Substructure analysis techniques and automation

A basic automated substructure analysis capability for NASTRAN is presented which eliminates most of the logistical data handling and generation chores that are currently associated with the method. Rigid formats are proposed which will accomplish this using three new modules, all of which can be added to level 16 with a relatively small effort

Empathy and stress related neural responses in maternal decision making

Mothers need to make caregiving decisions to meet the needs of children, which may or may not result in positive child feedback. Variations in caregivers' emotional reactivity to unpleasant child-feedback may be partially explained by their dispositional empathy levels. Furthermore, empathic response to the child's unpleasant feedback likely helps mothers to regulate their own stress. We investigated the relationship between maternal dispositional empathy, stress reactivity, and neural correlates of child feedback to caregiving decisions. In Part 1 of the study, 33 female participants were recruited to undergo a lab-based mild stressor, the Social Evaluation Test (SET), and then in Part 2 of the study, a subset of the participants, 14 mothers, performed a Parenting Decision Making Task (PDMT) in an fMRI setting. Four dimensions of dispositional empathy based on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index were measured in all participants-Personal Distress, Empathic Concern, Perspective Taking, and Fantasy. Overall, we found that the Personal Distress and Perspective Taking were associated with greater and lesser cortisol reactivity, respectively. The four types of empathy were distinctly associated with the negative (vs. positive) child feedback activation in the brain. Personal Distress was associated with amygdala and hypothalamus activation, Empathic Concern with the left ventral striatum, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), and supplemental motor area (SMA) activation, and Fantasy with the septal area, right SMA and VLPFC activation. Interestingly, hypothalamus-septal coupling during the negative feedback condition was associated with less PDMT-related cortisol reactivity. The roles of distinct forms of dispositional empathy in neural and stress responses are discussed

Toward a neuroscience of interactive parent–infant dyad empathy

In accord with social neuroscience's progression to include interactive experimental paradigms, parents' brains have been activated by emotionally charged infant stimuli - especially of their own infant - including baby cry and picture. More recent research includes the use of brief video clips and opportunities for maternal response. Among brain systems important to parenting are those involved in empathy. This research may inform recent studies of decreased societal empathy, offer mechanisms and solutions

Estimativa da temperatura e da umidade relativa do ar de Ivinhema com base em dados meteorológicos de Dourados.

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Parenting and Beyond: Common Neurocircuits Underlying Parental and Altruistic Caregiving

Interpersonal relationships constitute the foundation on which human society is based. The infant–caregiver bond is the earliest and most influential of these relationships. Driven by evolutionary pressure for survival, parents feel compelled to provide care to their biological offspring. However, compassion for non-kin is also ubiquitous in human societies, motivating individuals to suppress their own self-interests to promote the well-being of non-kin members of the society. We argue that the process of early kinship-selective parental care provides the foundation for non-exclusive altruism via the activation of a general Caregiving System that regulates compassion in any of its forms. We propose a tripartite structure of this system that includes (1) the perception of need in another, (2) a caring motivational or feeling state, and (3) the delivery of a helping response to the individual in need. Findings from human and animal research point to specific neurobiological mechanisms including activation of the insula and the secretion of oxytocin that support the adaptive functioning of this Caregiving System

Imagination and narrative : young people's experiences

Imagery generation in dramatized audio drama is still poorly understood with the majority of work having been done from a radio advertising perspective. This study sought to understand audio drama imagery generation by using teenage listeners. The study demonstrated that teenagers can follow purely auditory narrative with ease and can generate unique and vivid imagery through aural dramatic stimulation. The study also showed that listening in the dark and as a group are appealing for audiences

Effects of self-transcendence on neural responses to persuasive messages and health behavior change

Self-transcendence refers to a shift in mindset from focusing on self-interests to the well-being of others. We offer an integrative neural model of self-transcendence in the context of persuasive messaging by examining the mechanisms of self-transcendence in promoting receptivity to health messages and behavior change. Specifically, we posited that focusing on values and activities that transcend the self can allow people to see that their self-worth is not tied to a specific behavior in question, and in turn become more receptive to subsequent, otherwise threatening health information. To test whether inducing self-transcendent mindsets before message delivery would help overcome defensiveness and increase receptivity, we used two priming tasks, affirmation and compassion, to elicit a transcendent mindset among 220 sedentary adults. As preregistered, those who completed a self-transcendence task before health message exposure, compared with controls, showed greater increases in objectively logged levels of physical activity throughout the following month. In the brain, self-transcendence tasks up-regulated activity in a region of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, chosen for its role in positive valuation and reward processing. During subsequent health message exposure, self-transcendence priming was associated with increased activity in subregions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, implicated in self-related processing and positive valuation, which predicted later decreases in sedentary behavior. The present findings suggest that having a positive self-transcendent mindset can increase behavior change, in part by increasing neural receptivity to health messaging

The brazilian Amaryllidaceae as a source of acetylcholinesterase inhibitory alkaloids

Nine Brazilian Amaryllidaceae species were studied for their alkaloid composition and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity via GC-MS and a modified Ellman assay, respectively. A total of thirty-six alkaloids were identified in these plants, of which Hippeastrum papilio and H. glau-cescens exhibited the highest galanthamine content and the best IC50 values against AChE. Furthermore, Hippeastrum vittatum and Rhodophiala bifida also showed notable AChE inhibitory effects. X-ray crys-tallographic data for four galanthamine-type com-pounds revealed significant differences in the orientation of theN-methyl group, which are shown to be related to AChE inhibition

Open reduction and internal fixation compared to closed reduction and external fixation in distal radial fractures: A randomized study of 50 patients

Background and purpose In unstable distal radial fractures that are impossible to reduce or to maintain in reduced position, the treatment of choice is operation. The type of operation and the choice of implant, however, is a matter of discussion. Our aim was to investigate whether open reduction and internal fixation would produce a better result than traditional external fixation

Measurement of the W boson mass

We present a measurement of the W boson mass in W -> ev decays using 1 fb^-1 of data collected with the D0 detector during Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron collider. With a sample of 499830 W -> ev candidate events, we measure M_W = 80.401 +- 0.043 GeV. This is the most precise measurement from a single experiment.Comment: As published in PR