Adolescent Resilience and Self-Esteem in Nicaragua

In the present study, we explored the role of resilience in predicting self-esteem in Nicaraguan adolescents, as well as the impact of poverty on the relationship between self-esteem and resilience for this unique population. Our sample consisted of 1,673 high school students (863 females, 810 males) who completed self-report surveys measuring various aspects of wellbeing, self-esteem, resilience, and general socioeconomic class. For the entire sample, social skills was the strongest predictor of self-esteem (β = .18, p \u3c .001), followed by family (β = .13, p \u3c .001), and belonging (β = .12, p \u3c .001). For those above the poverty line, social skills, family, and belonging still contributed most to self-esteem, however coefficients for each factor were stronger for this subgroup (β = .21, p \u3c .001, β = .18, p \u3c .001, and β = .18, p \u3c .001, respectively). For those self-reported below the poverty line, while social skills (β = .19, p \u3c .001) and belonging (β = .14, p \u3c .001) remained strong predictors of self-esteem, family was not included in the model. This could suggest that adolescents living in poverty are relying more on peer relationships and less on family for self-esteem, as poverty is known to disrupt family cohesiveness (Vázquez et al., 2007). Ultimately, more research is needed to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and resilience for adolescents and families living in Nicaragua

Genome-wide association study identifies 30 Loci Associated with Bipolar Disorder

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) founding member and Bipolar disorder working group co-chair Pamela Sklar. We thank the participants who donated their time, experiences and DNA to this research, and to the clinical and scientific teams that worked with them. We are deeply indebted to the investigators who comprise the PGC. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of any funding or regulatory body. Analyses were carried out on the NL Genetic Cluster Computer (http://www.geneticcluster.org ) hosted by SURFsara, and the Mount Sinai high performance computing cluster (http://hpc.mssm.edu).Bipolar disorder is a highly heritable psychiatric disorder. We performed a genome-wide association study including 20,352 cases and 31,358 controls of European descent, with follow-up analysis of 822 variants with P<1x10-4 in an additional 9,412 cases and 137,760 controls. Eight of the 19 variants that were genome-wide significant (GWS, p < 5x10-8) in the discovery GWAS were not GWS in the combined analysis, consistent with small effect sizes and limited power but also with genetic heterogeneity. In the combined analysis 30 loci were GWS including 20 novel loci. The significant loci contain genes encoding ion channels, neurotransmitter transporters and synaptic components. Pathway analysis revealed nine significantly enriched gene-sets including regulation of insulin secretion and endocannabinoid signaling. BDI is strongly genetically correlated with schizophrenia, driven by psychosis, whereas BDII is more strongly correlated with major depressive disorder. These findings address key clinical questions and provide potential new biological mechanisms for BD.This work was funded in part by the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, Stanley Medical Research Institute, University of Michigan, Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Fund L.L.C., Marriot Foundation and the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine, the NIMH Intramural Research Program; Canadian Institutes of Health Research; the UK Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, NIHR, NRS, MRC, Wellcome Trust; European Research Council; German Ministry for Education and Research, German Research Foundation IZKF of Münster, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, ImmunoSensation, the Dr. Lisa-Oehler Foundation, University of Bonn; the Swiss National Science Foundation; French Foundation FondaMental and ANR; Spanish Ministerio de Economía, CIBERSAM, Industria y Competitividad, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Generalitat de Catalunya, EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme; BBMRI-NL; South-East Norway Regional Health Authority and Mrs. Throne-Holst; Swedish Research Council, Stockholm County Council, Söderström Foundation; Lundbeck Foundation, Aarhus University; Australia NHMRC, NSW Ministry of Health, Janette M O'Neil and Betty C Lynch

Velocity-space sensitivity of the time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at JET

The velocity-space sensitivities of fast-ion diagnostics are often described by so-called weight functions. Recently, we formulated weight functions showing the velocity-space sensitivity of the often dominant beam-target part of neutron energy spectra. These weight functions for neutron emission spectrometry (NES) are independent of the particular NES diagnostic. Here we apply these NES weight functions to the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR at JET. By taking the instrumental response function of TOFOR into account, we calculate time-of-flight NES weight functions that enable us to directly determine the velocity-space sensitivity of a given part of a measured time-of-flight spectrum from TOFOR

Relationship of edge localized mode burst times with divertor flux loop signal phase in JET

A phase relationship is identified between sequential edge localized modes (ELMs) occurrence times in a set of H-mode tokamak plasmas to the voltage measured in full flux azimuthal loops in the divertor region. We focus on plasmas in the Joint European Torus where a steady H-mode is sustained over several seconds, during which ELMs are observed in the Be II emission at the divertor. The ELMs analysed arise from intrinsic ELMing, in that there is no deliberate intent to control the ELMing process by external means. We use ELM timings derived from the Be II signal to perform direct time domain analysis of the full flux loop VLD2 and VLD3 signals, which provide a high cadence global measurement proportional to the voltage induced by changes in poloidal magnetic flux. Specifically, we examine how the time interval between pairs of successive ELMs is linked to the time-evolving phase of the full flux loop signals. Each ELM produces a clear early pulse in the full flux loop signals, whose peak time is used to condition our analysis. The arrival time of the following ELM, relative to this pulse, is found to fall into one of two categories: (i) prompt ELMs, which are directly paced by the initial response seen in the flux loop signals; and (ii) all other ELMs, which occur after the initial response of the full flux loop signals has decayed in amplitude. The times at which ELMs in category (ii) occur, relative to the first ELM of the pair, are clustered at times when the instantaneous phase of the full flux loop signal is close to its value at the time of the first ELM

Lipid-induced insulin resistance is associated with an impaired skeletal muscle protein synthetic response to amino Acid ingestion in healthy young men

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.The ability to maintain skeletal muscle mass appears to be impaired in insulin-resistant conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, that are characterized by muscle lipid accumulation. The current study investigated the effect of acutely increasing lipid availability on muscle protein synthesis. Seven healthy young male volunteers underwent a 7-h intravenous infusion of l-[ring-(2)H5]phenylalanine on two randomized occasions combined with 0.9% saline or 10% Intralipid at 100 mL/h. After a 4-h "basal" period, a 21-g bolus of amino acids was administered and a 3-h hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp was commenced ("fed" period). Muscle biopsy specimens were obtained from the vastus lateralis at 1.5, 4, and 7 h. Lipid infusion reduced fed whole-body glucose disposal by 20%. Furthermore, whereas the mixed muscle fractional synthetic rate increased from the basal to the fed period during saline infusion by 2.2-fold, no change occurred during lipid infusion, despite similar circulating insulin and leucine concentrations. This "anabolic resistance" to insulin and amino acids with lipid infusion was associated with a complete suppression of muscle 4E-BP1 phosphorylation. We propose that increased muscle lipid availability may contribute to anabolic resistance in insulin-resistant conditions by impairing translation initiation.This research study was funded by the University of Nottingham and Maastricht University. A.J.M. was supported by a British Nutrition Foundation Drummond Pump Priming Award

Brain morphology is differentially impacted by peripheral cytokines in schizophrenia-spectrum disorder

Deficits in brain morphology are one of the most widely replicated neuropathological features in schizophrenia-spectrum disorder (SSD), although their biological underpinnings remain unclear. Despite the existence of hypotheses by which peripheral inflammation may impact brain structure, few studies have examined this relationship in SSD. This study aimed to establish the relationship between peripheral markers of inflammation and brain morphology and determine whether such relationships differed across healthy controls and individuals with first episode psychosis (FEP) and chronic schizophrenia. A panel of 13 pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines were quantified from serum in 175 participants [n = 84 Healthy Controls (HC), n = 40 FEP, n = 51 Chronic SCZ]. We first performed a series of permutation tests to identify the cytokines most consistently associated with brain structural regions. Using moderation analysis, we then determined the extent to which individual variation in select cytokines, and their interaction with diagnostic status, predicted variation in brain structure. We found significant interactions between cytokine level and diagnosis on brain structure. Diagnostic status significantly moderated the relationship of IFNγ, IL4, IL5 and IL13 with frontal thickness, and of IFNγ and IL5 and total cortical volume. Specifically, frontal thickness was positively associated with IFNγ, IL4, IL5 and IL13 cytokine levels in the healthy control group, whereas pro-inflammatory cytokines IFNγ and IL5 were associated with lower total cortical volume in the FEP group. Our findings suggest that while there were no relationships detected in chronic schizophrenia, the relationship between peripheral inflammatory markers and select brain regions are differentially impacted in FEP and healthy controls. Longitudinal investigations are required to determine whether the relationship between brain structure and peripheral inflammation changes over time.Liliana Laskaris, Sam Mancuso, Cynthia Shannon Weickert, Andrew Zalesky, Gursharan Chana, Cassandra Wannan ... et al

The electrocardiogram of vertebrates: Evolutionary changes from ectothermy to endothermy

The electrocardiogram (ECG) reveals that heart chamber activation and repolarization are much faster in mammals and birds compared to ectothermic vertebrates of similar size. Temperature, however, affects electrophysiology of the heart and most data from ectotherms are determined at body temperatures lower than those of mammals and birds. The present manuscript is a review of the effects of temperature on intervals in the ECG of ectothermic and endothermic vertebrates rather than a hypothesis-testing original research article. However, the conclusions are supported by the inclusion of original data (Iguana iguana, N = 4; Python regius, N = 5; Alligator mississippiensis, N = 4). Most comparisons were of animals of approximately 1 kg. Compared to mammals and birds, the reptiles at 35–37 °C had 4 fold lower heart rates, 2 fold slower atrial and ventricular conduction (longer P- and QRS-wave durations), and 4 fold longer PR intervals (atrioventricular delay) and QT intervals (total ventricular repolarization). We conclude that the faster chamber activation in endotherms cannot be explained by temperature alone. Based on histology, we show that endotherms have a more compact myocardial architecture. In mammals, disorganization of the compact wall by fibrosis associates with conduction slowing and we suggest the compact tissue architecture allows for faster chamber activation. The short cardiac cycle that characterizes mammals and birds, however, is predominantly accommodated by shortening of the atrioventricular delay and the QT interval, which is so long in a 1 kg iguana that it compares to that of an elephant1441629CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPNão temNão tem2016-20158-6; 2012/16537-0RF and MRS received a scholarship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (#2016-20158-6 and 2012/16537-0); LBTC received a scholarship from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES - DS); ASA was funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and FAPESP through the Institute of Science and Technology for Comparative Physiology (INCT-FisC).WJ received an EliteForsk travel grant from the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science to visit the research groups of BJ and DAC II. BJDB was supported by the Dutch Heart Foundation (2016T047). BJ was kindly allowed to photograph the sperm whale heart kept at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht, The Netherland