The Role of Perceived Control and Cardiac Function among Individuals with Binge Eating Symptomatology

The central aim of this study was to investigate the predictive role of perceived control in binge eating severity, mood reactivity, and possible concomitants with reduced cardiovascular function as measured by high frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV/RSA). Participants (N = 75) included normal to overweight men and women who completed self-report measures assessing perceived control, binge eating severity, perceived stress, negative affect, and depressive symptom severity prior to a structured clinical interview and second experimental laboratory session. During this second experimental lab session, noninvasive electrical sensors were placed for physiological recordings to measure fluctuations in HF-HRV/RSA in participants randomized to a negative or neutral mood induction task. In addition to physiological data, participants completed self-report measures of mood and stress during baseline assessment, post-mood induction, and following a recovery period. Results indicated that perceived control was predictive of binge eating severity such that higher self-reported perceived control was associated with less severe binge eating symptoms. This association was significantly mediated by perceived stress and depressive symptoms, such that those with greater perceived control also experienced less perceived stress and reduced depressive symptoms, which then significantly predicted less binge eating severity. These associations remained significant across sex and history of major depressive disorder (MDD). No significant associations were observed between perceived control, binge eating severity, and mood, stress, or HF-HRV/RSA reactivity. Results from the current investigation suggest that perceived control may buffer individuals from stress and depressive symptoms and predict less severe binge eating symptoms. Importantly, perceived control is an adaptive variable that can be modified through experience (Surtees et al., 2010). In line with prior research, which suggests that perceived control may be a malleable treatment target and predictive of positive outcomes following CBT for anxiety and mood disorders (Doering et al., 2015), the current results propose that perceived control may be a universal treatment target across various binge eating populations

Do current-density nonlinearities cut off the glass transition?

Extended mode coupling theories for dense fluids predict that nonlinear current-density couplings cut off the singular `ideal glass transition', present in the standard mode coupling theory where such couplings are ignored. We suggest here that, rather than allowing for activated processes as sometimes supposed, contributions from current-density couplings are always negligible close to a glass transition. We discuss in schematic terms how activated processes can nonetheless cut off the transition, by causing the memory function to become linear in correlators at late times.Comment: 4 page

Pteropods are excellent recorders of surface temperature and carbonate ion concentration

Pteropods are among the first responders to ocean acidification and warming, but have not yet been widely explored as carriers of marine paleoenvironmental signals. In order to characterize the stable isotopic composition of aragonitic pteropod shells and their variation in response to climate change parameters, such as seawater temperature, pteropod shells (Heliconoides inflatus) were collected along a latitudinal transect in the Atlantic Ocean (31° N to 38° S). Comparison of shell oxygen isotopic composition to depth changes in the calculated aragonite equilibrium oxygen isotope values implies shallow calcification depths for H. inflatus (75 m). This species is therefore a good potential proxy carrier for past variations in surface ocean properties. Furthermore, we identified pteropod shells to be excellent recorders of climate change, as carbonate ion concentration and temperature in the upper water column have dominant influences on pteropod shell carbon and oxygen isotopic composition. These results, in combination with a broad distribution and high abundance, make the pteropod species studied here, H. inflatus, a promising new proxy carrier in paleoceanography