Genetic, environmental and gender influences on attachment disorder behaviours

Background Despite current interest in attachment disorder, there is concern about its discrimination from other disorders and an unproven assumption of an environmental aetiology. Aims To test whether behaviours suggestive of attachment disorder are distinct from other childhood behavioural and emotional problems and are solely environmentally determined. Method In a community sample of 13 472 twins, we carried out factor analysis of questionnaire items encompassing behaviours indicative of attachment disorder, conduct problems, hyperactivity and emotional difficulties. We used behavioural genetic model-fitting analysis to explore the contribution of genes and environment. Results Factor analysis showed clear discrimination between behaviours suggestive of attachment disorder, conduct problems, hyperactivity and emotional problems. Behavioural genetics analysis suggested a strong genetic influence to attachment disorder behaviour, with males showing higher heritability. Conclusions Behaviours suggestive of attachment disorder can be differentiated from common childhood emotional and behavioural problems and appear to be strongly genetically influenced, particularly in boys. INTRODUCTION TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES There have been recent attempts to codify behaviours associated with early neglect and institutionalisation (Chisolm et al, 1995; Zeanah et al, 2004) into a psychiatric category. Both DSM–IV and ICD–10 describe reactive attachment disorder, with two subtypes encompassing inhibited and disinhibited behaviour (World Health Organization, 1992; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Questions remain about the nosology of the syndrome beyond age 5 years (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2005), therefore we simply refer to ‘attachment disorder behaviours’. We seek to extend the extant literature by testing two hypotheses: first, that the two subtypes are distinct from one another and from other common behavioural and emotional problems in young children, and second that these behavioural patterns are environmentally mediated. We capitalise on a twin study, a design that provides particular leverage in testing environmental hypotheses

Modelling systemic racism: mobilising the dynamics of race and games in everyday racism

This article is concerned with attempts to pose videogames as solutions to systemic racism. The mobile app, Everyday Racism, is one such game. Its method is to directly address players as subjects of racism interpellating them as victims of racist language and behaviour within Australian society, implicating the impact of racism on mental health and wellbeing. While the game has politically laudable goals, its effectiveness is undermined by several issues themselves attributable to the dynamics of race and games. This paper will spell out those issues by addressing three separate facets of the game: the problematic relationship between the player and their elected avatar; the pedagogic compromises that are made in modelling racism as a game; finally, the superliminal narrative that attempts to transcend the limited diegetic world of the game

The influence of patellar tendon and muscle-tendon unit stiffness on quadriceps explosive strength in man

What is the central question of this study? \ud Do tendon and/or muscle–tendon unit stiffness influence rate of torque development? What is the main finding and its importance? In our experimental conditions, some measures of relative (to maximal voluntary torque and tissue length) muscle–tendon unit stiffness had small correlations with voluntary/evoked rate of torque development over matching torque increments. However, absolute and relative tendon stiffness were unrelated to voluntary and evoked rate of torque development. Therefore, the muscle aponeurosis but not free tendon influences the relative rate of torque development. Factors other than tissue stiffness more strongly determine the absolute rate of torque development. The influence of musculotendinous tissue stiffness on contractile rate of torque development (RTD) remains opaque. In this study, we examined the relationships between both patellar tendon (PT) and vastus lateralis muscle–tendon unit (MTU) stiffness and the voluntary and evoked knee-extension RTD. Fifty-two healthy untrained men completed duplicate laboratory sessions. Absolute and relative RTD were measured at 50 N m or 25% maximal voluntary torque (MVT) increments from onset and sequentially during explosive voluntary and evoked octet isometric contractions (supramaximal stimulation; eight pulses at 300 Hz). Isometric MVT was also assessed. Patellar tendon and MTU stiffness were derived from simultaneous force and ultrasound recordings of the PT and vastus lateralis aponeurosis during constant RTD ramp contractions. Absolute and relative (to MVT and resting tissue length) stiffness (k) was measured over identical torque increments as RTD. Pearson's correlations tested relationships between stiffness and RTD measurements over matching absolute/relative torque increments. Absolute and relative PT k were unrelated to equivalent voluntary/evoked (r = 0.020–0.255, P = 0.069–0.891). Absolute MTU k was unrelated to voluntary or evoked RTD (r ≤ 0.191, P ≥ 0.184), but some measures of relative MTU k were related to relative voluntary/evoked RTD (e.g. RTD for 25–50% MVT, r = 0.374/0.353, P = 0.007/0.014). In conclusion, relative MTU k explained a small proportion of the variance in relative voluntary and evoked RTD (both ≤19%), despite no association of absolute MTU k or absolute/relative PT k with equivalent RTD measures. Therefore, the muscle-aponeurosis component but not free tendon was associated with relative RTD, although it seems that an overriding influence of MVT negated any relationship of absolute MTU k and absolute RTD

Training-specific functional, neural, and hypertrophic adaptations to explosive- vs. sustained-contraction strength training

Training specificity is considered important for strength training, although the functional and underpinning physiological adaptations to different types of training, including brief explosive contractions, are poorly understood. This study compared the effects of 12 wk of explosive-contraction (ECT, n = 13) vs. sustained-contraction (SCT, n = 16) strength training vs. control (n = 14) on the functional, neural, hypertrophic, and intrinsic contractile characteristics of healthy young men. Training involved 40 isometric knee extension repetitions (3 times/wk): contracting as fast and hard as possible for ∼1 s (ECT) or gradually increasing to 75% of maximum voluntary torque (MVT) before holding for 3 s (SCT). Torque and electromyography during maximum and explosive contractions, torque during evoked octet contractions, and total quadriceps muscle volume (QUADSVOL) were quantified pre and post training. MVT increased more after SCT than ECT [23 vs. 17%; effect size (ES) = 0.69], with similar increases in neural drive, but greater QUADSVOL changes after SCT (8.1 vs. 2.6%; ES = 0.74). ECT improved explosive torque at all time points (17-34%; 0.54 ≤ ES ≤ 0.76) because of increased neural drive (17-28%), whereas only late-phase explosive torque (150 ms, 12%; ES = 1.48) and corresponding neural drive (18%) increased after SCT. Changes in evoked torque indicated slowing of the contractile properties of the muscle-tendon unit after both training interventions. These results showed training-specific functional changes that appeared to be due to distinct neural and hypertrophic adaptations. ECT produced a wider range of functional adaptations than SCT, and given the lesser demands of ECT, this type of training provides a highly efficient means of increasing function

Temperature dependent c-axis hole mobilities in rubrene single crystals determined by time-of-flight

Hole mobilities (μ) in rubrene single crystals (space group Cmca) along the crystallographic c-axis have been investigated as a function of temperature and applied electric field by the time-of-fight method. Measurements demonstrate an inverse power law dependence on temperature, namely,μ=μ0T−n with n = 1.8, from room temperature down to 180 K. At 296 K, the average value of μ was found to be 0.29 cm2/Vs increasing to an average value of 0.70 cm2/Vs at 180 K. Below 180 K a decrease in mobility is observed with further cooling. Overall, these results confirm the anisotropic nature of transport in rubrene crystals as well as the generality of the inverse power law temperature dependence that is observed for field effect mobility measurements in the a-b crystal plane

Tendinous tissue adaptation to explosive- vs. sustained-contraction strength training

© 2018 Massey, Balshaw, Maden-Wilkinson, Tillin and Folland. The effect of different strength training regimes, and in particular training utilizing brief explosive contractions, on tendinous tissue properties is poorly understood. This study compared the efficacy of 12 weeks of knee extensor explosive-contraction (ECT; n = 14) vs. sustained-contraction (SCT; n = 15) strength training vs. a non-training control (n = 13) to induce changes in patellar tendon and knee extensor tendon-aponeurosis stiffness and size (patellar tendon, vastus-lateralis aponeurosis, quadriceps femoris muscle) in healthy young men. Training involved 40 isometric knee extension contractions (three times/week): gradually increasing to 75% of maximum voluntary torque (MVT) before holding for 3 s (SCT), or briefly contracting as fast as possible to ~80% MVT (ECT). Changes in patellar tendon stiffness and Young's modulus, tendon-aponeurosis complex stiffness, as well as quadriceps femoris muscle volume, vastus-lateralis aponeurosis area and patellar tendon cross-sectional area were quantified with ultrasonography, dynamometry, and magnetic resonance imaging. ECT and SCT similarly increased patellar tendon stiffness (20% vs. 16%, both p < 0.05 vs. control) and Young's modulus (22% vs. 16%, both p < 0.05 vs. control). Tendon-aponeurosis complex high-force stiffness increased only after SCT (21%; p < 0.02), while ECT resulted in greater overall elongation of the tendon-aponeurosis complex. Quadriceps muscle volume only increased after sustained-contraction training (8%; p = 0.001), with unclear effects of strength training on aponeurosis area. The changes in patellar tendon cross-sectional area after strength training were not appreciably different to control. Our results suggest brief high force muscle contractions can induce increased free tendon stiffness, though SCT is needed to increase tendon-aponeurosis complex stiffness and muscle hypertrophy

(G)hosting television: Ghostwatch and its medium

This article’s subject is Ghostwatch (BBC, 1992), a drama broadcast on Halloween night of 1992 which adopted the rhetoric of live non-fiction programming, and attracted controversy and ultimately censure from the Broadcasting Standards Council. In what follows, we argue that Ghostwatch must be understood as a televisually-specific artwork and artefact. We discuss the programme’s ludic relationship with some key features of television during what Ellis (2000) has termed its era of ‘availability’, principally liveness, mass simultaneous viewing, and the flow of the television super-text. We trace the programme’s television-specific historicity whilst acknowledging its allusions and debts to other media (most notably film and radio). We explore the sophisticated ways in which Ghostwatch’s visual grammar and vocabulary and deployment of ‘broadcast talk’ (Scannell 1991) variously ape, comment upon and subvert the rhetoric of factual programming, and the ends to which these strategies are put. We hope that these arguments collectively demonstrate the aesthetic and historical significance of Ghostwatch and identify its relationship to its medium and that medium’s history. We offer the programme as an historically-reflexive artefact, and as an exemplary instance of the work of art in television’s age of broadcasting, liveness and co-presence

Proteome-wide Mendelian randomization in global biobank meta-analysis reveals multi-ancestry drug targets for common diseases

Proteome-wide Mendelian randomization (MR) shows value in prioritizing drug targets in Europeans but with limited evidence in other ancestries. Here, we present a multi-ancestry proteome-wide MR analysis based on cross-population data from the Global Biobank Meta-analysis Initiative (GBMI). We estimated the putative causal effects of 1,545 proteins on eight diseases in African (32,658) and European (1,219,993) ancestries and identified 45 and 7 protein-disease pairs with MR and genetic colocalization evidence in the two ancestries, respectively. A multi-ancestry MR comparison identified two protein-disease pairs with MR evidence in both ancestries and seven pairs with specific effects in the two ancestries separately. Integrating these MR signals with clinical trial evidence, we prioritized 16 pairs for investigation in future drug trials. Our results highlight the value of proteome-wide MR in informing the generalizability of drug targets for disease prevention across ancestries and illustrate the value of meta-analysis of biobanks in drug development

ACCESS & LRG-BEASTS: a precise new optical transmission spectrum of the ultrahot Jupiter WASP-103b

We present a new ground-based optical transmission spectrum of the ultrahot Jupiter WASP-103b ($T_{eq} = 2484$K). Our transmission spectrum is the result of combining five new transits from the ACCESS survey and two new transits from the LRG-BEASTS survey with a reanalysis of three archival Gemini/GMOS transits and one VLT/FORS2 transit. Our combined 11-transit transmission spectrum covers a wavelength range of 3900--9450A with a median uncertainty in the transit depth of 148 parts-per-million, which is less than one atmospheric scale height of the planet. In our retrieval analysis of WASP-103b's combined optical and infrared transmission spectrum, we find strong evidence for unocculted bright regions ($4.3\sigma$) and weak evidence for H$_2$O ($1.9\sigma$), HCN ($1.7\sigma$), and TiO ($2.1\sigma$), which could be responsible for WASP-103b's observed temperature inversion. Our optical transmission spectrum shows significant structure that is in excellent agreement with the extensively studied ultrahot Jupiter WASP-121b, for which the presence of VO has been inferred. For WASP-103b, we find that VO can only provide a reasonable fit to the data if its abundance is implausibly high and we do not account for stellar activity. Our results highlight the precision that can be achieved by ground-based observations and the impacts that stellar activity from F-type stars can have on the interpretation of exoplanet transmission spectra.Comment: 33 pages, 17 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for publication in A