Reaction Time and Mortality from the Major Causes of Death:The NHANES-III Study

Studies examining the relation of information processing speed, as measured by reaction time, with mortality are scarce. We explored these associations in a representative sample of the US population

Phylogeny Of The Epinephelinae (Teleostei, Serranidae)

Relationships among epinepheline genera are investigated based on cladistic analysis of larval and adult morphology. Five monophyletic tribes are delineated, and relationships among tribes and among genera of the tribe Grammistini are hypothesized. Generic composition of tribes differs from Johnson\u27s (1983) classification only in the allocation of Jeboehlkia to the tribe Grammistini rather than the Liopropomini. Despite the presence of the skin toxin grammistin in the Diploprionini and Grammistini, we consider the latter to be the sister group of the Liopropomini. This hypothesis is based, in part, on previously unrecognized larval features. Larval morphology also provides evidence of monophyly of the subfamily Epinephelinae, the clade comprising all epinepheline tribes except Niphonini, and the tribe Grammistini. Larval features provide the only evidence of a monophyletic Epinephelini and a monophyletic clade comprising the Diploprionini, Liopropomini and Grammistini; identification of larvae of more epinephelines is needed to test those hypotheses. Within the tribe Grammistini, we propose that Jeboehlkia gladifer is the sister group of a natural assemblage comprising the former pseudogrammid genera (Aporops, Pseudogramma and Suttonia). The \u27\u27soapfishes\u27\u27 (Grammistes, Grammistops, Pogonoperca and Rypticus) are not monophyletic, but form a series of sequential sister groups to Jeboehlkia, Aporops, Pseudogramma and Suttonia (the closest of these being Grammistops, followed by Rypticus, then Grammistes plus Pogonoperca). The absence in adult Jeboehlkia of several derived features shared by Grammistops, Aporops, Pseudogramma and Suttonia is incongruous with our hypothesis but may be attributable to paedomorphosis. The generic phylogeny of the Grammistini proposed herein emerges as the single most parsimonious hypothesis largely because of the method chosen for analyzing multistate characters

Phylogeny Of Lampridiform Fishes

A survey of characters defining the Neoteleostei, Eurypterygii, Ctenosquamata, Acanthomorpha, Paracanthopterygii and Acanthopterygii convincingly places the Lampridiformes within the acanthomorph clade. Lampridiforms are primitive with respect to the Percomorpha but their precise placement among basal acanthomorphs remains unclear. In the absence of a specific sister-group hypothesis, Polymixia, percopsiform and beryciform taxa were used as outgroups in a cladistic analysis of the order. Monophyly of Lampridiformes is supported by four apomorphies; three are correlated modifications related to the evolution of a unique feeding mechanism in which the maxilla slides forward with the premaxilla during jaw protrusion. The Veliferidae are the sister group of all other lampridiforms. The deep-bodied (bathysomous) lampridiforms are not monophyletic because Lampris is the sister group of the elongate (taeniosomous) families. Stylephorus is placed as the sister group of all other taeniosomous families. The Radiicephalidae are hypothesized to be the sister group of the Lophotidae, a clade that forms the sister group of the Replecidae + Trachipteridae. Ateleopodid, mirapinnid, and eutaeniiophorid fishes are not lampridiforms. DaggerBajaichthys is allied with living lampridiform fishes but daggerPharmacichthys is not a lampridiform. The affinities of daggerAipichthys and daggerBathysomous are unknown

Larvae Of Diploprion-bifasciatum, Belonoperca-chabanaudi And Grammistes-sexlineatus (Serranidae, Epinephelinae) With A Comparison Of Known Larvae Of Other Epinephelines

Morphology is described for larvae of two species of the epinepheline serranid tribe Diploprionini and one of the tribe Grammistini, and known larvae of other epinephelines are compared. Early stage eggs and development of larvae of Diploprion bifasciatum are described from 144 laboratory-reared specimens, and postflexion larvae of Belonoperca chabanaudi are described from wild-caught specimens. Fourmanoir\u27s (1976) description of postlarval Grammistes sexlineatus is modified and expanded. The second and third dorsal-fin spines of larval D. bifasciatum are remarkably elongate, reaching lengths many times that of the body. These spines are thin and flexible, and each is encased in a sheath of tissue that exhibits patterns of pigment that change ontogenetically. Larvae of Belonoperca have several elongate dorsalfin spines that may attain lengths comparable to those of the second and third dorsal spines of D. bifasciatum; however, only net-collected specimens in which the spines are broken are available. With these descriptions of larval diploprionins, larvae of representatives of all epinepheline tribes are known. Larval epinephelines differ in patterns of pigmentation, head spination, sequence of fin formation and morphology of elongate dorsal spines. The considerable morphological diversity among epinepheline larvae may aid in elucidating the phylogeny of the subfamily

Pre-pandemic cognitive function and COVID-19 mortality:Prospective cohort study

Poorer performance on standard tests of pre-morbid cognitive function is related to an elevated risk of death from lower respiratory tract infections but the link with coronavirus (COVID‑19) mortality is untested. Participants in UK Biobank, aged 40 to 69 years at study induction (2006–10), were administered a reaction time test, an indicator of information processing speed, and also had their verbal-numeric reasoning assessed. Between April 1st and September 23rd 2020 there were 388 registry-confirmed deaths (138 women) ascribed to COVID-19 in 494,932 individuals (269,602 women) with a reaction time test result, and 125 such deaths (38 women) in the subgroup of 180,198 people (97,794 women) with data on verbal-numeric reasoning. In analyses adjusted for age, sex, and ethnicity, a one standard deviation slower reaction time was related to a higher rate of death from COVID-19 (hazard ratio; 95% confidence interval: 1.18; 1.09, 1.28), as was a one standard deviation disadvantage on the verbal-numeric reasoning test (1.32; 1.09, 1.59). While there was some attenuation in these relationships after adjustment for additional covariates which included socio-economic status and lifestyle factors, the two pre-pandemic indicators of cognitive function continued to be related to COVID-19 mortality

Why HIV Positive Patients on Antiretroviral Treatment and/or Cotrimoxazole Prophylaxis Use Traditional Medicine: Perceptions of Health Workers, Traditional Healers and Patients: A Study in Two Provinces of South Africa

The study explored the perceptions, knowledge and attitudes of patients, health workers and traditional healers about the use of traditional medicine and Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART). The study explored the perceptions, knowledge and attitudes of patients, health workers and traditional healers about the use of traditional medicine and Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART), using an exploratory qualitative design in two provinces of South Africa: an urban township health facility in the Western Cape, and a rural district hospital in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) with antennal HIV rate of 32% and 28%’respectively. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 participants: six HIV patients on ART and using Traditional Medicine(TM), two doctors, two nurses and four traditional healers. Two focus group discussions - one at each site - were held with community health workers who work with HIV-positive patients (Western Cape [5] and in KZN [4]). Patient said to have used Traditional Healing Practices (THP) before they were diagnosed with HIV, and some who have been diagnosed with HIV continue using TM in conjunction with ART and/or Cotrimoxazole prophylaxis. Patients preferred not to disclose THP to health professionals because of lack of support and understanding. Patients utilize THP because of family expectations, privacy and confidentiality, especially when they have not disclosed their HIV status. Healthcare professionals had strong negative opinions about THP, especially for HIV-positive patients. Traditional healers supported the patient’s rationale for THP use. This study revealed a need to better understand factors involved in patients’ choosing to use THP concurrently with ART

Socio-economic position and cardiovascular risk in rural Indian adolescents: evidence from the Andhra Pradesh children and parents study (APCAPS).

OBJECTIVES: This study examined association between socio-economic position and cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents to investigate whether childhood socio-economic position is a risk factor for future cardiovascular disease, independently of adult behaviours. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Participants (n = 1128, 46% girls, aged 13-18 years) were members of a birth cohort (Andhra Pradesh Children and Parents Study or APCAPS) established to investigate long-term effects of a pregnancy and childhood nutritional supplementation trial conducted in 29 villages near Hyderabad in South India. Cross-sectional associations between socio-economic position and cardiovascular risk factors were examined using linear regression models. RESULTS: The mean BMI was 16.7 kg/m(2) for boys and 17.8 kg/m(2) for girls. Socio-economic position was positively associated with fat mass index (0.15 kg/m(2); 95% CI: 0.05-0.25) and inversely associated with central-peripheral skinfold ratio (-0.04; 95% CI: -0.06 to -0.01) and, in boys, fasting triglycerides (-0.05; 95% CI: -0.09 to -0.01). Association of socio-economic position with other risk factors (blood pressure, arterial stiffness, fasting glucose, insulin and cholesterol) was weak and inconsistent, and did not persist after adjustment for potential confounders, including age, sex, pubertal stage, height, adiposity and nutrition supplementation. CONCLUSIONS: The study thus showed that lower socio-economic position may be associated with greater central adiposity and higher triglyceride levels in these settings. Socio-economic gradient in cardiovascular risk may strengthen in future with later economic and lifestyle changes. Cardiovascular disease prevention strategies should therefore focus on the youth from the low income group

ABCD Neurocognitive Prediction Challenge 2019: Predicting individual fluid intelligence scores from structural MRI using probabilistic segmentation and kernel ridge regression

We applied several regression and deep learning methods to predict fluid intelligence scores from T1-weighted MRI scans as part of the ABCD Neurocognitive Prediction Challenge (ABCD-NP-Challenge) 2019. We used voxel intensities and probabilistic tissue-type labels derived from these as features to train the models. The best predictive performance (lowest mean-squared error) came from Kernel Ridge Regression (KRR; $\lambda=10$), which produced a mean-squared error of 69.7204 on the validation set and 92.1298 on the test set. This placed our group in the fifth position on the validation leader board and first place on the final (test) leader board.Comment: Winning entry in the ABCD Neurocognitive Prediction Challenge at MICCAI 2019. 7 pages plus references, 3 figures, 1 tabl

The effect of time constraint on anticipation, decision making, and option generation in complex and dynamic environments

Researchers interested in performance in complex and dynamic situations have focused on how individuals predict their opponent(s) potential courses of action (i.e., during assessment) and generate potential options about how to respond (i.e., during intervention). When generating predictive options, previous research supports the use of cognitive mechanisms that are consistent with long-term working memory (LTWM) theory (Ericsson and Kintsch in Phychol Rev 102(2):211–245, 1995; Ward et al. in J Cogn Eng Decis Mak 7:231–254, 2013). However, when generating options about how to respond, the extant research supports the use of the take-the-first (TTF) heuristic (Johnson and Raab in Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 91:215–229, 2003). While these models provide possible explanations about how options are generated in situ, often under time pressure, few researchers have tested the claims of these models experimentally by explicitly manipulating time pressure. The current research investigates the effect of time constraint on option-generation behavior during the assessment and intervention phases of decision making by employing a modified version of an established option-generation task in soccer. The results provide additional support for the use of LTWM mechanisms during assessment across both time conditions. During the intervention phase, option-generation behavior appeared consistent with TTF, but only in the non-time-constrained condition. Counter to our expectations, the implementation of time constraint resulted in a shift toward the use of LTWM-type mechanisms during the intervention phase. Modifications to the cognitive-process level descriptions of decision making during intervention are proposed, and implications for training during both phases of decision making are discussed