Stress as a Moderator of Visual Perception: Do Elevated Stress Levels Interfere with Visual Cognition?

Stress is an unavoidable aspect of human life, and despite a large body of research on stress, the relationship between chronic or traumatic stress and cognition is not yet fully explained. One component lacking research is visual attention, an area of visual cognition which is an essential part of our ability to interact with the world around us. This is especially true in the context of trauma and stress related disorders, and having a better understanding of how traumatic stress impacts attention and perception can inform psychotherapy for these issues. The current study aims to conceptualize how stressors impact the visual perception abilities of college students in a non-clinical population. Utilizing stimulus presentation software, student’s sustained attention, change blindness, and inattentional blindness was measured before and after exposure to either stress inducing or neutral tasks. Participants\u27 preexisting stress levels were measured before engaging in the tasks, and performance of participants with both high and low preexisting stress were compared. Results suggest that acute stress may not have a significant impact on visual attention performance, but that chronic stress does appear to have a detrimental effect on sustained attention and change blindness

Stress as a Moderator of Visual Perception: Do Elevated Stress Levels Interfere with Visual Cognition?

Stress is an unavoidable aspect of human life, and despite a large body of research on stress, the relationship between chronic or traumatic stress and cognition is not yet fully explained. One component lacking research is visual attention, an area of visual cognition which is an essential part of our ability to interact with the world around us. This is especially true in the context of trauma and stress related disorders, and having a better understanding of how traumatic stress impacts attention and perception can inform psychotherapy for these issues. The current study aims to conceptualize how stressors impact the visual perception abilities of college students in a non-clinical population. Utilizing stimulus presentation software, student’s sustained attention, change blindness, and inattentional blindness was measured before and after exposure to either stress inducing or neutral tasks. Participants\u27 preexisting stress levels were measured before engaging in the tasks, and performance of participants with both high and low preexisting stress were compared. Results suggest that acute stress may not have a significant impact on visual attention performance, but that chronic stress does appear to have a detrimental effect on sustained attention and change blindness

Patterns and perceptions of nicotine use among U.S. adolescents and young adults receiving medication treatment for opioid use disorder

Nicotine use among U.S. youth is cause for concern, as previous studies have shown that nicotine use in adolescence increases the risk of developing substance use disorders later in life. This exploratory study aimed to understand patterns of nicotine use and perceptions of various nicotine products among adolescents and young adults (AYA) receiving medication treatment for opioid use disorder (MOUD). We administered an adapted version of the National Youth Tobacco Survey via REDCap to AYA (n = 32) receiving outpatient care in the Medication-Assisted Treatment of Addiction at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. Thirty (97%) participants had tried a combustible cigarette and 27 (90%) had tried an electronic cigarette. By age 13, nineteen (61%) participants had tried combustible cigarettes and eight (25%) had tried opioids. Twenty-two (71%) participants reported smoking combustible cigarettes every day for the past 30 days, and 15 (48%) reported smoking more than 10 cigarettes per day on average. Only ten (32%) participants reported e-cigarette use in the last 30 days. Participants universally agreed that tobacco products are dangerous, and twenty (67%) current tobacco users reported that they planned to quit in the next year. Nicotine use patterns among AYA receiving MOUD differ from that previously shown in the general population, primarily by high prevalence of nicotine use in early adolescence and high current combustible cigarette use. Interventions such as universal screening for nicotine use before age 13 and tailored smoking cessation programs for AYA with OUD may help optimize care for these individuals

Resilience of terrestrial and aquatic fauna to historical and future wildfire regimes in western North America

Wildfires in many western North American forests are becoming more frequent, larger, and severe, with changed seasonal patterns. In response, coniferous forest ecosystems will transition toward dominance by fire-adapted hardwoods, shrubs, meadows, and grasslands, which may benefit some faunal communities, but not others. We describe factors that limit and promote faunal resilience to shifting wildfire regimes for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. We highlight the potential value of interspersed nonforest patches to terrestrial wildlife. Similarly, we review watershed thresholds and factors that control the resilience of aquatic ecosystems to wildfire, mediated by thermal changes and chemical, debris, and sediment loadings. We present a 2-dimensional life history framework to describe temporal and spatial life history traits that species use to resist wildfire effects or to recover after wildfire disturbance at a metapopulation scale. The role of fire refuge is explored for metapopulations of species. In aquatic systems, recovery of assemblages postfire may be faster for smaller fires where unburned tributary basins or instream structures provide refuge from debris and sediment flows. We envision that more-frequent, lower-severity fires will favor opportunistic species and that less-frequent high-severity fires will favor better competitors. Along the spatial dimension, we hypothesize that fire regimes that are predictable and generate burned patches in close proximity to refuge will favor species that move to refuges and later recolonize, whereas fire regimes that tend to generate less-severely burned patches may favor species that shelter in place. Looking beyond the trees to forest fauna, we consider mitigation options to enhance resilience and buy time for species facing a no-analog future.ISSN:2045-775

Proximal attachment loss in Swedish adolescents

Abstract The present study describes periodontal conditions in 22 adolescents with proximal attachment loss 2 mm (AL) and 22 matched referents without AL, all identified in a cross?sectional study of 570 16- and 18-year-olds. The cases were followed for 3 years and the referents for 1 year while they were in the care of an organized dental health system. With the exception of 1 case with Morbus Hodgkin, the case and referent groups had a similar background with respect to general health and participation in the dental health program. Bleeding on probing was found at AL sites in 12 of the cases and at corresponding sites in 4 referents. 2 cases had a history of eruption disorders at the AL sites, 1 case had experienced a defective filling and 1 had a root fissure at the AL sites. At reexaminations after 1 and 3 years, 10 out of 21 earlier identified AL cases did not meet the criterion of 1 or more sites with AL 2 mm. None of the cases showed progression 2 mm of the lesions. In 1 case, the number of AL sites increased during the period. 4 of the cases harboured Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (A.a.) at AL sites in year 1 and 3 in year 3. 8 of the cases and 4 referents had antibodies specific for A.a.-leukotoxin. The 2 most severe cases, in terms of number of sites with AL, showed bleeding at 1 or more of the AL sites, harboured A.a. at these sites and had serum titers against A.a.-leukotoxin