Factors affecting the efficacy of feedback use during source monitoring

The current study considers how individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) affect feedback effectiveness. Participants, selected to have high and low WMC, first watched a video of a crime. Subsequently, a post-test questionnaire was administered concerning events taken from the video and additional information suggested to have occurred in the video. After a 10 minute filler task, participants were given a two-part memory test requiring them to identify the source of the information presented in the test statements. During the training portion of the test, half of the participants received feedback as to the accuracy of their source decisions. On the second (assessment) portion of the test, participants did not receive any feedback. Both high and low WMC participants benefited equally from the presentation of feedback; both groups significantly reduced their misattributions of suggested items to the video. There was also a trend toward better source monitoring performance on suggested items in high WMC than low WMC participants, regardless of whether they received feedback. These findings suggest that feedback may be used to improve memory accuracy without requiring substantial executive resources

Collaborative research efforts and related activities of the Office of Rare Diseases Research at the USA National Institutes of Health

Introduction: Rare diseases present unique challenges to meet the numerous and varied needs of the rarediseases community and it is required to identify and address these needs. Significant financial andpersonnel resources are required to address these needs identified. The Office of Rare Diseases Research(ORDR) at the USA National Institutes of Health (NIH) has attempted to meet many of these needs incollaborative efforts with the research Institutes and Centers of NIH and other partners in the private andpublic sectors in the USA and around the world. Several of the activities of the NIH and the ORDR arepresented as possible collaborative efforts available to research investigators and include the Rare DiseasesClinical Research Network, the Bench-to-Bedside research program at NIH, the Genetic and Rare DiseasesInformation center, the genetic test development program, and the information on clinical research studiesmade available through Clinical trials.gov. The value of an appropriate family medical history is discussed asare the provisions of the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). Definitions of rare ororphan diseases vary from country to country and may cause some confusion to the rare diseases community.Conclusions: Rare diseases are not limited by geographical or historical boundaries and global partnershipsof the rare diseases community are experiencing rapid expansion to assist in the development of orphanproducts for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases and conditions. The unmet needs of therare diseases community require additional innovative research and educational programs to reach theextensive global populations affected by the thousands of different rare diseases including activities with theNational Organization for Rare Disorders and the Genetic Alliance

Monetary policy shocks: analyzing the quasi-narrative approach

This dissertation empirically identifies exogenous changes in monetary policy and estimates their effects on the economy. The framework is the Romer and Romer (2004) quasi-narrative approach to identifying exogenous changes in monetary policy. The first essay replicates the Romer-Romer (RR) “quasi-narrative” measure of shocks and updates them with Greenbook forecasts to 2003. A key result is the quasi-narrative approach is robust to updates and corrections for serial correlation. An alternative, independently formed measure of the intended funds rate from Thornton (2005) is compared to the RR measure. The measures are highly correlated and display slight differences concerning the timing of the changes in the intended funds rate. The second essay examines the relative importance of three sources of monetary policy shocks in the quasi-narrative approach. The sources analyzed are changes in operating regimes, changes in chairmen, and the credit controls of 1980. It is found that the responses of monetary policy to forecasted increases in output and inflation were strongest during the NBR targeting period and during the term of Paul Volcker as chairman. The most important source analyzed is shown to be the changes in chairmen. The third essay utilizes the quasi-narrative approach to create measures of monetary policy shocks from alternative real-time data. Three real-time data sources are constructed and explained. When jointly considered with the Greenbooks data used by RR, alternative real-time data is found to add significant information in the response of monetary policy. However, when compared to the RR results, the shocks produced from incorporating alternative data along with the Greenbook data produce only small and transitory differences in the responses of macroeconomic variables. Next, monetary policy shocks are constructed using only alternative real-time data that can be updated with a much shorter lag than is the case for shocks estimated using only Greenbook data. These new shocks are found to be highly correlated with the original RR measures. The shocks obtained from two specifications are shown to be reasonable substitutes for the RR measures, displaying only transitory, slight differences in the responses of output and prices

Validating The Rate of Perceived Stability Scale To Gauge Balance Training Difficulty

An effective way of measuring balance training difficulty is needed to properly conduct balance training. The instructor must ensure that the subject is partaking in the proper balance training difficulty. If the difficulty of the training is too hard, the subject may be at higher risk for injury. If the difficulty is too low, the subject may not receive all the benefits of the program. The purpose of the research study was to validate the Rate of Perceived Stability (RPS) scale. We recruited 25 subjects over the age of 50. The subjects were community ambulators with no musculoskeletal issues. The subjects completed three clinical balance tests and had their motion data captured while playing the gaming conditions. Subjects were asked to give an RPS score at certain times during the gaming. The scores should correlate with the perception of their own stability. We hypothesized that the subjects\u27 rank of gaming condition difficulty should match the RPS scores assigned to the condition. A clear majority of subjects matched their easiest gaming difficulty with their lowest RPS score and their hardest gaming difficulty with their highest RPS score. Only four subjects perfectly matched their gaming difficulty with their respective RPS scores, and only two subjects had zero matches.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2017/1023/thumbnail.jp

Validating The Rate of Perceived Stability Scale To Gauge Balance Training Difficulty

An effective way of measuring balance training difficulty is needed to properly conduct balance training. The instructor must ensure that the subject is partaking in the proper balance training difficulty. If the difficulty of the training is too hard, the subject may be at higher risk for injury. If the difficulty is too low, the subject may not receive all the benefits of the program. The purpose of the research study was to validate the Rate of Perceived Stability (RPS) scale. We recruited 25 subjects over the age of 50. The subjects were community ambulators with no musculoskeletal issues. The subjects completed three clinical balance tests and had their motion data captured while playing the gaming conditions. Subjects were asked to give an RPS score at certain times during the gaming. The scores should correlate with the perception of their own stability. We hypothesized that the subjects\u27 rank of gaming condition difficulty should match the RPS scores assigned to the condition. A clear majority of subjects matched their easiest gaming difficulty with their lowest RPS score and their hardest gaming difficulty with their highest RPS score. Only four subjects perfectly matched their gaming difficulty with their respective RPS scores, and only two subjects had zero matches.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2017/1023/thumbnail.jp

Why MSM in rural South African communities should be an HIV prevention research priority.

Research into HIV and men who have sex with men's (MSM) health in South Africa has been largely confined to the metropolitan centres. Only two studies were located making reference to MSM in rural contexts or same-sex behaviors among men in the same. There is growing recognition in South Africa that MSM are not only disproportionately affected by HIV and have been underserved by the country's national response, but that they contribute significantly to sustaining the high number of new infections recorded each year. We argue that to meet the objectives of the country's national strategic plan for HIV, STI and TB it is important we know how these behaviours may be contributing to the sustained rural HIV epidemic in the youngest age groups and determine what constitutes appropriate and feasible programmatic response that can be implemented in the country's public sector health services

Structure of the pre-60S ribosomal subunit with nuclear export factor Arx1 bound at the exit tunnel

Pre-ribosomal particles evolve in the nucleus through transient interaction with biogenesis factors, before export to the cytoplasm. Here, we report the architecture of the late pre-60S particle purified from Saccharomyces cerevisiae through Arx1, a nuclear export factor with structural homology to methionine aminopeptidases, or its binding partner Alb1. Cryo-electron microscopy reconstruction of the Arx1-particle at 11.9 Å resolution reveals regions of extra densities on the pre-60S particle attributed to associated biogenesis factors, confirming the immature state of the nascent subunit. One of these densities could be unambiguously assigned to Arx1. Immuno-electron microscopy and UV cross-linking localize Arx1 close to the ribosomal exit tunnel in direct contact with ES27, a highly dynamic eukaryotic rRNA expansion segment. The binding of Arx1 at the exit tunnel may position this export factor to prevent premature recruitment of ribosome-associated factors active during translation