A Self-Determination Theory Approach to Work Motivation of Autistic Adults: A Qualitative Exploratory Study.

The study explores work motivation of autistic adults through the lens of Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Twelve autistic employees (ages 28-47; 3 females) participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews about their work experience. Analysis combined inductive and deductive approaches, identifying motivational themes emerging from the interviews, and analyzing them according to SDT concepts. Two major themes emerged: (1) work motivation factors positioned on the self-determination continuum: income and self-reliance; a daily routine; social/familial internalized norms; meaning and contribution; and job interest; and (2) satisfaction of psychological needs at work, postulated by SDT: competence, social-relatedness, and autonomy and structure. Findings are discussed in relation to current literature, and practical applications are suggested for meeting the motivational needs of autistic employees and promoting employment stability

Emotion Word Comprehension from 4 to 16 Years Old: A Developmental Survey

Background: Whilst previous studies have examined comprehension of the emotional lexicon at different ages in typically developing children, no survey has been conducted looking at this across different ages from childhood to adolescence. Purpose: To report how the emotion lexicon grows with age. Method: Comprehension of 336 emotion words was tested in n = 377 children and adolescents, aged 4–16 years old, divided into 6 age-bands. Parents or teachers of children under 12, or adolescents themselves, were asked to indicate which words they knew the meaning of. Results: Between 4 and 11 years old, the size of the emotional lexicon doubled every 2 years, but between 12 and 16 years old, developmental rate of growth of the emotional lexicon leveled off. This survey also allows emotion words to be ordered in terms of difficulty. Conclusions: Studies using emotion terms in English need to be developmentally sensitive, since during childhood there is considerable change. The absence of change after adolescence may be an artifact of the words included in this study. This normative developmental data-set for emotion vocabulary comprehension may be useful when testing for delays in this ability, as might arise for environmental or neurodevelopmental reasons

Human aneuploid cells depend on the RAF/MEK/ERK pathway for overcoming increased DNA damage

Aneuploidy is a hallmark of human cancer, yet the molecular mechanisms to cope with aneuploidy-induced cellular stresses remain largely unknown. Here, we induce chromosome mis-segregation in non-transformed RPE1-hTERT cells and derive multiple stable clones with various degrees of aneuploidy. We perform a systematic genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic profiling of 6 isogenic clones, using whole-exome DNA, mRNA and miRNA sequencing, as well as proteomics. Concomitantly, we functionally interrogate their cellular vulnerabilities, using genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 and large-scale drug screens. Aneuploid clones activate the DNA damage response and are more resistant to further DNA damage induction. Aneuploid cells also exhibit elevated RAF/MEK/ERK pathway activity and are more sensitive to clinically-relevant drugs targeting this pathway, and in particular to CRAF inhibition. Importantly, CRAF and MEK inhibition sensitize aneuploid cells to DNA damage-inducing chemotherapies and to PARP inhibitors. We validate these results in human cancer cell lines. Moreover, resistance of cancer patients to olaparib is associated with high levels of RAF/MEK/ERK signaling, specifically in highly-aneuploid tumors. Overall, our study provides a comprehensive resource for genetically-matched karyotypically-stable cells of various aneuploidy states, and reveals a therapeutically-relevant cellular dependency of aneuploid cells

Health perceptions, self and body image, physical activity and nutrition among undergraduate students in Israel.

PURPOSE: This study examines health perceptions, self and body image, physical exercise and nutrition among undergraduate students. METHODS: A structured, self-reported questionnaire was administered to more than 1500 students at a large academic institute in Israel. The study population was heterogenic in both gender and fields of academic study. RESULTS: High correlations between health perceptions, appropriate nutrition, and positive self and body image were found. The relationships between these variables differed between the subpopulation in the sample and the different genders. Engagement in physical exercise contributed to positive body image and positive health perceptions more than engagement in healthy nutrition. Nutrition students reported higher frequencies of positive health perceptions, positive self and body image and higher engagement in physical exercise in comparison to all other students in the sample. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests, as have many before, that successful health promotion policy should reflect a collectivist rather than an individualist ethos by providing health prerequisites through a public policy of health-promotion, where the academic settings support a healthy lifestyle policy, by increasing availability of a healthy, nutritious and varied menu in the cafeterias, and offering students various activities that enhance healthy eating and exercise. IMPLICATIONS AND CONTRIBUTION: This study examined health perceptions, self-image, physical exercise and nutrition among undergraduate students and found high correlations between these topics. Nutrition students reported higher frequencies of positive health perceptions, and positive self and body image and engaged more in physical exercise when compared with all other students in the sample

Gendered walkability: Building a daytime walkability index for women

Urban walkability is influenced both by built environment features and by pedestrian demographics. Research has shown that factors influencing women’s walking differ from those affecting men’s. Using a mixed-method approach, this study creates a new women-specific, GIS-based walkability index using San Francisco as a case study, and answers two questions: Which variables most influence women’s propensity to walk? And Does the leading walkability index, Walk Score, reflect women’s walkability? Focus group participants (n=17) ranked crime, homelessness and street/sidewalk cleanliness as the three most influencing factors on women’s walkability, accounting for 58% to 67% of the Women’s Walkability Index’s total score. The least walkable areas in San Francisco, according to this index, are rated as some of the most walkable neighborhoods in the city by Walk Score, despite high crime and homelessness density. Walk Score is negatively correlated with the new Women’s Walkability Index (Spearman’s rho = -0.585) and inaccurately represents women’s walkability. If the new index accurately captures the reality of women’s walking, then some of the most widely accepted conventions about what kind of areas promote walking could be inaccurate when it comes to women

Toward an Accurate IR Remote Sensing of Body Temperature Radiometer Based on a Novel IR Sensing System Dubbed Digital TMOS

A novel uncooled thermal sensor based on a suspended transistor, fabricated in standard CMOS-SOI process, and released by dry etching, dubbed Digital TMOS, has been developed. Using the transistor as the sensing element has advantages in terms of internal gain, low power, low-cost technology, and high temperature sensitivity. A two channel radiometer, based on the new nano-metric CMOS-SOI-NEMS Technology, enables remote temperature sensing as well as emissivity sensing of the forehead and body temperatures of people, with high accuracy and high resolution. Body temperature is an indicator of human physiological activity and health, especially in pediatrics, surgery, and general emergency departments. This was already recognized in past pandemics such as SARS, EBOLA, and Chicken Flu. Nowadays, with the spread of COVID-19, forehead temperature measurements are used widely to screen people for the illness. Measuring the temperature of the forehead using remote sensing is safe and convenient and there are a large number of available commercial instruments, but studies show that the measurements are not accurate. The surface emissivity of an object has the most significant effect on the measured temperature by IR remote sensing. This work describes the achievements towards high–performance, low-cost, low power, mobile radiometry, to rapidly screen for fever to identify victims of the coronavirus (COVID-19). The main two aspects of the innovation of this study are the use of the new thermal sensor for measurements and the extensive modeling of this sensor