Troublesome Reflection: Racism as the Blind Spot in the Scientific Critique of Race

Review of A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History, by Nicholas Wade. New York: Penguin Press, 2013. x + 278 pp. 978-1-5942-0446-3 (hardcover). US $27.95

Letter from Broeckel, et al., Supporting Mason Bill, April 16, 1953

This handwritten letter, dated April 16, 1953 from Daphne Broeckel and others to United States (US) Representative Usher L. Burdick, expresses the authors\u27 support for the so-called Mason Bill, which would repeal a 20% federal admission tax on movie theater tickets.https://commons.und.edu/burdick-papers/1441/thumbnail.jp

Operational reliability assessment of the GEOS A spacecraft

Decision theory application to GEOS A spacecraft operational reliability assessmen

Correction to: The hidden therapist: evidence for a central role of music in psychedelic therapy.

The article The hidden therapist: evidence for a central role of music in psychedelic therapy, written by Mendel Kaelen, Bruna Giribaldi, Jordan Raine, Lisa Evans, Christopher Timmerman, Natalie Rodriguez, Leor Roseman, Amanda Feilding, David Nutt, Robin Carhart-Harris, was originally published electronically on the publisher's internet portal

The role of unawareness on functional status in mild Alzheimer’s dementia

Alzheimer‟s dementia (AD) is characterized by a progressive decline in memory in addition to decline in at least one other cognitive domain. Integral to the diagnosis is a simultaneous decline in functional abilities such as driving skills, and often an unawareness of this decline. Individuals who are unaware of deficits are often unable to accept the help that they need in completing functional tasks and may put themselves in dangerous situations. For example, individuals with an unawareness of their own deficits may prolong driving cessation. Cognitive status explains some, but not all, of the variability in functional abilities. This study examined the relationship between cognition, unawareness, and functional ability in individuals with mild AD as well as in healthy older adults. Understanding this relationship in healthy older adults will help to establish a baseline prior to disease onset. This baseline is not well understood thereby potentially compromising the safety of even healthy older adults. For example, current driving laws with older adults rely on the assumption that individuals will be able to regulate their driving behaviors as they become aware of age-related changes. This study used a virtual reality driving simulator (VRDS) to assess driving performance in healthy controls with exploratory analyses conducted on individuals with mild AD. Awareness was measured by participant-reliable informant discrepancy scores on the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) Questionnaire, as well as discrepancy scores between the participant‟s perception of performance on the VRDS versus actual performance. Results with healthy controls established no relationship between functional ability and awareness when holding performance on cognitive testing constant. Instead, a relationship was found between functional ability, as measured by the IADL questionnaire, and awareness of functional ability in healthy older adults (r= -.747, p<.01). As functional ability decreased, awareness of functioning also decreased suggesting that those individuals with greater functional impairments are less aware of such impairments and therefore pose a safety risk. The MMSE was also linked to functional ability in healthy controls, as measured by the IADL, suggesting a relationship continuum between global cognitive status and functioning in healthy older adults from the community. Additionally, trends in the data for individuals with mild AD suggest a correlation between global cognitive status, as measured by the MMSE, and measures of awareness on both functional measures. Findings suggest that unawareness can lead to increased safety risks in healthy older adults. Measurement tools such as the IADL and MMSE may serve to identify those individuals at risk for both healthy older adults as well as individuals with mild AD.Ph.D., Clinical Psychology -- Drexel University, 201

Characterizing the Evolutionary Path(s) to Early Homo

Numerous studies suggest that the transition from Australopithecus to Homo was characterized by evolutionary innovation, resulting in the emergence and coexistence of a diversity of forms. However, the evolutionary processes necessary to drive such a transition have not been examined. Here, we apply statistical tests developed from quantitative evolutionary theory to assess whether morphological differences among late australopith and early Homo species in Africa have been shaped by natural selection. Where selection is demonstrated, we identify aspects of morphology that were most likely under selective pressure, and determine the nature (type, rate) of that selection. Results demonstrate that selection must be invoked to explain an Au. africanus -- Au. sediba -- Homo transition, while transitions from late australopiths to various early Homo species that exclude Au. sediba can be achieved through drift alone. Rate tests indicate that selection is largely directional, acting to rapidly differentiate these taxa. Reconstructions of patterns of directional selection needed to drive the Au. africanus -- Au. sediba -- Homo transition suggest that selection would have affected all regions of the skull. These results may indicate that an evolutionary path to Homo without Au. sediba is the simpler path and/or provide evidence that this pathway involved more reliance on cultural adaptations to cope with environmental change