Neuromodulation of the prefrontal cortex by iTBS: effects on the entrepreneurial attitude as evaluated by TAI test

Introduction: Neuroentrepreneurship research suggests the importance in potential entrepreneurs of traits such as impulsiveness and novelty-seeking behaviour, along with an ambidextrous and flexible decision-making capacity that allows successful entrepreneurs to efficiently switch between exploitation behaviour (associated with regions involved in value-representation such as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex) and exploration behaviour (associated with attention- and cognitive-control frontoparietal regions). Simultaneously, the importance of creativity and ability for divergent thinking has also been underscored. The neurobiological basis for such functions is still being elucidated, but has pointed to the importance of several network-integrated prefrontal cortex regions involved in higher cognitive and attention-control mechanisms (such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and frontopolar cortex) allowing the switching between exploitative and explorative behaviour, decision-making and relaxing of previous rules and constraints for innovative problem solving. Neuromodulation studies have shown changes in determinants of entrepreneurial attitude such as strategic decision-making, risk and novelty-seeking behaviour. In this exploratory study, we analysed the effects of stimulation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on a test for entrepreneurial aptitude (TAI) in a group of 13 healthy volunteers randomly selected for either sham or active stimulation with intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS). Materials and methods: A total of 13 healthy volunteers were randomly allocated for either active (n=7) or sham (n=6) one-session iTBS stimulation of the right DLPFC. They were subsequently asked to answer the Entrepreneurial Attitude Test (TAI), which evaluates the determinants of entrepreneurial attitude in 8 factors and gives a global score, classified in three groups. Results: Mean TAI factor 3 scores (“adaptability”) were significantly higher in the active than in the sham group (6,64% ± 2,84%, p=0,039). Otherwise, there were no statistically significant differences in most TAI scores. Mean global TAI scores put the active group in the high-entrepreneurial attitude range (75,71%), and the sham group on the mid-entrepreneurial attitude range (71,66%), although such difference was not statistically significant (4,05% ± 2,67%, p=0,157). Discussion: Higher attention-control mechanisms (mediated by DLPFC via connections with the frontopolar and parietal cortices) which allow an efficient switching between exploration and exploitation behaviour may be a possible physiological basis for an ambidextrous entrepreneurial mindset, and thus the probable cause for the stimulated group having TAI factor 3 (“adaptability”) scores significantly higher than non-stimulated group. Despite stimulation of a major top-down cognitive control region of the prefrontal cortex, creativity’s neurobiology is increasingly understood in terms of the insertion of the relevant regions into major brain networks (such as default mode network or cognitive control network), such that modulation of other regions (such as the anterior temporal cortex) may be important for achieving improvements in creativity, innovativeness and insight problem solving, determinants for entrepreneurial behaviour. This, along our reduced sample size, possibly prevented us from finding other significant results in other entrepreneurship factors. Nevertheless, the fact that the active group had mean higher (although not significant) global TAI score, possibly suggests stimulation of the right DLPFC, if increasing activity of the higher-attention control mechanisms and stimulating some components of creativity (possibly divergent thinking and insight problem-solving), probably had indeed some overall effect in the determinants of entrepreneurial attitude, possibly worthy of future research. Conclusion: Stimulation of the higher cognitive and attention-control mechanisms (possibly the physiological basis for an ambidextrous entrepreneurial mindset) by stimulation of the right DLPFC is reflected in increased TAI factor 3 (“adaptability”) scores. The integration in future entrepreneurship neuromodulation protocols of open answer questionnaires or gambling tasks eventually allowing pre- and post-analysis is a suggestion to more directly evaluate creativity/innovativeness in future neuroentrepreneurship research.Introdução: A investigação na área do neuroempreendedorismo tem sugerido a importância em potenciais empreendedores da existência de características como a impulsividade e um comportamento de procura de novidades, assim como uma capacidade cognitiva ambidextra e flexível para a tomada de decisões, a qual permite que empreendedores bem-sucedidos transitem eficientemente entre comportamentos exploratórios do tipo exploitation (associado com regiões cerebrais envolvidas na representação do valor de opções, como o córtex pré-frontal ventromedial) e do tipo exploration (associado com regiões frontoparietais envolvidas no controlo cognitivo e da atenção). Simultaneamente, a importância da criatividade e da capacidade para pensamento divergente têm também sido sublinhadas. A base neurobiológica para estas funções ainda está a ser esclarecida, no entanto tem apontado para a importância de várias regiões pré-frontais integradas em redes, as quais estão envolvidas em mecanismos superiores de controlo cognitivo e de controlo da atenção (tal como o córtex pré-frontal dorso-lateral e o córtex fronto-polar) , as quais permitem a mudança eficiente entre comportamentos exploratórios do tipo exploitation e exploration, a tomada de decisões, e o relaxamento de regras e constrangimentos previamente aprendidos de modo a conseguir a resolução de problemas de forma inovadora. Vários estudos de neuromodulação têm mostrado alterações em determinantes da atitude empreendedora tais como a tomada estratégia de decisões, valoração do risco e comportamento de procura de novidades. Neste estudo exploratório, analisámos os efeitos da estimulação do córtex pré-frontal dorso-lateral (DLPFC) direito num teste que avalia a atitude empreendedora (TAI) num grupo de 13 voluntários saudáveis seleccionados de forma randomizada para estimulação real ou placebo com estimulação theta burst intermitente (intermitent theta burst stimulation, iTBS). Materiais e métodos: Um total de 13 voluntários saudáveis foram alocados de forma aleatória para ser submetidos a 1 sessão de estimulação real/activa (n=7) ou placebo (n=6) de iTBS sobre o DLPFC direito. Os voluntários responderam subsequentemente ao Teste de Atitude Empreendedora (TAI), o qual avalia e decompõe em 8 factores os determinantes para a atitude empreendedora e fornece também uma pontuação global, a qual permite uma classificação em 3 grupos. Resultados: A pontuação média obtida pelo grupo activo no factor 3 do TAI (“adaptabilidade”) foi significativamente superior à obtida pelo grupo placebo (6,64% ± 2,84%, p=0,039). De resto, não houve diferenças estatisticamente significativas nos restantes factores TAI. Os valores médios da pontuação global no teste TAI põem o grupo activo no intervalo de alta atitude empreendedora (75,71%), e o grupo placebo no intervalo de média atitude empreendedora (71,66%), embora essa diferença não seja estatisticamente significativa (4,05% ± 2,67%, p=0,157). Discussão: Os mecanismos superiores de controlo da atenção (mediados pelo DLPFC via conexões com os córtices fronto-polar e parietal), os quais permitem uma transição eficiente entre comportamentos exploratórios do tipo exploitation ou exploration, podem ser uma possível base fisiológica para a mentalidade empreendedora ambidextra, e assim a causa provável para o facto de o grupo com estimulação activa /real ter tido pontuações significativamente superiores às do grupo placebo no factor 3 do TAI (“adaptabilidade”). Apesar da estimulação de uma importante região do córtex pré-frontal envolvida no controlo cognitivo top-down, a neurobiologia da criatividade é cada vez mais entendida no contexto da inserção das regiões relevantes em grandes redes cerebrais (como a default mode network e a cognitive control network), de tal modo que a modulação de outras regiões (como o córtex temporal anterior) pode ser importante para alcançar melhorias na criatividade, inventividade e solução de problemas por insight, os quais são determinantes do comportamento e atitude empreendedora. Isto, em conjunto com a nossa amostra de tamanho reduzido, possivelmente foi a causa que nos impediu de encontrar outros resultados significativos nos factores de atitude empreendedora. Contudo, o facto de que o grupo de estimulação real/activa teve, em média, uma pontuação global no teste TAI superior à do grupo placebo (embora esta diferença não seja estatisticamente significativa), possivelmente sugere que a estimulação do DLPFC direito — se aumentando a actividade dos mecanismos superiores de controlo de atenção e estimulando alguns componentes da criatividade (possivelmente o pensamento divergente e a solução de problemas por insight) — provavelmente teve efectivamente algum efeito líquido global nos determinantes de atitude empreendedora, certamente digna de investigação futura. Conclusão: A estimulação dos mecanismos superiores de controlo cognitivo e da atenção (possivelmente a base fisiológica para uma mentalidade empreendedora ambidextra) via estimulação do DLPFC direito é reflectida num aumento da pontuação do factor 3 (“adaptabilidade”) do TAI. A integração em futuros protocolos de neuromodulação no contexto da investigação no neuroempreendedorismo de questionários de resposta aberta e de jogos de azar (eventualmente permitindo análises pre- e post-facto) é uma sugestão para mais directamente avaliar a criatividade e inovação em futuras investigações sobre neuroempreendedorismo

Entre consumos suntuários e comuns: a posse de objetos exóticos entre alguns habitantes do Porto (séculos XVI – XVII)

O estudo da documentação referente aos doadores da Misericórdia do Porto entre os séculos XVI e XVII, através dos objetos exóticos patentes nos respectivos testamentos e inven- tários – estes últimos provenientes de uma área que se estende de Macau ao Brasil –, permite discernir uma panóplia de objetos que mudaram a cultura material dos portuenses em contato com os territórios da expansão portuguesa. Um levantamento sistemático permitiu já rastrear, até o ano de 1699, 257 doadores, dos quais se apresentarão aqui apenas alguns, referentes a benfeitores que, não obstante possuírem bens móveis nesse âmbito, não são dados como tendo estado nos territórios de expansão transoceânica. Argumentar-se-á que essa circulação de objetos não foi exclusiva das elites nobiliárquicas, nem dos grandes centros urbanos, pelo que a sua difusão atingiu maiores proporções do que aquelas que a historiografia tem admitido até agora. A cidade em observação neste estudo – o Porto dos séculos XVI e XVII – estava longe de ser das maiores da Europa nesse período, quer em dimensão territorial, quer em efetivos populacionais, embora se situasse numa região de demografia pujante, que canalizou os seus excedentes desde cedo para a emigração interna e externa – o Entre Douro e Minho. Como teremos ocasião de verificar, fidalgos e nobres possuíam bens exóticos, mas estes encontravam-se também entre mercadores e até artesãos mais desafogados. Por outro lado, nem todos os objetos provenientes dos espaços da expansão transoceânica devem ser conotados com bens de luxo.The study of the sources referring to the donors of the Misericórdia of the city of Porto during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has revealed the presence of numerous exotic objects in their last wills and inventories. A survey has traced 257 donors until 1699, some of them having died in an area that extends from Macao to Brazil. Only a small number of cases shall be presented here, pertaining to benefactors who, in spite of owning objects of transoceanic origin, seem to have remained in mainland Portugal. It shall be argued that the circulation of objects has not been exclusive either to the elites of the nobility or to the large urban centres, their diffusion having been on a larger scale than what has been admitted until now. The city under scrutiny in this study – Porto during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries – was not one of the bigger cities in this period, either in what respects to size or population, although it was located in an area of flourishing demography, that channelled its surplus population early on to internal and external emigration. Fidalgos and noblemen owned exotic goods, but these were to be found among merchants and even well-to-do artisans. On the other hand, not all objects originating from the areas of transoceanic expansion should be considered as luxury goods.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Landscape - wildfire interactions in southern Europe: implications for landscape management

ReviewEvery year approximately half a million hectares of land are burned by wildfires in southern Europe, causing large ecological and socio-economic impacts. Climate and land use changes in the last decades have increased fire risk and danger. In this paper we review the available scientific knowledge on the relationships between landscape and wildfires in the Mediterranean region, with a focus on its application for defining landscape management guidelines and policies that could be adopted in order to promote landscapes with lower fire hazard. The main findings are that (1) socio-economic drivers have favoured land cover changes contributing to increasing fire hazard in the last decades, (2) large wildfires are becoming more frequent, (3) increased fire frequency is promoting homogeneous landscapes covered by fire-prone shrublands; (4) landscape planning to reduce fuel loads may be successful only if fire weather conditions are not extreme. The challenges to address these problems and the policy and landscape management responses that should be adopted are discussed, along with major knowledge gapsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults

Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 3663 population-based studies with 222 million participants that measured height and weight in representative samples of the general population. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in the prevalence of different BMI categories, separately for adults (age ≥20 years) and school-aged children and adolescents (age 5–19 years), from 1990 to 2022 for 200 countries and territories. For adults, we report the individual and combined prevalence of underweight (BMI <18·5 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2). For schoolaged children and adolescents, we report thinness (BMI <2 SD below the median of the WHO growth reference) and obesity (BMI >2 SD above the median). Findings From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity in adults decreased in 11 countries (6%) for women and 17 (9%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 that the observed changes were true decreases. The combined prevalence increased in 162 countries (81%) for women and 140 countries (70%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. In 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity was highest in island nations in the Caribbean and Polynesia and Micronesia, and countries in the Middle East and north Africa. Obesity prevalence was higher than underweight with posterior probability of at least 0·80 in 177 countries (89%) for women and 145 (73%) for men in 2022, whereas the converse was true in 16 countries (8%) for women, and 39 (20%) for men. From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of thinness and obesity decreased among girls in five countries (3%) and among boys in 15 countries (8%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80, and increased among girls in 140 countries (70%) and boys in 137 countries (69%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. The countries with highest combined prevalence of thinness and obesity in school-aged children and adolescents in 2022 were in Polynesia and Micronesia and the Caribbean for both sexes, and Chile and Qatar for boys. Combined prevalence was also high in some countries in south Asia, such as India and Pakistan, where thinness remained prevalent despite having declined. In 2022, obesity in school-aged children and adolescents was more prevalent than thinness with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 among girls in 133 countries (67%) and boys in 125 countries (63%), whereas the converse was true in 35 countries (18%) and 42 countries (21%), respectively. In almost all countries for both adults and school-aged children and adolescents, the increases in double burden were driven by increases in obesity, and decreases in double burden by declining underweight or thinness. Interpretation The combined burden of underweight and obesity has increased in most countries, driven by an increase in obesity, while underweight and thinness remain prevalent in south Asia and parts of Africa. A healthy nutrition transition that enhances access to nutritious foods is needed to address the remaining burden of underweight while curbing and reversing the increase in obesit

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

O31 Integrative analysis reveals a molecular stratification of systemic autoimmune diseases

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Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost