TakeCARE, a Video to Promote Bystander Behavior on College Campuses: Replication and Extension

Previous research has demonstrated that college students who view TakeCARE, a video bystander program designed to encourage students to take action to prevent sexual and relationship violence (i.e., bystander behavior), display more bystander behavior relative to students who view a control video. The current study aimed to replicate and extend these findings by testing two different methods of administering TakeCARE and examining moderators of TakeCARE’s effects on bystander behavior. Students at four universities (n = 557) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) view TakeCARE in a monitored computer lab, (b) view TakeCARE at their own convenience after receiving an email link to the video, or (c) view a video about study skills (control group). Participants completed measures of bystander behavior at baseline and at a 1-month follow-up. Participants in both TakeCARE conditions reported more bystander behavior at follow-up assessments, compared with participants in the control condition. The beneficial effect of TakeCARE did not differ significantly across administration methods. However, the effects of TakeCARE on bystander behavior were moderated by students’ perceptions of campus responsiveness to sexual violence, with more potent effects when students perceived their institution as responsive to reports of sexual violence

Five Negative Symptom Domains Are Differentially Associated With Resting State Amplitude of Low Frequency Fluctuations in Schizophrenia

This study examined associations between resting-state amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and negative symptoms represented by total scores, second-order dimension (motivation and pleasure, expressivity), and first-order domain (anhedonia, avolition, asociality, alogia, blunted affect) factor scores in schizophrenia (n = 57). Total negative symptom scores showed positive associations with ALFF in temporal and frontal brain regions. Negative symptom domain scores showed predominantly stronger associations with regional ALFF compared to total scores, suggesting domain scores may better map to neural signatures than total scores. Improving our understanding of the neuropathology underlying negative symptoms may aid in addressing this unmet therapeutic need in schizophrenia

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PLASMA HOMOCYSTEINE, VITAMIN STATUS, AND EXTRACRANIAL CAROTID-ARTERY STENOSIS IN THE FRAMINGHAM STUDY POPULATION

Recent epidemiologic studies suggest that elevated homocysteine concentrations in plasma represent a risk factor for vascular disease and stroke. In the present study, we analyzed plasma samples from the 20th biannual examination of the Framingham Heart Study cohort to determine distribution of plasma homocysteine concentrations, with emphasis on relationships to vitamins that are involved in homocysteine metabolism and prevalence of carotid artery stenosis. Results showed that homocysteine was positively correlated with age. After controlling for age and sex, homocysteine exhibited strong inverse correlation with plasma folate, and weaker correlations with plasma vitamin B12 and pyridoxal- 5\u27 -phosphate. Homocysteine was also inversely correlated with intakes of folate and vitamin B6, but not vitamin Bl2 • Prevalence of high homocysteine (\u3e14 μmol/L) was 29.3% in this cohort, and inadequate plasma concentrations of one or more B vitamins appeared to contribute to 67% of the cases of high homocysteine. After adjustment for sex, age, HDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, and cigarette smoking, the prevalence of carotidartery stenosis ≥25% was 43% in men and 34% in women with an odds ratio of 2.0 for individuals in the highest homocysteine quartile, compared with those in the lowest quartile (p \u3c 0.001). Plasma concentrations of folate and pyridoxal-5\u27-phosphate and folate intake were inversely associated with extracranial carotid stenosis after adjustment for age, sex, and other risk factors. These data indicate that hyperhomocysteinemia is prevalent (30%) in this aged population, and that it is associated with increased risk of extracranial carotid-artery stenosis. Insufficient levels of folate, and, to a lesser extent, vitamin B6, appear to predict part of this elevated risk through their role in homocysteine metabolism