Modelling the perceptual similarity of facial expressions from image statistics and neural responses

The ability to perceive facial expressions of emotion is essential for effective social communication. We investigated how the perception of facial expression emerges from the image properties that convey this important social signal, and how neural responses in face-selective brain regions might track these properties. To do this, we measured the perceptual similarity between expressions of basic emotions, and investigated how this is reflected in image measures and in the neural response of different face-selective regions. We show that the perceptual similarity of different facial expressions (fear, anger, disgust, sadness, happiness) can be predicted by both surface and feature shape information in the image. Using block design fMRI, we found that the perceptual similarity of expressions could also be predicted from the patterns of neural response in the face-selective posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS), but not in the fusiform face area (FFA). These results show that the perception of facial expression is dependent on the shape and surface properties of the image and on the activity of specific face-selective regions

Up-regulation of a death receptor renders antiviral T cells susceptible to NK cell-mediated deletion

This article is distributed under the terms of an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike–No Mirror Sites license for the first six months after the publication date (see http://www.rupress.org/terms). After six months it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).This work was funded by the Medical Research Council (Clinical Research Training Fellowship to DP and grant G0801213 to M.K. Maini)

Participatory arts and affective engagement with climate change: the missing link in achieving climate compatible behaviour change?

Despite a growing number of arts based climate change interventions and the importance emphasised in the social psychology literature of achieving affective (emotional) engagement with climate change before climate compatible behaviour change is likely (exactly the kind of engagement the arts and humanities are arguably best at), to date there has been no systematic application of interpretive social science techniques to understand the ways in which these arts based interventions do, or do not, achieve affective public engagement with climate change and hence might hold the key to unlocking broader climate compatible behaviour change. This article makes three key contributions. First, it analyses the literature across social psychology and participatory arts to demonstrate why participatory, climate change based arts interventions could hold the key to more effective approaches to engaging multiple publics in climate compatible behaviour change. Second, using a small sample of participants in an arts based climate change intervention in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland, it demonstrates the potential value of combining social science techniques (in this case Q Methodology) with participatory arts interventions to better understand and learn from the ways in which climate based arts interventions achieve affective public engagement with climate change. Thirdly, it extends its analysis to engage explicitly with the under-researched issue of the role of place attachment and local, situated knowledge in mediating the influence of climate change communication. These contributions provide the basis for a significant new research and policy agenda looking forward

Biogeochemical and climate drivers of wetland phosphorus and nitrogen release: implications for nutrient legacies and eutrophication risk

The dynamics and processes of nutrient cycling and release were examined for a lowland wetland‐pond system, draining woodland in southern England. Hydrochemical and meteorological data were analyzed from 1997 to 2017, along with high‐resolution in situ sensor measurements from 2016 to 2017. The results showed that even a relatively pristine wetland can become a source of highly bioavailable phosphorus (P), nitrogen (N), and silicon (Si) during low‐flow periods of high ecological sensitivity. The drivers of nutrient release were primary production and accumulation of biomass, which provided a carbon (C) source for microbial respiration and, via mineralization, a source of bioavailable nutrients for P and N co‐limited microorganisms. During high‐intensity nutrient release events, the dominant N‐cycling process switched from denitrification to nitrate ammonification, and a positive feedback cycle of P and N release was sustained over several months during summer and fall. Temperature controls on microbial activity were the primary drivers of short‐term (day‐to‐day) variability in P release, with subdaily (diurnal) fluctuations in P concentrations driven by water body metabolism. Interannual relationships between nutrient release and climate variables indicated “memory” effects of antecedent climate drivers through accumulated legacy organic matter from the previous year's biomass production. Natural flood management initiatives promote the use of wetlands as “nature‐based solutions” in climate change adaptation, flood management, and soil and water conservation. This study highlights potential water quality trade‐offs and shows how the convergence of climate and biogeochemical drivers of wetland nutrient release can amplify background nutrient signals by mobilizing legacy nutrients, causing water quality impairment and accelerating eutrophication risk

Developing a collaborative agenda for humanities and social scientific research on laboratory animal science and welfare.

Improving laboratory animal science and welfare requires both new scientific research and insights from enquiry in the humanities and social sciences. Whilst scientific research provides evidence to replace, reduce and refine procedures involving laboratory animals (the ‘3Rs’), work in the humanities and social sciences can help understand the social, economic and cultural processes that enhance or impede humane ways of knowing and working with laboratory animals. However, communication across these disciplinary perspectives is currently limited, and they frame questions, generate results, engage users, and seek to influence policy in different ways. To facilitate dialogue and future research at this interface, we convened an interdisciplinary group of 45 life scientists, social scientists, humanities scholars, non-governmental organisations and policy-makers to generate a collaborative research agenda. This drew on other agenda-setting exercises in science policy, using a collaborative and deliberative approach for the identification of research priorities. Participants were recruited from across the community, invited to submit research questions and vote on their priorities. They then met at an interactive workshop in the UK, discussed all 136 questions submitted, and collectively defined the 30 most important issues for the group. The output is a collaborative future agenda for research in the humanities and social sciences on laboratory animal science and welfare. The questions indicate a demand for new research in the humanities and social sciences to inform emerging discussions and priorities on the governance and practice of laboratory animal research, including around: international harmonisation, openness and public engagement, ‘cultures of care’, harm-benefit analysis and the future of the 3Rs. The process underlines the value of interdisciplinary exchange for improving mutual understanding of different research cultures and identifies ways of enhancing the effectiveness of future research at the interface between the humanities, social sciences, science and science policy

Co-located ecological data for exploring top- and subsoil carbon dynamics across grassland-woodland contrasts

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a soil health indicator and understanding dynamics changing SOC stocks will help achieving net zero goals. Here we present four datasets featuring 11,750 data points covering co-located aboveground and below-ground metrics for exploring ecosystem SOC dynamics. Five sites across England with an established land use contrast, grassland and woodland next to each other, were rigorously sampled for aboveground (n = 109), surface (n = 33 soil water release curves), topsoil, and subsoil metrics. Commonly measured soil metrics were analysed in five soil increments for 0–1 metre (n = 4550). Less commonly measured soil metrics which were assumed to change across the soil profile were measured on a subset of samples only (n = 3762). Additionally, we developed a simple method for soil organic matter fractionation using density fractionation which is part of the less common metrics. Finally, soil metrics which may impact SOC dynamics, but with less confidence as to their importance across the soil profile were only measured on topsoil (~5–15 cm = mineral soil) and subsoil (below 50 cm) samples (n = 2567)

A liver immune rheostat regulates CD8 T cell immunity in chronic HBV infection

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection affects 300 million patients worldwide1,2, in whom virus-specific CD8 T cells by still ill-defined mechanisms lose their function and cannot eliminate HBV-infected hepatocytes3–7. Here we demonstrate that a liver immune rheostat renders virus-specific CD8 T cells refractory to activation and leads to their loss of effector functions. In preclinical models of persistent infection with hepatotropic viruses such as HBV, dysfunctional virus-specific CXCR6+ CD8 T cells accumulated in the liver and, as a characteristic hallmark, showed enhanced transcriptional activity of cAMP-responsive element modulator (CREM) distinct from T cell exhaustion. In patients with chronic hepatitis B, circulating and intrahepatic HBV-specific CXCR6+ CD8 T cells with enhanced CREM expression and transcriptional activity were detected at a frequency of 12–22% of HBV-specific CD8 T cells. Knocking out the inhibitory CREM/ICER isoform in T cells, however, failed to rescue T cell immunity. This indicates that CREM activity was a consequence, rather than the cause, of loss in T cell function, further supported by the observation of enhanced phosphorylation of protein kinase A (PKA) which is upstream of CREM. Indeed, we found that enhanced cAMP–PKA-signalling from increased T cell adenylyl cyclase activity augmented CREM activity and curbed T cell activation and effector function in persistent hepatic infection. Mechanistically, CD8 T cells recognizing their antigen on hepatocytes established close and extensive contact with liver sinusoidal endothelial cells, thereby enhancing adenylyl cyclase–cAMP–PKA signalling in T cells. In these hepatic CD8 T cells, which recognize their antigen on hepatocytes, phosphorylation of key signalling kinases of the T cell receptor signalling pathway was impaired, which rendered them refractory to activation. Thus, close contact with liver sinusoidal endothelial cells curbs the activation and effector function of HBV-specific CD8 T cells that target hepatocytes expressing viral antigens by means of the adenylyl cyclase–cAMP–PKA axis in an immune rheostat-like fashion.</p

Meta-analysis of multidecadal biodiversity trends in Europe

Local biodiversity trends over time are likely to be decoupled from global trends, as local processes may compensate or counteract global change. We analyze 161 long-term biological time series (15-91 years) collected across Europe, using a comprehensive dataset comprising similar to 6,200 marine, freshwater and terrestrial taxa. We test whether (i) local long-term biodiversity trends are consistent among biogeoregions, realms and taxonomic groups, and (ii) changes in biodiversity correlate with regional climate and local conditions. Our results reveal that local trends of abundance, richness and diversity differ among biogeoregions, realms and taxonomic groups, demonstrating that biodiversity changes at local scale are often complex and cannot be easily generalized. However, we find increases in richness and abundance with increasing temperature and naturalness as well as a clear spatial pattern in changes in community composition (i.e. temporal taxonomic turnover) in most biogeoregions of Northern and Eastern Europe. The global biodiversity decline might conceal complex local and group-specific trends. Here the authors report a quantitative synthesis of longterm biodiversity trends across Europe, showing how, despite overall increase in biodiversity metric and stability in abundance, trends differ between regions, ecosystem types, and taxa.peerReviewe