1,789 research outputs found
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Mindfulness meditation and improvement in depressive symptoms among Spanish- and English speaking adults: A randomized, controlled, comparative efficacy trial.
ObjectiveLatino immigrants experience acculturative stress and increased depression risk. Mindfulness meditation improves depressive symptoms, yet the vast majority of research has focused on English speaking populations.MethodsIn this randomized clinical trial with 2 parallel treatment groups, adults with moderate levels of perceived stress (n = 76) were recruited from the Los Angeles community from October 2015 to March 2016, stratified into Spanish- (n = 36) and English speaking (n = 40) language groups, and randomized for 6 weeks of treatment with standardized mindful awareness practices (MAPs) or health education (HE). Main outcome measure was depressive symptoms, measured by the Beck Depression Inventory.ResultsUsing an intent-to-treat analysis, the primary outcome, depressive symptoms as indexed by the Beck Depression Inventory, showed greater improvement in MAPs vs. HE, with a between-group post-intervention mean difference of -2.2 (95% CI -4.4 - -0.07) and effect size of 0.28; similar effect sizes were found in the the Spanish- (0.29) and English speaking (0.30) groups. MAPs showed significant improvement relative to HE on secondary outcome of mindfulness with between group difference of 10.7 (95% CI4.5-16.9), but not perceived stress.ConclusionThe comparable efficacy of Spanish and English formats of mindfulness meditation in improving depressive symptoms suggests that this community based intervention may mitigate depression risk in Latino adults who are experiencing social adversity.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03545074
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Increased risk of depression in non-depressed HIV infected men with sleep disturbance: Prospective findings from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study.
ObjectiveSleep disturbance is a known risk factor for depression, but it is not known whether sleep disturbance contributes to greater risk of depression in those infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV+) as compared to those uninfected with HIV (HIV-).MethodsUsing data from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, a population-based prospective study of men who have sex with men (MSM), self-reported sleep disturbance (>2 weeks) and depressive symptoms (Clinical Epidemiologic Scale for Depression, CES-D) were assessed every 6 months over 12 years of follow-up. Adjusted mixed effects logistic regression analyses tested whether sleep disturbance predicted depression (CES-D ≥ 16) at the immediate subsequent visit, and so on over 12 years, in non-depressed HIV+(N = 1054; 9556 person-visits) and non-depressed HIV- (N = 1217; 12,680 person-visits). In HIV+ vs. HIV- MSM, linearly estimated average incidence of depression and normalized cumulative rate of depression over 12 years were compared.ResultsIn the HIV+ MSM, sleep disturbance was associated with a significant increase in depression 6 months later (OR = 1.6; 95% CI, 1.30, 1.96), which was significantly greater (P < .05) than in HIV- MSM (OR = 1.16; 95% CI, 0.94, 1.44). HIV status and sleep disturbance interacted (P < .001), such that incidence of depression and normalized cumulative rate of depression were greater in HIV+ with sleep disturbance than in HIV+ without sleep disturbance and HIV- groups (all P's < 0.001).ConclusionsHIV+ persons who report sleep disturbance represent a high risk group to be monitored for depression, and possibly targeted for insomnia treatment to prevent depression. FUND: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
A magnified view of star formation at redshift 0.9 from two lensed galaxies
We present new narrow-band H alpha imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope of
two redshift 0.91 galaxies that have been lensed by foreground galaxy cluster
Abell 2390. These data probe spatial scales as small as 0.3 kpc, providing a
magnified look at the morphology of star formation at an epoch when the global
star formation rate was high. However, dust attenuates our spatially resolved
star formation rate (SFR) indicators, the H alpha and rest-UV emission, and we
lack a direct measurement of extinction. Other studies have found that ionized
gas in galaxies tends to be roughly 50 percent more obscured than stars;
however, given an unextincted measurement of the SFR we can quantify the
relative stellar to nebular extinction and the extinction in H{\alpha}. We
infer SFRs from Spitzer and Herschel mid- to far-infrared observations and
compare these to integrated H alpha and rest-UV SFRs; this yields stellar to
nebular extinction ratios consistent with previous studies. We take advantage
of high spatial resolution and contextualize these results in terms of the
source-plane morphologies, comparing the distribution of H alpha to that of the
rest-frame UV and optical light. In one galaxy, we measure separate SFRs in
visually distinct clumps, but can set only a lower limit on the extinction and
thus the star formation. Consequently, the data are also consistent with there
being an equal amount of extinction along the lines of sight to the ionized gas
as to the stars. Future observations in the far-infrared could settle this by
mapping out the dust directly.Comment: Published as 2014, The Astronomical Journal, 148, 6
The origin and function of self-incompatibility in flowering plants
The evolutionary significance of self-incompatibility (SI) traditionally has been linked to reduced inbreeding through enforced outcrossing. This view is founded on the premise that outcrossing reduces inbreeding. It is important, when considering the evolutionary significance of any genetic system, to try to distinguish those factors related to the evolution of, from those related to the maintenance of, the system in question. Three factors are considered important for the maintenance of SI: (1) phylogenetic constraint in species descended from SI ancestors, (2) reduced inbreeding in populations, and (3) fitness benefits to individuals resulting from the avoidance of selfing. I suggest that the first two factors should be rejected when considering the origin of SI (whether one or more origins are hypothesized) and that the increase in individual fitness resulting from the avoidance of self-fertilization among individuals that are heterozygous for deleterious alleles may be sufficient to account for the origin of SI. Self-fertilization in plants (except in species that predominantly self-fertilize) generally results in a reduction in fitness of some individuals due to the increased expression of deleterious or lethal recessive alleles, regardless of the degree of inbreeding in the population or the frequency of the allele in question. Inbreeding is a consequence of population structure in many outcrossing plant species. Complex (multi-locus and multi-allelic) systems of SI exist that reduce inbreeding. However, it is argued that these are derived either from simpler systems of SI that may have very little or no effect on inbreeding, in which case any effect on level of inbreeding is secondary, or are not true self-incompatibility systems and are part of a regulatory system that serves to balance the level of inbreeding and outbreeding. Multi-locus and multi-allelic systems of SI and heteromorphic systems of SI are discussed in terms of derived versus ancestral characteristics. A reassessment of the role of breeding systems in the development of a population structure promoting inbreeding is suggested, which may have been of crucial importance in the success and diversification of angiosperms.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47845/1/497_2004_Article_BF00192758.pd
The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: RSD measurement from the power spectrum and bispectrum of the DR12 BOSS galaxies
We measure and analyse the bispectrum of the final, Data Release 12, galaxy
sample provided by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, splitting by
selection algorithm into LOWZ and CMASS galaxies. The LOWZ sample contains
361\,762 galaxies with an effective redshift of , and the
CMASS sample 777\,202 galaxies with an effective redshift of . Combining the power spectrum, measured relative to the
line-of-sight, with the spherically averaged bispectrum, we are able to
constrain the product of the growth of structure parameter, , and the
amplitude of dark matter density fluctuations, , along with the
geometric Alcock-Paczynski parameters, the product of the Hubble constant and
the comoving sound horizon at the baryon drag epoch, , and the
angular distance parameter divided by the sound horizon, .
After combining pre-reconstruction RSD analyses of the power spectrum monopole,
quadrupole and bispectrum monopole; with post-reconstruction analysis of the
BAO power spectrum monopole and quadrupole, we find , , for
the LOWZ sample, and ,
, for the CMASS sample. We
find general agreement with previous BOSS DR11 and DR12 measurements. Combining
our dataset with {\it Planck15} we perform a null test of General Relativity
(GR) through the -parametrisation finding
, which is away from the GR
predictions.Comment: 34 pages, 22 figures, 8 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS.
Data available at https://sdss3.org//science/boss_publications.ph
SiC (SCS-6) Fiber Reinforced-Reaction Formed SiC Matrix Composites: Microstructure and Interfacial Properties
Microstructural and interfacial characterization of unidirectional SiC (SCS-6) fiber reinforced-reaction formed SiC (RFSC) composites has been carried out. Silicon-1.7 at.% molybdenum alloy was used as the melt infiltrant, instead of pure silicon, to reduce the activity of silicon in the melt as well as to reduce the amount of free silicon in the matrix. Electron microprobe analysis was used to evaluate the microstructure and phase distribution in these composites. The matrix is SiC with a bi-modal grain-size distribution and small amounts of MoSi2, silicon, and carbon. Fiber push-outs tests on these composites showed that a desirably low interfacial shear strength was achieved. The average debond shear stress at room temperature varied with specimen thickness from 29 to 64 MPa, with higher values observed for thinner specimens. Initial frictional sliding stresses showed little thickness dependence with values generally close to 30 MPa. Push-out test results showed very little change when the test temperature was increased to 800 C from room temperature, indicating an absence of significant residual stresses in the composite
Eeg-Derived Estimators of Present and Future Cognitive Performance
Previous electroencephalography (EEG)-based fatigue-related research primarily focused on the association between concurrent cognitive performance and time-locked physiology. The goal of this study was to investigate the capability of EEG to assess the impact of fatigue on both present and future cognitive performance during a 20-min sustained attention task, the 3-choice active vigilance task (3CVT), that requires subjects to discriminate one primary target from two secondary non-target geometric shapes. The current study demonstrated the ability of EEG to estimate not only present, but also future cognitive performance, utilizing a single, combined reaction time (RT), and accuracy performance metric. The correlations between observed and estimated performance, for both present and future performance, were strong (up to 0.89 and 0.79, respectively). The models were able to consistently estimate “unacceptable” performance throughout the entire 3CVT, i.e., excessively missed responses and/or slow RTs, while acceptable performance was recognized less accurately later in the task. The developed models were trained on a relatively large dataset (n = 50 subjects) to increase stability. Cross-validation results suggested the models were not over-fitted. This study indicates that EEG can be used to predict gross-performance degradations 5–15 min in advance
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Sex differences in the transcriptional response to acute inflammatory challenge: A randomized controlled trial of endotoxin
Background: Sex differences in immune-based disorders are well-established, with female sex associated with a markedly heightened risk of autoimmune disease. Female sex is also overrepresented in other conditions associated with elevated inflammation, including depression, chronic pain, and chronic fatigue. The mechanisms underlying these disparities are unclear. This study used an experimental model of inflammatory challenge to interrogate molecular mechanisms that may contribute to female vulnerability to disorders with an inflammatory basis. Method: In this analysis of a secondary outcome from a randomized controlled trial, 111 participants (67 female) received either a bolus injection of endotoxin (n = 59) or placebo (n = 52). Participants provided blood samples before and 0.5 h post-injection for assessment of differential activation of key pro-inflammatory (i.e., activator protein (AP)-1; nuclear factor (NF)-κB) and immunoregulatory (i.e., glucocorticoid receptor (GR); cAMP response element binding protein (CREB)) signaling pathways via genome-wide expression profiling and promoter-based bioinformatics analyses. Results: Relative to males, females exhibited greater endotoxin-induced increases in bioinformatic measures of CREB transcription factor activity (p's < 0.01). However, contrary to hypotheses, female vs. male sex was not associated with greater increases in activation of NF-κB, AP-1, or GR in response to endotoxin vs. placebo administration. Conclusions: This work suggests CREB signaling as a critical upstream biological pathway that should be further interrogated as a mechanism of female vulnerability to immune-related disorders. Future work should clarify whether increased CREB signaling indicates sex differences in activity of the sympathetic nervous system or other physiological pathways that signal through CREB, such as prostaglandin release
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