This Critical Theory and Contemporary Society volume offers an original analysis of the role of the digital in today’s society. It rearticulates critical theory by engaging it with the challenges of ...the digital revolution to show how the digital is changing the ways in which we lead our politics, societies, economies, media, and even private lives. In particular, the work examines how the enlightenment values embedded within the culture and materiality of digital technology can be used to explain the changes that are occurring across society. Critical Theory and the Digital draws from the critical concepts developed by critical theorists to demonstrate how the digital needs to be understood within a dialectic of potentially democratizing and totalizing technical power. By relating critical theory to aspects of a code-based digital world and the political economy that it leads to, the book introduces the importance of the digital code in the contemporary world to researchers in the field of politics, sociology, globalization and media studies.
As small molecule drugs become harder to develop and less cost effective for patient use, efficient strategies for their property improvement become increasingly important to global health ...initiatives. Improvements in the physical properties of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), without changes in the covalent chemistry, have long been possible through the application of binary component solids. This was first achieved through the use of pharmaceutical salts, within the last 10–15years with cocrystals and more recently coamorphous systems have also been consciously applied to this problem. In order to rationally discover the best multicomponent phase for drug development, intermolecular interactions need to be considered at all stages of the process. This review highlights the current thinking in this area and the state of the art in: pharmaceutical multicomponent phase design, the intermolecular interactions in these phases, the implications of these interactions on the material properties and the pharmacokinetics in a patient.
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Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common, degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. Individuals experience predominantly extrapyramidal symptoms including resting tremor, rigidity, ...bradykinesia, gait abnormalities, cognitive impairment, depression, and neurobehavioral concerns. Cognitive impairments associated with PD are diverse, including difficulty with attention, processing speed, executive functioning, memory recall, visuospatial functions, word-retrieval, and naming. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) or globus pallidus internus (GPi) is FDA approved and has been shown to be effective in reducing motor symptoms of PD. Studies have found that stimulating STN and GPi are equally effective at improving motor symptoms and dyskinesias; however, there has been discrepancy as to whether the cognitive, behavioral, and mood symptoms are affected differently between the two targets. The present study used random-effects meta-analytic models along with a novel
p
-curve analytic procedure to compare the potential cognitive and emotional impairments associated with STN-DBS in the current literature to those associated with GPi-DBS. Forty-one articles were reviewed with an aggregated sample size of 1622 patients. Following STN-DBS, small declines were found in psychomotor speed, memory, attention, executive functions, and overall cognition; and moderate declines were found in both semantic and phonemic fluency. However, GPi-DBS resulted in fewer neurocognitive declines than STN-DBS (small declines in attention and small-moderate declines in verbal fluency). With regards to its effect on depression symptomatology, both GPi-DBS and STN-DBS resulted in lower levels of depressive symptoms post-surgery. From a neurocognitive standpoint, both GPi-DBS and STN-DBS produce subtle cognitive declines but appears to be relatively well tolerated.
The present meta-analysis provides the first meta-analysis of research on stand-alone neurocognitive feigning tests since publication of the preceding paper by Vickery, Berry, Inman, Harris & Orey ...(2001). Studies of dedicated neurocognitive feigning test performances in adults appearing in published or unpublished (theses and dissertations) sources through October 2010 were reviewed and subjected to stringent inclusion criteria to maximize the validity of results. Neurocognitive feigning tests were included only if at least three contrasts of criterion-supported honest patient groups and feigners were available. Tests that met criteria for review included the Victoria Symptom Validity Test, used as an anchor to compare Vickery and colleagues' results; Test of Memory Malingering, Word Memory Test, Letter Memory Test, and Medical Symptom Validity Test. Effect sizes and test parameters at published cut scores were compiled and compared. Results reflected large effect sizes for all measures (mean d = 1.55, 95% confidence interval CI = 1.48-1.63). Mean specificity was 0.90 (95% CI = 0.85-0.94). Mean sensitivity was 0.69 (95% CI = 0.63-0.75). Several moderators of effect size were identified, with certain manipulations resulting in a weakening of effect size. Unexpectedly, warning simulators to feign believably increased effect sizes.
Microbial nutrient niches in the gut Pereira, Fátima C.; Berry, David
Environmental microbiology,
April 2017, Letnik:
19, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Summary
The composition and function of the mammalian gut microbiota has been the subject of much research in recent years, but the principles underlying the assembly and structure of this complex ...community remain incompletely understood. Processes that shape the gut microbiota are thought to be mostly niche‐driven, with environmental factors such as the composition of available nutrients largely determining whether or not an organism can establish. The concept that the nutrient landscape dictates which organisms can successfully colonize and persist in the gut was first proposed in Rolf Freter's nutrient niche theory. In a situation where nutrients are perfectly mixed and there is balanced microbial growth, Freter postulated that an organism can only survive if it is able to utilize one or a few limiting nutrients more efficiently than its competitors. Recent experimental work indicates, however, that nutrients in the gut vary in space and time. We propose that in such a scenario, Freter's nutrient niche theory must be expanded to account for the co‐existence of microorganisms utilizing the same nutrients but in distinct sites or at different times, and that metabolic flexibility and mixed‐substrate utilization are common strategies for survival in the face of ever‐present nutrient fluctuations.
Significant motivations and incentives exist for young-adult students to seek a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). With ADHD information readily accessible on the Internet, ...today's students are likely to be symptom educated prior to evaluation. This may result in false-positive diagnoses, particularly when students are motivated to convey symptoms. We evaluated the utility of ADHD symptom checklists, neurocognitive tests, and measures initially developed to detect feigned neurocognitive or psychiatric dysfunction (symptom validity tests SVTs). The performance of 31 undergraduates financially motivated and coached about ADHD via Internet-derived information was compared to that of 29 ADHD undergraduates following medication washout and 14 students not endorsing symptomatology. Results indicated malingerers readily produced ADHD-consistent profiles. Symptom checklists, including the ADHD Rating Scale and Conners's Adult ADHD Rating Scale-Self-Rating Form: Long, were particularly susceptible to faking. Conners's Continuous Performance Test-II findings appeared more related to motivation than condition. Promising results were seen with all cognitive SVTs (Test of Memory Malingering TOMM, Digit Memory Test, Letter Memory Test, and Nonverbal-Medical Symptom Validity Test), particularly TOMM Trial 1 when scored using Trial 2 criteria. All SVTs demonstrated very high specificity for the ADHD condition and moderate sensitivity to faking, which translated into high positive predictive values at rising base rates of feigning. Combining 2 or more failures resulted in only modest declines in sensitivity but robust specificity. Results point to the need for a thorough evaluation of history, cognitive and emotional functioning, and the consideration of exaggerated symptomatology in the diagnosis of ADHD.
Abstract The human intestine harbours a complex microbial ecosystem that performs manifold functions important to the nutrition and health of its host. Extensive study has revealed that the ...composition of the intestinal microbiota is altered in individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The IBD associated intestinal microbiota generally has reduced species richness and diversity, lower temporal stability, and disruption of the secreted mucus layer structure. Multiple studies have identified certain bacterial taxa that are enriched or depleted in IBD including Enterobacteriaceae , Ruminococcus gnavus , and Desulfovibrio (enriched) and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii , Lachnospiraceae , and Akkermansia (depleted). Additionally, the relative abundance of some taxa appears to correlate with established markers of disease activity such as Enterobacteriaceae (enriched) and Lachnospiraceae (depleted). Signature shifts in fecal microbial community composition may therefore prove to be valuable as diagnostic biomarkers, particularly for longitudinal monitoring of disease activity and response to treatments.
Investigations of neuromuscular control of voice production have primarily focused on the roles of muscle activation levels, posture, and stiffness at phonation onset. However, little work has been ...done investigating the stability of the phonation process in regards to spontaneous changes in vibratory mode of vocal fold oscillation as a function of neuromuscular activation. We evaluated 320 phonatory conditions representing combinations of superior and recurrent laryngeal nerve (SLN and RLN) activations in an in vivo canine model of phonation. At each combination of neuromuscular input, airflow was increased linearly to reach phonation onset and beyond from 300 to 1400 mL/s. High-speed video and acoustic data were recorded during phonation, and spectrograms and glottal-area-based parameters were calculated. Vibratory mode changes were detected based on sudden increases or drops of local fundamental frequency. Mode changes occurred only when SLNs were concurrently stimulated and were more frequent for higher, less asymmetric RLN stimulation. A slight increase in amplitude and cycle length perturbation usually preceded the changes in the vibratory mode. However, no inherent differences between signals with mode changes and signals without were found.
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