Higher media multi-tasking activity is associated with smaller gray-matter density in the anterior cingulate cortex

Media multitasking, or the concurrent consumption of multiple media forms, is increasingly prevalent in today’s society and has been associated with negative psychosocial and cognitive impacts. Individuals who engage in heavier media-multitasking are found to perform worse on cognitive control tasks and exhibit more socio-emotional difficulties. However, the neural processes associated with media multi-tasking remain unexplored. The present study investigated relationships between media multitasking activity and brain structure. Research has demonstrated that brain structure can be altered upon prolonged exposure to novel environments and experience. Thus, we expected differential engagements in media multitasking to correlate with brain structure variability. This was confirmed via Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) analyses: Individuals with higher Media Multitasking Index (MMI) scores had smaller gray matter density in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Functional connectivity between this ACC region and the precuneus was negatively associated with MMI. Our findings suggest a possible structural correlate for the observed decreased cognitive control performance and socio-emotional regulation in heavy media-multitaskers. While the cross-sectional nature of our study does not allow us to specify the direction of causality, our results brought to light novel associations between individual media multitasking behaviors and ACC structure differences

The 'antisocial' person: an insight in to biology, classification and current evidence on treatment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This review analyses and summarises the recent advances in understanding the neurobiology of violence and empathy, taxonomical issues on defining personality disorders characterised by disregard for social norms, evidence for efficacy of different treatment modalities and ethical implications in defining 'at-risk' individuals for preventive interventions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>PubMed was searched with the keywords 'antisocial personality disorder', 'dissocial personality disorder' and 'psychopathy'. The search was limited to articles published in English over the last 10 years (1999 to 2009)</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both diagnostic manuals used in modern psychiatry, the <it>Diagnostic and Statistical Manual </it>published by the American Psychiatric Association and the <it>International Classification of Diseases </it>published by the World Health Organization, identify a personality disorder sharing similar traits. It is termed antisocial personality disorder in the diagnostic and statistical manual and dissocial personality disorder in the <it>International Classification of Diseases</it>. However, some authors query the ability of the existing manuals to identify a special category termed 'psychopathy', which in their opinion deserves special attention. On treatment-related issues, many psychological and behavioural therapies have shown success rates ranging from 25% to 62% in different cohorts. Multisystemic therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy have been proven efficacious in many trials. There is no substantial evidence for the efficacy of pharmacological therapy. Currently, the emphasis is on early identification and prevention of antisocial behaviour despite the ethical implications of defining at-risk children.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Further research is needed in the areas of neuroendocrinological associations of violent behaviour, taxonomic existence of psychopathy and efficacy of treatment modalities.</p

The Detectability of Earth's Biosignatures Across Time

Over the past two decades, enormous advances in the detection of exoplanets have taken place. Currently, we have discovered hundreds of earth-sized planets, several of them within the habitable zone of their star. In the coming years, the efforts will concentrate in the characterization of these planets and their atmospheres to try to detect the presence of biosignatures. However, even if we discovered a second Earth, it is very unlikely that it would present a stage of evolution similar to the present-day Earth. Our planet has been far from static since its formation about 4.5 Ga ago; on the contrary, during this time, it has undergone multiple changes in it's atmospheric composition, it's temperature structure, it's continental distribution, and even changes in the forms of life that inhabit it. All these changes have affected the global properties of Earth as seen from an astronomical distance. Thus, it is of interest not only to characterize the observables of the Earth as it is today, but also at different epochs. Here we review the detectability of the Earth's globally-averaged properties over time. This includes atmospheric composition and biosignatures, and surface properties that can be interpreted as sings of habitability (bioclues). The resulting picture is that truly unambiguous biosignatures are only detectable for about 1/4 of the Earth's history. The rest of the time we rely on detectable bioclues that can only establish an statistical likelihood for the presence of life on a given planet.Comment: To appear in "Handbook of Exoplanets", eds. Deeg, H.J. & Belmonte, J.A, Springer (2018). arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:astro-ph/0609398 by other author

As Far as the Eye Can See: Relationship between Psychopathic Traits and Pupil Response to Affective Stimuli

Psychopathic individuals show a range of affective processing deficits, typically associated with the interpersonal/affective component of psychopathy. However, previous research has been inconsistent as to whether psychopathy, within both offender and community populations, is associated with deficient autonomic responses to the simple presentation of affective stimuli. Changes in pupil diameter occur in response to emotionally arousing stimuli and can be used as an objective indicator of physiological reactivity to emotion. This study used pupillometry to explore whether psychopathic traits within a community sample were associated with hypo-responsivity to the affective content of stimuli. Pupil activity was recorded for 102 adult (52 female) community participants in response to affective (both negative and positive affect) and affectively neutral stimuli, that included images of scenes, static facial expressions, dynamic facial expressions and sound-clips. Psychopathic traits were measured using the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure. Pupil diameter was larger in response to negative stimuli, but comparable pupil size was demonstrated across pleasant and neutral stimuli. A linear relationship between subjective arousal and pupil diameter was found in response to sound-clips, but was not evident in response to scenes. Contrary to predictions, psychopathy was unrelated to emotional modulation of pupil diameter across all stimuli. The findings were the same when participant gender was considered. This suggests that psychopathy within a community sample is not associated with autonomic hypo-responsivity to affective stimuli, and this effect is discussed in relation to later defensive/appetitive mobilisation deficits

Ação de material orgânico sobre a produção e características comerciais de cultivares de alface Effect of organic material on the production and characteristics of lettuce cultivars

Cultivares de alface foram avaliadas utilizando adubo orgânico contendo serragem, em cultivo protegido em Alta Floresta-MT. O delineamento experimental foi blocos casualizados em esquema fatorial com 12 tratamentos e quatro repetições, constituídos pela combinação de seis cultivares (americana: Lucy Brown e Great Lakes; crespa: Isabela e Vera; lisa: Elisa e Babá de Verão) e duas fontes de material orgânico [esterco bovino puro (100%) e composto com pó-de-serra (50% de esterco bovino + 50% de pó-de-serra) na razão de 10 L m-2]. A presença de pó-de-serra no composto orgânico, proporcionou redução na massa fresca comercial, no comprimento do caule, na circunferência da planta, no número de folhas comerciais e no número de folhas totais, quando comparado com o tratamento contendo apenas esterco bovino curtido. Nas cultivares lisas, apesar do maior número de folhas totais e comerciais, o fato não se refletiu em maior massa comercial. A cultivar Lucy Brown conteve a maior massa fresca comercial.<br>Lettuce cultivars cultivated under greenhouse were evaluated with the application of cattle manure mixed to sawdust in Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso State, Brazil. The experimental design was randomized blocks in a factorial scheme with 12 treatments and four replications. The treatments consisted of combinations of six cultivars (Lucy Brown, Great Lakes, Isabela, Vera, Elisa and Babá de Verão) and two sources of organic material - cattle manure (100%) and cattle manure mixed to sawdust (50% manure + 50% sawdust composte) - applied at the level of 10 L m-2. Plots measured 1.2 x 1.2 m with 16 plants spaced by 0.3 m over the useful area. Samples were constituted by the four central plants in each plot. Application of bovine manure mixed to sawdust reduced fresh mass, stem length, plant diameter, commercial leaf number and total leaf number when compared to the application of pure manure. Although the cultivars Elisa and Babá de Verão presented higher total and commercial leaf number, it did not reflect in higher commercial mass. The cultivar Lucy Brown presented the highest commercial fresh mass

Densidades de plantio e doses de biofertilizante na produção de capim-limão Density and biofertilizer levels for lemon grass production

O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar o efeito de densidades de plantio e doses de biofertilizante comercial na produção de capim-limão (Cymbopogon citratus (D.C.) Stapf). O experimento foi implantado em parcelas subdivididas com três repetições, colocando-se nas parcelas as densidades de plantio (33.333, 49.382, 55.555 e 111.111 plantas ha-1) e nas subparcelas as doses de biofertilizante (0; 20; 40 e 60 t ha-1). Foram realizadas nove colheitas em intervalos de 42 dias. Avaliou-se a sobrevivência, a altura de planta, o número de perfilhos por touceira, a massa seca por touceira e da parte aérea, o teor e o rendimento de óleo essencial. O teor de óleo essencial não foi influenciado pelas densidades de plantio e doses de biofertilizante. A densidade crescente resultou em regressões lineares crescentes para o rendimento de óleo essencial e a massa seca da parte aérea e em uma regressão linear decrescente para a massa seca por touceira. A dose de biofertilizante resultou em regressões lineares crescentes para o rendimento de óleo essencial e a massa seca por touceira e da parte aérea. A densidade de 111.111 plantas ha-1 (0,30 x 0,30 m) e a dose de biofertilizante de 60 t ha-1 no primeiro ano de cultivo poderão ser recomendados para produção do capim-limão.<br>The aim of this work was to evaluate the plant density and biofertilizer levels on lemon grass (Cymbopogom citratus (D.C.) Stapf). The experiment was installed in split plot design with three replications, having plant density as plots (33,333; 49,382; 55,555 and 111,111 plants ha-1) and biofertilizer doses as sub plots (0; 20; 40; 60 t ha-1 year-1). Nine cuttings were realized using an interval of 42 days between cuttings. We evaluated survival, plant height, number of tillers per plant, dry weight per plant and of biomass yield, essential oil content and yield. The essential oil content was not influenced by the plant densities and biofertilizer doses. The crescent density resulted in a crescent linear regression for essential oil yield and dry weight of biomass yield and in a declining linear regression for dry weight per plant. The biofertilizer dose resulted in a crescent linear regression for essential oil yield and dry weight per plant and of biomass yield. The plant density of 111.111 plants per hectare (0.30 x 0.30 m) and the biofertilizer dose of 60 t ha-1 year-1 can be recommended for lemon grass production in the first year

Continued decline of total ozone over Halley, Antarctica, since 1985

IN 1985, Farman et al.1 announced that a dramatic reduction in total ozone was occurring in the atmosphere over Halley, Antarctica, during the polar spring. Analysis of satellite data revealed that this ozone depletion was an Antarctic-wide phenomenon2. Combined theoretical3á¤-5, observational6,7 and laboratory8 work has shown that chlorine radicals derived from the photolysis of chlorofluorocarbons were the dominant cause of the ozone loss9á¤-11. Ten years later, we review here the status of the 'ozone hole' based on the continued total-ozone measurements at Halley. The springtime ᤘozone holeᤙ continues to deepen, with both the October mean and minimum total ozone persistently decreasing. The ozone loss extends into January and February, so that significant increases in ultraviolet-B radiation can be expected at the surface over Antarctica during the summer. A signal of ozone loss is now apparent in the spring and summer temperature records, with recent temperatures at the 100-mbar level consistently close to, or colder than, the historical (1957á¤-72) minima for the period October to January. These low temperatures may well enable the maintenance of springtime ozone-loss mechanisms until later in the year