Research with Collaborative Unmanned Aircraft Systems

We provide an overview of ongoing research which targets development of a principled framework for mixed-initiative interaction with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). UASs are now becoming technologically mature enough to be integrated into civil society. Principled interaction between UASs and human resources is an essential component in their future uses in complex emergency services or bluelight scenarios. In our current research, we have targeted a triad of fundamental, interdependent conceptual issues: delegation, mixed- initiative interaction and adjustable autonomy, that is being used as a basis for developing a principled and well-defined framework for interaction. This can be used to clarify, validate and verify different types of interaction between human operators and UAS systems both theoretically and practically in UAS experimentation with our deployed platforms

Inactivity/sleep in two wild free-roaming African elephant matriarchs - Does large body size make elephants the shortest mammalian sleepers?

The current study provides details of sleep (or inactivity) in two wild, free-roaming African elephant matriarchs studied in their natural habitat with remote monitoring using an actiwatch subcutaneously implanted in the trunk, a standard elephant collar equipped with a GPS system and gyroscope, and a portable weather station. We found that these two elephants were polyphasic sleepers, had an average daily total sleep time of 2 h, mostly between 02:00 and 06:00, and displayed the shortest daily sleep time of any mammal recorded to date. Moreover, these two elephants exhibited both standing and recumbent sleep, but only exhibited recumbent sleep every third or fourth day, potentially limiting their ability to enter REM sleep on a daily basis. In addition, we observed on five occasions that the elephants went without sleep for up to 46 h and traversed around 30 km in 10 h, possibly due to disturbances such as potential predation or poaching events, or a bull elephant in musth. They exhibited no form of sleep rebound following a night without sleep. Environmental conditions, especially ambient air temperature and relative humidity, analysed as wet-bulb globe temperature, reliably predict sleep onset and offset times. The elephants selected novel sleep sites each night and the amount of activity between sleep periods did not affect the amount of sleep. A number of similarities and differences to studies of elephant sleep in captivity are noted, and specific factors shaping sleep architecture in elephants, on various temporal scales, are discussed

Altruism in the Context of door-courtesy Behaviors among College Students

Altruism has been debated as both selfishly and selflessly motivated. Though there are many possible illustrations of altruism in daily activities, a simple model to measure altruism is observing door-holding behaviors. This study observes the door-holding behavior patterns of undergraduate college students, assessing the sex differences and the possibility of an altruistic theme within the observed population. A general sex difference was found illustrating that males hold the door more often than females. Implications of the results are discussed

Citalopram plus low-dose pipamperone versus citalopram plus placebo in patients with major depressive disorder: an 8-week, double-blind, randomized study on magnitude and timing of clinical response

Background: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors take several weeks to achieve their full antidepressant effects. Post-synaptic 5-HT<sub>2A</sub> receptor activation is thought to be involved in this delayed therapeutic effect. Pipamperone acts as a highly selective 5-HT<sub>2A</sub>/D<sub>4</sub> antagonist when administered in low doses. The purpose of this study was to compare citalopram 40 mg once daily plus pipamperone 5 mg twice daily (PipCit) versus citalopram plus placebo twice daily for magnitude and onset of therapeutic effect. Method: An 8-week, randomized, double-blind study in patients with major depressive disorder was carried out. Results: The study population comprised 165 patients (citalopram and placebo, n=82; PipCit, n=83) with a mean baseline Montgomery–Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) score of 32.6 (S.D.=5.5). In the first 4 weeks, more citalopram and placebo than PipCit patients discontinued treatment (18% v. 4%, respectively, p=0.003). PipCit patients had significantly greater improvement in MADRS score at week 1 [observed cases (OC), p=0.021; last observation carried forward (LOCF), p=0.007] and week 4 (LOCF, p=0.025) but not at week 8 compared with citalopram and placebo patients. Significant differences in MADRS scores favoured PipCit in reduced sleep, reduced appetite, concentration difficulties and pessimistic thoughts. Mean Clinical Global Impression–Improvement scores were significantly improved after 1 week of PipCit compared with citalopram and placebo (OC and LOCF, p=0.002). Conclusions: Although the MADRS score from baseline to 8 weeks did not differ between groups, PipCit provided superior antidepressant effects and fewer discontinuations compared with citalopram and placebo during the first 4 weeks of treatment, especially in the first week

Multistate Assessment of Public Health Surveillance Relevant to American Indians and Alaska Natives, 2007

Improving the health of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations involves multiple agencies, levels of government, and jurisdictions. We assessed collaboration between state health departments and AI/AN Tribes and agencies through an online survey of State Epidemiologists. Frequencies and percentages of responses were examined by univariate and bivariate analyses. Among 39 states with federally recognized or state-recognized Tribes or federally funded urban Indian health centers, 25 (64%) participated. Nineteen had discussed public health surveillance with an AI/ AN government or nongovernment entity in the past 2 years (10 (53%) of these had ongoing, regular discussions about public health surveillance; nine (47%) had these discussions as needed). Nine (36%) responding states have a point person for working with AI/AN communities and/or agencies on public health surveillance. Four (16%) states have an active memorandum of understanding or other formal agreement with an AI/AN government or nongovernment entity regarding surveillance. To prepare for public health emergencies, six (24%) states involve the Indian Health Service, and eight (47%) involve another AI/AN entity. Functional relationships between state health departments and AI/AN agencies have not been consistently established. Strengthening these relationships will facilitate surveillance and response capacity to address continuing and emerging public health problems

Cerebrospinal fluid proteomics targeted for central nervous system processes in bipolar disorder

The etiopathology of bipolar disorder is largely unknown. We collected cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from two independent case-control cohorts (total n = 351) to identify proteins associated with bipolar disorder. A panel of 92 proteins targeted towards central nervous system processes identified two proteins that replicated across the cohorts: the CSF concentrations of testican-1 were lower, and the CSF concentrations of C-type lectin domain family 1 member B (CLEC1B) were higher, in cases than controls. In a restricted subgroup analysis, we compared only bipolar type 1 with controls and identified two additional proteins that replicated in both cohorts: draxin and tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 21 (TNFRSF21), both lower in cases than controls. This analysis additionally revealed several proteins significantly associated with bipolar type 1 in one cohort, falling just short of replicated statistical significance in the other (tenascin-R, disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain-containing protein 23, cell adhesion molecule 3, RGM domain family member B, plexin-B1, and brorin). Next, we conducted genome-wide association analyses of the case-control-associated proteins. In these analyses, we found associations with the voltage-gated calcium channel subunit CACNG4, and the lipid-droplet-associated gene PLIN5 with CSF concentrations of TNFRSF21 and CLEC1B, respectively. The reported proteins are involved in neuronal cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, particularly in the developing brain, and in pathways of importance for lithium’s mechanism of action. In summary, we report four novel CSF protein associations with bipolar disorder that replicated in two independent case-control cohorts, shedding new light on the central nervous system processes implicated in bipolar disorder

Joint analysis of psychiatric disorders increases accuracy of risk prediction for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder

Genetic risk prediction has several potential applications in medical research and clinical practice and could be used, for example, to stratify a heterogeneous population of patients by their predicted genetic risk. However, for polygenic traits, such as psychiatric disorders, the accuracy of risk prediction is low. Here we use a multivariate linear mixed model and apply multi-trait genomic best linear unbiased prediction for genetic risk prediction. This method exploits correlations between disorders and simultaneously evaluates individual risk for each disorder. We show that the multivariate approach significantly increases the prediction accuracy for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder in the discovery as well as in independent validation datasets. By grouping SNPs based on genome annotation and fitting multiple random effects, we show that the prediction accuracy could be further improved. The gain in prediction accuracy of the multivariate approach is equivalent to an increase in sample size of 34% for schizophrenia, 68% for bipolar disorder, and 76% for major depressive disorders using single trait models. Because our approach can be readily applied to any number of GWAS datasets of correlated traits, it is a flexible and powerful tool to maximize prediction accuracy. With current sample size, risk predictors are not useful in a clinical setting but already are a valuable research tool, for example in experimental designs comparing cases with high and low polygenic risk

Longitudinal structural brain changes in bipolar disorder: A multicenter neuroimaging study of 1232 individuals by the ENIGMA Bipolar Disorder Working Group

Background Bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with cortical and subcortical structural brain abnormalities. It is unclear whether such alterations progressively change over time, and how this is related to the number of mood episodes. To address this question, we analyzed a large and diverse international sample with longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical data to examine structural brain changes over time in BD. Methods Longitudinal structural MRI and clinical data from the ENIGMA-BD Working Group, including 307 BD patients and 925 healthy controls (HC), were collected from 14 sites worldwide. Male and female participants, aged 40 ± 17 years, underwent MRI at two time points. Cortical thickness, surface area, and subcortical volumes were estimated using FreeSurfer. Annualized change rates for each imaging phenotype were compared between BD and HC. Within patients, we related brain change rates to the number of mood episodes between time points and tested for effects of demographic and clinical variables. Results Compared with HC, BD patients showed faster enlargement of ventricular volumes and slower thinning of fusiform and parahippocampal cortex (0.18<d<0.22). More (hypo)manic episodes were associated with faster cortical thinning, primarily in the prefrontal cortex. Conclusion In the hitherto largest longitudinal MRI study on BD, we did not detect accelerated cortical thinning but noted faster ventricular enlargements in BD. Abnormal fronto-cortical thinning was however observed in association with frequent manic episodes. Our study yields insights into disease progression in BD, and highlights the importance of mania prevention in BD treatment