Comment on "Are periodic solar wind number density structures formed in the solar corona?" by N. M. Viall et al., 2009, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L23102, doi:10.1029/2009GL041191

Location of formation of periodic solar wind number density structures is discussed. Observation of proton and alpha anticorrelation in these structures [Viall et al., 2009] indicates that taking into account that bulk velocity of aplha-particles is higher than that of proton the place of formation for these structures should be located at distance less 0.002 AU from place of observation.Comment: 6 pages, submitted in GR

Work-related psychological health among clergywomen in Australia

Drawing on the classic model of balanced affect, the Francis Burnout Inventory conceptualises good work-related psychological health among clergy in terms of negative affect being balanced by positive affect. This paper sets out to explore the relationship between work-related psychological health and psychological type (as assessed by the Francis Psychological-Type Scales) among a sample of 212 Australian clergywomen who completed the National Church Life Survey Form L in 2006. The data supported the internal consistency reliability of the Francis Burnout Inventory and Francis Psychological-Type Scales and found that work-related psychological health was positively related to extraversion and sensing

Thalamic inputs to dorsomedial striatum are involved in inhibitory control: evidence from the five-choice serial reaction time task in rats

Rationale Corticostriatal circuits are widely implicated in the top-down control of attention including inhibitory control and behavioural flexibility. However, recent neurophysiological evidence also suggests a role for thalamic inputs to striatum in behaviours related to salient, reward-paired cues. Objectives Here, we used designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) to investigate the role of parafascicular (Pf) thalamic inputs to the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) using the five-choice serial reaction time task (5CSRTT) in rats. Methods The 5CSRTT requires sustained attention in order to detect spatially and temporally distributed visual cues and provides measures of inhibitory control related to impulsivity (premature responses) and compulsivity (perseverative responses). Rats underwent bilateral Pf injections of the DREADD vector, AAV2-CaMKIIa-HA-hM4D(Gi)-IRES-mCitrine. The DREADD agonist, clozapine N-oxide (CNO; 1 μl bilateral; 3 μM) or vehicle, was injected into DMS 1 h before behavioural testing. Task parameters were manipulated to increase attention load or reduce stimulus predictability respectively. Results We found that inhibition of the Pf-DMS projection significantly increased perseverative responses when stimulus predictability was reduced but had no effect on premature responses or response accuracy, even under increased attentional load. Control experiments showed no effects on locomotor activity in an open field. Conclusions These results complement previous lesion work in which the DMS and orbitofrontal cortex were similarly implicated in perseverative responses and suggest a specific role for thalamostriatal inputs in inhibitory control

Impaired decisional impulsivity in pathological videogamers

Abstract Background Pathological gaming is an emerging and poorly understood problem. Impulsivity is commonly impaired in disorders of behavioural and substance addiction, hence we sought to systematically investigate the different subtypes of decisional and motor impulsivity in a well-defined pathological gaming cohort. Methods Fifty-two pathological gaming subjects and age-, gender- and IQ-matched healthy volunteers were tested on decisional impulsivity (Information Sampling Task testing reflection impulsivity and delay discounting questionnaire testing impulsive choice), and motor impulsivity (Stop Signal Task testing motor response inhibition, and the premature responding task). We used stringent diagnostic criteria highlighting functional impairment. Results In the Information Sampling Task, pathological gaming participants sampled less evidence prior to making a decision and scored fewer points compared with healthy volunteers. Gaming severity was also negatively correlated with evidence gathered and positively correlated with sampling error and points acquired. In the delay discounting task, pathological gamers made more impulsive choices, preferring smaller immediate over larger delayed rewards. Pathological gamers made more premature responses related to comorbid nicotine use. Greater number of hours played also correlated with a Motivational Index. Greater frequency of role playing games was associated with impaired motor response inhibition and strategy games with faster Go reaction time. Conclusions We show that pathological gaming is associated with impaired decisional impulsivity with negative consequences in task performance. Decisional impulsivity may be a potential target in therapeutic management

Placental syncytiotrophoblast constitutes a major barrier to vertical transmission of Listeria monocytogenes.

Listeria monocytogenes is an important cause of maternal-fetal infections and serves as a model organism to study these important but poorly understood events. L. monocytogenes can infect non-phagocytic cells by two means: direct invasion and cell-to-cell spread. The relative contribution of each method to placental infection is controversial, as is the anatomical site of invasion. Here, we report for the first time the use of first trimester placental organ cultures to quantitatively analyze L. monocytogenes infection of the human placenta. Contrary to previous reports, we found that the syncytiotrophoblast, which constitutes most of the placental surface and is bathed in maternal blood, was highly resistant to L. monocytogenes infection by either internalin-mediated invasion or cell-to-cell spread. Instead, extravillous cytotrophoblasts-which anchor the placenta in the decidua (uterine lining) and abundantly express E-cadherin-served as the primary portal of entry for L. monocytogenes from both extracellular and intracellular compartments. Subsequent bacterial dissemination to the villous stroma, where fetal capillaries are found, was hampered by further cellular and histological barriers. Our study suggests the placenta has evolved multiple mechanisms to resist pathogen infection, especially from maternal blood. These findings provide a novel explanation why almost all placental pathogens have intracellular life cycles: they may need maternal cells to reach the decidua and infect the placenta

Role of the mesoamygdaloid dopamine projection in emotional learning

Amygdala dopamine is crucially involved in the acquisition of Pavlovian associations, as measured via conditioned approach to the location of the unconditioned stimulus (US). However, learning begins before skeletomotor output, so this study assessed whether amygdala dopamine is also involved in earlier 'emotional' learning. A variant of the conditioned reinforcement (CR) procedure was validated where training was restricted to curtail the development of selective conditioned approach to the US location, and effects of amygdala dopamine manipulations before training or later CR testing assessed. Experiment 1a presented a light paired (CS+ group) or unpaired (CS- group) with a US. There were 1, 2 or 10 sessions, 4 trials per session. Then, the US was removed, and two novel levers presented. One lever (CR+) presented the light, and lever pressing was recorded. Experiment 1b also included a tone stimulus. Experiment 2 applied intra-amygdala R(+) 7-OH-DPAT (10 nmol/1.0 A mu l/side) before two training sessions (Experiment 2a) or a CR session (Experiment 2b). For Experiments 1a and 1b, the CS+ group preferred the CR+ lever across all sessions. Conditioned alcove approach during 1 or 2 training sessions or associated CR tests was low and nonspecific. In Experiment 2a, R(+) 7-OH-DPAT before training greatly diminished lever pressing during a subsequent CR test, preferentially on the CR+ lever. For Experiment 2b, R(+) 7-OH-DPAT infusions before the CR test also reduced lever pressing. Manipulations of amygdala dopamine impact the earliest stage of learning in which emotional reactions may be most prevalent

Happiness matters : exploring the linkages between personality, personal happiness, and work-related psychological health among priests and sisters in Italy

This study responds to the challenge posed by Rossetti’s work to explore the antecedents and consequences of individual differences in happiness among priests and religious sisters. The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire was completed together with measures of personality and work-related psychological health by 95 priests and 61 religious sisters. Overall the data demonstrated high levels of personal happiness among priests and religious sisters, but also significant signs of vulnerability. Personality provided significant prediction of individual differences in both personal happiness and work-related psychological health. However, personal happiness provided additional protection against work-related emotional exhaustion and additional enhancement of work-related satisfaction. These findings suggest that acknowledging and affirming personal happiness may enhance the work-related psychological health of Catholic priests and religious sisters

Presenting the Uncertainties of Odds Ratios Using Empirical-Bayes Prediction Intervals

Quantifying exposure-disease associations is a central issue in epidemiology. Researchers of a study often present an odds ratio (or a logarithm of odds ratio, logOR) estimate together with its confidence interval (CI), for each exposure they examined. Here the authors advocate using the empirical-Bayes-based ‘prediction intervals’ (PIs) to bound the uncertainty of logORs. The PI approach is applicable to a panel of factors believed to be exchangeable (no extra information, other than the data itself, is available to distinguish some logORs from the others). The authors demonstrate its use in a genetic epidemiological study on age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The proposed PIs can enjoy straightforward probabilistic interpretations—a 95% PI has a probability of 0.95 to encompass the true value, and the expected number of true values that are being encompassed is for a total of 95% PIs. The PI approach is theoretically more efficient (producing shorter intervals) than the traditional CI approach. In the AMD data, the average efficiency gain is 51.2%. The PI approach is advocated to present the uncertainties of many logORs in a study, for its straightforward probabilistic interpretations and higher efficiency while maintaining the nominal coverage probability

Plasminogen binding and activation at the breast cancer cell surface: the integral role of urokinase activity

INTRODUCTION: The regulation of extracellular proteolytic activity via the plasminogen activation system is complex, involving numerous activators, inhibitors, and receptors. Previous studies on monocytic and colon cell lines suggest that plasmin pre-treatment can increase plasminogen binding, allowing the active enzyme to generate binding sites for its precursor. Other studies have shown the importance of pre-formed receptors such as annexin II heterotetramer. However, few studies have used techniques that exclusively characterise cell-surface events and these mechanisms have not been investigated at the breast cancer cell surface. METHODS: We have studied plasminogen binding to MCF-7 in which urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) levels were upregulated by PMA (12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate) stimulation, allowing flexible and transient modulation of cell-surface uPA. Similar experiments were also performed using MDA-MB-231 cells, which overexpress uPAR/uPA endogenously. Using techniques that preserve cell integrity, we characterise the role of uPA as both a plasminogen receptor and activator and quantify the relative contribution of pre-formed and cryptic plasminogen receptors to plasminogen binding. RESULTS: Cell-surface plasminogen binding was significantly enhanced in the presence of elevated levels of uPA in an activity-dependent manner and was greatly attenuated in the presence of the plasmin inhibitor aprotinin. Pre-formed receptors were also found to contribute to increased plasminogen binding after PMA stimulation and to co-localise with uPA/uPAR and plasminogen. Nevertheless, a relatively modest increase in plasminogen-binding capacity coupled with an increase in uPA led to a dramatic increase in the proteolytic capacity of these cells. CONCLUSION: We show that the majority of lysine-dependent plasminogen binding to breast cancer cells is ultimately regulated by plasmin activity and is dependent on the presence of significant levels of active uPA. The existence of a proteolytic positive feedback loop in plasminogen activation has profound implications for the ability of breast cancer cells expressing high amounts of uPA to accumulate a large proteolytic capacity at the cell surface, thereby conferring invasive potential

Antenatal glucocorticoid treatment induces adaptations in adult midbrain dopamine neurons, which underpin sexually dimorphic behavioral resilience

We demonstrated previously that antenatal glucocorticoid treatment (AGT, gestational days 16-19) altered the size and organization of the adult rat midbrain dopaminergic (DA) populations. Here we investigated the consequences of these AGT-induced cytoarchitectural disturbances on indices of DA function in adult rats. We show that in adulthood, enrichment of striatal DA fiber density paralleled AGT-induced increases in the numbers of midbrain DA neurons, which retained normal basal electrophysiological properties. This was co-incident with changes in (i) striatal D2-type receptor levels (increased, both sexes); (ii) D1-type receptor levels (males decreased; females increased); (iii) DA transporter levels (males increased; females decreased) in striatal regions; and (iv) amphetamine-induced mesolimbic DA release (males increased; females decreased). However, despite these profound, sexually dimorphic changes in markers of DA neurotransmission, in-utero glucocorticoid overexposure had a modest or no effect on a range of conditioned and unconditioned appetitive behaviors known to depend on mesolimbic DA activity. These findings provide empirical evidence for enduring AGT-induced adaptive mechanisms within the midbrain DA circuitry, which preserve some, but not all, functions, thereby casting further light on the vulnerability of these systems to environmental perturbations. Furthermore, they demonstrate these effects are achieved by different, often opponent, adaptive mechanisms in males and females, with translational implications for sex biases commonly found in midbrain DA-associated disorders