Fatigue during acute systemic inflammation is associated with reduced mental effort expenditure while task accuracy is preserved

BACKGROUNDEarlier work within the physical domain showed that acute inflammation changes motivational prioritization and effort allocation rather than physical abilities. It is currently unclear whether a similar motivational framework accounts for the mental fatigue and cognitive symptoms of acute sickness. Accordingly, this study aimed to assess the relationship between fatigue, cytokines and mental effort-based decision making during acute systemic inflammation.METHODSEighty-five participants (41 males; 18-30 years (M = 23.0, SD = 2.4)) performed a mental effort-based decision-making task before, 2 h after, and 5 h after intravenous administration of 1 ng/kg bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce systemic inflammation. Plasma concentrations of cytokines (interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)) and fatigue levels were assessed at similar timepoints. In the task, participants decided whether they wanted to perform (i.e., 'accepted') arithmetic calculations of varying difficulty (3 levels: easy, medium, hard) in order to obtain rewards (3 levels: 5, 6 or 7 points). Acceptance rates were analyzed using a binomial generalized estimated equation (GEE) approach with effort, reward and time as independent variables. Arithmetic performance was measured per effort level prior to the decisions and included as a covariate. Associations between acceptance rates, fatigue (self-reported) and cytokine concentration levels were analyzed using partial correlation analyses.RESULTSPlasma cytokine concentrations and fatigue were increased at 2 h post-LPS compared to baseline and 5 h post-LPS administration. Acceptance rates decreased for medium, but not for easy or hard effort levels at 2 h post-LPS versus baseline and 5 h post-LPS administration, irrespective of reward level. These reductions in acceptance rates occurred despite improved accuracy on the arithmetic calculations itself. Reduced acceptance rates for medium effort were associated with increased fatigue, but not with increased cytokine concentrations.CONCLUSIONFatigue during acute systemic inflammation is associated with alterations in mental effort allocation, similarly as observed previously for physical effort-based choice. Specifically, willingness to exert mental effort depended on effort and not reward information, while task accuracy was preserved. These results extend the motivational account of inflammation to the mental domain and suggest that inflammation may not necessarily affect domain-specific mental abilities, but rather affects domain-general effort-allocation processes.</p

How Trade and Investment Agreements Affect Bilateral Foreign Direct Investment: Results from a Structural Gravity Model

The paper develops a new stand-alone structural gravity model for explaining bilateral FDI patterns. We employ the model to analyse the impact of preferential trade agreements (PTAs), bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and other policies on bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI). We use the UNCTAD global database on bilateral FDI stocks and flows. To control for the heterogeneous nature of PTAs, we employ two different indicators of PTA depth. We find that on average signing a PTA increases bilateral FDI stocks by around 30%. Nevertheless, we also find that ‘deeper’ or comprehensive PTAs (e.g., including provisions on investment, public procurement and intellectual property rights provisions) do not have a significantly different impact than signing regular PTAs. Belonging to the EU single market, on the other hand, has a strong impact and increases bilateral FDI by around 135%, and signing a BIT has an effect that is comparable to signing a PTA

Does subarachnoid haemorrhage affect the innate immune response?

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G0^0 Electronics and Data Acquisition (Forward-Angle Measurements)

The G$^0$ parity-violation experiment at Jefferson Lab (Newport News, VA) is designed to determine the contribution of strange/anti-strange quark pairs to the intrinsic properties of the proton. In the forward-angle part of the experiment, the asymmetry in the cross section was measured for $\vec{e}p$ elastic scattering by counting the recoil protons corresponding to the two beam-helicity states. Due to the high accuracy required on the asymmetry, the G$^0$ experiment was based on a custom experimental setup with its own associated electronics and data acquisition (DAQ) system. Highly specialized time-encoding electronics provided time-of-flight spectra for each detector for each helicity state. More conventional electronics was used for monitoring (mainly FastBus). The time-encoding electronics and the DAQ system have been designed to handle events at a mean rate of 2 MHz per detector with low deadtime and to minimize helicity-correlated systematic errors. In this paper, we outline the general architecture and the main features of the electronics and the DAQ system dedicated to G$^0$ forward-angle measurements.Comment: 35 pages. 17 figures. This article is to be submitted to NIM section A. It has been written with Latex using \documentclass{elsart}. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment In Press (2007

Projectile fragmentation of 129Xe at Elab=790 AMeV

We have measured production yields and longitudinal momentum distributions of projectile-like fragments in the reaction 129Xe + 27Al at an energy of Elab=790 AMeV. Production cross sections higher than expected from systematics were observed for nuclei in the neutron-deficient tails of the isotopic distributions. A comparison with previously measured data from the fragmentation of 136Xe ions shows that the production yields strongly depend on the neutron excess of the projectile with respect to the line of beta-stability. The momentum distributions exhibit a dependence on the fragment neutron-to-proton ratio in isobaric chains, which was not expected from systematics so far. This can be interpreted by a higher excitation of the projectile during the formation of neutron-deficient fragments.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Measurement of Tensor Polarization in Elastic Electron-Deuteron Scattering at Large Momentum Transfer

Tensor polarization observables (t20, t21 and t22) have been measured in elastic electron-deuteron scattering for six values of momentum transfer between 0.66 and 1.7 (GeV/c)^2. The experiment was performed at the Jefferson Laboratory in Hall C using the electron HMS Spectrometer, a specially designed deuteron magnetic channel and the recoil deuteron polarimeter POLDER. The new data determine to much larger Q^2 the deuteron charge form factors G_C and G_Q. They are in good agreement with relativistic calculations and disagree with pQCD predictions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, for associated informations, see http://isnwww.in2p3.fr/hadrons/t20/t20_ang.html clarification about several topics, one figure has been had, extraction of form factors use AQ interpolation in our Q2 range onl

A precise measurement of the deuteron elastic structure function A(Q^2)

The A(Q^2) structure function in elastic electron-deuteron scattering was measured at six momentum transfers Q^2 between 0.66 and 1.80 (GeV/c)^2 in Hall C at Jefferson Laboratory. The scattered electrons and recoil deuterons were detected in coincidence, at a fixed deuteron angle of 60.5 degrees. These new precise measurements resolve discrepancies between older sets of data. They put significant constraints on existing models of the deuteron electromagnetic structure, and on the strength of isoscalar meson exchange currents.Comment: 3 LaTeX pages plus 2 PS figure

Total Reaction Cross Section in an Isospin-Dependent Quantum Molecular Dynamics (IDQMD) Model

The isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics (IDQMD) model is used to study the total reaction cross section $\sigma_R$. The energy-dependent Pauli volumes of neutrons and protons have been discussed and introduced into the IDQMD calculation to replace the widely used energy-independent Pauli volumes. The modified IDQMD calculation can reproduce the experimental $\sigma_R$ well for both stable and exotic nuclei induced reactions. Comparisons of the calculated $\sigma_R$ induced by $^{11}Li$ with different initial density distributions have been performed. It is shown that the calculation by using the experimentally deduced density distribution with a long tail can fit the experimental excitation function better than that by using the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock calculated density without long tails. It is also found that $\sigma_R$ at high energy is sensitive to the long tail of density distribution.Comment: 4 page, 4 fig

Study on the One-Proton Halo Structure in 23^{23}Al

The Glauber theory has been used to investigate the reaction cross section of proton-rich nucleus $^{23}$Al. A core plus a proton structure is assumed for $^{23}$Al. HO-type density distribution is used for the core while the density distribution for the valence proton is calculated by solving the eigenvalue problem of Woods-Saxon potential. The transparency function in an analytical expression is obtained adopting multi-Gaussian expansion for the density distribution. Coulomb correction and finite-range interaction are introduced. This modified Glauber model is apt for halo nuclei. A dominate s-wave is suggested for the last proton in $^{23}$Al from our analysis which is possible in the RMF calculation.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure