Emotional engagements predict and enhance social cognition in young chimpanzees

Social cognition in infancy is evident in coordinated triadic engagements, that is, infants attending jointly with social partners and objects. Current evolutionary theories of primate social cognition tend to highlight species differences in cognition based on human-unique cooperative motives. We consider a developmental model in which engagement experiences produce differential outcomes. We conducted a 10-year-long study in which two groups of laboratory-raised chimpanzee infants were given quantifiably different engagement experiences. Joint attention, cooperativeness, affect, and different levels of cognition were measured in 5- to 12-month-old chimpanzees, and compared to outcomes derived from a normative human database. We found that joint attention skills significantly improved across development for all infants, but by 12 months, the humans significantly surpassed the chimpanzees. We found that cooperativeness was stable in the humans, but by 12 months, the chimpanzee group given enriched engagement experiences significantly surpassed the humans. Past engagement experiences and concurrent affect were significant unique predictors of both joint attention and cooperativeness in 5- to 12-month-old chimpanzees. When engagement experiences and concurrent affect were statistically controlled, joint attention and cooperation were not associated. We explain differential social cognition outcomes in terms of the significant influences of previous engagement experiences and affect, in addition to cognition. Our study highlights developmental processes that underpin the emergence of social cognition in support of evolutionary continuity

Synthesis of mono and Bis[60]fullerene-based dicationic peptoids

Increasing numbers of biological applications of fullerenyl amino acids and their derivatives encouraged us to synthesise [60]fullerenyldihydropyrrole peptides, prepared from the coupling of mono- and bis[60]fullerenyldihydropyrrolecarboxylic acids 4, 5 and 41 with presynthesised peptides 13, 16, 24, 28, 29 and 46. The resulting hydrophobic scaffolded di- and tetra-cationic derivatives were tested against Staphylococcus aureus NCTC 6571 and Escherichia coli NCTC 10418. The synthesis, characterisation and biological results are discussed in this paper

Binaphthyl-1,2,3-triazole peptidomimetics with activity against Clostridium difficile and other pathogenic bacteria

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a problematic Gram positive bacterial pathogen causing moderate to severe gastrointestinal infections. Based on a lead binaphthyl-tripeptide dicationic antimicrobial, novel mono-, di- and tri-peptidomimetic analogues targeting C. difficile were designed and synthesized incorporating one, two or three d-configured cationic amino acid residues, with a common 1,2,3-triazole ester isostere at the C-terminus. Copper- and ruthenium-click chemistry facilitated the generation of a 46 compound library for in vitro bioactivity assays, with structure-activity trends over the largest compound subset revealing a clear advantage to triazole-substitution with a linear or branched hydrophobic group. The most active compounds were dicationic-dipeptides where the triazole was substituted with a 4- or 5-cyclohexylmethyl or 4,5-diphenyl moiety, providing MICs of 4 μg mL-1 against three human isolates of C. difficile. Further biological screening revealed significant antimicrobial activity for several compounds against other common bacterial pathogens, both Gram positive and negative, including S. aureus (MICs ≥2 μg mL-1), S. pneumoniae (MICs ≥1 μg mL-1), E. coli (MICs ≥4 μg mL-1), A. baumannii (MICs ≥4 μg mL-1) and vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis (MICs ≥4 μg mL-1)

Women, men and coronary heart disease: a review of the qualitative literature

Aim. This paper presents a review of the qualitative literature which examines the experiences of patients with coronary heart disease. The paper also assesses whether the experiences of both female and male patients are reflected in the literature and summarizes key themes. Background. Understanding patients' experiences of their illness is important for coronary heart disease prevention and education. Qualitative methods are particularly suited to eliciting patients' detailed understandings and perceptions of illness. As much previous research has been 'gender neutral', this review pays particular attention to gender. Methods. Published papers from 60 qualitative studies were identified for the review through searches in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PREMEDLINE, PsychINFO, Social Sciences Citation Index and Web of Science using keywords related to coronary heart disease. Findings. Early qualitative studies of patients with coronary heart disease were conducted almost exclusively with men, and tended to generalize from 'male' experience to 'human' experience. By the late 1990s this pattern had changed, with the majority of studies including women and many being conducted with solely female samples. However, many studies that include both male and female coronary heart disease patients still do not have a specific gender focus. Key themes in the literature include interpreting symptoms and seeking help, belief about coronary 'candidates' and relationships with health professionals. The influence of social roles is important: many female patients have difficulties reconciling family responsibilities and medical advice, while male patients worry about being absent from work. Conclusions. There is a need for studies that compare the experiences of men and women. There is also an urgent need for work that takes masculinity and gender roles into account when exploring the experiences of men with coronary heart disease

On the alpha activity of natural tungsten isotopes

The indication for the alpha decay of 180-W with a half-life T1/2=1.1+0.8-0.4(stat)+-0.3(syst)x10^18 yr has been observed for the first time with the help of the super-low background 116-CdWO_4 crystal scintillators. In conservative approach the lower limit on half-life of 180-W has been established as T1/2>0.7x10^18 yr at 90% C.L. Besides, new T1/2 bounds were set for alpha decay of 182-W, 183-W, 184-W and 186-W at the level of 10^20 yr.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.

Antiferromagnetic Domains and Superconductivity in UPt3

We explore the response of an unconventional superconductor to spatially inhomogeneous antiferromagnetism (SIAFM). Symmetry allows the superconducting order parameter in the E-representation models for UPt3 to couple directly to the AFM order parameter. The Ginzburg-Landau equations for coupled superconductivity and SIAFM are solved numerically for two possible SIAFM configurations: (I) abutting antiferromagnetic domains of uniform size, and (II) quenched random disorder of `nanodomains' in a uniform AFM background. We discuss the contributions to the free energy, specific heat, and order parameter for these models. Neither model provides a satisfactory account of experiment, but results from the two models differ significantly. Our results demonstrate that the response of an E_{2u} superconductor to SIAFM is strongly dependent on the spatial dependence of AFM order; no conclusion can be drawn regarding the compatibility of E_{2u} superconductivity with UPt3 that is independent of assumptions on the spatial dependence of AFMComment: 12 pages, 13 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

The association between plasma tryptophan catabolites and depression: the role of symptom profiles and inflammation

Background: Tryptophan catabolites ("TRYCATs") produced by the kynurenine pathway (KP) may play a role in depression pathophysiology. Studies comparing TRYCATs levels in depressed subjects and controls provided mixed findings. We examined the association of TRYCATs levels with 1) the presence of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), 2) depressive symptom profiles and 3) inflammatory markers.Methods: The sample from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety included participants with current (n = 1100) or remitted (n = 753) MDD DSM-IV diagnosis and healthy controls (n = 642). Plasma levels of tryptophan (TRP), kynurenine (KYN), kynurenic acid (KynA), quinolinic acid (QA), C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) were measured. Atypical/energy-related symptom (AES), melancholic symptom (MS) and anxious-distress symptom (ADS) profiles were derived from questionnaires.Results: After adjustment for age, sex, education, smoking status, alcohol consumption and chronic diseases, no significant differences in TRYCATs were found comparing MDD cases versus controls. The MS profile was associated (q < 0.05) with lower KynA (beta = -0.05), while AES was associated with higher KYN (beta = 0.05), QA (beta = 0.06) and TRP (beta = 0.06). Inflammatory markers were associated with higher KYN (CRP beta = 0.12, IL-6 beta = 0.08, TNF beta = 0.10) and QA (CRP beta = 0.21, IL-6 beta = 0.12, TNF beta = 0.18). Significant differences against controls emerged after selecting MDD cases with high (top 30%) CRP (KYN d = 0.20, QA d = 0.33) and high TNF (KYN d = 0.24; QA d = 0.39).Conclusions: TRYCATs levels were related to specific clinical and biological features, such as atypical symptoms or a proinflammatory status. Modulation of KP may potentially benefit a specific subset of depressed patients. Clinical studies should focus on patients with clear evidence of KP dysregulations.Stress-related psychiatric disorders across the life spa

Structural properties of Pb3Mn7O15 determined from high-resolution synchrotron powder diffraction

We report on the crystallographic structure of the layered compound Pb3Mn7O15. Previous analysis based on laboratory X-ray data at room temperature gave contradictory results in terms of the description of the unit cell. Motivated by recent magnetic bulk measurements of this system, we re-investigated the chemical structure with high-resolution synchrotron powder diffraction at temperatures between 15 K and 295 K. Our results show that the crystal structure of stoichiometric Pb3Mn7O15 has a pronounced 2-dimensional character and can be described in the orthorhombic space group Pnma.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 2 table