Interactions between empathy and resting heart rate in early adolescence predict violent behavior in late adolescence and early adulthood.

BackgroundAlthough resting heart rate (RHR) and empathy are independently and negatively associated with violent behavior, relatively little is known about the interplay between these psychophysiological and temperament-related risk factors.MethodsUsing a sample of 160 low-income, racially diverse men followed prospectively from infancy through early adulthood, this study examined whether RHR and empathy during early adolescence independently and interactively predict violent behavior and related correlates in late adolescence and early adulthood.ResultsControlling for child ethnicity, family income, and child antisocial behavior at age 12, empathy inversely predicted moral disengagement and juvenile petitions for violent crimes, while RHR was unrelated to all measures of violent behavior. Interactive effects were also evident such that among men with lower but not higher levels of RHR, lower empathy predicted increased violent behavior, as indexed by juvenile arrests for violent offenses, peer-reported violent behavior at age 17, self-reported moral disengagement at age 17, and self-reported violent behavior at age 20.ConclusionsImplications for prevention and intervention are considered. Specifically, targeting empathic skills among individuals at risk for violent behavior because of specific psychophysiological profiles may lead to more impactful interventions

The interaction between monoamine oxidase A and punitive discipline in the development of antisocial behavior: Mediation by maladaptive social information processing.

Previous studies demonstrate that boys' monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) genotype interacts with adverse rearing environments in early childhood, including punitive discipline, to predict later antisocial behavior. Yet the mechanisms by which MAOA and punitive parenting interact during childhood to amplify risk for antisocial behavior are not well understood. In the present study, hostile attributional bias and aggressive response generation during middle childhood, salient aspects of maladaptive social information processing, were tested as possible mediators of this relation in a sample of 187 low-income men followed prospectively from infancy into early adulthood. Given racial-ethnic variation in MAOA allele frequencies, analyses were conducted separately by race. In both African American and Caucasian men, those with the low-activity MAOA allele who experienced more punitive discipline at age 1.5 generated more aggressive responses to perceived threat at age 10 relative to men with the high-activity variant. In the African American subsample only, formal mediation analyses indicated a marginally significant indirect effect of maternal punitiveness on adult arrest records via aggressive response generation in middle childhood. The findings suggest that maladaptive social information processing may be an important mechanism underlying the association between MAOA × Parenting interactions and antisocial behavior in early adulthood. The present study extends previous work in the field by demonstrating that MAOA and harsh parenting assessed in early childhood interact to not only predict antisocial behavior in early adulthood, but also predict social information processing, a well-established social-cognitive correlate of antisocial behavior

The Effect of Anthocyanin-Rich Purple Corn Extract on the Healthspan of Caenorhabditis elegans

If aging is a result of the degradation of the proteostasis network (PN), then treatments that support proteostasis are expected to increase lifespan. Anthocyanins have been credited with the capacity to modulate cognitive and motor function, enhance memory and having a role in preventing age-related declines in neural function. We are studying the effect of standardized purple corn extract on a transgenic strain of model organism C. elegans. We expect to see a positive effect on healthspan, resistance to oxidative stress, and mortality rate. Analysis of the composition of purple corn extract in comparison with other natural extracts shown to have longevity effects will be presented. If this natural product is shown to increase healthspan in our study, this could lead to a breakthrough for promoting healthy aging in humans in a cost effective way

Inhibitory control as a mediator of bidirectional effects between early oppositional behavior and maternal depression.

Maternal depression is an established risk factor for child conduct problems, but relatively few studies have tested whether children's behavioral problems exacerbate mothers' depression or whether other child behavioral characteristics (e.g., self-regulation) may mediate bidirectional effects between maternal depression and child disruptive behavior. This longitudinal study examined the parallel growth of maternal depressive symptoms and child oppositional behavior from ages 2 to 5; the magnitude and timing of their bidirectional effects; and whether child inhibitory control, a temperament-based self-regulatory mechanism, mediated effects between maternal depression and child oppositionality. A randomized control trial of 731 at-risk families assessed children annually from ages 2 to 5. Transactional models demonstrated positive and bidirectional associations between mothers' depressive symptoms and children's oppositional behavior from ages 2 to 3, with a less consistent pattern of reciprocal relations up to age 5. Mediation of indirect mother-child effects and child evocative effects depended on the rater of children's inhibitory control. Findings are discussed in regard to how child evocative effects and self-regulatory mechanisms may clarify the transmission of psychopathology within families

Controlled growth of organic semiconductor films in liquid

Organic molecular crystalline (OMC) films are being investigated for use in a wide range of potential applications, from field effect transistors, to light-emitting diodes, and photovoltaic cells. The ultimate utility of OMC materials for such applications will depend on the degree and type of molecular order in deposited films, as well as the processing costs for preparing them. The goal of this thesis is to develop a method to produce high quality OMC thin films under ambient conditions, to characterize those films, and their growth kinetics. In particular, I will investigate OMC film growth by ambient axisymmetric spray method, a technique in which an organic semiconductor is sublimated into a carrier gas at ambient pressure and deposited onto a substrate coated with a thin liquid layer. I will examine the growth kinetics and morphologies of the resulting films. The results of this research will be an improved understanding of the growth of organic crystals in a thin film of liquid and the production of cheap organic semiconductor thin films

Smoking and dose-dependent early effects of nicotine on bone mechanical properties and histology

The objective was to study the effects of nicotine and cigarette smoke on mechanical properties of cortical bone. Experiments were conducted for 5 weeks with New Zealand White Rabbits. The first experiment of 18 rabbits studied the effect of nicotine levels delivered via a nicotine patch (5.25, 10.5, 21 ng/ml), measured by different mechanical tests, porosity, and composition. There was no significant difference between the control and the treatment groups.;The second experiment of 22 rabbits studied the effects of nicotine delivered via a nicotine patch (10.5 ng/ml) and via a smoking chamber on fracture toughness and porosity. The rabbits exposed to the smoke for 5 weeks had significantly lower fracture toughness values when compared to the different groups (exposed to smoke for 4 weeks group, nicotine group, and the control group). This suggests that other agents besides nicotine are responsible for the weakening of bone clinically seen in smokers

The cosmic challenger : what American evangelicals think about Islam and why

This thesis answers the question, "What do twenty-first century American evangelical Christians think about Islam and why do they think that way?" The dominant perception of these Christians is that Islam is a cosmic challenger to Christianity. In other words, Islam and Christianity are in an existential competition to win souls. This thesis utilizes perceptions of Islam as the analytical reference point by which to better understand American evangelicals. The driving hypothesis is that some things about what and why evangelicals think about Islam will reveal broader conclusions about evangelicals themselves. Evangelical Christian literature is broken down into four classifications: informational, prophetic, apologetic, and missional. In the end, consideration of Islam and Muslims leads evangelicals to either an activist impulse or missional impulse.Middle Eastern StudiesPublic Affair