Using Crowdsourcing to Examine Relations Between Delay and Probability Discounting

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The original is available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376635712001891Although the extensive lines of research on delay and/or probability discounting have greatly expanded our understanding of human decision-making processes, the relation between these two phenomena remains unclear. For example, some studies have reported robust associations between delay and probability discounting, whereas others have failed to demonstrate a consistent relation between the two. The current study sought to clarify this relation by examining the relation between delay and probability discounting in a large sample of internet users (n= 904) using the Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) crowdsourcing service. Because AMT is a novel data collection platform, the findings were validated through the replication of a number of previously established relations (e.g., relations between delay discounting and cigarette smoking status). A small but highly significant positive correlation between delay and probability discounting rates was obtained, and principal component analysis suggested that two (rather than one) components were preferable to account for the variance in both delay and probability discounting. Taken together, these findings suggest that delay and probability discounting may be related, but are not manifestations of a single component (e.g., impulsivity)

Efficient Human Cytomegalovirus Replication in Primary Endothelial Cells Is SOCS3 Dependent

Background: In immunocompromised patients, human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) proteins are very potent negative regulators of the janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT) pathways. We hypothesized that HCMV exploits SOCS1 and/or SOCS3 to its advantage. Methods: All experiments were carried out with primary human lung-derived microvascular endothelial cells (HMVEC). SOCS1 and SOCS3 were silenced by transfecting the cells with siRNA. HCMV was propagated and titered on human lung-derived fibroblasts MRC5. Real-time PCR and Western blot were used to detect mRNA and protein levels, respectively. Results: The data presented show that an efficient replication of HCMV in HMVEC is dependent on SOCS3 protein. Time course analysis revealed an increase in SOCS3 protein levels in infected cells. Silencing of SOCS3 (siSOCS3) resulted in inhibition of viral immediate early, early, and late antigen production. Consistently, HCMV titers produced by siSOCS3 cultures were significantly decreased when compared to control transfected cultures (siCNTRs). STAT1 and STAT2 phosphorylation was increased in siSOCS3-infected cells when compared to siCNTR-treated cells. Conclusion: These findings indicate the implication of SOCS3 in the mechanism of HCMV-mediated control of cellular immune responses

Elastic scattering and breakup of 17^F at 10 MeV/nucleon

Angular distributions of fluorine and oxygen produced from 170 MeV 17^F incident on 208^Pb were measured. The elastic scattering data are in good agreement with optical model calculations using a double-folding potential and parameters similar to those obtained from 16^O+208^Pb. A large yield of oxygen was observed near \theta_lab=36 deg. It is reproduced fairly well by a calculation of the (17^F,16^O) breakup, which is dominated by one-proton stripping reactions. The discrepancy between our previous coincidence measurement and theoretical predictions was resolved by including core absorption in the present calculation.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Alcohol-induced retrograde facilitation renders witnesses of crime less suggestible to misinformation

RATIONALE: Research has shown that alcohol can have both detrimental and facilitating effects on memory: intoxication can lead to poor memory for information encoded after alcohol consumption (anterograde amnesia) and may improve memory for information encoded before consumption (retrograde facilitation). This study examined whether alcohol consumed after witnessing a crime can render individuals less vulnerable to misleading post-event information (misinformation). METHOD: Participants watched a simulated crime video. Thereafter, one third of participants expected and received alcohol (alcohol group), one third did not expect but received alcohol (reverse placebo), and one third did not expect nor receive alcohol (control). After alcohol consumption, participants were exposed to misinformation embedded in a written narrative about the crime. The following day, participants completed a cued-recall questionnaire about the event. RESULTS: Control participants were more likely to report misinformation compared to the alcohol and reverse placebo group. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that we may oversimplify the effect alcohol has on suggestibility and that sometimes alcohol can have beneficial effects on eyewitness memory by protecting against misleading post-event information

Crossing the Dripline to 11N Using Elastic Resonance Scattering

The level structure of the unbound nucleus 11N has been studied by 10C+p elastic resonance scattering in inverse geometry with the LISE3 spectrometer at GANIL, using a 10C beam with an energy of 9.0 MeV/u. An additional measurement was done at the A1200 spectrometer at MSU. The excitation function above the 10C+p threshold has been determined up to 5 MeV. A potential-model analysis revealed three resonance states at energies 1.27 (+0.18-0.05) MeV (Gamma=1.44 +-0.2 MeV), 2.01(+0.15-0.05) MeV, (Gamma=0.84 +-$0.2 MeV) and 3.75(+-0.05) MeV, (Gamma=0.60 +-0.05 MeV) with the spin-parity assignments I(pi) =1/2+, 1/2- and 5/2+, respectively. Hence, 11N is shown to have a ground state parity inversion completely analogous to its mirror partner, 11Be. A narrow resonance in the excitation function at 4.33 (+-0.05) MeV was also observed and assigned spin-parity 3/2-.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, twocolumn Accepted for publication in PR

New μs isomers in Tz=1 nuclei produced in the 112Sn(63A MeV)+natNi reaction

Expérience GANIL, équipement SISSI/LISE

DNA methylation-based classification of central nervous system tumours.

Accurate pathological diagnosis is crucial for optimal management of patients with cancer. For the approximately 100 known tumour types of the central nervous system, standardization of the diagnostic process has been shown to be particularly challenging-with substantial inter-observer variability in the histopathological diagnosis of many tumour types. Here we present a comprehensive approach for the DNA methylation-based classification of central nervous system tumours across all entities and age groups, and demonstrate its application in a routine diagnostic setting. We show that the availability of this method may have a substantial impact on diagnostic precision compared to standard methods, resulting in a change of diagnosis in up to 12% of prospective cases. For broader accessibility, we have designed a free online classifier tool, the use of which does not require any additional onsite data processing. Our results provide a blueprint for the generation of machine-learning-based tumour classifiers across other cancer entities, with the potential to fundamentally transform tumour pathology

Precision measurement of the electric quadrupole moment of 31Al and determination of the effective proton charge in the sd-shell

he electric quadrupole coupling constant of the 31Al ground state is measured to be nu_Q = |eQV_{zz}/h| = 2196(21)kHz using two different beta-NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) techniques. For the first time, a direct comparison is made between the continuous rf technique and the adiabatic fast passage method. The obtained coupling constants of both methods are in excellent agreement with each other and a precise value for the quadrupole moment of 31Al has been deduced: |Q(31Al)| = 134.0(16) mb. Comparison of this value with large-scale shell-model calculations in the sd and sdpf valence spaces suggests that the 31Al ground state is dominated by normal sd-shell configurations with a possible small contribution of intruder states. The obtained value for |Q(31Al)| and a compilation of measured quadrupole moments of odd-Z even-N isotopes in comparison with shell-model calculations shows that the proton effective charge e_p=1.1 e provides a much better description of the nuclear properties in the sd-shell than the adopted value e_p=1.3 e

High-throughput miRNA profiling of human melanoma blood samples

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>MicroRNA (miRNA) signatures are not only found in cancer tissue but also in blood of cancer patients. Specifically, miRNA detection in blood offers the prospect of a non-invasive analysis tool.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using a microarray based approach we screened almost 900 human miRNAs to detect miRNAs that are deregulated in their expression in blood cells of melanoma patients. We analyzed 55 blood samples, including 20 samples of healthy individuals, 24 samples of melanoma patients as test set, and 11 samples of melanoma patients as independent validation set.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A hypothesis test based approch detected 51 differentially regulated miRNAs, including 21 miRNAs that were downregulated in blood cells of melanoma patients and 30 miRNAs that were upregulated in blood cells of melanoma patients as compared to blood cells of healthy controls. The tets set and the independent validation set of the melanoma samples showed a high correlation of fold changes (0.81). Applying hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis we found that blood samples of melanoma patients and healthy individuals can be well differentiated from each other based on miRNA expression analysis. Using a subset of 16 significant deregulated miRNAs, we were able to reach a classification accuracy of 97.4%, a specificity of 95% and a sensitivity of 98.9% by supervised analysis. MiRNA microarray data were validated by qRT-PCR.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study provides strong evidence for miRNA expression signatures of blood cells as useful biomarkers for melanoma.</p

The area-based social patterning of injuries among 10 to 19 year olds Changes over time in the Stockholm County

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Area-based studies of childhood injuries strongly suggest that neighborhood socio-demographic and economic circumstances impact on various – though not all – types of injuries. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the stability over time of the association between area characteristics and childhood injuries of various causes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Register-based and ecological, the study encompassed Stockholm County's 138 parishes, and considered two time periods (1993–95; 2003–05). Two indices were measured: economic deprivation and social fragmentation, and parishes were allocated to their respective quintile on each index. Data on both unintentional and intentional injuries for children (boys and girls) aged 10–14 and 15–19 respectively were gathered from the County Council's hospital inpatient register. For each period and index, gender, age and cause-specific comparisons were made to assess the rate ratios (with 95% confidence intervals) of being injured using parishes belonging to the best index level as a comparison group. A series of simple and partial Pearson correlations were also calculated to assess the independent contribution of each index.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Regardless of time period, there were rather few significant rate ratios and, when they occurred, there were both under and excess risks. For instance, in each period, boys from both age groups living in parishes with the highest levels of economic deprivation had lower rate of injury as a motor vehicle rider. Most strikingly, intentional injuries were more frequent during the second time period and in considerable excess among girls aged 15–19 from more economically deprived areas. Also, during that last period, none of the injury causes correlated significantly with the index of social fragmentation after adjustment for economic deprivation (partial correlation).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Over a ten-year period, differential economic deprivation among parishes has widened more than social fragmentation in Stockholm County. The correlation between those indices is high in both periods of time whilst the association between the levels of each index and injury rates varies depending on group of injuries or time period considered. It is of concern that intentional injuries have increased numerically and are significantly and positively correlated with economic deprivation (net of social fragmentation), in particular among girls.</p