Master of Science

thesisThe present mock crime study investigated whether the accuracy of an ocular-motor deception test (ODT) that directly asks if the person committed illicit acts differs from the accuracy of an ODT that indirectly asks if the person provided false answers on a questionnaire about those illicit activities. Guilt, statement type, relevant issue, and completion of a pre-ODT questionnaire were manipulated in the present study to assess their effects on ocular-motor and behavioral measures of deception. Half the subjects were guilty of taking $20 from a secretary's wallet, and the other half were innocent. All subjects were told that some subjects took an exam from a professor's office, but in actuality, no one committed that crime. Three-fourths of the subjects completed a pre-ODT questionnaire that asked about their involvement in the crimes. Subjects answered 48 true/false items five times while their eye movements and pupil diameters were recorded. Half of the guilty and innocent subjects answered test items that directly asked if they committed the thefts. The remaining subjects were asked if they falsified information about the crimes on the pre-ODT questionnaire. Guilty subjects showed the largest pupil diameter while reading the cash items. For direct items, a discriminant function of four ocular-motor measures correctly classified 95% of innocent subjects and 83% of guilty subjects. For indirect items, the discriminant analysis of three ocular-motor measures correctly classified 79% of innocent subjects and 58% of guilty subjects. Results suggest that indirect test items are less effective than direct ones

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe ocular-motor deception test (ODT) detects deception from patterns of reading behavior and pupil enlargement. This mock crime study manipulated guilt, blocking, practice with or without feedback, and interevent intervals to assess their effects on ocular-motor and behavioral measures of deception. To test whether longer intervals disattenuate pupil responses, the present study also manipulated the time between the answer and the onset of the following statement. Half of the participants were guilty of stealing $20 from a secretary's wallet, and the other 80 participants were innocent. Guilt was crossed with presentation format and feedback. Half of the participants received feedback in their ODT practice session and half did not. Half of the participants received statements of the same type presented in immediate succession (blocked), and half the participants received a distributed presentation. The interval between the participant's answer and the presentation of the next statement was manipulated within-subjects. There were two repetitions of the 48 True/False statements at each of three interevent intervals (500 ms, 1500 ms, and 3000 ms). Guilty participants showed the largest pupil diameter while reading the cash statements. A discriminant functions of four ocular-motor measures correctly classified 86.3% of participants in the distributed condition, and another function of two measures correctly classified 83.3% of participants in the blocked condition. All participants completed Behavioral Inhibition/Behavioral Activation Scales (BIS/BAS) and the Emotionality, Activity, Sociability and Impulsivity scale (EASI) prior to learning their group assignment, and all participants completed a working memory test and post-ODT questionnaire after the ODT. None of the individual difference measures moderated effects of guilt on ocular-motor measures. There were main effects of guilt on realism, concern about the cash items, and general worry about passing the ODT

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Stress, Burnout, and Coping among First-Year Medical Undergraduates

Background and Objectives Stress, burnout, and coping have been found to be interlinked with each other. Several adverse psychological outcomes have been associated with stress and burnout. Improving coping can decrease the stress and burnout. There is limited literature on perceived stress, coping, and burnout among first-year medical undergraduates from India. With this background, the study aimed to assess perceived stress, coping, and burnout among first-year medical undergraduates. Methods It was a cross-sectional study assessing 100 undergraduates studying in the first year of medical school. Medical Students Stressor Questionnaire, Brief COPE questionnaire, and Maslach burnout inventory–student survey were applied for assessment of perceived stress, burnout, and coping, respectively. Socio-demographic profile was assessed by a semi-structured proforma. Results Majority of students reported facing moderate level of stress in most of the domains, with stress being the highest for the academic aspects and least for social-related and drive- and desire-related areas. The stress was significantly greater in female students. Burnout was identified in 62% students by two-dimensional criteria and 30% by three-dimensional criteria. Among the coping strategies, active coping was most commonly used and substance use was less commonly used. No differences were found in coping between males and females except for active coping, which was significantly better in females. Conclusion The stress was of moderate degree in majority of students and academic stress was the most common stress. Burnout was present in at least one-third of the students. However, majority of the students practiced active coping

Is There a Characteristic Autonomic Response During Outbursts of Combative Behavior in Dementia Patients

We sought to determine whether skin conductance level could warn of outbursts of combative behavior in dementia patients by using a wristband device. Two outbursts were captured and are reported here. Although no physiologic parameter measured by the wristband gave advance warning, there is a common pattern of parasympathetic withdrawal (increased heart rate) followed approximately 30 seconds later by sympathetic activation (increased skin conductance). In the literature, a similar pattern occurs in psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. We hypothesize that similar autonomic responses reflect similarities in pathophysiology and that physical activity may partially account for the time course of skin conductance