Language-related domain-specific and domain-general systems in the human brain.

While a long history of neuropsychological research places language function within a primarily left-lateralized frontotemporal system, recent neuroimaging work has extended this language network to include a number of regions traditionally thought of as 'domain-general'. These include dorsal frontal, parietal, and medial temporal lobe regions known to underpin cognitive functions such as attention and memory. In this paper, we argue that these domain-general systems are not required for language processing and are instead an artefact of the tasks typically used to study language. Recent work from our lab shows that when syntactic processing - arguably the only domain-specific language function - is measured in a task-free, naturalistic manner, only the left-lateralized frontotemporal syntax system and auditory network are activated. When syntax is measured within the context of a task, several other domain-general networks come online and are functionally connected to the frontotemporal system. While we have long argued that syntactic processing does not occur in isolation but is processed in parallel with semantics and pragmatics - functions of the wider language system - our recent work makes a strong case for the domain-specificity of the frontotemporal syntax system and its autonomy from domain-general networks

The Individual Day-to-Day Process of Social Anxiety in Vulnerable College Students

Transitions requiring the creation of new social networks may be challenging for individuals vulnerable to social anxiety, which may hinder successful adjustment. Using person-specific methodology, this study examined social anxiety in vulnerable university freshman away from home during their first semester of college to understand how day-to-day processes of social anxiety influenced future social anxiety and social withdrawal. Participants completed daily measures of four components of social anxiety which were examined as a process during a single day, and as a process affecting social anxiety and social withdrawal the next day. For most individuals, same day fear of negative evaluation was associated with maladaptive cognitive processes (anticipatory processing and post-event rumination) and influenced social withdrawal behaviors. Across time relations were less robust and varied between participants suggesting the importance of situational factors and individual differences. These findings may have implications for the effectiveness of various intervention strategies

Estimating the effect of intimate partner violence on women's use of contraception: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an important global public health problem. While there is a growing literature on the association between IPV and women's reproductive health (RH) outcomes, most studies are cross-sectional-which weakens inference about the causal effect of IPV on women's RH. This systematic review synthesizes existing evidence from the strongest study designs to estimate the impact of IPV on women's use of contraception. METHODS: We searched 11 electronic databases from January of 1980 to 3 December 2013 and reviewed reference lists from systematic reviews for studies examining IPV and contraceptive use. To be able to infer causality, we limited our review to studies that had longitudinal measures of either IPV or women's use of contraception. RESULTS: Of the 1,574 articles identified by the search, we included 179 articles in the full text review and extracted data from 12 studies that met our inclusion criteria. We limited the meta-analysis to seven studies that could be classified as subject to low or moderate levels of bias. Women's experience of IPV was associated with a significant reduction in the odds of using contraception (n = 14,866; OR: 0.47; 95% CI: 0.25, 0.85; I2 = 92%; 95% CII2: 87%, 96%). Restricting to studies that measured the effect of IPV on women's use of partner dependent contraceptive methods was associated with a reduction in the heterogeneity of the overall estimate. In the three studies that examined women's likelihood of using male condoms with their partners, experience of IPV was associated with a significant decrease in condom use (OR: 0.48; 95% CIOR: 0.32, 0.72; I2 = 51%; 95% CII2: 0%, 86%). CONCLUSIONS: IPV is associated with a reduction in women's use of contraception; women who experience IPV are less likely to report using condoms with their male partners. Family planning and HIV prevention programs should consider women's experiences of IPV

Hydrodynamic scaling from the dynamics of relativistic quantum field theory

Hydrodynamic behavior is a general feature of interacting systems with many degrees of freedom constrained by conservation laws. To date hydrodynamic scaling in relativistic quantum systems has been observed in many high energy settings, from cosmic ray detections to accelerators, with large particle multiplicity final states. Here we show first evidence for the emergence of hydrodynamic scaling in the dynamics of a relativistic quantum field theory. We consider a simple scalar $\lambda \phi^4$ model in 1+1 dimensions in the Hartree approximation and study the dynamics of two colliding kinks at relativistic speeds as well as the decay of a localized high energy density region. The evolution of the energy-momentum tensor determines the dynamical local equation of state and allows the measurement of the speed of sound. Hydrodynamic scaling emerges at high local energy densities.Comment: 4 pages, 4 color eps figures, uses RevTex, v2 some typos corrected and references adde

Mostly Minnesota Art Song: Songs by Barber, Campbell, Erickson, Larsen, Maurer, Phipps-Kettlewell, Rossi, and Thomas

Tracks 1-6 are from David Evan Thomas\u27 Divine Images collection, based on the poetry of William Blake. Tracks 16-20 are from Brian G. Campbell\u27s collection This is My Letter to the World: Five Emily Dickinson Songs.https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/music_recordings/1014/thumbnail.jp

Differences between mothers and fathers of young children in their Use of the internet to support healthy family lifestyle behaviors : Cross-sectional study

Background: In early life, both mothers and fathers are important influences on their children’s diet, active play, and obesity risk. Parents are increasingly relying on the internet and social media as a source of information on all aspects of parenting. However, little is known about the use of Web-based sources of information relevant to family lifestyle behaviors and, in particular, differences between mothers’ and fathers’ use and sociodemographic predictors. Objective: The objective of this study was to examine if mothers and fathers differ in their use of the internet for information on their own health and their child’s health, feeding, and playing and to examine sociodemographic predictors of the use of the internet for information on these topics. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis on data collected from mothers (n=297) and fathers (n=207) participating in the extended Infant Feeding, Activity and Nutrition Trial (InFANT Extend) when their children were 36 months of age. The main outcome variables were the use of the internet for information gathering for parents’ own health and child health, feeding, and playing. Binary logistic regression was used to examine the sociodemographic predictors of outcomes. Results: Compared with fathers (n=296), a higher proportion of mothers (n=198) used the internet for information on their own health (230, 78.5% vs 93, 46.5%), child health (226, 77.1% vs 84, 42.4%), child feeding (136, 46.3% vs 35, 17.5%), and child play (123, 42.1% vs 28, 14.0%) and intended to use Facebook to connect with other parents (200, 74.9% vs 43, 30.5%). Despite the high use of the internet to support family health behaviors, only 15.9% (47/296) of mothers reported consulting health practitioners for advice and help for their own or their child’s weight, diet, or physical activity. Sociodemographic predictors of internet use differed between mothers and fathers and explained only a small proportion of the variance in internet use to support healthy family lifestyle behaviors. Conclusions: Our findings support the use of the internet and Facebook as an important potential avenue for reaching mothers with information relevant to their own health, child health, child diet, and active play. However, further research is required to understand the best avenues for engaging fathers with information on healthy family lifestyle behaviors to support this important role in their child’s life. Trial Registration: ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN81847050; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN8184705

Descriptive Analysis of a Baseline Concussion Battery Among U.S. Service Academy Members: Results from the Concussion Assessment, Research, and Education (CARE) Consortium

Introduction The prevalence and possible long-term consequences of concussion remain an increasing concern to the U.S. military, particularly as it pertains to maintaining a medically ready force. Baseline testing is being used both in the civilian and military domains to assess concussion injury and recovery. Accurate interpretation of these baseline assessments requires one to consider other influencing factors not related to concussion. To date, there is limited understanding, especially within the military, of what factors influence normative test performance. Given the significant physical and mental demands placed on service academy members (SAM), and their relatively high risk for concussion, it is important to describe demographics and normative profile of SAMs. Furthermore, the absence of available baseline normative data on female and non-varsity SAMs makes interpretation of post-injury assessments challenging. Understanding how individuals perform at baseline, given their unique individual characteristics (e.g., concussion history, sex, competition level), will inform post-concussion assessment and management. Thus, the primary aim of this manuscript is to characterize the SAM population and determine normative values on a concussion baseline testing battery. Materials and Methods All data were collected as part of the Concussion Assessment, Research and Education (CARE) Consortium. The baseline test battery included a post-concussion symptom checklist (Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT), psychological health screening inventory (Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18) and neurocognitive evaluation (ImPACT), Balance Error Scoring System (BESS), and Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC). Linear regression models were used to examine differences across sexes, competition levels, and varsity contact levels while controlling for academy, freshman status, race, and previous concussion. Zero inflated negative binomial models estimated symptom scores due to the high frequency of zero scores. Results Significant, but small, sex effects were observed on the ImPACT visual memory task. While, females performed worse than males (p < 0.0001, pη2 = 0.01), these differences were small and not larger than the effects of the covariates. A similar pattern was observed for competition level on the SAC. There was a small, but significant difference across competition level. SAMs participating in varsity athletics did significantly worse on the SAC compared to SAMs participating in club or intramural athletics (all p’s < 0.001, η2 = 0.01). When examining symptom reporting, males were more than two times as likely to report zero symptoms on the SCAT or BSI-18. Intramural SAMs had the highest number of symptoms and severity compared to varsity SAMs (p < 0.0001, Cohen’s d < 0.2). Contact level was not associated with SCAT or BSI-18 symptoms among varsity SAMs. Notably, the significant differences across competition level on SCAT and BSI-18 were sub-clinical and had small effect sizes. Conclusion The current analyses provide the first baseline concussion battery normative data among SAMs. While statistically significant differences may be observed on baseline tests, the effect sizes for competition and contact levels are very small, indicating that differences are likely not clinically meaningful at baseline. Identifying baseline differences and significant covariates is important for future concussion-related analyses to inform concussion evaluations for all athlete levels

Idiosyncratic responding during movie-watching predicted by age differences in attentional control.

Much is known about how age affects the brain during tightly controlled, though largely contrived, experiments, but do these effects extrapolate to everyday life? Naturalistic stimuli, such as movies, closely mimic the real world and provide a window onto the brain's ability to respond in a timely and measured fashion to complex, everyday events. Young adults respond to these stimuli in a highly synchronized fashion, but it remains to be seen how age affects neural responsiveness during naturalistic viewing. To this end, we scanned a large (N = 218), population-based sample from the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN) during movie-watching. Intersubject synchronization declined with age, such that older adults' response to the movie was more idiosyncratic. This decreased synchrony related to cognitive measures sensitive to attentional control. Our findings suggest that neural responsivity changes with age, which likely has important implications for real-world event comprehension and memory.This work and the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN) are supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (grant number BB/H008217/1).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2015.07.02