Smaller Cortisol Awakening Responses Are Associated with Greater Visual Dependence in Postural Control

There are known links between the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and systems responsible for regulating posture. Our aim was to explore directly, for the first time, whether an aspect of circadian HPA axis activity (the cortisol awakening response: CAR) was associated with greater visual dependency in postural control. For measurement of the CAR, electronically monitored saliva samples were collected by participants following morning awakening in their home environment. On the afternoons of the same days, postural sway was measured in the laboratory by exposing participants to static (control) and moving visual stimuli whilst standing still and upright on a force platform. Visual dependence was assessed as the increase in postural sway (path length) during exposure to the moving compared with the static condition. The 44 measurement days were derived from four days for each of eleven healthy participants (mean ± SD age: 51.18 ± 3.3 years). As expected, postural sway was greater when exposed to moving versus static cues. Mixed regression modelling showed that participants with smaller four day average CARs had greater deterioration in postural sway when presented with moving stimuli. These data are the first to document associations between the CAR and visual dependency in postural sway

Social Science and the Courts: The Role of Amicus Curiae Briefs

Social scientists have increasingly become involved in the submission of amicus curiae or friend of the court briefs in legal cases being decided by state and federal courts. This increase has triggered considerable debate about the use of briefs to communicate relevant social science research. This article evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of various methods of summarizing social science research for the courts. It also reviews the procedures for submitting briefs developed by the American Psychology-Law Society which, in collaboration with the American Psychological Association, has submitted its first brief in Maryland v. Craig, a case recently decided by the U.S. Supreme Court

Living apart, losing sympathy? How neighbourhood context affects attitudes to redistribution and to welfare recipients

Rising levels of income inequality have been directly linked to rising levels of spatial segregation. In this paper, we explore whether rising segregation may in turn erode support for the redistributive policies of the welfare state, further increasing levels of inequality – a form of positive feedback. The role of the neighbourhood has been neglected in attitudes research but, building on both political geography and ‘neighbourhood effects’ literatures, we theorise that neighbourhood context may shape attitudes through the transmission of attitudes directly and through the accumulation of relevant knowledge. We test this through multilevel modelling of data from England on individual attitudes to redistribution in general and to welfare benefit recipients in particular. We show that the individual factors shaping these attitudes are quite different and that the influence of neighbourhood context also varies as a result. The findings support the idea that neighbourhood context shapes attitudes, with the knowledge accumulation mechanism likely to be the more important. Rising spatial segregation would appear to erode support for redistribution but to increase support for welfare recipients – at least in a context where the dominant media discourse presents such a stigmatising image of those on welfare benefits

Attenuated cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress is associated with greater visual dependency in postural control

Despite known anatomical links between the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the vestibular system, there are no studies on the relationship between postural control and HPA axis function. Visual dependence in postural control, often measured by increased postural sway on exposure to visual motion, is an indication of altered visual-vestibular integration with greater weighting towards visual cues for balance. Visual dependence is more common in older age and a range of vestibular and non-vestibular health conditions. The relationship between visual dependence in postural control was investigated in relation to cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress (using the Trier Social Stress Test for groups: TSST-G), as an index of HPA axis function, in healthy young females. In those who exhibited a cortisol response (>2 nmol/l), a negative relationship between stress-induced cortisol reactivity and visual dependence in postural control was observed, since those with the largest cortisol response showed less visual motion induced postural sway (measured by force platform). This finding in healthy females indicates that subtle non-clinical differences in vestibular function are associated with dysregulated HPA axis activity as indicated by lower cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress. It adds to the growing body of evidence linking blunted cortisol reactivity to stress to poor homeostatic regulation and potential negative health and behavioural outcomes

Report of the ICES\NAFO Joint Working Group on Deep-water Ecology (WGDEC), 11–15 March 2013, Floedevigen, Norway.

On 11 February 2013, the joint ICES/NAFO WGDEC, chaired by Francis Neat (UK) and attended by ten members met at the Institute for Marine Research in Floedevi-gen, Norway to consider the terms of reference (ToR) listed in Section 2. WGDEC was requested to update all records of deep-water vulnerable marine eco-systems (VMEs) in the North Atlantic. New data from a range of sources including multibeam echosounder surveys, fisheries surveys, habitat modelling and seabed imagery surveys was provided. For several areas across the North Atlantic, WGDEC makes recommendations for areas to be closed to bottom fisheries for the purposes of conservation of VMEs

Methane metabolism in the archaeal phylum Bathyarchaeota revealed by genome-centric metagenomics

Methanogenic and methanotrophic archaea play important roles in the global flux of methane. Culture-independent approaches are providing deeper insight into the diversity and evolution of methane-metabolizing microorganisms, but, until now, no compelling evidence has existed for methane metabolism in archaea outside the phylum Euryarchaeota. We performed metagenomic sequencing of a deep aquifer, recovering two near-complete genomes belonging to the archaeal phylum Bathyarchaeota (formerly known as the Miscellaneous Crenarchaeotal Group). These genomes contain divergent homologs of the genes necessary for methane metabolism, including those that encode the methyl–coenzyme M reductase (MCR) complex. Additional non-euryarchaeotal MCR-encoding genes identified in a range of environments suggest that unrecognized archaeal lineages may also contribute to global methane cycling. These findings indicate that methane metabolism arose before the last common ancestor of the Euryarchaeota and Bathyarchaeota

A reaction-diffusion model for the growth of avascular tumor

A nutrient-limited model for avascular cancer growth including cell proliferation, motility and death is presented. The model qualitatively reproduces commonly observed morphologies for primary tumors, and the simulated patterns are characterized by its gyration radius, total number of cancer cells, and number of cells on tumor periphery. These very distinct morphological patterns follow Gompertz growth curves, but exhibit different scaling laws for their surfaces. Also, the simulated tumors incorporate a spatial structure composed of a central necrotic core, an inner rim of quiescent cells and a narrow outer shell of proliferating cells in agreement with biological data. Finally, our results indicate that the competition for nutrients among normal and cancer cells may be a determinant factor in generating papillary tumor morphology.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, to appear in PR

Dynamics of a tunneling magnetic impurity: Kondo effect induced incoherence

We study how the formation of the Kondo compensation cloud influences the dynamical properties of a magnetic impurity that tunnels between two positions in a metal. The Kondo effect dynamically generates a strong tunneling impurity-conduction electron coupling, changes the temperature dependence of the tunneling rate, and may ultimately result in the destruction of the coherent motion of the particle at zero temperature. We find an interesting two-channel Kondo fixed point as well for a vanishing overlap between the electronic states that screen the magnetic impurity. We propose a number of systems where the predicted features could be observed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, ReVTe

Frequency Characteristics of Visually Induced Motion Sickness

This article was published in the journal, Human Factors [Sage Publications / © Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.]. The definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0018720812469046Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the frequency response of visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) for oscillating linear motion in the foreand- aft axis. Background: Simulators, virtual environments, and commercially available video games that create an illusion of self-motion are often reported to induce the symptoms seen in response to true motion. Often this human response can be the limiting factor in the acceptability and usability of such systems. Whereas motion sickness in physically moving environments is known to peak at an oscillation frequency around 0.2 Hz, it has recently been suggested that VIMS peaks at around 0.06 Hz following the proposal that the summed response of the visual and vestibular selfmotion systems is maximized at this frequency. Methods: We exposed 24 participants to random dot optical flow patterns simulating oscillating foreand- aft motion within the frequency range of 0.025 to 1.6 Hz. Before and after each 20-min exposure, VIMS was assessed with the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire. Also, a standard motion sickness scale was used to rate symptoms at 1-min intervals during each trial. Results: VIMS peaked between 0.2 and 0.4 Hz with a reducing effect at lower and higher frequencies. Conclusion: The numerical prediction of the “crossover frequency” hypothesis, and the design guidance curve previously proposed, cannot be accepted when the symptoms are purely visually induced. Application: In conditions in which stationary observers are exposed to optical flow that simulates oscillating fore-and-aft motion, frequencies around 0.2 to 0.4 Hz should be avoided