Yawning and Stretching Predict Brain Temperature Changes in Rats: Support for the Thermoregulatory Hypothesis

Recent research suggests that yawning is an adaptive behavior that functions to promote brain thermoregulation among homeotherms. To explore the relationship between brain temperature and yawning we implanted thermocoupled probes in the frontal cortex of rats to measure brain temperature before, during and after yawning. Temperature recordings indicate that yawns and stretches occurred during increases in brain temperature, with brain temperatures being restored to baseline following the execution of each of these behaviors. The circulatory changes that accompany yawning and stretching may explain some of the thermal similarities surrounding these events. These results suggest that yawning and stretching may serve to maintain brain thermal homeostasis

Atomic spectral-product representations of molecular electronic structure: metric matrices and atomic-product composition of molecular eigenfunctions

Recent progress is reported in development of ab initio computational methods for the electronic structures of molecules employing the many-electron eigenstates of constituent atoms in spectral-product forms. The approach provides a universal atomic-product description of the electronic structure of matter as an alternative to more commonly employed valence-bond- or molecular-orbital-based representations. The Hamiltonian matrix in this representation is seen to comprise a sum over atomic energies and a pairwise sum over Coulombic interaction terms that depend only on the separations of the individual atomic pairs. Overall electron antisymmetry can be enforced by unitary transformation when appropriate, rather than as a possibly encumbering or unnecessary global constraint. The matrix representative of the antisymmetrizer in the spectral-product basis, which is equivalent to the metric matrix of the corresponding explicitly antisymmetric basis, provides the required transformation to antisymmetric or linearly independent states after Hamiltonian evaluation. Particular attention is focused in the present report on properties of the metric matrix and on the atomic-product compositions of molecular eigenstates as described in the spectral-product representations. Illustrative calculations are reported for simple but prototypically important diatomic (H_2, CH) and triatomic (H_3, CH_2) molecules employing algorithms and computer codes devised recently for this purpose. This particular implementation of the approach combines Slater-orbital-based one- and two-electron integral evaluations, valence-bond constructions of standard tableau functions and matrices, and transformations to atomic eigenstate-product representations. The calculated metric matrices and corresponding potential energy surfaces obtained in this way elucidate a number of aspects of the spectral-product development, including the nature of closure in the representation, the general redundancy or linear dependence of its explicitly antisymmetrized form, the convergence of the apparently disparate atomic-product and explicitly antisymmetrized atomic-product forms to a common invariant subspace, and the nature of a chemical bonding descriptor provided by the atomic-product compositions of molecular eigenstates. Concluding remarks indicate additional studies in progress and the prognosis for performing atomic spectral-product calculations more generally and efficiently

Acetaminophen Does Not Alter the Early Processing of Emotional Facial Expressions: An Eye-tracking Study

A growing body of research has uncovered that acetaminophen, the most commonly used over-the-counter painkilling drug in the United States, produces a number of unintended psychological effects. In particular, recent studies show that acetaminophen blunts a variety of adaptive affective and cognitive processes, including our sensitivity to painful social experiences and subjective responses to emotional stimuli. Using a double-blind placebo-controlled study, here we examined whether acetaminophen alters the early visual processing of emotional facial expressions. Participants consumed 1000 mg of acetaminophen, or a matched placebo, prior to performing a delayed disengagement task with different facial expressions. Specifically, we used eye-tracking software to assess the latency to look away from neutral, happy, and angry faces. Based on prior research, we hypothesized that acetaminophen would reduce the typical delay in disengaging from emotional expressions. Our findings showed a significant main effect of facial expression, with happy faces producing the greatest delay, but there was no difference in response between the acetaminophen and placebo conditions. These results indicate that acetaminophen does not alter our initial assessment of emotional facial expressions, but we suggest further research be conducted to examine how this widely consumed drug may alter the detection and perception of emotions in others

Images of survival, stories of destruction: Nuclear war on British screens from 1945 to the early 1960s

This article discusses a range of depictions and discussions of nuclear war, which appeared on British screens in the first half of the Cold War, in order to understand the changing way nuclear weapons were viewed within British culture. Using such screened images to understand how nuclear war was constructed and represented within British culture, the article argues that the hydrogen bomb, not the atomic bomb, was the true harbinger of the nuclear revolution that transformed cultural understandings of warfare and destruction. Although the atomic bomb created a great deal of anxiety within British popular culture, representations of atomic attack elided atomic destruction with that experienced in 1939-45, emphasising the 'survivability' of atomic war. In the thermonuclear era, the Second World War could not undertake the same symbolic work. The image of the city-destroying bomb was an imaginative as well as technological step-change. Screened representations stressed that a thermonuclear war would literally end the world. As such, they preceded, and indeed provided the cultural climate for, the rise of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). The Campaign exploited and further popularised this idea of the apocalyptic nuclear war as a key aspect of its political and moral standpoint. The article concludes, however, that the cultural hegemony of this vision of nuclear war equally helped underpin notions of nuclear deterrence. The basic assumptions about the nature of nuclear war constructed and circulated on British screens therefore formed part of CND's 'cultural' victory but the article also explains why this did not translate into the political realm. © Edinburgh University Press

Why Global Inequality Matters: Derivative Global Egalitarianism

This article integrates empirical and normative discussions about why global economic inequalities matter in critically examining an approach known as derivative global egalitarianism (DGE). DGE is a burgeoning perspective that opposes excessive global economic inequality not based on the intrinsic value of equality but inequality\u27s negative repercussions on other values. The article aims to advance the research agenda by identifying and critically evaluating four primary varieties of DGE arguments from related but distinct literatures, which span a number of disciplines, including economics, international relations, and political philosophy. Overall, DGE offers a number of persuasive arguments as to why current levels of global inequality are of concern, but aspects of DGE beg further philosophical and empirical examination. By situating DGE within the wider theoretical and empirical contexts, this article provides resources for its critical assessment and theoretical development

Mosquito Abundance, Bed net Coverage and Other Factors Associated with Variations in Sporozoite Infectivity Rates in Four Villages of Rural Tanzania.

Entomological surveys are of great importance in decision-making processes regarding malaria control strategies because they help to identify associations between vector abundance both species-specific ecology and disease intervention factors associated with malaria transmission. Sporozoite infectivity rates, mosquito host blood meal source, bed net coverage and mosquito abundance were assessed in this study. A longitudinal survey was conducted in four villages in two regions of Tanzania. Malaria vectors were sampled using the CDC light trap and pyrethrum spray catch methods. In each village, ten paired houses were selected for mosquitoes sampling. Sampling was done in fortnight case and study was undertaken for six months in both Kilimanjaro (Northern Tanzania) and Dodoma (Central Tanzania) regions. A total of 6,883 mosquitoes were collected including: 5,628 (81.8%) Anopheles arabiensis, 1,100 (15.9%) Culex quinquefasciatus, 89 (1.4%) Anopheles funestus, and 66 (0.9%) Anopheles gambiae s.s. Of the total mosquitoes collected 3,861 were captured by CDC light trap and 3,022 by the pyrethrum spray catch method. The overall light trap: spray catch ratio was 1.3:1. Mosquito densities per room were 96.5 and 75.5 for light trap and pyrethrum spray catch respectively. Mosquito infectivity rates between villages that have high proportion of bed net owners and those without bed nets was significant (P < 0.001) and there was a significant difference in sporozoite rates between households with and without bed nets in these four villages (P < 0.001). Malaria remains a major problem in the study areas characterized as low transmission sites. Further studies are required to establish the annual entomological inoculation rates and to observe the annual parasitaemia dynamics in these communities. Outdoor mosquitoes collection should also be considered

Geo-additive modelling of malaria in Burundi

Abstract Background Malaria is a major public health issue in Burundi in terms of both morbidity and mortality, with around 2.5 million clinical cases and more than 15,000 deaths each year. It is still the single main cause of mortality in pregnant women and children below five years of age. Because of the severe health and economic burden of malaria, there is still a growing need for methods that will help to understand the influencing factors. Several studies/researches have been done on the subject yielding different results as which factors are most responsible for the increase in malaria transmission. This paper considers the modelling of the dependence of malaria cases on spatial determinants and climatic covariates including rainfall, temperature and humidity in Burundi. Methods The analysis carried out in this work exploits real monthly data collected in the area of Burundi over 12 years (1996-2007). Semi-parametric regression models are used. The spatial analysis is based on a geo-additive model using provinces as the geographic units of study. The spatial effect is split into structured (correlated) and unstructured (uncorrelated) components. Inference is fully Bayesian and uses Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques. The effects of the continuous covariates are modelled by cubic p-splines with 20 equidistant knots and second order random walk penalty. For the spatially correlated effect, Markov random field prior is chosen. The spatially uncorrelated effects are assumed to be i.i.d. Gaussian. The effects of climatic covariates and the effects of other spatial determinants are estimated simultaneously in a unified regression framework. Results The results obtained from the proposed model suggest that although malaria incidence in a given month is strongly positively associated with the minimum temperature of the previous months, regional patterns of malaria that are related to factors other than climatic variables have been identified, without being able to explain them. Conclusions In this paper, semiparametric models are used to model the effects of both climatic covariates and spatial effects on malaria distribution in Burundi. The results obtained from the proposed models suggest a strong positive association between malaria incidence in a given month and the minimum temperature of the previous month. From the spatial effects, important spatial patterns of malaria that are related to factors other than climatic variables are identified. Potential explanations (factors) could be related to socio-economic conditions, food shortage, limited access to health care service, precarious housing, promiscuity, poor hygienic conditions, limited access to drinking water, land use (rice paddies for example), displacement of the population (due to armed conflicts).</p

Religion's Role in Promoting Health and Reducing Risk Among American Youth

Although past research has long documented religion's salutary impact on adult health-related behaviors and outcomes, relatively little research has examined the relationship between religion and adolescent health. This study uses large, nationally representative samples of high school seniors to examine the relationship between religion and behavioral predictors of adolescent morbidity and mortality. Relative to their peers, religious youth are less likely to engage in behaviors that compromise their health (e.g., carrying weapons, getting into fights, drinking and driving) and are more likely to behave in ways that enhance their health (e.g., proper nutrition, exercise, and rest). Multivariate analyses suggest that these relationships persist even after controlling for demographic factors, and trend analyses reveal that they have existed over time. Particularly important is the finding that religious seniors have been relatively unaffected by past and recent increases in marijuana use.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66995/2/10.1177_109019819802500604.pd

Neural Basis of Self and Other Representation in Autism: An fMRI Study of Self-Face Recognition

Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by decreased interest and engagement in social interactions and by enhanced self-focus. While previous theoretical approaches to understanding autism have emphasized social impairments and altered interpersonal interactions, there is a recent shift towards understanding the nature of the representation of the self in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Still, the neural mechanisms subserving self-representations in ASD are relatively unexplored.We used event-related fMRI to investigate brain responsiveness to images of the subjects' own face and to faces of others. Children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children viewed randomly presented digital morphs between their own face and a gender-matched other face, and made "self/other" judgments. Both groups of children activated a right premotor/prefrontal system when identifying images containing a greater percentage of the self face. However, while TD children showed activation of this system during both self- and other-processing, children with ASD only recruited this system while viewing images containing mostly their own face.This functional dissociation between the representation of self versus others points to a potential neural substrate for the characteristic self-focus and decreased social understanding exhibited by these individuals, and suggests that individuals with ASD lack the shared neural representations for self and others that TD children and adults possess and may use to understand others