The discrimination of self from other as a component of empathy.

Despite the centrality of empathy in human social life, there is no widely agreed definition or characterization of the concept of empathy. A common thread in many of the proposed definitions, however, is that empathy presupposes the discrimination of self and other on the grounds that, to empathize with another individual, the mental state of the target individual must first be distinguished from the empathizer's own mental state. The purpose of this study is to investigate this proposal empirically. We employed a paradigm in which participants rated the emotional valence and degree of arousal of 93 facial expressions of mental states. We asked participants to infer the mental state represented by each facial expression (the Other condition) as well as to describe the effect of the expression on their own mental state (the Self condition). An absolute difference score between the Other and the Self conditions was used as an index of a capacity for self-other discrimination. Empathy was measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Results show that individuals high in trait empathy discriminate between self and other to a significantly greater degree when judging mental states than individuals low in trait empathy. This suggests that the capacity for self-other discrimination may be a component of the capacity for empathy and that future investigations of the concept of empathy ought to retain it. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The McGill Face Database: Validation and Insights Into the Recognition of Facial Expressions of Complex Mental States

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada gran

Endothelial Function Assessed by Digital Volume Plethysmography Predicts the Development and Progression of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background Endothelial dysfunction is a consequence of type 2 diabetes mellitus, but it is unclear whether endothelial dysfunction of conductance versus resistance vessels may also precede type 2 diabetes mellitus development. Methods and Results In a population‐based cohort of 15 010 individuals from the GHS (Gutenberg Health Study) (aged 35–74 years at enrollment in 2007–2012), we identified 1610 cases of incident pre–diabetes mellitus and 386 cases of incident type 2 diabetes mellitus by hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and/or medical history between 2012 and 2017. Endothelial function of conductance and resistance vessels was measured by flow‐mediated dilation and digital volume plethysmography–derived reactive hyperemia index, respectively. Multivariable regression modeling was used to estimate β coefficients of HbA1c levels at follow‐up and relative risks of incident (pre–)diabetes mellitus. Reactive hyperemia index was independently associated with HbA1c after multivariable adjustment for baseline HbA1c, sex, age, socioeconomic status, arterial hypertension, waist/height ratio, pack‐years of smoking, non–high‐density lipoprotein/high‐density lipoprotein ratio, physical activity, family history of myocardial infarction/stroke, prevalent cardiovascular disease, medication use, and C‐reactive protein (β=−0.020; P=0.0029). The adjusted relative risk per SD decline in reactive hyperemia index was 1.08 (95% CI, 1.02–1.15; P=0.012) for incident pre–diabetes mellitus and 1.16 (95% CI, 1.01–1.34; P=0.041) for incident type 2 diabetes mellitus. Flow‐mediated dilation independently increased the relative risk for developing pre–diabetes mellitus by 8% (95% CI, 1.02–1.14; P=0.012), but it was not independently associated with incident type 2 diabetes mellitus (relative risk, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.86–1.19; P=0.92) and with HbA1c (β=−0.003; P=0.59). Conclusions Endothelial dysfunction of resistance rather than conductance vessels may precede the development of (pre–)diabetes mellitus. Assessment of endothelial function by digital volume plethysmography may help to identify subjects at risk for development of type 2 diabetes mellitus

The discrimination of self from other as a component of empathy

All data have been made publicly available at the Open Science Framework and can be accessed at https://osf.io/29d6e. This study was not preregistered

Modular and predictable assembly of porous organic molecular crystals

Nanoporous molecular frameworks are important in applications such as separation, storage and catalysis. Empirical rules exist for their assembly but it is still challenging to place and segregate functionality in three-dimensional porous solids in a predictable way. Indeed, recent studies of mixed crystalline frameworks suggest a preference for the statistical distribution of functionalities throughout the pores rather than, for example, the functional group localization found in the reactive sites of enzymes. This is a potential limitation for 'one-pot' chemical syntheses of porous frameworks from simple starting materials. An alternative strategy is to prepare porous solids from synthetically preorganized molecular pores. In principle, functional organic pore modules could be covalently prefabricated and then assembled to produce materials with specific properties. However, this vision of mix-and-match assembly is far from being realized, not least because of the challenge in reliably predicting three-dimensional structures for molecular crystals, which lack the strong directional bonding found in networks. Here we show that highly porous crystalline solids can be produced by mixing different organic cage modules that self-assemble by means of chiral recognition. The structures of the resulting materials can be predicted computationally, allowing in silico materials design strategies. The constituent pore modules are synthesized in high yields on gram scales in a one-step reaction. Assembly of the porous co-crystals is as simple as combining the modules in solution and removing the solvent. In some cases, the chiral recognition between modules can be exploited to produce porous organic nanoparticles. We show that the method is valid for four different cage modules and can in principle be generalized in a computationally predictable manner based on a lock-and-key assembly between modules

Author Correction: Cross-ancestry genome-wide association analysis of corneal thickness strengthens link between complex and Mendelian eye diseases.

Emmanuelle Souzeau, who contributed to analysis of data, was inadvertently omitted from the author list in the originally published version of this Article. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article

Serap

Mehmet Rauf'un Resimli Roman Mecmuası'nda tefrika edilen Serap adlı roman

Trapping virtual pores by crystal retro-engineering

Stable guest-free porous molecular crystals are uncommon. By contrast, organic molecular crystals with guest-occupied cavities are frequently observed, but these cavities tend to be unstable and collapse on removal of the guests—this feature has been referred to as ‘virtual porosity’. Here, we show how we have trapped the virtual porosity in an unstable low-density organic molecular crystal by introducing a second molecule that matches the size and shape of the unstable voids. We call this strategy ‘retro-engineering’ because it parallels organic retrosynthetic analysis, and it allows the metastable two-dimensional hexagonal pore structure in an organic solvate to be trapped in a binary cocrystal. Unlike the crystal with virtual porosity, the cocrystal material remains single crystalline and porous after removal of guests by heating

The relationships between exogenous and endogenous antioxidants with the lipid profile and oxidative damage in hemodialysis patients

Background: We sought to investigate the relationships among the plasma levels of carotenoids, tocopherols, endogenous antioxidants, oxidative damage and lipid profiles and their possible effects on the cardiovascular risk associated with hemodialysis (HD) patients. Methods: The study groups were divided into HD and healthy subjects. Plasma carotenoid, tocopherol and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, as well as erythrocyte reduced glutathione (GSH), were measured by HPLC. Blood antioxidant enzymes, kidney function biomarkers and the lipid profiles were analyzed by spectrophotometric methods. Results: Plasma lycopene levels and blood glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity were significantly decreased in HD patients compared with healthy subjects. Total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), creatinine, urea, MDA, GSH, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were significantly increased in HD (p < 0.05). Lycopene levels were correlated with MDA (r = -0.50; p < 0.01), LDL-c (r = -0.38; p = 0.01) levels, the LDL-c/HDL-c index (r = -0.33; p = 0.03) and GPx activity (r = 0.30; p = 0.03). Regression models showed that lycopene levels were correlated with LDL-c (β estimated = -31.59; p = 0.04), while gender was correlated with the TC/HDL-c index and triglycerides. Age did not present a correlation with the parameters evaluated. GPx activity was negatively correlated with MDA levels and with the LDL-c/HDL-c and CT/HDL-c indexes. Conclusions: Lycopene may represent an additional factor that contributes to reduced lipid peroxidation and atherogenesis in hemodialysis patients