Death, prejudice, and ERP's: understanding the neural correlates of bias

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 23, 2007)Includes bibliographical references.Thesis (M.A.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2006.Dissertations, Academic -- University of Missouri--Columbia -- Psychology.Awareness of one's own mortality can increase prejudice-related attitudes, behavior, and aggression against members of outgroups (e.g., Arndt et al., 1997; McGregor et al., 1998; Lieberman et al., 1999). The current research investigates the neurocognitive processes underlying person perception following a mortality salience induction that might be associated with these forms of outgroup bias. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were used to observe attentional and evaluative processes on-line as White participants categorized ingroup (White) and outgroup (Black) faces according to expression (happy vs. angry) following either mortality salience (MS) induction or a control manipulation. In Study 1, MS led to an overall increase in the P300 for all stimuli, suggesting that MS may cause a state of heightened perceptual processing. In addition, the analyses of the N2 means showed that this component was larger in the MS condition than the control condition, specifically for White faces. This finding suggests that rather than intensifying outgroup bias MS may instead be enhancing an already present in group bias. Study 2 included additional outgroup targets (Asians). Results showed again that MS led to an overall increase in the P300 component. Taken together, these results begin to highlight the potential role played by the psychological state of death awareness on influencing the cognitive processing of outgroup members

Effects of alcohol and emotion regulation on performance monitoring

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on October 24, 2012).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Dissertation advisor: Bruce BartholowVita.Ph. D. University of Missouri--Columbia 2011."May 2011"Previous research indicates that alcohol dampens negative affect and is sometimes used in the regulation of psychological distress (see Greeley & Oei, 1999; Sher, 1987). Other work indicates that individuals using less effective emotion regulation strategies are at heightened risk for developing alcohol use problems (Cooper et al., 1995). To date, however, no research has directly tested the extent to which an acute dose of alcohol differentially influences individuals differing in emotion regulation styles. The primary purpose of the current research is to investigate whether individual differences in emotion regulation modulate alcohol's effects on a trial and error learning task designed to engage both emotional and cognitive processes, using a combined behavioral and psychophysiological approach. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three beverage groups (alcohol, placebo, or control beverage) and then engaged in a trial-and-error learning paradigm (Holroyd & Coles, 2002) while event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Individual differences in emotion regulation were assessed by the emotion regulation questionnaire (ERQ; Gross & John, 2003). Results show, that overall Reappraisers in the alcohol condition showed decreased ERN amplitudes and worse performance in comparison to the control group. Conversely, Suppressors showed no effect of beverage group on ERN amplitude or performance. Taken together these results indicate that Suppressors may be particularly at risk for developing substance abuse problems because of they are able to experience the reinforcing effects of alcohol with very little cost.Includes bibliographical reference

Young key populations left behind: The necessity for a targeted response in Mozambique

Introduction: The first exposure to high-risk sexual and drug use behaviors often occurs during the period of youth (15–24 years old). These behaviors increase the risk of HIV infection, especially among young key populations (KP)–men how have sex with men (MSM), female sex workers (FSW), and people who inject drugs (PWID). We describe the characteristics of young KP participants in the first Biobehavioral Surveillance (BBS) surveys conducted in Mozambique and examine their risk behaviors compared to adult KP. Methods: Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) methodology was used to recruit KP in three major urban areas in Mozambique. RDS-weighted pooled estimates were calculated to estimate the proportion of young KP residing in each survey city. Unweighted pooled estimates of risk behaviors were calculated for each key population group and chi-square analysis assessed differences in proportions between youth (aged less than 24 years old) and older adult KP for each population group. Results: The majority of MSM and FSW participants were young 80.7% (95% CI: 71.5–89.9%) and 71.9% (95% CI: 71.9–79.5%), respectively, although not among PWID (18.2%, 95% CI: 13.2–23.2%). Young KP were single or never married, had a secondary education level or higher, and low employment rates. They reported lower perception of HIV risk (MSM: 72.3% vs 56.7%, p\u3c0.001, FSW: 45.3% vs 24.4%, p\u3c0.001), lower HIV testing uptake (MSM: 67.5% vs 72.3%, p\u3c0.001; FSW: 63.2% vs 80.6%; p\u3c0.001, PWID: 53.3% vs 31.2%; p = 0.001), greater underage sexual debut (MSM: 9.6% vs 4.8%, p\u3c0.001; FSW: 35.2% vs 22.9%, p\u3c0.001), and greater underage initiation of injection drug use (PWID: 31.9% vs 7.0%, p\u3c0.001). Young KP also had lower HIV prevalence compared to older KP: MSM: 3.3% vs 27.0%, p\u3c0.001; FSW: 17.2% vs 53.7%, p\u3c0.001; and PWID: 6.0% vs 55.0%, p\u3c0.001. There was no significant difference in condom use across the populations. Conclusion: There is an immediate need for a targeted HIV response for young KP in Mozambique so that they are not left behind. Youth must be engaged in the design and implementation of interventions to ensure that low risk behaviors are sustained as they get older to prevent HIV infection

Electrophysiological evidence of alcohol-related attentional bias in social drinkers low in alcohol sensitivity.

Low sensitivity (LS) to the acute effects of alcohol is a known risk-factor for alcoholism. However, little is known concerning potential information-processing routes by which this risk factor might contribute to increased drinking. We tested the hypothesis that LS participants would show biased attention to alcohol cues, compared to their high-sensitivity (HS) counterparts. Participants performed a task in which alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverage cues were presented bilaterally followed by a target that required categorization by color. Response times were faster for targets appearing in alcohol-cued than nonalcohol-cued locations for LS but not for HS participants. Event-related potential markers of early attention orienting (P1 amplitude) and subsequent attention reorienting (ipsilateral invalid negativity [IIN] amplitude) indicated preferential selective attention to alcohol-cued locations among LS individuals. Controlling for recent drinking and family history of alcoholism did not affect these patterns, except that among HS participants relatively heavy recent drinking was associated with difficulty reorienting attention away from alcohol-cued locations. These findings suggest a potential information-processing bias through which low sensitivity could lead to heavy alcohol involvement

High burden of self-reported sexually transmitted infections among key populations in Mozambique: the urgent need for an integrated surveillance system

Background: Key populations - men who have sex with men (MSM), female sex workers (FSW) and people who inject drugs (PWID) - are at high risk for sexually transmitted infections (STI) given their sexual risk behaviours along with social, legal and structural barriers to prevention, care and treatment services. The purpose of this secondary analysis is to assess the prevalence of self-reported STIs and to describe associated risk factors among participations of the first Biological Behavioural Surveillance (BBS) in Mozambique. Methods: Responses from the first BBS surveys conducted in 2011-2014 were aggregated across survey-cities to produce pooled estimates for each population. Aggregate weighted estimates were computed to analyse self-reported STI prevalence. Unweighted pooled estimates were used in multivariable logistic regression to identify risk factors associated with self-reported STI. Results: The prevalence of self-reported STI was 11.9% (95% CI, 7.8-16.0), 33.6% (95% CI, 29.0-41.3), and 22.0% (95% CI, 17.0-27.0) among MSM, FSW and PWID, respectively. MSM who were circumcised, had HIV, reported drug use, reported receptive anal sex, and non-condom use with their last male partner had greater odds of STI self-report. STI-self report among FSW was associated with living in Beira, being married, employment aside from sex work, physical violence, sexual violence, drug use, access to comprehensive HIV prevention services, non-condom use with last client, and sexual relationship with a non-client romantic partner. Among PWID, risk factors for self-reported STI included living in Nampula/Nacala, access to HIV prevention services, and sex work. Conclusion: The high-burden of STIs among survey participants requires integrated HIV and STI prevention, treatment, and harm reduction services that address overlapping risk behaviours, especially injection drug use and sex work. A robust public health response requires the creation of a national STI surveillance system for better screening and diagnostic procedures within these vulnerable populations

Comparison of serious inhaler technique errors made by device-naïve patients using three different dry powder inhalers: a randomised, crossover, open-label study

Background: Serious inhaler technique errors can impair drug delivery to the lungs. This randomised, crossover, open-label study evaluated the proportion of patients making predefined serious errors with Pulmojet compared with Diskus and Turbohaler dry powder inhalers. Methods: Patients ≥18 years old with asthma and/or COPD who were current users of an inhaler but naïve to the study devices were assigned to inhaler technique assessment on Pulmojet and either Diskus or Turbohaler in a randomised order. Patients inhaled through empty devices after reading the patient information leaflet. If serious errors potentially affecting dose delivery were recorded, they repeated the inhalations after watching a training video. Inhaler technique was assessed by a trained nurse observer and an electronic inhalation profile recorder. Results: Baseline patient characteristics were similar between randomisation arms for the Pulmojet-Diskus (n = 277) and Pulmojet-Turbohaler (n = 144) comparisons. Non-inferiority in the proportions of patients recording no nurse-observed serious errors was demonstrated for both Pulmojet versus Diskus, and Pulmojet versus Turbohaler; therefore, superiority was tested. Patients were significantly less likely to make ≥1 nurse-observed serious errors using Pulmojet compared with Diskus (odds ratio, 0.31; 95 % CI, 0.19–0.51) or Pulmojet compared with Turbohaler (0.23; 0.12–0.44) after reading the patient information leaflet with additional video instruction, if required. Conclusions These results suggest Pulmojet is easier to learn to use correctly than the Turbohaler or Diskus for current inhaler users switching to a new dry powder inhaler

Avian haemosporidians in the cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) from central-western and southern Africa: high diversity and prevalence

We described the geographic distribution of 82 haemosporidian lineages (Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, and Leucocytozoon) in the cattle egret sampled in five countries in central-western and southern Africa. Seventy-three lineages have not previously been reported. We determined the prevalence of three haemosporidians in the samples. We investigated the influence of the internal environment of the host and environmental variables on the Plasmodium diversity and whether environmental variables may explain spatial variations in the prevalence of Plasmodium. We screened DNA from 509 blood samples from nestlings in 15 African colonies for infection by sequencing the cytochrome b gene of parasites. The molecular phylogenetic analysis was performed using Bayesian methods and including sequences from the MalAvi and GeneBank databases. We found 62 new Plasmodium lineages in a clade with MYCAME02, which is a lineage described in waterbirds and recently identified in birds of prey as Plasmodium paranucleophilum. Two Haemoproteus lineages identified in cattle egret formed a distinct group with Haemoproteus catharti and MYCAMH1 (Haemoproteus spp.). Seven Leucocytozoon lineages found in the cattle egret clustered with Leucocytozoon californicus. We found different Plasmodium diversities among the colonies sampled, demonstrating that the internal environment of the host is not the primary determinant of diversity. A linear mixed-effects multivariate model showed that precipitation was positively associated with Plasmodium diversity when controlling for the effects of temperature, colony composition (mixed and non-mixed species) and country. Moreover, a generalized mixed model showed that temperature was positively associated with the prevalence of Plasmodium when controlling for precipitation, elevation and country. We conclude that the cattle egret is a good model for future haemosporidian studies, as we found a significant number of new lineages in this host, which occupies regions with different climate characteristics where environmental variables exert an influence on the diversity and prevalence of Plasmodium