Transcultural adaptation of the Emotion Matching Task: an emotion neuropsychological assessment

Emotions play a central role in children’s relationships. Deficits in emotional understanding have been associated with several neuropsychiatric disorders. In Brazil, however, few psychological instruments are available to assess young children’s emotional development. The objective of the present study was to make a transcultural adaptation of the Emotion Matching Task (EMT). The EMT was translated and adapted by a team of bilingual researches and then back-translated to English. The preliminary versions were assessed by EMT’s authors and by Brazilians specialized judges. The final version was applied in a sample of 50 children between three and six years of age and answered by nine judges in three Brazilian states. The results indicate good semantic equivalence and good agreement with the answers provided (κ= 0.88, Z=95.2, p<0.001). The final version of the EMT was considered appropriate and satisfactory

Riding on the Coat-Tails of Traditional Cultural Expressions

Matters related to the protection of traditional cultural expressions (‘TCEs’) or expressions of folklore (‘EoFs’) are sensitive and intricate as a blend of legal, economic, philosophical and anthropological considerations jostle to capture their core features. This results in disparate views surrounding what should qualify as TCEs or EoFs, who should be considered their ‘owner’ (assuming that ownership per se is conceptually compatible with these items), which is the most appropriate legal protection regime and how broad their scope of protection should be. Drawing from these various accounts on TCEs, this article focuses on the interaction between TCEs and EoFs originating on the European continent and the European Union (‘EU’) trade mark legislation. Specifically, this article examines whether the limitations of the effects of trade mark rights and of the absolute grounds of refusal, as developed by the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, are effective in preserving the cohesion of TCEs. This article advances the thesis that registration of TCEs and EoFs as trade marks generates an imbalance between the rights of the trade mark owner and the defences available to others under the EU trade mark law framework. Furthermore, such an imbalance is likely to hinder the unfettered circulation of TCEs and undermine their original meaning. Lastly, in some cases, trade mark registration of TCEs contributes to their appropriation and misappropriation. The article concludes that, de lege ferenda, the direct exclusion of TCEs as eligible subject matter for trade mark registration is preferable to seeking a post factum remedy

Canagliflozin attenuates the progression of atherosclerosis and inflammation process in APOE knockout mice

Background: Sodium glucose co-transporter2 inhibitors reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus based on the results of recent cardiovascular outcome studies. Herein, we investigated the efects of long-term treatment with canaglifozin on biochemical and immunohistochemical markers related to atherosclerosis and atherosclerosis development in the aorta of apolipoprotein E knockout (Apo-E(−/−) ) mice. Methods: At the age of 5 weeks, mice were switched from normal to a high-fat diet. After 5 weeks, Apo-E(−/−) mice were divided into control-group (6 mice) treated with 0.5% hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and Cana-group (7 mice) treated with canaglifozin (10 mg/kg per day) per os. After 5 weeks of intervention, animals were sacrifced, and heart and aorta were removed. Sections stained with hematoxylin–eosin (H&E) were used for histomorphometry whereas Masson’s stained tissues were used to quantify the collagen content. Immunohistochemistry to assess MCP-1, CD68, a-smooth muscle actin, MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 expression was carried out and q-PCR experiments were performed to quantify mRNA expression. Results: Canaglifozin-group mice had lower total-cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose levels (P<0.01), while heart rate was signifcantly lower (P<0.05). Histomorphometry revealed that one in seven Cana-group mice versus four in six control mice developed atheromatosis, while aortic root plaque was signifcantly less, and collagen was 1.6 times more intense in canaglifozin-group suggesting increased plaque stability. Immunohistochemistry revealed that MCP-1 was signifcantly less expressed (P<0.05) in the aortic root of canaglifozin-group while reduced expression of a-actin and CD68 was not reaching signifcance (P=0.15). VCAM-1 and MCP-1 mRNA levels were lower (P=0.02 and P=0.07, respectively), while TIMP-1/MMP-2 ratio expression was higher in canaglifozin-group approaching statistical signifcance (P=0.07). Conclusions: Canaglifozin attenuates the progression of atherosclerosis, reducing (1) hyperlipidemia and hyper‑ glycemia, and (2) infammatory process, by lowering the expression of infammatory molecules such as MCP-1 and VCAM-1. Moreover, canaglifozin was found to increase the atherosclerotic plaque stability via increasing TIMP-1/ MMP-2 ratio expression

Modeling the interactions between river morphodynamics and riparian vegetation

The study of river-riparian vegetation interactions is an important and intriguing research field in geophysics. Vegetation is an active element of the ecological dynamics of a floodplain which interacts with the fluvial processes and affects the flow field, sediment transport, and the morphology of the river. In turn, the river provides water, sediments, nutrients, and seeds to the nearby riparian vegetation, depending on the hydrological, hydraulic, and geomorphological characteristic of the stream. In the past, the study of this complex theme was approached in two different ways. On the one hand, the subject was faced from a mainly qualitative point of view by ecologists and biogeographers. Riparian vegetation dynamics and its spatial patterns have been described and demonstrated in detail, and the key role of several fluvial processes has been shown, but no mathematical models have been proposed. On the other hand, the quantitative approach to fluvial processes, which is typical of engineers, has led to the development of several morphodynamic models. However, the biological aspect has usually been neglected, and vegetation has only been considered as a static element. In recent years, different scientific communities (ranging from ecologists to biogeographers and from geomorphologists to hydrologists and fluvial engineers) have begun to collaborate and have proposed both semiquantitative and quantitative models of river-vegetation interconnections. These models demonstrate the importance of linking fluvial morphodynamics and riparian vegetation dynamics to understand the key processes that regulate a riparian environment in order to foresee the impact of anthropogenic actions and to carefully manage and rehabilitate riparian areas. In the first part of this work, we review the main interactions between rivers and riparian vegetation, and their possible modeling. In the second part, we discuss the semiquantitative and quantitative models which have been proposed to date, considering both multi- and single-thread river

POPULATION DYNAMICS OF SUGAR MAPLE (ACER SACCHARUM MARSH.) AT THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF ITS RANGE: IMPLICATIONS FOR RANGE MIGRATION AND SUCCESSION by CRAIG TURBERVILLE

ABSTRACT Evidence for climate change driven range migration exists for a variety of tree species in eastern North America. Northward range migration for tree species in the region requires a decrease in population density near the southern range boundary coupled with an increase in population density at the northern range boundary. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) is one such species that has been projected by some biogeographic models to shift north in accord with climate. However, a widespread pattern of increased sugar maple density has been reported in the forest science literature from a variety of sites throughout the species&apos; range. This pattern is linked to a complex of interacting factors and has been hypothesized to represent a positive feedback that facilitates sugar maple regeneration. The primary goal of my study was to test which of these hypotheses (range migration or succession) was correct for the southern portion of the sugar maple range. I used Forest Inventory and Analysis program data to compare regionwide population dynamics for this species on a plot-by-plot basis. Changes in frequency, density, and dominance of sugar maple trees and seedlings were compared over multiple years for the states of Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Plot data for all states were combined to determine changes in frequency, density, and dominance for the contiguous and non-contiguous regions of sugar maple&apos;s southern range portion. Results indicated increases in frequency, density, and dominance of sugar maple within its contiguous range coupled with decreases outside of the contiguous range. It is postulated based on these data that sugar maple&apos;s southern range boundary will remain stabilized while the northern boundary will continue to migrate with increasing global temperatures. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Reward-based reinforcement learning is altered among individuals with a history of major depressive disorder and psychomotor retardation symptoms.

Reward-based reinforcement learning impairments are common in major depressive disorder, but it is unclear which aspects of reward-based reinforcement learning are disrupted in remitted major depression (rMDD). Given that the neurobiological substrates that implement reward-based RL are also strongly implicated in psychomotor retardation (PmR), the present study sought to test whether reward-based reinforcement learning is altered in rMDD individuals with a history of PmR. Three groups of individuals (1) rMDD with past PmR (PmR+, N = 34), (2) rMDD without past PmR (PmR-, N = 44), and (3) healthy controls (N = 90) completed a reward-based reinforcement learning task. Computational modeling was applied to test for group differences in model-derived parameters - specifically, learning rates and reward sensitivity. Compared to controls, rMDD PmR + exhibited lower learning rates, but not reduced reward sensitivity. By contrast, rMDD PmR- did not significantly differ from controls on either of the model-derived parameters. Follow-up analyses indicated that the results were not due to current psychopathology symptoms. Results indicate that a history of PmR predicts altered reward-based reinforcement learning in rMDD. Abnormal reward-related reinforcement learning may reflect a scar of past depressive episodes that contained psychomotor symptoms, or a trait-like deficit that preceded these episodes