A Dynamic Additive and Multiplicative Effects Model with Application to the United Nations Voting Behaviors

We introduce a regression model for a series of networks that are correlated over time. Our model is a dynamic extension of the additive and multiplicative effects network model (AMEN) of Hoff (2019) In addition to incorporating a temporal structure, the model accommodates two types of missing data thus allows the size of the network to vary over time. We demonstrate via simulations the necessity of various components of the model. We apply the model to the United Nations General Assembly voting data from 1983 to 2014 (Voeten (2013)) to answer interesting research questions regarding to international voting behaviors. In addition to finding important factors that could explain the voting behaviors, the model-estimated additive effects, multiplicative effects, and their movements reveal meaningful foreign policy positions and alliances of various countries

Biocontrol potential of Chitinophaga flava HK235 producing antifungal-related peptide chitinocin

Botrytis cinerea is a necrotrophic fungal pathogen with an extremely broad host range, causing significant economic losses in agricultural production. In this study, we discovered a culture filtrate of bacterial strain HK235, which was identified as Chitinophaga flava, exhibiting high levels of antifungal activity against B. cinerea. From the HK235 culture filtrate, we isolated a new antimicrobial peptide molecule designated as chitinocin based on activity-guided fractionation followed by characterization of the amino acid composition and spectroscopic analyses. The HK235 culture filtrate and chitinocin completely inhibited both conidial germination and mycelial growth of B. cinerea at a concentration of 20% and 200 μg/mL, respectively. In addition to antibiosis against B. cinerea, the active compound chitinocin had a broad antifungal and antibacterial activity in vitro. When tomato plants were treated with the culture filtrate and chitinocin, the treatment strongly reduced the development of gray mold disease in a concentration-dependent manner compared to the untreated control. Here, considering the potent antifungal property in vitro and in vivo, we present the biocontrol potential of C. flava HK235 for the first time

Ugly or Pretty: The Effects of Aesthetics and Exercise Involvement on Consumers’ Evaluations of Healthy Functional Foods

PURPOSE This study explores the impact of visual shape and exercise involvement on consumers' evaluation and happiness with healthy functional foods, specifically protein cookies. METHODS Using a one-factor design with two levels (pretty vs. ugly shape) and one measured variable (exercise involvement), we uncover interesting insights. RESULTS Consumers highly engaged in exercise show a greater purchase intention for ugly-shaped healthy functional foods compared to pretty-shaped ones. Conversely, consumers with low exercise involvement express a higher purchase intention and happiness when it comes to pretty-shaped healthy functional foods compared to their ugly counterparts. CONCLUSIONS These findings contribute to the sports management and sports science literature by shedding light on how visual shape influences the evaluation of healthy functional foods by sport consumers. Furthermore, this research offers valuable practical implications for designing the shape of such foods to cater to the preferences of sports enthusiasts

Prefrontal functional connectivity analysis of cognitive decline for early diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study

Cognitive decline (CD) is a major symptom of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Patients with MCI have an increased likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although a cure for AD is currently lacking, medication therapies and/or daily training in the early stage can alleviate disease progression and improve patients' quality of life. Accordingly, investigating CD-related biomarkers via brain imaging devices is crucial for early diagnosis. In particular, “portable” brain imaging devices enable frequent diagnostic checks as a routine clinical tool, and therefore increase the possibility of early AD diagnosis. This study aimed to comprehensively investigate functional connectivity (FC) in the prefrontal cortex measured by a portable functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) device during a working memory (WM) task known as the delayed matching to sample (DMTS) task. Differences in prefrontal FC between healthy control (HC) (n = 23) and CD groups (n = 23) were examined. Intra-group analysis (one-sample t-test) revealed significantly greater prefrontal FC, especially left- and inter-hemispheric FC, in the CD group than in the HC. These observations could be due to a compensatory mechanism of the prefrontal cortex caused by hippocampal degeneration. Inter-group analysis (unpaired two-sample t-test) revealed significant intergroup differences in left- and inter-hemispheric FC. These attributes may serve as a novel biomarker for early detection of MCI. In addition, our findings imply that portable fNIRS devices covering the prefrontal cortex may be useful for early diagnosis of MCI. © 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement1

Refined prefrontal working memory network as a neuromarker for Alzheimer’s disease

Detecting Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an important step in preventing pathological brain damage. Working memory (WM)-related network modulation can be a pathological feature of AD, but is usually modulated by untargeted cognitive processes and individual variance, resulting in the concealment of this key information. Therefore, in this study, we comprehensively investigated a new neuromarker, named “refined network,” in a prefrontal cortex (PFC) that revealed the pathological features of AD. A refined network was acquired by removing unnecessary variance from the WM-related network. By using a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) device, we evaluated the reliability of the refined network, which was identified from the three groups classified by AD progression: healthy people (N=31), mild cognitive impairment (N=11), and patients with AD (N=18). As a result, we identified edges with significant correlations between cognitive functions and groups in the dorsolateral PFC. Moreover, the refined network achieved a significantly correlating metric with neuropsychological test scores, and a remarkable three-class classification accuracy (95.0%). These results implicate the refined PFC WM-related network as a powerful neuromarker for AD screening. © 2021 Optical Society of America1

Anterior limb of the internal capsule tractography: relationship with capsulotomy outcomes in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Funder: Guangci Professorship ProgramOBJECTIVES: Surgical procedures targeting the anterior limb of the internal capsule (aLIC) can be effective in patients with selected treatment-refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The aLIC consists of white-matter tracts connecting cortical and subcortical structures and show a topographical organisation. Here we assess how aLIC streamlines are affected in OCD compared with healthy controls (HCs) and which streamlines are related with post-capsulotomy improvement. METHODS: Diffusion-weighted MRI was used to compare white-matter microstructure via the aLIC between patients with OCD (n=100, 40 women, mean of age 31.8 years) and HCs (n=88, 39 women, mean of age 29.6 years). For each individual, the fractional anisotropy (FA) and streamline counts were calculated for each white-matter fibre bundle connecting a functionally defined prefrontal and subcortical region. Correlations between tractography measures and pre-capsulotomy and post-capsulotomy clinical outcomes (in obsessive-compulsive, anxiety and depression scores 6 months after surgery) were assessed in 41 patients with OCD. RESULTS: Hierarchical clustering dendrograms show an aLIC organisation clustering lateral and dissociating ventral and dorsal prefrontal-thalamic streamlines, findings highly relevant to surgical targeting. Compared with HCs, patients with OCD had lower aLIC FA across multiple prefrontal cortical-subcortical regions (p<0.0073, false discovery rate-adjusted). Greater streamline counts of the dorsolateral prefrontal-thalamic tracts in patients with OCD predicted greater post-capsulotomy obsessive-compulsive improvement (p=0.016). In contrast, greater counts of the dorsal cingulate-thalamic streamlines predicted surgical outcomes mediated by depressive and anxiety improvements. CONCLUSIONS: These findings shed light on the critical role of the aLIC in OCD and may potentially contribute towards precision targeting to optimise outcomes in OCD

Glypican-1 Modulates CSPG inhibition on Growing Axons

During development, guidance cues mediate axon guidance such that synaptic connections made give rise to a properly functioning central nervous system. Chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) inhibit axon outgrowth by interacting with their transmembrane receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase sigma (RPTPσ). Glypicans (GPCs) also interact with RPTPσ via their heparin sulfate glycosaminoglycans. Due to their GPI-anchor, GPCs are present in the lipid raft region of the membrane. Here it is shown that in retinal explants cultured on CSPGs treated with methyl beta cyclodextrin (MβCD), axon outgrowth is promoted, implying that RPTPσ may be associated with the lipid raft region to mediate the effect of CSPGs. When either exogenous GPCs are added or endogenous GPCs are silenced, there is a significant rescue in axon outgrowth on CSPGs. This suggests that GPCs may play a role in recruiting RPTPσ into the lipid raft region of the membrane to mediate the inhibitory effect of CSPGs.M.Sc

Differences in the involvement of European American parents and Korean immigrant parents in young children’s extracurricular activities

textThis study investigated views, beliefs, and values about extracurricular activities of two sets of parents, Korean immigrant parents and American U.S. born parents, both groups of middle or higher class socioeconomic status with above college degrees. By examining how parents perceive their own involvement in their children’s extracurricular activities and how differently parents of recent immigration from Korea or of established European American descent become involved with their children’s activities, parents’ motivation and their role emerged using self-determination theory as a basis to explain the internalization underlying self-determined motivation. Participants in this study were 31 parents (approximately10 each from 3 activity groups) associated with three extracurricular activities for young children. This study used a mixed-methods approach. First, the degree of to which parents perceived their involvement based on parental support or pressure, the two factors from Anderson et al. (2003), were surveyed. Second, semi-structured face-to-face interviews were used to elicit in-depth information from three parents for each activity, selecting them based on their responses to the survey. The findings suggested that parents expect their children to find their own interest, build competence, and ultimately acquire autonomy by engaging in extracurricular activities. In terms of cultural differences, the results revealed that though there are cultural differences in their involvement, these parents were aware of possible gaps and strove to close these gaps to help their children.Educational Psycholog