Looping Genomes: Diagnostic Change and the Genetic Makeup of the Autism Population

This article builds on Hacking’s framework of “dynamic nominalism” to show how knowledge about biological etiology can interact with the “kinds of people” delineated by diagnostic categories in ways that “loop” or modify both over time. The authors use historical materials to show how “geneticization” played a crucial role in binding together autism as a biosocial community and how evidence from genetics research later made an important contribution to the diagnostic expansion of autism. In the second part of the article, the authors draw on quantitative and qualitative analyses of autism rates over time in several rare conditions that are delineated strictly according to genomic mutations in order to demonstrate that these changes in diagnostic practice helped to both increase autism’s prevalence and create its enormous genetic heterogeneity. Thus, a looping process that began with geneticization and involved the social effects of genetics research itself transformed the autism population and its genetic makeup

Repeat Traffic Offenders Improve Their Performance in Risky Driving Situations and Have Fewer Accidents Following a Mindfulness-Based Intervention

Risky decision-making is highly influenced by emotions and can lead to fatal consequences. Attempts to reduce risk-taking include the use of mindfulness-based interventions (MBI), which have shown promising results for both emotion regulation (ER) and risk-taking. However, it is still unclear whether improved emotion regulation is the mechanism responsible for reduced risk-taking. In the present study, we explore the effect of a 5-week MBI on risky driving in a group of repeat traffic offenders by comparing them with non-repeat offenders and repeat offenders without training. We evaluated the driving behavior of the participants through a driving simulation, and self-reported emotion regulation, both before and after the intervention. At baseline, poor emotion regulation was related to a more unstable driving behavior, and speeding. The group that received mindfulness training showed improved performance during risky driving situations and had fewer accidents, although their overall driving behavior remained largely unchanged. The observed trend toward improved emotion regulation was not significant. We discuss whether other effects of MBI – such as self-regulation of attention – could underlie the observed reduction in risky driving in the initial stages. Nonetheless, our findings still confirm the close relationship between emotion regulation skills and risky driving.Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness PSI2016-80558-

In vivo observation of anisotropic motion of brain water using2H double quantum filtered NMR spectroscopy

The 2H DQF NMR spectra of deuterated water molecules were measured for the first time in in vivo rat brain. The observation of the DQF signal indicates that there is a water population that exhibits anisotropic motion. The characteristics of the DQF spectra premortem and postmortem are very similar (lineshape and relaxation times). In the 1st h there is a 10–15% decrease in the signal intensity of the DQF spectra followed by a gradual but a much slower decrease in the DQF signal intensity that reaches 65–70% of its initial value after only 12 h. When the brains were kept at 4°C, a 40% decrease in the DQ signal intensity was observed only after 7 days. Mechanical chopping of the brain tissues causes an immediate loss of more that 97% of the DQ signals. The slow, temperature-sensitive decay of the signal, and its sensitivity to mechanical treatment point out that these signals originate from water molecules that interact with structural components in the brain. The characteristics of the DQF spectra depend on the amount of bulk water as exemplified by increased residual quadrupolar interaction and relaxation rates obtained when dehydrating the brain tissue