Affective bias and current, past and future adolescent depression: A familial high risk study.

Affective bias is a common feature of depressive disorder. However, a lack of longitudinal studies means that the temporal relationship between affective bias and depression is not well understood. One group where studies of affective bias may be particularly warranted is the adolescent offspring of depressed parents, given observations of high rates of depression and a severe and impairing course of disorder in this group

Exploring a Place-Based Approach to Materials Design: Harakeke Nonwovens in Aotearoa New Zealand

As the interdisciplinary field of materials design expands, pressing environmental, social and economic crises mean that the impacts of materials are more clearly perceived (Drazin 2015). This presents a challenge to activate materials towards positive change. Design practices that are relational, place based and deeply attuned to justice and the Earth are needed (Escobar 2017). What might such practices look like within the field of materials design? And how might they be informed by textiles practice? To address these questions, this paper presents and reflects upon a recent study into the development of harakeke (Phormium Tenax/New Zealand Flax) based nonwovens. The aim of the study was to support the re-establishment of harakeke based industry in Aotearoa New Zealand, which recent research suggests could address a range of environmental, social and economic problems specific to the region (McGruddy 2006). The approach taken drew on notions of place-based design and textile thinking, and was underpinned by a collaboration between university based design researchers, an agricultural and a forestry/ biomaterials research institute, an independent designer and an expert in traditional harakeke weaving. An initial review of materials design, research and developments that are predicated on regionally specific resources and knowledge was undertaken. Processing trials were conducted that brought together knowledge from indigenous harakeke weaving practice, fine art practices, industrially based fibre processing techniques and biopolymer processing. The resulting new materials were qualitatively evaluated using emergent models of experiential characterization (Camere and Karana 2018), which showed potential for the materials to be developed towards applications including architectural surfaces and packaging

The role of disulfide bond replacements in analogues of the Tarantula toxin ProTx-II and their effects on inhibition of the voltage-gated sodium ion channel Nav1.7

Spider venom toxins, such as Protoxin-II (ProTx-II), have recently received much attention as selective Nav1.7 channel blockers, with potential to be developed as leads for the treatment of chronic nocioceptive pain. ProTx-II is a 30-amino acid peptide with three disulfide bonds that has been reported to adopt a well-defined inhibitory cystine knot (ICK) scaffold structure. Potential drawbacks with such peptides include poor pharmacodynamics and potential scrambling of the disulfide bonds in vivo. In order to address these issues, in the present study we report the solid-phase synthesis of lanthionine-bridged analogues of ProTx-II, in which one of the three disulfide bridges is replaced with a thioether linkage, and evaluate the biological properties of these analogues. We have also investigated the folding and disulfide bridging patterns arising from different methods of oxidation of the linear peptide precursor. Finally, we report the X-ray crystal structure of ProTx-II to atomic resolution; to our knowledge this is the first crystal structure of an ICK spider venom peptide not bound to a substrate

Social brain activation during mentalizing in a large autism cohort: the Longitudinal European Autism Project

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition with key deficits in social functioning. It is widely assumed that the biological underpinnings of social impairment are neurofunctional alterations in the “social brain,” a neural circuitry involved in inferring the mental state of a social partner. However, previous evidence comes from small-scale studies and findings have been mixed. We therefore carried out the to-date largest study on neural correlates of mentalizing in ASD. Methods: As part of the Longitudinal European Autism Project, we performed functional magnetic resonance imaging at six European sites in a large, well-powered, and deeply phenotyped sample of individuals with ASD (N = 205) and typically developing (TD) individuals (N = 189) aged 6 to 30 years. We presented an animated shapes task to assess and comprehensively characterize social brain activation during mentalizing. We tested for effects of age, diagnosis, and their association with symptom measures, including a continuous measure of autistic traits. Results: We observed robust effects of task. Within the ASD sample, autistic traits were moderately associated with functional activation in one of the key regions of the social brain, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. However, there were no significant effects of diagnosis on task performance and no effects of age and diagnosis on social brain responses. Besides a lack of mean group differences, our data provide no evidence for meaningful differences in the distribution of brain response measures. Extensive control analyses suggest that the lack of case-control differences was not due to a variety of potential confounders. Conclusions: Contrary to prior reports, this large-scale study does not support the assumption that altered social brain activation during mentalizing forms a common neural marker of ASD, at least with the paradigm we employed. Yet, autistic individuals show socio-behavioral deficits. Our work therefore highlights the need to interrogate social brain function with other brain measures, such as connectivity and network-based approaches, using other paradigms, or applying complementary analysis approaches to assess individual differences in this heterogeneous condition

Limbic-thalamo-cortical projections and reward-related circuitry integrity affects eating behavior: A longitudinal DTI study in adolescents with restrictive eating disorders.

Few studies have used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate the micro-structural alterations of WM in patients with restrictive eating disorders (rED), and longitudinal data are lacking. Twelve patients with rED were scanned at diagnosis and after one year of family-based treatment, and compared to twenty-four healthy controls (HCs) through DTI analysis. A tract-based spatial statistics procedure was used to investigate diffusivity parameters: fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean, radial and axial diffusivities (MD, RD and AD, respectively). Reduced FA and increased RD were found in patients at baseline in the corpus callosum, corona radiata and posterior thalamic radiation compared with controls. However, no differences were found between follow-up patients and controls, suggesting a partial normalization of the diffusivity parameters. In patients, trends for a negative correlation were found between the baseline FA of the right anterior corona radiata and the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire total score, while a positive trend was found between the baseline FA in the splenium of corpus callosum and the weight loss occurred between maximal documented weight and time of admission. A positive trend for correlation was also found between baseline FA in the right anterior corona radiata and the decrease in the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory Revised total score over time. Our results suggest that the integrity of the limbic-thalamo-cortical projections and the reward-related circuitry are important for cognitive control processes and reward responsiveness in regulating eating behavior

Interconnected Futures: Material practices and knowledge-based systems in the academy

More than ever, the role of textile design in environmental, economic, and social crises globally is being revealed. This presents a challenge to activate textile design towards positive change through centring practices that are relational, place-based, and deeply attuned to justice and the wellbeing of our planet: Areas of concern that have been embedded in indigenous ways of Te Moana-nui-a-kiwa for over a millennium. However, as wāhine who whakapapa Te Moana-nui-a-kiwa and Pākehā, we are experiencing tensions when we facilitate authentic knowledge-based systems and material practices that were once naturally entangled to nature, people, and the wellbeing of society. Within this contribution, we will consider the shifting, re-wiring, and co-creation of our ways of practicing and teaching textile design towards interconnected futures. To do this, we will reflect from the position of our interconnected identities and their entanglement with our scholarly and teaching practices within the academy. And how we might embody the necessary attitudes required to practice, co-create, and maintain the resilience of our ways towards a more ‘just’ future for Aotearoa and its place among Te Moana-nui-a-kiwa. We will be mindful, throughout, in perceiving our ways and tools as ‘alternative’, for these have a distinct genealogy but have not traditionally been validated within academic institutions.falseLondo