Confidence in risky value-based choice

Risk engenders a phenomenologically distinct experience from certainty, often driving people to behave in ostensibly irrational ways, and with potential consequences for our subjective sense of confidence in having made the best choice. While previous work on decision confidence has largely focused on ambiguous perceptual decisions or value-based choices under certainty, it is unclear how subjective confidence reports are formed during risky value-based choice (i.e. those with uncertain outcomes). Accordingly, we sought to examine the effect of risky (versus certain) choice upon confidence ratings in a calibrated economic choice task and explore the well-documented interrelationships between confidence and subjective value (SV) as well as choice response time (RT) in the context of value-based choice. By jointly analyzing choices (risky versus certain), SV of the chosen option, confidence, and RT, we found a systematic effect of risk on subjective confidence: subjective confidence reports were significantly higher when selecting a certain prospect compared with a risky one. Interestingly, risk attenuated the strength of the relationships between confidence and both RTs and difference in subjective value (ΔSV), as well as the relationship between RT and ΔSV. Taken together, these results corroborate how choice, RT, confidence and SV relate in value-based choice under risk, informing both theories of confidence and risk preferences

Dengue encephalopathy or encephalitis? You decide

Awareness of neurological sequelae of dengue fever is increasing. However, as this case illustrates, there is a diagnostic conundrum in determining whether certain features are in keeping with dengue encephalopathy, or dengue encephalitis. Further consensus is required

Dark spinor models in gravitation and cosmology

We introduce and carefully define an entire class of field theories based on non-standard spinors. Their dominant interaction is via the gravitational field which makes them naturally dark; we refer to them as Dark Spinors. We provide a critical analysis of previous proposals for dark spinors noting that they violate Lorentz invariance. As a working assumption we restrict our analysis to non-standard spinors which preserve Lorentz invariance, whilst being non-local and explicitly construct such a theory. We construct the complete energy-momentum tensor and derive its components explicitly by assuming a specific projection operator. It is natural to next consider dark spinors in a cosmological setting. We find various interesting solutions where the spinor field leads to slow roll and fast roll de Sitter solutions. We also analyse models where the spinor is coupled conformally to gravity, and consider the perturbations and stability of the spinor.Comment: 43 pages. Several new sections and details added. JHEP in prin

Tissue Localization and Extracellular Matrix Degradation by PI, PII and PIII Snake Venom Metalloproteinases: Clues on the Mechanisms of Venom-Induced Hemorrhage

20 páginas, 4 figuras, 3 tablas y 7 tablas en material suplementario.Snake venom hemorrhagic metalloproteinases (SVMPs) of the PI, PII and PIII classes were compared in terms of tissue localization and their ability to hydrolyze basement membrane components in vivo, as well as by a proteomics analysis of exudates collected in tissue injected with these enzymes. Immunohistochemical analyses of co-localization of these SVMPs with type IV collagen revealed that PII and PIII enzymes co-localized with type IV collagen in capillaries, arterioles and post-capillary venules to a higher extent than PI SVMP, which showed a more widespread distribution in the tissue. The patterns of hydrolysis by these three SVMPs of laminin, type VI collagen and nidogen in vivo greatly differ, whereas the three enzymes showed a similar pattern of degradation of type IV collagen, supporting the concept that hydrolysis of this component is critical for the destabilization of microvessel structure leading to hemorrhage. Proteomic analysis of wound exudate revealed similarities and differences between the action of the three SVMPs. Higher extent of proteolysis was observed for the PI enzyme regarding several extracellular matrix components and fibrinogen, whereas exudates from mice injected with PII and PIII SVMPs had higher amounts of some intracellular proteins. Our results provide novel clues for understanding the mechanisms by which SVMPs induce damage to the microvasculature and generate hemorrhage.This work was performed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD degree for Cristina Herrera at Universidad de Costa Rica.Peer reviewe

A critical look at studies applying over-sampling on the TPEHGDB dataset

Preterm birth is the leading cause of death among young children and has a large prevalence globally. Machine learning models, based on features extracted from clinical sources such as electronic patient files, yield promising results. In this study, we review similar studies that constructed predictive models based on a publicly available dataset, called the Term-Preterm EHG Database (TPEHGDB), which contains electrohysterogram signals on top of clinical data. These studies often report near-perfect prediction results, by applying over-sampling as a means of data augmentation. We reconstruct these results to show that they can only be achieved when data augmentation is applied on the entire dataset prior to partitioning into training and testing set. This results in (i) samples that are highly correlated to data points from the test set are introduced and added to the training set, and (ii) artificial samples that are highly correlated to points from the training set being added to the test set. Many previously reported results therefore carry little meaning in terms of the actual effectiveness of the model in making predictions on unseen data in a real-world setting. After focusing on the danger of applying over-sampling strategies before data partitioning, we present a realistic baseline for the TPEHGDB dataset and show how the predictive performance and clinical use can be improved by incorporating features from electrohysterogram sensors and by applying over-sampling on the training set

Intersectional Cre Driver Lines Generated Using Split-Intein Mediated Split-Cre Reconstitution

Tissue and cell type highly specific Cre drivers are very rare due to the fact that most genes or promoters used to direct Cre expressions are generally expressed in more than one tissues and/or in multiple cell types. We developed a split-intein based split-Cre system for highly efficient Cre-reconstitution through protein splicing. This split-intein-split-Cre system can be used to intersect the expression patterns of two genes or promoters to restrict full-length Cre reconstitution in their overlapping domains. To test this system in vivo, we selected several conserved human enhancers to drive the expression of either Cre-N-intein-N, or intein-C-Cre-C transgene in different brain regions. In all paired CreN/CreC transgenic mice, Cre-dependent reporter was efficiently induced specifically in the intersectional expression domains of two enhancers. This split-intein based method is simpler to implement compared with other strategies for generating highly-restricted intersectional Cre drivers to study complex tissues such as the nervous system

Certified community forests positively impact human wellbeing and conservation effectiveness and improve the performance of nearby national protected areas

Community forests (CFs) aim to improve human wellbeing and conservation effectiveness, though their performance remains contested. A recent innovation in protected area (PA) governance is to combine CFs with forest certification. We assess (1) the impact of certified CFs on wellbeing and conservation effectiveness; (2) gender inequality and elite capture; (3) interaction effects with neighboring national PAs. We used a novel approach that integrates field data consisting of locally identified indicators representative of multidimensional wellbeing, with remotely sensed data on conservation effectiveness and statistical matching to improve causal inference. We found that CFs positively impacted wellbeing, conservation effectiveness, and reduced gender inequality, though they did not reduce elite capture. We also detected positive interaction effects between certified CFs and neighboring national PAs. Our findings suggest that locating contrasting local and national PA governance approaches next to each other may help to maximize wellbeing and conservation benefits within complex multiuse landscapes