EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OXYTOCIN, RISK-TAKING, AND CHILDHOOD MALTREATMENT

Maltreatment in childhood can lead to a vast number of negative outcomes for survivors. Some of these negative outcomes include engagement in risky and impulsive behaviors that can lead to imprisonment, health problems, or early death. A link between oxytocin (OT) and impulsivity has been identified, and administration of OT has shown to decrease impulsive behavior or risk-taking during various tasks. Although there is a link between OT and risk-taking, as well as between childhood maltreatment and OT, there are no studies to date that have analyzed the effect of OT on the relationship between childhood maltreatment and risk-taking. The present study employs simple mediation analyses to explore this relationship among a sample of young adults who have experienced childhood maltreatment (N=97) from two very different backgrounds; 54 of which were active probationers and 47 college students in an introductory psychology course. OT samples were obtained through analyses of donated saliva samples, and risk-taking was measured through participant performance on a computerized card game task. This study proposed four core hypotheses: (1) Individuals who reported higher overall levels of childhood maltreatment would have lower levels of salivary OT and there would be an indirect effect of salivary OT levels on risk-taking; (2) Individuals who experienced more forms of maltreatment would have lower salivary OT and there would be an indirect effect of salivary OT levels on risk-taking; (3) Individuals who experienced more emotional maltreatment would have lower salivary OT and OT levels would have an indirect effect on the relationship between emotional maltreatment and risk-taking; and (4) Individuals who have experienced more emotional abuse would have lower OT levels and OT levels would have an indirect effect on the relationship between emotional abuse and risk-taking. Contrary to these hypotheses, data analyses demonstrated that there were no indirect effects or direct effects of salivary OT levels on risk-taking for any form of neglect or abuse; however, the relationships between OT and overall maltreatment, overall emotional maltreatment (abuse and neglect), and emotional abuse that have been identified in the literature were confirmed

Till the Ductile Anchor Hold: Towards Space Settlements in the 21st Century.

Humans are restless explorers. For 99% of humanity s time on Earth, we have been nomadic wanderers, not farmers, warriors, factory workers, developers, or NASA employees. Only recently--for only a few thousand years--have most humans been tied to the land as many are now. But as more and more of us live in information societies and some indeed in dream societies where our identity derives from the knowledge we share and the image we project, and not from the property we own or the manual work we do, the time may be coming when we should break free from the land, and roam once again. But beware: the reality of Man and Woman the Explorer has a very dark side as well. Many people where I live view the recent experience of Man on the Move as a history of theft, murder, racism, exploitation, and genocide. So we need to be very careful if we say that space exploration is only natural for humans, since the experience has not been very uplifting and noble for most recipients of the exploring of others. But such warnings are not new. Humans have been alerting each other to the dangers of change and novelty from the very beginning: Who and what is this

The Impact of Genetic Disease on the Family: Examining the Relationship Between Psychological Well-Being, Social Support, and Spirituality in Unaffected Carriers of Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy

The current research was undertaken to explore the psychological well-being of mothers and siblings of an individual with vision loss symptoms due to Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy and whether perceived social support and spiritual involvement and beliefs served as protective factors as these family members coped with their child or sibling acquiring a disability. One hundred seventeen participants, 65 mothers and 52 siblings completed a Demographic Questionnaire, the Outcome Questionnaire-45, the Impact of Event Scale, the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support via an online internet survey. The data revealed that both mothers and siblings experienced higher levels of psychological stress than a normative sample and siblings experienced significantly higher levels of interpersonal problems and social role dysfunction than a normative sample. The results also showed that mothers of children with vision loss due to LHON showed significantly lower levels of psychological stress as levels of perceived social support from family and a significant other increased and siblings of a person with vision loss due to LHON showed significantly lower levels of psychological stress, interpersonal problems, and social role dysfunction with higher levels of perceived social support from family. Implications and suggestions for future research are presented

Working Group Reports and Presentations: Earth 3.0.

We affirm the principle that a viable human space exploration program must be conducted hand-in-hand with a comprehensive scientific research program that incorporates both the physical and life sciences and that continues to protect and extend understanding of our home planet. Without advances in life science, we will be incapable of devising self-sustaining extraterrestrial habitats, and we will struggle to survive on the only living planet we know. Without advances in the physical sciences, we limit our ability to imagine new technologies for space travel and to understand the nature of the universe we explore. Scientific advances expand the boundaries of humanity s dreams

Fundamental and Practical Studies on High Performance Liquid Affinity Chromatography of Biopolymers with Novel Stationary Phases

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Comments about "Earth 3.0"

Dr. Christopher P. McKay, Planetary Scientist with the Space Science Division of NASA Ames. Chris received his Ph.D. in AstroGeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1982 and has been a research scientist with the NASA Ames Research Center since that time. His current research focuses on the evolution of the solar system and the origin of life. He is also actively involved in planning for future Mars missions including human exploration. Chris been involved in research in Mars-like environments on Earth, traveling to the Antarctic dry valleys, Siberia, the Canadian Arctic, and the Atacama desert to study life in these Mars-like environments. His was a co-I on the Titan Huygen s probe in 2005, the Mars Phoenix lander mission for 2007, and the Mars Science Lander mission for 2009

The Design Development of Solar Box Cooker on Wheels as an Alternative for Philippine Rural Households

Cooking accounts for a significant share of the worldwide energy consumption issue. Solar box cookers are a good alternative in mitigating fossil fuels and biomass use, especially for tropical developing nations like the Philippines. Still, their broad acceptance is limited by their high dependence on sufficient sunlight for better performance. Thus, this research aims to develop a thermal-efficient, portable solar box cooker with sand-sensible heat storage materials, coconut coir (Cocos nucifera) agricultural waste insulators, and locally sourced building materials. The designed and constructed cooker was evaluated using three thermal performance tests: the Stagnation Temperature test from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the Cooking Power test from the American Societal of Agricultural Engineer (ASAE) Standards, and a rice cooking test. Data obtained from the three-day trials of each test were used to determine the first figure of merit (F1), the single measure of performance (Ps(50)), and its ability to cook 300 g of NFA rice with 500 mL of water, respectively. It was found that the cooker achieved an F1 of 0.06 Km2/w, a Ps(50) of 6.651 W, and cooked rice for one-third of the tests. Obtained experimental findings showed that the device is marked as a Grade-B solar cooker. Results indicated that the solar box cooker is capable of pasteurizing water and cooking rice

Young peoples' involvement in global water issues

The world faces severe and growing challenges in maintaining water quality and in meeting the rapidly growing demand for water resources. As the present young people will be playing central roles in the future, the importance of understanding their views and paving way for their participation is of utmost importance. The involvement of young people in the "think globally, act locally" vision is illustrated here with the case of an international youth movement, the Young Water Action Team (YWAT)

Integal futures based on the paradigm approach

The study discusses the interpretation of integral futures in the context of paradigm. The dynamic matrix model of futures paradigm has been developed for carrying out meta-analysis of futures. As a result of meta-analysis integral futures and its new paradigms are defined by way of reconstructing futures paradigm history as responses to changing societal needs and through the outcomes of dynamic and comparative analysis of futures paradigms. The study sets the argument that integral futures: a) is entering a new phase in development of futures that responses to societal demands for sustainability, democratic participation and continuous knowledge production and integration, b) it is the phase of cooperation building between theoretical and practical futures, c) it is the complementary development of co-evolutionary and participatory paradigms, d) it unfolds further research perspectives for futures