Metacognitive monitoring and control of eyewitness memory reports in autism

Providing eyewitness testimony involves monitoring one's memory to provide a detailed and accurate account: reporting details likely to be accurate and withholding potentially inaccurate details. Autistic individuals reportedly experience difficulties in both retrieving episodic memories and monitoring their accuracy, which has important implications for eyewitness testimony. Thirty autistic and 33 IQ‐matched typically developing (TD) participants viewed a video of a mock bank robbery followed by three phases of questions (with judgments of confidence). In Phase 1, participants freely generated the granularity of their responses (i.e., fine‐ or coarse‐grained). In Phase 2, participants answered the same questions but provided both a fine‐ and a coarse‐grained answer. In Phase 3, participants were instructed to maximize accuracy over informativeness by selecting one of their Phase 2 answers as their final answer. They either received the questions socially (from the experimenter) or answered them online. There were no group differences in accuracy or metacognitive monitoring, with both autistic and TD witnesses demonstrating: (a) a strong preference for reporting fine‐grained details at the expense of accuracy; (b) improved though still suboptimal grain size reporting when instructed to maximize accuracy over informativeness; (c) effective accuracy monitoring; and (d) higher overall accuracy when questions were delivered socially. There was, however, a subtle difference in metacognitive control, with autistic witnesses performing more poorly than TD witnesses when questions were delivered socially, but not when they were delivered online. These findings contrast with evidence suggesting that autism is marked by impairments in episodic memory and metacognitive monitoring and control

Obtaining and Interpreting Eyewitness Identification Test Evidence: The Influence of Police–Witness Interactions

Eyewitnesses to a crime are frequently asked to view an identification parade to see if they can identify the offender. Conduct of a line-up involves police or line-up administrators in a number of important decisions, such as who to put in the line-up, the method of presentation of the line-up, and what to say to witnesses before and after the line-up. The identification test can be conceptualized as a variant on an interview between the police and the witness, involving important interactions between police (or other line-up administrators) and witnesses. These interactions can profoundly influence witness decisions and impact on the characteristics of any subsequent evidence they provide in the courts. We shall focus on (i) the expectations that police/administrators can engender in witnesses and how these can shape witness behaviour; (ii) the instructions that are provided to witnesses prior to viewing the line-up; (iii) possible ways in which administrators can interact with (and hence influence) witnesses in the conduct of line-ups; (iv) the soliciting of confidence assessments from witnesses; (v) the interpretation of witness confidence assessments; and (vi) the influence of interactions that occur post - identification on witnesses’ subsequent reports about the event and the identification test

The other race effect in perception and recognition: Insights from the complete composite task

This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.People are more accurate at recognizing faces of their own race than faces from other races, a phenomenon known as the other-race effect. Other-race effects have also been reported in some perceptual tasks. Across 3 experiments, White and Chinese participants completed recognition tests as well as the complete paradigm of the composite task, which measures participants’ abilities to selectively attend to the target region of a face while ignoring the task-irrelevant region of the face. Each task was completed with both own- and other-race faces. At a group level, participants showed significant own-race effects in recognition, but not in the composite task. At an individual difference level, the results provided no support for the hypothesis that a deficit in holistic processing for other-race faces drives the other-race effect in recognition. We therefore conclude that the other-race effect in recognition is not driven by the processes that underpin the composite effect.Australian Research Counci

A Gut Feeling: A Hypothesis of the Role of the Microbiome in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurologic disorder characterized by hyperactivity/impulsivity and/or inattentiveness, with genetic and environmental factors contributing to the disorder. With the growing recognition of the microbiome\u27s role in many neurological disorders, the authors propose that it may also be implicated in ADHD. Here, we describe several evolving areas of research to support this hypothesis. First, a unique composition of gut bacteria has been identified and linked to behaviors in ADHD. Second, our research found an increased incidence of 2 gastrointestinal symptoms (constipation and flatulence) in children with ADHD, as compared to controls. Finally, emerging data may be interpreted to suggest that immune dysregulation in ADHD be associated with an altered microbiome, low-grade inflammation, and gastrointestinal dysfunction. Although more studies are needed to elucidate exact mechanisms and causality, we propose that an altered microbiome, gastrointestinal symptoms, and immune dysregulation may be associated with the ADHD phenotypes

Does comorbidity explain the ethnic inequalities in cervical cancer survival in New Zealand? A retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: There are large ethnic differences in cervical cancer survival in New Zealand that are only partly explained by stage at diagnosis. We investigated the association of comorbidity with cervical cancer survival, and whether comorbidity accounted for the previously observed ethnic differences in survival. METHODS: The study involved 1,594 cervical cancer cases registered during 1994-2005. Comorbidity was measured using hospital events data and was classified using the Elixhauser instrument; effects on survival of individual comorbid conditions from the Elixhauser instrument were also assessed. Cox regression was used to estimate adjusted cervical cancer mortality hazard ratios (HRs). RESULTS: Comorbidity during the year before diagnosis was associated with cervical cancer-specific survival: those with an Elixhauser count of ≥3 (compared with a count of zero) had a HR of 2.17 (1.32-3.56). The HR per unit of Elixhauser count was 1.25 (1.11-1.40). However, adjustment for the Elixhauser instrument made no difference to the mortality HRs for Māori and Asian women (compared to 'Other' women), and made only a trivial difference to that for Pacific women. In contrast, concurrent adjustment for 12 individual comorbid conditions from the Elixhauser instrument reduced the Māori HR from 1.56 (1.19-2.05) to 1.44 (1.09-1.89), i.e. a reduction in the excess risk of 21%; and reduced the Pacific HR from 1.95 (1.21-3.13) to 1.62 (0.98-2.68), i.e. a reduction in the excess risk of 35%. CONCLUSIONS: Comorbidity is associated with cervical cancer-specific survival in New Zealand, but accounts for only a moderate proportion of the ethnic differences in survival

Malnutrition in rural Solomon Islands: An analysis of the problem and its drivers

2020 The Authors. Maternal & Child Nutrition published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Solomon Islands, like many Pacific Island nations, suffer from the burden of malnutrition. External drivers including population growth, declining agriculture and fisheries productivity and global food trade have contributed to the transition to greater reliance on imported foods. Globally, diets are recognized as both a cause of and solution to the burden of malnutrition. Using a mixed-method approach this study assessed nutritional status and key determinants of malnutrition among women and young children in rural Solomon Island communities. Quantitative 24-hour recall surveys identified diets of women and young children in these communities to be very limited in diversity. Typical daily diets comprised of fish, sweet potato (and/or rice) and slippery cabbage (a leafy green) usually boiled in coconut milk or baked. Participatory research using problem tree and biocultural approaches identified basic determinants of poor diets and opportunities to address these challenges. We highlight three domains of opportunity to improve diets across multiple scales; 1) improve nutrition-sensitive agriculture and fisheries to produce and distribute diverse, productive and nutrient rich foods; 2) nutrition education and empowerment, focusing on the first 1000 days of life, to influence and inform choices regarding food consumption; and 3) reducing the consumption of imported, energy-rich nutrient poor foods through national and regional policies. These multi-scale domains highlight that food system approaches that strengthen integrated policy and empower people are essential for healthy and sustainable diets in Solomon Islands and more broadly in the Pacific region

Prevalence of HPV infection and other risk factors in a Fijian population.

BACKGROUND: Cancer is among the leading contributors to morbidity and mortality in the Pacific, but the magnitude of the problem and the potential for prevention have not been comprehensively studied. Over the past decade, cervical cancer has been the most common cancer among women in Fiji with an age standardised cervical cancer incidence rate of 51 per 100,000. This rate is among the highest in the South Pacific region and in the world. This high cervical cancer incidence rate is likely linked to the low cervical screening rate, but it points also to the possibility of a high burden of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. METHODS: We conducted a population-based survey in Fiji to provide information on human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence, and the distribution of individual HPV types in a Fijian health-sub-district. We included 1,261 women aged between 16 and 64 years. A general primer GP5+/6+ mediatedpolymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was used for HPV testing of 44 HPV types. RESULTS: The crude HPV prevalence in 1,244 women with an adequate HPV sample was 24.0% (95% confidence interval (CI), 21.7-26.4%) and the corresponding age standardised prevalence was 25.5% (95% CI, 23.1-28.1%). The prevalence of high-risk HPV types was 13.6% (95% CI, 11.8-15.6%). Among 1,192 women with adequate cytological results, 13 (1.1%) showed cervical abnormalities, the majority of which were high-grade intraepithelial lesions or worse. HPV prevalence declined from 35.8% in women aged <25 years to 18.6% in those aged 55-64 years of age. After adjustment, the only variables significantly associated with HPV-positivity were age (ranging from odds ratio (OR) 0.57 (95% CI, 0.36-0.89) for 25-34 year-old-women to OR 0.43 (95% CI, 0.20-0.89) for 55-64 year-old-women) and 'husband's extramarital sexual relationships' (OR 1.69; 95% CI, 1.17-2.34). CONCLUSION: These findings on HPV provide key information for future policy decisions on the most appropriate methods of cervical cancer prevention in Fiji and in the Pacific region

Murine aortic smooth muscle cells acquire, though fail to present exogenous protein antigens on major histocompatibility complex class II molecules

In the present study aortic murine smooth muscle cell (SMC) antigen presentation capacity was evaluated using the Eα-GFP/Y-Ae system to visualize antigen uptake through a GFP tag and tracking of Eα peptide/MHCII presentation using the Y-Ae Ab. Stimulation with IFN-γ (100 ng/mL) for 72 h caused a significant increase in the percentage of MHC class II positive SMCs, compared with unstimulated cells. Treatment with Eα-GFP (100 μg/mL) for 48 h induced a significant increase in the percentage of GFP positive SMCs while it did not affect the percentage of Y-Ae positive cells, being indicative of antigen uptake without its presentation in the context of MHC class II. After IFN-γ-stimulation, ovalbumin- (OVA, 1 mg/mL) or OVA323–339 peptide-(0.5 μg/mL) treated SMCs failed to induce OT-II CD4+ T cell activation/proliferation; this was also accompanied by a lack of expression of key costimulatory molecules (OX40L, CD40, CD70, and CD86) on SMCs. Finally, OVA-treated SMCs failed to induce DO11.10-GFP hybridoma activation, a process independent of costimulation. Our results demonstrate that while murine primary aortic SMCs express MHC class II and can acquire exogenous antigens, they fail to activate T cells through a failure in antigen presentation and a lack of costimulatory molecule expression

To the skin and beyond: the immune response to African trypanosomes as they enter and exit the vertebrate host

African trypanosomes are single-celled extracellular protozoan parasites transmitted by tsetse fly vectors across sub-Saharan Africa, causing serious disease in both humans and animals. Mammalian infections begin when the tsetse fly penetrates the skin in order to take a blood meal, depositing trypanosomes into the dermal layer. Similarly, onward transmission occurs when differentiated and insect pre-adapted forms are ingested by the fly during a blood meal. Between these transmission steps, trypanosomes access the systemic circulation of the vertebrate host via the skin-draining lymph nodes, disseminating into multiple tissues and organs, and establishing chronic, and long-lasting infections. However, most studies of the immunobiology of African trypanosomes have been conducted under experimental conditions that bypass the skin as a route for systemic dissemination (typically via intraperitoneal or intravenous routes). Therefore, the importance of these initial interactions between trypanosomes and the skin at the site of initial infection, and the implications for these processes in infection establishment, have largely been overlooked. Recent studies have also demonstrated active and complex interactions between the mammalian host and trypanosomes in the skin during initial infection and revealed the skin as an overlooked anatomical reservoir for transmission. This highlights the importance of this organ when investigating the biology of trypanosome infections and the associated immune responses at the initial site of infection. Here, we review the mechanisms involved in establishing African trypanosome infections and potential of the skin as a reservoir, the role of innate immune cells in the skin during initial infection, and the subsequent immune interactions as the parasites migrate from the skin. We suggest that a thorough identification of the mechanisms involved in establishing African trypanosome infections in the skin and their progression through the host is essential for the development of novel approaches to interrupt disease transmission and control these important diseases