Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) is a conversion disorder that reflects underlying psychological distress. Female patients with PNES often present with a history of prolonged stressors, ...especially sexual abuse. In the current study, we studied the relationship between neuropeptide Y (NPY) and PNES symptoms in women with a history of sexual abuse. NPY has been associated with resilience to stress and we hypothesized that low levels would increase the extent and severity of PNES symptoms in this patient population. Serum levels of NPY, and related hormones were measured in fifteen female PNES patients and sixty female controls. PNES patients reported more severe abuse histories, feeling of abandonment, and decreased perception of quality of life than controls. Importantly, they also had lower NPY levels. Our analysis indicates that low levels of NPY in PNES may confer greater vulnerability to exhibit seizure-like symptoms and lower quality of life.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
CEOs typically offer apologies after transgressions are discovered whether mistakes were corrected or not. Seemingly insincere apologies, however, may damage the company by impugning its reputation. ...This study uses neurophysiologic data to identify why people believe apologies and identify when resolutions have occurred. Participants watched videos of corporate apologies and earned $3 for each video they watched. They could wager any of their earnings on whether the mistake was resolved with a chance to double their money. Participants could not consciously identify problem resolution, but the similarity of electrodermal activity and a measure of sympathetic and parasympathetic switching could with 61.3% accuracy (p = .001). Wagers were unrelated to whether problems were resolved or not. Yet electrodermal activity components predicted whether a wager was made with 75% accuracy (p = .001). Analysis of physiologic data showed that when leaders identify the problem in an opening statement, address the audience directly, use concrete language to describe how the company will remedy the problem, and minimize the harm done, physiologic arousal is reduced, signaling that the problem will be resolved. Our analysis shows that people believe insincere apologies when the statements made, whether truthful or not, produce a calming effect in listeners.
•Daily medical individual data compared to wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentrations.•Design, detail, and implementation of a low-cost composite autosampler.•Comparison of two RT-qPCR detection ...approaches.
To assist in the COVID-19 public health guidance on a college campus, daily composite wastewater samples were withdrawn at 20 manhole locations across the University of Colorado Boulder campus. Low-cost autosamplers were fabricated in-house to enable an economical approach to this distributed study. These sample stations operated from August 25th until November 23rd during the fall 2020 semester, with 1512 samples collected. The concentration of SARS-CoV-2 in each sample was quantified through two comparative reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reactions (RT-qPCRs). These methods were distinct in the utilization of technical replicates and normalization to an endogenous control. (1) Higher temporal resolution compensates for supply chain or other constraints that prevent technical or biological replicates. (2) The data normalized by an endogenous control agreed with the raw concentration data, minimizing the utility of normalization. The raw wastewater concentration values reflected SARS-CoV-2 prevalence on campus as detected by clinical services. Overall, combining the low-cost composite sampler with a method that quantifies the SARS-CoV-2 signal within six hours enabled actionable and time-responsive data delivered to key stakeholders. With daily reporting of the findings, wastewater surveillance assisted in decision making during critical phases of the pandemic on campus, from detecting individual cases within populations ranging from 109 to 2048 individuals to monitoring the success of on-campus interventions.
Tracking SARS-CoV-2 in on-campus wastewater informs and monitors public health decisions and actions. Display omitted
Patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) may present with convulsive events that are not accompanied by epileptiform brain activity. Video-electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring is ...the gold standard for diagnosis, yet not all patients experience convulsive episodes during video-EEG sessions. Hence, we aimed to construct a predictive model in order to detect PNES from serum hormone levels, detached from an evaluation of patients' convulsive episodes.
Fifteen female patients with PNES and 60 healthy female controls participated in the study, providing blood samples for hormone analysis. A binomial logistic regression model and the leave-one-out cross-validation were employed.
We found that levels of neuropeptide Y and adrenocorticotropic hormone were the optimal combination of predictors, with over 90% accuracy (area under the curve=0.980).
The ability to diagnose PNES irrespective of convulsive events would represent an important step considering its feasibility and affordability in daily clinical practice.
Political risk and capital flight Le, Quan Vu; Zak, Paul J.
Journal of international money and finance,
03/2006, Letnik:
25, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Capital flight often amounts to a substantial proportion of GDP in developing countries. This paper presents a portfolio choice model that relates capital flight to return differentials, risk ...aversion, and three types of risk: economic risk, political instability, and policy variability. Estimating the equilibrium capital flight equation for a panel of 45 developing countries over 16 years, all three types of risk have a statistically significant impact on capital flight. Quantitatively, political instability is the most important factor associated with capital flight. We also identify several political factors that reduce capital flight, ostensibly by signaling that market-oriented reforms are imminent.
Neonatal male circumcision is a painful skin-breaking procedure that may affect infant physiological and behavioral stress responses as well as mother-infant interaction. Due to the plasticity of the ...developing nociceptive system, neonatal pain might carry long-term consequences on adult behavior. In this study, we examined whether infant male circumcision is associated with long-term psychological effects on adult socio-affective processing.
We recruited 408 men circumcised within the first month of life and 211 non-circumcised men and measured socio-affective behaviors and stress via a battery of validated psychometric scales.
Early-circumcised men reported lower attachment security and lower emotional stability while no differences in empathy or trust were found. Early circumcision was also associated with stronger sexual drive and less restricted socio-sexuality along with higher perceived stress and sensation seeking.
This is a cross-sectional study relying on self-reported measures from a US population.
Our findings resonate with the existing literature suggesting links between altered emotional processing in circumcised men and neonatal stress. Consistent with longitudinal studies on infant attachment, early circumcision might have an impact on adult socio-affective traits or behavior.
Psychology; Clinical research; Neonatal pain; Attachment style; Empathy; Personality; Stress; Sociosexuality.
Buddhism shares with science the task of examining the mind empirically. But Buddhism has pursued, for two millennia, direct investigation of the mind through penetrating introspection. Neuroscience, ...on the other hand, relies on third-person knowledge in the form of scientific observation. In the book that is the subject of this review, two friends, one a Buddhist monk trained as a molecular biologist, and the other, a distinguished neuroscientist, offer their perspectives on the mind, the self, consciousness, the unconscious, free will, epistemology, meditation, and neuroplasticity.
Background
Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder (GSAD) is characterized by excessive fear and avoidance of several types of social and performance situations. The pathophysiology is not well ...understood, but research in animals and humans has provided evidence that oxytocin helps regulate normal social affiliative behavior. Previous work in healthy male subjects demonstrated a rise in plasma oxytocin after receiving a high trust signal. To examine the oxytocin system in GSAD, we measured plasma oxytocin in GSAD patients and controls, before and after the social “Trust Game,” a neuroeconomic test examining trust behavior and reaction to trust using real monetary incentives.
Methods
Thirty‐nine subjects with GSAD and 28 healthy controls provided three blood samples for oxytocin measurement before the Trust Game, and one sample after the game. Plasma estradiol was also measured at baseline. The Trust Game protocol version prioritized the sending of a signal of high cooperation and trust to all participants. All analyses controlled for gender and estradiol levels.
Results
Mean oxytocin levels post‐Trust Game (P = .025), and overall (area under the curve, P = .011) were lower in GSADpatients compared to controls, after controlling for sex and estradiol. There was no significant change in oxytocin levels after the game in either group.
Conclusions
We report low plasma oxytocin levels in patients with GSAD during a prosocial laboratory task paradigm. Additional research will be important to further examine the relationship between oxytocin and social behavior in GSAD.
Recent evidence indicates that oxytocin plays an important role in promoting prosocial behaviour amongst humans and other species. We tested whether oxytocin affected cooperation and food-sharing in ...capuchin monkeys, a highly cooperative New World primate. Subjects received either 2IU oxytocin or an inert adjuvent intranasally prior to each session. Oxytocin influenced food sharing in capuchins in ways we did not anticipate. Recipients were less likely to passively acquire food from possessors when either individual had received OT than in the control, and also spent less time in proximity to their partner. Passive food sharing requires proximity, and oxytocin decreased the capuchins' typical congregating behaviour, apparently resulting in decreased sharing. We propose that the likely mechanism for increased social distance is the known anxiolytic effect of oxytocin. Our results indicate a need to consider how oxytocin affects the context of interactions and interacts with modes of sociality unique to each species.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NMLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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