Inhibition of Candida albicans by Fluvastatin Is Dependent on pH

The cholesterol-lowering drug fluvastatin (FS) has an inhibitory effect on the growth of the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans that is dependent on the pH of the medium. At the low pH value of the vagina, FS is growth inhibitory at low and at high concentrations, while at intermediate concentrations (1–10 mM), it has no inhibitory effect. Examination of the effect of the common antifungal drug fluconazole in combination with FS demonstrates drug interactions in the low concentration range. Determination of intracellular stress and the activity of the FS target enzyme HMG-CoA reductase confirm our hypothesis that in the intermediate dose range adjustments to the sterol biosynthesis pathway can compensate for the action of FS. We conclude that the pH dependent uptake of FS across yeast membranes might make FS combination therapy an attractive possibility for treatment of vaginal C. albicans infections

Probe-caught spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering in relation to self-reported inattentive, hyperactive and impulsive traits in adults.

Research has revealed a positive relationship between types of mind wandering and ADHD at clinical and subclinical levels. However, this work did not consider the relationship between mind wandering and the core symptoms of ADHD: inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. Given that the DMS-V attributes mind wandering to inattention only, and that only inattention is thought to result from impairment to the executive function linked to mind wandering, the present research sought to examine this relationship in 80 undiagnosed adults. Using both standard and easy versions of the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) we measured both spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering. We found that spontaneous mind wandering was related to self-reported inattentive traits when the task was cognitively more challenging (standard SART). However, hyperactive and impulsive traits were related to spontaneous mind wandering independent of task difficulty. The results suggest inattentive traits are not uniquely related to mind wandering; indeed, adults with hyperactive/impulsive traits were more likely to experience mind wandering, suggesting that mind wandering might not be useful diagnostic criteria for inattention

Helping the heart grow fonder during absence: daydreaming about significant others replenishes connectedness after induced loneliness

People are known to engage in behaviours aimed at replenishing social connectedness after their sense of belonging is threatened. We explored whether the mental strategy of daydreaming about significant others could have similar effects by acting as an imaginary substitute when loved ones are unavailable. Following a loneliness induction, participants (N = 126) were asked to either daydream about a significant other, daydream about a non-social scenario or complete a control task. Social daydreamers showed significantly increased feelings of connection, love and belonging compared to non-social daydreamers and control participants. Consistent with the proposition that social daydreaming replenished connectedness, social daydreamers also behaved more pro-socially and expressed less of a desire to interact with others after daydreaming. These findings demonstrate that through imagination, social daydreaming can replenish connectedness providing a potential strategy for enhancing socioemotional well-being

Go-stimuli proportion influences response strategy in a sustained attention to response task

The sustained attention to response task (SART) usefulness as a measure of sustained attention has been questioned. The SART may instead be a better measure of other psychological processes and could prove useful in understanding some real-world behaviours. Thirty participants completed four Go/No-Go response tasks much like the SART, with Go-stimuli proportions of .50, .65, .80 and .95. As Go-stimuli proportion increased, reaction times decreased while both commission errors and self-reported task-related thoughts increased. Performance measures were associated with task-related thoughts but not taskunrelated thoughts. Instead of faster reaction times and increased commission errors being due to absentmindedness or perceptual decoupling from the task, the results suggested participants made use of two competing response strategies, in line with a response strategy or response inhibition perspective of SART performance. Interestingly, performance measures changed in a nonlinear manner, despite the linear Go proportion increase. A threshold may exist where the prepotent motor response becomes more pronounced, leading to the disproportionate increase in response speed and commission errors. This research has implications for researchers looking to employ the SAR

The quest for stellar coronal mass ejections in late-type stars: I. Investigating Balmer-line asymmetries of single stars in Virtual Observatory data

Context. Flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can have deleterious effects on their surroundings: they can Erode or completely destroy atmospheres of orbiting planets over time and also have high importance in stellar evolution. Most of the CME detections in the literature are single events found serendipitously sparse for statistical investigation. Aims. We aimed to gather a large amount of spectral data of M-dwarfs to drastically increase the number of known events to make statistical analysis possible in order to study the properties of potential stellar CMEs. Methods. Using archival spectral data we investigated asymmetric features of Balmer-lines, which could indicate the Doppler-signature of ejected material. Results. Of more than 5500 spectra we find 478 that have line asymmetries - including nine larger events, in terms of velocity and mass - on 25 objects, with 1.2-19.6 events per day on objects with line asymmetries. Most events are connected with enhanced peaks of Balmer-lines, indicating that these are connected to flares similar to solar events. In most cases the detected speed does not reach surface escape velocity: the typical observed maximum velocities are on the order of 100-300 km s -1 , while the typical masses of the ejecta were on the order of 10 15 -10 18 g. Statistical analysis of the events suggests that these events are more frequent on cooler stars with stronger chromospheric activity. Conclusions. If the detected events correspond to CMEs, the detected maximum velocities are lower than those observed on the Sun, while event rates were somewhat lower than we could expect from the solar case. If the velocities are not distorted significantly due to a projection effect, these findings may support the idea that most of the coronal mass ejections could be suppressed by a strong magnetic field. Alternatively, it is possible that we can observe only an early low-coronal phase of the events before being accelerated at higher altitudes. Our findings could indicate that later-type, active dwarfs could be a safer environment for exoplanetary systems CME-wise than previously thought, and atmosphere loss due to radiation effects would play a stronger role in exoplanetary atmosphere evolution than CMEs

Spontaneous and deliberate future thinking: A dual process account

© 2019 Springer Nature.This is the final published version of an article published in Psychological Research, licensed under a Creative Commons Attri-bution 4.0 International License. Available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-019-01262-7.In this article, we address an apparent paradox in the literature on mental time travel and mind-wandering: How is it possible that future thinking is both constructive, yet often experienced as occurring spontaneously? We identify and describe two ‘routes’ whereby episodic future thoughts are brought to consciousness, with each of the ‘routes’ being associated with separable cognitive processes and functions. Voluntary future thinking relies on controlled, deliberate and slow cognitive processing. The other, termed involuntary or spontaneous future thinking, relies on automatic processes that allows ‘fully-fledged’ episodic future thoughts to freely come to mind, often triggered by internal or external cues. To unravel the paradox, we propose that the majority of spontaneous future thoughts are ‘pre-made’ (i.e., each spontaneous future thought is a re-iteration of a previously constructed future event), and therefore based on simple, well-understood, memory processes. We also propose that the pre-made hypothesis explains why spontaneous future thoughts occur rapidly, are similar to involuntary memories, and predominantly about upcoming tasks and goals. We also raise the possibility that spontaneous future thinking is the default mode of imagining the future. This dual process approach complements and extends standard theoretical approaches that emphasise constructive simulation, and outlines novel opportunities for researchers examining voluntary and spontaneous forms of future thinking.Peer reviewe

The Weakening Outburst of the Young Eruptive Star V582 Aur

V582 Aur is a pre-main sequence FU Orionis type eruptive star, which entered a brightness minimum in 2016 March due to changes in the line-of-sight extinction. Here, we present and analyze new optical $B$, $V$, $R_C$ and $I_C$ band multiepoch observations and new near-infrared $J$, $H$ and $K_S$ band photometric measurements from 2018 January$-$2019 February, as well as publicly available mid-infrared WISE data. We found that the source shows a significant optical$-$near-infrared variability, and the current brightness minimum has not completely finished yet. If the present dimming originates from the same orbiting dust clump that caused a similar brightness variation in 2012, than our results suggest a viscous spreading of the dust particles along the orbit. Another scenario is that the current minimum is caused by a dust structure, that is entering and leaving the inner part of the system. The WISE measurements could be consistent with this scenario. Our long-term data, as well as an accretion disk modeling hint at a general fading of V582 Aur, suggesting that the source will reach the quiescent level in $\sim$80 years.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Ap