Hypohydration and Mood State in Free-Living Males and Females

Previous research has shown that acute dehydration can result in changes in mood. These changes have been reported in less than a 1% loss in total body water. However, the effect of hypohydration (i.e., reflected through high urine concentration) on mood in free-living conditions has not been studied. PURPOSE: The present study was designed to determine if hydration status is associated with mood within the general population under free-living conditions. METHODS: A group of 103 apparently healthy subjects (49 male, 54 female, 41±14 y, 1.7±0.1 m, 76.1±16.9 kg) completed three visits separated by a week. Mood was assessed by the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire during each visit. Participants were familiarized to the POMS questionnaire on their first visit. Hydration was assessed via urine osmolality (uOsm), urine specific gravity (USG), and urine color (UC) done on both spot and twenty four hour (24-h) urine samples taken during the 2nd and 3rd visits. Urine indices and POMS data from the 2nd and 3rd visit were averaged to attain measurements for analyses. RESULTS: Overall USG displayed significance in predicting changes in Vigor/Acuity (P = 0.031). UOsm (P = 0.006) and USG (P = 0.012), as well as 24-h uOsm (P \u3c 0.001) and USG (P \u3c 0.001) showed significance in predicting Vigor/Acuity in females. 24-h uOsm (P = 0.012) and USG (P = 0.004) were a significant predictor of a female\u27s feelings of friendliness. No significant relationships were found for the male subjects. CONCLUSION: These data suggested that hydration status affects mood specifically in free-living females but not in males

Comparison of multiphase SPH and LBM approaches for the simulation of intermittent flows

Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) are increasingly popular and attractive methods that propose efficient multiphase formulations, each one with its own strengths and weaknesses. In this context, when it comes to study a given multi-fluid problem, it is helpful to rely on a quantitative comparison to decide which approach should be used and in which context. In particular, the simulation of intermittent two-phase flows in pipes such as slug flows is a complex problem involving moving and intersecting interfaces for which both SPH and LBM could be considered. It is a problem of interest in petroleum applications since the formation of slug flows that can occur in submarine pipelines connecting the wells to the production facility can cause undesired behaviors with hazardous consequences. In this work, we compare SPH and LBM multiphase formulations where surface tension effects are modeled respectively using the continuum surface force and the color gradient approaches on a collection of standard test cases, and on the simulation of intermittent flows in 2D. This paper aims to highlight the contributions and limitations of SPH and LBM when applied to these problems. First, we compare our implementations on static bubble problems with different density and viscosity ratios. Then, we focus on gravity driven simulations of slug flows in pipes for several Reynolds numbers. Finally, we conclude with simulations of slug flows with inlet/outlet boundary conditions. According to the results presented in this study, we confirm that the SPH approach is more robust and versatile whereas the LBM formulation is more accurate and faster

How states can influence inequality with tax and spending tools

While much of the debate and discussion on how to address inequality has been focussed on the role of the federal government, state governments also have a role to play. In new research, Thomas Hayes and D. Xavier Medina Vidal find that states which have higher levels of cash assistance and unemployment compensation and higher corporate tax revenues have lower levels of inequality

Performance of MIMO systems

Demand in high data rate communications, driven by internet and cellular mobile, have increased, specially in wireless local area networks, emerging home audio visual networks and multimedia services in general. The limitation of the available radio spectrum makes it impossible for the data rate needs to be accomplished by an increase in the bandwidth. The deployment of multiple antennas in the transmitter and the receiver, multiple input multiple output (MIMO), a cost effective technology, makes it feasible to meet the high data rate demands. In this work, several scenarios such as the transmission under Rayleigh and Rice channel conditions are analyzed. Different transmission schemes are used, using different numbers of transmit and receive antennas. The focus of the project is an investigation of the fundamental performance tradeoff between bit error probability and bit rate in these systems, related to the number of antennas deployed and the SNR. ______________________________________________________________La demanda de la alta velocidad de datos ha crecido considerablemente debido a internet y a los teléfonos móviles especialmente en redes wifi, en las redes audiovisuales de los hogares y servicios multimedia. La limitación del espectro de radio disponible hace imposible que la velocidad de datos aumente aumentando el ancho de banda. El desarrollo de múltiples antenas transmitiendo y múltiples antenas recibiendo, multiple input multiple output (MIMO), tiene un bajo coste y hace factible el aumento de alta velocidad de datos. En el trabajo, varios tipos de de condiciones de transmisión, como los canales Rayleigh y Rice se han analizado. Se han usado diferentes modelos de transmisión, utilizando numerosas antenas en transmisión y recepción. El objetivo del proyecto es la investigación del rendimiento que se obtiene entre sacrificar la probabilidad de bit y la tasa de transmisión en estos sistemas, relacionándolo con el número de antenas en transmisión y recepción y la SNR.Ingeniería de Telecomunicació

The Role of Schizotypy in the Study of the Etiology of Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders

Alres ajuts: Fundació La Marató de TV3 (091110)Schizotypy provides a useful construct for understanding the development of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. As research on the epidemiology of psychotic symptoms and clinical risk for psychosis has expanded, conceptual challenges have emerged to comprehend the nature and borders of the space comprised between personality variation and psychosis. Schizotypy is considered in light of these more recent constructs. It is suggested that rather than being superseded by them due to their higher specificity and predictive power for transition to psychosis, schizotypy integrates them as it constitutes a dynamic continuum ranging from personality to psychosis. The advantages of schizotypy for studying schizophrenia etiology are discussed (eg, it facilitates a developmental approach and the identification of causal, resilience, and compensating factors and offers a multidimensional structure that captures etiological heterogeneity). An overview of putative genetic, biological, and psychosocial risk factors is presented, focusing on communalities and differences between schizotypy and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The found notable overlap supports etiological continuity, and, simultaneously, differential findings appear that are critical to understanding resilience to schizophrenia. For example, discrepant findings in genetic studies might be interpreted as suggestive of sets of independent genetic factors playing a differential role in schizotypy and schizophrenia: some would influence variation specifically on schizotypy dimensions (ie, high vs low schizotypy, thereby increasing proneness to psychosis), some would confer unspecific liability to disease by impacting neural properties and susceptibility to environmental factors (ie, high vs low resilience to disorder) and some might contribute to disease-specific characteristics. Finally, schizotypy's promise for studying gene-environment interactions is considered

Deconstructing the relationships between self-esteem and paranoia in early psychosis : an experience sampling study

No studies have examined the association between self-esteem and paranoia developmentally across the critical stages of psychosis emergence. The present study fills this gap and extends previous research by examining how different dimensions, measures, and types of self-esteem relate to daily-life paranoia across at-risk mental states for psychosis (ARMS) and first episode of psychosis (FEP) stages. Furthermore, the moderation effects of momentary anxiety and momentary perceived social support on the association between momentary self-esteem and paranoia were examined. This study used a multilevel, cross-sectional design. One-hundred and thirteen participants (74 ARMS and 39 FEP) were assessed repeatedly over seven consecutive days on levels of momentary paranoia, self-esteem, anxiety and perceived social support using experience sampling methodology. Measures of trait and implicit self-esteem were also collected. Global momentary and trait self-esteem, and their positive and negative dimensions, were related to daily-life paranoia in both ARMS and FEP groups. Conversely, implicit self-esteem was not associated with daily-life paranoia in either group. Anxiety negatively moderated the association between positive self-esteem and lower paranoia, whereas both feeling close to others and feeling cared for by others strengthened this association. However, only feeling cared for by others moderated the association between negative self-esteem and higher paranoia. Different types, measures and dimensions of self-esteem are differentially related to paranoia in early psychosis and are influenced by contextual factors in daily-life. This yields a more complex picture of these associations and offers insights that might aid psychological interventions