Relations between depressed mood and vocal parameters before, during and after sleep deprivation: a circadian rhythm study

The mechanism underlying improvement after total sleep deprivation (TSD) was studied in 14 major depressed patients. The suggestions that (1) circadian processes and/or (2) dimensions of arousal may play a role in the response to TSD were investigated. Diurnal variation of depressed mood and of mood- and arousal-related vocal parameters was studied in relation to the effect of TSD on depressed mood and vocal parameters. During 3 baseline days, during TSD and 2 days after TSD vocal parameters and depressed mood were assessed 6 and 3 times daily respectively. The mean fundamental frequency (frequency of vocal fold vibration, F0) (presumably reflecting aspects of arousal) as well as the range of the F0 (proposed to reflect sadness) showed a clear circadian pattern with a peak at about 4.00 p.m. TSD affected the circadian organization of the mean F0 and advanced the peak of the curve. After one night of subsequent sleep this effect disappeared. In addition, improvement after TSD coincided with an increase of the mean F0. The diurnal variation of mood before TSD predicted the mood response to TSD, whereas diurnal variation of vocal parameters did not. Moreover, circadian changes in vocal parameters were not related to changes in depressed mood. These findings suggest that the diurnal variations in mood and vocal parameters are regulated by different mechanisms. Data support the presumption that circadian as well as arousal processes are involved in the mood response to TSD. Circadian changes in vocal parameters due to TSD are not likely to reflect changes in the biological clock.

The Quest for a General Theory of Leadership

In this compelling book, top scholars from diverse fields describe the progress they have made in developing a general theory of leadership. Led by James MacGregor Burns, Pulitzer Prize winning author of the classic Leadership (1978), they tell the story of this intellectual venture and the conclusions and questions that arose from it.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1009/thumbnail.jp

Bioinspired total synthesis of erectones A and B, and the revised structure of hyperelodione D

Version of record online: March 14, 2022The field of biomimetic synthesis seeks to apply biosynthetic hypotheses to the efficient construction of complex natural products. This approach can also guide the revision of incorrectly assigned structures. Herein, we describe the evolution of a concise total synthesis and structural reassignment of hyperelodione D, a tetracyclic meroterpenoid derived from a Hypericum plant, alongside some biogenetically related natural products, erectones A and B. The key step in the synthesis of hyperelodione D forms six stereocentres and three rings in a bioinspired cascade reaction that features an intermolecular Diels-Alder reaction, an intramolecular Prins reaction and a terminating cycloetherification.Liam J. Franov, Jacob D. Hart, Glenn A. Pullella, Christopher J. Sumby, and Jonathan H. Georg

Defining an epidemiological landscape that connects movement ecology to pathogen transmission and pace-of-life

Pathogen transmission depends on host density, mobility and contact. These components emerge from host and pathogen movements that themselves arise through interactions with the surrounding environment. The environment, the emergent host and pathogen movements, and the subsequent patterns of density, mobility and contact form an ‘epidemiological landscape’ connecting the environment to specific locations where transmissions occur. Conventionally, the epidemiological landscape has been described in terms of the geographical coordinates where hosts or pathogens are located. We advocate for an alternative approach that relates those locations to attributes of the local environment. Environmental descriptions can strengthen epidemiological forecasts by allowing for predictions even when local geographical data are not available. Environmental predictions are more accessible than ever thanks to new tools from movement ecology, and we introduce a ‘movement-pathogen pace of life’ heuristic to help identify aspects of movement that have the most influence on spatial epidemiology. By linking pathogen transmission directly to the environment, the epidemiological landscape offers an efficient path for using environmental information to inform models describing when and where transmission will occur

EC62-219 Nebraska Swine Production Report

This 1962 Nebraska Swine Production Report was developed by the Animal Husbandry Department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Authors from the departments of Animal Husbandry, Agricultural Economics Veterinary Science, Agricultural Engineering contributed to this publication. It covers the following areas: breeding, feeding, economics, disease control, mechanization, housing and equipment

Physics in the Real Universe: Time and Spacetime

The Block Universe idea, representing spacetime as a fixed whole, suggests the flow of time is an illusion: the entire universe just is, with no special meaning attached to the present time. This view is however based on time-reversible microphysical laws and does not represent macro-physical behaviour and the development of emergent complex systems, including life, which do indeed exist in the real universe. When these are taken into account, the unchanging block universe view of spacetime is best replaced by an evolving block universe which extends as time evolves, with the potential of the future continually becoming the certainty of the past. However this time evolution is not related to any preferred surfaces in spacetime; rather it is associated with the evolution of proper time along families of world linesComment: 28 pages, including 9 Figures. Major revision in response to referee comment

Pilot study on university students' opinion about STEM studies at higher education

The percentages of women enrolled in higher education in the STEM sector are significantly lower than those of men. Overall, gender representation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees in Europe is not balanced. The Leaky Pipeline phenomenon, marked by gender stereotypes, makes the latent gender gap a relevant topic of study. Studies exist on academic performance, self-perception, self-efficacy, outcome expectations; however, studying gender stereotypes linked to STEM studies is also essential. It is necessary to know the social and family context in which young people have grown up, as well as their perception of such studies. To study gender stereotypes of university students about STEM studies, a questionnaire has been designed for empirical validation. For the design of the instrument, to be validated, items from other instruments have been taken and adapted to Spanish. After the design of the instrument, an online pilot study has been applied in the University of Salamanca, the University of Valencia and the Polytechnic University of Valencia. A total of 115 people answered the questionnaire. The results of the pilot study reveal that the study sample is not particularly marked by gender stereotypes about gender equality in STEM. Also, the sample is receptive to learning about science and applying it in their lives. On the other hand, the idea that women have to give up their studies and careers to look after their families and children is rejected. The idea that men are more interested in university studies than women is also rejected. At the same time, the sample is aware of the difficulties that women encounter in the STEM sector. Another optimistic point of the results is that there are no alarming data on bad experiences due to gender. In the future, the study will be replicated on a larger scale

Chronic exposure to KATP channel openers results in attenuated glucose sensing in hypothalamic GT1-7 neurons

Individuals with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) are often exposed to recurrent episodes of hypoglycaemia. This reduces hormonal and behavioural responses that normally counteract low glucose in order to maintain glucose homeostasis, with altered responsiveness of glucose sensing hypothalamic neurons implicated. Although the molecular mechanisms are unknown, pharmacological studies implicate hypothalamic ATP-sensitive potassium channel (KATP) activity, with KATP openers (KCOs) amplifying, through cell hyperpolarization, the response to hypoglycaemia. Although initial findings, using acute hypothalamic KCO delivery, in rats were promising, chronic exposure to the KCO NN414 worsened the responses to subsequent hypoglycaemic challenge. To investigate this further we used GT1-7 cells to explore how NN414 affected glucose-sensing behaviour, the metabolic response of cells to hypoglycaemia and KATP activity. GT1-7 cells exposed to 3 or 24 h NN414 exhibited an attenuated hyperpolarization to subsequent hypoglycaemic challenge or NN414, which correlated with diminished KATP activity. The reduced sensitivity to hypoglycaemia was apparent 24 h after NN414 removal, even though intrinsic KATP activity recovered. The NN414-modified glucose responsiveness was not associated with adaptations in glucose uptake, metabolism or oxidation. KATP inactivation by NN414 was prevented by the concurrent presence of tolbutamide, which maintains KATP closure. Single channel recordings indicate that NN414 alters KATP intrinsic gating inducing a stable closed or inactivated state. These data indicate that exposure of hypothalamic glucose sensing cells to chronic NN414 drives a sustained conformational change to KATP, probably by binding to SUR1, that results in loss of channel sensitivity to intrinsic metabolic factors such as MgADP and small molecule agonists.We thank Novo Nordisk for providing NN414. This study was funded by grants from Diabetes UK (to MLJA, RJM) and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (postdoctoral fellowship 3-576-2010 to CB and 1-2008-728 to RJM)

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02