD-tau, and decreasing perfusion is associated with increasing disease severity, at least in sFTLD-TDP. BBR can register ASL-T1w images adequately for controls and patients.</p

Halobacteriovorax, an underestimated predator on bacteria: potential impact relative to viruses on bacterial mortality

Predation on bacteria and accompanying mortality are important mechanisms in controlling bacterial populations and recycling of nutrients through the microbial loop. The agents most investigated and seen as responsible for bacterial mortality are viruses and protists. However, a body of evidence suggests that predatory bacteria such as the Halobacteriovorax (formerly Bacteriovorax), a Bdellovibrio-like organism, contribute substantially to bacterial death. Until now, conclusive evidence has been lacking. The goal of this study was to better understand the contributors to bacterial mortality by addressing the poorly understood role of Halobacteriovorax and how their role compares with that of viruses. The results revealed that when a concentrated suspension of Vibrio parahaemolyticus was added into microcosms of estuarine waters, the native Halobacteriovorax were the predators that responded first and most rapidly. Their numbers increased by four orders of magnitude, whereas V. parahaemolyticus prey numbers decreased by three orders of magnitude. In contrast, the extant virus population showed little increase and produced little change in the prey density. An independent experiment with stable isotope probing confirmed that Halobacteriovorax were the predators primarily responsible for the mortality of the V. parahaemolyticus. The results show that Halobacteriovorax have the potential to be significant contributors to bacterial mortality, and in such cases, predation by Halobacteriovorax may be an important mechanism of nutrient recycling. These conclusions add another dimension to bacterial mortality and the recycling of nutrients

Physiological regulation of stress in referred adolescents: The role of the parent-adolescent relationship

Background: Psychopathology in youth appears to be linked to deficits in regulating affective responses to stressful situations. In children, high-quality parental support facilitates affect regulation. However, in adolescence, the role of parent-child interaction in the regulation of affect is unclear. This study examined physiological reactivity to and recovery from stress in adolescents at risk for psychopathology, and their associations with internalising and externalising problems and parent-adolescent interactions. Methods: A total of 99 adolescents (M = 13.57 years, SD= 1.83) with a history of mental health problems underwent the Alarm Stress Task and were reunited with their primary caregiver after the stressor, while the physiological responses of the parasympathetic (respiratory sinus arrhythmia) and sympathetic (pre-ejection period) systems were measured. The quality of parent-adolescent interaction was determined from observations of secure-base seeking and providing during the task. Affect regulation was measured as physiological reactivity and recovery after the stressor. Results: Adolescents with high levels of externalising problems and low levels of secure-base support showed weaker parasympathetic reactivity and recovery. Higher level of adolescent secure-base seeking was associated with stronger sympathetic reactivity and recovery. Conclusions: Secure-base interactions between parents and adolescents facilitate physiological regulation of stress, especially for adolescents with externalising symptomatology. © 2009 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health